JEFF
As I lay in bed, I listened to Ari breathing as she slept. She kept moaning in her sleep, and it seemed like she was having another bad dream. She had been having them the last three nights. I would do anything to take away all her worry.
Just then, I felt her jerk awake.
“Bad dream again, baby?”
She lifted her head from chest and looked at me. The smile she gave me just about stole my breath away. God, I love her.
“Actually, no. For once, I was dreaming about something nice. Very nice!”
I let out a laugh and pulled her closer to me. I felt her stiffen in my arms, so I slowly started to move my fingers up and down her back.
“Mmm that feels so good,” she said.
We lay there for another few minutes in silence before Ari took a deep breath.
“Jeff, we need to talk about it. ”
“I know we do. ”
“When’s her due date?”
“She told me August seventeenth. She also said that she’s having a boy. ”
Ari snapped up her head, and I saw the tears welling up in her eyes.
“How do you feel about all of this, Jeff? I saw you smiling when you were touching her stomach. If this is going to work out, you need to be honest with me right now.
Holy shit. What am I supposed to say? A small part of me felt something when I’d felt the baby move. Oh Ari. There was no fucking way was I going to hurt Ari that way. I only wanted kids with her. There was no one else for me.
“Ari, it’s hard not to smile when you feel a baby moving around in anyone’s stomach. Something weird did happen though. She seemed shocked when I told her I’d asked you to marry me last Saturday. She couldn’t believe that I asked even after I’d found out about the baby, but it wasn’t just that. When I said that Gunner got married, she was really surprised. I think she thought it was us getting married. ”
Ari quickly sat up. She pulled the covers over her as she tucked her legs up to her chest.
“Don’t get mad. ”
“Oh shit, Ari. What did you do?”
“Well, I had a feeling that her calling you right before the wedding was all too coincidental. I just had a feeling. So, Amanda and I went to Halcyon this morning, and Crysti happened to be working. She also seemed surprised that we hadn’t gotten married. Turns out she overheard someone talking about a wedding. When she heard your name and mine, she thought it was us getting married. My guess is that she called Rebecca to fill her in with what she’d found out. I think Rebecca came up with this whole baby thing to keep us from getting married. ”
Wow. When Ari puts her damn mind to something, she goes one hundred percent at it.
“Well, what are you thinking?”
“It’s possible. If she was lying though, why would she offer to let me go to her next doctor’s appointment?”
Ari’s face turned white as a ghost.
“She did? Did she offer or did say that you wanted to go?”
“Does it matter Ari?”
“Yes, Jeff, it matters a lot! Did you ask to go or did she offer?”
I had to really think about it.
“I think that she offered. No, wait…I told her that I wanted to go since I’d not been a part of the pregnancy for the first seven months. ”