I lifted her lips and kissed them. “I want to get to know the both of you better. Living in the moment is great, but I’ve been thinking about our future. About a lot of things.”
She shivered, and I pulled her close. “This is for good, right? This thing between us. I never want it to end. I only want it to get better.”
She gave me a hug. “That’s your call, Jack. I’m yours. Completely, totally, heart and soul. You have to decide what you’re going to do with me.”
I heard Beth call out from the bathroom. “What have you done to me Jack? I can’t pee.” She moaned. “God, I have to go so bad, and I can’t.”
I laughed softly, and climbed out of Debbie’s arms, going to my problem child. I squatted beside her, taking her hand in mine, and giving it a squeeze. “I think it’s the squirting. It’s going to take a minute or too for your body to revert to doing things the old way.” I kissed her on her shoulder. “Relax, don’t think about it. Look at me.”
She turned to look into my eyes. “This is a little weird.”
I laughed. “Weird? Peeing with me here? God, Beth, what part of your body is a stranger to me? I love everything about you, you know that. Peeing is natural. You make a mess, we’ll clean it up. No problem.”
She giggled, and I heard a little tinkle from between her legs. I squeezed her hand, “Good.”
She lowered her face, blushing, as the tinkle became a steady stream. “I’m still embarrassed,” she said softly.
“That’s Ok, too.” I tilted her head up. “I want to kiss you now.”
She was still peeing. “Now?”
I turned her face to mine, and kissed her softly. She was slow to return the kiss but was soon as in to it as me. I heard the stream slow then stop. I reached across her and pulled out some of the toilet paper, tearing off several sheets. I held her chin in my hand, and gazed into her eyes, while I reached between her legs and dried her.
“You don’t have to,” she said softly.
“Of course not. You’re a grown woman.” I leaned forward and kissed her softly. “I wanted to.”
She smiled shyly. “I probably should dry a little more,” she whispered, parting her legs.
I rolled off some more paper, folding it. I moved my hand between her legs. She whispered. “Pat, don’t wipe.”
I patted her dry, then helped her off the pot. She laughed. “You are a little weird, you know?”
I nodded my head, giving my hands a quick wash under the faucet. “What gave me away? It wasn’t the two stunning women sleeping in my bed each night, was it?”
She gave me a big hug from behind. “Yeah. That was it.”
We returned to the bed to find Debbie finishing changing the sheets. “If you guys are going to keep playing, use the pullout. My spot was soaked.”
I pulled the covers back onto the bed, and jumped in, opening my arms so my girls would come to me. I don’t think I love anything more than that feeling of holding the two of them, just before going to sleep.
But there was one more thing I wanted to cover, before sleep. A little something I’d promised a friend to go over.
“You girls know that Joe shoots blanks, right?”
They both murmured their assent. “They want to have another kid. Cathy wants me to be the father.”
I felt them both tense up. “You’re kidding, right?” Beth asked.
“No, I don’t think she is. I told her I had a problem with it. It would be too weird for all of us, but she wanted me to ask you guys if it was Ok.”
Debbie’s voice was very steady. Calm. “Do you want that? Do you want to have babies? Do you want her carrying your child?”
“I never thought about it until she asked. When she first mentioned it, I thought it was kind of exciting, but now that I’ve had time to think about, I’ve been having second thoughts. I know I want to have kids some day, but the idea of my first child being theirs is difficult.”
Beth nodded. “Weird. Better her than me, I guess. I don’t see myself winning any swim meets with a huge belly. I’m going to have to wait a few years.”
I had figured as much. Debbie was the real issue. “What do you think, Debbie?”
“I’m afraid this is going to sound selfish,” she said softly.
I gave her a squeeze. “Nothing in the world is as important to me as you two. I want you to be honest. Please.”
“If anyone is going to carry your baby, Jack, it should be me,” she said softly. “It would kill me to see her getting big with your first child. I would hate it.”
Beth crawled over the two of us, cuddling up behind Debbie, sandwiching her between us. “She’s right Jack. If you have a kid, it should be ours.”
I chuckled. “Easy for you to say, it wouldn’t be your belly getting big,” I teased.
Big mistake.
She glared at me. “You think it’s easy for me to say someone else should be the mother of your child, even if it’s Debbie? Don’t you know I fantasize about what our kids will look like? How many we’ll have? If the boys will be like their father? Don’t tell me it’s easy!”
Her words surprised me. I didn’t know she thought about things like that. She was just 18, not even in college yet. I looked at Debbie. “Do you think about things like that? About having children with me one day? What they’d be like?”
She nodded. “Every day.”
“And that doesn’t scare you? Doesn’t make you nervous?” I asked hesitantly.
She sighed deeply. “A little. What you’d be like when my belly got big. If you’d still want me like you do. If I’d become the last in line at bedtime. Whether you’d still want me at all.”
“Are you nuts?” I asked sharply. “How could I want you less if you were carrying my child? Knowing the bump between us was our baby? God, that would be incredible.” I ran my hand over her smooth belly. “It’s the only way you could ever be more beautiful than you are now.”
Beth was grinning. “Can you imagine how pretty she’d be with that baby glow? Shit, it’s totally unfair.”
My hand was still caressing Debbie, gently rubbing that belly we were discussing. “Would you want to? Carry my child? Make a baby with me?” Saying the words gave me goosebumps.
Debbie looked up at me, her eyes moist. “There’s nothing I want more than to have your son,” she said. “Nothing. The thought alone makes me tingle all over.”
“What about marriage? I can’t marry both of you, as much as I wish I could.”
“I don’t care,” Debbie said.
“Marry her,” Beth said. “I don’t care. I’m still in school for at least 4 more years. Afterward we can work things out.”
Debbie turned and hugged Beth. “Don’t listen to her. She’s the one you should marry. I’ve already told myself I’d never get married again. I mean, really, the first one didn’t even last the length of my pregnancy. She should have a chance for a little normalcy.”
It was all happening so fast. I looked at the two girls, and envisioned a family with both of their kids, little girls looking like their gorgeous moms, little boys a mix of us all. Young Erin as an older doting sister.
Beth poked me. “What? What’s the big grin about?”
I smiled, reaching for her and dragging her on top of me, while I pulled Debbie in close. “I was picturing our family. The three of us and ankle biters everywhere, with Erin complaining she hadn’t signed up for being the big sister to a mob.”
Debbie was kissing my neck. “Have we scared you away yet?”
“Impossible. Would you really do it? Be the mother of my children?”
“What are you asking, Jack?” Debbie asked softly.
“Have my baby. Babies.”
“This is a big step,” she said softly.
“You said you were mine totally. It was up to me. Let me get you pregnant. Carry my first-born.”