Page 39 of Perfect Chemistry

Yet, here we were. Expecting the unexpected. “Move in with me.”

Jenny pulled back and stared at me wide eyed. “What?”

I realized that I had said that out loud rather than just thinking it. I took a deep breath and repeated, “Move in with me when your lease expires, or we can look for a bigger place. We get along well, and we’re going to be raising a baby together. We might as well cut the travel time down.”

Jenny looked quiet for a minute. “Kai, my job is across the state line. I can’t commute from here every day. I would go broke.”

I nodded. I hadn’t thought of that. “Ok. My lease is up in two months. How about we find you a bigger place in between our two jobs, and when my lease expires, I move before the baby is born.”

Jenny’s eyes were wide, staring at me. “Oh my god, you’re serious.”

There was a moment of silence again before her eyes watered up and she started to cry again. “Oh my god, you’re serious?!” she asked.

I just nodded, lost for words because I couldn’t keep up with her mood swings. Should I have asked what she wanted first? Was she upset that I was making plans without asking what she wanted? Before I could ask if it was alright, she threw herself into my arms and hugged me.

“I thought you would leave me or demand I get an abortion. Oh my god, Kai. I have been scared shitless to talk with you about all of this,” she finally admitted.

I just held her in my arms and rubbed her back as she cried. We were going to be parents. Didn’t matter how we got here, what mattered was that the child that we were having together would be taken care of.

“How does your family feel about children out of wedlock?” she asked after she had calmed down.

“Honestly?” I asked.

Jenny nodded against my neck, where her head was resting.

“They’re Catholics. Should we go to Vegas?” I asked.

She leaned back and looked at me seriously. “That’s not funny.”

“I wasn’t trying to make a joke of it. We’re already having a child together. Let’s go all in.”

I had no idea what the hell came over me. Two hours ago I thought she was a crazy stalker. An hour ago, I offered to move in together. Now, I was asking her to elope. Fuck. This was not what I had planned.

“Okay.”

“Okay?” I asked her.

“Okay,” she repeated.

Shit. She agreed.

“We’re going to sneak off and tie the knot, move in together and have this baby,” I repeated the plan like we were planning a daily itinerary.

Jenny was quiet for a minute. “Kai, I can’t believe how calm you’re being about all of this. Think about it until this weekend. If you still want to do this…. All of it. I will agree with whatever you decide.”

???????

We got married at the courthouse, with two strangers for witnesses, and decided to wait until after her first obstetrics appointment to announce the pregnancy. The month delay between the two had given us time to scout out new apartments, and get all of our legal shit in order. I added Jenny to my insurance, and she added me to hers.

Neither of us were ready for joint accounts, but we did set up one shared account to pay our future bills from.

My phone hadn’t stopped ringing for three days. We decided to rip the band-aid off and just put it all out there. Jenny and I posted the same picture on our social media accounts and tagged each other. It was just our left hands holding the first ultrasound picture. The wedding bands were super prominent, once you got past the shock of seeing the image we were holding. The caption read, “Welcome to the family.”

Now everyone knew that Jenny was pregnant and we were married. My grandmother was beside herself for the first day, but after that she was really happy for us. Once she realized that this would be her first great grandbaby, she really got excited about the whole thing.

Then my brother announced that they were also expecting. His wife was due one month before Jenny. They decided to follow our steps and married in the courthouse over the weekend. Our parents were all thrilled with the prospects of two new babies in the family. I was still scared shitless, but it was something I could only admit to Jen.

There were so many things that had changed suddenly. I made the decision to put off the doctoral program until we could afford it. Jenny, being who she was, tried for weeks to talk me out of it, but our new family was more important. I was 22, and there were no age limits for getting a doctorate in physical therapy.

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