I walked down the hall to the living room. The tree was on, soft Christmas music played. Ainsley was sound asleep, curled up on the couch, covered by a blanket. I smiled and walked over, sitting down beside her, placing my hand on her cheek.
"Morning, beautiful," I said in a low voice.
She took in a deep breath and then opened her eyes, looking up at me. She smiled gently, stretching her arms over her head. "Morning."
"Is everything all right?" I questioned. It wasn't like her to sleep in the living room when she spent the night with me. Normally, I would awaken to her curled into my side.
"Yes," she whispered. "Everything is fine."
"Good. It’s just normally you don't sleep out here," I said, looking around the room. "Did you have a bad dream."
She shook her head and smiled. "No."
"Well, then, come back to bed and let me ravish you for a couple of hours," I said as I started to pull the covers off her only to be disappointed to find that she was already dressed.
"Can we talk for a minute?" she asked, her hand resting on my wrist.
I took one look at the expression on her face and became rather concerned that something was wrong. I was instantly worried that she had changed her mind about us and started to prepare myself for the worst. "Sure."
She reached down beside the couch and picked up her purse. Opening it slowly, she reached inside and then looked at me. "I don't even know where to begin," she said, closing her eyes and taking in a breath.
"Well, you just say it," I said, smiling at her. "Our relationship will always be better if we are open with one another from the start."
She nodded and placed a pregnancy test in my hand. I looked down at it and then up to her, my eyes moving back down to those two little pink lines. I knew exactly what those meant, thinking back to when Brittany had told me about Nikki. I felt a twinge of excitement run through me.
"Okay," I said, trying hard not to show how I really felt because I wasn't sure how she was going to react.
"Okay, is that all you can say?"
I nodded. "What's going through your mind?" I questioned.
"Um, I'm scared."
"Why?"
I watched as she lay back against the couch. "Because I don't have any idea how you feel about this. You are much older than I. I have no idea if you want to be a father again."
"Well, one thing I can tell you is that Nikki is going to be so excited to find out she could have a little brother or sister, and honestly I feel the same way."
"You're excited that you could have a little brother or sister?"
I couldn't help but laugh. "No, silly."
"Then what?"
I looked at her, at the panic that lined her face, leaned down and kissed her softly. "I'm a little shocked, but ecstatic all at the same time. Ainsley, I'm in love with you. Nothing could change that."
"Really?"
"Really. Now I think that we need to head on down to my bedroom and spend some time celebrating, then we should make an appointment with your doctor. Then I will take the pleasure of telling your father."
"Oh God, do we have to tell him?" she asked, looking even more worried than she had moments before.
"Yes, we have to tell him. We have to tell Brittany too. Then after that, we are going to go shopping."
"Shopping?"
"Yes, we will need some baby things. A crib, change table, diapers, and clothes. However, one thing I know for a fact that we are going to need is already under the tree over there," I said, nodding to the tree.