What Now?

Meeting

The door opened and there stood Henry. He smiled down at you, and you smiled up at him. His eyes traveled down to your small bump, and you could see them light up just a bit.

"Please, come in." He stepped to the side to let you in.

"Thank you."

He shut the door and gestured to the couch.

"I gotta say, Henry. I'm a little out of my element here. You are the first person I've talked to about the baby other than my doctor."

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I'm a dick for letting you go through that. I feel awful. I've had other people send in letters saying that they were pregnant. I've had to do several DNA tests. I know this makes me sound like a total douche. I probably am. I just want you to understand that it was nothing personal. I can't develop any sort of relationship based on a lie. So, I keep all contact professional until I've seen results. I've never had a DNA test come back with me as the father until now."

"I get it. I really do. I'm not mad that you didn't contact me. Honestly, I'm just glad your manager took me seriously. Even if you never want anything to do with this baby, you had a right to know."

"I appreciate that. I do. I can't imagine how hard these past few months have been. It was right selfish of me to keep you from having support. It honestly never crossed my mind that my NDA would prevent you from acknowledging the pregnancy until absolutely necessary. The first time I thought about it was when I saw the results, and the immediate excitement at the idea that I was going to be a father. When I thought about how excited I was to tell my parents. And it occurred to me that I'd been preventing you from having that. I've never felt like such a total asshole. I'm so sorry you've had to do this alone."

"It's been really hard. I'm not going to lie. You deserve to have your privacy, and I was able to help with that. So, I did. I want you to have the opportunity to know your child. Whether you choose to or not, I won't hold it against you. I know you have to make the best decision for your life. I just want to make sure you understand that I'm keeping the baby. I'm going to raise this child with or without you. If you want me to tell our child about you, I absolutely will. If you want me to never acknowledge your paternity, I can do that too."

"Of course I want to be in the baby's life! I want to know our child."

"I'm really glad to hear that."

"Will you tell me about the pregnancy?"

"Of course." You walked him through everything from your first ultrasound to now. You'd brought copies of the ultrasound pictures for him. His eyes teared up as he looked at the ultrasound showing his tiny baby.

"Can I keep these?"

"Yeah, of course. I brought them for you."

"Thank you."

You smiled at him.

"How do you want to do this? You are more than welcome to come to any of my OB appointments. I have another ultrasound in a month. I was thinking about doing a 3-D ultrasound in the next couple weeks. I've heard they are pretty cool. You're welcome to come."

"I'd really like that. I want to be as involved as you'll let me be. I want to be here for you and our baby."

"I appreciate that. I'll make sure I let you know about any appointments."

The two of you sat and talked a little longer. He asked if you'd be willing to get to know each other outside the stuff with the baby. Just to be friends. You'd agreed. It would be good to be friends with your baby daddy.

"How are we handling the public? Obviously there are going to be pictures if we are seen together. You can always meet me inside my doctor's office, and keep any other interactions to private areas. I'm perfectly fine trying to keep it on the down low for as long as possible. I don't think it'll be a bad thing to keep our baby out of the public eye."

"I think keeping it quiet is the best idea. The public has no actual right to know. That's not to say that I won't acknowledge it, should the situation arise. I'll never deny my child's existence. I just want you to be able to go about your normal life as much as possible. I don't want this to make it so you can't live your life. Please feel free to tell your family and friends about the pregnancy. I'd appreciate if we kept my name out of it for now. At some point, I'd like you to meet my parents and I meet yours. Our families are going to be linked forever. I'd love for all of us to get along."

"That sounds good. I'd like us all to get along too."

After a little more talking, you told Henry you needed to get to work. He walked you over to the door.

"Would it be terribly inappropriate to hug you?"

"Of course not." You reached out to hug him.

You headed home to change so you could go to work. Meanwhile Henry was sitting on the couch with a big smile on his face. He hadn't really talked to you the night you met. Nothing more than small talk before going upstairs to have sex. And you hadn't talked the morning after, other than idle chit chat while you redressed.

It made him feel like a total git that he hadn't really thought about you after. Sure, you'd crossed his mind a few times. He was intrigued by how nonchalant you'd been when you left the morning after. But, he thought he'd never see you again, so he didn't dwell.

You were feeling a lot better having sat down with him. Having him want to be involved with the baby made you really happy. You didn't want your child to grow up without a dad. But, you would've respected his decision either way.