One day.

One day I will wear a ring that is matched by one on Chloe's finger.

(Remember I said I wished I could decorate each of my loves discreetly? I did that at Christmas, actually. No one has commented on how Chloe's necklace and my earrings and Red's keychain are of the same design. Probably no one has noticed. Maybe my sister, but now that I've come out to her, she probably just hasn't bothered to mention it. You'd have to be paying attention, and be fairly close to my ears, to put three and three together. We have fantasized about getting rings, though, that would be unmistakably identical, fashioned after the one Red wears now. At the office this would be enormously awkward. But somewhere down the road it will happen, regardless.)

One day I will take both of them with me to every "spouse-included" event I attend.

(Back when we were almost brand-new, I took them both to a reunion -- thousands of miles away, where barely anyone still knew me well, and they hadn't ever met Red, so me bringing both my husband and my best friend didn't really raise any eyebrows. But I want it to be the norm, for me to show up with plus-two instead of plus-one; if it's a doctor setting where that simply isn't acceptable, I will decline. So far I'm still feeling the pressure to be "normal", because doctors in this community Just Don't Do That. But sometime in our future, I will eliminate the occasions to leave Chloe behind.)

One day I will be fearless.

(Because the fear of losing the Trifecta will outweigh the fear of disapproval. Or, more positively, the strength of the Trifecta will overcome any risk I perceive. Although Red's position is fairly high-up, and his workplace is a pretty conservative one, he's probably safe professionally, even if we were to be discovered. But until his children are out of the nest, discovery could provoke a legal and emotional catastrophe. Meanwhile, as long as Chloe and I work together, neither of us can afford discovery. Happily, she is likely to find a better situation sooner or later, and that pressure will ease. Still, though, people just don't want to think of an authority figure -- which I am to some degree, even though I don't want to be -- as someone THIS unconventional. But somewhere in the time to come, I will cease to care.)

One day I will arrange my work and my life such that we are comfortable, and when all this discretion is no longer needed, I will show my love so vividly, you'll have to stand back and gape. Watch me.