AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“My dad bailed before I was born,” I confess, but she already knows. It’s hard to keep secrets when you’ve known someone your entire life.
My hand remains firmly planted over hers on her stomach.
“I know, I’m sorry.” Her apology is so genuine. It is not without thought or consideration. She’s truly sorry my father left before I was born. He abandoned us. Gia never knew her dad, much like I never knew mine. The circumstances were different, but the brokenness of our families was much the same. She’ll see my loss over hers, though; she’ll recognize my pain before admitting her own.
“Don’t be. He did me a favor. He showed me the man that I didn’t want to become one day. He had a choice, and he chose to leave. Your dad didn’t get to choose. I’m not going to be like the man whose blood runs through my veins. Never. I get to choose, and I choose you and this baby. I’m going to be present. I’m going to be involved. All hands on deck. Let me be your partner in this, Click. Let’s do this together. Partners?” I restructure the arrangement. Less marriage words and more partner words. Because legal marriage is just a piece of paper, it means nothing in the big scheme of things except convenience. Once she’s able to take a step out of the emotion of this decision, she’ll realize that.
“I don’t understand what you’re saying.” She shakes her head back and forth.
That makes two of us. But I’ve never been more sure of something in my life.
“Think of it like a pact. The family piece, that’s easy. We’ve been doing this for years already. We can raise this baby together. That part will be hard, but I’ve never been afraid to do the hard things, and I know you haven’t either. We’ll be united. Two people committed to giving this child the best life possible. We can hammer out the details later. What do you say?”
I hold my breath waiting for her response. She studies me for what feels like an eternity before slowly nodding.
“T is going to kill me.” She groans and her head lands with a thump against the bathroom door.
“Correction. He’s going to kill me.” I remove my hand from hers and pull her to me, having already been granted permission to touch, and way past caring what is and is not acceptable for our newly-formed arrangement.
A brief feeling of relief replaces the nervous flutters that have been overwhelming me the entirety of our conversation. This is only the first of many obstacles we’ll face, but now we will face them together. She folds into my arms without hesitation, burying her face in my chest.
It’s at that moment that I remember I left the game tonight without a shower.
“I’m scared, Damien. This wasn’t supposed to happen.” She mumbles against my chest.
The wild strands of her dark hair tickle my chin, and I smile. Her hair has always been a gorgeous dark black, but when she allows it to just be in its natural state – I’m sure she would argue that her process to fix it is anything but natural – but I love it. It matches her personality. Wild and free. I hope that if we have a girl she looks just like her mama, wild hair and all.
I’m going to be a daddy.
“It will be okay. I promise. I will make sure of it.” I run the palms of my hands up and down her back. I try to relieve some of the tension and fear that I imagine she’s feeling. She weaves her arms around my back. She doesn’t realize it, but she’s holding me just as much as I’m holding her.
“We will tell Tyler together. He’ll understand. We’re brothers. This is his niece or nephew. Sure, he might get mad, but he’ll come around.” Even as I say the words, I’m not sure that they’re true. I’d like to think they are, but my relationship with Tyler has been strained since we graduated high school and went our separate ways. I’m not entirely sure Gia realizes to what extent.
“We can do this?” She props her chin up on my chest and slowly batts her long dark eyelashes up at me.
“I believe in you. I believe in this baby. I believe in our future.” I answer resolutely. I’m determined that this will work and, when I set my mind to something, I don’t quit. You don’t have to be the best. You don’t have to be the smartest or the fastest. There will always be someone better than you.
You have to be the hungriest. And I’m fucking starving for the family that I never had.
Gia’s lips twist to the side and her nose suddenly scrunches up adorably. “Okay, enough about our future for tonight. Present you is in serious need of a shower. Damn, boy, you stink.”
Chapter Three
Damien
Two-ish months later
“I can’t do this. I can’t do this, Damien. We don’t have to do this today. We can turn back now, and he’ll never know. I’m hardly even showing. We’ll say I ate a cheeseburger. A really big cheeseburger. Maybe that’s my new thing, I’m a food blogger. Oh, that’s it! I’m putting on weight because I’ve decided to turn my photography career into a career about blogging food. Specifically, cheeseburgers. It’s the perfect plan. We can wait…forever.” Gia wears a path on the navy-blue shag carpet of her childhood bedroom.
She knows forever isn’t an option, just like I know my friendship with Tyler will never be the same again after today.
Gia is sixteen weeks along. Ten whole weeks since I found out I was going to be a daddy. We saw our baby on an ultrasound at her doctor’s appointment just last week. We’re having a little girl. Ten tiny little fingers and ten tiny little toes. I’m going to have a daughter. I’m not sure who cried more when we found out. That little girl might not be here yet, but she’s already got me wrapped.
I wasted no time buying a pink Rafferton onesie with my number, lucky number thirteen, on the back. I’m going to wrap it up and surprise Gia with it on Christmas morning.
Gia and I will be married by the end of this month. After we took a step back, we were able to truly look at our options and make a decision that will work best for the three of us. Does it make the most sense?
Logically? Probably not.
