Tia was here. She really was here. She was in my apartment looking as lovely as ever. As she walked past me, I caught the scent of her shampoo off her hair –vanilla and cinnamon, a divine mix. Molly took her place next to Tia and placed an encouraging hand on her shoulder. Tia exchanged a worried glance with my sister before turning to me. She picked at her fingernails –a cute little tick of hers, I’d learned.
“Tia, what’s this–”
She raised her hand, cut me off. “Let me talk, okay?”
I nodded. I would’ve given anything to listen to her speak, to enjoy the melodic tones of her words. I happily obliged her.
“I’m pregnant, Alex,” she stated calmly.
I froze where I stood. I could see Molly’s mouth moving. She was talking to me, but I couldn’t register anything she was saying. Tia was pregnant?
“Is it…” I mumbled like an idiot. Because I was an idiot.
“Yours?” Tia almost smirked. “Yes. It’s yours.”
I was stunned. The news settled in my mind, slowly melting away the dullness that had been plaguing me these last couple of days. Tia was with child. My child. As shocking as this revelation was, I was filled with an overbearing sense of excitement. I stepped forward and carefully took Tia’s hands in my own. I brought her fingers to my lips and kissed them tenderly.
“This is wonderful!” I exclaimed, breathless.
“You’re taking this surprisingly well,” she replied dryly.
“Are you… Are you going to keep it?” I asked. “Because if you do, I promise to help you raise the baby. I’ll be there, one hundred percent.”
Tia blinked, a smile creeping onto her lips. “Are you being serious?”
“Dead serious.”
“But…” She paused. The smile disappeared and it brought nothing but pain to my chest. I wanted to see her smiling, wanted to hear her laughing again. “But what about my career? I’ve worked so hard to get here, and–”
“I know, baby,” I cooed. It felt good to call her my baby again. It felt right.
“A child would derail everything. All my plans. I’ve only just started working for your father’s firm. I can’t keep working there and take care of a baby at the same time. It’s too complicated.”
“Then why don’t we start our own firm?” I suggested, thoroughly adamant on keeping both Tia and my child happy and safe. The idea sprang into my head without my prompting, an opportunity waiting to be ceased.
“What?”
“We’ll start our own firm. We can work from home, make our own hours. Together, we can take turns looking after the child.”
“I can’t ask you to quit your father’s firm,” she protested.
“For you, I’d do anything, Tia. I’d be more than happy to take care of the baby.”
But Tia shook her head, unconvinced. “You barely go in to work as it is now. But you want to start a new business and raise a kid at the same time? I just… I don’t know.”
I pressed her fingers to my lips again, taking a step to close the remaining distance between us. I looked her in the eye, full of determination.
“I want this,” I told her. “You have no idea how badly I want this. Tia, for you, I’d give up everything. You make me want to work harder. I promise you, I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you and our child have a good life.”
I got down on one knee and fished out the ring box I had hidden away in my pocket. Even after our falling out, I’d kept it. I hadn’t given up on us. I opened the ring box to expose my grandmother’s diamond ring. Tia’s face practically lit up like the Fourth of July, a sight to behold that was exclusively for me. I took a deep breath. This felt right. I had no hesitations, no doubts. I wanted to ask Tia to marry me before, and a child in the picture didn’t change any of that. I had never been so sure about anything in my life before.
Down on one knee, I looked up at Tia. I studied the details of her face, her form. The way her shocked smile made me giddy deep down in my gut. People were probably going to think I was crazy, asking a girl I’d hardly known for more than a few weeks to marry me. But what did they know? They didn’t know how amazing Tia was like I did. They didn’t know how smart she was, or how determined she was, or how unbelievably fantastic and sweet she was. I wanted her all to myself, and I knew that if I didn’t at least ask, then I didn’t deserve her in the first place. She deserved the world, and I wanted to give it to her.
“Tia, I promise to take care of you and the baby. I promise to give you everything you’ll ever need. I’ll take things seriously. I’ll make things work. For you. Will you marry me, Tia?”