Free The Color of Family by Patricia Jones Page A

feel what women feel. And even then, I think it’s still different.”
    â€œYeah, I think you’re right, because I’m sitting here right now and looking at all these little babies on the covers of these magazines and they’re not doing anything for me at all in the way of making me want to have my own kid. I mean, they’re cute and all, but I guess men are just able to get over it.”
    â€œYeah, women never get over it.” Then she let out a comforted laugh and continued. “You know, my mother had eight of us, and she still says that she has never gotten over the birth of any of her children. She remembers everything, right down to the smallest detail that, she says, most men would forget.”
    â€œShe’s probably right,” Aaron said with an ironic chuckle. Then he looked off at nothing in particular and continued rather wistfully, “There are some men who have this whole thing about carrying on the bloodline and the family name and so they get all maudlin and melancholy, or at least as maudlin and melancholy as men can get, about wanting to have a baby. That’s never been a thing for me. I figure, if I go the rest of my life without having a child to carry on my bloodline and family name, I think I’ll still die without regrets.” Then, suddenly self-conscious of the fact that he’d actually said what he’d said aloud, he looked embarrassedly at Sharon and said, “I guess that sounds pretty bad, huh?”
    As if she were somehow disappointed but trying to hide it, Sharon answered, “Well, if that’s how you feel. I don’t know. I justthink there’s no point to living if it’s not for the purpose of carrying on the human race.”
    A laugh sneaked up on him with a startling intensity and he had no choice but to let it burst forth. “And you see,” he said, once he caught his breath, “the way I look at it is that there’s always a couple billion people willing to do that, so the human race is going to be just fine without my contribution. I mean, just look at Ellen. If she only has this one kid, our family bloodline will be just fine and she will have given one more contribution to the human race. It all works out in the end.”
    â€œAnd what about Maggie?”
    What about Maggie? “Maggie’s got a child,” he pointed out. “Colette.”
    â€œYeah, but she’s almost grown, isn’t she? Maggie’s still a young enough woman to have another child.”
    â€œQuite honestly, Sharon, Maggie and I have never discussed children, so if you want a definite answer on that, I would suggest you go to the source, because I have no idea.” And he was so curt and exact in his tone that the room fell awkwardly silent. And as he watched her get back to whatever it was she was doing, her tightened face telling of her uneasiness, he figured it was best to say nothing else since he had peeled back his own scab on his own raw spot. He thought of apologizing for his sharpness, but then he’d have to explain with more words than he knew or, for that matter, cared to speak. Otherwise, he thought, he could simply let it lie, and then when they spoke again the air would be just as undemanding, as if there had never been a breeze of tension between them. That just might work. So he sat and waited for time to do the only thing it knows to do—pass.
    As he sat with nothing but his thoughts, the woman with the red hair reappeared. Standing before Sharon to make her next appointment, she turned and offered Aaron a fawning smile, to which he responded, “That was quick.”
    â€œAll I had to do was have my blood drawn. This wasn’t a regular office visit. The doctor needs to keep watch on my hormone levels.”
    And as Aaron’s eyes glazed over with the fear that she’d end up telling him even more of what he didn’t need to know, he said, “Oh, I see.”
    Then