“How do you know that this isn’t what I wanted?” he asked.

“What? What are you saying? You’re crying,” I said. “I can tell that you’re upset.

“I’m not upset,” he said as he grabbed me into his arms and pressed me against his chest.

He held his hands against the back of my head and kissed the top of my hair. Then he let me go and there was something else there along with his tears—a smile.

“I’m not crying because I’m upset with you, or because I’m upset that you’re pregnant,” he said.

“You’re not?” I asked.

“No. Granted, it was a huge shock. But these tears are ones of happiness. Lisette, I couldn’t be more happy.”

I was so confused that it almost didn’t feel real.

“But you said that you didn’t want to have a child. You were terrified at the thought of being a parent the last time that we had a scare.”

“This isn’t a scare this time, right? You’re sure that you’re pregnant.”

“Positive,” I said with a nod. “I took a test this morning.”

“I know that the last time we talked about this I was really freaked out. But that was before now.”

“I don’t understand,” I said. “What has changed since then?”

“Me,” he said. “I’ve changed. We’ve been through everything together. We’ve nearly lost each other, nearly lost ourselves in the process. And yet each and every time, we’ve found our way back to each other. I can’t live without you, Lisette, and I don’t ever want to. We’re finally in a position where we can build a life for ourselves that we want to have together. And I’m not afraid of being a father anymore. You make me want to be a better man, and I know that I can be the kind of father that our child deserves.”

I was flabbergasted, and so happy at his reaction that I was speechless.

“Really? You’re not upset or freaked out?” I asked.

“No,” he said. “This is the probably the first thing in my life that I couldn’t be more certain about.”

I reached my hands up to his face and brought his lips to mine. This time when we kissed, it felt different. It felt like it meant even more. When we pulled our mouths away, and both wiped our eyes dry, Michael’s eyes looked deeply into mine with a new kind of passion.

“Do you remember when you asked me if I was happy?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I remember.”

“I know I told you that I was,” he said. “But that wasn’t entirely true.”

“Wait, you haven’t been happy here?” I asked with a sudden twinge of panic. “You haven’t been happy here with me?”

“Of course I have been happy here with you, it’s just that there’s been something missing.”

“What is it?” I asked.

I had no idea what Michael could have possibly thought was missing in our lives now. We had a wonderful place to live in a beautiful city. I had chosen him, so we had a completely exclusive relationship together. We had wonderful jobs and even more wonderful friends. The only thing that I thought he could have possibly missed, was the same thing that I had fears about before—the action and thrill of the lives we used to live when we were back in Charlotte. I really didn’t want that to be true. I didn’t want to think that he missed a life that I was so ready to never think about again.

“I didn’t know what was missing to be honest,” he said. His eyes looked excited as they darted between my eyes. “But now I do. It was this.”

“A baby?” I asked. “That’s what you think has been missing?”

“A family,” Michael answered. “I want to have a family with you, and with our child that I am shocked and thrilled to find out about. I want to create the most wonderful little family, the kind that you and I never had but always deserved.”

I couldn’t stop myself from tearing up again.

“Are you upset?” he asked as he looked at me with concern. “God, I didn’t even ask how you feel about this. I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m not upset. I actually couldn’t be happier. I just didn’t think that you would react this way, but I am so happy that you’re excited about this. You never cease to surprise me.”

“Lisette, I promise you that I will do all that I can to be the very best father in the whole entire world. And—” he said as he stood up from the couch, “I also promise you something else.”

I watched as Michael reached into his front pocket and then got down onto one knee beside me. I felt my heart race and my breath catch in my throat. Just when I thought there couldn’t be anything else more surprising than finding out I was pregnant, Michael managed to take my breath away again.

“I’ve had this in my pocket for days,” he said as he held a small black velvet box on the palm of his hand. “Ever since Adam asked us about getting married that one night. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and the next morning and I went to get what is in this little box. Every morning I have put it back into my pocket, waiting for the exact right moment to give it to you. And every day I have been too scared to do it. I was too worried that you would say no, or that it wasn’t what you wanted, or that it just wasn’t the perfect time.”

That’s what I had been worrying all day about the pregnancy—that it just wasn’t the perfect time.

“But then I realized something,” he continued. “It is the perfect time. This is our time now, all of it. And not only do I want to give you what I had been planning to give to you ever since I got this little box, but I also want to give you another promise. Lisette, I promise that not only will I be the very best father to our child that I can be, but I also want to be the very best husband to you that I can be. If—”

Michael paused and opened the lid of the hinged box. He held his palm up closer toward me so that I could see clearly the beautiful ring that glistened and shone inside. It was the most spectacular diamond ring that I had ever seen. It must have cost him every cent that he had been working for and saved, in order to be able to afford it.

“If you would please be my wife,” he said.

There wasn’t even a moment of hesitation. I didn’t need even a second to think about it, and this time I wasn’t at all speechless.

“Yes!” I cried with a smile that took over my whole face. “Yes, of course I want to marry you.”

Michael stood up and scooped me into his arms and twirled me around as his lips pressed against mine. Then he set me down and put the ring on my finger. It fit perfectly and I held it up in front of my face and turned my hand from side to side to see how the diamond sparkled in the light. I had never been happier in my entire life.

When I woke up this morning, it had been a Sunday morning like many other Sunday mornings. I hadn’t yet known that I was pregnant, and the biggest thing to celebrate between Michael and I was the starting of his new job as headmaster tomorrow. But now everything had changed, and this time it was for the better. I was pregnant, and we were both excited about it. The little life growing inside of me would be welcomed into the world by two parents who absolutely loved and adored it. And we were getting married. It was like those happy endings in storybooks that my mother used to read to me when I was a little girl. I remembered very distinctly that the stories always started off with some sort of hardship and it seemed as though the princess, or knight, or lowly servant maid who kept to the shadows in the corner, would never get a chance at a good life or a happily ever after. It was always right before I was about to give up and fall asleep, that my mother would read the part where the character’s luck would change or their hard work and perseverance would pay off, and suddenly the story ended with a new and happy future. My mother used to tell me that would be me someday, but the older I got, and the crueler life became, the more that I doubted it would ever happen for me. But now, it finally had. Michael and I were getting married and we were having a baby. I wished that my mother was here now so that I could tell her. I wish that Julian was here too.

As if he could see what I was thinking, Michael looked toward the door and then back toward me.

“Do you want to go tell Adam?” he asked.

“Really?” I asked, a bit surprised that he wanted to share and include anyone else in our happy news.

“Yeah, really,” he laughed. “I’m pretty confident in the fact that I don’t need to worry about him stealing you from me anymore.”

I laughed at his teasing and nodded my head.

“Yes,” I said. “I want to go tell him.”

When Adam opened the door to my knock, his face gave away that he had been worried about me and that he had been expecting to open the door to see me crying and in need of consoling. But when he saw both Michael and I standing there together, and he saw the beaming smiles on both of our faces, he gave us both a cautiously optimistic greeting.

“Hey guys,” he said a curious lilt at the end of his words. “What’s going on?”