First Time Shared
written by:
Hot Rider

It's a dangerous thing to underestimate the power of sexual fantasy. Some people know this by instinct and treat them carefully. Others, like my wife Michele and I, had to find out the hard way. We made the fantasy a reality. And now there's no going back.

Michele is in her mid-40s. Physically, she's a cute, girl-next-door type. No supermodel, but attractive. She has a great figure packed onto her short frame - full, round DD breasts and an ass that nicely stretches her jeans, but with a suitably slim waist. Her legs are strong, with solid thighs and round calves.

Firm is a good word to describe her... no sagging, no stretch marks, no cellulite. Her skin is smooth and pink. Her full breasts and ass wobble just the right amount when she moves, which she does with a natural, if unintended, swagger.

She doesn't dress in a provocative way, because like many women with her build, she feels she's overweight. She doesn't have enough self-confidence to really strut. But when you see her in a snug fitting dress, high heels accenting her shapely legs... well, you want to see more.

My name's Mike. Maybe I'm the villain in this story. That's because I'm a rabid voyeur. For me, watching is like a powerful drug. Peeking into a bedroom, watching a sunbather, stealing glances at the gym... I get so excited it feels like my heart is going to burst out of my chest. I suffer shortness of breath. My cock becomes a throbbing and insistent pressure between my legs that demands attention.

When I got married, not a lot changed. My wife and I had a perfectly good sex life. I enjoyed making love to her. We were a bit old fashioned, I guess. We were both raised by very strict religious parents. We even met in church. We used condoms because that's the way we were brought up. We told ourselves it was because we weren't sure about the medical effects of the pill. And we stuck to the basics when it came to technique. No weird positions, no oral sex. Instead, I got my thrills by looking for ways to peek at her. If she was getting into her bathing suit, I would lurk outside the bedroom door and peek in. I would pretend I was the next-door neighbor who had snuck through the patio door to watch. If she was in the yard sunbathing, I would stand in the shadows behind a curtain and watch her.

Other times I would imagine taking pictures of her in lingerie and showing them to other men, or inviting men over to watch her in the shower. Before long, I was taking these fantasies farther, imagining her willingly putting on a show for a group of men, imagining them aroused, and finally, my wife yielding to her private desires to be used by many men at once.

But, we'd been married for almost 10 years before we ever talked about our sex fantasies. It was a New Year's Eve and we'd been drinking at home, just the two of us. We decided it could be fun to tell each other one of our sex fantasies. But when I had to start, I was afraid she'd be disappointed that instead of putting her on a pedestal in my dreams, I wanted to watch her with other men. At first I decided to keep it tame, that I fantasized about making love to her without a condom, or that I she would take my cock in her mouth. But I decided to risk being a bit more daring. After all, this was just a little fun, and I could always say later that it was the drink talking.

So I started by telling her how beautiful and sexy she was and how it was a shame that I was the only one who could enjoy that. I think I even said something nutty like, "With all of your luscious curves, God obviously created you for one reason - to bring pleasure to men." I told her the idea of showing her off to a number of men really turned me on. I recounted one of my many fantasies in which I invited anonymous men into the house. In my fantasy, after everyone had a few drinks, she would do a slow strip tease for them, while I watched from a dark corner.

Michele seemed to be paying close attention to my story, but her expression was strangely neutral. There was no sign of anger, or that she thought my little story was ridiculous. Encouraged, and with the booze reducing my inhibitions, I said "I'm getting a hard-on right now just thinking about those guys watching you teasingly uncover your big breasts, sliding down your panties and then stretching your arms to the ceiling and turning slowly so they can feast their eyes on your luscious naked body." I was really starting to get into it, but Michele was now looking down at her hands in her lap and I stopped short. I'd gone as far as I dared.

Michele continued to look at her lap for a few more moments. I went too far after all, I thought. Then she took a deep breath and looked up at me. "You'd like other men to watch me undress for them." It was a statement, not a question. I nodded. I was about to apologize. But her expression changed. Her eyes seemed suddenly to be pleading with me. "Would you like them to touch me, too, Mike?"

The blood pounded into my head, and into my throbbing cock. Her faced was flushed, and not just from the wine we were drinking. She was clearly excited. I answered slowly, in almost a whisper. "Yes, I'd like for them to touch you, too."

"And you would just watch."

"Yes," I said.

She turned her head and stared for a few moments out of the patio door into the night. She had a strange, faraway look in her eyes that I would come to recognize later. She was living some private fantasy at that moment. I asked her to tell me what she was thinking, but when she turned back to me, she kissed me with wet lips, then deeply with her tongue. It didn't take long before she was on my lap, lowering her very wet pussy onto my bone-hard erection. I somehow managed to grab a condom and roll it on with shaking fingers. With my next thrust, she came, arching her back, digging her fingers into the back of the sofa, then crying out like I'd never heard her before, her whole body rigid as the wave of pleasure broke over her. Michele had never had an orgasm like that before. Never that fast, never that powerful. And after that night, nothing was the same in our lives again.

***

I was distracted for weeks. It was clear that my wife was very much aroused by the idea that she would strip for a group of men, even let them touch her in some way, while I watched. I couldn't think at the office and my work started to suffer. My head was filled with erotic images - my wife reaching back to undo her bra as a group of men, breathing hard, watched intently; her full breasts jiggling back and forth as they are caressed by several hands; another man's lips closing around her nipple, sucking it into his mouth; her thickening nipples springing erect, being pulled hard by strong hands—not mine - lifting her breasts up and then letting them fall back, swaying and jiggling; Michele moaning quietly. Then, an erect cock brushing her face, straining towards her. She turns and opens her mouth to take it in...

I wanted to talk to her about it, but whenever I tried, she would shush me and change the subject. When we made love, she sometimes asked me to tell her one of my fantasies. I went eagerly into every detail. She never said anything. But when I would enter her, she was hot and always very wet, telling her that at this point in my fantasy one of the men penetrates her - then she would cry out with a powerful, body-racking orgasm. Of course, at this point I also would erupt and thrust as deeply as I could into her. My orgasms were also stronger and lasted longer. I always pumped large amounts of cum into her when we shared my fantasies.

I was tormented day and night by the intensity of her response to my fantasies, which just fueled my fantasies further. This wasn't just an innocent game to spruce up our sex lives. After we made love, we didn't giggle about what a crazy fantasy that was, or how much fun it was. She would become very quiet, almost embarrassed it seemed, as she thought about being taken by other men.

She had changed. We were talking less and less. She was hiding something deep down, and I started to have the feeling that we needed to bring it out, whatever it was, or else our marriage would be in danger. I thought it might help if she told me what she was feeling or thinking when we made love. But when I asked, she would just look away. Anyway, I knew what she was thinking and feeling. Like me, she was obsessed with the idea of being taken by many men at once, and also somehow with the idea that I would be a passive observer.

By February, I had decided that we no longer had a choice. I placed an ad in a swinger's magazine seeking men interested in helping a husband bring pleasure to his wife. I used a location in a large city in another state. I asked them to submit a brief resume along with a photograph and phone number to a post office box, which I then had forwarded to my business address. I received dozens of responses. I went over their information carefully I then called five of them to hear their voices, ask them some questions, and satisfy myself that they were right for this important event. I couldn't eliminate the risk that we might attract some weirdo, but I was pretty sure that I had chosen two more or less normal men who would treat my wife appropriately. I selected two who seemed perfect for what we wanted. I booked flights and hotel reservations for Michele and me to meet them.

On a Friday evening two weeks later, Michele and I checked into the hotel. I think she knew what this unexpected trip was about but, as with everything related to our mutual obsession, she remained quiet and passive. Perhaps she was even grateful that I had finally made the decision. It seemed clear that she was not prepared to take responsibility for what might happen.

After she went into the bathroom and started the shower, I made a few phone calls to finalize the arrangements. My hands were shaking and my voice trembled a couple of times. I was both scared and aroused. My erection threatened to burst through my pants. Then I called room service and ordered three bottles of champagne.

After I hung up, I glanced toward the bathroom. The door was slightly ajar and the water was still running. Already with a hard-on, I walked slowly to the door and looked in. The glass shower door was slightly fogged, but I could see my wife's pink skin and the curve of her big breasts. She had her hands in her hair. This raised her breasts and accentuated them. She was so beautiful and sexy. I wanted to take her picture and show it to strangers. Shampoo was running down the side of her body and along one thigh. My cock throbbed as I realized that soon there would be other eyes roving over Michele's body, admiring her round ass and yearning to touch her silky skin.

***

We met the two men in the hotel bar. It was crowded and smoky and the music was loud. They were sitting at a corner table, each with a drink in front of him. I had suggested to my wife what she should wear, and after her shower she followed my advice without comment. She had on a blue cocktail dress made from some shiny material. It was not particularly revealing. It was cut just above her knees but clung nicely to her many curves. She'd put on matching blue heels that accentuated her calves. She had blue thigh-highs on underneath the dress, along with blue lace panties and matching sheer bra. For some reason she wouldn't let me watch her getting dressed so I hadn't yet seen her lingerie, but my imagination assured me it would look great when we got that far. A pearl necklace and earrings topped it all off. It was elegant and sexy, not at all trashy.

As I said before, she walked with a natural and very sexy wiggle, and with the clingy and shiny material of her dress, she made an instant impact on the two men. They both stood as we approached the table and smiled as I introduced my wife. The first guy was in his mid-thirties, tall and slim, physically graceful. The second man was older than the first, and older than Michele or me. But he looked to be in good shape. He was charming in an old-school kind of way.

We shook hands all around and I was gratified to see them look her over discreetly as the introductions were made. I particularly noticed a little spark between the older man, Nick, and my wife. Michele was gracious and smiled politely. I could see that she was nervous and, judging by the flush of color in her face, also aroused. My knees got weak for a moment as I again imagined what lay ahead. I tried to distract myself by ordering drinks for Michele and myself.

We made small talk for a few minutes, remarking on the hotel, the weather. When the drinks came, we raised our glasses. Without thinking about it, I said, "Here's to passion." The two men smiled. Michele looked down for a moment as though embarrassed, and then glanced quickly at Nick, who bowed slightly in her direction. She blushed. I felt the first pangs of jealousy as we clinked our glasses.

Tom whispered something into Michele's ear and then led her off to the dance floor. I took a long pull on my beer. Nick leaned over and said, "You're wife is really great looking. You're a lucky man." I smiled awkwardly and mumbled a thanks. I took another long drink. I needed to calm my nerves.

I looked over to the dance floor. Tom and Michele were near the edge. I had the feeling my wife was trying to make sure that I had a good view, although that hadn't been part of our plan. The music was fast, so there wasn't much contact between them. But she looked sexy swaying to the beat in her snug dress. It was like watching a slow wave work its way up and down her body. I enjoyed watching her breasts and ass bounce as she danced.

Tom returned to the table with Michele and was promptly replaced by Nick. He steered her to the dance floor with a hand placed casually on her hip. It seemed like she wiggled her rear end slightly as she felt his hand. I winced at the intimacy of the moment, and realized that I had a raging erection.

Of course, it was a slow song. At first, he held her casually, at arm's length. But slowly, they moved closer together. His hand moved lower, from her hip to her ass. My heart jumped. She seemed to move slightly closer to him, but it was dark and hard to see. They swayed together slowly in time with the music, their hips touching. She was looking down, avoiding eye contact with him. The dress clung to her firm behind, which Nick now gently caressed, moving his fingertips lightly down the middle of her back and down to her ass. My wife responded immediately, pressing her hips closer to his. She glanced quickly in the direction of our table, but looked down immediately, as if afraid to meet my eye.

The conversation at our table had pretty much died. The music was too loud, and I didn't have anything to say anyway. Nick came back, my wife in tow. Again, she was looking down, but her face was flushed. I thought I could see the outline of erect nipples beneath her dress. I nodded to the two men, got up and headed for the lobby elevators.

When we got to the room, I poured everyone some champagne. It was a large room, with a queen-sized bed near a large window overlooking the city. There was a small sofa and a couple of arm chairs at the foot of the bed. The two men sat on the sofa, my wife and I on the chairs. There was also an upholstered bench near the door, almost completely hidden in shadow. We'd all had a fair bit to drink by then, and the initial nervousness had passed. Our guests were able to keep up a casual and friendly banter with us without really saying anything. But there was still plenty of sexual tension in the air. We were all waiting for something to happen. It was the point of no return... either we did it now or we called it off.

"Gentlemen," I said, "I think it's.... we'd like to... "And then I couldn't find any more words. I stood and moved behind Michele's chair. I touched her shoulder and she stood up. I reached out for the zipper on her dress, but she suddenly turned around to me and shook her head slightly. No. She pushed me gently towards the bench next to the door. I thought that she had gotten cold feet and had decided to call it off. But then she walked to a stereo beside the television, flipped on some soft music, and began to slowly sway her body.

She closed her eyes, then lifted her hands up into her hair, swaying back and forth. I sat down on the bench by the door, retreating into the shadow. My heart was beating wildly. The two men were silently watching her. She reached behind her neck and undid the top of her zipper, slowly pulling it down her back to her waist. Her hands trembled slightly. My hard-on was threatening to burst. I began to rub myself slowly through my pants.

She slid the dress off her shoulders, down to her waist and then wiggled her hips slightly. Her dress fell to the floor. She kicked it away and faced the two men. Her large breasts jiggled slightly, the erect nipples pushing against the sheer fabric of her bra. She continued to gently move her hips. She danced slowly towards the sofa. Tom reached out and gently caressed the soft pink skin above her thigh-highs. She turned her bottom to him. He slid his hands under the fabric of her panties. My wife put her head down, eyes still closed, and gently gyrated her ass against Tom's hands. Sitting in the shadow by the door, I undid my belt buckle and slid my pants and underwear to the floor. My erection throbbed in time with my racing heart. I held myself gently. I was so aroused that even a slight movement would be enough to produce an eruption of sperm.

Michele turned around and stood before Nick. She looked him directly in the face as she reached behind her back and undid her bra. She dropped her arms and the bra fell quietly to the floor. She was shaking a little, which made her large breasts tremble. I was watching her breasts in profile and her nipples stood out like I had never seen them before. Her breath seemed short. She shivered and her breasts jiggled lightly again, just inches from his face.

He stood up and smiled, lifting her heavy breasts in both hands, then kissed her on the mouth. My wife seemed jolted for a moment by the intimacy, and pulled her head back slightly. But then to my astonishment - and arousal - she lifted her arms around his neck, closed her eyes and opened her mouth, taking in his probing tongue. She moaned and pulled his head down to her in an even tighter embrace, running her hands through his hair. I couldn't recall that she had ever kissed me with such passion and arousal. At that point I lost control. I let out an audible gasp as I sucked in air, leaned back against the wall and thrust my straining cock upwards. As I watched Nick's tongue slide deep into my wife's willing mouth, his hands squeezing her swelling breasts... my legs tensed and my cock jumped.

My gaze was locked on my wife and her passionate, topless embrace with Nick. It was as though my vision could zoom into sharp, slow-motion close-up... the goose bumps on the flesh of her thighs, his hands on the taut, pink skin of her large breasts, her nipples hard and erect. As I watched my wife turn herself completely over to another man, my semen threatened to shoot from my throbbing cock.

Tom, stood up. Only then did I notice that he had taken off his clothes. His level of arousal was clear as I saw his rigid cock swaying in front of him as he approached my wife. He knelt down behind her. She was still locked in an embrace with Nick. Tom reached up and slowly tugged down her blue panties. Her full ass bounced slightly as he pulled the waistband over her cheeks, and then slid the panties to the floor. Michele stepped out of them, released herself from Nick's embrace, and stood back. Now wearing only her thigh-highs and heels -and the pearl necklace - she stretched her arms to the ceiling, just as I had imagined in my fantasies. Slowly she turned, offering the two men a long look at her exquisite body.

Nick began to undress as my wife looked over at me. Then she turned to Tom and pulled his face down to hers and opened her mouth, taking in his tongue. With eyes closed, she reached down and began to slowly stroke his long erection. She swayed her body to the music as her tongue dueled with his. His cock was much longer than mine, and appeared smooth and pink. When it slipped from her grip, it sprang up almost vertical.

I unbuttoned my shirt and slid off my watch. I had already removed my pants. I was now completely nude, but hidden in the shadows, watching my wife sharing herself with two strangers. My penis was hard as steel, pulsing with my arousal. I reached down and began to slowly stroke my cock as my wife opened her mouth again and again to Tom's thrusting tongue. I saw Nick move in the background. My view of him was partially obstructed by my wife and Tom. I couldn't see his hands but it looked as though he was moving one rhythmically between his legs.

Michele motioned for Tom to sit on the sofa. She threw her leg over his and sat down on his knees, facing him. She again began to gently massage his hard cock. He closed his eyes and moaned, slowly thrusting his hips upwards on every stroke. She edged forward, and I realized she was going to let him enter her. I remembered the condoms I had brought, and frantically pulled a handful from my jacket hanging beside me at the door. I stood up and took a step towards my wife, but at that instant she turned to me. I held up a condom, but to my stunned surprise, she shook her head.

Still looking at me, she lowered herself slowly onto Tom's throbbing cock. His eyes closed. He moaned louder than before and raised his pelvis up to meet her. She gave me a long, sultry look. Her flushed face and extremely erect nipples told me all I needed to know about her state of arousal. Then, she tenderly stroked Tom's face. It was an act of intimacy that made me flinch at the same time as it lifted me to new heights of excitement. He opened his eyes and looked at her. She took his hands and placed them on her swaying breasts. She lifted her hands above head, closed her eyes and turned her face to the ceiling. She was completely open to his eyes and questing hands. She continued to sway to the music as she slowly moved her pussy up his legs toward his hard cock.

Again, time seemed to slow down. From where I stood, I watched as she raised slightly and positioned her pussy directly above his cock. She looked at me as she lowered herself and took Tom's glistening cock deep inside her. I saw it easily sliding into my wife's soaking wet pussy. She threw her head back in ecstasy as she felt him penetrate her.

He was thrusting up to meet her as she rose and fell on his cock. She groaned quietly as she received every upward thrust. She kept her hands behind her head, offering her body completely to his gaze. Her breasts bounced in time with their heaving bodies, her nipples seeming to strain towards his face, her breasts becoming more and more engorged as her arousal grew and grew.

Then she bent down and, turning her eyes to look at me again, whispered into Tom's ear. I couldn't hear her because the music was still playing, but I was sure I could read her lips, and what she said brought me to the brink of orgasm. "Come in me." This was a level of intimacy that far surpassed anything we had had together. I felt that she somehow sensed that this would thrill me and humiliate me at the same time. Then she kissed him again, her lips parting as he eagerly thrust his tongue back into her mouth.

With this encouragement, Tom went over the top. He frantically squeezed her full hips and pulled her down hard onto his rigid cock with a slap. She looked at me again and, her voice trembling with arousal, said more loudly: "Please, shoot your come into me. Fill me with your come, now."

Which he did. He called out in a gasp, then thrust himself up, his legs trembling beneath my wife's jiggling ass. "I'm coming in you!" He yelled it out, and my wife took a sharp breath and moaned. "I can feel it," she said. "I can feel your sperm shooting up into me." She was still looking at me.

I watched them embrace and thrust together for a few more moments, then saw the milky white fluid from Tom's ejaculation run out of my wife's vagina and down his cock. I could only groan helplessly as my own orgasm overcame me. I tensed my body and released a jet of sperm from my hard cock. Another spurt exploded from my cock, then another. Tom slowed his thrusts and then withdrew his wilting penis from her swollen cunt. I realized that my fantasy had come true... my sexy, voluptuous wife was sharing herself with a complete stranger while I watched. Even more, she had let him penetrate her without a condom, even begging him to shoot his sperm into her. I was reeling from the feelings of lust mixed with jealousy and shame. And although I felt spent, I realized there was to be more.

Nick helped my wife get up from the other man's lap. He took her by the hand and walked over to a dresser. He turned around and leaned back against the dresser, with his hands on the edge behind him. He looked at Michele and thrust his thick hard erection forward. I was watching him in profile, and I could see that his hard-on was throbbing up and down. Michele hesitated for a moment, then reached down and began to stroke him. They looked at each other as she did it. Then with one hand he reached out and drew her face to his and kissed her deeply.

When the kiss was over, he said to her, "Hold up your tits." My wife looked down at her full breasts, then cupped one in each hand. He bent down and she lifted herself up on her toes. The effect of this position on her legs and ass electrified me, accentuating her curves and the firmness of her flesh. He licked and tenderly kissed her nipples. She threw back her head and moaned.

"You're incredibly sexy, Michele. Much sexier than you think you are. Show yourself to me again."

My wife stepped back and began to sway to the music, her hands in her hair, moving them down over her breasts and hips, pulling on her hard nipples as she displayed herself to the man she didn't know. Nick began to stroke his cock but stopped almost right away. I sensed that he was close to coming.

"Shouldn't we invite your husband to join us?" he asked, nodding in my direction. My wife looked over at me for a moment then back at Nick. She shook her head. No.

"Have you ever satisfied him with your mouth?" he asked. She hesitated, then again shook her head.

He looked at her for a moment, then bent his head down slightly looking at the space before his feet. My wife looked at the floor, then slowly dropped to her knees. My head began to spin as she steadied herself with one hand on his leg. With the other she pull his straining cock down towards her mouth. She licked her lips, opened her mouth and guided in his pulsating erection. Neither of them moved at first. She simply held his rigid cock in her mouth. His eyes were closed. Then she slowly moved her head forward, then back. Her cheeks were flushed and the hand she used to steady herself was trembling. She moved the other hand between her thighs and began a slow stroking motion that kept time with the gentle rhythm she had established with her lips on Nick's cock. All the while she was looking up into Nick's face.

Nick opened his eyes and looked down at my wife. "Your tits," he said in a hoarse whisper. "Squeeze them for me."

My wife moved both hands to her breasts and kneaded them softly. She continued the slow back-and-forth movement with her lips over his gleaming cock.

"Careful," he said, barely able to speak. "If you're not careful, I'll come."

She continued to massage one breast but she moved her right hand back down between her thighs and resumed the stroking motion. At the same time she quickened the pace of her mouth over his shaft. Then she shifted her position slightly so she could look at me. Nick, seeing her move her gaze, also looked over at me, then rolled his eyes and grunted loudly.

"I'm going to come," he gasped. "Into your mouth."

My cock was about to explode as I realized my wife was inviting him to ejaculate into her mouth. Nick contracted his stomach muscles with a loud groan and thrust his erection deeper into my wife's mouth. They were frozen like that for a moment.------- I thought I could see the muscles at the base of his penis contract, then the shaft swelled slightly. He groaned again. "That's it!" he gasped.

My wife's eyes widened for a split second, and she moaned. I was sure she had just felt the first spurt of cum to ever enter her mouth. She tasted the other man's semen as it squirted out along her tongue and into the back of her throat. She closed her eyes and swallowed, but then looked at me again. Her hand was moving faster between her thighs. Nick's cock swelled again, and again he groaned. Her lips were glistening but still securely wrapped around his twitching hard-on. She ducked her chin slightly and swallowed his second spurt. She kept her eyes locked on me. They were watering slightly. The expression in her eyes changed for a moment. She seemed to be embarrassed, or maybe ashamed? I couldn't tell.

All I knew was that I was about to surrender yet again to an explosion of semen. Nick was very clearly pumping many streams of sperm into my wife's mouth, and she was swallowing them all as fast as she could. They were both looking at me. The tip of my cock twitched once, then again.

"Michele!" I actually yelled out her name. "Look at me!" At that moment a thick stream of sperm shot from my cock. It arced toward my wife and Nick, falling short and splashing on the floor. The color rose on my wife's chest and her nipples seem to jump out even further. She closed her eyes and her whole body tensed. She seemed to involuntarily throw back her head, letting Nick's pulsing cock spring loose from her mouth. He gasped as his cock shot back up to the vertical and released a gush of sperm straight up onto his chest. As I walked up to them, my wife arched back, reached a hand to the floor behind her and thrust her hips up, still stroking her slit with her other hand. She lifted her head to look straight at me, and cried out as her orgasm swept over her. She dropped her hips for a moment, then thrust up again and spread her knees. My cock pulsed once more and released a string of sperm that splattered against my wife's quivering belly.

She moaned one more time loudly, then the wave of pleasure subsided. She slumped down, sitting quietly on the floor. "Mike," she said quietly, but she was looking away. She shivered and her breasts jiggled. My sperm was still visible on her firm belly. There was a small amount of Nick's sperm on her chin. Most of the rest she had hungrily swallowed. I shivered too as my own orgasm subsided. My legs could hardly carry me and I was sweating. I stumbled back onto the bench in the shadows and sat down.

Nick was leaning limply against the dresser. He ran a hand through his hair as he looked at my wife. "You are stunning," he said. "Let me know if you ever need my services again." Then he smiled.

It was over. I was sore from having come so hard and so often. I didn't know how much time had passed since we began. I wasn't sure whether I had gotten what I'd expected. I wasn't even sure I knew what I had wanted in the first place. But clearly my wife and I had embarked on a new journey. Where it would end was hard to say.

My wife finally looked up at me. I couldn't decipher the look on her face. There was a certain calmness there, maybe some kind of fulfillment. But there was something else... shame? Sadness? I knew at that point that we would have to travel this road together for a long time to come.