by Amy DeMeritt
“Sam.” Sam looks up at Sara and emotion fills her eyes. Sara walks over to her and sits down in front of her. “What happened?”
Sam looks up at me, so I walk over and sit down next to her, taking her hand in mine.
“It was last spring. Kayla and I went to see a production of the Swan Lake ballet at the Grand Opera house in Wilmington. It happened when we were walking back to the car after the show. I hate the city and I was scared because it was dark and the streets were completely deserted. I was holding onto Kayla and kept looking around, but we somehow missed this guy as we walked by him. He came up behind us and grabbed my ass and tried to pull me away from Kayla. I tried to push him off, but he was too strong. Kayla immediately punched the guy in the face and started fighting him. He kept trying to punch and kick her, but she was able to block everything he threw at her. Every one of her hits were landing, and she was literally beating the shit out of him. That’s when he pulled the gun out. Kayla pulled me to stand behind her and backed us into a store front to block me from his gun. They just stared each other down for a couple minutes, neither of them saying anything. He suddenly looked terrified, as if he had seen the devil, and then ran away.”
Sara looks at me and her face is a mixture of pride, fear, and grief. Without saying anything, she leans forward and pulls me into a hug, holding me close. As she pulls back, her eyes have teared up a little bit.
“I really wish I could rip that target off your back that the universe cursed you with. I’m getting tired of almost losing you all the fucking time.”
“Wait a minute.” We all look over at Symone and she looks pissed off. “Kayla beat the shit out of some guy that probably would have raped you if she hadn’t fought him, and was willing to take a bullet for you, and you fucking broke up with her a couple months later?”
Sam’s eyes flare with rage and she starts to stand, but I wrap my arms around her and pull her back down.
“Kayla, let go of me. I’ve put up with enough of her fucking bullshit with hitting on you and fucking molesting you in your sleep. I’m not going to sit here while a fucking predator like her judges me.”
“Baby, it doesn’t matter what she says. We’ve worked through our past. We don’t need to relive it.” Sam looks at me and her glare slowly softens into a look of sad affection. “You’ve never thrown that in my face.” I smile and kiss her lips. “Why would I? I don’t regret doing that for you.”
“Even when I broke up with you?”
“No, baby. I would have even done that for you after you broke up with me. I protect what I care about with my life. You know that.”
She firmly presses her lips against mine and pulls me into an intense kiss. She leans into me, trying to push me on my back, but Sara reaches between us and pulls us apart.
“Ok, before you start ripping my baby sister’s clothes off, can you wait till we say goodbye and leave?” Sam smiles and laughs a little. “Fine. Goodbye. Now, get out.” Sara laughs and playfully pushes Sam. “Little freak.”
Sara stands up and holds a hand out to me, making me stand up with her. She wraps her arms around me and gives me a tight hug for a moment. When she releases me, she has that same sad proud look in her eyes.
“I’ll see you later. I should be home before dinner.”
“Ok. Look, I’m sorry I never told you about that night. I just don’t like talking about it.”
“I understand. Did you give that guy your wolf glare to get him to run away like that?” I smile and she laughs a little. “Nice. Ok, see you later.”
Keira comes over and gives me a hug and kiss on the cheek, telling me she’ll see me later. After she releases me, Symone comes over and wraps her arms around me. As she pulls back, she kisses my cheek and then hovers in front of my face, looking in my eyes.
“You’re the most interesting and incredible person I’ve ever met. I’m sorry I didn’t show you more respect before. I get caught up in the game a little bit too much sometimes and I don’t always realize I’m being ‘predatorial’ as you put it. I’m really going to try not to be so aggressive and just try to be your friend and dance partner.”
“Thank you. I’d really appreciate that and it’d really make my life a lot easier and less stressful.” She smiles and kisses my forehead. “Good. I guess I won’t see you again till we do a video session. Have a safe flight tomorrow.”
“Thanks. Have fun at your party.”
Chapter Eight
When we get back in town, Shannon drives us around campus and Oliver Street so Awenasa can see where we live and go to school and where some of our favorite places are. I hold her hand and watch her closely as she looks out the window to make sure she doesn’t have any regrets, and all I can see on her face is interested excitement.
After giving her a driving tour, we pull up in front of the apartment. When we flew back to Maryland, each of us only brought one large bookbag that we carried on the plane with us. Awenasa shipped a lot of boxes and a couple pieces of furniture here before we left town, but she had a few bags with her that we had to check on the plane. We grab two bags each, and with our arms loaded, we walk up the sidewalk to enter our home for the first time as a complete family.
My heart starts racing and so much excitement rushes through my veins that it almost makes me laugh. Awenasa meets my eyes as we wait for Shannon to unlock the door and her smile is so captivating that I nearly drop the bags in my hands as I’m drawn in closer to her. Her smile widens and I press my lips to hers for a moment. After the door is open, everyone starts to walk in..
“Wait.”
Everyone stops and I smile really big as I move through them to get through the door first. I set the bags aside and start taking the bags from each of them and setting them inside. They look at me with confused smiles and I just laugh a little. I walk over to Awenasa first and wrap my arm around her shoulders and scoop her up with an arm under her thighs. She laughs and wraps her arms around my neck. I walk her inside and before I set her down, I give her a short soft kiss.
“Welcome home, my love.” She smiles really big and kisses my lips again. “Thanks, puppy. I’m very happy to be home with you.”
One by one, I carry each of my babies inside, making all of them smile and blush. I close the door behind myself and look at all of my girls. I leap at them and wrap all of them in a big group hug.
“I love all of you and I’m so happy right now.”
Each of them tell me they love me too and give me kisses on my face, increasing my happiness and excitement. I pull back and take Awenasa’s hand.
“Ok, it’s time for the tour.” Awenasa laughs a little and hops after me as I pull her forward. “Ok, this is the dining room.”
After we moved into the two-bedroom apartment, we sold the four-seater table and chairs and bought a nice solid wood six-seater so we’d be prepared for when Awenasa moved in. I pull her forward to the kitchen and start showing her where stuff is in the cabinets, like glasses and dishes and food. I open the fridge and pout.
“Babies, we have to go grocery shopping.” Awenasa laughs a little and kisses my cheek. “You’re so cute. Do I get to see the rest of the place before we go shopping?” I smile and pull her back out of the kitchen with all of my girls in tow behind us. “This is the living room. We weren’t sure where you would want your grandmothers rocking chair, so we put it in here, but you can move it wherever you want.”
She smiles and kisses my lips, before I pull her down the hall and show her the bathroom. I turn the light on for the spare bedroom and she giggles a little.
“This is the dressing gallery and study I sent you pictures of a couple months ago.”
We have the walls lined with matching setups of a tall dresser with a full-length body mirror on the wall on one side and a tall shoe rack on the other side. There are five setups so there is one for each of us. We also have two desks along another wall and a large lounging chair in a corner with a lamp for reading.
“So, we keep o
ur day clothes in here, but we keep our pajamas in the bedroom. The closets have our jackets, sweaters, and other things that just shouldn’t go in the dressers. This is your dresser, but you have a couple drawers in the bedroom too.”
“I’m still impressed with this concept. This was Madison’s idea, right?”
“Yeah, Maddi came up with this plan.”
Madison is leaning against the doorframe watching us and just smiles.
Against the wall, between the two closets, there’s a stack of cardboard boxes Awenasa had shipped here with her furniture pieces.
“I can help you unpack your boxes later if you want. Ok, let me show you the bedroom.”
We walk into the bedroom and she smiles again. The large king size bed is made up with a nice cool summer comforter and sheet set with bright swirling blues, greens, and white. At the foot of the bed against the wall, is a long dresser with a large flat screen TV. We have nightstands on each side of the bed and under the window, out of the walking way, is a large wooden trunk of Awenasa’s. I walk over to the dresser and show her the drawers that will be hers for her pajamas.
She looks around and smiles in a happy way and then wraps her arms around my neck, before giving me a soft kiss on the lips.
“It feels very good and cozy here.”
“I’m glad you feel that way. I want you to feel comfortable here and I want this to feel like home for you. We all do. We want you to feel free to make this place your own. You know, add your own personal touches.”
“Thank you, all of you.” My girls smile and walk over to us. Awenasa releases me and gives each of them a hug and kiss on the cheek, before taking my hand and saying, “I guess we should go to the grocery store now.”
Grocery shopping with all of my girls is always really nice. I love that none of them shy away from being affectionate in public and will hold each other’s hands or lean on each other when we’re looking at displays, trying to decide what to get. When they have free samples of things in different departments, its cute to see them feed each other. It’s even better with Awenasa. My girls act the same as they always would, and actually include Awenasa in their adorable affections.
While Awenasa is looking at the tea display, Shannon stands close to her and they talk about tea blends and help each other pick out a couple different teas. A couple times, Shannon actually wraps an arm around Awenasa’s waist as she leans in to read the ingredient list on the box in Awenasa’s hand. When they turn back to the cart with the teas picked out, they smile and blush a little when they see me watching them with a big smile on my face.
When we get to the frozen food section of the store, Sam leaps in excitement and drags Madison with her to a woman giving out samples of chocolate frozen custard. Awenasa and I have items in our hands that we’re about to put in the cart when Sam and Madison come back and feed us a spoon of the custard. We’re not expecting it, so it makes us take a step back and laugh a little.
“Oh, that is really good. Do we have room in the freezer to get some of that?” Sam smiles at Awenasa and looks to Shannon for her approval. Shannon laughs and kisses Sam’s lips. “Yes, we have room.”
Sam smiles really big, takes the stuff in Awenasa’s hands, tosses it in the cart, and pulls Awenasa away with her to pick out the custard. When they come back, they’re holding a total of five pints, each of which are different flavors.
“We got everyone’s favorites.” I look at the flavors and shake my head. “That’s not Awenasa’s favorite, but I guess you won’t find that in a store.”
“Wait, what’s your real favorite?” Sam picks up the pint of buttered pecan praline, looking upset, as if Awenasa purposefully kept information from her. Awenasa smiles and takes Sam’s hands and has her place it back in the cart. “This is my second favorite. My favorite ice cream can’t be found in stores, at least, I’ve never seen it anywhere, even on the reservation. We have to make it by hand. It’s blue corn with raspberries.” Sam’s mouth hangs open and Awenasa laughs. “That sounds amazing. Can we make that?”
“Sure, but it may take some time to find the blue corn. I’ll probably have to order it.” Sam pulls her phone out and asks, “How much do we need?”
Awenasa looks confused and Sam smiles and moves over so she can see her screen. They look through her phone for a couple minutes and then after a few clicks, some typing, and several swipes, Sam is putting her phone away with a big grin.
“Done. It will be here in less than a week. Just in time for when we finish these custards.”
When we’ve finished shopping, we completely fill the trunk of the car with groceries. It’s after lunch time and my stomach is growling. Awenasa hears it and places a hand on my stomach as she laughs a little.
“Are you hungry, puppy?”
“Starving. What are we going to do for lunch?” Shannon looks at me in the rearview mirror and asks, “Are you able to wait for me to make something, or do you need something right away?”
“I can wait, but whatever you would prefer. We can just order something if you don’t want to mess up the kitchen twice today.” Sam turns around with a cute grin. “Can we get pizza? I’m craving junk food.”
Everyone agrees that pizza sounds really good, even Awenasa, which makes Sam really happy. Sam calls in an order for pizza, boneless wings, and salad before we get home. Then we work together to bring in the huge load of groceries.
After we have everything put away, I grab a bottle of water out of the fridge for each of us, and we go sit down on the couch. Shannon sits down first and Madison sits down next to her, resting a hand on her thigh. Sam joins on the other side of Shannon and lays on her back with her head in Shannon’s lap and her knees up in the air. Awenasa and I sit down on the other side of Madison.
Madison turns slightly to face us and she looks at Awenasa with a smile, and asks, “So, is it very different here from what you’re used to?”
“Yes and no. The reservation is in the mountains, so the lack of hills is very different. We have a mixture of built up areas with lots of stores, schools, and banks, but I think they’re much closer together, while it’s a little bit more spread out here. I’m used to living in a house that backs to the woods, so the apartment is pretty different, but not in a bad way.”
“Is there anything you had there that you don’t have here that we could try to find for you?” Awenasa smiles affectionately at Madison and shrugs a shoulder. “There’s many things, mostly people, that I’ll miss, but nothing that outweighs what I’ve gained by moving. If I think of something, and its attainable, I’m sure we’ll figure it out.”
“Can I ask a hypothetical?” Everyone looks down at Sam with trepidation and she smiles and laughs a little. “Ok, I know I have a bad track record for my hypotheticals, but I promise I’m not questioning anyone’s loyalty or love or anything.”
“Ok, little bear, what’s your question?” Sam smiles really big at Awenasa and lifts her head and rolls over on her stomach to face us. “If Kayla had decided she wanted to move to the reservation, would you have been ok with all us of coming with her?”
“Yes. We’re a family, remember?” Sam smiles really big and her cheeks blush a little. She sits up facing us and nervously toys with her bottom lip. “Can I ask you another question?”
“You don’t need to ask permission to ask me a question. If I don’t want to answer, then I’ll tell you.”
“Are we allowed, I mean, would you be upset if we started to…” Sam stops and blushes bright red and shakes her head. “Never mind.” Awenasa smiles and gets up to sit next to her. Sam turns to face her and Awenasa takes her hand. “Speak, little bear.” Sam smiles and looks down at her hand in Awenasa’s before looking up in her eyes. “Would you be upset if…” A loud knock at the door cuts her off and she exhales hard and her face falls. “I’ll get it.”
Shannon quickly stands up and rushes to get the door. We just wait in silence while Shannon takes care of getting the food and paying the delivery person.
After she closes the door, she comes back and sits down on the other side of me, giving Sam and Awenasa space. Awenasa places a hand on Sam’s cheek to lift her face to look at her again.
“You were saying?”
“I really don’t think I should say it.”
“The only time you’ve had such a hard time saying something is when you couldn’t tell Kayla that you love her when you two were dating, before you broke up with her. You remember how well that went.” Sam laughs a little and looks over at me nervously before looking back at Awenasa. “Would you be upset if we developed feelings for you?” Awenasa smiles and caresses Sam’s cheek. “Do you have feelings for me, Sam?”
“I’m sorry. I really tried not to, but I couldn’t help it.” Awenasa leans forward and kisses her on the forehead. “Don’t be sorry for that. I promised Kayla I’d keep an open heart to all of you and would allow what happens to happen. I’ve developed feelings for each of you too.” Sam smiles and relief washes over her. “I’ve been in love with Kayla since a very young age and my heart has never been able to develop feelings for another person like I love her. I’ve waited a long time to be able to have my wife the way I want her. I may not be able to develop feelings for you at the same pace or on the exact same level, but I do love each of you, just not the same way as I love Kayla, not yet anyway.”
“I hope you don’t think I asked that because I’m trying to rush you or make you think you have to have sex with all of us or something. I just…” Awenasa smiles and places a finger to her lips, cutting her off. “My mind never even went there. I’ve noticed how hard all of you tried not to watch when I was changing with all of you back at Kayla’s parents. I also noticed how you and Madison tried to move when I was kissing Kayla, but she held you down and didn’t allow you to move. All of you have been very respectful and I never once felt like you were waiting for your turn or anything like that.”
“So, it would be ok if I tell you I love you and give you hugs?” Awenasa smiles and laughs a little. “Yes, little bear. Come here.”
