Glenda
Many years ago I met my wife Eileen with the help of a blind date. A mutual friend had suggested that I meet at her house with a group of people and Eileen would be there. A nice and safe way to meet a blind date. Eileen and I hit it off right then and there so we decided a year later to get married.
Eileen has a sister who lives with her mom and a brother that is married and has kids. Glenda, Eileen's sister is 4 years younger than me but has already been through college and is working as an Interior Decorator with a major firm. On several occasions we were thrown together for different projects around the house. It got to where I was spending more time on the weekends with Glenda than I was with my wife. I didn't mind at all.
Glenda's first love was cooking and she would work on recipes in her free time and I became her favorite guinea pig. It didn't matter if it was barbeque pork or vegetarian pizza, she would cook it and I ate it. She has this way of cooking that made my mouth water. I sure wish Eileen had half of her talent. If I didn't do most of the cooking at the house I would probably have starved to death. I also love to cook so sometimes Eileen and I would have her family over for dinner .
On one of these occasions I made a mistake of joking with Glenda about something. We were always joking with each other about something but we never made things really personal enough to hurt the other person's feelings. On this night though Glenda's mom, sister and grandmother picked up the joke and carried it way to far. I have since forgotten what it was all about but I do remember feeling lake such an ass for saying anything in front of the family. Glenda got up, gathered up her stuff and left, 100% pissed off and also 100% ready to walk the 10 miles back to her house. I just couldn't let her go without offering her a ride. No one said a word to me when I got up and left so I guess they felt bad but no one else jumped up to give Glenda a ride either.
I caught up with Glenda before she hit the main road. I pulled up next to her and got out of the truck.
"Glenda," I said "I really want to apologize for saying what I said back there. I know it hurt you and I feel like such an ass."
"David, it isn't your fault," she replied "I know you were just joking but the rest of the comments were just plain rude and mean."
"Well no matter," I said "I started it and I feel bad about it. Can I make it up to you by giving you a lift home?"
After a minutes thought she got into the passenger side of the truck and we started off. Glenda was near tears and I really felt bad because I was the one who started things going. Believe it or not but this was the first time that we were really alone. Sure we had worked many a project together at the house but there were always other people around but now it was just the two of us. No sooner did I get the truck onto the main road when Glenda started crying. I did the only thing I could think to do at the time without pulling off the road and that was to take her hand in mine.
"Glenda please don't cry," I pleaded.
"I can't help it," she told me "these people really piss me off. Can't they get it through their thick skulls that what they say hurts me?"
"I guess not" was all I could think of to say. I felt even lower for starting things but didn't say anything. I didn't have to.
"David, I know you didn't mean to hurt me when you made your comment. I know you were just joking. I know that you wouldn't do or say anything to hurt me, at least not intentionally."
"You got that one right," I affirmed. Then I found myself saying something that I had been thinking for a long time but never intended to say.
"Glenda, I wish I had met you first and that I had married you instead of your sister."
As soon as I said that things got awfully quiet. I was petrified because with all the things Glenda had going on, being hit on by her brother-in-law had to be the worst. I was getting ready to apologize when I heard a faint,
"Me too."
Both of us were quiet for a few minutes but as we turned onto her road...
"David can we go to the park for a few minutes? There are a few things I'd like to talk over with you."
"Sure Glenda. Any place in particular you want to stop at?" I asked.
"Just pull into any place near the dock. I think I'd just like to go sit on the benches at the far end and chat."
So that's what we did. I'd love to tell you that we decided it was ok for us to fool around but we just couldn't do that to the family. Both of us were pretty upset because we felt that the match would have been perfect but we just didn't know how to break up the marriage I was in and start one of our own without causing WW3. We did hug and even kissed a few times but that was it. We agreed that the subject would be closed and never get reopened. Ever hear the line that goes, "The best laid plans of mice and men..."?
The following day Eileen had a doctor's appointment to find out why she wasn't getting pregnant. We had been through all the tests, I even filled the cup for the good old sperm count. When she got home Eileen was crying and angry at the same time. It turns out that since she has only one ovary her chances of getting pregnant was halved. It also turns out that she developed another cyst on the remaining ovary that would cause this one to come out also. There would be no way for her to conceive and it looked like she also would not be able to be artificially inseminated either so that option was closed also. It looked like we were down to just two options, adopt from someone else or find someone that would carry our baby for her.
Money was tight so when the family got together over the weekend Eileen began talking to her mother about finding a surrogate mother. I was in the other room with Glenda, finishing up the floor for a new bedroom we had created out of a storage room.
"Glenda, can you come in here for a minute?' her mother called out.
A few minutes after she left, "David, can you come in here also?"