Philip's son looks like the twin of the neighbor's son
**
Melissa and I married in our twenties. I was 28, and she was 25. We married because I had knocked her up, even though she had been on the pill. (She later admitted having forgotten to take the pill for a few days.) Melissa gave us a beautiful baby boy. A few years later we added an adorable little girl.
Our best friends were, and always had been, Hank and Martha. The four of us were really close, and Martha had a boy almost at the same time as Melissa, and again she gave birth to a little girl around the same time as Melissa did, so all in all, things were copacetic. We all got along swimmingly, and so did the kids.
It was my sister Fran who upset the apple cart when she came to visit one time. Our son Kevin was seven years old, and so too of course was Jason, the son of Hank and Martha.
Fran took me aside. She said, "Philip, Kevin and Jason look like identical twins. It's uncanny!"
That particular day Melissa and Martha had happened to dress the boys the same way, and as they ran around playing together in the garden, it suddenly occurred to me that I could barely tell the two boys apart. I was kind of stunned.
"Do you think...?" I said to Fran.
"It's possible. You knocked up Martha, I assume?" she replied. I shook my head.
"Well, the two boys have a parent in common. There's no question. You sure that it isn't you? It's easy to imagine: Martha looked hypersexy one night seven years ago, and the two of you got drunk, and...?"
"I guess it's possible. There was only the one time, but I really doubt it. I used a condom,"I said.
"I understand how you couldn't have resisted. She likes you, you know," Fran said.
"Of course, she does. The four of us are best friends," I replied.
"She likes you sexually, you moron," Fran said. "Anyway, if you insist you and Martha never got it on, except one time and with a condom, then who is the father of the two boys? Who the mothers are is fairly easy."
I just looked at Fran. The scales were lifting from my eyes. OMG, was it even possible?
"You know your wife and your friend Hank better than I do," she said. "Do you really want to know?"
I then looked at the two girls playing together. They were little, both only four years old, but I'll be damned if they too didn't look like twins!
"I wonder if Martha has ever noticed?" I asked Fran.
"I'm sure she has. Women notice everything. Could you have fathered one or both of her two kids?" Fran replied.
"Me?" I thought I had already answered that question.
"Well, it wasn't me, now, was it?" Fran replied. "Have you and Martha ever, uh, you know..." Fran tried to put it delicately, but ran out of words. "The two of you are, after all, awfully close. I've noticed. It's fairly obvious, anyway."
"No. I've never strayed, other than that one, stupid, time," I said.
"That's what I was afraid of. Do you want my advice?" Fran asked.
I did. She gave me several earfuls of advice.
**
A few days after Fran's visit I arranged to get Martha alone. It wasn't hard to do, since the four of us were such good friends. After the usual banalities, I said:
"You probably want to know what's going on; why I wanted to be alone with you?" I asked.
"No, not really, but given the melodrama in your tone of voice, yes, now I'm curious," Martha replied.
"Well, have you ever noticed how much Jason and Kevin look alike?" I asked.
"Yes, of course, I have. It's not surprising, given they have the same father," she said, and that remark gobsmacked me. Did she really think I had fathered her son? Martha looked startled, and clapped her hand over her mouth. She realized, a little late, that she had spoken out of school.
"You know?" I asked.
"Of course, I know. Hank explained it all. I know your sperm count is low, and of course you and Melissa wanted children, so Hank went to a sperm bank and donated for Melissa. But of course, you know this, right?" Martha said. My sperm count is low? Where in God's green earth did that come from?
"Hank told you that?" I asked.
"Only when I accused him of cheating on me with Melissa. When he and Melissa explained it all to me, well, of course I forgave him. I forgave both of them," she said.
"Thanks, Martha," I said, "I'm glad you know and understand," I said, not wanting to rock her world too much. I really did care for Martha. My cheating wife's world, however, was a different story. Yes, I cheated, one time, too, but it doesn't count for me. Why? Because I make the rules, that's why!
"Of course, it's possible Hank didn't go to a sperm bank, and he knocked up Melissa the old-fashioned way. Sometimes I wonder. Melissa is very pretty and appealing, as I'm sure you, of all people, know. I'm totally jealous of her rack. Hank and her seem to sneak off together at times. Surely, you've noticed? Anyway, what did they tell you?" Martha said.
"They never told me anything. I'm hearing this all for the first time from you," I replied. "Before you ask, I'm fairly sure they made love, and were careless, and then either just before, or right after, Hank and you got together," I said. Bitterness was creeping into my voice as if it were acid reflux. "Melissa does tend to be reckless."
"Oh, my," Martha said. "Oh, my goodness. I'm so sorry, Philip. I mean, I knew of course that Melissa was pregnant when the two of you married. You were both very much in love; I had no idea my own husband Hank was also sleeping with your bride. Are you sure? Well, of course you are, I suppose. My goodness!"
"Say, you want to have some revenge, of the fun type? I find you very attractive, you know," I said. "There is that one time, as precedence, in case you're into English common law and all that."
"And I find you attractive, too," Martha replied. "And you can't make me pregnant I'm told, due to your low sperm count so you wouldn't need to use a rubber this time, now would you?," she said, her eyes twinkling as she spoke. "Don't think I haven't been tempted, and often. But alas, I couldn't do that to Hank. One time was just one of those things that happens. Twice or more is infidelity. Sorry, Philip."
"Just a kiss?" I asked.
"No. Not the kind of kiss you want. I'm terribly sorry. I'd like to, my loins ache for you, and I know it's the symmetric sin to commit, but I just can't do it," Martha said.
"Yes, you're right. Forgive me for being so presumptuous," I said. "We won't speak of it again."
**
I never rush decisions. It's just the way I am. So, I ruminated about the situation. Melissa still loved me, that was obvious, and we both loved the kids which I began to realize were not biologically related to me. From the standpoint of children, there was no good solution to this mess. I could leave Melissa and give her to Hank, so to speak, but then what about Martha and her kids with Hank? It's not as if Hank could have two wives. Also, there's the remote, tiny, chance that I'm the father of both sons. I had to keep reminding myself of that. I knew, though, it was Hank. Both boys even looked like miniature Hanks!
My ego was destroyed and each time I looked at my son Kevin, I got sick to my stomach. This made me sick to my stomach, that looking at my son made me sick to my stomach. I was having indigestion on a meta level. Who needs that?
Both Kevin and Melissa knew something was wrong, but as is the tradition in our family, they gave me space to work things out. They were there for me if I wanted to speak with them or talk things out, but I had to make the first move. It was our family's dynamic.
Martha and I avoided each other, after my