All of the characters in this work of fiction are above the age of 18.
This chapter contains (in no particular order) elements of lesbian sex, group sex, gay male sex and bondage.
Previously in this series, a young woman, Marie Stevens Melar, was an Emergency Department nurse who used her training to get through traumatic experiences to live with her violent gang rape that followed the murder of her husband on their wedding night. She had gone through the motions, but not allowed herself to grieve. She lived in a house on Long Island's south shore with her sister, Jenn Stevens, and Jenn's fiancΓ©, Chloe Drasher. Marie identified her attackers and testified against them in court. All but two of Marie's attackers died over the course of two years. The two who survived were prisoners at the Ossining Correctional Facility. Marie had a support system in place: her housemates, her parents, Catherine and Harry (who, secretly, are into bondage), her brother-in-law, Frank, her judge friend, Holly, and several nurses with whom Marie had slept. Kevin, Marie's therapist, had noticed that Marie finally seemed to be making progress in the grieving process. Chloe had been hit by a driver, Dori Lee, who was texting. Frank flew up to see Chloe. Jenn stayed in the hospital room with Chloe. Marie had given notice and left the hospital. She had crying spells due to sadness and guilt. She moved into Tarabella, an immense manor in Bridgehampton. Marie changed several of the rules at Tarabella and gave the staff new uniforms. Dori Lee tried to evade capture and was hit by another vehicle. Chloe saw Dori in the hospital and identified her. Jenn and Chloe moved to Tarabella. Jenn walked in on Marie and Jayne, Marie's Chief of Staff. Marie tied Jayne up and pleasured her vigorously. Marie confessed her love to Jayne but admitted feelings for Frank as well. Frank agreed that he and Marie would share Jayne. He also agreed to be gentle with Jayne and never try to dominate Marie. Holly found evidence that her husband was cheating on her. She filed for divorce and got her own apartment. Jenn and Chloe were finally married.
Thank you very much for the votes and comments on the previous chapters. Please feel free to give polite constructive criticism. I'm happy to answer questions, except about what's coming next. I do, eventually, read all the comments and often respond to them. So you are welcome to ask questions or, politely, tell me what I'm doing wrong. How else will I learn? Special thanks to my Beta Reader, FangsAnarchy, for her help and her enthusiasm. Thanks, also, to Borntolust for giving me permission to use a certain concept contained in his Wheat Country series. I came up with the concept on my own and used it differently than he but, since I edited that series, I felt it was important to get his permission. He was very gracious about the entire matter.
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The wedding ended and the guests were shown out by the staff. As Holly was about to go out the front door, a hand grabbed her upper arm.
"Holls, I need to talk to you," Marie said seriously.
"Sure," said Holly once her heart returned to her chest.
Marie led her to a small study and locked the door. Marie gestured and Holly took the seat Marie had indicated.
"What's up?" Holly asked.
"I'm sure I was just being punked by the brides, but I've been thinking about the bouquet and the garter," Marie said.
"Yeah, it wasn't exactly a sanitary way to transfer an article of clothing," Holly said with a small grin. "As a nurse, you've got to be freaking ou..."
"It wasn't the germs that got me thinking," said Marie. "It was who caught what. Jenn and Chloe pretty much outed Frank, Jayne and me. Not that I care who knows about the three of us. It's the happiest I've been in a long time. What I was thinking was what if we upheld the tradition?"
"You lost me," Holly said. "What tradition?"
"You know," said Marie in a singsong. "The one where those that catch the bouquet and garter will be the next ones wed."
"Ok," said Holly, dragging the syllables out as she pondered where this was going. "You caught a bouquet and a garter. Frank caught the other garter and Jayne caught the other bouquet. So..."
Marie continued Holly's line of thought from there. "So, is there any way the three of us can be legally married?"
"Um, what?" asked Holly, somewhat dumbstruck. She began to think about it. "Not in the United States, surely. 'Decent society' has spent the better part of the last forty years making sure that polygamy is illegal in all fifty states."
"Even Utah?" asked Marie. "I know they allow same sex marriages now. Don't they allow polygamy, too?"
"Um, not since the 1890's," replied Holly. "It was one of the requirements of statehood. I couldn't tell you the exact year, but I know it's a crime there, too."
"Shit," said Marie in anger. "Ok, you said not in the United States. What about Canada?"
"Hmmm," pondered Holly. "Well, Canada was the first non-European country to allow same sex marriages throughout the nation... Not to mention the Saskatchewan loophole..."
"Wait, wait, wait," said Marie. "What's the 'Saskatchewan loophole?'"
"Well," Holly said as she tilted her head to the side and ran her fingers through her shoulder length hair, "there's this little known law. I happen to know about it because of a recent divorce case I had my clerks research. In Saskatchewan, you can remarry before your first marriage's divorce is finalized. Both 'spouses' have full rights under the law until the divorce goes through. It would only be a temporary thing. The divorce would have to be finalized eventually. Not to mention that it wouldn't be what you're asking for. You would be married to Frank and Jayne but they wouldn't be married to each other."
"Fuck," said Marie. "Ok, so what about other countries? There are some places in Africa that have polygamy, right?"
Holly nodded her head. "Yeah, sort of. It's still not what you're asking for. In a few African and certain Arab countries something referred to as polygamy is permitted to guarantee the survival of the people. It isn't really polygamy, though. It's polygyny. The man is allowed to marry more than one wife. The thing is, the wives are not married to each other. It's misogyny at its finest."
"Crap. What about domestic partnership?" asked Marie.
"Geez, when you set your mind on something..." Holly said with a smile. "Hmmm. The State of New York does recognize domestic partnership, but it will only recognize one domestic partner at a time. Hold on a second. Wait. What about corporate partnership?"
"I don't have a clue where you're headed," admitted Marie.
"Ok, so domestic partnership is based on the idea of two equal partners having some rights, protections and benefits based on their involvement together just as partners in a corporation would have rights, protections and benefits. What if the three of you formed a corporation? You would be legally registered as partners. You would get death benefits and have some rights to decisions in an emergency. If you had your heart set on marriage, you could still publically marry one of your partners and you and your spouse could privately share the other as a lover."
"I think I get what you're saying, Holls," Marie said. "I would have it on paper that I am partners with both of them. It wouldn't technically be a marriage but it would be a legal recognition of us a unit. So, if I did marry one of them also, who should it be?"
"That's up to you, Ree," Holly said with a little shrug. "If you marry Jayne, she has an excuse to change her last name to Melar. If you marry Frank, you get a second chance at a church wedding."
"I'd love to have another church wedding, but I have to marry Jayne, right? We all have to have the same last name."
"Well, Jayne could just change her name to Melar," Holly said flatly.
"What do you mean?" asked Marie.
"Unless fraud can be proven as the motivation, a person can legally call themselves anything they want," explained Holly. "It would be easy to draw up papers to legally change her name to Jayne Melar."
"So, you're saying I could legally have my cake and eat it, too," gushed Marie.
"God! It's 'Eat your cake and have it, too'! Everyone gets that wrong! If you have a cake, of course you will eat it. The tricky thing would be to eat it and still have it. That really pisses me off," said Holly.
"Holls! Focus," said Marie. "My point is, I can be legally recognized as partners with both of them, marry Frank in a church and have all of us share the name Melar?"
"Yes, yes and oh, yes," said Holly.
Marie pulled Holly into a tight hug. Holly hugged her back and turned her head, drawing her mouth closer to Marie's. She kissed Marie on the lips very gently. When Marie seemed to be responding to the kiss, Holly became more aggressive. She slid her fingers under the spaghetti straps of Marie's gown and pulled them off her shoulders. Marie felt what Holly was doing. She broke the kiss and slapped Holly across her left cheek. Holly stopped.