Category : Stories

Sub Category : Drama

Six-Here Comes The Truth
Saturday's are the days Ava cooks up a sensational breakfast that includes the works. The house was filled with the heavenly aroma of bacon, sausage, and coffee. Jay enthusiastically scarfed down his last piece of sausage from his second helping. Ava watched her husband's strange eating habits as she sipped her coffee. Jay definitely seemed different during the past few months. Her mother was right, Jay is chunky. He must be happy with their marriage. But because of his odd behavior lately, Ava wondered if it was something or someone else.
"How did you like your breakfast?" Ava asks Jay. 
"Oh." Jay sighs with satisfaction. "I loved it."
"I'm glad." She smiles.
Ava stands up from her seat and starts picking up the plates and cups from the table. Jay gets up too and helps his wife. Ava places the dirty dishes into the sink then turns on the faucet. Jay grabs a towel to dry off the wet dishes.
"What do you have planned today?" Jay asks Ava.
"I have to clean up the house, pay some bills, and...hmmm...maybe relax with you the rest of the day." Ava says as she slides closer to Jay's side.
Jay chuckles softly. "Sounds great, babe. But Evan and I have plans today."
"Oh?" Ava raises her eyebrows. "What are you going to do?"
Jay actually planned to headover to Evan's house to talk about his predicament, so he made up a believable lie.
"Uh, we're going to the movies."
"Oh, okay." Ava nods her head, feeling a little disappointed. She passed the last plate to Jay, who gently dried it.
"But I'll be back later after the movie, though. We'll spend the evening together." Jay hugs his beautiful wife. "Okay?"
"Okay. I love you."
"I love you too." Jay kisses her on her forehead.
Later, Evan opened the front door and found his equally pregnant friend standing outside.
"Hi, Jay." Evan greets him. "Come in."
"Thanks, bud." Jay waddled into the house, massaging his lower back.
"How are you feeling?" Evan asks.
"Dude, my back is killing me."
Evan giggles. He heads into the kitchen. "Tell me about it. Go ahead and sit on the couch. Do you want anything to snack on?"
"What do you got that's salty?" Jay asks as he sits down.
"Umm...how about Cheez-its?"
"That's fine."
"Craving salty foods, huh?" Evan asks as he comes back and hands Jay the box of crackers.
"Yeah. You know, its amazing how much I've been eating ever since I got pregnant." Jay says as he munched on the cheezy crackers.
"Yeah." Evan points to his own belly. "'Cause of this kid, I've craved lemons and ice cream."
Caelan comes running into the living room with her stuffed teddy bear. Izzy followed behind her. Caelan jumped onto the couch and happily hugged Jay.
"Hi, Jay." Izzy says to Jay.
"Hi, Izzy."
"Will you play bears with me?" Caelan asks Jay with her big blue eyes.
Jay was going to reply, but Izzy cuts in. "Maybe later Jay will play with you, dear. But right now, we're going to talk about grown up stuff for a little bit." Izzy explains. "Come on, let's go to your room."
Caelan says her goodbyes and then goes along with her mom. Izzy takes her daughter to her room and puts on a Disney movie for her. Then Izzy comes back into the living room. Evan was sitting on one end of the couch while Jay sat in the middle eating Cheez-its. Izzy sits on the other side, placing her hands on her lap. By the look on her face, Jay guessed Izzy found out about his pregnancy.
"Yeah. Evan filled me in on the details." Izzy says to him. She looks down at Jay's belly. His sweatshirt was covering it. Izzy points to his belly. "Can I see, Jay?"
"Uh, sure." Jay puts aside the crackers and takes off his sweatshirt. He was wearing a blue shirt underneath, so he rolled it up, revealing his extended midsection.
Izzy was very surprised. "Oh, my God!" She exclaims as she places her hands onto his belly to feel the baby.
Jay giggles and points to the side of his belly. "The baby is kicking here."
"Wow, the baby is very active. That is a very good sign. How far are you into your pregnancy?"
"Five months."
Izzy nods. "So is Evan. Except his belly looks bigger than yours. I think we're gonna have a big baby." Ava and Evan laughed. "What do you think you're having?"
Jay rolls his shirt back down and shrugs. "Well, I don't know. Ryan really wanted a boy...so, I hope it's that."
Evan crosses his arms and clears his throat. "So, the big question is...when are you going to tell Ava you're pregnant?"
"I, I don't know. Evan, if I tell her..."
"I know, I know. But Jay, she needs to know. She's your wife. The situation will only be harder to explain the longer you don't tell Ava."
"Jay, you have to. Ava think's you're losing interest in her. She told me yesterday. And I feel that she could be thinking the worst about you." Izzy says.
"What...? That I'm cheating on her?" Jay guesses.
Evan and Izzy nodded together.
"No! The idea is just insane. I'd never do that to Ava!"
"Jay, calm down. We're not saying you are. We know you love Ava to much to do that. But, just so that she doesn't think the worst, you have to tell her about the baby. Tell her why you did it. Jay, why did you do this?" Evan asks.
Jay was quiet for a moment. Then he says: "I did it...for Ryan."
"She will understand." Evan says.
Jay pensively nodded. He puts his sweatshirt back on. "This isn't going to be easy. But, you're right. Ava deserves the truth."
Jay hugged Izzy and Evan goodbye then headed towards home. He felt nervous and queazy, not knowing what he was going to say to Ava. Eventually, he parked the car into the driveway. Letting out a deep breath, he let go of the steering wheel and exited the car. It felt like forever getting to the front door. Jay breathed deeply, placed his hand on the door nob and cautiously turned it. His heart beats heavily as he entered the house. There was a large bouquet of daisies on the living room table, which was tied with a magenta colored ribbon. Next to the flowers, was a box wrapped in festive wrapping paper, and on top of the box was an envelope addressed to Jay. His feelings eased and he automatically assumed the present was from Ava. He heard his wife come into the living room. Jay turns to her and smiles. 
"Hi, Ava."
She scrosses her arms. "Mmm. Those came earlier for you. From some woman named Claire." Ava says with some offense.
Jay looks back at the gift and flowers with confusion. One, they were not from Ava, but from another woman. And two...another woman?! It was not hard to guess what Ava was thinking at that moment.
"Well, I guess this answers a few things. Who is Claire?" Ava insists.
"I know exactly what you are thinking. And this isn't at all what it seems. Honestly, Ava, I'm not cheating on you. I'm too much in love with you to do something that stupid. Look, I'm gonna look at the card. I know it will clear up this misunderstanding."
Jay picks up the envelope and reads the front. Ava was right about one thing, it was from Claire. The envelope read: "From: Claire Jordan." She's Jay's employer. A mature, older, and married woman.
"It's from Mrs. Claire Jordan, my boss." Jay tells her.
Ava sat down on the couch and put her head into her hands, feeling relief, but very embarassed. Jay sits with her and holds her.
"I'm so sorry, Jay. I shouldn't have jumped to the conclusion that you were having and affair. Its just...I felt like you were being distant and not yourself lately. I was scared of losing you." Ava wipes her wet eyes with her shirt. "I'm really sorry, baby."
"Oh, it's okay, Ava. I 'm sorry for my actions lately. You're right. I haven't been my self, and I'm sorry. But I am here now. And I...I want to tell you something..."
Ava nodded with agreement. "Okay. But before you do, can we open up the box?"
He sighs. "Okay, sure."
Ava starts unwrapping the box while Jay mentally reads the card.
"Dear Jayden and Ava Evers,
I personally want to express my congratulations on you becoming parents. The office chipped in to put this ensemble together. There are both girl and boy clothes for whichever the baby turns out to be.
Happy for you both,
Claire Jordan"
Jay begins to panic inside. "Oh, no...no, no, no!"
He previously had asked his boss for paternity leave and later somehow explain to Ava why he stopped working for a few months. Jay now realized that it was an enormous mistake. Jay looks up from the card and sees Ava holding up the baby clothes.
Ava became utterly bewildered. "Baby clothes? This has got to be some kind of joke right? I'm not pregnant. Why would she assume that I am?"
"This is it. Now or never." Jay thought to himself.
Again, Jay takes a deep breath then exhaled slowly. He stands up and begins to pace.
"Ava, she knows you're not pregnant. So, now I'm going to tell you something very, very, very important. The baby clothes were not meant for you."
She stands up as well. "Well, clearly, these can't be meant for you either. Why would she send this to...? Ava saw Jay rolling up his hefty sweatshirt and tee-shirt. "What are you doing?"
"Actually, the present is for me." Jay says.
"What?" Ava saw the physical change in Jay's body and was rendered speechless. She cupped her mouth with her hands and her eyes widened with shock.
"I'm pregnant." Jay says calmly. He tries to hold her hand, but Ava backs away.
She shakes her head. "Jay, please tell me that isn't real."
"If I did, I would be lying." He says quietly.
"No! No, you said yourself that you can't get pregnant." Ava sounded more adamant. 
"That is still true. I can't. But..."
"Then how are you pregnant?!" Ava's eyes welled up. "Is that even our baby?" 
Jay could hear her broken-hearted tone. "It's a long story."
Ava sits back down on the couch, crossing her legs and arms. She wipes her eyes. "Tell me, Jayden Isaac Evers. I've got all night." 
Jay sits down with her and explained everything from beginning to end. It was late into the evening be the time he finished. Ava was quiet for the longest time. She looked at her husband's pregnant belly then back up at him.
"Jay, we're married. We're a team. I would have been there at the hospital with you so that you wouldn't have gone through the surgery alone. So what if our wedding was postponed a few days! I would have supported you if you had only told me about this baby in the first place. But right now I feel frustrated, hurt, that you told your friends and boss-all except me. Did you think you could have this baby without my knowledge?"
"Ava, I'm so sorry. I couldn't tell you because you've always wanted to have a baby yourself. And, I was afraid that if you found out that I was pregnant instead of you...you'd be heart broken. I just didn't want to put you through that." Jay gently pats Ava's leg. Then he gets up and says: "Wait here. There's something you have to see."
He goes back to the bedroom and takes out Ryan's will from out of sock drawer. Then comes back and gives Ava the disk. 
"What is this?" Ava asks.
"Ryan's last request. Just watch it, and tell me what you think. Please Ava." Jay pleads with his wife.
Ava stares down at the disk, carefully stroking it with her thumb. She gets up from the couch and gently nods her head.
"Okay, I will." Ava says quietly, as she stands up from the couch and starts walking towards the bedroom. Jay begins to follow her but she stops him.
"Jay, I love you. But I'm still angry that you never came to me about this in the first place. So...until I forgive you, you're going to sleep in the guest bedroom."
"I understand." Jay says.
"Goodnight." Ava opens and closes the bedroom door behind her.
Jay could have argued. But he understood that Ava needed some solitude to process the recently sudden disclosure. He drew some comfort in knowing that she finally knows about the baby. 
The guest bedroom was warm and dark. The queen-sized bed was comfortable and plush, but Jay couldn't sleep on account of the baby's constant moving. Jay turns on his right side and turns on the bedside lamp. He stuffs a pillow behind his back for support. Jay rest his hands on his belly and looks around the cream colored room. It seemed empty, and he felt alone because Ava wasn't there beside him. Gazing at the bedroom door, Jay secretly hoped Ava would walk through it.
And then, surprisingly, there was a soft knock on the door.
"Ava?" Jay asks.
The door opened and Ava walks into the room carrying the present. "Hi, there." She says affectionately to him with a warm smile.
"Uh, hi." Jay says back. He was surprised she came in. But he was very happy to see her. "What are you doing in here? I thought I was in the dog house."
Ava puts down the box of baby clothes on the floor next to the bed. "I know. But, I came in here to tell you...that I understand."
"Really?"
She sits herself on the bed next to Jay. "Yeah. You know, I saw the DVD. And I thought if Grace had asked me to do something similar, like Ryan asked of you, I would have done the same thing you did. Except I would've told you from the beginning, because I know you'd support me. Jay, I'm very proud of your decision. It was brave and selfless." Ava says proudly.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you." Jay apologizes.
"It's okay. What's done is done. Jay, I realized I can't stay mad at you. It's not fair for either of us. So, I've decided that I won't."
Jay's eyes well up with happiness. "Oh, Ava...I love you!"
They embrace each other tightly and made passionate kisses between each other. Ava looks at her husband's belly with a new positive perspective. This time with joy. She lays her head on Jay's shoulder.
Then she excitedly says: "I can't believe you're having a baby. Oh, my god! We're gonna have a baby!"