I looked at my wife sympathetically and rolled over to lovingly stroke her thigh. I didn’t miss the fact that she was still slightly sweaty from our carnal session, but my touch wasn’t a sensual one. “Honey, if we could, I’d knock you up again in a hot minute. You know that.”
She nodded but kept her gaze downward. “Fuck cancer,” she said hollowly.
Shortly after the girls were born, we’d learned that Marie had uterine cancer. The doctor told us that the girls had been a true blessing because there was no way that Marie would be able to carry another child to term without putting herself and the fetus at great risk. Treatment, unfortunately, wasn’t an option. She underwent a radical hysterectomy and had ALL of her reproductive plumbing removed. It took us both quite a while to come to terms with the fact that the girls would be our only shot at parenthood, but we managed to get through it. The love of two innocent souls who depended on us for everything kind of helped, actually. But, now that they were eighteen and legally old enough to move out on their own (even though neither one had even hinted at wanting to), Marie was starting to get “empty-nester’s” syndrome. Her role as caretaker and mother was coming to an end, a role which had pretty much defined her for the last eighteen years.
I gently squeezed her thigh. “Seconded and affirmed,” I said. “But, hey, it never came back, did it? And our daughters have both grown up into amazingly beautiful, intelligent creatures. We’re luckier than a lot of parents out there, honey.”
She nodded and heaved another great sigh. “I know,” she agreed. “But… still… I’d give anything to have little ones around the house again.”
I shrugged. “Give it time. Before you know it, the girls will end up giving us grandchildren. We’ll be neck deep in diapers again, probably sooner than either of us would like.”
Marie huffed in exasperation. “They’d have to find someone to knock them up first,” she said and then looked at me. “Did you know that they BOTH broke up with their boyfriends just before their birthdays? Honey, I’m not even sure they’ve had SEX yet.”
That caused me to give her a skeptical look. “Seriously?” I asked. “OUR girls haven’t had sex?”
Marie shook her head. “Not with boys, no,” she said seriously. “Their business ventures aside, I honestly don’t think they’ve taken the TIME to have sex. Both of their boyfriends were jerks, which is why they broke up with them. Sexually liberated as they may be, I really do think they’re both still virgins.”
I hadn’t really given it that much thought, to be honest. I’d always just assumed that, being so attractive, both of them would’ve tripped at least ONE guy each. There certainly wouldn’t be any shortage of potential suitors, that’s for sure! Their customer base alone was evidence of that. The girls could have any guys they wanted, the pick of the litter. Hell, they could hang a shingle outside the house and have men lined up down the block for a chance to date them.
As I pondered it for a moment, I found that I couldn’t remember a single time since their birthdays when they’d brought some boy home for us to meet. They went out to see movies and eat dinner, usually together, but they always came back home alone. Happy, but alone. “You don’t think…” I choked on my next few words, but forced them out, “…that they’re… TOGETHER or something, do you?”