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PAIGE
Paige closed the front door and hung up her coat. Tyler’s car was in the driveway, and the house was filled with the aroma of dinner from their favorite restaurant. She’d know that wonderful scent anywhere. Tyler had always been more of a “let’s grab a salad and sandwich at the deli” kind of guy, so it was obvious to her that he was working on an apology.
He wasn’t the only one.
She had run out of here without finding out why he felt that way about starting a family. Maybe hormones were making her overreact, but no matter what the reason, she owed him an apology. It had been childish for her to run away.
Tyler was standing in the kitchen holding a bottle of wine. A beautiful bunch of new flowers sat on the table in a vase. The way he was watching the hallway, he appeared to be waiting for her. The dinner smelled so delicious that her belly growled as if on cue. She just stood in the doorway and smiled as he poured two glasses of wine.
“Hey, babe.” Tyler’s lips did a combination of a smile and a pout, and it was adorable. He pointed to the counter and the take-out boxes. “I got your favorite dinner.”
“I can tell. That was awfully thoughtful of you. And it smells wonderful.”
Tyler never did anything halfway, and his apologies were no exception. And, yes, she had experienced a few of them in their marriage already. His passion tended to override his brain sometimes. But that same passion for life was what she loved about him.
Tyler shrugged. “It’s only take-out. It’s not like I cooked or anything. Why don’t you sit down and have some wine? I think we have a lot to talk about.”
Tyler grabbed two dishes and plated their dinner. She swore that since she found out the news, she was hungrier than usual. Or maybe it was all the stress she had been under.
“I got that wine that you like.” He smiled lovingly.
“Oh, sorry, but I’m going to have to pass on the wine.”
“No wine? Are you really that upset?” his face dropped.
Her heart hurt as his smile faded.
“Babe, I feel like I need to explain,” Tyler began.
“Ty—” she tried to stop him, but he just kept talking.
“Please, just hear me out. Apparently, I have jumped into trying to give you everything you want with both feet and forgotten to include you in on it.” Tyler sighed.
“Oh, Ty, you don’t have to—”
“Babe, please. Let me say this before I chicken out.”
“Tyler Kidd, chicken out? Please.” She scoffed. Then, at his serious glare, she added, “Sorry. Go on.”
“Someone brought the idea of adoption to my attention. I don’t know why I had never thought of it before. Adoption is such a wonderful thing for people like us, and the babies that get a new family. But, regardless... I got overly excited about the idea. Obviously, with everything we are doing, things just aren’t happening for us. And I hope you know that I would move heaven and Earth and pay any cost to give you the world.”
Paige couldn’t help but smile at his words. She knew Tyler was an all-in kind of guy, and everything he did was for her happiness.
“I would do anything to see you smile, and honestly, you haven’t been doing a lot of that lately. I know you haven’t finished all the tests, and I’m sure you’d prefer to wait until the doctor advises us how to go forward. Unfortunately, I got so wrapped up in the adoption idea, it was like I fell down a rabbit hole.” He laughed. “I found everything online that I could about adoption, all the research and agencies. It all seemed so perfect for us. That is, if fertility treatments aren’t going to work out. Obviously, money is no issue, and I’d spend my last penny to give you a family. I had Chuck look into adoption agencies for us, and see if it would be a viable option. I didn’t want to get your hopes up until I knew it was a sure thing.”
Tyler took a breath and looked down to his plate. “Our dinner is getting cold while I babble on and on. But I have to tell you that Melanie made me realize that I was missing one very important piece to this puzzle.”
“Me.”
Tyler chuckled nervously as he pushed a piece of food around his plate. “Yeah, and I’m really sorry about that. I never meant to leave you out of this. I mean, this needs to be a joint discussion. It was purely unintentional. I just got so—”
“Passionate?”
“Yeah,” he laughed. “Passionate. I was so passionate, that I already had a meeting set up for us at a local agency. I hope you aren’t too mad at me for leaving you out.”
“That’s kind of what I did when I brought Reggie home without talking to you first.”
He laughed. “I don’t really think it’s in the same league as what I did. I swear, I didn’t do it on purpose.”
“Tyler, I would never think that you did. Thanks for telling me, though.”
“And once I realized how hugely I’d messed up, I called Chuck and put things on pause so I could talk it over with you. He, of course, didn’t understand why I was putting the brakes on things so soon. I just told him that I’d jumped the gun with this decision and that I wasn’t ready yet. I needed more time. Time to talk to you, obviously.”
“Wait.” Her brain quickly replayed the phone conversation she had overheard, the one that had sent her into a panic attack. The one that had sent her running. “So that’s who you were talking to earlier?”
“Yeah, why? I didn’t realize you were listening.”
“Oh, well, you’re not the only one with egg on your face here.” She shook her head in amusement. “I didn’t know who you were talking to, but I assumed you were saying that you were changing your mind about having a family, that you weren’t ready.”
She couldn’t help but laugh at her own words.
“No!” His eyes were wide, and panic showed on his face. “Absolutely not! I want a family with you more than anything. I’m absolutely ready.”
“Good.” She simply smiled. “You have no idea how happy I am to hear that.”
“So, should I call Chuck and tell him the meeting at the adoption agency is back on? And really confuse him?”
“I don’t think so, babe.”
“But... Paige, I thought we were okay?”
“Ty, we’re more than okay.” She didn’t want him to squirm any longer than he already had. “I’m pregnant.”
“Wait—what??” Tyler stuttered. “We’re going to have a baby. How?”
“Um, do you really need me to explain?” she teased.
“No, of course not. I didn’t mean, how. I meant how? I thought nothing seemed to be working?”
“Well, obviously something did.” She laughed. “The doctor thinks the test I had on my tubes may have loosened a blockage, and then we had our mini-getaway, and lots of time together. It makes sense, and she has seen this happen before. Honestly, I’m not going to question it.” She put her hand on her belly and couldn’t help but smile as she looked down at it.
“No, me neither.” He pushed his dinner aside and jumped up from his chair to her side. He put his hand on her belly, covering her hand. A tear escaped his eye.
“I wanted this for you so much—for us. I felt like such a failure and wasn’t going to stop until we had our family.”
She kissed his cheek. “And now we will. A mini Tyler Kidd.”
“Or a little Paige Martin. Girls play hockey too, you know.”
“Right, they do.”
“You should eat. You’re going to need to make sure you get your vitamins, since you’re eating for two now.” Tyler seemed to slightly panic.
“Ty, relax.” She took a bite of her dinner to appease him. All she could do was smile at her loving man, because she had the next nine months to tell him he didn’t need to worry.
