Twisted Oak: A Sexual Odyssey

by Blanche, Neige

  “I couldn’t agree more, my friend. How about you? Aren’t there any special ones you might be interested in?” Gregory asked.

  Mr. LeGeneret sighed. “No. I can’t seem to find any single person with all the qualities I like, but maybe she’s out there. I think I’ll have to travel to find her. The local girls are . . .” he paused and looked at Marie and then continued, “I can’t seem to find anyone locally. You’re lucky, Gregory, because your Neige Blanche came to you.”

  “An answer to my prayers,” Gregory said.

  “I didn’t think you were the praying type,” Mr. LeGeneret joked. “I’m not, it’s just a figure of speech. Don’t worry, you’ll find someone when you’re ready, Leo.”

  “I hope so. I don’t wanna be like Charlotte or Jefferson when I’m their age,” he said, referring to Ms. Portiere and Mr. Walters.

  “You won’t be, my dear. Look at you. You’ve got the three T’s, my friend,” Gregory said. “Time, treasure, and talent. Don’t worry. The right one’s out there for you and if you want to travel, I’ve got some projects brewing in the Pacific Rim. Maybe some nice Far Eastern culture would be good for you, if you know what I mean.”

  “Let’s talk next week. I may take you up on that, Gregory. I’m getting terribly bored lately,” he said, and walked off.

  “Poor Leo,” Gregory said to me, “he can be so depressed at times. I find it helps him when I give him work to do. We all need to do something productive and that guy just doesn’t have self-motivation. Typical trust funder who can’t get himself to work regularly, but when I put him to work, he always comes through. It’s a puzzle to me. He complains about being bored, but does nothing about it other than play sex games with his girls. There’s just more to life than that, don’t you agree?”

  “Absolutely,” I said. “I think it goes hand in hand with our lesson yesterday about becoming too self-absorbed. I mean, if you’re in it for only yourself, no matter what it is, work or relationships, there’s no meaning. It’s just shallow and means nothing.” I stopped to think. “Mr. LeGeneret is really spoiled.”

  “And lonely,” Gregory added.

  Samuel came to us with two large plastic trays piled high with peeled crawfish, corncobs, potatoes, and sausage. Garlic cloves and mushrooms dotted the pile. He handed us flatware wrapped in cloth napkins.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “You’re welcome, miss. Would you like another beer?” he asked. Gregory piped in, “Yeah, get us another round. Nezzie, you’re gonna need another beer to cool your mouth off after this,” he smiled.

  Girl finally joined us. Sunny sat with the band, leaving Ty to enjoy the two women. The music was unbelievable, better than any I had heard in the French Quarter. The joy the sound created was contagious. Even Mr. LeGeneret was laughing and carrying on.

  I enjoyed watching Ty sitting between Girl and Marie. He was handsomely dressed in natural linen slacks and an African patterned shirt of gold and black. His ringlets bounced when he danced or shook his head. He became more effeminate as the afternoon progressed, and took turns dancing with Marie and Girl; sometimes he would dance with both of them at the same time.

  Sunny was on stage and smiled brightly as he welcomed all the guests. He talked about the day he met me, and took full credit for introducing me to Gregory. Even though he was hamming it up for the crowd, I still felt it unfair for him to take all the credit, though Ty didn’t seem to mind.

  “Where would we be without our friends?” he asked. He looked at Ty and I thought the boy might melt. Ty mouthed the words “I love you” to Sunny and blew him a kiss.

  “We’re all sitting here because it’s Miss Nezzie’s birthday. Now I have to tell you, she came into my life as a new friend and confidant and she also made being Greg’s best friend a little easier. See, cuz now that she’s around, I don’t have to listen to him whine about being so lonely. So anyhow, I sat down the other day and wrote a song about how she came into our lives, but it’s also a song about how, no matter how lost we are, we can be found again in love. I call the song Lost and Found with River Tide. Nezz, baby girl, this one’s for you. Give me an A minor, boys.”

  The crowd grew still as we all listened, and I thought I’d cry even before he began.

  “She comes to me on morning sunbeams with river tide, the smell of night lingers. She brings to me gifts of sadness; of light with river tide she survives the darkness. She gives to me shades of hope; happiness with river tide contentment at my door.”

  He looked up at me with those empathetic eyes. I knew he was talking about my withdrawal. Gregory held me tight and handed me his handkerchief.

  “My lost girl holding fast to a life so far away. My lost girl found at last, found at last.”

  Ty started bawling, so Marie and Girl took him to the table and comforted him while Sunny continued.

  “She stays with me and shares her soul's gift, with river tide in her eyes I am found. She loves with me; warmth, love's caresses with river tide in her kiss I am freed. She laughs with me, sweet friendship cherish. With river tide, in love, peace we reside.”

  He strummed more sweet chords and hummed the refrain.

  “With river tide in love, peace we reside. My lost girl holding fast to a life so far away, my lost girl found at last, found at last. In your peace, I am free.”

  I could not help myself. I broke free of Gregory’s grip and ran to Sunny and he jumped off the stage to hug me.

  “I’m so glad you’re here, cher,” he said. “God, I love you and I couldn’t be happier that Greg finally has what he’s been lookin’ for. Thank you, Nezzie.”

  “Okay, ya’ll, folks are gonna get ideas about you two.” Gregory grabbed my hand and hopped up on stage, bringing me with him. “Truth be told, if you all haven’t met Tyrone—he’s in the back with the ladies,” Gregory said, pointing, and all eyes went to Ty, Marie, and Girl. “If you haven’t met Ty, I suggest you do. He’s a lovable character and Sunny’s partner. The truth is, Ty, being the social creature that he is, met Neige Blanche in town one day and introduced her to Sunny and Sunny introduced her to me, so I guess we can all thank Ty for this.”

  Ty stood up, bowed, and waved to the crowd like he was a princess in a parade.

  “Thanks, Ty, for everything. I owe you, friend. I owe you big time.”

  “I love you, sir. I really do.”

  I cringed when Ty called him sir, but no one seemed to think it was strange. Ty went around the crowd to be at Sunny’s side. I started to leave the stage and Gregory pulled me back. The band set their instruments down. It was quiet. I could hear the generator running.

  “Neige Blanche, this isn’t usually my style,” Gregory began, “but here we are among friends. Love at first sight happens all the time and Sunny was right when he said it happened with us, or at least with me. I fell in love with you from the moment I saw you. Thank you, Nezzie. I love you, girl.” He got very serious. “I’m the happiest man in the world because you were born, so that’s why I would be honored if you’d marry me.”

  He reached into his pocket and took out a ring.

  “Oh, Gregory-Michel,” I said in disbelief. “Oh my god.” I put my hands to my mouth and then to my throat, feeling the thick golden collar. He was apprehensive and his electric blue eyes glittered in the daylight.

  “Yes! Yes, I’d be honored,” I said, shaking with nerves.

  He took my left hand and slipped on the simple solitaire diamond, set in yellow gold to match my collar.

  Epilogue

  All the children are here this year for Thanksgiving. It has been a couple years since we have all been able to get together, what with their school and work schedules. They are young adults now and have their own lives. The weather is balmy for this time of year, so I sit at our desk in the library with the windows open. Soon, we will begin decorating for Christmas.

  Let
me begin with my birthday party all those years ago. I recall feeling as if I could float away to never-never land, and metaphorically, that is what I did.

  We married on Christmas Eve of that same year here at the farm, and this is when the customs stopped. It was time for us to start a family and Gregory wanted no question regarding paternity. My name officially changed to Neige Blanche Monique Delacroix. The girl that existed before was long gone by then.

  Gregory is such a good father. I could not have found a more devoted life mate. He is always good to me, but treated me like a queen when we decided to get pregnant. He lovingly kept track of my cycles to ensure pregnancy and helped me maintain a healthy diet to ensure the health of our children. He did it for me, too, because childbirth can be dangerous and he wanted to make sure I was ready. He is so dear and still treats me thus. I could never imagine loving him more than I did all those years ago when he swept me off my feet, but with each passing year, we grow closer in new, deeper ways.

  I became pregnant with our first child, James Madison Delacroix II, shortly after we married. James is handsome and strong and has his father’s intense, electric blue eyes, but his thick curls are blond like mine. He has taken a liking to Leo LeGeneret’s eldest daughter, Simone. She is beautiful, tall, slim, and brown-haired with large brown eyes like her father. James has finished the MBA program at Yale with honors and is preparing to move back to Twisted Oak in the spring to begin working with his father.

  He is interested in the lifestyle, which is good considering Leo did not spare any time or expense training Simone. After finishing her undergraduate studies at Cambridge College in the United Kingdom, he sent her to Rouen, France, to learn our ways. James will spend a few months in the city at the Banning house before coming home to court Simone in earnest. For this, I suppose I am grateful, but as his mother, I hope the pain is not too much for him.

  Gregory is such a good teacher. He speaks openly with James, as he will with all the children when they are old enough about our experiences and expectations if they choose to enter the lifestyle. He even gave James a tour of Ursuline, and James confided that he had already been experimenting with the apparatus all through college. Gregory says James comes by it naturally and he is pleased that James has chosen the traditional Twisted Oak discipline. James told me that he would not do anything his father and I had not done. I support my son because if I had to do it all over again, I would not change a thing.

  Leo and Gregory have arranged for the marriage, so we have demolished the abandoned cottages near the back of the village so James can build a home for his bride. Gregory painstakingly saved the cypress planks and bricks for use in the new construction. I have no doubt James will build a lovely home at Twisted Oak, but until it is finished and he is married, he will stay in the east wing when he finishes at the Banning house.

  Our second child, Anna Catherine Monique, is bright, outgoing, and very pretty, with her father’s eyes and wavy sandy-blond hair. She graduated last spring from LSU and took the year off to travel. She will attend graduate school in San Francisco to obtain her doctorate in Humanistic Psychology. She is intensely intuitive like her father and very analytical. She has an uncanny ability to live in the moment; she experiences the present like no other person I know. I am grateful for this because she will always follow her bliss.

  San Francisco seems far away, but Girl and Marie are close by and she is only a quick plane ride away from us. She has no designs for a special man currently, but would like to be a mother someday. She has seen the playroom and her father lovingly shared the secrets of our lifestyle with her. He tells me she was full of questions and listened attentively to his answers. She told her daddy her interest in our behavior is academic in nature, that she travels her own physical and intellectual path. As a scientist, she remains objective. As a human being, she is a mystery to both of us.

  Genevieve Marie Blanche was born on a stormy morning. The oak twisted as hard as my womb, and I labored for a long time. Gregory was very worried, especially when the lights went out, but before the break of day, Gennie came into the world with a fighting spirit. Gregory and I laughed when he said she was a born dominatrix. As well, she is; top of her class, top of her athletics, top of her social clubs, and so much like her mother, hardheaded and cerebral. She will graduate next year from Wellesley with her bachelor’s degree in Political Science and plans to continue that path. Her goal is to be president someday. If anyone can do it, it is my Gennie.

  Our last little love came to us not without struggle. The pregnancy was going very well until the beginning of the last trimester when I began to experience contractions. Dr. Hartman put me on strict bed rest and advised I spend the last month of my pregnancy in the city near the hospital. Gregory and I trusted his judgment, as he had successfully delivered all the children thus far. Thank god we did. We were barely settled into the apartment when I awoke in the middle of the night with painful contractions and bloody sheets. Gregory went mad with fear and thankfully, Jack was there to call the ambulance. The last thing I remember before waking up in the hospital was the inside of the ambulance. Gregory decided then that four children were enough. I returned to Twisted Oak with a healthy baby boy.

  Gregory-Michel Jr. is our athlete. He is in his first year at Georgia Tech on a full-ride tennis scholarship. Gregory is optimistic for him. We are pleased to have a “techie” in the house. Already it has changed our business in so many positive ways. Greg Jr. will eventually work for the family business after he finishes his education. He loves his tennis, though, and struggles with staying in school while playing the semi-pro circuit. We will see how this goes, but his father is adamant that he stay the course with his education. It is so important for Gregory to have educated prodigy, and in this, I agree. But I do not want to push Junior too hard in one direction or the other for fear he will rebel and become destructive. He is moody and impulsive like his father. In this way, he lives up to his name; when pushed, Junior pushes back in spades. I think about how Gregory struggled at that age with very little guidance and I thank the stars he is here for his son. I suppose being the youngest makes Junior feel even more compelled to prove his independence. He is a keen competitor, so bright and calculating. Gregory says Junior will benefit the most from a few months at the Banning house. I agree, but oh, how our children challenge our balance.

  I have never seen Greg so happy except maybe when the children were born. The business thrives and our children do too. Every now and again, we pinch each other to make sure we are not dreaming. He has done well in maintaining my dreams. I love him more than life.

  We have become very good friends with Ella and Charles Ladnier and every Christmas they come with their family to enjoy the holiday. They have three grandchildren now, and it is nice to see the children’s wing back in use. The Ainslies, Barnes and Paige, come regularly too. The six of us share a special bond raising our kids together and sharing our love. It is nice to have a little variety every now and again. We have had terrific holidays together traveling the globe and indulging our pleasures as a group when we can. I suppose as we have gotten older, we have mellowed, but inside, those young beautiful people still exist.

  Marie left Twisted Oak with Girl, first to Baton Rouge and then on to San Francisco. I did not realize back in the day that Girl was heir to a sizable fortune, and they live in luxury out in those California hills. We all flew out there this year for their wedding. The two of them adopted a baby girl they named Sierra. They opened a recording studio out of which Marie has made numerous records of her own and with Sunny. The successful studio is a hub for new artists and a beacon for world musicians. I am pleased to see Marie doing so well and having such love in her life, another dream come true for me with a little help from my friends.

  Sunny and Ty are happy living in Treme, in Ty’s house. The two of them are still so dear to me and we see each other often. After Junior left home last year, Greg and I have
been spending more time in the city. I sit on the balcony of the apartment and watch the people in the square, the locals understanding the tragic nature of the place and the tourists confounded by it.

  Jackson came back to Twisted Oak before our wedding, demure and chastened by his experience. I think Greg still feels bad for what happened. Occasionally, the three of us talk about it. Jackson understands why Gregory did what he did, but even so, Greg being so sensitive, he struggles with his own insensitivity at the time, especially now that he has experienced the kind of love Jackson had for his father. He says he does not know what he would do if he lost me. He often refers to his fear when Junior was born. Those old insecurities creep in, but I love his protective nature because I understand that he treasures me more than life itself and that I am his in every way.

  Jackson lives in the apartment with his partner, Lane, and they seem very happy. Greg and I spend a lot of time there in the city when we are not with Ty and Sunny. Luxury condominiums replaced the youth hostel, and you can buy a loft in the rice mill for a few hundred thousand dollars. Greg and I considered buying a place, but we have Ty, Sunny, Jack, and Lane to stay with when we are in town.

  My favorite place to this day is on the balcony of the apartment reminiscing about those youthful days. In turn, Greg and I welcome Jack and Lane to our home. Sometimes when they are visiting, and Jackson does not think anyone notices, I see him linger over the elder James’s picture and I hope Lane does not see. I cannot imagine being so heartbroken, but Lane is solid and strong and very handsome, just the kind of person Jack needs as he approaches the last years of his life.

  I have spent over half my life with Gregory. How in the world did I get so old? How in the world did I ever end up here with such a charmed life, with such an enchanting partner? I am not sure if there is a god, but if there is, he smiles down on me every day. Fortune smiles on, and I have Greg to thank for it, and my dear loving friends.