Zaya is Born

Disclaimers

If you find any errors, please remember that I am striving to include something for everyone, and some people are always looking for mistakes.

This is a story. It is not a story about what you would do in this situation, or even what you think should be done. There would be no point in writing a story where everyone's reaction is the same. This overlooks the individuality of the characters and what they, as created by the author, would do. That may not align with what you would do. Please try to keep that in mind when reading.

All sexual participants are age 18 or over.

Word Count: 4,237

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ZAYA IS BORN

A new life was created as others were ended

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David sat at the bar of the small neighborhood Mexican restaurant. He was alone sipping on his cool Dos Equis. He'd gotten off work a little early and was enjoying the festive atmosphere in the bar. He was just relaxing and watching the soccer game on the television.

He saw the door open and a beautiful woman walked in the door, a woman that was familiar to him, though it had been a while. She saw him shortly after her eyes adjusted to the darker atmosphere, and a wide smile appeared on her face. She walked over to him, and he watched her every step of the way.

"David, it's so good to see you."

"Kara, hi. It's been a long time."

They embraced, something they also hadn't done in a while, and they both missed the feeling. They lingered in the hug a few seconds longer.

"How's the baby?" David asked, genuinely curious.

"She's not a baby anymore. She's almost 4."

"Wow. I guess it has been that long, hasn't it? But she's doing well?"

"Very well. She's the light of my life. She's healthy and already learning to read."

"That's wonderful. I always knew you'd have smart babies. What did you finally name her?"

"Zaya, after Brian's grandmother."

"How beautiful. And how is Brian?"

The smile faded from Kara's face.

"I don't know. I haven't seen him in 2 years. I still get my child support every couple of weeks but that's about it."

"I'm sorry to hear that," David said, and meant it. "I really thought he would be a dedicated father."

"I thought so, too, but being a part-time father just wasn't for him. He took a job in Portland. I assume that's where he still is."

"That's a shame. I'd hoped it would work out differently."

"Yeah, me too. What about you?"

David was reluctant to share too much personal information, so simply said that things were "going well".

"I'm still at the same company, though I've been promoted to team leader. There's a little bit of travel but not much, and I really enjoy the added challenge."

"That's great, David. I'm happy for you." Her voice lowered a bit. "You know, you once told me you'd have no trouble dating a single mom. Well, here I am."

"Kara, you and I both know it's not that simple."

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About 4 Years Earlier

Both families looked at David's retreating back as he walked out of the hospital. The initial thought was that something was wrong with the baby, that she was sick or had a birth defect of some kind. But they knew David, knew he would be the strength at his wife's side if something like that had happened.

No, it had to be something else. But what?

The doctor appeared shortly thereafter and asked for Kara's mom. Adrianne Kyle stood and identified herself, and the doctor let her know that her daughter was asking for her.

"What's going on, doctor? Why did my son-in-law rush out of here like that?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I'm not at liberty to provide you any information. I'm sure your visit with your daughter will answer your questions."

With a look back at the family members that were watching her interaction with the doctor, Adrianne shrugged and followed the doctor through the doors and down the hallway.

Kara was still in the delivery room, her body covered in a couple of sheets. Her face was turned to the side, a bland, emotionless expression on her face. It was certainly not the joyous one Adrianne had seen on her daughter in the weeks leading up to the birth. She walked to her daughter's side.

"Honey, are you all right?"

Kara looked up into her mother's eyes, still lacking the joy her mother usually saw in them. Her bright blue eyes always had a twinkle but right now they just looked dull and lifeless.

"Please go see your granddaughter," Kara answered, evading the question.

"In a moment, dear. Can you..."

"Mom, please go look at the baby."

"Okay, darling."

Adrianne walked over to the small table where a nurse was still tending to the newborn. The nurse was blocking her view so Adrianne had to walk all the way over before she saw what all the fuss was about.

"Oh my," were the first words out of her mouth. Then she said, mostly to Kara but not really to anyone in particular, "I need to talk to Barbara."

Barbara, David's mom, watched as Adrianne came back out of the delivery ward. Their eyes met and a small gesture told Barbara that Adrianne needed to speak with her, and in private. She got up from the couch, clutching her purse, and joined Kara's mom in the corner of the room. The few words from Adrianne's mouth stabbed her in her heart. She immediately turned to leave the hospital, stopping only to gather her husband from the couch on which she had been previously sitting. He didn't know what was wrong, but he had seen that look on his wife's face before, so he knew it was bad.

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The front door was unlocked, so Barbara walked in with just a tap on the door. The apartment was dark, with just the glow of all those small lights that appliances and electronics seem to have these days. She had been here enough to know where the light switch was located, but a voice came from the darkness just as she reached for it.

"Please don't turn that on."

"David, I can't see anything."

"Give it a second. Your eyes will adjust."

After several seconds, she was able to see her son's lone figure sitting in a chair. She moved carefully across the room and took the seat nearest to him. They just sat quietly for several seconds, David staring into space and Barbara staring at David. Finally, she spoke.

"How are you doing, son?"

His expression didn't change but he turned to look at his mother with eyes as lifeless as Kara's had been.

"You know, mom, I have no idea how to answer that."

"Do you have any idea who it is?"

"Brian is the only black guy we both know. If it's not him then I have no idea who it would be."

"He's been your best friend since you were kids. Do you think he would do something like this?"

"No, but then I never would have thought she would either, so obviously I don't know anything at all."

"Is there anything I can do, David?"

"If there is I can't think of it." He looked his mom in the eyes again. "I'm sorry, mom. I know you were looking forward to becoming a grandmother as much as I was a father."

"Son, you have nothing to apologize for. We'll get through this together. Would you like a drink, or something to eat?"

"No, thank you. I just...I don't know how I'm going to get through this."

"One second at a time, David. Then one minute, and one hour, and one day, and eventually it will be behind you. You just have to remember that this will pass, just like everything else."

"It sure doesn't feel like it right now."

"I know."

They sat in silence, with just the hum of the refrigerator and the whirring noise of the ceiling fan filling the air. As it seems in these cases, what seemed like hours was only about 15 minutes, until the silence was broken by a knock on the door. Barbara glanced at her son, who showed no sign of moving or even having heard the knock, so she stood to answer the door.

"Hello Brian," greeted Barbara, trying to keep the judgment out of her tone and wondering whether she had succeeded.

"Hi, Mrs. Dillon. I was...hoping to talk to David."

"I'm not sure..." she started.

"It's fine, mom," called David from his spot on the chair.

Barbara opened the door wide and let him in. She cautioned him that David didn't want any lights turned on and to wait for his eyes to adjust. Brian waited while Barbara went back into the living room to get her sweater and her purse.

"Honey, I'll be at the house with your father. I'm just a few minutes away. Call me if you need me."

She squeezed his hand and smiled just a bit when he squeezed back. As she passed Brian, who had been like a son to her for years but whose presence seemed to confirm their worst thoughts, she simply gave his shoulder a squeeze and then she left the house.

His eyes adapted, Brian moved slowly into the living room. He had been here many times so knew the layout just fine. He moved easily to the living room and sat in the chair nearest his friend. Well, probably former friend, now.

"Is it you?" David asked.

"Yes," Brian admitted, then waited for the explosion from his friend, but it never came.

In fact, David offered no response at all, so Brian did what he came here to do: explain.

"It wasn't an affair, if that's what you're thinking."

David just continued to stare straight ahead, so Brian continued.

"You had that training in Nashville, the one your company sent you to for 10 days."

He remembered. It had been an honor to be selected for the training program. He'd received a raise just for attending, and leapt to the top for consideration of future promotions. Kara was anxious about spending the whole time in the apartment alone, and her parents hadn't moved to the area yet. (They moved as soon as they found out she was pregnant). Their friend, Brian, had offered to crash in the guest room while David was gone, and they accepted.

"Everything was fine for the first several days but on, I think it was day 6, we were relaxing and watching TV and we had a few drinks. I've always thought Kara was very attractive" (this earned him a look from David) "and I think she felt the same. We started kissing, lowered inhibitions and all, and we ended up messing around."

"Messing around?" David asked, the sound of his voice startling Brian since he had expected the silence to continue.

"Yeah. Not actual...sex but just some touching to go with the kissing, that sort of thing. She, uh, gave me a hand job, and I..."

"Okay, I get it!" David interrupted. "Can't get pregnant from that, though."

"Yeah. The next day we were feeling pretty guilty, and we swore to keep what happened to ourselves. But the day after, well, we figured we had already crossed that line, you know, so what would it hurt if we tried it again, maybe went all the way."

David gave him an incredulous look.

"I know. You can justify anything if you really want to, right? Anyway, so that night we had, you know, actual sex. We did use a condom and we really enjoyed..."

Brian stopped when David gave him another incredulous look, as if he wanted to hear how much his best friend and his wife had enjoyed fucking each other.

"Right, sorry. Well, we decided to do it again the next night. You were due home the next night and we figured this would be our last chance ever. We used a condom but we got kind of...rambunctious and when we were done realized the condom had slipped. It hadn't come off exactly but, you know..."

Kara and I didn't normally rely on condoms but she had gone off her birth control because we had been planning to start our family. Talk about crummy timing.

"It wasn't too bad so we didn't think anything happened. You came back the next day and, I assume, had sex. The fact is we never considered the possibility that it wasn't yours. I'm sorry, David. For all of it. Obviously, we never should have done it in the first place."

"Obviously," David responded.

"I think all of the right circumstances just came together. I can't believe I did it, and I know Kara feels the same. We both love you, man. You've been my best friend for years. You made a new black kid feel welcome and I'll never forget that, even if you never speak to me again."

David couldn't think of anything to say, really. That his relationship with Brian was as over as his marriage was a given. He knew Kara and Brian both felt terrible and regretted the choice. They both knew they had hurt him, probably beyond repair, and would have to live with that for the rest of their lives. What would be the point of pointing it out to them?

When the silence became uncomfortable, Brian stood up and slowly walked out, turning back a couple of times for his last looks at his former friend. He'd never forgive himself for having done this to a man he considered a brother, a man that had given no thought to befriending the little black boy that had moved into the neighborhood of white faces. David had lost some friends because of it, but that had only drawn them closer together.

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Kara lay in her hospital bed wondering what her future held. Her birth had been uneventful and the baby was healthy, so she would likely be released the next day. But where would she go?

The nursery was all set up back at the apartment she shared with her husband, but would she be welcome there? Or would she be there but he wouldn't?

She had made a horrible mistake, one she was paying for now. The baby was beautiful and she was hers, so keeping her was a no-brainer. But if David left her, or more likely when he left her, being alone in that apartment sounded about as awful as could be.

Brian was a good-looking man. She had always thought so and, after a couple of drinks that night, kissing him had seemed like it would be no big deal. His hands found her bra clasp and soon her bare breasts were exposed, and his hands and lips were making them feel so good.

And Brian was in great shape. David kept fit but Brian had muscles that were more defined, and just running her hands over his chest got her turned on. She pulled his shirt over his head and it wasn't long before she was working at the waistband of his jeans. They were sitting so she didn't make much progress until Brian stood up, after which his jeans and boxers hit the floor and his throbbing cock bounced tantalizingly before her eyes.

It was nice, maybe a little bigger than David but not by much. Her reverie was interrupted by Brian's hands on her own waistband, pulling her elastic shorts and skimpy panties off in one pull and tossing them aside. He got on his knees in front of her and before she could even think to object (and she wasn't going to, anyway), his fingers were inside her sopping wet pussy. She could hear the squishing her juices were making and she came quickly.

She pushed his hands away, out of sensitivity not regret, then stood up and pushed him on to the couch. She took his thick black cock in her hands (she had never seen a black one in-person before) and began stroking it, slowly at first but picking up speed rapidly. Brian had his eyes closed and his head back, enjoying the sensation.

She could feel the heat rising in his manhood, and added her second hand to push through to the finale. With a grunt and a muffled roar from Brian, his load blew into the sky. It probably went 6 or 8 feet in the air before returning to the ground, landing on Brian, and the sofa, and Kara herself.

She had never cared for the taste of semen, though she did let David come in her mouth on occasion, so she simply left things as they were and went to get a dishrag to clean things up. Afterwards, they dressed and went into their own bedrooms.

By the next day, they were both feeling guilty. Neither could deny the attraction they felt for the other, but Kara was married to Brian's best friend and it was obviously something they shouldn't do. But they also wanted to experience more. The hand job and the fingering felt good but it was incomplete.

If they were both honest with themselves, they would realize that they had both held an attraction for the other for a long time, but their relationships with David had been enough to keep them from acting on that attraction. But the gate had been opened, and there was no closing it.

It took 2 days for the desire to overcome the guilt. Brian got some condoms and they spent all night having sex. Kara found the skin tone contrast exciting, along with the thrill of being with a different man. David, she later realized, never even entered her mind.

Brian was also excited at being with a woman he had desired for so long. Growing up in a mostly white neighborhood meant that the white-black thing was common for him, but his desire for Kara had been on a long, slow simmer, and it was boiling over tonight.

They slept together in David and Kara's bed, neither of them giving that a second thought. Brian called out from work, and the rest of that last full day was spent in bed. They went through David's entire 12-pack of condoms over those 2 days and nights. They were exhausted and sore, but had fully enjoyed every minute of it.

Karma had come back to get them now, though. Big time.

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The sunlight streaming through the blinds in her hospital room woke Kara gently, though her heart was still heavy from the events of the prior day. She turned and was surprised to see her husband sitting calmly in a nearby chair. He noticed her looking at him.

"Hey," he said, carefully avoiding the words 'good morning'.

"Hey," she replied, glad that he wasn't visibly upset and wondering whether this boded well for the future.

"How're you feeling?" David asked, genuinely concerned.

"Physically I'm fine," Kara responded. "No complications and the baby is healthy. But that's not what concerns me right now. David, I'm so sorry."

"I think we're all sorry, Kara. I talked to Brian last night. He's sorry, you're sorry, and I'm sorry. And that doesn't do us one bit of good, does it?"

"No, I suppose not, but I wanted to say it, anyway."

"Well, I guess you did, then."

"David, I know this is bad. About as bad as it can get. But I have to ask if there's any way...you know, with counseling or something, that we could try to move forward as a family."

"I've thought about that a lot for the last 12 hours or so. In fact, I've thought about little else. If I could do it with anyone it would be you, because I love you so much. But what you're asking is beyond me, no matter how I look at it."

David's eyes started to moisten, though the tears weren't flowing, at least not yet.

"Maybe I could have gotten past what you guys did, but you had his baby. Not only would she be a daily reminder of what you guys did, but...I don't know how to explain it. That was your first baby, Kara, and it was supposed to be mine. Somehow, that really matters to me."

I can understand that, David. But let me ask you a question: if you met a woman and she had a child, would that stop you from dating her?"

"You know that wouldn't bother me, Kara. But this isn't the same, and I think you know that."

"I do, David, but I'm just trying to make a point. We love each other so much, and I know I made a huge mistake, but it doesn't have to be the end of our lives together. If you could be with a single mom, and accept her child as your own, why can't you do it now?"

"You know the answer to that. A woman that already has a child didn't get that child by having sex with another man while married to me. Not just another man, but my best friend!" David said, the last part louder than the rest and enough so to earn a quick peek through the door by a nurse that heard him.

Satisfied that there was no danger, the nurse retreated and closed the door.

"That's true, David, but you also wouldn't have the history you have with me. I made a horrible mistake, I know that. I was weak and I gave in to temptation. If I could take that back, I would. But we don't have to let it ruin our future. I love you and you love me, at least you used to. Can't we at least try?"