The Baby They Bonded Over

Nadia sighed, “Sylvia was right. We started this thing thinking that we could keep our emotions out of it and didn’t anticipate this moment right now.”

“And what moment is that?” Jeremy asked wanting her to be exact in her answer to him.

“This!” she extended her arms out, “The love making, the fu*king, the way we treat each other. It seems too good to be true but I know this is how we both are. I’ve thought about keeping our baby and raising it together as a family, but that very idea scares the crap out of me. I was ready to get pregnant, but not so much on becoming a mother and a girlfriend.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Jeremy wanted her to relax. “Slow down a minute, we don’t have to make all of those decisions right now. I just wanted you to be sure that you want to give this baby up. Everything else is contingent upon that.”

“So if I weren’t pregnant, would you want to be with me? Would we even be having this discussion?” Nadia second guessed his stance on the subject.

“If you weren’t pregnant, we’d probably be still fu*king and eventually decide to give it a shot. But I’m not going to debate semantics with you.  The facts are that right now, you are pregnant with our child. I think we owe it to ourselves to build a better friendship and relationship between us. I still want you to consider everything that goes into having and raising a baby. There can’t be late nights at the salon. You can’t just up and go on vacation whenever you feel like. There are schools and daycares to get on the lists for, if you really want to do this. We have a lot of decisions to make.”

“This is changing everything so fast.  I still don’t even know what I want. All of these decisions are crazy, but if you’re going to be here helping out, how about loosening those purse strings for a nanny?”

“We can do that, but only after the baby turns one. I want us to be there like my parents did and your parents did,” Jeremy informed her. “Speaking of parents, how are we going to tell them?”

“Ugh,” Nadia smacked her forehead. “If you think Sylvia’s a lecturer wait until my mother gets a load of what we’ve been up to. And my Dad’s going to kill you.”

Jeremy laughed, “Your Dad loves me!”

“He loves you now. He doesn’t know you knocked me up and we’re not married,” Nadia laughed.

“Well I’ll win him over, especially after we show him your new salon,” Jeremy revealed as his gaze drifted off. He had been thinking about their future for some time now. It was time for him to take control of this situation.

“What are you talking about?”

Nadia was puzzled. She hadn’t thought that far ahead. She knew that she would want to open up her own salon in the future; just not the near future. They were going to keep this baby and try their hardest to make their love story a happy one.

Jeremy began explaining his vision of their lives together and how they could make it work with a brand new baby in the mix. He wanted the mother of his child running her own business. There was no reasonable explanation why the girlfriend of a billionaire wasn’t running her own business. Nadia almost choked over the word girlfriend when he said it. She knew he was nothing like Paul, but seeing him proud of her as his woman, and pushing her to be an even better version of herself was almost too much to bear.  She got over it real soon under the strong lead of Jeremy’s command.

As the weeks passed by, Jeremy continuously showed himself to be the perfect man for Nadia. He made sure to make every prenatal appointment and even set up meetings for Nadia to make business acquaintances with people who could help her get her salon up and running. Megan was sad that Nadia quit Babes and Bosses but she knew it was coming eventually.

Nadia did her best, as her walk turned into a waddle, to get all of her ducks in a row to open up a high end boutique salon downtown. She also introduced the idea of having a daycare attached to the salon so the clients can bring their children if necessary, and so could her stylists. Jeremy thought it was brilliant and he went to work right away getting her the best people he knew could bring her dream to life.

Nadia sat in the empty space of a vacant building one afternoon. It was the last space her realtor showed her as a possibility for the salon and daycare. She sat in silence as the room developed in her mind into the boutique she knew it could be. A deep breath and tap of her foot echoed around the walls. The windows were large and opened out onto the street so passer-bys could look in. It was the perfect spot for her business to flourish. The baby kicked and shifted around in her belly making her smile. She rubbed her stomach soothing the anxious little one who seemed to be ready to make his appearance.

When Jeremy walked into the space, the baby jumped even more as if he could see his Dad coming up to them. He kissed Nadia on the forehead before he began to survey the space.

“So this is it?” Jeremy spun around with his hands in his pockets.

“Yup, this is it. It’s perfect,” Nadia smiled as she took Jeremy on a tour around the area. She showed him where she wanted the bathrooms to be along with the sinks and hair dryers. She wanted private rooms set up for clients who wanted a more personal experience without the hubbub of a busy salon. Her more exclusive clients would be treated to champagne and other luxury condiments as they were taken care of at the shop.

“I can see it,” Jeremy nodded, “You got quite the vision for this place babe. I trust it will come together just the way you want it to. I’ll have our lawyers and the realtor draw up the paperwork so you can put an offer in on this place. Fingers crossed, you’ll get it and we can get started right away with bringing everything up to code. Construction shouldn’t take long but expect it to be about a year and some change.”

“That long?” Nadia whined.

“Yeah, dreams aren’t built over night. You’ll have plenty of things to distract you while this place is whipped into shape,” he smiled rubbing her belly. The baby kicked when he did, “Ah, I see Junior here knows when Daddy’s around.”

“He sure does, but he’s been acting up all day today. Just beating me up from the inside out,” Nadia giggled.

“I would say that I can imagine, but I won’t because I can’t,” he laughed.

“Shut up, big head,” Nadia mushed him.

“Well why don’t you sit down? I can bring the car around so you don’t have to walk all the way to the parking garage,” he suggested. Nadia took his suggestion and waddled over to the lonely chair in the middle of the empty space. She wondered why that was the only piece of furniture left, but the way her feet and back were feeling, she was thankful it was still there.

Jeremy helped her sit and dropped down to one knee.

“Oh baby, don’t do that, these floors are so dirty,” Nadia warned oblivious to what he was trying to do.

He waited for her to let the idea sink in. Just as the tears began streaming down her cheeks he asked her, “Nadia, love of my life, I’m already gonna call you Witten since you’re bearing my child. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

“Yes! Yes, I will.”

The end.