Recap: On a business trip in his own plane down the Caribbean chain, Jonathan disappeared, leaving a wife, pregnant Allison, behind. Jon's business partner Matt and Allison slowly develop a loving relationship, conceive their own child, and, after Jon is declared legally dead six years after his disappearance, Allison and Matt marry. A year or so later, Jon shows up very much alive. A torrid reunion occurs between Allison and Jon with Matt's blessing, and then his participation. After that initial night of passion, Jon reveals he too has wed someone else.
*
Jon took a deep breath and began: "There's another part of my life I need to share with you – from the past few years. I didn't mean to hide it yesterday, but ... well, other events and our reunion disrupted my thinking." He paused and blurted out, "I'm married."
The statement hung on the air for at least a full minute as both Matt, and I digested the implications of what Jon had said. He was gracious enough to allow that thought process to mature.
I finally said with some enthusiasm, "Tell us about her. Where is she?"
Jon said, "You'll laugh. She's my psychiatrist's daughter; her name is Molly. We live outside a town called Basseterre – it's the capital of St. Kitts and Nevis ... with our two-year-old daughter Coral. I didn't ... I just didn't know how to tell you earlier. I was scared you'd reject me out of hand."
"Wow!" I breathed. I still studied Jon with fascination and love. Nothing he could say, even loving another woman and having a child by her, would change my love for him. In a way I was shocked, yet I felt joy that he'd found love and a life of some kind despite his amnesia.
Jon went on, "Molly is also a psychiatrist. Molly and her father teach at the medical university on the island. They also teach at some of the other universities in the Caribbean chain. Oddly enough Molly's specialty is the treatment of amnesia, so you can see how we met."
Jon paused and redirected his thought back to our situation, "Now I'm not even sure if the marriage is legal ... I mean I'm still sort of married to you ... maybe. And then I'm not sure of Molly's status when we come to the U.S., particularly since I was declared dead. Is she my wife or are you? Do I have two wives; am I a bigamist? Do I have to get a court to declare me 'alive' again – or get a new birth certificate?"
"Does she even want to come here?" Matt asked.
"We should pay back the insurance money," I noted quietly.
"Oh yes," Jon said proudly, still focused on Molly. "She studied psychiatry at Tulane – got her MD degree there. She did her internship and residency in Fort Lauderdale, so she's even licensed in Florida – and, of course, where we live."
"What about us?" I asked softly. I reached over and took his hand.
Jon shook his head. "When I left the island Molly told me to go back and ... and to be your husband – if you'd have me. She was or is willing to be the other woman, or to play any role in our lives I want ... or that you'll accept. We didn't know about Matt and you ... or the kids." He gestured to the playground where the children played on a seesaw, Little Jon being solicitous of his younger sister. I could see tears in Big Jon's eyes.
"You love her?" I asked softly. I already knew the answer from the tender way he talked about Molly.
Jon looked at me with a surprised look, "Yes, very much. She's been through a lot with me – as I slowly rediscovered who I'd been. She helped me heal and get back to normal – at least as normal as I am now." He squeezed my hand and added, "And I love you too. I always have ... I just sort of forgot for a while. When the memories started to come back, they came back with all the feelings I ever had for you." He leaned in and kissed me. Matt watched with a smile.
"What did Molly think when you started to remember me? Wasn't she horrified to find out you were married? Suddenly, all the questions started to roll into my head, one right after another." I had to bite my tongue rather than swamp Jon with my sudden awareness of the larger picture and all the implications.
"In a way she was surprised, but by then we were married, and she was pregnant. For a while, we weren't even sure if my memories were accurate – fact or fiction. Molly just accepted what came out of me – there were few judgments and little shock. Around that time, she did most of the hypnosis and brought the memories out from my damaged head. She's a remarkable woman. She's seen the love I feel for you – and for her. She knows it all."
"Why would she tolerate you coming back to me?"
"She said it's the right and loving thing to do," Jon said slowly as he stared at the children. "She's inclusive in her love, plus she knows that I won't abandon her. There's little about our time together she doesn't know about – after I started to remember, things often came flooding back in large blocks, like parts of my brain were suddenly turning back on after having been switched off for so long. She or her dad had me talk through my memories as they came. Initially, my memories were disconnected from each other – like reading random paragraphs in a book; but weeks later I'd connect a bunch of them together and suddenly they'd make some sense. Molly's father said it's like putting a puzzle together and suddenly realizing what part of the picture is about."
"Just how detailed were you – about us?" I asked with a touch of humor.
"Everything. Every detail. The love; the kinky stuff we used to do; our spats; our dating; fun places we made out; being engaged; the wedding and honeymoon; trying for a child; the house; our plans and aspirations; everything."
"That must have been entertaining for her," I said with a slightly sarcastic tone. I thought of how so many women are repulsed by the idea of kinky sex, particularly if one of the participants is their husband and the co-conspirator is not them.
Jon actually laughed. "It was. She's into some of the kinky stuff too – as we were, plus some of what we did around here turns out to pass for normal down on the islands – like nude bathing, wearing nothing under a summer frock, or making love on the beach with others around. Allison, I'm still a lusty guy – that part of me didn't get injured. She likes that in me; she's that way too. Believe it or not, we never had a bad or awkward moment of any of this."
I raised my eyebrows and winked at Matt. I said, "Let's go!"
We were all quiet for a few moments. Matt said pensively, "What none of us has right now is a vision of the future. There are so many options, and I bet you haven't even thought about all of them."
*
A week later, Jon ran across the tarmac at the small airport on St. Kitts and pulled Molly into his arms. I recognized her from snapshots Jon had showed us. He also lavished some kisses on two-year-old Coral in Molly's arms. Matt and I purposefully lagged behind so he could have an intimate moment with his wife – well, one of his wives.
Molly passed the toddler off to Jon and welcomed Matt and me with open arms as we walked up to them. Her hug and kiss were more than perfunctory, particularly with me. She studied me carefully at arm's length afterwards – we both did. We looked closely at each other, both of us smiling as though we were meeting a long lost friend.
There were some obvious similarities between Molly and me. We were both about the same height, both slender and athletically inclined, both generously endowed with breasts, and both brunettes. Our eyes sparkled with the excitement of the moment. Molly sported a deep Caribbean tan from the constant exposure to the sun in this clime. I'd retained a little of the tan from a recent vacation. In some ways, I thought I was looking at a long-lost sister. There was an instantaneous connection at a deep level between us.
Molly then greeted Matt with a similar strong hug and kiss. "I feel I know so much about you, Matt," She said. "I'm so glad you've actually come to visit – to see us here on the islands. I can't wait for us to talk and learn more about each other."
Finally, she latched onto my arm and Matt's and led the two of us back to the terminal to get our luggage. We loaded the luggage in Molly's open Jeep, and she drove the five of us over narrow pockmarked macadam roads to their home, Matt and I in the back seat on either side of Coral's kiddie seat.
Home was a sprawling single story ranch house on a low bluff that overlooked the Caribbean Sea. A core had obviously started the structure, and then wing after wing after extension had been added to extend the building. A large pool and expansive patio graced the back yard, along with lush landscaping. One could easily forget that anyone else lived on the island, let alone in the rest of the world. Jon explained that they had a twenty-acre plot on a narrow peninsula with a thousand feet of shorefront.
Molly gave us a tour of the house while Jonathan settled our luggage in a guest room. We learned that Molly's father and mother had bought the core of the house decades earlier and then gradually added to the building as family need changed over the years. He gratefully turned the place over to his daughter after he became a widow. He was now trying to retire from his teaching duties at the local university. He lived in a condominium adjacent to the medical college on the island. She laughed and said, "That's his excuse for moving in with a gorgeous medical professor just a few year younger than he is. The two of them are like newly weds, although they've been living together for six years now." She added, "You'll meet them tomorrow when we drop off Coral for the weekend."
Jonathan joined the three of for the house tour holding Coral in his arms. She seemed glad to see her father again. He suggested, "Let's take a swim and sit on the patio. I always get some psychic strength looking out at this view." We were all exalted with the view: Nevis island about three or four miles off to the right, a semicircular cove of white sand called Banana Bay spread out a hundred yards below the pool deck, and there wasn't a soul in sight except for a lone sloop sailing between the two islands. I inhaled the beauty of the place as we went to open our suitcases and get our bathing suits.
