I agreed to meet Martin for lunch the next afternoon because I was still angry and hurt and I wanted to see just how far my husband was willing to take the whole thing when he knew that it was against my wishes.
When we walked into the restaurant Martin was pretty much as Lucinda had described and he was clever and charming and immediately put Jeremy and I at ease. I found myself enjoying the lunch and conversation in spite of myself.
At first we talked about travel in general and our past travel experiences. Then we talked about what we had majored in in college. I had majored in History and Art and Jeremy had majored in Sociology and Political Science. During our conversation Martin asked us what we thought about several different subjects in our areas of study and I could tell he was judging just how knowledgeable we were in our fields and about the world. When I said to him that I felt that once I left university I felt that my real education could begin he asked what I meant and I told him, "Now I have the time to read the books I want to about Art and History and Philosophy that I want to and I don't have to worry about interpreting those books the same way my professors do to keep my grade average up."
He laughed when I said that and responded, "Thank God you managed to graduate from university without those silly academics stealing your intelligence and filling your head with all sorts of politically correct tapioca pudding!"
After the meal we retired to the lounge and over a glass of port (he told us he preferred the LBV's or late bottled vintage ports because he just could not put away a bottle for ten or twenty years at this point in his life) he told us a little bit about himself.
…
Martin told us he first left the United States in 1966 to go to graduate school in Stockholm, Sweden. He took a graduate degree there in International Economics and he also met his wife Ulla there. They returned to the United States in 1968 and Martin could not believe the changes that had taken place in two years. It was now the Age of Aquarius and Flower Power.
Martin took a job with one of the world's preeminent brokerage houses and they bought a place on the avenues in San Francisco as his career took off. Martin was from the Bay Area and Ulla loved San Francisco because it reminded her of Stockholm. In Martin's words Ulla was very beautiful and always turned a lot of heads in her own right. But then a movie called "Beyond the Green Door" came out and its star, Marilyn Chambers, bore a remarkable resemblance to Ulla.
He told us that more than a few times she was asked for her autograph. Usually it was by young guys who would not believe her when she said they were mistaken, but often young women would ask her for her autograph for their boyfriends. After a while it became a secret joke with us and she would give them the autograph signing Marilyn Chambers name.
"One day we were out shopping and two young girls came up and asked her for her autograph. One of the girls asked her to make it to her boy friend Gary and would she write, "Gary you were the best of the bunch, Love Marilyn Chambers." He told us.
The second girl, who just kept staring at who she thought was Marilyn Chambers in awe, finally worked up the nerve to ask in a shaking voice, "What was it like?"
"Ulla answered, "What was what like?"
"Being with all those guys at once," she clarified blushing with embarrassment.
"Ulla smiled at the girl and then said, "Unimaginable."
"That afternoon when we decided we had better see the movie we had no idea what an impact it would make on our lives." Martin told us with a sardonic smile.
Martin then went on to tell us how during the movie Ulla had reached over and put her hand in Martin's lap and upon feeling his erection leaned over and whispered in his ear, "I can tell this movie is turning you on too."
Martin told us that during the drive home Ulla asked him, "What do you think it would be like to be that woman?"
"I told her that as a man I really did not know if I could imagine the woman's perspective. Ulla then asked me then what did I think it would be like to be one of the men. I told her that the answer to that would depend on my relationship to the woman." Martin said shaking his head for emphasis.
What did she say to that Jeremy asked?
"Ulla gave me a look I will never forget and then said, "What if the woman was your wife?" Martin told us.
What did you answer I finally asked after a long silence passed?
"Ulla and I were always totally honest with one another, although I sometimes wish, in retrospect, that I would not have been so honest in my answer to that question. I told her that it would be a gigantic turn-on to bring her that much pleasure and to see her so totally without inhibition, but that I would also feel tremendously insecure. When she asked why I would feel insecure but not jealous I explained that I really believe that jealousy and insecurity are one in the same. I told her that I would not be jealous of other men knowing the pleasures of her body, but I would be jealous of the pleasure those men might be able to give her because I would be afraid, or insecure if you will, that they might pleasure her so much that I would lose her to one or even all of them." Martin told us in a low voice.
Martin took another drink of his port before continuing. "Ulla then said to me that she knew that there was a big difference between sex and love. She told me that she loved me because I was kind, intelligent, funny and thoughtful not because of the sex we had together. She told me that she thought sex for the sake of pleasure alone was possible without affecting our relationship. She told me that she would never be unfaithful to me but that she was curious what it would be like to be with more than one man at once and what it would be like to be with a black man. She reminded me that I had been her first and only lover and wanting to experiment a little was only natural."
When I asked Martin how can a wife experiment with other men a little and not be unfaithful Martin answered, "She told me that as long as I was a part of her pleasure, either as a participant or as the orchestrator of it, then the others would simply be my instruments to give her pleasure and if we loved one another we should want to give each other pleasure in anyway we could."
"And did you buy into that?" I could not help asking.
"Even to this day I cannot see the hole in that argument. We loved each other completely. Loving someone means wanting what they want, wanting to please them in anyway that you can, and don't forget this was the time of free love, the pill had just become widely marketed and sexual disease in the 70's seemed to be a thing of the past." He said defensively.
"What happened then?" Jeremy asked.
"I made arrangements for her to fulfill her fantasy. I joined a swinger group and picked out four men who I knew she would find attractive. I even acquired a trapeze seat and I arranged a re-enactment of that famous scene at the end of the movie for her. I found out from other members of the group that Ulla's fantasy was not an uncommon one among the wives at that time and that did make me feel better about what I was doing." Martin admitted.
Jeremy and I were both waiting for Martin to tell us what happened next, but the story was becoming so painfully personal that we both said nothing over what seemed like an eternity of silence before Martin continued, "That night, the night that Ulla fulfilled her fantasy was a moment of realization for both of us. I decided not to be a participant because I did not know if I would be able to perform sharing her with others and because I thought by not being a participant I could remain in control of the situation to a higher degree."
"Ulla was very nervous after I told her I had made the arrangements," Martin continued. I told her on a Thursday that I had made the arrangements for that Saturday afternoon and that Friday night after we made very passionate love Ulla asked me if I wanted to cancel. I told her I was very nervous about what we were about to do, but that the fantasy was now as much mine as hers and that I thought we should go through with it."
"What was it like?" Jeremy asked not even trying to hide the purulent interest in his voice.
"Jeremy, some things are personal, it's none of our business." I said to him in frustration because to be honest I wanted to hear the answer to that question as badly as he did.
"As I said before Ulla had never been with another man until that night and she had never even known a black man as even an acquaintance in Sweden. When things got started she became totally immersed in the pure depravity of what she was doing, of what she was becoming. She could not get enough of those four men. They all came in her or on her at least twice, some three times and she lost track of how many orgasms she had. When they were all totally spent I made love to her and she was totally wet and I was so turned on at what I had witnessed that even though she was a sea of sperm I came inside her almost immediately. She admitted to me later that it was the best sex that she had ever had and knowing that I was watching it happen to her added to the thrill of it all." Martin said in a husky voice.
"Did all this result in a divorce?" I asked trying to keep the sarcasm out of my voice.
"No, not at all," he answered, "it made our marriage and our love stronger. We embarked on a sexual voyage of exploration together and I found that I loved exploring new things for the first time with her. It was like we were both virgins again. I loved giving her pleasure in anyway that I could construct and I loved watching her being little miss greedy pussy as she would call herself."
Martin paused and finished his port and ordered another round for all of us before soberly continuing, "We had an open marriage through the 70's and into the 80's when my wife was one of the first heterosexuals to contract AIDS in the San Francisco Bay area. She died of it within a year as there were few drugs to combat it in those days."
