Kate was discharged from hospital a few days after her wedding. Steve's proposal and the following wedding had been so completely unexpected but so wonderful, it had distracted her from processing the facts about her surgery. That suddenly hit her one day as she was feeding Alex on her and Steve's bed.
Ava had just about accepted her younger brother although a little jealousy would creep in if Alex took up too much of her mother's attention. To try and ease the situation, Kate would always try and incorporate some story time with Ava whilst she fed Alex. Everything was going well until she started crying out of the blue.
Josh walked past and saw his mum was upset. "Are you ok, Mum?" He asked, concerned. He noticed Ava too was looking at her mother not sure what had happened. Kate didn't answer. Instead the tears just kept falling. Not sure what to do, Josh did the next best thing. "Mum's crying," he announced to the adults in the kitchen. "I asked her what was wrong but she wouldn't answer,".
Steve leapt to his feet but Mrs Arnott halted him. "I'll go," she said, intuitively thinking Kate needed a female to talk to rather than her husband.
Climbing the stairs she found her new daughter-in-law sat on the bed nursing Alex whilst Ava was beside her with a picture book. Ava was looking a little worried at her mother's tears and trying to pat them dry with her chubby hand.
Taking sight of the picture in front of her Mrs Arnott took charge. "OK Ava, let's go spend some time with Daddy and Grandpa," she instructed as she lifted Ava off the bed.
"'lex too," Ava said. She wasn't going to leave her mum alone with her brother.
"Has he finished feeding?" Mrs Arnott tenderly asked Kate who just nodded. "Shall I take him?" Kate nodded again. "Back in a minute," Mrs Arnott said as she took her two grandchildren out of the room.
"Is Kate ok?" Steve asked his mum as she deposited Alex in his arms. Ava had made a beeline for her husbands lap and was settling herself down in it.
"She'll be fine," Mrs Arnott said as she headed back up the stairs, closing the bedroom door before settling herself on the bed beside Kate who was still crying.
"I don't know why I'm crying," Kate said. "I just started," she sniffed as she tried drying her eyes. "I haven't scared the kids have I?".
"They're absolutely fine," Mrs Arnott reassured Kate. "Probably all the hormones still flying around," she consoled her.
Kate nodded. "It just suddenly hit me that Alex was going to be my last child. I know I didn't want anymore children but …,".
"The hysterectomy has made it final," Mrs Arnott guessed.
"Yeah," Kate replied. "How did you know? The choice has totally been taken away from me,".
"Maybe I understand what you're going through," Mrs Arnott said. Kate looked at her wanting to explain that comment. "I never intended Steve to be an only child," she revealed, "but I had bad endometriosis. I was in so much pain every month that the only thing to do to relieve it was a hysterectomy,".
"I didn't know," Kate said. "Steve never-".
"He doesn't know," Mrs Arnott said. "This all happened when he was about three years old,".
"How did you get through it?" Kate asked
"Steve got me through it," Mrs Arnott replied. "Took my mind off things by being an absolute rascal. Had to have eyes in the back of my head making sure he was safe and out of trouble at all times,".
Kate giggled. "He's still the same," she admitted.
"I know," Mrs Arnott said. "And he'll help you too, along with Josh, Ava and Alex,".
"He won't see me differently?" Kate asked. "Now I've had a hysterectomy?".
"What ever are you talking about?" Mrs Arnott asked.
"Now I've had everything removed will he think of me as some… dry, withered old prune,".
"That's the hormones talking," Mrs Arnott answered confidently. "Unless I'm mistaken I attended your wedding a few weeks ago. He adores you, Kate," she continued. "As do we all,".
Her mother-in-law's kind words started Kate crying again. Her own mother had never said anything so lovely in all the time they lived together. "I'm sorry," Kate apologised.
"Nothing to be sorry about," Mrs Arnott said. "A hysterectomy is a big deal,".
"Does it change…..things?" Kate asked.
"You mean sex?" Mrs Arnott guessed.
Kate blushed. That was exactly what she meant. Her and Steve had a good sex life and she worried her hysterectomy would change all that when she was given the all clear to resume intimacy with her husband.
"Well they had to remove my ovaries so I was put in to premature menopause," Mrs Arnott confided, "but a bit of extra lubrication helped. I still enjoyed sex as much as my husband if you know what I mean, and we could still do everything we had done before," she continued.
It was a very honest answer, and perhaps a little bit too much information about her in-laws, but it was very helpful. Kate didn't know what to say. Steve was good at getting her to reach orgasm and it sounded as if hysterectomy didn't affect that. "It didn't feel different?" Kate asked.
"No!" replied Mrs Arnott. "Not at all. There were no complaints," she continued. "If you hadn't worked it out by now, men are happy as long as they are getting sex. My husband was and I'm sure my son is just the same,". Kate smiled. Yes he was just the same.
"Thank you," Kate said.
"You're welcome," Mrs Arnott said as she gave Kate another hug. "You feel up to going downstairs and see how they're coping with the child minding?".
Kate nodded and followed her mother-in law down stairs.
"You ok?" Steve asked his wife as she materialised in the kitchen. He could see her eyes were puffy from her tears.
"Nothing a hug wouldn't fix," Kate replied.
Steve hastily gave his mother her new grandson and took Kate in to his arms. Kate relished his support. Surrounded by his arms, she nuzzled in to his embrace, inhaling his unique scent that made her feel safe. She knew that her and Steve were going to be just fine.