First Comes Baby

LAUREL WOODALL had been sure that asking a man to father her baby--withoutany sexual privileges--had to be the hardest thing she'd ever done. But no. That conversation paled in comparison to this one. Asking said man's wife whether it was okay withherwas definitely worse. The two sat across their dining room table from Laurel, their chairs placed so close together that their shoulders touched. After dinner, they'd sent the kids to do home-work, take baths and get ready for bed. Sheila and Laurel had cleared the dirty dishes and loaded the dishwasher, chatting in the way of two people determined to pretend they didn't feel at all uncomfortable with each other, even though that was a flat-out lie on both their parts. Then they'd poured coffee and returned to the table. Laurel took a deep breath, clasped her hands in her lap and said, "Well, I assume Matt told you what I wanted to talk about." Sheila, a freckle-faced redhead, nodded. "Um, how do you feel about it?" It.Great word. It could sum up anything from a brightly wrapped package to a great big favor. Like the donation of sperm, the fathering of a baby. Butit,little tiny word that it was, implied the request was nothing special. Beside his wife, Matt all but quivered like a tuning fork. He must know what she thought, but not necessarily what she'd say. "I have a few questions." "Of course." Laurel smiled as if they were talking about vacation plans, not something so desperately vital to her. "Would your child know Matt was his father?" "That would be entirely up to you. I was hoping that he--or she--would." Secretly, she wanted a girl. "That we could be pretty matter-of-fact. I could say, "I wasn't mar-ried and I wanted a child, so I asked one of my best friends if he would be your daddy." There are plenty of other al-ternative families around." "That means our children would have to know, too." "Yes, I suppose so. But you could explain the circum-stances to them the same way." "Are you expecting Matt to take any real role as father?" "Again, that would be up to him, and to you, of course. If he was around, a friendly uncle kind of figure, that would be great. Am I expecting him to want joint custody or every other weekend? No." "Wow." Sheila looked into her coffee cup as if for answers. Wrong beverage. No tea leaves there. Laurel leaned forward. "What if I were sitting here to-night telling you I'm pregnant? Wouldn't you gather my baby into your family, the way you always have me? If I were asking you to be godparents, " "I wouldn't hesitate," Sheila admitted. "But, this is different." "I asked Matt because I know him. I'm comfortable with him. And, well, honestly, because your kids are so fantastic." It was the right thing to say. Sheila's face softened. Matt puffed out his chest. "I'm a proven stud." His wife elbowed him. "They are fantastic, aren't they? Although I'm inclined to think I'm more respon-sible than he is." They grinned at each other, as in love, Laurel suspected, as they'd been on their wedding day. That was another rea-son she'd asked them. Their marriage was solid, their relationship trusting. Sheila wouldn't wonder even for a second if there was anything funny going on between her husband and Laurel. She sighed then. "I'm sure most of my hesitation is based on some kind of atavistic response. You know. He's my man, and I don't want to share his genes. But another part of me knows that's silly. He wants to do this for you, and it's not as if I don't love you, too, so, Sure. Okay." Breath catching, Laurel sat up straighter. "Really? You mean it?" Sheila smiled. "I said yes, didn't I?" "Oh, bless you!" Laurel's chair rocked as she jumped to her feet and raced around the table to hug first Sheila, then Matt. "This is so amazing! It's really going to happen. Wow. I'm in shock."[read more]