Island Fever 3: Matrimony Ch. 02

"The poor girl hasn't even gotten any sleep in three weeks," Kristanna mewed. "I feel sorry for her."

"Pamela fell into the bed 20 minutes ago and was out like a light," Trish said. "Let's hope that she continues to sleep throughout the night and into the morning. I say we don't wake her at all in the morning. Let her sleep."

"Being sleep deprived has certainly not helped her cause at all," Scarlett offered. "Pamela is tired, and confused. It is probably the main reason why she is struggling with her identity and feeling less attractive."

"Pamela is BEAUTIFUL!" Lindsay insisted. "How can she think any differently about herself?"

"What can we do to help her?" Devon asked Scarlett.

"Just what I told Kristanna and Jeremy earlier. Plenty of love and support. Understand that Pamela is sick, and the sickness is the reason she is feeling the way she does. Do not push or prod her. Be gentle, and understanding. Instead of telling her how much you love her, SHOW her how much you love her. Do things for her. Little things."

"Do you think you could get her on an exercise program to lose some of that excess baby weight?" Kristanna asked Trish. "She is really insecure about her weight right now."

"When Pamela is ready and asks for my help, I will do whatever I can for her," Trish replied.

"DO NOT pressure her about the exercise," Scarlett stressed to Kristanna. "If you do, it will just make her feel worse."

"What type of medicine do you think they would give her?" Devon wondered.

"Specifically? I do not know," Scarlett shrugged. "That would be up to the doctor. Antidepressants are most common, but it would have to one that is safe for her to take while breastfeeding. Any medication that she takes will enter her breastmilk, so it will have to be one that is safe for Piper. Or, the doctor could choose to go another route - such as hormone therapy or estrogen replacement."

"We need to help Pamela and lessen the load on her," Amy nodded. "Once we get back to Norway, all of us need to take turns watching and looking after Piper. Jeremy already does all he can, but we can help out a lot ourselves, too."

"Pamela has never wanted our help," Lindsay countered. "I would LOVE to give her a break from time to time and keep an eye on Piper so she can lay down and relax for a bit, maybe go to the store, or just go for a walk. Pamela insists that she wants to watch and take care of Piper herself."

"And that overly protective nature - her unwillingness to let us help - is what is overwhelming her," Amy pouted. "It is suffocating her. Look at Krissy and all the help we have given her. She is perfectly happy."

Lindsay frowned as well. "Maybe it is good that Pamela is split up from Piper for a week because of the wedding. Maybe the time away will be good for her?"

"It's never good having your newborn baby halfway around the world," Kristanna told her. "Trust me on that. I am trying not to go crazy without Kaden here right now."

Amy patted Kristanna on the wrist. "At least you know if that if Kaden cannot be with you, and Piper cannot be with Pamela, they are in the best possible place right now - with your mother and father. Kristof and Rande will take the absolute best of care of both Kaden and Piper."

"What do you think of all of this, Jeremy?" Devon wondered.

"I made an appointment for Pamela to see a psychiatrist on Friday morning at eleven o'clock," I said. "My only wish is that the appointment was tomorrow - Thursday - instead."

"What better man and husband for Pamela to have than Jeremy right now while she goes through these troubles?"

"There isn't one," Amy told Devon, which made me smile. Kristanna grasped my hand and squeezed lovingly as Amy added, "Jeremy will do whatever it takes to help Pamela."

"So will I," Lindsay nodded.

"Me too," Scarlett chimed in.

-

Exhausted myself, it was midnight (or 6:00am Norway time) when I excused myself from the discussion and found a nice, warm, comfortable bed, and basically collapsed onto it. I had traveled thousands of taxing miles by air and been awake for nearly 21 hours - ever since Lindsay hopped onto the bed with me back home yesterday morning and started bouncing up-and-down like the wild chick that she was. I was tired, and needed to get some sleep.

Tomorrow was promising to be a fun and eventful day for everyone. Trish and Lindsay, of course, were going to that big luncheon with their respective families. It would provide Trish's parents and Lindsay's mother the opportunity to really meet and become properly acquainted just five days before the two ladies walked the aisle, and became wife and wife.

Much like Kristanna, Trish had always been very upfront and honest with her inner family (especially her parents) about the choices she had made in her life in regards to dating and relationships. They had known that Trish was bi-sexual since high school. Trish also informed them last year that she was entering into a group relationship where, one day, it was very conceivable that she would have one husband and five wives (six now, counting the possibility of Scarlett).

And much like Kristof and Rande, Trish's parents - John and Alice - wholeheartedly supported their daughter's decisions. The question of ethics or morality (I have come to DESPISE that word) as it pertained to our relationship really did not matter to them. The only thing that did matter, however, was that Trish was happy. They realized that Trish loved Lindsay more than words could ever possibly say, and next Tuesday was going to be, by far, the happiest day their daughter would ever experience.

Lindsay's mother (Leslie) was a different story, though it seemed as if it may end with the very same result. Leslie did not learn that Lindsay was part of a seven-way relationship (again, now an eight-way) until several months after it had started. In fact, Leslie did not even know that her daughter was bi-sexual until our Christmas vacation a year ago, when Lindsay brought Trish to her family home one evening and came clean. Until that point, Leslie (as well as Lindsay's trio of sisters) were under the impression that she and I were engaged, and would have a traditional vanilla marriage.

They were all dazed and confused by Lindsay's admission that she was bi-sexual and in love with Trish. It took some doing, but Lindsay was able to convince them that she too, was happy, and as family, they needed to be happy for her as well. Slowly but surely, Leslie and the three sisters seemed to accept the idea. Having Trish present, with her bubbly and amicable demeanor on display, surely aided the process.

Lindsay admitted to her family a year ago that I was also a major part of her life. While I may not have been her fiance at the time as they were originally led to believe, Lindsay insinuated to her mother and sisters that we were involved in a three-way relationship. Again, Lindsay drove home the point - over and over again - just how happy she was.

I had built a tremendous amount of goodwill with Leslie and her other three daughters because I had given them financial aid when the bank was about to take their home away from them. I bought all of them new cars and offered money for other improvements in life. I met them twice before Lindsay took Trish to her house that fateful evening, and hit it off great with them. Because of this, they seemed much more receptive to the idea that Lindsay was in a three-way relationship (with me included) than they originally were when first told that she was bi-sexual and in love with Trish.

Lindsay held back last year, though, and did not tell them about the other four ladies in her life - Kristanna, Devon, Pamela and Amy. Lindsay was under the impression that it would have been too much for them to digest at once.

During her summer vacation in Ohio earlier this year, however, Lindsay fessed up and told her family everything. She was in a relationship that included one man and five other women (pre-Scarlett), and was deliriously in love with each and every single one of them. Lindsay detailed to her mother her plans of marrying Trish, and wanting to do it in the same Cincinnati church where her father spent 16 years as a minister before his unfortunate passing two years ago. Lindsay was adamant in wanting her family's stamp of approval for not only her plans to marry Trish, but the rest of the relationship choices she had made in life as well.

Although Leslie supported Lindsay and her desire to marry Trish, she was much less keen to the idea of all of the other women also in her life. Again, it took some doing - and a whole lot of convincing - but Leslie's stance on the situation eventually softened, and she began to accept it.

Leslie was not all the way there yet, though; it was still an ongoing process. But we were hopeful that watching her daughter get married - even if to another woman - would convince Leslie that Lindsay had made the right decisions.

"I am happier than any girl has any right of being," was one of the many things Lindsay told me that she said to her mother back in June.

Surprisingly enough, Alison (the adorable younger sister (and now an 18-year-old)) was the first of the group to really speak up and show acceptance for the choices Lindsay had made. Once Alison did so, the other sisters began to follow suit.

But, getting back to the original point, tomorrow was going to be an interesting day. While Trish and Lindsay had lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon and part of the evening with their families, the remainder of the ladies and I were taking a trip to the Krohn Conservatory in Eden Park, Ohio. Home to over 3,500 plant species from all across the world, the Krohn Conservatory was a place that I knew everyone would enjoy visiting. I was most looking forward to seeing the special holiday floral show, as well as the 20-foot waterfall and the goldfish stream attached to it.

Tomorrow - December 18 - was also Trish's birthday. She was going to turn 32. We were going hold off on the party, though, until the following day. I wanted all eight of us to be together so we could celebrate it properly.

Scarlett still had some Christmas shopping to do for the others, she told me, so I promised her that I would take her out tomorrow evening to various stores and outlets after dropping Kristanna, Devon, Pamela and Amy off at the hotel.

I then realized that in over four months of knowing her, tomorrow night would - believe it or not - be the first true one-on-one time that Scarlett and I ever had together. Oh, we had private discussions and whatnot while back in the mansion in Norway, but there was always the possibility of someone else popping up at any given moment.

Tomorrow night, though, would be a true and private one-on-one experience with Scarlett. I was looking forward to it. We would be out alone, and I had every intention of treating it like a date. It was going to be fun!

Perhaps I will finally tell Scarlett that I love her, and want her to take on a much more prominent and featured role in our relationship?...

***End of Chapter 2***