Surrogate or Husband?

Surrogate or Husband?

Is a baby worth a great marriage?

Many criticisms were made by readers of my previous stories. I read them all and agree with many of them. I have attempted to improve my writing. I asked friends to screen this story and make suggestions. I incorporated as much as I could. I will value all the remarks made on this tale.

I enjoy writing. I am retired, and it is a fun hobby. However, based on the comments on this contribution, I may find another pastime. Thank you for reading.

Halfway through this yarn, I realized there were many ways to complete this story. I decided to permit any author who desires to submit a sequel with his idea on how this story should end. I wrote my finale.

Our marriage was in trouble. Linda wanted babies, and I was sterile. We both had solutions. Linda had hers, and I had another. Linda's answer would probably end our marriage. Linda not only strongly disagreed but intended against my wishes to institute hers. I will give our backgrounds before we indicate what answer we will use.

My name is Tom Sheffield. Linda is my wife of five years.

Linda and I met when they were three years old in our backyards. Both of us looked through the fence. We walked toward it and stared at each other.

Our love for each other grew from that day forward. Until school started, we played with each other every day. Linda loved dolls and babies, and I trucks. We often pushed the dolls around with the trucks.

Everything about our intellect grew. Linda and I shared our observations and surprising others with our speaking abilities. We both learned every word that someone mentioned. As we grew, we shared all of our experiences. Our knowledge base was more than double for children our age.

Both sets of parents were impressed with our ability to share information. They did all they could to encourage it. When Linda's mother and father went to the shore on vacation, they took me with them. My parents took Linda with us when they went camping.

When school started, we both excelled. We took the same grammar and high school classes, followed by college classes. Our grades were always high, and we were usually on the honor roll.

We did not neglect our social life. Both of us became avid fishers, volleyball players and card players. During the summer, there was a constant blackjack game at the local park. We became so good that after a while, we were not welcome.

Everything we did was fun. Linda and I would compete to see who could catch the most fish. But it was just a game.

We fell into a teenage infatuation with each other. When we saw other couples kiss, we followed suit. We pledged our love to each other and stayed to that promise. They were happy years. We went together to both the junior and senior proms. We were attractive and constantly hit on. Neither of us would budge from our commitment to each other.

We both entered the same college. Then we decided that it was the appropriate time to experience sex. We had practiced the preliminaries, of course--necking and occasionally touching each other's private areas. After an initial experiment, we visited the library for comprehensive sex education. Not much help was available. The next place we went to was a book store.

There were several books of interest. We bought and read the entire collection. The book that interested us the most described that the most pleasure in sex was derived when making your partner happy. When we started making love, helping each other feel satisfied was each of our goals.

We exceeded our expectations. We both felt that the sex we experienced was terrific.

Together we decided to study to become computer programmers. We were equally qualified and similarly enjoyed writing programs.

College was fun. We attended many social activities and many parties. Neither of us ever flirted or spent much time with the opposite sex. Six months after graduation, we were married.

The marriage was also a great time. The only problem was that Linda was anxious to have a baby. It just did not happen.

We had joined the same company. We worked in two different departments. I was a programmer in accounting, and Linda worked as an analyst for marketing. We were both proficient in our jobs and soon became project managers. We had lunch together most days. The only downside in their life was Linda was still barren.

We completely remodeled a house Linda had inherited from her family. We made the nursery a tech haven. It contained a TV camera and several sound devices to pick up every whisper. We got books to help us in areas in which we were ignorant. The work bought us closer together. There was satisfaction in completing a job initially we had never tried before.

Unfortunately, we had been trying for five years to have a baby without any luck. We went to a clinic that specialized in assisting couples with problems getting pregnant. It only took a short time to realize that I was sterile and had no hope of fertilizing Linda's eggs.

The clinic gave us several options--artificial insemination, adoption, and regular fertilization through normal intercourse with a different male. We listened and then went home to discuss them.

I made it very clear I would disagree with regular fertilization. Adoption seemed wrong since Linda wanted a baby, and babies weren't readily available. That left us with artificial insemination.

Recently my group at work had hired a brilliant, handsome young man my age. His name was Leo. He was divorced, had the brains and looks and was single with one son. That meant he was fertile. I asked Linda if she would like to invite him to dinner and check him out. She immediately agreed.

Linda made had a delicious supper. We all had a few glasses of wine and retired to the living room.

I did not hesitate. I asked Leo if he would be willing to be a surrogate father for us. I explained it would be artificial insemination. "He said no. He would not go to some clinic and masturbate into some receptacle. He was willing, however, to spend the night with Linda and inseminate her. Leo said he would spend three nights with her to ensure a mistake about her ovulation date, and he covered the correct ovulation night."

I immediately turned down his offer. Linda started to object. I told her we would discuss this alone and give Leo our decision. We all had a final glass of wine. Leo went home. I asked Linda to wait until tomorrow so that we could discuss it.

Linda or I might be misinterpreted by the other during an argument, so I suggested we both write our suggestions and then share them.

Tom's reasons for not wanting Leo to have sex with Linda for insemination:

1. I do not want any man to have intercourse with my wife. I will get a divorce if that happens.
2. My wife may enjoy him more than I do. Our sex life is suitable for both of us. I will never know if she would rather be in bed with Leo. I may never again wish to go to bed with her again.
3. I do not know how many times they will have to have sex for fertilization to take place. I do not know how many babies Linda will want.
4. Leo can fertilize you in five minutes. It does not take three nights for fertilization.
5. Every day, I would go to work and see Linda's lover's face.
6. Whenever I looked at the baby, I saw her lover's face.
7. If Linda thinks this is necessary, she should divorce me and marry a fertile man.
8. It is excruciating to say this, but our marriage will end except for artificial insemination.

Linda's reasons for wanting Leo to impregnate her:

"Ever since I was aware of life, I wanted babies. I never just wanted one. I wanted a bunch. Do you remember how I would run-up to a baby carriage to look at the infant? I would be devastated if you left me. However, I cannot give up on having babies. Many of the objections you raise are legitimate, but we could overcome them. Leo is giving us a great opportunity. If you do not even consider Leo's suggestions, then I do not think there is any more to discuss. I plan on using Leo, whether you like it or not. We will have to live with the repercussions. Since you will leave me if I have sex with him, it will not be necessary to alleviate your objections. I will follow Leo's lead and do what he asks. I will ovulate in ten days. That's when I will have Leo impregnate me."

Tom:

The situation crushed me. I took my 401k and quit my job. I had to get away as fast as possible. As soon as I took care of my finances, I left town the next day. I did not tell anyone where I was going. I kept my e-mail address so my father could contact me. I told Linda I never wanted to have contact with her again. She could file for divorce for abandonment in one year. She asked me to reconsider. I told her it was a joke. She could now sleep with her lover and have as many little bastards as she wanted. She asked why I left so fast. It was because there was no alternative. I could not stay around while she had sex with another man.

Linda:

After all our years together, I thought tom would at least consider Leo's offer. We both could have left our jobs and moved. That would eliminate some of Tom's objections. I realized we also could have gone for artificial insemination. That may have been the best. My anger at Tom's immediate refusal of Leo's suggestion caused me to reject it and plan on following up with Leo. I wonder if Tom will change his mind and return. I am not very optimistic.

At this point, I permit anyone to write a sequel with a different ending.

Tom, six months later:

I bought a small horse ranch nearby that appealed to me, about two hours west of where I had lived.

An older man, Bill, came with the ranch. He took care of almost everything.

He lived in a small bungalow on the ranch.

I got my computer set up and started betting on horse racing. I also learned from Bill what was required to keep the ranch running.

Fairly soon, I was breaking in horses. I fed and combed them. My only contact with the outside world was with my father. I made him promise never to tell me what was happening with Linda. I would about once a month make a fast trip to see him. I never left his house or visited with anyone. My father was the only relative I had left, so I wanted to keep in contact with him.

I was lonely and missed having a woman. However, I wouldn't try to find one. I was still married and did want to screw up someone else's life.

One day, to my surprise, I saw a pregnant young lady entering bill's bungalow. I found out it was his daughter. She was married to an alcoholic. He had beaten her, and she left him.

Bill asked me if she could stay with us. I immediately agreed. Marie joined me at the house. She cleaned and did most of the cooking. All of us ate together from then on.

Marie always had a smile. She was a very positive person, I enjoyed her company.

With the money, I invested in livestock and the ranch. My business became profitable. I reinvested all that I made. I gave Bill a significant raise and his daughter Maria a small salary. The changes helped rid me of the depression caused by my loss of Linda.

Linda, six months later:

After Tom left, I felt lonely. At work, Leo joined me for lunch. I explained that Tom had left me and I told him the reasons. He said that Tom did not deserve me. He then made a series of nasty cracks about Tom that irritated me. Tom was a great guy and was a terrific husband.

I thought about what was about to happen. If Tom did not return, I would be raising a baby alone, simultaneously attempting to work. If I delayed having a baby and Tom divorced me, I could find a fertile husband and have his children. Leo's comments pushed me in that direction.

Later that week, I told Leo the get-together was off. He was not a happy trooper. He tried to lean on me to go home with him. I let him know that it would never happen.

I would wait one year and then find a husband.

Tom

Maria had twins at the local hospital. When she got home, her husband showed up drunk.

Her father and I threw him off the property. Her husband returned with a rifle in an hour, and before he could be stopped, he shot and killed Maria. I grabbed a rifle and killed him.

I called my dad. I asked him if Linda was still single and lived alone. He said yes and told me to call her. He explained that she never went with Leo. I called and asked her if she was interested in taking care of two babies for me. She jumped at the chance. She packed some clothes and immediately drove down.

She instantly fell in love with the babies. Her boss let her finish a current project from home and then resign.

At the ranch, she moved into one of the bedrooms. We felt awkward with each other for the first few days. Slowly our relationship resumed. I got up early and made breakfast for Linda, Joe, and me. Linda would then feed the infants. She did most of the housework, but I often joined her so we could have free time together. I would do the ranch work with Joe and bet the races in the afternoon which had become quite profitable.

Joe asked us to adopt the twins, which we readily agreed to. Linda and I sat down for a serious discussion. Linda wished for more children but would settle for only two. We both said that we had not had sex with anyone during our separation. We were both still in love and wanted to resume our romantic life.

That night the love we shared was incredible. Our souls felt united.

When the boys were seven, we invited ghetto children to vacation with us during the summer. Linda loved having the children there. They would ride the horses and help in the barn. Go fishing with our boys.

We always had dinner together. Linda and I would try to make it as delicious as possible. After dinner, we played board games. As the kids grew older, they often sent letters thanking us for sharing our lives.

One of the lads got be on Jeopardy. He was champ for one day. He mentioned the great time he had as a youngster on our ranch. We couldn't have been prouder of him.

We lived together until Linda passed at eighty-five. All that time together, we were blessed. We argued but never went to sleep mad. Our sons graduated college, both close to the top of their class. It was a life worth living.

Epilogue:

Tom died a few months after Linda. Their sons kept the cattle farm. They entered the business world, and were successful.

They paid professionals to run the ranch. Every summer they would each return on different months for the ghetto children.