This is a true story (as all of mine are) since life is much more interesting and unbelievable than fiction. It starts as 4 of us have left the British equivalent of high school, 2 couples who have been friends for years. It's 1975 and three of us have watched each other grow up -- that's me, Stan, and Janine. Stan and Janine were a couple since they met in 1st Form - one of those love-at-first sight relationships that you so rarely meet. But they have been together ever since and always planned to marry once they could.
I was lucky to meet them in the 5th Form and we quickly became friends. They were my most common double-date as I worked through adolescence and we learned how to grow up together. They were always incredibly comfortable in their bodies and openly affectionate to the point of distraction for a guy who was still dating. But one of the advantages to being their friend was that Janine could often suggest a willing date for me even if my date and I ended up listening to them in the back seat. As this story starts they are only a few months away from their nuptial bliss and have suddenly run into a problem.
No, not a problem with sex. That was never a problem for them as they eagerly explored each other as soon as the differences started to appear in each other. Their parents quickly realized that very little could be done to keep these two apart and eventually understood they were serious about becoming married.
The problem was that they wanted children and couldn't get pregnant. Apparently they had been trying to get pregnant for over a year after school before seeing a doctor. When he did the tests they found out they were both fertile, just not with each other. Again, this was 1975 so most of the fertility help was still decades away and expensive for what was available. Today things like this can be resolved easily but not with 1975's medical technology. They basically had two choices -- adoption or sperm donor.
After a lot of talking with each other (and their families) they had decided that adoption simply wouldn't work for them but they disliked the idea of the sperm donor just as much. That's where I come into this story, me and my girlfriend Clare. Clare hadn't grown up with them since she went to a different school but we'd been together for a couple of years ourselves when everything came to a head one weekend when we'd gone away with Stan and Janine. The girls had always gotten along well both being the free spirits they were. It wasn't unusual for our school year double-dates to end up in some darkened room as both couples worked on getting some sexual relief. Not swinging or even blatantly showing off but just 2 couples very deeply in love and comfortable enough to not be prudish about things.
This weekend we'd gone over to a family beach house where Stan had access. Nothing really fancy with a couple of bedrooms, large kitchen and sitting room, but comfortable and easy to clean up. We'd been there before as we all enjoyed getting away when possible and this was an old farmhouse within walking distance of the beach. There were some woods that covered 2 sides and no one else lived within shouting distance which was a distinct advantage to us as young partiers.
We'd arrived separately and taken our stuff to our respective rooms when we decided to take an evening walk. Clare and I had noticed that Janine was quieter than normal so she led the way arm in arm with Janine while Stan and I ambled along behind enjoying the view. There was certainly plenty to enjoy with these two. They were almost the same height at 5'5" with closely matching waves of brunette hair cascading down their backs. Clare's hair was very straight with reddish tints but Janine's had lots of curls that would surround her with a halo sometimes. They were both athletic without working at it having long legs topped by youthfully tight backsides usually inside very tight denim. So the view was decidedly pleasant as we watched their asses sashaying ahead of us. The evening was warm enough that we were all in jeans and t-shirts although the girls had sweaters over their shoulders ready for when the chill hit. They strolled ahead of us chatting head-to-head as girls do when sharing secrets and sometimes giggling.
Suddenly they stopped and faced each other when Clare hugged Janine. I could hear Clare saying she was sorry and when we caught up with them Clare asked Stan if he had told me yet. Stan said he hadn't yet but figured now was the time. That was how we found out our friends were infertile together. We made supportive comments and continued the walk heading back to the house for dinner. Things were quieter once we got back. We worked together getting a simple meal together but when we sat down Clare said, "There's something else you're not sharing, isn't there?"
Stan and Janine glanced at each other before Janine answered. She took a drink from the wine we'd poured and said, "Yes, there is, but it isn't anything bad. We've talked about this and decided we don't want an anonymous donor to father our child. But we don't want to adopt either so we're going to ask someone to be the donor for us."
Clare asked her, "Who?" Stan and Janine both took a moment before Stan pointed at me and said, "Him."
Clare and I sat there for a minute with our mouths hanging open before I could even respond. I lifted my glass and replied, "That's the greatest compliment I've ever received and thank you," toasting them. "Honestly I'm startled and need to talk with Clare about this," I continued. Everyone took a moment and smiled around the table although my appetite was gone.
Stan and Janine nodded before Janine said, "We understand .... and we knew we'd all need to talk about this ..... so we decided the best way to tell you was to just get here together and talk it through." She looked at Clare and smiled nervously, "I know this is odd, but if there's anyone we could talk to about this it was you two." Clare smiled back at her, "Don't worry, you're with friends."
Stan and Janine looked relieved and we finished the meal with the usual chatter as I tried to process their request. Children weren't something I had seriously thought about very much before now. Clare and I were both more interested in enjoying our adult lives than starting a family. We both knew we had several lessons to learn before becoming parents ourselves. The meal ended and we cleared things away before settling down in the sitting room with glasses of wine.
There was a sense of anticipation as we sat together -- the obvious topic was avoided as they seemed to wait for me to start talking. My thoughts kept bouncing around the issue -- was I ready to make a new life? If I said yes how would this affect Clare? If I said no would they be offended? Clare and I were on our usual couch where she had pulled her legs up and leaned against me. Stan and Janine were snuggled on an over-sized chair on the other side of the room so we were all mostly aimed at the fireplace. The evening had cooled in a typical English manner and we had a fire ready to light. Clare looked up at me in a quiet way and asked, "So what are you thinking?"
The room was quiet so everyone could hear us, not that I was worried. We'd all made mistakes with each other in the past -- let little things become big but we'd got to a place where there wasn't much we would take offense at. I smiled at her and said, "I think I need to light the fire," getting up. She swatted me as I went past and the other two laughed as I lit the match and started the kindling. As the fire started to catch I turned around and looked at everyone.
