I had a lot of time to think, and now I had a plan. And when hit the road, somewhere around ten AM, I set my plan in motion.

"You know what I think, Alice?" I said to her over the car radio blaring "Magic Bus."

"No, what, Daddy?"

"I think we could find a courthouse in one of these little towns, and make it official."

"Official? Right now?"

"Yeah, unless--"

"Let's do!!!"

And so we stopped in a little town and found a jewelry store, Alice proudly proclaiming to the elderly woman behind the counter that "We're getting married! We need wedding rings!" I got a plain white band, and Alice the same but with a little diamond, and the kindly lady, pleasantly nonjudgmental of our dramatic age difference and the fact that Alice appeared to be thirteen, gave us directions to the courthouse. There we got our marriage license, and thirty minutes later we met the judge, who performed the ceremony in his office with a secretary and a bailiff as our witnesses. Burgers and fries at a malt shop down the street was our muted celebration.

When we got home to the Manor, Rachel came running out the door, shouting "Alice!" and gave her the tightest bear hug you could ever imagine such a thin young thing was capable of giving. Emily joined in the hug as well.

"Is everything okay?" Emily asked. "We've been worried sick!"

"Yes, everything's great!" Alice answered. "Look!" She held up her hand, fingers splayed, showing off her new ring, then grabbed my hand by the wrist and held it up, too. "We're married!!!"

"Oh my god!" Rachel practically screamed, hugging Alice again, then hugging me.

"Married?!?" Emily said, with the same level of surprise, but not quite so much enthusiasm.

"Yeah, I'm pregnant! That's why Brian came to see me, because I was really scared. But then he asked me--"

Rachel just squealed incomprehensibly and hugged Alice again.

"--to marry him!" Alice grunted as Rachel squeezed all the air from her lungs.

"Of course he did," Emily looked over at me, smiling a bit sardonically. "Well, congratulations, you two. Let's celebrate! I think we have some ice cream."

Rachel held tight to Alice's hand as we walked into the Manor.

Much later in the day, Em and I were having cocktails, watching the evening sun painting the sky in swaths of orange and pink. She was already a couple Shirley Temples into the conversation.

"Well, I did tell you that you should get married and have a family," she said, smiling at me over her drink.

"You did."

"I'm just kinda surprised that it wound up being Alice."

"Really? Why?"

"I don't mean from your perspective. You're obviously head-over-heels. But she seems like... she's more of a 'free spirit.'"

I could read between the lines of her comment. "You've never trusted her much, have you?"

Emily sighed. "You know I like her. I've never thought that she's intentionally manipulative, or anything like that. But she's so young... So naive. I'm sure she was freaked out by the pregnancy, and you sweep in like a knight in shining armor..."

"So, you think she's being manipulative."

She looked at me over the drink. "No. She's just looking out for Number One, and for the baby, too, and that's the right thing for her to do. I'm just not sure it's the right thing for you."

"It's definitely the right thing for me. Like you said, 'head-over-heels.'" She gave me a sideways look, so I continued, "We actually talked about this last night. She told me that she felt like she was being manipulative."

"Hmm," Emily said. "I suppose it's good to have it out in the open."

"She's very open."

"I'll say!" Emily chuckled into her Shirley Temple. "Speaking of, is Alice, what do they call it, 'bisexual?'"

That question seemed to come out of left field. "I guess? Like you say, she's a 'free spirit.'"

"Mmhmm," Emily said. "I've always wondered about Rachel. She's a bit of a 'tomboy,' don't you think?"

"I haven't really thought--"

"I saw them kissing today," she interrupted my lame attempt at a lie.

"Kissing?" I tried to feign surprise, doubling down on the lie.

"Down by the pond. I'm sorry if you didn't know. I figured--"

"I knew."

"'Course you did. Alice is 'very open.'"

"Right."

"Well, I guess I can give up on the idea of having grandchildren." She polished off her drink, and handed me the empty glass.

"Another?" I asked.

"Yes, please," she gave me a forced smile.

"I don't think you need to give up on grandchildren. Alice is pregnant, even though she and Rachel are..." Describing what they were was beyond my ability to form the words.

"I suppose you're right. Maybe she'll be 'bisexual,' too."

"Maybe."

When I got back from the kitchen with another Shirley Temple in hand, she had an interesting, dreamy look on her face. "I've always wondered what it'd be like," she said, closing her eyes, "to kiss a girl. To have sex with a girl." Suddenly she opened her eyes and looked right at me. "Do you think they have sex??"

"Alice and Rachel?"

"Yeah, who else?"

"I..." I stammered.

She squinted her eyes at me. "You've seen them, haven't you? Oh my god, you've seen them having sex!!!"

"Em..."

"I know Rachel slept with you and Alice, that night when John took me out to dinner. I peeked into her room to check on her when we got home, and she wasn't there."

I didn't say anything. My heart was racing, feeling like we'd been busted.

"I didn't think anything of it then, I figured you all just fell asleep in your room watching TV or something. But now..." She sat up, looking right in my eyes. "Did they have sex that night? When you were there??"

"Em..." I said again, even more weakly.

"Did you and Alice have sex? Did Rachel watch you?"

"I don't know, I mean, maybe..." I'm sure she could tell I was lying, and lying lamely at that.

She sat back and took a big swallow of her drink. "I guess it's no big deal. My parents had lots of sex and they didn't care if us kids saw. I just wonder if Rachel felt jealous or freaked out or something that you were having sex with her girlfriend."

"I don't think she's jealous. She knows about me and Alice."

"And you're not jealous? You don't mind that Alice has a girlfriend?"

"No, not really."

She raised her eyebrows at me. "I guess I still have some of my old fundamentalist upbringing in me. I don't think I could handle John having a boyfriend."

"John didn't seem to mind about you and me."

"That's different. We're... We're not gay. That's different, don't you think?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

"Well, you get Alice to yourself tonight at least. If Rachel hangs around too long, just tell her to scram. She might be Alice's girlfriend, but you're her husband."

I laughed, trying to look like I was playing along. "Oh, I don't mind."

"Of course you do! It's your wedding night!"

"True... but that was really last night. We had a lot of sex last night."

She nodded, opening her eyes a little wider. "Some women get really horny when they're pregnant," she said.

"Well, then," I answered, "I don't have anything to worry about."

Emily laughed. "I suppose not! Now, all this talking about kissing girls has got me kind of flustered. I think I might retire." She downed the rest of her Shirley Temple. "Have fun on your wedding night!"

"Okay," I said. G'night!"

She stood up, then leaned over and gave me a big wet half-drunken kiss. "It's been a while since you and I fucked. You could always leave the two lovebirds to themselves some nights, and join me in my room for a while. Unless now that you're married, you're gonna be a one woman man."

I stood, and wrapped my arms around her, and kissed her. "That sounds like fun. Alice won't mind."

"Good." She gave me one more parting kiss and went in the house.

I sat back and smiled, enjoying the gathering darkness on that nice old porch. I really was a lucky man. Somehow, Rachel's mom had figured out what was going on with me and the girls, but she didn't manage to put all the pieces together. Maybe she's in denial. Maybe she does suspect something, but didn't want to ask. Maybe she isn't particularly worried about it?

I finished my drink and headed up to my room; the girls were sitting on the bed, playing cards, Alice in a little white nightie, Rachel in a pair of jammies.

The moment that I walked in the door, Rachel gathered up the cards and stood.

"I should go to bed," she said.

"What?" I responded. "You're leaving?"

"Yeah--"

"I told her you'd want her to stay," Alice said, "but would she listen to me? Noooo!"

"Rachel, sweetie..." I looked imploringly at Alice, who immediately climbed off the bed as well.

"I hafta go to the bathroom," she said, with a meaningful look in my direction, and then darted out the door.

Once Alice had closed the door behind her, I looked imploring at Rachel. "Don't go yet," I said to the young girl. "I haven't really had a chance to talk with you since we got back. What do you think about all this?"

She sat back down on the bed and gave her usual sweet little smile. "I don't know..."

I sat down next to her. "You know that nothing's changed between you and me, or you and Alice. I mean, nothing has to change."

She looked up at me with those great big eyes. "I always though that maybe you and me would get married, when I was old enough."

That made my heart ache. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I always thought so, too. Or at least I hoped so."

"You did?"

"Yeah. I love you, totally and completely. But, I love Alice, too, and when she told me--"

"I understand," Rachel said, looking down at her hands on her lap.

"But nothing has to change. Nothing at all."

"That's what Alice says, too. She says she still wants to be my girlfriend."

I nodded, emphatically. "And I still want to be your boyfriend, too. I know it might seem awkward, but..."

She lifted those big eyes to look at me again. "It's okay," she said. "I understand. And I still want you to be my boyfriend."

"You do?"

"Yeah..."

Goddamn I was happy to hear her say that word. I scooted closer to her. "Rachel, would it be okay if I give you a kiss?"

She gave me her sweet smile. "I would like that."

We hugged, and kissed, and then I said, "Alice and I'd really like it if you slept with us tonight."

"I'd like that, too," she said. But then her big eyes looked at me imploringly. "But, what about my mom? Don't you think she'll know?"

"She already knows something's up. She knows that you and Alice are girlfriends."

"She does??"

"She asked me... she told me that she saw you two kissing today."

"She did??? Oh, yeah, Alice really wanted to kiss when we were down by the pond."

"Your mom thinks it's sweet, that you and Alice--"

"She does?"

"Yeah, but... she doesn't know about you and me. She knows that you used to sleep with us sometimes, but she thinks it's just because you and Alice are girlfriends."

"Oh! Okay. I don't think we should tell her about us, about you and me."

"No, not until you're older, I guess."

"Yeah, I'm sure she thinks I'm too young to have a boyfriend."

"And that I'm--"

"That you're too old to be my boyfriend."

"Right."

"Okay. We're a secret! When we're around my mom, we'll just pretend that only Alice is my girlfriend, and you and me are just friends."

"That's right! Now come on, stay here tonight. Stay with your girlfriend Alice!"

She grinned. "But not because you're my boyfriend, since we're 'just friends.'"

"That's right! I promise I'll be a total gentleman and I won't even touch you."

She gave a sideways smile. "What if I want you to touch me?"

"I could probably be convinced."

Now her beautiful face lit in a great big smile. "Okay!"

Alice came back into the room right then, and when she saw us sitting next to each other on the bed, smiling like a couple love-sick schoolkids, her face lit up. "Is everything okay then?" She plopped down on the bed next to Rachel.

"Yeah," Rachel answered, a bit timidly. "Brian says he still wants to be my boyfriend."

"If course he does!" Alice answered.

"So you don't mind?"

"Of course not!" Alice protested the very thought of it. "I wish he could marry both of us!"

"Oh, me too!" Rachel's timidity had quite suddenly evaporated, and she was grinning big. "I always thought that Brian and I would get married, when I got older." Then she quickly added, "I mean, after you left, I thought that. And before you got pregnant."

"You know," Alice said with a mischievous eye-twinkling smile, "we could still do that! We could all be married! Not 'officially,' 'cause the laws are dumb, but between us!"

"Yeah!" Rachel was practically hopping up and down on the bed. "We could be secret married!"

Alice's mischievous smile instantly became even more mischievous. "Secret married?"

"Right," Rachel said, settling down a bit. "We couldn't tell my mom or anyone, because..."

Alice jumped up off the bed before the girl could finish. "Let's get 'secret married,' all of us, right now!

"Yeah!" Rachel looked up at me. "Isn't that a good idea, Brian? We could all be 'secret married!'"

I laughed at the girls' unbridled enthusiasm, and their flight of fancy. Alice ran over to a bag she'd brought with her from school, rooted around in it for a moment, then emerged triumphantly, holding up two rings that she'd found.

"Stand up, Rachel!" she said.

Beautiful eyes dancing merrily, Rachel stood.

"With this ring," Alice announced, holding one of the rings up between her thumb and finger, "I thee wed." Rachel held out her hand, fingers splayed, and Alice slipped the ring onto her finger. "Your turn, Brian!" And she handed the other ring to me.

Caught up entirely in the magic of the moment, I held up the ring. "Rachel, with this ring, I thee wed." And I slipped it on her finger, too.

"And now," Alice continued with the ceremony, "by the power invested in me by... by the sun and the moon and the stars, and everything, I pronounce us husband and wives! We may kiss the bride!"

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For the next chapter in this story, see Chapter Seventeen: Consummating the Weddings.

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