The four of us were heavily engaged in eating our pancakes, sausage, and eggs when Tamara got a Face Time request on her phone, which she eagerly picked up and showed us. It was Gracie, of all people ... still stylish, still adorable, and still irritatingly jealous. She saw me with Tamara and got a strange, defiant look on her face, after which she bent over and mooned all of us, which naturally got Jasper and me quite hard, while it made Tamara and Connie rather wet. She also flipped me the bird, at which point I blew her a kiss. Her instant reaction to that was shock, followed by swallowing hard and pouting at us.
"Why, Ben? Why would you blow me a kiss after what I just did? That's a loving act and I thought that you hate me as much as I love you!" Gracie exclaimed, obviously stunned by my gesture of affection.
"I never hated you, Gracie. Not once. Not even as frustratingly jealous as you became, forcing me to teach you a lesson about the necessity of controlling that jealousy. You exasperated me with your mad possessiveness, woman, but I love you even now. It's just that I also love Tamara, babe. As for the mooning, I enjoyed the view," I coughed as I admitted that much, "Your ass has always been of your best features."
"You don't hate me? You ... still care about me? But ... you dumped me for Tamara!" Gracie protested, struggling with her conflicted feelings.
"No, I didn't. I took Tamara as a lover, yes, but I never dumped you. You're the one who demanded that I choose, the one who left me when I wouldn't give her up. In other words, you dumped me. So, tell me, why did you hate me so much?" I confronted her as I shoved more pancakes into my mouth.
"I didn't ... I just love you so much! I don't hate you, never could! I love you! I need you, Ben! If I have to share you, I will, though it won't be easy. Are you sure that I must, that you can't give up Tamara? Sorry, Tamara, but I have a hard time with this sharing business," Gracie asked me outright.
"Can you give Tamara up? Honestly, now?" I demanded to know.
"Um ... no. She's just so cuddly and loving ... so damn good with her tongue, too. And her pussy is delicious! Sorry, but I couldn't. You'd have to share me with... ," Gracie's face changed as she realized that she had echoed my sentiments, as if to know that she had argued my case for me and would look a hypocrite now, "But it's not quite the same thing with women, is it?"
"Just as I thought. No one in their right mind would give up Tamara. She's far too delectable. Anyway, why isn't it the same thing, Gracie? Aren't women people, too? Aren't they equal to men? Aren't lesbian relationships valid as well as straight ones? Sex is sex, affairs are affairs, and cheating is cheating. But it wasn't cheating that I did when I dated you, Gracie. It was just my firm refusal to be exclusive or even pretend to agree to it. At least I wasn't a hypocrite or liar about it. I didn't promise you such things. I just swore that I would be good to you, take care of you, do things to pamper you, that sort of deal. I kept my word about that, didn't I? How many times did I go out of my way to be kind to you? Wasn't I a loving, doting sort of boyfriend in many ways, not just money, but other things, too. Not that I was submissive, but I loved to spoil you rotten," I observed, adding to Gracie's conflicted feelings now.
Gracie was now on the defensive and hung her head for a second before mumbling something, so I told her, "Speak up, Gracie. I can't hear you if you don't enunciate."
"Okay ... I was saying that I can't believe what a bitch I was and what a hypocrite. It's just that ... that... ," Gracie hesitated to say it.
"That what, Gracie? What is the matter?" I insisted, with Tamara, Jasper, and Connie also impatient now.
"I know that you're going to marry her now, aren't you. I wanted to be your wife! I wanted to have your ring and your name ... and," Gracie kept stalling, afraid of saying something.
"And what?" I pressed the matter.
"And ... stay in the country. Otherwise, when my student visa runs out, it's back to Colombia for me. I don't want to go back to Colombia! Would you? It's narcos, guerillas, death squads, poverty, and crooked officials. It's a horrible standard of living and back to meatless meals much of the week. I haven't lived there in four years and I don't want to go back! If I don't get married to an American, I'll have to go back when my visa runs out!" Gracie pouted, while I smiled at her, much to her astonishment.
"Gracie, don't you know what an anchor baby is?" I asked her abruptly.
"I've heard of that, but if I have a baby out of wedlock, what will happen to me? Who will take care of us?" Gracie asked, still curious, "I wanted to marry you and have your babies, and then you'd keep me around, but I was afraid that if you had other women, you'd ditch us like my father ditched my mother. I finally decided to leave first, before you did it to me, but I didn't dare to find another man. If I did, you might not want me. I just figured that somehow, if I slept with Tamara, she would take care of my needs until you wanted me back ... and make it more likely that you'd take me back, too."