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“Yes, I know how blessed I am, how fortunate we all are.”
“For the sake of my grandsons, may you continue to be.” He turned, embracing Kellan, then Tanner. “Happy birthday, my boy.”
And he left.
Arien’s heart squeezed. Surely his grandsons’ birthdays were a painful reminder of what happened to his daughters.
Wait a minute.
“You’ve broken tradition? What did he mean?”
Matthew exhaled. “Let’s go sit down, Arien.”
Sunday followed her into the bedroom. Arien softly closed her door, while the dog took his place in front of the fire. Her mind still reeling, she took a shower to try and clear her head. It didn’t work.
“Me and your mama discussed how to explain our ways to you. Planned to sit with you tonight and do just that. I know you’re probably wondering how it is Kellan and Tanner are so close in age, especially their mothers being sisters and all.”
They were all here. Emily was rubbing her arm and Tanner squeezed her hand so hard she thought he might break it.
“Our customs, how we live, the reason we prosper, goes all the way back to when Brookside was founded. I think you’ve already figured out we don’t do things the same here, and here…” He paused. “…marriage is between a man and two sisters or a woman and two brothers.”
“Huh?”
“Our unions are triads. There is a universal power in three. The nature of the world is tripartite—heavens, waters, and earth.” Taking her other hand, Jake got down on his haunches in front of her. “As are human beings—mind, body, spirit. The triad is the whole, you see. It is all. Everything. The beginning, middle, and end.”
Kellan watched her from across the room.
“Anthropologists call two brothers married to the same wife, fraternal polyandry, and two sisters married to the same husband, sororal polygyny. We call it the trinity, and to us, it is sacred.”
What in the actual fuck?
Dumbfounded, she shook her head. “You can’t do that. It’s not legal.”
“Not out there, no.” Her stepfather came forward. “The elder sibling is on the marriage license at the courthouse…”
With his usual smirk on his face, Kellan slid his hand down the front of his jeans and winked.
“…but what we do inside our gate, how we live inside our homes, is no one else’s concern.”
“You were married to them both at the same time.” She said it mostly to herself.
“Yes.”
Looking at Emily, Arien pointed to Jake. “He’s your boyfriend too?”
“Yes and no.”
Jake gently turned her face back toward him. “We’re to be married when Emily and my brother come of age.”
“I’m a junior.” Billy shrugged. “So not this summer, but next.”
They had to be kidding. She’d never heard anything so absurd in her life. Arien’s gaze flicked amongst their faces. This was no joke.
A burst of laughter sputtered out from behind her hand. “That’s so fucked up. I’m sorry, but y’all are crazy. ”
“Arien!”
She rolled her eyes at her mother.
