Page 89 of Offensive Plays
“That’s great,” Sherrie says. “The way he reacts to pregnancy news says a lot about a man.”
“Yeah?” I ask her.
“Big time,” she says. “My first was a surprise. David and I weren’t even married yet,” she admits.
Kesley does a double take. “She was?”
Sherrie laughs, “Your sister, Kira? Yes, total surprise. We weren’t so careful our first few times and still getting to know each other,” Sherrie explains.
Kesley holds a hand up to her mom. “Nope, I don’t need to know these details mom.”
“I wanna know,” I say leaning in, both hands wrapped around my tea cup.
Sherrie ignores her daughter and continues, “David was a beast in bed.”
“Oh god! Mom!” Kesley pushes her chair back and excuses herself. “I gotta go check on Liam.”
Sherrie and I both laugh.
“Anyways,” Sherrie continues. “David was a beast in bed. Unlike any man I had ever met. I was always so careful before him but he was…” she pauses. “Different. He cared about how I felt and made me feel…”
“Worshipped?” I say.
She gives me a look, “Yes. Worshipped.”
I nod, knowing exactly what she’s talking about.
“I’d never felt that way with anyone. But with him, this unexpected side of me just bloomed. He knew exactly how to water my garden, if you catch my drift.”
I laugh. “So when I realized I was late and we had been a bit careless, I was worried I ‘d lose him for good. That a baby would change everything.”
“And what happened?” I ask, sipping my tea.
“He was elated. He said, ‘There isn’t anything I want more in the world than to have a physical manifestation of our love in the form of a human that represents the best of both of us.’”
“That’s fucking cute,” I say.
“So fucking cute,” she agrees, and we both laugh.
“So we got married. We had Kira. Shortly after came Kesley. And then our sweet Becks. I had a few pregnancies that didn’t take and those were some hard years for us. But we had our girls. And we knew that one day we would get to see our little family grow into more.”
She looks at the picture of her kids with their spouses and their kids. There in the corner is my own brother holding Kesley to his side, Liam balanced on his shoulders. All of them are smiling.
I feel that rush of emotion again. The kind I can’t contain. And tears start to fall.
Sherrie slides a napkin toward me.
“When you find the right person for you, Libby. Everything is just better. The things you thought would be hard to face, become lighter. And everything is so much more worth it.” She sips her tea peacefully, unaware of the way she just cracked a hole into the walls around my heart.
I swallow hard, looking back at the family photo and back to her.
“It’s not what I had planned,” I admit.
“It never is.”
I nod. I guess she’s right. We can’t control who the heart wants anymore than we can control the passing of time.
“So,” she leans back still holding her cup to her lips. “Who’s the boy?”