Borromean Rings

To say the coast of Alaska is beautiful is an understatement. It is magnificent. If you follow the coast you can see animals coming down to the water line. It's like a giant open zoo without camels.

All the way up the coast we watched fish and at one point, a small school of Alaskan Porpoise swam along side our bow.

After a couple of hours, we turned and headed back. As night fell, we slowed to a crawl to make sure we didn't run aground and were wondering if it got any better than this when, as if in response to our wish, it got better. We were treated to the spectacle of the aurora borealis.

If you've never seen the northern lights it should be one of the notations on your bucket list or life's to-do list. There is no light anywhere in the universe more beautiful.

Melody and I stood on the deck of the boat while Samuel piloted. He knew this was new to us and was generous enough to give us this special time together. I have no more words for that hour of my life. I will, as I'm also sure Melody will, remember it as one of those god granted moments, when the rest of the world disappears, when all you are aware of is that which is right in front of you... and it was a wondrous thing to behold.

The three of us slept together that night. There was no sex or even any thought of sex. How could we? Even if we wanted to dally, we found the bed without a moment to spare. Exhaustion swept each of us to our own special world for ten straight hours.

On Sunday afternoon, we returned to the city and flew home.

From Monday morning until Friday at breakfast, we caught up on the world we had left behind. Everything had changed and yet nothing had changed.

I guess, as Melody pointed out to me when I was talking about that week and how things seemed different but not different, now that we were back, it was we who had changed. Somehow we were older and I think a bit wiser.

On Friday morning things changed again. On Friday morning, Samuel proposed. Not to me, but to both of us.

He placed a box on the breakfast table, a beautiful wooden box with a carving in the center of the top. But his hand covered the carving so it wasn't until later, as I examined the box that I realized just how imaginative and unpredictable, this man could be.

"I can't and I won't separate you two. I won't come between you and I don't think I should. But I love you both. So," he paused, "so I'd like to join you. I'd like to join you, no really I mean us, and I'd like to join us in marriage." With that he opened the box.

Inside were three identically shaped rings, his being much larger than ours but in every other respect identical. On the top of the band were three interlocking rings, two gold and one silver, Borromean rings befitting our family to be.

Melody cried. I cried harder.

Samuel knelt in front of us and proposed, slipping the rings on each of our fingers. They fit perfectly. Then he put his own on and extended his hand. I immediately covered his hand with my own.

Melody fell to her knees and buried her head in my lap, sobbing hysterically, but the only sound coming from her was her gasps for air.

Samuel moved beside her and held her while he rocked her, ever so slightly, from one side to another. I stoked her hair until she eventually settled down. "It's okay, it's okay, I said over and over. It's beautiful Mel. It's beautiful. He loves us both. You know he does."

She sniffed and shook her head in acknowledgement.

"I do love you Melody. I see no difference between you and your sister. I most times can't even tell you apart. That goes for personalities as well."

"Last week," he continued, "was the most fulfilling week of my life. I was where I love being, hiding really, hiding from you two, or wait, no, not hiding, retreating I think, retreating to regroup and then, not only does one of you show up, but both of you show up. I must have done something right for the universe to bless me so."

"But I know, with all the blood that flows through my heart, that this is right. I knew it when I saw the two of you standing on the dock that first day, and I know it now. This is right for me and its right for the both of you."

Melody lifted her head, wiped the tears from her eyes and started to stand up.

"Where are you going," I asked, slightly worried she couldn't wrap her head around this most incredible gesture of love.

She held up her hand indicating for me to be patient, walked to the table by the window and took a piece of paper from a tablet and wrote on it. Then she folded it and came back to stand between us. She handed the paper to Samuel as she sat down again.

Samuel looked at me and then back at Melody before opening the paper. He read the note, closed his eyes and I watched as a tear formed at the corner and started to run down his cheek. He handed the paper to me. It read simply "YES."

It took a few months to explain it to his parents, but once they met us and saw the way the three of us interacted, they slowly came round.

Melody and I have only one living relative, a great aunt in her late 80's so, because we had not spent a lot of time with her in the past, it was a bit confusing for her. We didn't bother to explain why there was only one groom at the wedding. I think she was glad just to make the trip.

The ceremony was simple. His parents and our aunt attended. Samuel had a friend from school that was a progressive minister and understood. We registered in two different parts of the country so the marriages were somewhat technically legal. Well, you get the idea.

The ceremony was really nothing more than a presentation of the rings, each of us putting one ring on the person to our left. The box was carved from the branch of a tree that grew on Samuel's property up at the fishery. On the lid were three interlocking rings with our names inscribed one name to a ring. Our vows were a variation of the golden rule applied to our commitments to each other.

I say, the ceremony was really nothing more, but, in its simplicity, our wedding was everything I'd ever dreamed of for my sister and for myself.

And now, there are just two more things to tell.

Melody joined Samuel in sexual congress on our wedding night. My sister, our husband, and I now had carnal knowledge of each other. It was the most joyous and fulfilling moment of my life. I held her hand the entire time.

I had shared much with my twin. The loss of our parents and then the death of my fiancé were tragic things we shared. But there were great things as well; music, love and now a man who would make our world complete. It's odd, how the universe works, but for us, it was working perfectly.

Oh yeah, the second thing. We honeymooned in Alaska under the northern lights.