Pulling away from me he said, “I love you so much, Ash.”

Nuzzling against his neck I said, “I love you too.”

We sat there in a comfortable silence for a couple of minutes and then heard the front door bell ring. I lifted my head from Jason’s chest and he asked, “Are you expecting company?”

I shook my head back and forth but then I heard a woman’s voice and dad saying, “Hey.”

My eyes widened and looking over to Jason he shrugged his shoulders and said, “Well, I guess we found out your dad’s news,” and then I heard dad yell up to us that dinner was ready.

Getting off Jason’s lap, he kissed me on the forehead and said, “Like I said before Ash, it will all be okay.” Taking Jason’s hand in mine we walked down the stairs and I heard my dad and this lady having a conversation in the kitchen.

They must have heard our footsteps on the stairs because they stopped talking and dad walked out and said, “Ash, there’s somebody I wanted you to meet.” Behind him walked a short lady with blonde hair and brown eyes. I looked from her back to dad and he said, “This is Janie. We’ve been seeing each other for a while.”

My jaw dropped open and I looked between dad and Janie in shock. Dad misunderstood my silence because he started rambling. “I’m sorry; I messed up, didn’t I? It’s just that you haven’t been home in a while and I didn’t want to tell you over the phone. I’m sor-.”

Cutting dad off, I took his hand in mine and said, “Can I talk to you in the other room, please?”

Dad slumped his shoulders and looked down at the floor mumbling, “Yeah, Ash.” Letting go of Jason’s hand, dad and I walked into the den and sat down on the couch.

It was silent for a while and then dad said, “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to spring this on yo-.” Again I cut him off and hugged him. He flinched for a minute but then I felt his arms wrap around me.

Letting go of him I said, “Daddy, I’m not mad at you for not telling me. It’s just been a long time since mom and I hated the fact that you were always alone. If you’re happy then I’m happy.”

Dad had tears in his eyes and he quickly wiped them away. “Is it dusty in here Ash or what?”

I just laughed and kissed him on the cheek and said, “Come on, I’m starving.” Grabbing dad’s hand, we walked back out into the front hall where Jason and Janie were standing awkwardly. The second Janie saw dad she smiled. I smiled and then looked over to Jason who was staring at me in amazement and I winked at him.

Letting go of dad’s hand, I walked over to Janie extended my hand. “I’m Ashlynn; it’s nice to meet you, Janie.”

Her smile got bigger and she extended her hand to me. “It’s very nice to meet you, Ashlynn.” Looking behind me she said, “Your dad has told me so much about you.”

After I introduced Jason to Janie we all went into the kitchen and sat down at the table where a huge pot of spicy shrimp with crunchy bread and salad were waiting for us. My mouth instantly watered and as soon as I sat down I loaded my plate up with shrimp.

Dad got out a bottle of white wine and started pouring glasses but I startled and said, “Not me.”

His back was to me but he turned around and said, “White wine is your favorite.”

I looked to Jason for help and he quickly said, “I think Ash and I will just have water, Garrett.”

I quickly let out the breath I was holding when I saw Janie looking between us from the corner of my eye. I looked to her and she picked up her hand and locked her lips when I mouthed, “Thank you.” She nodded her head and we all went back to eating.

I must have been stuffing my face or something because I heard dad laugh and say, “Jesus Ash, are you eating for two?”

I started to choke and Jason began to pat my back.

Taking a sip of water, I wiped my mouth and looked over at dad. “I’m just really hungry is all.”

That’s when dad turned to Jason and asked, “Are you not feeding my girl?” Jason just started laughing.

After that little incident dinner was a lot of fun. I found out that Janie was our new neighbor and she was a photographer. Her husband died of a brain tumor a couple of years back and they’d never had children but she told us all about her two little pugs named Ozzie and Allie who are a handful themselves.

Once dinner was over Janie said she had to leave.

Shaking Jason’s hand she said, “Nice to meet you,” and then walked over to me and pulled me into a hug and whispered, “Congratulations.”

I whispered back, “Thank you,” and she kissed me on the cheek.

Pulling away my dad asked, “What were you ladies just whispering about?”

Looking back at me Janie winked and then turned back to my dad. Kissing him on the lips she said, “Nothing Garrett, just girl stuff.”

Jason walked over and placed an arm over my shoulder and muttered, “I like her.”

With a smile on my face and not taking my eyes off my dad and Janie I said, “Yeah, me too.”

Taking Janie’s hand he turned to me and said, “I’m going to walk Janie home but I want to hear all about your news when I get back.”

Attempting to smile I said, “Okay daddy.”

Without dad’s knowledge Janie turned around and mouthed, “Good luck,” while I mouthed, “I’ll need it.”

As soon as the door closed I turned to Jason and he said, “Breathe Ash, everything will be fine.” He walked me over to the couch and we sat there in silence while we waited for dad to come back.

Ten minutes later the front door opened and my heart jumped. Placing a hand on my thigh, Jason gave it a gentle squeeze and I looked over to him. Kissing me on the cheek he said, “I love you Ash.”

I smiled and said, “I love you too.”

Dad walked into the living room and plopped down in a chair and said, “So what’s going on?”

I looked to Jason and he just nodded his head. Turning to my dad I said, “We’re going to have a baby.”

I was so scared that dad was going to jump up from his seat and strangle Jason but he did something worse. He just sat there in complete silence looking between the two of us. Jason held tightly onto my hand and then dad’s vision stopped on Jason. “You still love my daughter?”

Jason cleared his throat and said, “More now if that’s possible.”

Hunching forward in his chair dad asked, “That question you asked me over the ph-,” but was cut off by Jason saying, “It still stands Mr. Miller.”

Leaning back in his chair looking between the two of us for a solid minute he said, “Well, okay then, and I thought I told you to call me Garrett.”

Chuckling Jason said, “Sorry Garrett.”

I’m sorry but was I living in the Twilight Zone or something? My dad was acting like he was okay with it and I thought he was going to shit a brick or something.

I needed to know what dad was talking about with a question but right now wasn’t the time to do so. Looking over to dad I asked, “You’re not mad?”

Shaking his head back and forth he said, “Ashlynn, you’re twenty-one years old. I’m mad that I’m only forty-eight and that I’m going to be a grandpa but we can’t really do anything about that now. Can we?”

Tearing up I ran over to my dad and hugged him.

I hugged him because this could have gone down a completely different path.

Kissing him on the cheek, I leaned back and looked at him. He looked into my eyes and then looked down at my stomach and said, “My baby is going to have a baby.” Placing a hand on my cheek he wiped away my tears and got up and shook Jason’s hand. Dad sat down on the couch with us but I jumped up and ran to go get my purse.

I heard dad ask Jason, “Where is she going,” and then Jason laughing and saying, “It’s a surprise.”

Getting my purse from the front hall, I walked back into the living room with the ultrasound and handed it to dad. He took it from me and looked down and just started crying. Before I knew it Jason and I were tearing up as well as we all stared at the picture of the little peanut growing inside of me.

The rest of the weekend went by faster than expected. We spent our time pulling out all of my baby clothes and looking through photo albums as dad told us stories about me when I was little. We also visited mom’s grave where I told her that I was going to have a baby and that she better look over our little one.

As much as I didn’t want to leave, it was already Sunday but as we were leaving my dad’s house I stopped on our walk to the car. Jason turned and tilted his head to the side because he didn’t understand why I stopped.

Looking up at him I asked, “What did you ask my dad on the phone when you first talked to him?”

Kissing me on the cheek, he looked into my eyes and said, “I’ll tell you someday, I promise.”

Chapter 15

Jason

I couldn’t believe how fast the summer had gone and that we were all three weeks into our senior year of college. It was crazy that by the time we all graduated Ashlynn and I would have a child. We found out that Ash was expected to deliver March 23rd.We calculated it when we got home that night and realized I got pregnant the first time Jason and I made love in the beginning of June. Ash started showing a little bit but it wasn’t enough that our friends would realize she was having a baby.

I was still pretty adamant that we were having a little boy, but it didn’t matter to me as long as the baby and Ash were healthy. That was all that mattered in the end. I just had a feeling and every time I rubbed her belly I said, “Little man.,” She would laugh and shake her head saying, “Or little girl.”

A part of me kind of hoped we were having a boy because I knew that we would be in trouble when our little girl got older. With Ashlynn’s looks I knew without a doubt in my body I would have to deal with a bunch of little assholes and I wasn’t ready for that. But today we were finally going to find out whether we were having a little girl or a little boy. The anticipation over this moment was driving me nuts and I knew I was driving Ashlynn nuts as well.

Pulling into the parking lot of the doctor’s office I opened Ash’s door and held her hand as we walked into the building. Before walking into the office I stopped and kissed Ash on the lips. “This is it.”

Smiling up at me she nodded and said, “Yeah, it is.”

Giving our names we sat in the waiting room filled with anticipation to find out the gender of our little one. A nurse came out and asked, “Ashlynn Miller?”

We both jumped up and followed her into a room and then waited for the doctor to come in. I lifted Ash onto the table and she just laughed at me and said, “I’m fine Jason,” then kissed me on the lips.

Bouncing my knee up and down I heard Ashlynn say, “Calm down Jason.”

I looked over at her and said, “I’m just really excit-,” but was cut off when the doctor walked in and asked, “How are you feeling Ashlynn?”

She started rubbing her stomach and said, “Fine, just get this one over here out of his misery and tell us what we’re having, please.”

The doctor looked over at me and said, “Excited, Jason?”

Standing up and taking Ash’s hand in mine I said, “Understatement of the year.”

Turning on the machine the doctor said, “Alright Ashlynn, you know the drill.”

Ash laid back on the table and pulled up her shirt showing off her little belly. After the doctor applied the gel and smoothed it out over Ash’s stomach she picked up the wand and began to move it around.

My heart was beating so fast and then the doctor pointed to the screen and said, “Congratulations, you guys are the proud parents of a little boy.”

I wanted to jump up and down yelling, “FUCK YEAH I KNEW IT!” Instead I looked over to Ash and winked at her while she shook her head. I leaned in to kiss her but the doctor said, “Wait; just a minute.”

I stopped and looked over. “Is everything okay?”

The doctor let out a laugh and said, “Yeah, everything’s fine but you’re having a girl.”

Ashlynn looked over at me and said, “That’s what I’m talking about.”

That’s when the doctor started waving her hand and said, “No. I mean you’re having a little girl as well.” I looked over at Ash and her eyes were huge.

Turning towards the doctor we both talked over one another with Ash asking, “Come again?” and me asking, “I’m sorry but what did you just say?”

The doctor turned to the both of us and said, “You’re having a boy and a girl.”