After Rochelle and I... what? Made love? Had sex? Fucked each other senseless?... I began to reflect on the time we had spent together, with me taking her out to dinner and concerts, plays and movies, and her having me over for home-cooked meals on a regular basis. Up to this point, I had thought of her as a family member, my mother-in-law. But now it seemed we were going to add to that having sex on a regular basis, with both of us hoping Rochelle would get pregnant with our child. This was Rochelle's idea, and a request she made to me, explaining that she knew me and knew that I was clean, safe and trustworthy. She told me that all she wanted was for me to impregnate her; the rest would be her responsibility.
I had married Rochelle's daughter, Delia, some years before after a year of dating. She died of cancer within a few years. I was 11 years older than Delia, which put me within five years of her mother, Rochelle, who had given birth to Delia at 16. I pondered this: I'm actually closer to Rochelle's age than I was to Delia's. I married Delia within a year. And I've been taking Rochelle out for over two years.
Things began to percolate in my mind, but I was willing to let them bubble and boil for a while. Meanwhile, I began to call Rochelle more often than before.
Rochelle is a stunningly beautiful woman, large and Rubenesque, with sparkly greenish-brown eyes, big full kissable lips, lovely dark chocolate skin, billowy hair, and a shape that puts the Golden Ratio to shame. And so I began to consider what I could, what I should do about this relationship. Do I impregnate this woman and then just get on down the road? That seems to be what she wants, but is that for real, or is she just giving me the easy way out so that I will cooperate and give her the baby she wants?
Time came that I was taking her out again. I went to her house to pick her up. She came to the door, dressed in a shimmery green dress which accented all her curves and demonstrated what a gorgeous woman she is. "Wow," I exclaimed. "You're stunning!"
"You like?" she smiled, spinning and giving me a 360.
"I love," I said. I took her in my arms and planted an admiring smooch on her lips, then presented my arm for her to hold and escorted her out to my car. I held the door as she settled herself inside, then closed it and made my way around to the driver's side.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"Does sushi sound okay to you?" I responded.
"Ooh, sushi sounds perfect!" she answered back, and so I headed us off to a local sushi bar.
As we enjoyed the various samplings, I told her, "I have tickets to 'A Streetcar Named Desire' tonight. Does that sound like something you'd like to see?"
"Oh, absolutely! I've never seen it before," she responded enthusiastically.
And so we gorged ourselves on sushi, and then went to see the play. She was quiet on the way home. "Are you okay?" I asked.
"Yes, I guess so. The play was a bit disturbing, I think."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I swear to you, I will never behave like Stanley Kowalski. Please don't be afraid of me."
"Oh, Richie, I'm not afraid of you. If I was, I wouldn't go out with you, wouldn't invite you over, and certainly wouldn't ask you to father my baby. Speaking of which... won't you come in?"
"Rochelle, do you have any idea what you mean to me?"
"Um... probably not. Why don't you tell me? Or better yet, show me."
And so we went into her house, and the knowledge that we were going to have sex again with the intention of getting her pregnant was heavy in the air; but I didn't want it to be a rushed affair. "Will you dance with me?" I asked, remembering the last time we danced together.
"Let me get more comfortable," she said. "I'm going to the bathroom. Make yourself at home." and she headed off that way. So I began to dig through her vinyl collection of music. I put on Lou Rawls, and she came out of the bathroom dancing, holding her arms up to me. I took her by the hand and we began to whirl around the floor. "Oh, god," I exclaimed. "You're such a fine woman."
"Take me to bed," she said.
"Rochelle," I said, "I want so much more than just to have sex with you."
"Back off," she said. "I want a baby. Impregnate me, and your job is done."
Ow, that stung. Am I just a meat factory, a sperm generator? Do I just pump in squigglies, and that's it for me? I slowly stopped moving, dropped my hand from hers, and stood with unfocused eyes for a moment. Then, "I have to go," I told her, and I let myself out the door. "Wait!" she cried, but I was already out and gone.
That night she left a message on my phone. I didn't listen to it.
The next day she left another message on my phone. I didn't listen to that one either.
That night there was a knock on my door. I had a pretty good idea who it was, but I answered anyway. And there she was.
"Richie," she said. "Please, don't shut the door. Please hear me out."
I didn't say anything. I just stood looking at her.
"Richie, I am so sorry for what I said. Please, please forgive me. I didn't mean to hurt you. Will you please forgive me? Oh, Richie, I didn't mean to hurt you. Please give me another chance. I'm so sorry for the stupid, stupid thing I said."
Tears began to sting my eyes as I stood looking at her. At last I stood back, held open the door, and let her in.
"Yes. You hurt me," I said.
"I know," she said. "I know, and I hate myself for it. Please, Richie, forgive me. I'm so sorry. God, I am so sorry. Please, please, forgive me."
"Rochelle, I don't understand," I said. "Why? Why would you say something like that to me?"
"Richie," she said, "I don't want you to feel obligated. I told you, you don't have to do the daddy deal, don't have to pay for the child; just get me pregnant and I'll do the rest."
"Uh... Rochelle... what if I want to be obligated?"
"I... I didn't think you would want to. So I wasn't going to saddle you with it."
"Okay, so... what if the child, my child, is someone I want to love and raise?"
She stared at me, no words coming.
"Rochelle... what if I want to raise this child with you?"
She stared at me again, her mouth dropping open.
"Rochelle... what if I want to marry you and have this baby as a couple?"
Now she stared at me in wide-eyed disbelief. "What?" she cried.
"Will you marry me?"
"What?"
"Will you marry me?"
"What?"
"Marry me, you silly woman. I want to marry you."
"What?"
"Okay, look, if you don't say yes this time, I'm going to stop asking. Now... marry me."
"Uh... uh... YES! Omigod, YES! Are you serious? Yes, yes, yes! God, I will marry you! I never, I never... are you serious? Omigod, Richie, are you serious? Oh, yes, oh yes!"
I took her in my arms and said, "I'm serious, and I take your yes as a yes. Now you have agreed to marry me, and I expect you to follow through. Let's do it, honey. Let's get married, and then we'll make this baby as a couple."
"Why do you want to marry me? I'm older than you."
"I want to marry you because I love you, because you mean the world to me, because I want to have children with you, because I want to spend my life with you. I don't want to spend the rest of my life bouncing back and forth, living alone and seeing you now and then. Rochelle, I love you. I want to live with you. I want to kiss you to sleep at night and wake up beside you every morning. Please marry me."
She stared at me in confusion, and then she collapsed backward onto the couch. "Why?" she asked. "Why would you want to marry me?"
"I just told you," I replied. "You are wonderful. You are beautiful. And I want to impregnate you and raise our children together. I love you, Rochelle. Is it okay if I love you?"
"Oh, god, Richie, I never expected, I never hoped for this. I didn't even dare dream... and you're really serious?"
"Please believe me, Rochelle, I am serious. I want you to marry me. I want you to be mine. I want to be yours. I want us to be a couple."
And suddenly she jumped up off the couch and let loose a primal scream, running to me and throwing her arms around me. "Ahhhh" she screamed again, hugging me and spinning me around. "Omigod, omigod, you're serious! You're really serious!" she cried, and I told her once again that yes, I was serious.
At length she pulled back from me, looked me in the eyes, and said, "Oh, Richie, I have loved you for so long. I never imagined that you could love me back. This is such a dream come true, it's hard for me to believe it's for real."
"I've been in love with you for a long time, too, Rochelle. It just took me a while to figure it out. But now I know, and I know that I want to spend my life with you. It's real, honey. So I need you to start making plans for our wedding. I want it to be everything you want it to be. Invite your friends; have your maidens; I will have my best man, who will probably try to bed one of your ladies."
"You're so bad," she said, smacking my arm. "Are you going to fuck me now?"
"Do you think we should? Or do you want to wait for our marriage vows?"
"If you don't take me to bed right this minute, I might just refuse to marry you."
"Damn, woman, you drive a hard bargain!" And at that point we both began to undress each other. Clothes fell to the floor in a pathway to the bedroom. By the time we got to the bed, we were both in our underthings: me in socks and briefs and she in a very attractive matching emerald green set of bra and panties. "No pink granny panties this time, huh?" I grinned at her.
"I came here planning to have sex," she replied. "So I dressed appropriately."
I took her in my arms, hugging her tightly, and murmured, "Rochelle, I love you dearly." She put her arms around me and hugged me back. "I need that love, Richie," she exclaimed. "God, I need to be loved by you. I never imagined I could have your love. This is so far beyond what I thought could ever happen."
"Come," I said. "Let's get in bed." So I stripped off my socks and briefs, and then I undid her bra and pushed it off of her, sliding my hands up into the cups from behind to hold her big dark chocolate breasts (more than a handful is a waste? Bullshit. It's a plus) and run my fingers over her blackberry nipples. Next I knelt down and slowly pulled off her panties, kissing her glorious round butt-cheeks as I did so. Directly we were both naked and lying side by side in bed, hands stroking each other.
"I wish you knew how beautiful you are to me," I said.
"I wish you knew how sexy you are to me," she replied.