Chapter 69 – All too soon

Soundtrack: Josh Groban – Hidden Away


Sasha’s POV


Nef is done for the semester. She’s just finished her final exams. Her Christmas is a couple weeks away and we’re going to tell her parents that we’re expecting a baby. I have no idea where time is going. It’s going by much quicker than I expected. Our day to day lives hadn’t changed much. We'd had a pretty bad losing streaking and I hadn't been producing the same way I'd been at the beginning of the season. I'd had a lot on my mind lately. We hadn’t directly focused on the baby much until now. Our immediate focus was finishing the semester, telling her family, and telling my family.

We’d had one prenatal care visit. Nef was healthy and the baby was developing well. It would still be another few months before we found out if it was a boy or a girl. If it was a girl we already had a name: Nefetari Alexandrovich Semina. We were following the female naming convention of her family and the Russian patronymic naming convention. If it was a boy we were still deciding on names. We had the patronymic and last name but we were still thinking it over. Nef wanted the name Qeb, meaning father of the Earth, but I was partial to Tau, meaning lion.

I couldn’t tell if Nef was happy about the baby. She was accepting but she wasn’t bubbling with excitement. I was happy. No, it hadn’t been planned and yes there were still so many things that needed to be worked out but I was having a child with the woman I love. I wanted her to be happy. I wanted her to want this, not just go through it.

All too soon we were driving to Nef’s parents’ house on Christmas Eve. When we pulled into the drive way I didn’t move to get out of the car.

”Nef, can I ask you something?”

”Yes.”

”Are you happy with this? I know you’re dealing with this and you’re accepting it but are you happy?”

She exhaled deeply. I was almost afraid of what she would say. Neither of us believed in abortion. We didn’t judge those who did but that was never an option for us. I wasn’t particularly worried about what she would say about that but I didn’t want her to feel forced.

”I’m getting there,” she said slowly. ”I can’t say that I'm not worried or mad at myself for letting this happen but we’re having a child whether or not I’m happy or ready. I’m not unhappy; after all I’m having a child with the man I love. I do wish that it happened later, after I’d graduated, after your contract was figured out, hell even after marriage.”

Nef’s family was very much so concerned with having children out of wedlock. It wasn’t going to go over well. We both knew that. My family was a little more forgiving with regard to that.

”It doesn’t have to be out of wedlock,” I said to her.

”Don’t do that.” she said her voice harsher than I expected. ”If and when we decide to get married it will be because we decided to, not because I got knocked up.”

”Well we’re deciding to. I love you and when I promised you that I meant it. I wouldn’t offer you something I didn’t mean. You’re graduating in May and I was hoping that once you finished school you would consider moving in with me.”

”You go back to Russia every summer. I need my mom when I have this child. I can’t go with you.” She looked away from me.

”Did you really think I would miss the birth of my first child? I never stayed during the summer because I never had a real reason to but now, between you and the baby, I have every reason to stay. I want to resign here. I want to stay in DC; I’m hoping that we’ll find out in a little while.”

”If you don’t resign here and you sign somewhere else for a one year deal I probably won’t go with you. It would be too hard to have a newborn baby in a new place with no family especially if you may not be there for long but I want to be with you. So I guess I’m saying that even if you don’t resign in DC, if you sign for longer than a year somewhere else I’ll go with you.”

”Really?”

”Yes.”

I opened the car door for her and held her hand as we walked up to the house. She’d tried to grab her overnight bag out of the car but I wouldn’t let her carry it.

”I’m pregnant, not crippled.”

Yeah, yeah, yeah whatever. Let me be the charming, polite, gentleman that I wanted to be. I could tell Nef was nervous. We’d decided to tell her parents when we first got there rather than wait until it was time to leave. Adjo was in the study when we got there. Mrs. Hassan hugged us both and said that she was happy to see us. I wondered how much longer that was going to last. Her father and I had been getting along since I came back to the States. He could tell that Nef and I were serious about our relationship and that we were willing to do whatever it took to make it work.

“Mom, dad, there’s something I need to tell you.”

I wasn’t nervous until Nef said those words. In truth it didn’t matter what they said, whether or not they accepted this. Nef and I are having a baby. I was however, nervous about how this would affect her relationship with her parents. As far as I knew her parents would love her no matter what. They would be disappointed and they could push for us to be married – I knew Nef would fight that. She made that painfully clear. I guess I was nervous because things were about to get a lot harder than they needed to be.

“There is no easy way to say this so let’s just say it. I’m pregnant.”

Silence. Long awkward silence.

“How far along,” her mom asked.

“8 weeks.”

“How did this happen? You told us you were being safe?” Her father.

“We were. The doctor said that the birth control she was on just didn’t work as well for her,” I chimed in.

“What are you going to do?” Her father.

“We’re going to have a baby. I’m not due until the end of July and I only have one more semester of school left before I graduate. Sasha can’t begin negotiations for a new contract until after the New Year. He wants to stay here but we don’t know if that will happen right now.”

“And if he doesn’t stay in DC?” Her mother.

“If he doesn’t stay in DC and if he signs a contract for longer than a year, I’ve said that I’ll go with him. However, I can’t leave home and have a newborn in a new place with no family or support. It doesn’t make sense to go if he only signs for a year. That would be too hard for me, but for right now – until after the baby is born I’ll be here.”

“If I do get traded I won’t know where I’ll be signed until right before the baby is born. I can always not sign with the team I traded to. I work with agent to stay here. I hope I do stay here.”

“You have decided to stay together.” Her father. That was a statement and not a question.

“I love her. That not change because we have baby. It not planned but I having a child with the woman I love. I promise her I be here for her and be with her and I mean it.”

“If you love each other why aren’t you getting married?” Her father.

“No. Flat out no. I won’t get married just because I’m pregnant. If we get married it will be because we want to not because we’re forced or we have to.”

I could tell that was not the answer that he was looking for.

I took Nef’s hand in mine. “I tell her we can get married but I respect her decision. I love her and I happy to be with her. We decide we wait until we ready to get married. We wait until it good for both of us to get married.”

Her mom, who had been sitting on the arm of the desk chair her father, was sitting in walked over to us. She pulled Nef into a tight hug and said “I wish you would have waited but I love you, sweetheart.”

“I wish we would have waited to,” she said, “but as things happen I got knocked up and you’re going to be a grandmother.”

“Have you told your parents yet?” her father asked me.

“No, they still in Russia and we not want to tell them over the phone. They not come until January 5, we tell them then.”

“I don’t like this but you two have made up your minds. I wish you the best,” he said before leaving the study.

I knew that wasn’t good. Nef looked like she wanted to cry but she didn’t. She followed her father out of the study and said “Well I guess that’s the best I can hope for from you.”

She went up stairs to her room and her mother and I followed her. She stretched out on her bed with her hands on her stomach. Nefetiri sat on one side of her and I sat on the other.

“He’ll come around,” her mom said.

“I don’t care; all I care about is having a healthy, happy baby. It’s taken me a while to come to grips with this but I have and I’m having this baby.” She smiled and in that moment I knew that she wanted this. I knew that she wanted this child as much as I did.

“I take it you were just as surprised as we were?”

“She freak out. In doctor’s office I think she was having a panic attack.”

Nef swatted at me but smiled. Her initial reaction hadn’t necessarily been a good one. I placed my hand on top of her hands on her stomach.

“I happy. I scared. I worried. I everything but I excited to have baby with her. When we ready we get married.”

“Who says I want to get married at all?”

“I do. When we ready you marry me. No other option.” That got a laugh out of her.

“I’m pretty sure your mother won’t go for that.”

“She not marry you. I am, besides my father love you. He think you amazing girl so he tell mom to keep quiet.”

All three of us laughed at that. It wasn’t perfect but we had an ally in Nefetiri.

“I’m going to be a grandmother,” she said.