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I hadn’t asked her to move in with me. We were together every night, sometimes at my place, sometimes at hers. But I didn’t want to push things. Still, I wanted her to know that I was all-in, so I spent a good chunk of this week putting together a little surprise for her.
When we entered my place, I led her toward the spare bedroom. “I want to show you something.”
She looked suspicious when she grinned. “Okay…” When I opened the door, she gasped. “No way!”
“I spent the week changing the guest room into a nursery. Do you like it?”
She got a load of the newly decorated space. My mother had painted a mural on the wall of the moon and stars. I’d assembled a white crib and the whole room was done up in blues and grays to match the wall. A changing table sat in the corner. It was fully stocked with supplies. The room was move-in ready.
She walked around, soaking it all in. “I…I love it. Did you design this all yourself?”
“I might have gotten a little help from my mother. She painted this wall, actually. She’s been out here all week, and you didn’t even know. But I picked out the bedding and the other stuff. I figured it’s pretty gender-neutral with the gray mixed in…just in case he turns out to be a girl.”
She was pretty speechless.
“I don’t know what to say. This is the most amazing thing that anyone has ever done for me.”
Kissing her on the forehead, I said, “I don’t want you to think I’m pressuring you to move in. That’s not what this is about. This room is for the baby whether you’re living apart from me or with me. That’s your choice. But I figured he’s gonna need a place to sleep when you’re here.”
There was nothing I wanted more than for Gia to move into my place. But she’s very independent, and I didn’t want to pressure her. There were enough changes happening. At the same time, I wanted her to know that my home was her home.
Gia walked over to the corner of the room and grabbed a stuffed bear that was sitting in the rocking chair. She hugged it and shocked me when she started to cry.
She wiped her eyes. “Is it weird that I just don’t feel deserving of all of this?”
“Why not?”
“Just a few weeks ago, I felt like my life was over, like I was going to have to start from scratch and find my way back up. Then, you told me that you loved me and would accept my baby and me. And it just…it turned my world right side up again. Accepting my child as your own is a huge undertaking. I feel like you’re giving me so much, sacrificing so much, and all I have to give you is my love.”
Wrapping my hands around her face, I looked into her eyes. “That’s all I need. It’s something that only a few people have truly given me in this life. You underestimate how much that really means to me.” I led her over to the rocker and pulled her onto my lap. “You never know when the tables will turn in life, Gia, or what will happen. But I know that if something unimaginable did happen, that you’d do anything for me. And when it comes to you and this baby…yes, it’s a huge undertaking…but sacrifice isn’t the right word—it’s an honor.”It was the third black dress I’d tried on in ten minutes. I pulled it over my head and threw it on the floor.
Nothing fit me anymore, but I was determined to squeeze into something I owned. And it had to be black.
Sweat was permeating my forehead when Rush walked right into the middle of my wardrobe crisis.
“What’s going on in here?”
“I should’ve bought a new outfit for tonight. None of my old stuff fits me. I’m at that weird point where I’m not really showing, but I just look fat and don’t fit into any of my clothes.”
Looking good tonight was imperative because I was going to be meeting Rush’s family. Granted, he didn’t get along with them, but that didn’t mean I didn’t want to look good.
It surprised me when Rush had asked me to accompany him to his estranged brother’s birthday party in the City. While I was curious to meet the bad apples—his father and brother—it made me really nervous. But he told me he’d promised his sister-in-law—the one I’d met at The Heights—that he would at least show up.
Rush had an extra collared shirt hanging around in my closet from one of the last times we’d gone out to a fancy restaurant. He took it down and said, “Humor me. Try on this shirt.”
“Are you kidding me?”
