My Three Husbands by Swan Adamson

belt.
    I wondered what it would be like to be married to him. Daddy never revealed a thing about their sex life, but I know it’s intense because I listened in once when they were having phone sex while Dad was visiting me in Portland and Whitman was out in New York.
    Dad Two looked so handsome in his tuxedo. His blue eyes sparkled, partly because he was wearing color-enhanced contacts. He smiled, flashing his perfect white teeth, recently bleached and bonded, as he unbuttoned and unzipped his pants.
    â€œAhhh.” He let out a deep orgasmic breath. “My pants were killing me.” He said he was wearing the same size 32-inch waist trousers he had on when he met my dad twenty years earlier. “I suppose it’s like squeezing into an old wedding dress or army uniform.”
    If he could, I could, so I undid the lower buttons of my bustier. “Ahhh,” I sighed.
    We laughed.
    â€œAll right,” he said, “I know I’m just your old faux pa so I can’t object to anything you do. But I want you to tell me what it is you see in Tremaynne.”
    I was used to Whitman’s sudden interrogations. He keeps his questions to a minimum when he’s with Daddy and then pounces whenever he catches me alone. “Tremaynne’s committed to something,” I said. “He’s smart.”
    â€œBut sweetheart, he has no money. You met him in a bankruptcy court, for God’s sake! Don’t take umbrage—”
    â€œWhat does that mean?”
    â€œIt’s a literary way of saying don’t be pissed off. Just talk to me about it. Allay my fears.”
    â€œWell, I can’t, because he doesn’t have any money. The work he does is always for free. For a bigger cause.”
    Whitman sighed. “Yes, I’m sure he’s very noble. As long as someone else is paying the bills. Are you going to support him?”
    My voice rose defensively. “For now.”
    â€œOn what you make at that video store?”
    He meant Phantastic Phantasy, where I work. “I pay my rent. It doesn’t cost that much more for two to eat.”
    â€œYes, but—” He turned away, agitated, rubbing his long hands together. “What about the bigger picture?”
    â€œWhat bigger picture?”
    â€œGoing back to school. Doing something with your life. Sweetheart, you’re a smart person but you don’t act like one. Don’t you want something more?”
    â€œLike what?”
    â€œI don’t know. When I was your age I wanted so much.”
    â€œAnd you got it.”
    â€œI worked for it,” he said sharply. “Damned hard, too, because my family cut me off without a dime. And even so, even working as hard as I did, I only got some of what I wanted.”
    â€œOnly some?” I chided him. “You got my dad, didn’t you?”
    â€œI was lucky to meet your father,” he admitted. “He wanted many of the same things I did. That’s how true partnerships work.”
    â€œAre you saying I’m incapable of forming a true partnership?”
    His voice turned steely. “Don’t get angry with me just because I’m being frank with you. Your biological parents accept everything you do. I don’t, but I always feel like I have to keep my mouth shut.”
    â€œYou generally get your point across,” I said.
    â€œOkay, the point is this: You’ve made two mistakes already. You’ve chosen major losers. In both cases, you said that you loved them.”
    â€œI did love them. They just turned out not to be right for me.”
    â€œAnd then, bang, you’re divorced as fast as you were married. Why can’t you just live with Tremaynne for a while? Why do you have to marry him?”
    â€œBecause that’s what we want to do.”
    â€œWhy?” he asked sharply. “It can’t be for the tax benefit.”
    â€œBecause we want to be together. We love one