The Legacy, Chapter 3: Echoes - Sex Stories

The Legacy, Chapter 3: Echoes

... forehead. “Henry, I assume?” She nodded, tears streaking her face. “Yes, of course…he’s the only one, ever, other than you…” He laughed again, that same short, soft laugh as before. “That old dog! My god…what is he, seventy-three? Is that right?” She nodded. “Almost seventy-four.” “Amazing!” He shook his head. “I suppose I should be angry…maybe outraged. I don’t know. I’m not sure what I should feel right now. Hurt, maybe, a little. Maybe a lot.” He reached out and gently stroked the baby’s cheek, feeling the downy fuzz of the newborn infant. “He’s a beautiful boy, Beth.” She nodded. “You must hate me.” He bent down so that he could look into her eyes, seeing the pain, sadness, and embarrassment there and on her tear-streaked face. “Hate you? No, Beth, I could never do that. You’re the woman I love – the only woman I’ve ever really loved, I think, and the mother of my children. This can’t change that.” He leaned forward and kissed her gently, on the lips, a kiss that was returned, tentatively at first, and then with more eagerness as she sought his forgiveness. “I’m…a little confused right now…a little numb, perhaps. Oh, Beth…” He stopped, shaking his head and blowing out a pent-up breath. “This…it will take some time.” When they separated he gently pushed a stray lock of her golden hair out of her face, lightly touching her ear as he tucked it back, and leaving his fingers resting on her neck, near her jaw. He took a deep breath, biting his tongue, unwilling to say words ...

... in a moment of pain and anger that he knew could never be unsaid. The words were there, angry and bitter and jumbled in his mind, but he wouldn’t say them. He was too good a man for that, and he loved this woman far too much. Instead, he said, “So, it seems we have another son! What shall we name this handsome guy?” The dam broke then, and her tears ran freely. He held her as she cried, aware of his own failures and infidelities as a husband. In a moment of rationalization-free honesty, he understood that he couldn’t condemn her for something of which he too had been guilty, even if he had left those days far behind. Earlier in their marriage, lonely himself during his travels and subject to his own sexual urges, there had been one-night-stands; a flight attendant in New York, a barmaid in London, a friend of a fellow pilot in Amsterdam, a woman painter that he had met as she painted scenery on a street in Milan. All of them many years in the past, of course, and none he had formed any long-term relationships with; following the birth of Robby, his first son, he had mended his ways and devoted himself to his family, and his own dalliances had ended. When Beth’s tears finally subsided they sat quietly for awhile, looking at the sleeping baby. When Robert spoke, it was softly, so as not to wake him. “May I ask how long?” Beth looked at him. “I’m sorry?” “How long. How long have you and Henry carried on this…affair?” “Oh.” She looked away, unable to meet his eyes. “Since I got ...