the girls were shopping so Chad and I went back to his place for a while. It seems like forever since we’d referred to Hannah and Erica as the girls. It was hard to believe that all the changes we’d been through in just the last few months.
“Nervous about tomorrow?” Chad asked me, bringing me a water bottle from his kitchen.
“No, not really.” I twisted off the cap and took a big drink. Smiling wide, I set the bottle on the coffee table. “I’m pretty excited. We’ll get to see the baby tomorrow.”
“That is pretty exciting,” Chad said with a smile.
He didn’t like to admit it, though I didn’t know why, but he was pretty thrilled about the baby too. I’d even heard him refer to himself as Uncle Chad a time or two. Hannah and I were both only children so it would be fitting that Chad and Erica would be their extended family.
“Mom sent me home with a picture frame that says ‘Your First Photograph’ to put the ultrasound in.” I chuckled, shaking my head. “I’m going to put the picture in it and give it to Hannah as a gift.”
“Hannah will love that, too. She seems a little nervous every time I’ve seen her since she found out.”
“You should have seen her last weekend,” I said with a laugh, picking my water back up. “She was an absolute wreck.”
“I’m still shocked things went that well for you. Even with the lecture from your dad.”
I couldn’t agree more.
After telling my parents about the baby, my mom cried a little and told us her concerns about not being married, being together such a short amount of time, etc. It was later in my father’s study that I really got it.
“Marcus, how could this happen?” he’d said. I’d barely shut the door before he started.
“It’s not like we planned it.” I fought to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. He was just doing his job as my dad.
“Marcus, you’re too young for this, and you’re not even married. Not to mention, just two months ago, you brought a different girl home to meet your mother.”
I blinked at his words. So, that’s what his real issue with this was.
I did feel a little disrespectful bringing two girls home like that in such a short amount of time, but it didn’t feel like the big deal he seemed to think it was.
“Dad, Hannah isn’t just some girl I brought home. You know that.”
“Yes, but what about Amy?”
I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose over my glasses. “What about Amy?”
“Did you love her?”
I removed my hand from my nose to look at my father. “Of course.”
“And you just left her for Hannah so easily?”
I blinked again, shaking my head to try and make sense of all of this. “That’s not what happened—”
“Marcus, I just don’t see how you and Hannah ended up together all of the sudden. With a baby now, no less.” He sighed out, sitting on the edge of his desk to watch me.
I’d told my mom part of the break up but asked her not to talk to dad about it. It wasn’t that I thought he’d be mad or anything, but I didn’t want to get into details yet. But I suppose being an only child left them with only so much to occupy their retirement.
“Dad, you don’t understand.” I folded my arms over my chest, looking my dad in the eye.
He didn’t break the contact. “Then explain it to me.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again. Turning to pace the room, I suddenly felt like a caged animal with too much energy and nowhere to go. I could feel my father’s eyes on me the entire time, waiting patiently for me to talk, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to.
“Amy broke up with me, Dad.” I looked over to see him raising a brow, giving me a look I was all too familiar with when looking at my own reflection. “She told me she couldn’t be with me without knowing if things would work with Hannah if given the chance.”
Dad nodded slowly. Other than that, his expression didn’t change. “So, you’re with Hannah because Amy told you to be?” he asked.
“What? No. That’s not…” I took a deep breath, trying to choose my words carefully. “Had I known that Hannah felt the same way, we’d have been together long ago.”
My father just nodded. I’d almost kill to know what he was thinking. Almost. Knowing my father, he was going to tell me exactly what he was thinking anyways. Just on his own time.
“Amy just gave you the push you needed.”
“More or less, I guess.” I sighed again. “She said she couldn’t be with me wondering if I’d be thinking of Hannah. She said that I needed to give us a chance, that we deserved that after all these years.”
“Do you think you made the right choice?” He still wore the same expression. Not surprise, or worry, or even anger. Just…him.
“I’d like to think so.” There was no point in lying to him and saying a definite yes. He’d see right through me anyways.
“Do you still love her?” he asked, and I frowned. “Amy,” he clarified.
“I don’t know.”
“What will you do now then?”
I snorted without meaning to, causing his brows to rise. “The only thing there is for me to do. Raise this child with Hannah. The way it’s supposed to be.”
I didn’t mean for that to sound as rehearsed or generic as it did, but it was the truth.
If I’d been thinking about being with Amy before, that had to be done with now. I loved Hannah. Despite all of her flaws I’ve just come to notice, I loved her. And now we were going to be parents. That put everything into perspective for me. I wouldn’t stay with someone I truly didn’t want to be with, no matter the reason, but Hannah and I were in this together. We loved each other, and we loved this baby. That was the only thing for me.
“Marcus.” Dad looked down at his hands for a moment before continuing, “I am proud of the man you’ve become.”
I frowned, glad for his praise but knowing there was more.
“I don’t think you’ve went about it in all the right ways, but I’m proud of the decision you’ve made for that baby.”
“Thanks, Dad.” I didn’t know what else to say. I hadn’t really expected him to say that.
“Can I offer one piece of advice?”
I swallowed hard in anticipation but nodded.
“Sometimes, things aren’t always so black and white. There are always shades of gray. You don’t have to stay with someone you’re unhappy with for the sake of your child. It’s noble to want to, but you’ll only end up with an unhappy household.”
I opened my mouth to argue that he was wrong, that I wasn’t just staying with Hannah for the baby, but he held up his hand to stop me.
“I’m not saying that’s what you’re doing, but I do know you still have feelings for Amy. You’ve seen your options, though I hate to word it like that, and now you have to make a choice. Think about it. Would you have stayed with Hannah for the long haul if there wasn’t a baby involved?”
His advice was still eating away at me. I’d told Chad about the conversation when we got together yesterday, and he had surprised me too by agreeing with what my dad had to say. They both made it sound so easy, but it wasn’t. I loved Hannah. This wasn’t just about the baby.
But I loved Amy too.
“Oh, hey. I forgot to tell you.” Chad’s voice pulled me back from my thoughts, thank God. They were only making me crazy. “Devon planned a surprise party for Amy tomorrow night.”
“A surprise party?” I frowned, raising a brow in question.
“For her birthday. Remember?” Chad asked, obviously surprised at me.
“Shit.”
With everything going on with Hannah and the baby, I’d forgotten. Talk about feeling like an ass.
“Tomorrow night at her apartment. Eight o’clock,” Chad says. “Devon even got her mom in on it. Amy and Devon are going out for drinks, and her mom is going to call and say she’s dropping her niece and nephew off at the house because she got called into work. When Amy and Devon get home, we’ll all be there.”
I laughed. Devon was a good friend to Amy, and Chad was serious about her. She was going to be around for a good while, if not forever. No matter what my feelings for Amy, we had to be civil. Her best friend was dating mine. We were going to see each other, even if we hadn’t decided to be friends.
“I’ll be there.”
My phone went off, and I leaned over to pull it from my pocket, grinning when I saw it was Hannah. Sometimes, it seemed like she had a sixth sense about when we were talking about Amy. Maybe she did. Maybe it was for the best.
“Hey,” I answered, frowning when she groaned into the phone. “Hannah, you okay?” I looked over to see Chad frowning in worry as well.
“Yeah,” she breathed out, sounding completely wore out. “I just don’t feel very well.”
“Can I get you something? Do you need me to come home?”
“Actually, yes. Remember those nausea pills you got for me from the pharmacy before Christmas?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you know where they are?”
I closed my eyes and shook my head. “Yeah, they’re in my office at work.”
When I picked up the prescription, it was during my lunch break, and Hannah told me she didn’t need them right that second so I was going to wait to bring them home when I left. I forgot them. Luckily, her nausea had subsided, and we both just forgot about them being in my desk.
“Could you get them for me? They’re the only things I’m allowed to take for an upset stomach, I think.”
“Sure thing. I’ll be home in just a little bit.”
She hung up without replying, and I slid my phone into my pocket again.
“Everything okay?” Chad asked.
“Hannah isn’t feeling well. She sounds pretty sick, actually. I left her medicine in my desk before break. I need to go get it.”
“Let me know if you guys need anything.”
“We will.”
Smiling at Chad, I walked to his front door, opened it, and stepped outside.
“I want to see pictures from tomorrow!” Chad yelled from inside, making me laugh.
It was kind of unbelievable that he was referring to pictures of my baby. My baby. The ultrasound was tomorrow and Hannah and I weren’t the only ones excited about it.
This baby was going to be so loved.