Breakthrough

Expected Expectations

"Oh my god!" Gail gasped as she looked at the fridge. "Is this for real?" She asked.
"It's for real," Blake said as he put his arm around my waist, his touch reassuring me.
"Is what for real?" Tommy asked confused.
"This! Look!" Gail said taking the small black and white picture off the door and bringing it over to Tommy.
"Oh my goodness. A baby? Really? A grand baby? I'm gonna be a grandpa?" Tommy asked with a huge smile on his face.
"You're gonna be a grandpa," I said softly.
"Oh my, come here you two!" Gail said with her arms outstretched. Blake and both went over to her and wrapped our arms around her.
"I'm so happy for you two. I'm just over the moon," she said. After letting go of Blake and I she stepped back and looked at Blake and I who were standing side by side our hands intertwined.
"Look at this. You guys are gonna be parents," Gail said tearing up. I felt Blake's hand squeeze mine a little tighter as I looked up at him. As I looked back down at Gail I saw that she was smiling, still teary eyed.
"You're going to have such a beautiful family," she said.
"And to think that we thought Taylor and Marieka were gonna pop out the first one. Hmm, God has a good sense of humor," Tommy said as all of us laughed. "Congratulations son," Tommy said giving his son a firm hug and a pat on the back. I smiled as I saw the interaction between father and son and Tommy gave me a knowing smile as he let go of Blake.
"Don't think I forgot about you," he said grinning. "You're going to be a great mother," he whispered into my ear. My vision became slightly blurry as my eyes swelled up with tears.
"Thank you," I said as Tommy let go of me and placed a light kiss on my cheek.
"Now, I'm going to guess a girl. When do you all find out?" Tommy asked curiously.
"In a few weeks," Blake said. "If we want," he said looking down at me.
"Oh we're finding out," I said.
"Well I have my guess set on a boy," Gail said.
"Oh come on mom, you don't want a little girl?"
"Oh, I want one of each. Maybe two of each. But I have a feeling this one is a baby boy."
"Well, let's get the first one out and about for awhile then we can talk about a second or third one," Blake joked.
"I know honey, I'm just kidding. Now we need to celebrate! Maybe with some dinner? Didn't you say you were going to cook for us Blake?"
"Umm, yeah...I think--"
"I think we should hold off on that and maybe order some takeout," I interrupted as Tommy and Gail laughed.
"Hey, I've watched her cook several times. Does that count for something?" Blake asked.
"Sure honey...so are we doing pizza? Chinese?" Gail asked.
"We can do pizza, pasta, Chinese, burgers, sushi, really anything," I said flipping through Blake's collection of take out menus. "You guys are the guest so it's your choice," I said.
"Hmm, I'm kind of feeling pizza. Tommy?"
"Pizza sounds good," Tommy replied.
"What about you guys is pizza ok?" Gail asked.
"Pizza is always ok," I said before picking up my phone and ordering the pizza.

After eating dinner we all sat in the living room watching the Bucks game. Blake and Tommy sat in the two chairs while Gail and I resided in the couch.
"So have you told your parents yet?" Gail asked softly.
"I did. And as I expected it didn't go so well," I said laughing.
"What happened?"
"My mom. She just overreacted like she does about everything. She told me that Blake was gonna bail after the baby was born and that I'd be stuck. And she asked why we weren't married. Then she told me to just get rid of it. So yeah. That's where we're at now," I said looking down at my hands.
"Well, I hope you know that he is not going anywhere. He is going to be here with you and raise this baby and I will make sure of it. And a baby is a blessing. I hope you know that Sophie."
"Yeah, I feel that way too. It's just because we aren't married that she I guess feels like a baby is unacceptable," I said looking at Gail.
"Do you feel like you guys have to be married? Or should be married before you have a baby?"
"Is it bad to say that no, I don't?"
"Not at all."
"I really don't. I mean plenty of people do it. And I love him. I really do. And I feel that I would love him just as much even if we were married. I just wish she would see that. She can't even be happy for me. All she can see is a mistake."
"It's everything but a mistake," Gail said putting her hand on my thigh.
"I know. And if she can't see that then she's going to miss out on a lot of things in my life."
"And if that's the case then that is just sad. A mother should never think that especially about her own baby," Gail said.
"I can't beat myself up over her expectations anymore. I just can't. Ever since I stopped my life has been great. I'm with this great guy who treats me like a queen, and he has this wonderful family, and now I'm going to have this baby and I just want to move on from the negativity."
"You have to. Especially because you're getting a baby and I'm getting a grand baby!"
"I know, I know! It's so exciting. I wanted to ask if you wanted to go with me tomorrow and get a crib?"
"Yes! Absolutely! Do you know what kind you want?"
"Not exactly. My cousin Rae told me that Pottery Barn has some nice ones that I might like."
"Yeah, there are so many options. Now, are you buying two? One for here and then another for your house?"
"I haven't really decided because we live in the same neighborhood. But then again I don't want to sell my house even though I practically live here. I just go home to get clothes."
"Well, keep it for now. And just see what you think will be better when the baby gets here."
"I think that I'll end up selling it or at least renting it out eventually. I'm just not ready to part with it yet," I said to Gail.
"And if you aren't ready then don't do anything quite just yet."
"What are you two talking about?" Blake turned around and asked since the game was on a commercial break.
"Everything," I responded.
"Everything?" He asked.
"Oh yeah," I said winking.
"You know what I want to talk about?" Gail asked. "Baby names!"
"Oh god. Here we go," Blake said sarcastically.
"Stop it! I'm just excited ok. Now I'm sure you guys have some in mind so let's hear them," she said as Blake and I looked at each other.
"We've talked about a few. But nothing is really set in stone you know? I mean especially since we don't know if baby Griffin is a boy or girl," Blake said.
"Oh, I know that honey. I still want to hear what you guys were thinking about!"
"Well, for a girl I really like Emerson. And for a boy I like Jackson, Wilson, and Knox."
"Those are all good names. I like Emerson. That's really cute," Gail said smiling.
"Those are some good ones. That's funny about the name Wilson. Did Blake tell you about him?" Tommy asked.
"He did. I would've loved to meet him."
"Wilson was a good guy. A great guy," Tommy said.

I could see Blake nodding his head at his father and slightly smile. I knew he missed his best friend. And to come to think of it, I missed mine too.