Chapter 14
The next morning I woke up first and I slid out of bed without waking Brenda. I went into the kitchen and fixed the coffee maker and turned it on. I stood at the kitchen counter staring off into space. I was worried that Peggy would have changed her mind during the night. Now that I had already slept with Brenda it would be too late to undo it if Peggy felt betrayed.
Peggy walked into the kitchen and walked into my arms, looked up at me and kissed me. She put her head on my chest and held me tightly.
"I love you for taking Brenda into our life. If our first child is a boy we should name him Dan. If it's a girl we can name her Abby. Is that alright with you?"
I couldn't answer her and just hugged her tight. As I was holding her Brenda walked into the kitchen and joined us in a family hug. I was worried about the path that we were taking but, at the same time, I felt that I was the luckiest man on earth. Here I had two of the most beautiful women on earth and they both loved me.
I slept with Brenda every night for the next week. Peggy insisted that I sleep with Brenda. I found out that they had sprung this on me too coincide with the days that Brenda will be the most fertile. Peggy wanted to make sure that my little wigglers were saved for Brenda. Sure enough Brenda got pregnant right away. Between the two of them, I was afraid that their grins would become permanently fixed on their faces.
Since Brenda was working at the paving company, away from the people that knew Peggy and me well, it wasn't too hard to hide our unorthodox relationship. I'm sure that some of the employees, at both companies, wondered what was going on but nobody said anything. When any of the other women in Brenda's office asked her about it, she told them that she wasn't going to let her husband come into the office and be hit on by them. Peggy decided to let it be known around the office that we had arraigned an adoption and we would bring the baby home as soon as it was born.
The pregnancy went well and Brenda gave the doctor Peggy's name as her own. This would solve any future problems about a birth certificate. Our child's birth certificate would have mine and Peggy's name on it. All of the records at the hospital would say that Peggy gave birth to the baby.
Soon it was too hard for Brenda to get into and out of the hot tub. The doctor had also advised against it. Peggy and I cut back on our time in the hot tub to avoid making Brenda feel bad about not being able to join us. Peggy watched over Brenda like a mother would. I caught hell many times for not doing things that Peggy thought that I should be doing for Brenda.
After Brenda began to show quite a bit she began to beg off sleeping with me. Peggy more than made up for it though. I guess because they were sisters, I didn't notice any jealousy or back-biting. Our living together as husband and wife and wife seemed to be almost perfect. Peggy was like a little child at Christmas waiting for the baby to be born. I think she was more nervous than Brenda.
Brenda woke us up one night at two in the morning. Aren't babies ever born during the day? We rushed her to the hospital and she was rushed into the maternity room. We had already decided that I wouldn't be at the delivery; I don't know if I could avoid passing out. Peggy was with Brenda every minute of the day; screaming at everyone when she thought that Brenda needed something or wasn't being cared for right.
Just as the sun was coming up Peggy walked out into the waiting room beaming. She walked into my arms and told me that we had a beautiful baby boy. She hugged me and began crying. At first I thought something was wrong until she looked up at me and kissed me while still crying.
She took me back to see Brenda and I got to see my son, Daniel M. Wilkes. We couldn't agree on a middle name and Brenda had decided to give him an initial... no middle name. I got to hold my son and felt like I had whipped the world. Anyone that has ever held they're son for the first time knows the feeling.
When we took them home Brenda handed the baby to Peggy and told her that here was her son. Peggy held the baby with tears streaming down her face and smothered the baby with kisses. I was afraid that Brenda was going to insist on being the baby's mother but I guess I didn't know the bond that the two sisters had. Brenda nursed the baby but she handed the baby back to Peggy afterwards. Other than the nursing Peggy did everything.
I had no idea how much a baby could charge your life. Peggy took two weeks off, I brought papers home at night for her and faxed information home to her if she needed to take action on it right away. Brenda took a week off and when she went back to work she told everyone that she had lost the baby. Everyone in her office was very supportive of her and I was beginning to think that she relished the attention that they were giving her.
I started work on a day care center next to our office. I built it large enough to be a day care center for all of our employees. Until it was completed, Peggy brought little Daniel into the office everyday when she came back to work. She hired a nanny to watch over Daniel while she was working. Peggy brought bottles of Brenda's milk in with her every day.
I left it up to Peggy to hire the staff for the day care center. I was beginning to think that we would never hire anyone. Peggy interviewed everyone three times and then insisted that each person considered submit to a criminal investigation. We sometimes had a crowd waiting to be interviewed.
We hadn't told anyone what the building that would house the day care center was going to be and when it was almost done we sprung it on our employees. We set it up so that it was a separate non-profit entity. We would take in just enough money to keep it solvent. Our day care cost a fraction of what our employees were paying elsewhere. The legal end of it almost drove me to the nut house but it was all worth it in the end. Our employees had their children close to them and the cost was more than reasonable. I think that our employees felt that they couldn't afford to leave for another job because it would cost too much. I count my delay in building a day care center as one of my mistakes.
Our life couldn't be better. The way that Peggy and Brenda had it set up, Peggy was Daniel's mother. Brenda would help with Daniel if and when Peggy asked. I know that it was hard for Brenda to sit back and watch her baby being raised by another right in front of her eyes but she did. I think that Peggy often asked for Brenda's help just to make Brenda feel that she had a hand in raising her son.
About eleven months after Daniel was born, Brenda became pregnant again. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Brenda was going to claim this one for her own. The two of them started planning every aspect of the two children's life; up to and including college. I got the feeling that I would be pushed out of the company by my own sons one of these days.
Everyone at the paving company made sure that Brenda took it easy. They told her that they wanted to make sure that she didn't lose this baby. Brenda played it to the hilt. When the pressure was put on her for her coworkers to meet her husband, Brenda told them that he traveled with his job a lot. Our closeness when I was in the paving company office had tongues wagging.
When we took Brenda to the hospital for the delivery we barely made it on time. When the admittance clerk questioned her about her name she told the woman she decided to use her middle name. As most low-paid workers do, she entered Brenda's name on the forms and didn't bother to go and change the records from the previous birth.
Again I opted to stay out of the delivery room. Peggy went in with her sister and she came rushing out an hour later and said that it was another boy. For both of her pregnancies Brenda had told the doctor that she didn't want to know the baby's sex until it was born. Both of the women had concentrated on girl's names so we had to decide on a name for a boy now. I left it up to Brenda and she decided on Adam D. Wilkes. Yep, no middle name, just an initial.
When I went in to see my new son and his mother I was informed by her that this was it. She wasn't going to have any more children. Peggy had always wanted a big family but I was just thankful that we had two healthy boys. I told them that I was satisfied with our family and we would give these two children everything we had to give. Peggy was silent. Brenda didn't pick it up but I knew that Peggy wanted more children.
Every new child in the family changes the family life. We now had a
newborn and Daniel would be two in a couple of months. We were a happy
family and soon settled into a routine. Brenda went on birth control. I
had offered to have a vasectomy but she said that she felt that I might
resent her for it one day.