It had been a long and challenging year. Alyssa and Brad had been married for two years and second year had been harder than the first. The first year Brad had been sweet and romantic, bringing her home flowers every day after work. or leaving little love notes around the house. They had learned how to live together and deal with issues as they arose. They learned about living together as a couple and compromising so that they both got what they wanted. The first had its challenges and struggles for sure but it was sweet and romantic as well.
Then the second year hit and Brad started a new job that kept him traveling out of town, so he was never home anymore. Alyssa was bogged down at work with a new case she had been assigned. When Brad was home he expected Alyssa to cook his meals and pack his lunch. She had to do all the house cleaning and errands, since Brad's job, according to Brad was more stressful than her career as a lawyer. As the days and weeks went by, Alyssa found herself feeling more and more like a slave than a wife. She started resenting her husband and even found little ways to irk and irritate him just because. The other day she poured hot sauce on his french fries instead of ketchup and last week she purposely forgot to take his favorite suit to the dry cleaners. He had been really mad, as he had wanted to take that on his business trip to New York. When Brad returned from New York Alyssa had actually forgot to pick him up as she had been at work late preparing for trial the next day. Brad had been so furious that he had spent a week in a hotel. Alyssa had thought that was the beginning of the end of their marriage.
Last night Brad had said he was flying to Texas for a job interview. Alyssa booked his flight and hotel and rented him a car. As she watched him walk down the terminal, she fought the tears that had been threatening all morning and finally she let them fall. She was losing her husband and she was partly to blame. She knew in her heart that her marriage was over. Brad had not even kissed her good-bye. As Alyssa prepared a dinner for herself last night, she caught a glimpse of what her life without Brad would be like. Sure she had prepared a meal for one, and lived like a single woman while Brad was gone, but she had never paid attention to the lonliness of it. Work and lonely meals at home. She didn't even have a dog to keep her company.
Later that night as she was getting ready for bed, Alyssa had an idea. A last ditch effort to repair her failing marriage. She booked a last minute flight, got redressed and packed a bag and headed for the airport. Alyssa didn't notice the flight from California to New York, she was too busy worrying about what Brad would say when she got there. What would she find? Did he have a girl friend there? Is that why he had decided to move to Texas?
When she got to the hotel she dropped off her stuff, she had booked a room next to Brad's just incase her plan didn't work the way she was hoping. Plan? She thought to herself, she didn't even have a plan, she was just winging it. As she was walking back out of the hotel she saw caught a glimpse that shook her. Brad at a table in the restaurant, holding the hand of another woman.
There was no saving her marriage. Brad had found someone else. He was leaving her, moving to Texas and starting a new life. She had not even been married a full two years and her marriage was over. Alyssa went back to her room and repacked her clothes and booked a flight home. All her hopes for saving her marriage were crushed, and she was going to be alone.
Alyssa flew back home that night and cried herself to sleep.
The next morning she got herself up and ready for work. She sat at her desk and did her depositions and prepared for her trial. She even spent her lunch hour researching divorce lawyers. No sense in putting off the inevitable or being unprepared.
After work she went to the gym, the grocery store and then the drug store. While she was there she realized that she had not had her period for awhile. As she thought back, her last period had been three months ago. How had she missed that? She walked to the aisle where the pregnancy tests were kept and grabbed one. She couldn't be. It had to be stress. She hadn't even felt sick, didn't pregnant woman get sick? When she got home she ran straight to the bathroom and took the test and nervously waited for the test to be done. She paced the bathroom, wandered around the house, scared to look at the test. She made dinner and sat down to eat, when Brad walked in the door. What was he doing home? He was not due home until tomorrow. He sat his bags down and came into the kitchen. He then asked her to go for a walk.
She agreed, almost forgetting about the test upstairs in the bathroom. She ran upstairs and saw the results. It was confirmed, she was pregnant, and now she was going to be pregnant and alone. Brad was going to tell her he was leaving her and moving to Texas. How was she suppose to raise a baby alone? She walked back down stairs and went to face Brad.
They walked to the little park near their house. The park was the reason she had fallen in love with their neighborhood. The reason she had convinced Brad that this was the house for them. They walked around the park in silence. Until Alyssa asked him what he wanted to talk about. As she looked at him, she started to cry. She didn't want to hear that he didn't love her anymore, t hat he was in love with someone girl in Texas. Brad looked startled at her tears. Alyssa was startled when Brad grabbed her and sat her on his lap in the swing. The same swing that they had first sat on the first time they walked through this park together.
He explained to her that he had turned down the job offer in Texas. That he had thought about leaving her and when it came down to it, he couldn't do it. He realized that life without her would be boring and dull. Who else would put hot sauce on his french fries to get at him? She smiled and leaned in to whisper in his ear that she loved him and that they were going to have a baby. Surprise lit up Brad's face and then he puled her closer to him and kissed her. Their marriage wasn't perfect, but they still had it and now they were going to add another member to their family.
The End
