Destiny

And now, here Destiny was, living one of those bad scenarios that her father had kept telling her about. It was not all that bad now that she thought about it, but her father might not agree with this. She and Jourdan were not even in a relationship, let alone married, and that might be something her father disapproved of as well.

She sighed. There was no way of knowing how her father was going to react except for seeing how he reacted when she told him. Eventually, the time came. She wanted to go the airport to pick her dad up but both Chantal and Jourdan insisted that she stay in bed. They knew that she was going to strain herself by getting out of bed again and again, and she needed to stay under the covers to protect the health of her child.

She went up to the TV and sat in front of it as she waited. There was nothing else, really, that she could possibly do in this situation except for wait. So wait she did, she waited as much as she possibly could, and eventually she realized that she could not wait any longer.

She went out to the balcony and began to wait there. She stood there for about ten minutes until she saw a car in the distance.

It was them, there was no doubt about it. It was Jourdan’s car, with Jourdan and Chantal bringing Destiny’s father to her. There was so much here that could go wrong, but she did not care about that anymore. She did not care about the fact that she had to tell her father something like this. She did not care about the fact that her father was probably going to be upset. All she cared about was her father being here once again, and telling her that he loved her.

As the car got closer, she had to resist the urge to run downstairs and greet them. She knew that both Jourdan and Chantal would freak out if they found out that she had gotten out of bed. Hence, once the car was two minutes away she just sat down onto her bed again and sighed. This was almost like a prison sentence. She was starting to feel like a prisoner now, and she knew that this was going to last four and a half more months. After all this time, she was starting to realize that maybe getting pregnant had not been worth it. Maybe it had not been something that she should have done.

She heard the car pull into the driveway. Her father was going to be among the vines of the vineyard now. She wondered if he would like them, if he would appreciate them as much as she had. She had a feeling that he would. He was the kind of person that enjoyed natural beauty. He seemed to appreciate absolutely everything around him at all times. That was one of the things that Destiny loved most about her father.

Within ten minutes, they were upstairs and knocking on her door. Destiny called out to them, telling them that they could come in. The door opened with a tentative creak and in came her father.

He looked at her for a long time and then his mouth broke into a joyous grin. “Destiny,” said her father, “you’re pregnant! Oh my God!”

He game up to her and held her hand. “You look so good, honey! Why didn’t you tell me that you were pregnant?”

“I… I didn’t know how you were going to react,” she said. “I didn’t want you to be disappointed in me.”

“Honey,” said her father, “there is no way that I could ever be disappointed in you. I am so proud of you for everything… I am sorry if you ever felt that way, or if I ever made you feel that way. But I am so glad that you are pregnant. I just… I just wish that your mother were here to see this. To see the birth of our very own grandchild. It’s something she would have loved very much. And she would have loved this place as well, with all of the greenery and everything. Is this fellow, Jourdan, the father?”

“Yes,” said Destiny, eager to hear what her father thought of the father of her child and nervous at the same time because her father might just not like him and that would end up causing a lot of problems for everybody.

Arthur Huffman grinned again and said, “I like him. He seems like a very nice person. And he seems to be really in love with you, you know. That sort of thing doesn’t happen all that often.”

Jourdan came up and Arthur turned around and said, “You seem like a nice enough fellow. I hope you are taking good care of my daughter.”

“I am, sir,” said Jourdan. “Taking care of her is my number one priority these days.”

“Dad,” said Destiny, “he’s the father of my child but we still don’t know if… if we want to be together or not. After the child is born I mean.”

“Well that’s besides the point,” said Arthur. “He needs to take good care of you because you are the mother of his child, and that is what a man should do!”

“Yes,” said Jourdan, nodding his head solemnly, “that is exactly right, sir. I agree with you completely.”

Destiny couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t believe what was happening right now. Her father was more than happy that she was pregnant, and only regretted that her mother could not be here with them right now so that she could see what a beautiful thing was happening right now. Not only that, but her father actually liked Jourdan, and appreciated him as a person. This was beyond anything Destiny could ever have hoped for. It was like something out of a dream. She pinched herself just to be sure of the fact that she was not, in fact, dreaming, and the pain she suddenly experienced reassured her of the fact that this was, indeed, the case.

She sighed with joy and all of them sat down to have lunch together. Maybe everything was going to work out after all, and when they finally got to the point where she would give birth to her child they would be able to see this situation for what it truly was.

She was immensely glad of everything that had happened so far, and she looked forward to seeing where the future was going to take her. She had a feeling that where it took her, it was going to be lovely.

Little did Destiny know, disaster was just around the corner, and there was nothing she could do about it.