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Artwork by Lademonessa
A soft knock sounded on their bedroom door and all three looked up. Felicity was sitting in Tommy’s spot to make use of his nightstand’s lamp as she went through the financials for an upcoming board meeting. Tommy was leaning against Oliver’s chest who was running his fingers through his hair as they watched Sports Center.
“Come in,” Tommy said without sitting up.
Becca stuck her head inside the door, “Can I come in?”
“Of course,” Felicity smiled as she glanced at the time, “is everything all right?” Becca had been asleep when Felicity had checked on her two hours earlier and she was a heavy sleeper. “Did you have a bad dream?”
She shook her head and then opened the door. She was holding her cell in one hand and a teddy bear in the other. Becca climbed in between her dads and snuggled against Tommy.
Felicity took the throw she had over her lap and draped it over her daughter. For her twelve-year-old to be carrying around her teddy bear, something had to be worrying her. She didn’t want to pry or push. After fifteen years of motherhood, Felicity finally appreciated her mother’s complaint that she was like a pistachio. Becca was also a pistachio and they often needed a hammer to get anything out of her. Felicity smiled as Oliver kept glancing between the teddy bear and the cell phone clutched in Becca’s hands. They had a rule that Becca’s cell was powered off after eight, even on Friday and Saturday nights, and their daughter was in clear violation of that rule, however, Oliver also recognized that the teddy bear was a sign of distress. A war was raging behind his eyes as he tried to decide what his next move should be.
Always the most direct parent, Tommy’s hand covered Becca’s hand that was clutching her cell, “Do you want to talk about it?”
Becca sighed, unlocked her phone and handed it to Tommy. Felicity handed him his reading glasses and he looked at the pink cell. He sat up, placed the cell on his lap and removed his glasses, “Charlie Barstowe asked you to the spring dance.”
“He did,” she said as she turned around to face him.
“You don’t seem very excited about it,” Oliver said reaching for the cell so he could read the message.
Becca shrugged, “What should I text back?”
“You’re not texting back anything until tomorrow morning,” Oliver replied, unable to resist pointing out a rule violation. He placed the cell in his wife’s outstretched hand.
“What do you want to say, sweetheart?” Felicity asked as she read the simple message.
“I don’t know,” Becca said as she twisted the blanket in her fingers.
“Do you like him?” Tommy asked.
Becca thought about it for a minute, “He’s nice and he’s taller than me.”
“What grade is he in?” Oliver asked in a tone he frequently reserved for interrogations conducted by the Green Arrow. It was unusual for boys Becca’s age to be as tall as her, let alone taller than her.
“Relax, dad,” she rolled her eyes, “he’s in the seventh grade. He’s just tall.”
“Is he cute?” Felicity gently teased.
“I guess,” Becca shrugged her shoulders, “he has a nice smile.”
“It doesn’t sound like you want to go with him.” Tommy attempted to draw her out, “Is there someone else you want to go with?”
She thought about her father’s question and shook her head, “No.”
“I’m failing to see the problem here,” Felicity squeezed her daughter’s hand. She wished her daughter would just come out and tell them what was bothering her. She wasn’t sure if Becca was nervous, confused or completely disinterested in the dance. “He’s nice. He’s cute. He’s tall. You go to the dance. You have a good time. What’s the problem?”
“He only likes girls,” Becca said. “He doesn’t want to kiss boys.”
All three parents sat straight up and said, “What?”
“If he doesn’t want to kiss a boy too, what happens when I like a second boy?” Becca asked her dumbstruck parents.
Oliver stood up from the bed and Felicity said, “Wow, sweetheart.”
Becca eyed Oliver nervously as he paced their bedroom, “Did I say something wrong?”
“No, sweet pea,” Tommy gently pulled on a lank of her hair to direct her attention away from Oliver. “You’ve just surprised us.”
“I just don’t think I can have two husbands if they don’t want to kiss each other too,” Becca said clutching her teddy bear to her chest. “Where would we sleep if they didn’t kiss?”
“Rebecca,” Felicity said moving closer to her daughter, “do you want to have two husbands?”
“Did you want to have two husbands when you were my age?” she asked earnestly.
“No, sweetheart, I didn’t,” Felicity answered honestly. She hadn’t even wanted one husband. As far as twelve-year-old Felicity was concerned, marriage was for suckers.
“When did you know you wanted two husbands?” Becca looked over her shoulder at Oliver who had stopped pacing and was now just staring into space.
“Wow, that’s a complicated question,” Felicity shifted on the bed. She never expected to be having this conversation with her children until they were much older. “If you mean marriage, it wasn’t until after your dads and I were together for a long time.” When Becca shook her head, Felicity tried again, “If you mean when did I know I wanted to be with both of your dads and for us to be an us,” Becca nodded her encouragement, “well…” Felicity looked at her husbands. Tommy and Oliver’s eyes went wide and both shrugged their shoulders. They appeared to be at as much a loss as she was.
Becca looked between her parents, “Don’t you remember?”
“It’s not an easy question to answer, sweetheart,” Felicity stalled as she tried to find the words. After twenty-two years together, she thought that she should be better prepared to answer the question. “I never thought I would end up with one husband, let alone two husbands at the same time. It honestly wasn’t something that I ever wanted. After my dad left, I vowed that I’d never let another man hurt me the way he did. I was determined to be independent and to never allow myself to be vulnerable enough to be heartbroken by another man. Then one day, your daddy walked into my office and he smiled at me and a little piece of the wall I built around my heart broke off. Then your da caught me trying to find an open bottle of red wine behind his bar and he destroyed another piece of that wall. Both of them chipped away at it slowly and then one day I realized that my wall was almost completely down and I was going to have to choose between them and I didn’t want to choose and I didn’t want them to have to choose.”
“Because they were already kissing and in love,” Becca said as if it proved her point.
“What?” Oliver asked as he sat back down on their bed.
“You and da already knew each other before you met mom,” Becca explained. “You were already kissing and in love when you met mom, so when mom fell in love with both of you and both of you fell in love with her, everyone could kiss and it wasn’t weird.”
The children had never been told about Tommy and Oliver’s pre-Gambit romantic relationship, but they did know that they grew up together and had always been best friends. Her daughter was just making a logical leap when she stated that her dads’ romantic relationship pre-dated their relationship with Felicity. “It was a little more complicated than that,” Felicity said.
“You all loved each other,” Becca stated simply. “Why was that complicated?”
“Becca, you do know that most people only choose to be in a relationship with one other person?” Oliver asked cautiously. “What your mom, dad and I have may not be unique, but it is rare.”
“Since I’m the only person in school who has one mom and two dads who all sleep in one bed, yeah, I know that,” Becca teased her dad. “I just want to have what you guys have,” she said, suddenly serious. She clutched her teddy bear to her chest, “None of my friends’ parents kiss. They don’t laugh all the time or dance in the kitchen or say, I love you. I don’t even think they like one another. A lot of my friends have parents who fight all the time. You guys disagree, but you’re never mean to each other and it’s usually about silly stuff. I just,” she sighed, “I just want someone – well, two someones - to look at me the way the both of you look at mom and the way she looks at both of you.”
“You don’t have to have two husbands to have that,” Tommy smiled softly. “You can have one husband and have that.”
“It’s all right to go to the dance with Charlie, even if he doesn’t want to kiss boys,” Oliver said. “You might grow up and decide that you only want one husband.”
“When you were my age, did you know that you liked kissing boys?” Becca asked Oliver, genuinely curious.
“I did,” he took hold of Tommy’s hand. “I was twelve when I had my very first kiss and it was with your dad. But honey, it took your dad and I a long time to accept our feelings for one another.”
“I think I already know that I want to have two husbands,” Becca said.
“Just because you want to have two husbands when you get older, it doesn’t mean that you can’t go to the dance with one nice boy who has a nice smile and is taller than you,” Felicity said kindly.
“You don’t have to, if you don’t want to,” Tommy smiled at his daughter. “You should only ever say, yes, to a boy if you want to say, yes. Don’t say, yes, because you’re afraid to hurt his feelings if you say, no.”
“Did you say yes the first time they asked you to kiss them?” Becca asked Felicity.
Both Tommy and Oliver laughed. Felicity sighed, “Actually, I kissed them.”
“But you already knew that they liked kissing each other and were already in love,” Becca said with acceptance.
“Yes, I knew that they kissed one another. I suspected that they even liked kissing each other and that there was a good chance that they were in love with one another,” Felicity told her daughter. “Even knowing that, I decided to kiss them anyway.”
“Because you were in love with them?” Becca asked with a smile.
“Yes, because I was in love with them,” Felicity answered, deciding to leave out the shots they’d all done and how her heart was breaking because she didn’t know what she should do. After she kissed them for the first time she lay awake all night. All she could think of was the inevitable heartbreak that would come from loving two men who were best friends and who she suspected might be in love with each other.
“I’m not in love with Charlie,” Becca informed them.
“Most people aren’t already in love when they first start dating,” Tommy informed her. “Your dad, mom and I were friends who fell in love and then decided to date.”
“You date people to see if you like them and maybe then fall in love,” Felicity explained. “You can go to the dance with Charlie and see if he is someone you like.”
“But not date,” Oliver chimed in. “No one goes on dates in this house until they are sixteen. Dances, yes. Dates, no.”
“All right,” Becca smiled, “I’ll tell Charlie, yes,” she reached for her phone but at Oliver’s look she dropped her hand, “in the morning.”
Oliver hugged her and kissed her cheek, “Good idea.”
Becca kissed each of her parents and then said, “Good night and thanks.”
As soon as their bedroom door closed behind her, all three adults launched themselves from their bed.
Felicity shook her hands back and forth as she paced beside the bed, “I can’t decide. Should we be freaking out or not freaking out?” Hearing that Becca wanting to be in a polyamorous relationship made her stomach drop. Felicity was proud that she and the guys modeled a healthy and happy relationship for their children, but she never thought that they would think that they’d need to be in a polyamorous relationship to be happy too. She loved her husbands and wouldn’t trade a minute of their life together, but it hadn’t been easy. She would never wish the challenges they’d faced on their children. The chance of Becca falling in love with two men who were also in love with one another seemed insurmountable. Felicity feared she’d unwittingly set unrealistic expectations and her daughter might find a fulfilling polyamorous relationship elusive. “Say something,” she begged her husbands.
Oliver opened and closed his mouth, “I can’t believe she’s going to her first dance and is talking about kissing boys. I thought I’d be ready. I knew this was coming and that she’d be interested in kissing, but now that it’s here, I don’t feel ready.” He stopped pacing and looked at his spouses with moist eyes, “It seems like only yesterday that Tommy was putting her into my arms for the first time,” he took a deep breath, “but I don’t think we need to freak out. It’s just a seventh grade dance.”
“I think that we’re not freaking out about the same thing that you’re freaking out about.” Tommy narrowed his eyes at his husband, “How are you not freaking out about the same thing that we’re freaking out about? This feels like something you’d freak out about.”
“What? About her wanting two husbands?” Oliver chuckled, “You definitely don’t need to be freaking out about that.”
“How can you be so sure and calm?” Felicity asked as she tucked herself into Tommy’s side.
“Aren’t you the one who is constantly telling us that no sane woman would want two husbands at the same time?” he teased.
“I’m also the same woman who said no sane woman would marry a man who jumps off of buildings and shoots arrows at people, but here we are, twenty-two years later and I did both,” Felicity said as a wave of panic started rising. “Did you have a point?”
Oliver wrapped his arms around his spouses, “My point is that she is twelve and has no understanding of what it is to be in love or what it takes to sustain a marriage. She is going to grow up and figure out that her parents’ marriage isn’t successful because there are three of us, but because of the work we put into it. I heard our daughter say some pretty remarkable things about our relationship – things that we never were able to say about our own parents’ marriages. I think that we should be proud that our daughter doesn’t want to settle for anything less than being loved and respected. She might decide on one less husband, but she’s going to pick a husband worthy of her. I think that’s some pretty awesome parenting.”
“Yay, us,” Felicity said weakly.
“Do you think she asked Charlie if he likes kissing boys or do you think she’s making an observation based on his schoolyard behavior?” Tommy asked with concern. “I’m thinking that if she is canvasing the entire student body about their sexual preferences we might have a different problem on our hands.” At his spouses confused looks he continued, “If she is seen as trying to find two boys to date her and each other, I think we’re going to be visited by a lot of angry school officials and parents. Even worse, she is going to be ostracized for wanting to be a part of a triad.”
“I don’t want her to think that we don’t want her to be herself,” Felicity didn’t feel like they were winning parenting with their concerns. It felt a little hypocritical, like they were telling her to do what they say, but not what they do.
Tommy absently rubbed his surgical scar from when he’d been attacked sixteen years earlier, “I’m not saying we discourage her from being herself, but we need to remind her of the world we live in and that she needs to protect herself and be respectful of her classmates and their rights to privacy. We’ll always support her and her choices, but I think we can’t take a wait and see approach with this. There is too much at risk for her.”
When his spouses looked at him, Oliver shrugged, “When I was her age, I went down the path of self-loathing. I don’t want her to ever hate herself for loving who she loves.”
“But?” Tommy asked.
Oliver groaned with frustration, “But, I also don’t want her to believe that she can only be happy with two men.”
Felicity sighed, “All right, I’ll talk to her in the morning when I do her nails. I’ll remind her that we love her and that we will always support her decisions, but we think that she should see if she likes one boy first before she decides she wants to like two. I will also remind her that she shouldn’t be surveying the boys at school to learn if they’re bisexual.”
The three returned to bed and turned out the lights. All three of them lay in the dark staring at the ceiling. Tommy rolled over and propped himself up on his elbow, “So, that whole pacing thing was really because she said kissing?”
“I know it isn’t very evolved of me, but yes, the thought of our baby girl wanting to kiss some horrible twelve-year-old boy made me want to crawl out of my skin,” Oliver admitted.
Felicity laughed, “We don’t know this boy. How do you know that he’s horrible?”
Oliver and Tommy both laughed. Tommy kissed her cheek and rested his head over her heart, “All twelve-year-old boys are horrible.”
“Not as horrible as fourteen-year-old boys, or sixteen-year-old boys and definitely not as bad as eighteen-year-old boys,” Oliver wrapped his arm over both of his spouses.
“Oliver, we have a son who is about to be sixteen. He is not horrible,” Felicity defended her eldest.
“Trust us, he’s horrible,” Tommy kissed her chest.
“The thoughts that go through a sixteen-year-old boy’s head are about one thing and one thing only,” Oliver nuzzled her neck.
“I imagine that they are a lot similar to what goes through a fifty-one-year old man’s head,” Felicity turned her head to give Oliver better access.
Tommy’s hand slipped beneath her tank top and palmed her breast, “I think you’ve just made our point.”
Felicity shimmied out of her pajama bottoms, “You’re both incorrigible. I’d like to remind you that girls think about sex too, it’s not just a boy thing.”
Oliver helped Tommy lift Felicity’s t-shirt over her head, “Yes, but girls can multitask. They can think about sex and ten other thoughts at the same time.”
“Not, if you’re doing things right,” Felicity teased.
“Now who’s being incorrigible?” Tommy asked before he kissed her lips.