"am I a chauvinist?"

"am I a chauvinist?" he asked
she thought of the
pleasurable sex and
shared child-rearing and
long hours of conversation and
decisions taken together and
the feeling of being free and married and
his supportive presence during a crisis
and more of the same
and said "no"

at which his shoulders relaxed
and he heaved a suppressed
sigh of relief...
lest it be audible.