Mother Road Ch. 05 - One For The Road

Author's notes: This story is the 5th chapter of the continuing romance between a married couple, Tom and Laura McFarland. Thanks again to my team, RiverMaya and Verbalinians, for helping bring it to life.

• All sexual activity in this story is between consenting adults 18 and over.

• If you haven't read the first 4 parts of Mother Road, in order to fully understand Tom and Laura's relationship - and their children's relationships - you probably should.

• This story picks up 15 years after the Mother Road, and 8 years after Mother Road 4 -- Journey's End.

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APRIL -- Against All Odds

"OH TOM! YES, TOM! FUCK ME TOM! YES YES YES I LOVE YOU TOM!" Laura screamed as she whipped her head back and forth. Her whole body was shaking, and her pussy was clamping down on my cock like it was never going to let go. Her little fists pounded on my back as I bent my head down and nipped at her breasts, leaving little bite marks while she shuddered in ecstasy.

Since her orgasm had reached four 'Toms' on the Laura scale, after 15 years together I knew it had been a good one. My climax, meanwhile, had just rounded third base and was heading for home. I groaned, "AH LAURA," and I slammed into her with jealous passion, "YOU'RE MY TROPHY WIFE, ALL MINE!!!!" -- then I shuddered as my balls released their heavy load. God, I loved this woman!

Collapsing, we exchanged a few loving whispers and kisses, then Laura curled up and went to sleep right away. I'd noticed she'd been really fatigued lately; it was starting to concern me. Tomorrow I'd suggest she go see her doctor. I wrapped myself around her naked form, kissed her shoulder and laid there, thinking about.... her.

Not that there was any chance of Laura getting pregnant, I'd had a vasectomy eight years ago, but I still fantasized putting another baby in her. With her red hair, green eyes, and freckles on that cute nose, even at 48, on any given day she was beautiful. If she got all made up and dressed fancy for a special occasion, she could still take my breath away. To see her with a baby bump one more time would be heaven.

My jealousy tonight had been spurred on by a grocery bagger at the supermarket. He'd looked at Laura with a little too much longing in his eyes for my taste, and it triggered me. As soon as we had the groceries put away, I'd led her up to the bedroom and ravaged her.

You'd think after 15 years together I wouldn't be bothered by some young horndog checking out my almost-50, mother-of-nine wife, but you'd be wrong. I'd been crazy in love with her since we'd met. I can still remember the first time we kissed, and how it had rocked my world.

Laura had invited me to stay in her cabin to save me from sleeping in my motorhome during an awful rainstorm. After the 7 kids were in bed, she'd snuck into my cabin with a bottle of whiskey; hungry for adult conversation, we made small talk and drank.

At some point, Laura had smiled and whispered, "Mr. Tom McFarland, architectural consultant, you are one handsome man, and if you have no objections, I'd very much like to kiss you."

I'd responded, "Why, Laura Palermo, beautiful mother of seven, I would be offended if you didn't." We kissed, and wow. One taste of those lips and I was done. Without knowing it, she'd caged my heart and thrown away the key.

Due to her previous bad marriage, though, Laura remained wary of commitment. It took hard work on my part to demonstrate my love was for real. Well, that and the fact that I'd unknowingly knocked her up. (She broke the news only after I'd proposed.) I was so happy and loved her so much that even after 15 years, I still carried a small anxiety in the back of my mind that I might somehow lose her.

I suppose I could have gone to a therapist and vanquished that fear, but frankly I didn't want to. My tiny insecurity was what drove me to treat her like my queen and show her my love every damned day. It gave me an edge, ensuring I'd never ever take her for granted.

Also, truth be told, on those rare occasions when I was overcome by a jealous urge, it made me extra possessive and I'd end up fucking her brains out to reclaim her, just like tonight. Laura loved when I did that. Usually, this happened about three of four times a year. Lately, though, something had changed, the alpha male in me had awakened. I now had these feelings about once a month. Maybe it was my mid-life crisis come to call, who knows? Laura certainly had no complaints, though.

As I lay next to my naked wife, I counted my blessings; I was married to this wonderful woman, had nine children, seven grandchildren, one son-in-law, three daughters-in-law, and an established career as an architectural consultant, so hell yes, I was truly blessed.

Our lovemaking always put me in a great mood. The feel of her breasts in my hands, the sensation of her nipples between my lips, the taste of her skin on my tongue, that kissable belly mound below her navel, burying my face in her cleavage, and the glorious feeling of release when I came inside her, all of that never got old. I fell asleep, sated, and happy.

The first 5 years of our marriage the four older children -- Olivia, James, Liam and Ava - helped take care of the three younger ones, which allowed Laura and I the time to regularly fuck like bunnies. Of course, that's also how our two youngest children came along.

As the first four became adults and started their own lives, the remaining five, Elijah, Amelia, Lucas, Pearl, and Tom Jr., required a lot more of our attention while moving from childhood to tween to teenagers.

As of now, our youngest, Tom Jr., (TJ) was 8; then there was a six-year gap before Pearl, the next oldest, at 14. Lucas was 16, Amelia 17, and the oldest, Elijah, had just turned 18.

Over the last few years, between Laura and I raising the last five kids, and me putting in extra hours to save up for their college funds (along with putting a few dollars aside for retirement), Laura and I still made love as often as we could, but our frequency had dropped down to one or two times a week, mostly due to exhaustion.

With me recently celebrating my 43rd birthday and Laura being 48, we didn't have quite the parental energy we used to have. One thing, though, never changed; unless I was travelling on business, sex or not, Laura and I always fell asleep in each other's arms.

My chipper mood the next morning came to a crashing halt when I realized Laura wasn't in bed with me. Usually after a round of lovemaking the previous night, we'd wake up and share morning kisses that sometimes would lead to a second round. Not this morning, though.

I saw the door to the master bath was closed. I got up and tapped on it gently, "Laura, is everything OK in there?" I heard no response but did hear some quiet crying. Easing the door open, I saw her kneeling by the toilet, sobbing quietly. I quickly knelt down next to her and whispered, "Baby, what's wrong?"

"I don't know," she said softly, "I just threw up." For the first time in 15 years, I heard fear in Laura's voice. Not good, not good at all. "I'm nauseated, I'm dizzy, my breasts hurt, I don't feel well." She looked at me, tears in her beautiful green eyes, "Tom, I'm really scared."

I wasted no time. Waking Elijah, I told him he was in charge while I took Laura to the Emergency Room. Once we arrived, they immediately took Laura in for tests. After two hours, the on-call ER doctor, Dr. Lister, came and spoke to me. "You can relax, Mr. McFarland. The good news is her condition is nothing life-threatening. It'll clear up in 9 months, right around Christmas."

When I processed what he'd just told me, you could have knocked me over with a feather. "Is this some kind of a joke?"

"No, not at all. Given your wife's age, she's definitely beaten the odds but her OB/GYN will probably tell you it's definitely going to be a high-risk pregnancy for her. She's going to need to take things extremely easy until that baby is born."

My mind was reeling. "This is impossible, I had a vasectomy 8 year ago!"

"I assure you, Mr. McFarland, it's not impossible. Your wife is definitely pregnant. I can't attest to how she got that way, but whatever happened, it worked. We're keeping her for a few hours under observation, giving her fluids and a mild sedative to help her rest, so she's sleeping now. You can come back and take her home around dinner time."

I put in a call to my primary care physician, Doctor Zimmer, and explained what had happened. Thankfully, it was a slow day, so I was able to get in and get my sperm tested fairly quickly. I couldn't believe my ears when I heard what he had to say.

"Tom, I realize this borders on the unbelievable, but your vasectomy reversed itself. It's a phenomenon called 'vas deferens reconnect'. After a man's vas deferens are severed, his epididymis still carries sperm, even years later. The pressure from spermatic fluid can create small drainage channels in the tissue on ends of the severed vas deferens. This causes involuntary recanalization. Basically, your body fixed itself.

"Is this why I've been rutting like a horny old goat lately?"

Doctor Zimmer laughed, "Most likely, but with as many kids as you have, Tom, I'd speculate you've been a horny old goat for a long time, you just got your ammunition back." My physician was also a comedian, great. Remember to tip your nurse everybody, the Doctor will be here 'til Thursday.

He went on, "Again, this is exceedingly rare and happens in maybe 1 out of 4,000 cases. You've beaten the odds, Tom. On top of that, your wife is 48 years old, so for her to even conceive she's either exceptionally fertile, or exceptionally lucky. Either way, I'd say it's a good day to buy a lottery ticket."

The look on Laura's face was indescribable when I walked into the room to take her home. It was a combination of shock, disbelief, and guilt. As soon as she saw me, she blurted out, "Tom, I swear, there's been no one else, just you! I don't know how this happened."

I was so over the moon with happiness, I couldn't resist having a little fun with her. I tried to look stern as I responded, "I've always been a little leery of that creepy kid who bags the groceries at the supermarket. He's always staring at you when we check out, don't think I don't notice."

Her eyes got wide, and I continued, "I talked to Doctor Zimmer today, to find out if I was going to have to murder the bag boy. Funny thing, it turns out that's my baby you're carrying. My head is still reeling at the idea, but somehow, against astronomical odds, my vasectomy reversed itself." I took her hands in mine and kissed them.

"We're having another baby, Laura." I put one hand on her abdomen and kissed her lips, very gently. "We're having another baby! I love you so much."

Laura burst into tears and hugged my neck, sobbing uncontrollably with joy. The roulette wheel of fate had spun, and we'd beaten the house. Eight years after what we thought was our last baby, our tenth child was on the way, I was going to be a dad again at 43. I'd have to keep working until I was on my deathbed, but at that moment I didn't give a shit. After 15 years of marriage, we were having another baby!

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Putting it euphemistically, it was, um, interesting, to experience the reactions of our 9 children. Olivia had just had her second baby last year, Archer now had a little sister, Laura Hope, named after the baby's two grandmothers. Our oldest girl was tearfully delighted to have another sibling, even one with a 29-year age difference.

Ava and her wife Ashley howled with laughter. Back in Chicago, their toddler James Liam was hot and heavy into his terrible twos, and the thought of Laura and I going through it again had our two girls in hysterics. Ashley had gotten pregnant via IVF, and just to make things extra weird at family reunions, my ex-wife's husband Warren had been the sperm donor. (Just kidding, my ex, Beverly and her husband Warren were practically guardian angels for Ava and Ashley. Laura and I loved them both.)

Liam and Miriam were both excited at the news. In addition to their son Hunter, now 13, and James Thomas, now 9, they'd added a third child to their brood two years after their wedding, our now 6-year-old granddaughter Olivia Leigh, named after her aunt Olly and Miriam's best friend. Later in a private conversation, Liam told me that I was a fantastic father, and the new baby would be one lucky kid. Overwhelmed, I had to go in the hayloft and cry by myself for a few minutes after he said that. With our history, I was especially close to Liam. He was good at overwhelming me.

James and Melissa both cheered. Their now 7-year-old daughter Ashley Rose -- named after Melissa's sister Ashley (also Ava's wife) -- was born almost 9 months to the day after their wedding. (That's another story and honestly, I don't want to talk about it.) James was quite put out that I'd just cost him $200. Apparently, right after TJ was born, Melissa had bet him Laura would have one more baby before menopause. Knowing I'd had a vasectomy, he took the bet. Whoops!

With the exception of our youngest son, TJ, the children living at home were rather blasé about the idea of having a new sibling. There was a lot of groans, eye-rolling and pretend gagging. I suspect that our teens, being teens, found the idea of their parents even making a baby rather gross, and the idea of smelly diapers in the house again even grosser. Elijah, the oldest son of Laura and the husband who deserted her, Chris Palermo, seemed almost angry.

Of all the kids, I was closest to Olivia and to Glen Carlson's three, Liam, James, and Ava. But over the years, as much as I tried to be a good dad for Palermo's kids, Elijah, Amelia, and Lucas, I never felt completely accepted by Elijah, just tolerated. If there was dark mark in my marriage, it was my relationship with him.

When TJ found out about the baby, he was totally overjoyed at the news. He jumped up and down, clapped his hands, and kissed Laura's stomach to welcome his new sibling. He had real reason to celebrate; in one fell swoop, he would no longer be the youngest, AND he'd be promoted to the prestigious role of big brother. This would put him in the hallowed ranks of his heroes Liam, James, Elijah, and Lucas. If I had to name one McFarland male as happy as I was about this baby, it was TJ.

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Two days after I'd brought Laura home, I took her to her OB/GYN appointment and Dr. Halpern confirmed what Dr. Lister in the ER had suspected; this was a very high-risk pregnancy. For the next 9 months, my wife was not to exert herself. Whatever she did, it was to be done slow and easy. If this miracle baby was going to make it to full-term, she was going to need to stay off of her feet as much as possible.

Before I could ask the question, Dr. Halpern addressed Laura and beat me to the punch. "Mrs. McFarland, you can engage in intercourse, but it has to be very gentle. Remember, for the next 9 months your body is your baby's sanctuary, NOT your husband's playground."

As she spoke to Laura, she looked at me fiercely, her eyes piercing, "Don't allow yourself to be forced into doing anything you don't want to!" Wow. I silently wondered who had hurt her. It was an awkward moment.

Laura saw my discomfort, and came to my defense, "Not a problem, Doctor," she said, taking my hand, "my sweet husband loves me, he always treats me gently, like a baby bunny." God, I loved this woman. When we got back to the car, we had a brief make-out session right there in the parking lot like a couple of high-schoolers before heading home.

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When Laura was pregnant with TJ, I'd fantasized about her being confined to bed rest so during the day, she'd be in the cabin's bed right next to my office; that way, when I was working, she'd be at my disposal and I could ravage her hot pregnant body anytime I wanted.

Now here we were, in this exact situation, but the non-stop daily sex I'd fantasized about was mostly limited to cuddles and kisses. On rare occasions, I'd tie her up and put a blindfold on her while I ravaged her body with my mouth, but gentle penetrative lovemaking was restricted to nights.

Not that I didn't want to bang Laura daily and nightly, I most certainly did, I just didn't have time. I was working multiple client projects, plus I was constantly stopping to take care of her, helping her to the bathroom, rubbing her ankles and feet, and bringing her drinks, meals, and snacks. I mean, she was pregnant, regular snacks were a necessity, like breathing.

When TJ, Pearl, Lucas, Amelia, and Elijah, got home from school in the late afternoon they helped out a bit; when the school year ended in Mid-May they'd be able to help the whole day, and I could get more work done.

Still, December 25th seemed like it would be a long time coming.

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MAY -- Little Girl Lost

I'd been on the computer all morning preparing new client contracts. To give my aging eyes some relief from monitor strain, I was puttering around the yard outside the cabin raking leaves, thinking about getting a big dog. Inside the cabin, Laura was napping.

I heard gravel crunching and looked up to see a late '80s Buick Electra Estate Wagon coming up the driveway. Like my loyal 2003 Gulf Stream Touring Cruiser that brought me here, it had seen better days. I saw once upon a time it was gold, but much of the body paint had eroded to a rusty patina.

The car pulled to a stop and three people got out. An older man about 5' 6', who looked to be in his 50s, a slim but pretty older woman about his height and age, and a slender girl who towered over them. The man spoke up. "I'm looking for Tom McFarland."

Leaning on my rake, I put my hand in the air, "Guilty as charged."

The man seemed to get more agitated now that he'd found me, "I'm Joshua Reed, and that's my wife Arlene. The girl standing with her is our daughter Natalie."

"Pleasure to meet you. How can I help you, Mr. Reed?" I extended my hand, but he ignored it.

"I come to tell you our daughter's pregnant, and your son Elijah is the father! I want to know what you intend to do about your boy!" Holy shit! It was 9 years ago I was having this conversation with Archer Maddox about his son Brad getting our Olivia pregnant. Looks like the shoe was on the other foot now.

Standing with her slim mother next to the old car, I could see Natalie was tall, looked to be slightly over 6 feet, with long dark hair. Her blue eyes were huge, almost oversized, rimmed red from crying. In spite of this, I could see she was really quite pretty. The plain blue dress she was wearing was well-worn, with tiny holes here and there. She had a pair of flats on her feet that were also in need of repair.

"They're both adults, Mr. Reed. I'm sure they can have a talk and decide what's best for them."

"Listen, Mr. McFarland, Natty may be 18 physically, but she ain't quite mature mentally. She's only a junior in high school, 'cause she got held back a couple of times in grade school. She ain't disabled exactly, but she's simple. Her IQ is below average, so she's way too trusting and easily influenced by pretty words and attentions.

Your son took advantage of her and got her in a family way, but when she told him about it last week he took off, and she hasn't seen him since. He keeps avoiding her at school. He needs to take responsibility here. We ain't rich, Mr. McFarland. I'm an unemployed COBOL programmer with no insurance, we can't afford another baby, not to mention all the doctor bills."

I noticed three smaller shapes moving around in the back of the Buick, probably Natalie's siblings.

I heard Laura's voice behind me, "Eli will take responsibility, I promise," she said in the rare angry tone she used when her fury was up and she was not fucking around. The last time I'd heard it was 8 years ago, the night Ava brought Ashley home after Ashley's parents had kicked her out.