Dorsai: SixMothers

Having everyone's attention, she went on to tell them "The specialnews is that I'm pregnant. I'm six weeks along."

My secretary, Sarah, and her husband Al, along with Paul and the boys, all thought it was great – it was Jan and the others that had expressionsof bafflement on their faces. The girls all knew that I'd had a vasectomy, so they were trying to resolve two apparently incompatible facts: eitherI had gotten Kelly pregnant despite the vasectomy; or Kelly had gottenpregnant by someone else, despite her dedication to me. It was Kellythat solved the conundrum for them by saying "We used a sample Danleft before his operation."

With the mystery cleared up, all five of them were even more enthusiasticabout congratulating us than the others had been. Paul and Al both gaveme a hard time about it taking so long (little did they know!) and whatI was in for (dirty diapers, baby vomit, and the like), while Sarah wasin a huddle with the girls explaining to them what to expect during Kelly'spregnancy.

Later, after everyone had left, Kelly told me that Sarah had talkedto her about some of the things that she could expect to go through asthe pregnancy progressed. She went on to say "I know that I haven'twanted to make love with you very much, Dan, and you've been a dear aboutit. Sarah told me that that's part of it, too – at least, inthe first few months. After that, she said that I'd likely feel more'amorous' for a few months before I didn't feel like it again."

I smiled and told her "It's okay, dear. I don't imagine I'd befeeling too frisky, either, going through what you have these last few weeks!"

Kelly came over and hugged me before saying "Well, I just wantyou to know that I've taken care of it. Just because*I* don't feel up to it, it doesn't mean that you should have to suffer. Jan orone of the others is going to come over every couple of nights and staywith us, so you'll have someone to make love with, if you want to. Infact, Candice will be over here in a couple of hours."

Kelly and I had always welcomed the any of the girls that had come over, whether it was just to visit, or for a little fun and frolicking; thatshe'd made arrangements for them to come over for the explicit purposeof being available to me for sex almost literally floored me: I couldonly stand there for several seconds before I told her "Kelly, that really wasn'tnecessary. I love you, and the rest of them come over often enough thateven if we didn't make love, I'd be able to wait. You didn't have tomake any kind of special arrangements for them to come over here justto take care of me that way." – the last bit with a note of displeasurein my voice.

Kelly answered "I don't doubt that you could – but I didn't seeany reason why you should have to, is all." Fromthe tone of her voice, I knew that Kelly was a bit upset at my response.

"And that's my point, Kelly – it's not a case of 'having' to. Youknow full well that I'm not one of those guys that lives with his crotch.

I love you, more than anything else, and it is not aproblem for me not to make love with you, for any reason" Ianswered, calmly.

"Dammit, Dan! That's what I'm trying to tell you!

I know it's not a 'problem' for you – and I don't want it to become one!

That's why I asked Jan and the others if they minded coming over! Asmuch as I like to make love with you – at least, when I'm not pregnantwith YOUR baby! – I know that you like to make love with ME, too; andI just don't see any reason that you shouldn't be able to make love withsomeone, even if it's not ME!" Kelly was getting visibly agitated, if not outright angry.

"Kelly, what is our love and relationship all about, then, if youfeel like you have to ask our friends and lovers to come into our homeand 'take care' of me, even though I didn't do or say anything toindicate I was unhappy about that part of our marriage?" I was startingto get a little testy, myself, by that time.

Kelly was clearly enraged when she replied "Well, I guess it'scertainly not about appreciating it when one of us tries todo something for the other one!" before she roughly brushed herway around me and headed for our bedroom. A moment later, I heard thedoor slam, leaving me wondering what the hell had just happened. Kellyand I had had disagreements before, but had always been ableto resolve them calmly and amicably. Unless I missed my guess, we'd justhad our first 'fight', and I didn't like it – not even a little bit.

Still, I wasn't about to follow her into the bedroom and try to find out what the hell was going on – not so much from pride, but from a reluctance to take the chance of further aggravating the situation. Instead, I turned and headed for the den, where I turned the TV on before sitting down and not watching it as I thought about what had just happened betweenthe two of us.

I was still sitting there when Mabel let me know that someone was atthe door; the video camera showed that it was Candice. I quickly gotup and went to let her in; when she came in and looked around for Kelly, I explained to her about the confrontation between us, and what had happened.

She looked at me in surprise, and said "An argument? You and Kellyactually argued? I can't believe it!", then a moment later, added "Still, I guess it's not all THAT much more of a surpriseat having her ask us to come over and sleep with you. I know how muchshe loves you, and I never thought I'd hear her ASK us to come over just to make sure you were getting enough sex!"

"Then I guess you can figure out how surprised I was whenshe told me about it", I replied, with a wry grin.

Candice looked at me and gave me a small smile before saying "I'dbetter go in there and find out what's going on – this isn't like her atall!"

I nodded, and Candice headed down the hallway toward the bedroom; Iheard her knock, a brief discussion, then the door open and close asshe went in to talk to Kelly. With nothing else to do, I went back tosit down and not watch the TV.

It was maybe a half hour later when I heard the bedroom door open; thenI saw Kelly and Candice coming into the den. Candice looked calm, but Kelly was a wreck: I could see that she'd been crying (something thathurt me deeply, just to see). I stood up and went over to take her inmy arms, and when I did, she wrapped her arms around me as she started crying again. A little baffled, I looked over at Candice, who just indicated that Kelly would take care of it.

After she'd calmed down again, Kelly stepped back and told me "Wehave to talk, Dan. Well, actually, I have to talk. If you're not too mad at me, I want to sit next to you on the couch."

"Kelly, I will never be mad at you. I'd be delighted to have younext to me on the couch" I answered, before leading the way. Once seated, Kelly snuggled into my side and pulled my arm around her before tucking her head into my shoulder. I listened carefully as she told me "Dan, I'm really, really sorry. I asked Candice and the others tocome over here to make love with you, and I not only didn't have to do that, I shouldn't have done it. And when you tried to tell me that you love me whether we make love or not, I got mad at youand said things to hurt you. I'm sorry, and I hope you can forgive me."

I answered "Kelly, there's nothing to be sorry about. If – if, mind you! – you made a mistake, you made it because you love me. I can'tbe upset with you about that. I didn't understand it, and I probablydidn't express myself properly, and we started misunderstanding each other. So I'm probably as responsible as you are."

Kelly looked up at me and said "You're a dear, trying to take the blame like that – but you don't have to. Tell him, Candice."

I looked over at her, and Candice told me "When I got in there, she already knew that you hadn't done anything wrong. She was crying because she couldn't figure out why she started it by asking all of usto come over here. I couldn't figure it out, either – so we finally called her obstetrician. We didn't tell her exactly what the problem was, but she told us that it was almost certainly because of all the hormones and everything changing around because of Kelly's pregnancy.