The Baby They Bonded Over

When the sun rose, Jeremy woke up in the bed alone. He looked around for Nadia but she wasn’t anywhere upstairs. He washed his face and brushed his teeth before following the scents of breakfast cooking.

Nadia swayed and danced around the kitchen making breakfast for them. Her baby bump was barely visible but Jeremy saw it there. Watching her made him yearn for these kinds of moments more often. He wanted this to be their life, not some made up plan to get rid of her ex. Sylvia’s words came flooding back into his conscious as he prepped himself to talk to Nadia about a future together.

“What you got cooking in here, baby mama?” Jeremy called out to Nadia from the kitchen entryway.

She spun around to see him standing there shirtless with his boxers on, “Just some eggs, bacon, waffles, biscuits and orange juice.”

He stepped into the kitchen behind her as she put the finishing touches on breakfast. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her on the cheek. Nadia wasn’t sure what was happening, but whatever it was, it just felt right. They belonged together in this moment. She still had it fixated in her mind that they were giving this baby up, but the thought of them being a family, was a nice one. She shook the image out of her head believing that happy endings like that were only meant for fairy tales.

Nadia set their plates on the table and sat down to eat. She picked at her food for a while not really hungry anymore.

“What’s the matter? You didn’t poison me did you?” Jeremy joked.

“No, big head,” she replied softly. “I just got a lot on my mind. There are so many things that I want to do now that Paul isn’t standing in my way. You know?”

“Yeah, I get that. But shouldn’t you be happy? You seem more tormented than anything. Tell me what’s going on for real,” Jeremy told her.

Nadia almost broke down into tears, “I know that this decision is going to be a hard one, but we really need to start looking into the adoption process. I know there are a few families I have in mind, but I’m not sure how that works. I want to get a jump on this process while everything is still so new and before I get attached to the idea of becoming a mother.”

Jeremy sensed the uncertainty in her voice, “I think you would make a great mother. As long as you don’t smell like burnt hair all the time, the baby will love you.”

“Shut up,” Nadia laughed throwing a chunk of her biscuit at him. Jeremy dodged the crumbs wondering what he should tell her. He kept going back to what Sylvia said in the car. He wanted to talk about their future together, but Nadia seems pretty set on going through with the plan. They never discussed what they should do if one of them wanted to keep the baby. Maybe he could convince her to let him maintain full custody if she really didn’t want to keep the baby. He didn’t know. He resolved to talk to her before jumping to any kinds of conclusions.

Jeremy took a swig of his orange juice, finished his food, and went to the sink to start washing the dishes. Nadia was impressed. Paul had never made any kind of attempt to help her around the house no matter how much she cooked and cleaned. She wanted to smack herself. She’s been comparing Jeremy to Paul this entire time and it was a habit she wanted to break.

“You don’t have to do that, I’ll take care of those,” Nadia stood up to bring her plate to the sink.

“Go relax, you have a lot to think about,” Jeremy shooed her out of the kitchen. He cleaned up and joined her in the living room. He sat on the couch across from her and picked her feet up.

Nadia was confused, “What are you doing now?”

“Isn’t this what you’re supposed to do for pregnant women? Rub their feet?” he asked.

Nadia didn’t refute it. She waved her hands for him to proceed. She didn’t realize how much she needed it. His hands worked magic on her aching toes. Standing on her feet every day, for eight to ten hours, doing hair for the last year had taken its toll on her toes. She moaned and groaned as he rubbed them down.

“I ain’t heard you make noises like that since last night,” Jeremy teased. He was sure that she was blushing as she threw one of the throw pillows at him. He moved his head just in time for it to whiz by him. He cleared his throat and made sure to take a more serious tone when he spoke, “So, I really want you to think about what you want to do here. I mean, this entire plan was your idea, and I don’t want to stray from the formula but if you’re not a thousand percent sure about this whole adoption thing you need to let me know now. I’ll always be here to support you. I’m down for whatever you want to do because I promised you I would stick to the plan and I’m a man of my word.”

Nadia was dreading this conversation. Everything was so clear when they first set out on this journey. They would do the couple thing, get pregnant, get rid of Paul, and then give up the baby. Things weren’t so clear to Nadia anymore. She looked into Jeremy’s eyes unsure of what he wanted her answer to be. She could hear her sister’s voice in her mind shouting, I told you so, so loudly it made her angry. She hated admitting that Sylvia was right.