Page 52 of Intertwined Hearts

The bedroom that had been used to store a lot of the things from my parents had been converted into a room suitable for the child we had been meeting with and getting to know. It took many hours and quite a few tears to go through everything.

Going through the totes of clothes was difficult. The scent of my dad’s cologne still clung to his shirts. And my mom’s perfume filled the room when I took the top off of the totes that held her possessions. After several days, I was finally able to part with those things and donate them. I kept all of the photo albums, some of the jewelry, and every single record album, CD, and eight-track tape. I didn’t even have an eight-track player, but I wasn’t ready to give away any of the music.

The gym seemed to take what was left of Hunter’s time, outside of his regular job. Luckily, Jeff had been putting all of his time into making sure everything was moving and progressing like they had expected. Nikki said when Jeff was severanced from his job, it was the best thing that could have ever happened. The grand opening was in less than two weeks.

Hunter and I had decided on a small wedding after all. We bounced back and forth between the thought of having a bigger wedding, but the more we both discussed it, the more we realized it would be too much for both of us. Instead we decided on a huge party after everything was done. It would be a celebration of the adoption, our wedding, and his new job as co-owner of the gym.

The wedding was in just a couple of days. I bought a beautiful white mermaid evening dress to wear. It was something I knew I could wear again for a formal event. I wasn’t sure how many of those I’d be attending, but I wanted the gown to be something that wasn’t designed to be worn just once. Hunter found a nice black suit. We decided against the tuxedo. He wasn’t that thrilled to wear one again, and I loved the way the suit fit him anyway. He and Jeff had discussed wearing suits for the grand opening, and he could definitely wear it again for that.

As I looked at the small toddler-sized bed that was fit for our princess, it seemed surreal that we would become parents very soon. I let my fingers glide on the freshly painted pink walls, then over to the four-drawer dresser that was full of clothes, and had a beautiful music box with a ballerina sitting on top. Elisa told us she wanted to be a dancer, a ballerina. We were on track to get our daughter right after we returned from our three-day honeymoon. Neither of us wanted to wait longer than that. We had fallen in love with the beautiful tan-skinned ball of energy. All of the arrangements had already been made with a day care center too.

My phone rang and pulled me from my daydreaming about the beautiful little girl who would soon be our daughter.

“Hello?”

“May I speak with Jackie Carter, please?”

“This is Jackie.”

“Hi, Jackie. It’s Dr. Allen. I have some really good news for you.”

I’d had my follow-up visit with my gynecologist the week before. I was hoping I’d get good news about the scar tissue she had been treating.

“Do I need to sit down?” I jokingly asked. Then I sat on the sofa.

“No, dear. It’s good news, not bad.”

“I’m ready.”

“The treatments have been successful. The scar tissue is almost completely gone.”

“That’s great news! Thank you.” I forced myself to hold the joyful scream in.

“There’s more. I’m so excited to be the lucky person to congratulate you first. We’ll have to monitor you closely to make sure there are no complications, and I do consider this to be a high-risk pregnancy.”

“I’m pregnant?” I screamed into the phone. The smile on my face was so wide it hurt.

“Yes, you are. Congratulations. I want to see you in two weeks.”

I jumped up from the couch and began dancing around while tears streamed down my face. “Thank you. Thank you so much,” I cried.

“Have a great day, Jackie.”

When our call disconnected, I punched in the numbers for Hunter. I knew he was only working a half day, then would be off the rest of the week, but I had to tell him the news now.

After the third attempt to call him, the first two times I’d been so thrilled I dialed the wrong number, the phone rang twice before he answered.

“Hey, doll. Everything okay?” he asked.

“Everything is great. I have some wonderful news, Hunter. You’re going to be a daddy.”

“I know, sweetheart. I’m excited to get Elisa just before the grand opening too.”

“No, Hunter. What I’m telling you is, I’m pregnant. I just got off the phone with Dr. Allen. I’m pregnant, baby!”

When I heard him scream, I came completely undone. I sat on the sofa and bawled. This was the moment I had prayed for. We both held out hope for this very moment, but there was nothing like the feeling of it actually happening.

After we disconnected, I walked back into our daughter’s room. I looked around and laughed.If I had a boy, there’s no way we could put him in this pink room with Elisa.

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