“Oh my God, you two are so sneaky!” She’s staring at the ring, smiling down at it. “I wonder if it still fits.”
“Of course it will.” It belongs on her finger.
Just like we belong to each other.
“I left it in my old jewelry box when I moved out to live on my own. Mom said she’d keep it in the closet.” She’s blinking back tears, I can tell. “At first, I wanted to take it with me, but I realized it felt like such a sad reminder of what I lost.”
“You didn’t lose me. You never really did.” I reach over and pull the ring out of its velvet setting and hold it out to her. “Can I put it on your finger?”
She holds her right hand out to me. “Please.”
I slip the ring on her shaking finger, rubbing my thumb across the tiny stone. “We promised each other forever that night.”
“Then I broke up with you less than a year later.” Her voice is tinged with sadness.
“Yet here we are now. Together.” I lean in and kiss her briefly, my lips lingering on hers. “I guess we kept our promise to each other after all.”
Amanda’s staring at me, her eyes shining with tears. And love. “I have one more gift for you too,” she whispers.
“Yeah? What is it?”
Leaning in, she kisses me, then leaps to her feet. “I’ll be right back.”
She’s gone for a minute—I have no idea where she went. And then she’s back, clutching something behind her, stopping to stand directly in front of me. “Guess which hand I’m holding it in.”
I point at her. “Your right.”
Rolling her eyes, she reveals her right hand has nothing in it. “Guess again.”
“Your left?” I ask with a chuckle.
“Ta da!” A small, flat present is clutched in her fingers. It’s wrapped in simple white paper, with a shiny silver ribbon tied around it. “I was going to give this to you as a New Year’s present, but I couldn’t wait any longer.”
“A New Year’s present? Who does that?” I tease as I take the present from her. It’s flimsy. Almost feels like a piece of paper wrapped up in…paper, and I open it carefully, worried I might tear something.
It’s a slick piece of paper, just like I thought. Black and white, with tiny writing in the top right corner. I can make out Amanda’s name. The date. It’s a photo of some sort.
Oh.
Shit.
It’s a photo of…
“That’s our baby,” she whispers.
My head jerks up, my eyes going wide when they meet hers. “We’re having a baby?”
“I had an ultrasound a few days ago.” Amanda nods, smiling tremulously. “It happened when we were in London. The baby’s due on the Fourth of July.”
“Serious?”
She rolls her eyes and snatches the ultrasound photo from my fingers. “Serious, Jordan. There’s our baby’s head. Right there.” She points.
I stare at the blob in the photo, squinting. It sort of looks like a head. Maybe. My heart swells despite my confusion. That little blob is mine and Amanda’s baby. Our first child.
This moment, my life right now, is mind blowing.
“Is it a boy or girl?” I ask.