Thanks to WAA01 and Killerarmyguy for the edits.
*******
Chapter One
"W-what?!" Gloria stammered as she sat in the fertility doctor's office; she and her husband (Maverick -- or Mav as his friends call him) had used to see why she wasn't getting pregnant at the age of forty. Gloria knew she was still fertile, given what the doctor had just said. Yet her husband was sterile! How could that be?! How does a man that's fathered a son suddenly become sterile after eighteen years? Gloria just couldn't fathom it, not at the moment at least. Her husband didn't bother to show up for this meeting. Which infuriated her at first; now it enraged her! He had to know what the results would be. He had to! Why else blow off this appointment?
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Mathews, but you and your husband can not have a child together."
"Why?" Gloria asked, noting the forlorn look on the woman's face that sat across from her.
"You're husband just doesn't have a sperm count."
"How can that be we have a son! Sperm just doesn't magically disappear?!" Gloria exclaimed as her emotions erupted within her.
"It does when he's had a vasectomy." Gloria watched the doctor's eyes following her as she fell, deflate back into her seat.
"A-a vasectomy?! When?" Gloria stammered, knowing her dream of having another child would go the way of the dodo.
"I can't say, four months, a year, maybe longer. All I can tell you is the only way a man who had enough sperm to get you pregnant and then..." Waving her hand over the results, "is a vasectomy unless he was in an accident that damaged his genitals." Gloria shook her head weakly. The worst thing that's ever happened was when Maverick got food poisoning on a business trip that he had to postpone his return trip when their son was ten. Nothing that would cause her husband's sperm to dry up. "Then I'm afraid, Mrs. Mathews, your husband had a vasectomy. Did he not tell you?"
"No," Gloria uttered weakly.
"Do you remember a time where it hurt him to sit comfortably for a few days?" Gloria had to think back, fifteen years to be exact, to recount how Maverick wouldn't touch her for a week, and then he insisted on using condoms for the next three months, which was odd to her. Yet, at the time, she never brought it up; maybe she should've. Maybe she shouldn't have been such an accepting wife to let a little thing like that go after years of bareback sex with one another.
"I do," Gloria spoke in a controlled growl.
"I take it your husband didn't discuss this with you?"
"No, he did not," Gloria nodded firmly. "I would have remembered something like this and not been trying so hard for a baby for the past two years."
"I'm sorry, I hate to be the bearer of bad news."
"No, Doctor, you're just doing your job; it's my husband that's going to be the one that's sorry," Gloria said, keeping her emotions hidden behind a thin veil of calmness. Shaking her doctor's hand she left her office. Digging into her purse as her phone rang.
Rapidly pressing the call button. "
Hey, girlfriend, how did the appointment go
?" Her friend of twenty years voice came over the line once she had answered it.
"Not well. Are you busy?" Gloria asked, quickly losing the ability to control her emotions.
"
No, you know I'm just sitting here, bored at home, waiting on the kids to get home
."
"Would you mind if I came over? I really need to talk to someone," Gloria said, knowing if she saw her husband at that moment, she would take his head off.
"
Oh, shit, it has to be bad. Of course, you can; you know you're always welcome here
." Gloria smiled at that; it was good to know she could always count on her friend whenever she was in a time of need.
"Thanks, Angie, I really need a friend right now," Gloria said, trying to hold back her tears, anger, and her trembling voice all at once.
"
Oh honey, don't you worry about a thing, you just come over, and we'll chat over a nice glass of wine
."
******
Angie stood on her stoop, holding out her arms to her friend as she saw the tears gleaming in Gloria's eyes. Rocking her friend as Gloria cried on her shoulder. "Why don't you come inside and tell me what happened," Angie spoke, her hand rubbed along Gloria's back as Gloria nodded a weak 'Okay.' Her straight ebony hair brushed along her back as she led her friend into the home she shared with her husband and two children.
"Bret and Sophia aren't home yet, are they?" Gloria asked, looking over at Angie as she led her towards her kitchen.
"No, you know when they get out of school like I know when your son gets out of school," Angie retorted with a smile. The lights of her home played along her skin, which was the color of dark chocolate; Gloria always admired how youthful it looked even in her forties. "Now, hon' you tell me what's troubling you?" Angie stated, patting Gloria's shoulder as she helped her into the chair at her kitchen table.
"What?!" Angie shouted as she surged from her seat. "He didn't fucking tell you?! Oh, Gloria, I'm so sorry," she quickly softened her tone when Gloria broke down into tears. Angie just let Gloria pour her woes onto her shoulder as she held her dear friend. Knowing how much her friend was looking forward to having another child. "Shh, shh, let it all out, just let it all out," Angie uttered in a soothing tone as she brushed her hand along the back of Gloria's head. "So, what are you going to do?"