My life had been a whirlwind and nothing had happened the way I expected it to. People say that life takes many detours but you always end up at the destination that was intended for you.

I never quite understood what that meant until I was experiencing it. All I ever dreamed about was being able to make enough money to bring my brother. Never in my life did I think that I’d be on the verge of achieving that dream while simultaneously being engaged to the woman of my dreams.

I had to leave the next day. Although I was excited about turning the page and starting the next chapter of my life, I wished that I could take Shelly along with me. I knew it wasn’t possible.

With her being so close to getting her promotion at work, she was on the verge of accomplishing things she had dreamed of as well. I just hoped that she’d meant what she said when she told me she’d be patient and wait for me to get back.

Since I wasn’t going to be seeing her for a while, I wanted to give her something to remember me by. Before she got home, I lit some candles in the dining room and sat out plates for dinner.

Of course, my arm is still jacked up so I wasn’t able to cook. Instead, I ordered some Chinese takeout and had it delivered to the house.

We had a nice meal but I could tell she was drained. She had said that she just wanted to get some rest so after dinner, I told her to go take a hot bath while I threw away the trash from dinner.

I was hoping the bath would rejuvenate her but she still wasn’t feeling all that hot so I turned on her favorite show and we both climbed into bed. Within a few minutes, she was sound asleep. I watched TV for a while before drifting off as well.

I was sleeping very well. I was dreaming about fighting but something woke me up. It happens pretty regularly and I don’t really have an explanation for it. I just have trouble sleeping through the night sometime.

I tried laying there, hoping I’d fall back asleep but it wasn’t happening. I looked at the clock and saw that it was almost 4:00 in the morning. The alarm was set to go off at 7:00 so I could make it to the airport by 9:00.

The moon was shining in through the window, casting a bit of a glow onto Shelly. She always gets hot when she sleeps so the covers frequently get kicked off her. She was completely nude, which is how she likes to sleep every night.

It’s not a sexual thing. She tosses and turns at night and hates getting caught up in whatever she happened to wear to bed. Of course, I’d never dream of complaining. She has a great body and I never miss a chance to take a peek at it when I can.

Since I wasn’t able to sleep, I laid on my side watching her sleep. Her perky breasts rose and fell with each breath she took. The longer I watched her, the more I realized I was becoming arouse.

This woman was beautiful and she was going to be my wife. This gorgeous woman was going to be mine. I’d never have the need to go anywhere else. She was attentive and loving, two things that I appreciated.

There was something about her that night that made me want her in new ways. Most of the time, whenever we had sex, it was pretty much a rough fucking session. As I watched her, I realized how much I loved her and I wanted to make soft, slow, sweet love to her.

Sure, it was out of character for me but what if it wasn’t? What if I had just been waiting for the right woman to come along and bring that side out of me?

I reached over and slowly slid my hand along the top of her left breast. I loved the way it was so firm while still being soft. In my opinion, her breasts were perfect. I moved my hand up to her areola, tracing my finger around it before gently touching her nipple.

I was starting to get hard but was far from being fully erect. This surprised me. Most of the time, when I would go to touch her nipple, she had already been awakened from my other touches and we would be well into our foreplay.

On that night, it took a little more time and touch to get her nipple where I wanted it to be but I eventually got it there. I moved onto the left side with the same result.

Shelly continued to sleep deeply. It wasn’t going to happen that night but I was okay with it. I knew she had been exhausted lately and deserved to get some rest.

There was no way I was going to be able to go back to sleep, however, so I decided to get out of bed and jump into the shower before making myself something to eat.

Showering had been a pain in the ass with the cast on. I’d been having to tape grocery bags to my arm and hope the tape would hold. It sucked but that was the price I had to pay to not smell like ass.

Just after I had turned my shower water off, I heard the sounds of someone running down the hall and into the bathroom. That was followed immediately by the sounds of the toilet seat being raised and vomit filling the bowl. Shelly was still sick.

“Are you okay?” I yelled from inside the shower.

“No, I’m so sick of throwing up,” she replied.

“You poor thing. Go on back to bed and try to get some rest.”

“No, you have to leave in a few hours so I’ll stay up with you.”

I got out of the shower and got myself dressed. Starving, I went into the kitchen where Shelly was sitting at the table looking sicker than I’d ever seen her look.

“We need to talk,” she said.

“Oh shit, those are the words a man never wants to hear. What’s up?”

“I went to the doctor today to try to figure out what’s been wrong with me lately.”

“You did? How come you didn’t tell me?”

“I was trying to wait for the right time. You’ve got so much going on and, with you about to leave, I didn’t want to make you any more stressed than you already are.”

“Fuck that. You’re my priority baby girl. I always want you to come to me no matter what. What did the doctor say?”

“I’m pregnant.”

I nearly spit out the coffee I had just taken into my mouth. I was expecting to hear about some kind of illness but hearing the word pregnant really caught me off guard.

“Pregnant? Are you sure?”

“Very sure. The doctor did a test in his office. I have to go back in four weeks for a checkup.”

“How did this happen?” I asked her.

“Do you need me to draw you a diagram?”

“No, I know how it happened,” I said, realizing how stupid the question had been in the first place. “So, I’m going to be a father? We’re going to be parents?”

“Yes, that’s what typically follows a pregnancy and the subsequent birth.”

Shelly looked at me as though she was trying to read my thoughts on the matter. In all honesty, I wasn’t sure what to think. I had been caught by surprise with the revelation and wasn’t sure what the right reaction should have been.

Secretly, I was surprised and happy but didn’t want to act like I was ecstatic. I knew she must have been scared. I leaned over to her and wrapped my arms around her, pulling her close to me.

“I love you and I think we’ll make a great team as parents.”

Shelly smiled and let out a little sigh of relief. Not only had she managed to tell me but I was okay with it. That seemed to make her feel better. The only problem was that I was about to leave and I’d be gone for the majority of the pregnancy.

I hated the fact that I had to leave her. Not only was she going to be my wife but she was also going to be the mother of my first born child. As much as I didn’t want to leave, I knew I had to. Our livelihood was at stake. I knew that with a few good wins, I could make some incredibly large payouts and set my family up for a long time.

* * *

It took a couple of months but my days of being sick finally passed. I’d heard of people getting morning sickness when they were pregnant but never the entire day. It made me jealous of those that only had to worry about being sick in the morning.

I was glad that the sickness had passed but it was replaced with the most wicked heartburn you could imagine. It didn’t matter what I ate, within a half-hour, the heartburn would arrive in full force.

Jason had been gone for about six months but we’d talk on the phone every night. He wasn’t around to go to doctor’s appointments with me but we used FaceTime so he could at least be there virtually.

No matter what he was doing or how hard he was training, he’d drop everything so he could be there, listening to everything the doctor had to say and asking lots of questions himself.

During the six months that Jason had been gone, he not only trained with his new team but he also had his first fight with Championship Cage Fighting. Not only was he able to debut earlier than he expected to but it was a co-main event.

One of the participants ended getting hurt during training and Jason was called on to take his spot. He accepted the fight with only eleven days’ notice.

He called me and really wanted me to be there, but with the fight being in Las Vegas, I would have had to get on a plane. The last thing I wanted to do while feeling like a house because of my pregnancy was to travel anywhere.

Instead, I ordered the fight on pay-per-view and watched him make his debut. His opponent was the heavy favorite but that didn’t mean anything to Jason. He dominated his opponent, knocking him out just over three minutes into the first round, giving Jason his first CCF win and allowing him to make a name for himself.

I didn’t expect to hear from Jason that night since he loves to party after a win. I was taken by surprise when my cell phone rang just after midnight and it was him. Instead of going out to all the after-parties with his new colleagues, he opted to go back to the studio apartment he had been staying in above the gym he trained at so he could talk to me.

“I don’t need to be doing all that partying shit,” he told me when I asked him why he didn’t go out after the fight. “I’m going to be a father and a husband. It’s time to man up. Besides, I gotta get my rest. I’ll be home in two days.”

Those words were music to my ears. I’d missed him so much and I was happy that he was coming back to me. He’d get to be around for the last couple months of my pregnancy and be there when the baby was born. These things were important to both of us.

I’d earned my promotion at work and felt like I was really starting to turn things around at the center. I’d implemented new hiring policies and made sure there were lots of reasons to make sure the good employees wanted to stick around. Everything from hiring bonuses after ninety days and recognition for a job well done. It was working out nicely.

Even though I’d worked hard for my promotion and put my heart and soul into First Hope, I was getting ready to go on maternity leave and had already made the decision that I wasn’t going back.

Jason’s payday from his first fight was more than enough to set us up for at least the next year and we already knew that he would fight at least once or twice in that time. This was going to allow me to stay home with the baby.

Since I was going to be staying home, we’d also made arrangements to pull Casey out of First Hope after the baby was born. I’d have a month or so to recover before he got there but it was going to be nice to have him home where he could be cared for around the clock.