“This might be a hard question to approach right now, but if you weren’t bothered by that sort of thing, would you want kids?”
“I really don’t think so.”
I nod. “Okay. If that decision persists for long enough, I’ll take steps toward making suresurprisesaren’t possible.”
She stares at me. “What…are you saying?”
“Permanent birth control.”
“For…me?” she asks.
Sweet dove. “No.”
Baffled, she lifts a finger and points it at my chest. “For…you?”
I cut another bite for myself and prompt her toward one as well when I say, “Yes.”
“You’d…do that for me?”
“In a heartbeat.”
Scarlet, she picks her way through half her pancake, then her mouth opens, and closes, with nothing entering it.
“Yes, dove?” I ask.
“Do you want kids?”
I laugh. “No. No, I don’t think that’s a good idea. For the sake of keeping whatever went wrong in my brain a singular sort of problem, I don’t think it’s wise for me to procreate.”
Her shoulders loosen, and my adorable wife says, “Yeah, that’s for the best.”
I love how we can be brutally honest with each other. No holds barred. It’s surprisingly refreshing to have the woman I love, who I know loves me, say,Yeah, you really shouldn’t reproduce.
Raising my fork, I say, “Best of luck to Ivy.”
Azalea smiles and lifts hers as well. “May he continue the family name well.”
I get up to get some orange juice, delighted when Azalea asks for a glass, too, even though I’ve eschewed my hairnets. As I place the cup in front of her, I say, “Wouldn’t it be awful if the strain of insanity came through our parents and pass into his kids, though?”
Her nose wrinkles. “Yes.”
“Prayers for his wife, whatever her name is.”
“Maple,” Azalea says, and thatdoessound a bit familiar. “Her name is Maple. It was on the invitations. You don’t know the name of the woman your brother is marrying?”
“I kind of keep forgetting it. I know her brother’s name is Birch. He makes me pizzas.” Puffing a breath, I rest my hip against the counter and sip my juice. “It’s really bad, actually. Since the four of us grew up together, you’d think I’d be able to remember. I’ve just known for a while that she’s Ivy’s, so I’ve always just said,oh yeah, that one. Ivy’s, and cut off all further thought, because—really—what does Ivy’s girl have to do with me?”
Azalea considers me deeply, then she also cuts off all further thought on the matter. In favor of dropping a bomb. Right on my head. “I think I do desire you, crow.”
I cough into my juice and lower the glass. “Really? What…part of our conversation over the past ten minutes enlightened you to that fact?”
“I was only partially paying attention to your ramble while I was thinking about dating sims, and I’ve realized that if I don’t think about the realistic details, I might want a full-color image of us with our bodies too close to remain innocent for long once our lips brush…”
My incredibly innocent heart trips on the mere idea. “Well.”
“So,” she continues, relentless, “if you could change the curriculum to include that interest, I’d appreciate it. Maybe go slower with those sorts of things than we have been with everything else, though.” She pushes her hair back, leans forward, and takes one of the last bites of her pancake. “I’d like to ease into the idea more gently.”
Well. This is…unprecedented.
