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“So you two are serious, then?” her mother questioned.
Noah reached for Sophie’s hand. “Yes. I’m very serious about your daughter.”
The waiter came over and took their order, giving everyone a moment to breathe. It felt tense. Noah couldn’t determine whether her parents liked him or not yet. He wasn’t sure why, but he wanted them to like him.
He saw Sophie take a deep breath beside him, preparing to drop the bomb, and he squeezed her hand in support. “So I didn’t just invite you here to meet Noah tonight. We actually had some things we wanted to share with you guys.”
Her parents stiffened slightly. Sophie held their full attention.
“Well, me and Noah are actually engaged,” Sophie announced. She held her hand above the table, letting them see the ring.
“Engaged?!” Mike said as Sarah gasped, covering her mouth with her hand.
Sophie gave Noah a terrified look; it seemed like she wanted to get all the news out of the way at once.
Noah wrapped his arm around the back of her chair, trying to show some support.
“We’re also pregnant.” Sophie flinched slightly as she spoke the words.
Her parents’ faces were completely stunned, their bodies unable to register so many emotions at once.
Noah felt a tightness build in his chest.
After a moment of dumbfounded silence, her mother nearly shrieked with joy. “Oh, Sophie! Congratulations.” Sarah leaned across the table and wrapped her daughter in a tight embrace.
Surprisingly, Mike stood as well, a huge smile on his face as he hugged Noah and patted him on the back. “Welcome to the family, Noah.”
Noah was confused by their sudden acceptance. There was so much joy in their faces, even Noah’s eyes started to water.
“We’re going to be grandparents, Mike!” Sarah was nearly sobbing with excitement.
As her parents hugged one another, Noah met Sophie’s eyes, and their smiles faltered a little.
For one moment, it truly felt like they were on this journey together. It felt… well, Noah didn’t even have the words to describe it, because it was something he had never experienced before.
Was this what it was like to have a family? Loving parents?
Something heavy settled over him. This was something his own child would never know. Because this wasn’t real.
They settled back into their seats, and Noah tried his best to play the role of Sophie’s fiancé for the rest of the evening. Thankfully, her parents were much more enthused by his presence and it was easy to converse as they asked questions about work and Sophie, and Sarah talked on and on about ideas for the baby shower, and how she would love to be involved in the wedding planning.
Noah could tell that Sophie was trying to maintain the same enthusiasm as her mother but was struggling.
He wondered what her parents would think if they told them the truth. Would they still be happy?
Would they grow to resent him when they realized how little of a role he would play in their life? When he didn’t show up to Christmas or Thanksgiving holidays?
These were things that he had never considered about their agreement. He never had to worry about his family because he didn’t have one, at least not in the normal sense. In fact, he didn’t have many people in his life that cared about him at all.
He was reminded by how shocked Sophie was by the size of his guest list compared to hers. Sure, she only had about thirty people on her list, but they were all important to her. How many people on Noah’s list were comparable? Maybe four?
Most of his mother’s side had abandoned them after she died and his father had always been distant with his own.
Noah’s only family included Bradley, who he had met in college, and Anne, his nanny from childhood. And his two other friends he had met through mutuals, Kelly and Jason.
That was it. The sum of Noah’s support system.
Everyone was looking at him.
