Torn (32 page)

 

“I can make some breakfast, mom.” I said with a smile.

“Nonsense, we all need to eat. I’ll go make some French toast. You hang out here and enjoy the
weather. Avery, honey, will you come give me a hand?” They both headed into the house. I sat on the
swing and like my mom suggested, I enjoyed the beautiful weather and the cold glass of juice.

I wanted to call out from work tomorrow, but after having missed Friday; it was going to be a big
mistake. I enjoyed the rest of the day relaxing around my mom’s house.

After breakfast, my mom and Avery hit the grocery store and came back with fixings to grill up some
chicken and vegetables. I was glad that they kept busy; it gave me time to think about how to break the
news.
The next morning, I headed into work. I arrived a little early so I didn’t have to walk past Ava. I sat in my
office and began to work. After nine, Ava finally poked her head in and was shocked that I was already
here.

“I was just about to call you to see if you got home okay.” She said smiling. “How was it?”

 

I shot her one of my looks.

 

“That good, huh?” Her smile quickly faded. “What happened?” she stepped into my office closing the
door.

 

“Ava, it was weekend from hell. I finally realizedwhat a complete idiot I was and… I ended things with
Liam.” I dropped my head.

 

“Oh my god! Ryleigh, I’m so sorry! Do you wanna talk about it?” She ran over to me and gave me a hug.

 

“I appreciate it, but honestly I don’t. I’m sort ofglad that it’s finally done. I am over the whole thing and
now I can finally feel like I can breathe.” I said letting out a sigh.

 

“Wow. I hate to say it, but kinda glad. You’ve definitely had your lifetime of stress in the last month and
it just was not worth it. Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No, it’s okay. It really wasn’t worth it. I thought that I could start us all over and try to get us back to
where we were and we were never really there.” I said reaching for a tissue. “So, I also found out some
‘interesting’ news.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?” Ava asked curiously.

 

“Well…” I paused taking a swig of my water on my desk. “I found out that I am pregnant.” I said quietly.

 

“Are you serious?!” She shrieked. She quickly paused to make sure somebody wasn’t going to come in.
“Sorry, I should have kept that down.”

 

“It’s okay, I’m sure they will find out soon.” I said pointing to my stomach.

 

“Does Liam know?” She inquired.

 

“That is the other thing.” I said shaking my head. “Looking back it wouldn’t be his.” I let out a sigh.

 

“It would be Caleb’s?” She shrieked again.

 

“Yeah…” I sighed.

 

“Does he know?” She asked calmer.

 

“Not yet, so please, don’t say anything. I don’t want him to find out without me telling him.” I begged.

“So what are you going to do now?” Ava asked as shetook a seat in front of me.
“Well, I’m staying at my mom’s house for a little bit. I told her I was going to start looking at places but
she insisted I stay for a little bit. I don’t want to be there too long and interrupt their lives, but I need to
find a good divorce lawyer. I don’t want the house or anything from him. I just want something quick
and easy.”

“Have you talked to him at all?” Ava asked.

“Nope. I don’t want to either. If I plan on being civil about this, I really have nothing to say to him. I’ll
work through email and once I find a lawyer he can talk to them.” I then began to pull up my internet to
start the searching. “Speaking of, I do want to send him an email.” I hinted at the privacy.

“Oh. Okay, well I am going to head back to my desk then. If you need anything please let me know,
okay?” Ava headed towards the door.

“Thanks. I will.” I smiled at her and pulled up my email.
I quickly drafted up an email. I read and reread it several times before I hit send. It wasn’t long after I hit
send on my email I got a response. Surprisingly, he was very civil about the whole matter. He didn’t
want the house either, which kind of shocked me; especially since was the one that fell in love with it
when we first purchased it.

We both agreed that we would work civilly as adults and split all of the proceeds of the house down the
middle. We both were hurt by one another and it would be best that we didn’t speak for a little while.

 

I told him I would contact a mutual friend that wasa real estate agent and get it on the market as soon
as this week.

I couldn’t believe how fast the rest of the day flew by. Ava poked her head in to wave goodbye as I was
starting to pack up my work for the night. I made an appointment with my doctor at lunch to confirm my
test from Vegas. I kept looking at my ultrasound picture in awe then putting it in my stuff to take home.

“I will see ya tomorrow.” She said smiling.

 

“Yeah, have a good night! Thank you for listening earlier.” I said with a smile.

 

“No problem! If you need anything I am here for you. Call if you do want to talk later, I gotta run though,
Brantley is downstairs waiting for me.” She said excitedly.

 

“I’ll ride down with you! I feel bad; I didn’t even ask how your weekend went! How did meeting his
parents go? I am going to assume good since you two are still seeing each other.”

 

“They were just as sweet as he is. It was such a great weekend! I know we are rushing things, but he
actually told me he loved me! Ryleigh, I am on cloud nine with him!” She said in a giddy tone.

 

“I knew it! You two are so great for each other it seems! I’m very happy for you!” I smiled with her.

As we rode down, she told me about the size of his parents’ home and how sweet his mom was to her. I
was so excited to see she was so happy. I really did feel like an ass for not even bothering to ask her
earlier.

I waved her and Brantley off as I headed to the garage to my car. As I drove home, blasting my stereo,
my mind for once was finally in a good place. I actually enjoyed the music rather than thinking of a
million things at once.

I pulled up to my mom’s house and saw that Caleb’s truck was in their driveway. My heart stopped.

 

I quickly got out of my car and quickly headed inside to once again find everyone in the backyard. Caleb
was in a chair with his back towards me.

 

“Hey, honey! How was work?” My mom asked as she raised her sunglasses and sat up in her lounge
chair.

 

“It was good, thanks.” I paused. “Hi Caleb. What are you doing here?” I asked confused.
“Hey. I wanted to come by and talk to you.” He said turning around in his chair.

“We’ll let you guys have some privacy.” My mom said with a smile, obviously knowing something was
going on. She hopped up from her chair and grabbing Avery on her way out. I went and took my mom’s
seat and sat down with a plop, kicking off my heels.

“What’s up?” I asked with a sigh, I was exhausted.

 

“Ryleigh.” He came over and sat next to my legs on the lounge chair and pulled my legs into his lap. “I
wanted to come over and ask you out on a date.”

 

“What?” I asked giggling.

“I want to take you out. I want to prove to you that I love you more and more every day. That I’ll never
hurt you or make you cry. I want to hold you every night and be excited to see you every morning. You
are the love of my life and I want you to hear that all the time.”

I felt the tears start to stream down my cheeks.

 

“I told you I don’t want to make you cry.” He joked as he wiped a tear away.

 

“Caleb. I…”

 

“Ryleigh, I really do love you. I know that you love me. I don’t want to lose another minute without you
and not have you in my life.”

I was left speechless there in the chair with him. He leaned in and softly kissed my lips. I wrapped my
arms around his neck. I could hear my mom and Avery clapping. I shooed them away without breaking
the kiss.

“Caleb…” I whispered.

 

“Yeah?” He responded.

“There is something I want to show you.” I reached into my bag and pulled out the tiny photograph. “I
found out while I was in Vegas, but I confirmed it today. Before you ask, yes it is yours. I’m very sure of
it. I don’t want you to feel pressured or…” Caleb quickly interrupted me.

“Ryleigh stop.” He took a deep breath. “I’m so happy!” He said with a huge grin.
Chapter Nineteen
Three Months Later

The next three months were the best I had ever endured in my life. Liam and I had officially parted ways
and thankfully everything went smoothly. I never did tell him about me being pregnant; I didn’t want to
cause any more problems than we already had suffered.

Caleb and I were finally able to enjoy each other without the feeling of sneaking around.

After I had told him about me being pregnant, I worried that we were going to be rushing into things.
We started slow for the first month, he was very understanding with me handling the finalization of my
divorce.

After everything was set straight, I started to stay the night more and more until eventually my stuff was
completely moved in. I was finally able to spend the evening with him and not have to rush off, I loved
being able to wake up in his arms.

Caleb was beyond thrilled that he was going to be a daddy. He was constantly making sure that I was
doing okay. One evening, I had fallen asleep watching a movie, but awoke to him talking to my belly. I
didn’t move so he could continue talking without me interrupting. He had told our little peanut, he was
so happy that he was going to be their daddy and to be nice to mommy while they were baking. He
ended the conversation with a soft kiss. I couldn’t help the tears from leaking out of my eyes.

One night we decided to have a dinner party and invite our friends over. Caleb had invited his boss, Felix
and his stunning wife Theresa. I enjoyed meeting them, they both were incredibly nice. I had obviously
invited Courtney and Jason.

Courtney still was handling pregnancy perfectly. They found out that they were going to be welcoming a
little girl. Jason was a little bummed at first that he wasn’t going to be able to have a sports buddy, but
quickly turned around after seeing how excited Courtney was.

We tried to get Ava and Brantley to come over as well, but the two were on a mini vacation. The two of
them probably never even left the bed. We all had a good laugh about it.

 

“So Ryleigh, are you and Caleb going to find out the sex of your baby?” Theresa asked as she took a sip
of her wine.

“We haven’t decided, actually. I would love to be surprised, but at the same time it is killing me to find
out.” I laughed as I placed my hand on Caleb’s leg.We were enjoying our beautiful porch and watching
the sunset.
“You have to find out!” Courtney demanded. “I better know if my little girl is going to be having princess
sleepovers or installing bars on her bedroom window!” She laughed.

Everyone followed suit and laughed. I leaned in and gave Caleb a kiss.

 

“You know Court; bars wouldn’t hold back a Martin boy. We always found ways to get to the girl.” Caleb
joked.

 

“Oh really? Is there something you haven’t told me?” I joked, poking him in his side.

 

“Well actually. I haven’t told you a lot of things.” He laughed.

 

“Oh yeah, such as?” I sat back in amusement.

“Such as…” He paused and then squatted beside my chair. “I got you this while I was out shopping for
the wine and I was going to give it to you later, but I think now is as good as time as ever.” He reached
into his pocket and pulled out a shiny diamond band.

Everyone gasped in excitement.

 

“Caleb?” I asked surprised.

“Ryleigh, I have loved you from the second we met. You’ve been my best friend through everything and
you still gave me another chance after all those years apart. I can’t imagine not being able to call you my
wife anymore. We’ve been through so much together and if we can survive that, I am sure that we can
make it through anything else.” He paused to grab my hand. “Ryleigh, will you make me the happiest
man on the Earth and become my wife?” He slipped the ring onto my finger.

I was smiling like a fool, all the while tears were streaming. I sat there in silence for a moment.

 

“Oh my god! Say yes already!” Courtney shrieked out followed by a laugh.

 

“Caleb, I love you more than anything. I’d be happy to call you my husband!” I quickly jumped into his
arms and gave him several kisses.

 

Cheers filled in around us.

 

After several moments of showing off my band to the girls, Courtney quickly brought up the wedding.

“What about having it here?” She said excitedly. “Something small. The view for the pictures would just
be astonishing! You can do it during sunset!” She was getting a little too anxious about the planning. I
had to laugh at her.

“That’s not a bad idea, Court.” Caleb chimed in. “What do you think, Ry?”

 

“I like the idea. When do you want to do this?” I asked curiously.

 

“As soon as possible. How does next weekend work?” He asked smiling.
“Are you serious? That is not enough time to plan anything!” I said in shock.

 

“It is if you have a team of people planning it with you!” Courtney added.

 

“So we have 8 days to plan all of this and you think we can pull this off?” I asked skeptically.

 

“Yeah, I think we can.” Caleb said reassuringly.

“Alright. Let’s do this.” I laughed.
Needless to say, the week flew by. Courtney was a natural born wedding planner, she was all over the
place and making sure that everyone was put in their proper place. She even had my dress planned,
which was beautiful and I couldn’t have picked a better one myself.

Work was starting to pick up, more accounts were piling in. Mr. Rogers had referred several of his clients
in my direction. When he found out I was getting married AND having a baby, he was thrilled and sent
over the bassinet filled with baby items and a pair of plane tickets for our honeymoon! I tried to explain
that it was too much, but he wouldn’t accept anything other than a thank you.