As every parent knows, having your first child turns the world upside down. The cliche that nothing prepares you for it certainly held for Charlotte and me. Although we were fairly worldly professionals in our early thirties, the arrival of our son, Ben, had a profound impact on our lives. One of the biggest changes was that I stepped away from my job to look after the baby.
I'm an engineer and had been put on the management track a few years prior so my career prospects were good. However, Charlotte is a solicitor at one of London's largest law firms so her earning potential was significantly higher than mine. Neither of us was comfortable outsourcing the raising of our child, so despite loving my job, I chose to take a career break and be a stay-at-home dad.
The early days are a bit of a blur, particularly after Charlotte returned to the office having taken just three months of maternity leave. I somehow found a rhythm of changing nappies, feeding expressed milk from bottles and putting Ben down for naps. The high points of my week were the parent/baby group meetings in the local community centre. I quickly became familiar with the core group of mums who all seemed to need a similar social outlet and attended whatever was on offer. I say "mums" because I was invariably the only dad present.
The content of the classes varied from singing along to nursery music to mommy-baby yoga, which I particularly enjoy since I got to admire the fitter moms in yoga outfits. However, I did fight to keep my libido in check, especially as it was an accepted practice for the women to breastfeed while sitting amongst the group. I was brought up believing it's impolite to make others feel uncomfortable, and I didn't want to be marked as "creepy" so I averted my eyes whenever nipples were on display. Despite my efforts, the glimpses I caught in my peripheral vision were enough to get me visibly excited from time to time. On those occasions, I would strategically place a teddy bear or other toy to hide the ridge in my trousers.
The most outspoken and gregarious of the mums was Rachel, a petite brunette, whose curves I suspected would have been impressive even if she weren't breastfeeding. She was the mother of a little boy, Ami, and was clearly the ringleader of the core group. Rachel had a confident and somewhat provocative air about her. She always seemed to know when I was struggling to hide my erections and would catch my eye with a knowing look. I swear she would wait until I was looking in her direction before whipping out what I imagined were magnificent breasts (but didn't dare to confirm).
Rachel also seemed to be the alpha mom outside of the formal baby classes. She would regularly invite many of the mums back to her house for coffee following morning meet-ups. After a few months, I was delighted to be asked to join them.
Rachel lived in an impressive house near Wimbledon common. Charlotte and I had a modest three-bed starter home down the hill, which we managed to afford with some help from Charlotte's parents. We hoped to be able to move to something larger once Charlotte made partner. In contrast, Rachel's house was expansive. Aside from some expensively, but tastefully, furnished sitting rooms at the front of the house, there was a large and airy open-plan kitchen, dining and sitting area at the back. Sliding glass doors opened onto a manicured lawn, which received the afternoon sun.
On my first visit, I was the last to arrive at Rachel's. I had decided to stop for some pastries as I didn't want to show up empty-handed. Rachel greeted me at the door and looked delighted when she saw the box of treats in my hand.
"Well, aren't you sweet," she said with a smile and showed me into the house.
I recognised the two other women sitting at the large kitchen island. Georgie was the posh home-counties blonde with twin boys, Hugo and Max. Harpreet was the mother of Anjali. I learned that she was born in India, but moved to London as a young girl.
Apparently, Rachel's husband, David, worked in finance and spent three-month stints in Dubai with six weeks in London in between. Georgie's husband was a lawyer who worked incredibly anti-social hours. As the spouse of a lawyer, it was something I could relate to immediately. Harpreet's husband ran a software consulting firm, and it sounded like he was not around much either and was not particularly engaged even when he was.
I guess I was a bit of a novelty since it seemed like none of these women spent much time around men who were happy to be in "dad mode". For my part, I was happy to have any adult company and thrilled that it was with three attractive women.
It wasn't long until I was firmly established as part of the regular coffee foursome at Rachel's. Once the women learned that I was reasonably handy, I would occasionally pop round to the others' to help with changing light bulbs and even fixing a leaky tap (for which Harpreet gave me a memorable hug and peck on the cheek). The women soon began referring to me as "Our Jack". The sense of belonging and appreciation made me feel warm and satisfied in a way that my marriage hadn't for quite some time.
Although Charlotte and I had a decent enough sex life while we were dating, we somehow missed out on what I imagined was the rabid love-making during the honeymoon period of marriage. Charlotte received her formal employment contract just before our wedding and was working long hours from the start. What weekend time she had was spent recovering from the busy week. After Ben was born, we didn't have sex for six months. After that, our lovemaking was a monthly event. About every three or four weeks, Charlotte would wake up, roll over to me and, only half-jokingly, say, "You've got ten minutes. Make the most of it."
Despite the naked breasts at the baby classes, and the lack of excitement at home, my relationship with Rachel, Georgie and Harpreet somehow managed to remain platonic, for a while at least.
On New Year's Eve, Rachel invited us all around for drinks and to watch rubbish television. Charlotte was invited to come along, but decided she'd rather get an early night's sleep. Thankfully, that meant I could attend without having to look after Ben as well. Georgie and Harpreet came without their husbands who had both chosen to entertain clients. It turned out that both of their mothers were visiting for the holidays and had offered to look after the kids. So we all ended up at Rachel's completely unencumbered.
When Rachel opened the door, I was stunned. While she always made an effort to look good, even for jogging with prams in the park, she'd really gone for it that night. Her shoulder-length hair was perfectly done, and her make-up accentuated her high cheekbones and sexy brown eyes. She was wearing a black dress with sequins which looked festive, but not in any way overdone or tacky. The neckline was very low-cut, and the spaghetti straps meant it was unlikely she was wearing a bra. The hemline was mid-thigh and showed off the muscular legs that always set my pulse racing when I saw them through her yoga attire.
Instead of our usual friendly hug, I got an enthusiastic embrace which confirmed my suspicions about her being bra-less. It was all I could do to control myself, and I hadn't even stepped into the house!
The others were already sipping champagne when I entered feeling underdressed in jeans and a smart shirt. Georgie was wearing a stylish blue silk blouse with black trousers and expensive-looking heels. Harpreet had opted for a green and orange sari. Both looked happy and relaxed. However, the mood turned, when I asked if I'd finally get to meet Rachel's husband, David. He had only been back from Dubai for a couple of weeks, so I expected that he'd be home. Apparently, he had chosen to return early to chase a big M&A transaction.