If possible, I wanted to make right what had gone wrong in Vegas…
Though the villa wasn’t massive, it was large enough that we could strategically reserve one wing of the house for our sibling affair. It was risky with Amanda hanging out nearby, but we picked three bedrooms — one for me and two for my sisters — that existed almost separately from the rest of the house; served by their own lounge and kitchenette. As I settled into the largest of the three, the twins snuck in to see me. They were bikini-clad and ready to enjoy the beach.
Tec tackled me onto the large canopy bed with Elle soon joining as we struck a familiar pose: them at either side of me, our bodies tangling.
“You’re friends with a fucking dictator!” Tec declared, looking at me with wide-eyed amazement. “What the hell did you do to make that happen?!”
“I gave his son a teddy bear.”
Snorting, my sister made it clear she wasn’t buying my story, even though it was the plain truth. After all, fact seemed so much stranger than fiction nowadays.
Enjoying the feeling of the girls’ half-naked bodies, I was beginning to hope for a snug nap, but it wasn’t meant to be. “We’re going to go play with Amanda,” Elle explained, rolling away from our love-nest and getting onto her feet.
I raised an eyebrow. “Play?”
“Ugh, you know what we mean. We’re gonna splash around in the pool and stuff.”
“Oh, really?” I quizzed, feeling a little cheeky. “What about the story Tecla told? The one about your birthday?”
Elle made sure to shoot her sister a dirty look before putting her hands on her hips and mounting a rebuttal. “We played a stupid party game and Mandy tried to kiss me. I ran away because I’m not a lesbo.”
Now, Tecla rolled away; also eager to go spend time with their friend in the villa’s massive seaside swimming pool. Though, she seemed to want a private moment with me, and she watched as her sister left before sitting back down on the bed for a one-on-one chat.
“What’s up, darling?” I asked.
Tec enjoyed the pet-name and spun around to plant a kiss on my lips. “Mmm… I want to talk to you about something important.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s about Amanda,” my sister explained. “You should try to find a place for her.”
I was puzzled. “A place? Like, as part of our whole deal?”
Shaking her head, Tec realised she hadn’t been specific enough. “Don’t get me wrong, Elle is like a cat that wants to kill a mouse and bring it to her owner… I mean, she wants to pull Amanda by the hair and throw her to the wolves. In that way, I think you two are similar — you think Amanda is lower on the food chain. For you, that means you can judge her. For Elle, it means she can use her as a toy.”
“Don’t be silly,” I defended. “No one here thinks about Amanda in that way… Elle adores her, and I’m happy you two have such a close friend.”
Tecla smiled. “Why do you judge a cheerleader’s choices more harshly than those of a pornstar? Is it because there’s a word for someone like Kylie Lane: that she’s a whore. So, she can do whatever she wants and be whoever she wants, but Amanda has to live up to a higher standard.”
I reminded, “You’re the one who kept using that word to describe Kylie. I never–”
“Said it,” Tecla interjected. “You never said it, but that doesn’t mean you never thought it.”
My sister’s insight gave me food for thought. Much like her twin, she had a way of confronting who I was — the best and the worst — in a way that actually made me evaluate my positions. It was a rare thing, being able to talk to someone who could cause a change of mind.
I didn’t judge the pornstar for being a pornstar. To me, it was a matter of who and what she was. So, I hadn’t even considered that her profession came about as the result of her choices, but rather that she was simply a different animal from the rest of us.
When it came to Amanda, I saw only her choices, ambitions, and abilities. Ignorantly, I failed to consider her individuality.
“You’re right,” I confessed.
Giving me a kiss on the cheek, my sister was happy to have made her point. “Don’t worry, I feel the same… Kylie is a different creature compared to Amanda, but you are a little harsh on our friend. Does cheerleading serve some noble purpose? Probably not, but she’s doing what she loves.”
“It’s hard operating in a world where both fate and consequence hold equal sway.”
Tecla agreed. “Which is why I don’t dabble in pop-philosophy or religion…”
“Same thing,” I teased. “Now… What’s this about Elle treating the poor girl as a ‘toy?'”
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Tec assured. “It’s just girls being girls — sister-wives doing what sister-wives do for their rich and powerful men.”
Raising an eyebrow, I watched as Tecla beamed the most beautiful smile; full of mischief. She got to her feet, doing a spin that saw her long black hair fall wildly down her back, finally ready to go join her sister and their friend. Before she left, though, there was one thing I absolutely had to arrange.
“You’re not my sister wives, yet,” I grinned. “Put on your pretty white dresses and meet me on the beach before dawn… I spotted a private space from the chopper.”
“A beach wedding!” my little sister cheered. “I can’t wait!”
• • •
The crest of the sun was hardly over the horizon, creating the most incredible natural light. With the rich blue waters kissing the coast and the fresh tropical breeze, the slight darkness seemed more purple than grey — bathing the world beneath the sky in a royal colour.
I walked along the beach, barefoot in a black suit, forgoing a tie in favour of a popped collar. It was a hard walk; probably a mile from the door of my bedroom to our meeting place. Still, I’d walk five-times the distance if it meant I got to see what I saw that morning…
Tecla and Elle were sitting on the rocks, looking out over the sea. As they saw me, I was greeted by the most amazing smiles, and the sight of them in their knee-length white dresses. The same dresses they would’ve worn in America — non-traditional, quirky, stunning, and sensational from the first letter to the last.
Soon, my angels were in my arms and I kissed each sister as the sea breeze rushed against our skin and the water splashed against the rocks.
We could have stayed like that forever; surrendering ourselves to nature and to each other. But even the best of moments need to relent, if only for better ones to take their place.
Letting each other go, we moved a little inland to where four plain brown paper gift bags stood waiting, along with a black picnic blanket where we could sit. As we did, Tecla passed around the bags.
“So, I’ll go first,” she declared, always happy to take the lead.
Tec produced a large leather-bound book from her bag. It was luxurious and sturdy, and she held it to her chest as she explained what it was.
“It’s a journal for all three of us… Whenever we want to remember something, or share something, we can write it down, and we’ll all have the memory forever.”
I smiled, reaching out a hand to pull my sister closer for a kiss. She was such a romantic — and such a lover of words. Her gift was perfect, and the way we locked lips completed its exchange. Then, as it ended, I was surprised to see Elle come closer to leave a kiss of her own on her twin’s cheek. It was chaste and familial, but startlingly romantic and lovely in every sense of the word.