Chapter 11 #4
Giving her a salute, Ben said, “Understood.”
Ben was amazed at how right Ella felt in his space, given she had literally never been there before.
They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, and then he cleared his throat and said, “I almost hate to ask this, but where do your parents think you are?” Given that she had always been so secretive about their meeting in San Luis, he found it impossible to believe that she had told them she was going to hop a bus and come and visit a boyfriend they knew nothing about. He was not wrong.
“Umm…” Ella hedged. “I have been staying at my cousin Julia’s. They think I am still there. She has promised to cover for me for a few days.”
Turning Ella so he could look into her eyes, Ben asked, “So they have no idea about us or the baby?”
Shaking her head, Ella softly replied, “No, I wanted to tell you first and get a plan before I told them.”
Nodding Ben replied, “That makes sense. So I guess it is time for us to start making plans. Earlier we agreed you were going to have the baby. Have you thought about what you want to do after that?”
Ella just shrugged, “In a perfect world, I would have the baby and still be able to go to Michigan in the fall, but even I am not that naive. I know that may not be a possibility. But I am not ready to just give up on grad school.” Giving him a look she asked, “What about you? What are you thinking?”
“I think we should get married, and you live here with me until the baby is born. I graduate in May. We would have until then to figure the rest of it out.”
Sitting up and turning around to face him, Ella asked, “Are you sure about getting married? I don’t want us to rush into anything that you might later regret.”
Gathering Ella in his arms, Ben replied, “Ella, you should know by now that I would never do anything that I don’t want to do.
It is 2023 for heaven sakes. If I didn’t want to marry you, I would simply offer to cover your child support and that would be that.
But I love you. I love our baby. I want us to be a family. ”
Resting her head against his chest, Ella let out a soft sob, “Are you sure? Getting married is a lot.”
Hearing her whimpers broke Ben’s heart. “Of course, I am sure. Shush. No more crying. We are in this together.”
Ella smiled. She had been right to trust Ben. She knew he would never abandon her or their baby. But that still did not address the issue of Michigan or their future life plans.
“Okay, say we do get married, what are we going to do next fall? You have law school, and I have grad school. How is this going to work if we are going to two different states?”
Continuing to hold her close and rocking her softly, Ben answered honestly. “I don’t know. I don’t have all the answers.”
With her head still buried in Ben’s chest, Ella nodded. “I am scared. This is all so much.”
“I agree. I am scared too. I think anyone in this position would be. But we have each other. I know we can do this.”
Nodding with her head still buried in his chest, Ella answered, “Okay, but…”
“No buts,” replied Ben. “We are getting married. Now that is settled, we need to get a plan for how we are going to tell your parents.”
Ella pulled back from Ben’s embrace as if she had been scalded. “Yuckkkkkkk!” she groaned. “I know we have to do that, but it is not going to be easy. My parents are going to freak out. Are you sure you are up for that? Maybe I should just go home and tell them myself.”
Giving Ella a hard look, Ben asked, “Is that really how you want to do this? By yourself?”
Ella was quiet for a moment, then said, “No. I don’t.
The thought of that scares me to death.” Ben had no idea how hard that conversation was going to be.
Ella did. Julia was right. If she had tried to talk to her parents first, her dad would have taken over.
This way, Ben will be there to help her.
Pushing Ella’s hair out of her eyes, Ben replied, “Okay, then this is what we are going to do. We are going to do it together. From now on, we are a team. We do everything together. Agree?”
Feeling slightly better, Ella managed a half smile and nodded her agreement.
“Good,” replied Ben, sounding much more calm than he actually felt. He was looking forward to meeting Ella’s parents and telling them about the baby about as much as having a root canal. “I will get plane tickets, and we can fly to Napa tomorrow.”
Having never flown before, Ella was apprehensive about it. Flying was really expensive. She worried that she could not afford to pay her part of the ticket. “Can’t we just drive?”
“No,” replied Ben. “It is a six-hour drive, and I don’t want you drained from such a long road trip. Go get your driver’s license. I will get us tickets.”
“But that will cost a fortune. It would be so much cheaper to drive.” Ella almost panicked, thinking about draining her meager bank account for a plane ticket.
“Don’t worry about the cost. I will pay for everything.” Seeing Ella’s worried expression, Ben added, “Money is the least of our problems. I got you. Don’t worry about that. But I will need your driver’s license number to get you a ticket.”
Ella nodded and then went into the bedroom to get it from her purse.