Teddy (pt 2)

In our last episode I set the scene for my re-encounter with Theodore George Keller, a guy I'd known when I was younger who sought me out after discovering I was transitioning, and the beginnings of our romance. 

I think I said I was still living in Chapel Hill, NC when Ted and I first got back together, I neglected to mention that he was then living in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi with a school chum of his, Marshall Karliner. 

Teddy had moved in with Marshall several years before to support Marshall through the loss of his mother and recuperating from a cancer diagnosis and treatment. Ted needed a place to stay, his brother Nick had effectively kicked him out of Nick's home in California after Ted caused some family drama. 

I got somewhat divergent stories of exactly what happened from Ted and Nick and I don't presume to side with one or the other (though I had become fairly familiar with Teddy's sometimes... idiosyncratic(?)... take on events; so I apply appropriate doses of NaCl to what he told me.

Teddy rather literally charmed the panties off me. We were both surprised by the depth of our affection  for and attraction to each other. We made a huge safe space for each of us to reveal parts of ourselves that we rarely, if ever, had to anyone prior. It felt to me like our souls had fallen in love, and our hearts, minds, and bodies just came along for the ride.

Teddy generally expressed himself publicly through a huge, loud, blustery, persona; something that had attracted me to him when we were young. I'd always envied his cocky self-assurance and devil-may-care, happy-go-lucky style. 

As we got to know each other more deeply, he also revealed to me his doubts and insecurities. He told me he treasured me for making it safe for him to do so. I didn't judge or seek to change him, I just loved him in all his magickal wonder and brokenness. He, in turn, made me feel seen, beautiful, appreciated, desired, and loved. 

After the initial discovery of our passion for each other, things continued heating up. We talked about maybe setting up housekeeping together somewhere, I made tentative plans to go to Bay St. Louis to see him that never panned out. He was in full support of my Sapphic inclinations and proposed we could go "cruising" for girls to share, a prospect that I found appealing. 

Among the things Ted shared with me about himself was some things about his youth and his parents, Ted's mother evidently suffered from some psychiatric issues that made her occasionally dissociative and violent. She ended up institutionalized around the time Ted was 11 or 12; and, as I understand it, she received some of the pretty barbaric treatments that "intractable" cases (particularly women) were subjected to at the time. 

I gathered from Ted that his father made it Ted's responsibility to agree to her receiving the treatments, a recollection that Ted felt enormous guilt and shame over. His anguish over it broke my heart and I was furious at his (now long dead) father for placing such a burden on a young boy. I told Teddy that (for whatever it was worth) that I forgave him for what he'd done. Oddly, my forgiveness seemed to give him a great deal of relief and comfort.

By the time Ted was a teenager (16-ish), his  father (a polymer chemist by trade) had started a sort of self-help commune and took on students. One such student was Elizabeth Taylor, the daughter of a well to do Uptown New Orleans family. 

Ted became smitten with Elizabeth and they started a furtive romance, Ted was, after all, an unsuitable suitor for an "uptown girl". Their romance heated up, Elizabeth became pregnant, it ended up being ectopic, and she ended up in the hospital. 

Ted and Elizabeth's fathers then conspired to separate them, and Ted spent the next several decades of his life believing he'd seriously injured Elizabeth ("blew out one of her ovaries" is how he put it) and believed that she likely hated him. Ted ended up getting a vasectomy, not wanting to ever put another woman through such a thing. 

All this happened in the first couple of months of 2021, sometime in late February or early March (IIRC), Teddy came across Elizabeth's presence on Social Media. He later told me that my encouragement and admiration of him gave him the courage to try reaching out to her. To his surprise she had not been seriously injured by the failed pregnancy and actually recalled him fondly. 

She had completed an M.D. as a Psychiatrist and was living and working in South Louisiana around Thibodaux. She had a house on several acres of land she was hoping to homestead on, and was living with a man (Hanns) who was helping her with that goal, though he was also very controlling and demeaning towards her (various insecurities, from what I can tell). 

Elizabeth had previously been involved in the swinger/polyamorous community, but Hanns was very religious and frowned upon that. For her part she contracted herself to fit within the confines of what he expected from a woman.

Elizabeth and Ted struck up a conversation, she provided him with some professional counseling and he encouraged her to reevaluate whether Hanns was really a good match for her. 

Ted attended a 4th of July party with some friends near New Orleans, Elizabeth also attended. By this time (and likely given Ted's encouragement) Elizabeth had had enough of Hanns and "kidnapped" Ted and then went on a spree, traveling around the Gulf Coast, living in Hotels, and having a great time of it. Elizabeth had been fired from her position as a Psychiatrist at a Psych Facility near her home over an professional indiscretion, she had a "nest egg" of cash and access to some inherited wealth from her father to finance their lifestyle for some time. 

Teddy got to experience a sense of (as he put it) "limitlessness" that he was reveling in. I was delighted for him, and I wanted his happiness most of all. Teddy and Elizabeth's kidnapping spree continued for several weeks. Through it all, he and I chatted pretty continually on Facebook Messenger and regularly had video sessions. 

I was prepared to step aside for him to be just with Elizabeth (though that prospect broke my heart); but Ted always made it seem like he wanted me to be part of this, he shifted our plan to go cruising, to our just sharing Elizabeth. Elizabeth was not so keen on this prospect, she seemed possessive of him and uncomfortable with Ted's attraction to me. Ted said I could be proud of myself for making a cis woman jealous. 

For my part, I found Elizabeth attractive enough physically, though her cold demeanor towards me did not endear her to me. My feelings for Ted made me feel like I was prepared to sacrifice quite a lot to be with him, so I went along despite the obstacles and some misgivings.

After some weeks Elizabeth felt compelled to return to her home with Hanns (depositing Ted back in Bay St. Louis). The situation with Hanns worsened, he was a gun owner and began to make threats against Elizabeth, Ted, and himself. Going so far as to discharge his pistol in the house in the bedroom with Elizabeth. 

I don't recall whether she had to get law enforcement involved, but she eventually managed to get Hanns out of the house. Rather soon after that she moved Ted in with her (no big surprise). 

Stay tuned...