22. Olga

Olga

“ H e told you he loved you after you told him you were pregnant?” Alona said indignantly. “Men are so clueless.”

I’d grabbed my phone and purse and headed right over to Alona’s house without even calling first. I didn’t need to, and I knew that. My sister took one look at my face and told Jayden to go away. He’d slunk away to the basement where he’d set up his “man cave” with all the weird crap Alona wouldn’t let him keep in the main house, like his Pac Man game and dart board.

Once we got rid of her husband, Alona asked if I wanted tequila or tea. When I said tea, she screeched, “Are you pregnant?”

That’s the thing about my sister and me: as different as we were, we were each other’s best friend and knew each other better than anyone else in the world. We sat at the kitchen table drinking peppermint tea and mainlining Oreos as I spilled the whole story.

When I was finished, Alona was silent for several minutes, thinking. My sister was a processor, so I ate two more Oreos and waited for her to gather her thoughts.

“You always wanted to have a baby and a family,” she reminded me finally. “You used to talk about it a lot.”

“Yeah,” I acknowledged, “But I figured it was too late. Plus I’m the flighty one in the family, I’d be a terrible mother.”

“Flighty one? What are you talking about?” Alona asked, looking perplexed.

“You all think I’m flighty and irresponsible.”

“All who?” she asked.

“You. Mama. Tato.” Each word came out emphatically.

“What are you even talking about right now, Olga? No one thinks that.”

“I’m not married, I don’t own a house, I get evicted every year or two, and my job is to make someone rich not improve people’s lives like yours does,” I said. “The whole family thinks I’m a failure.”

Alona gave me a look that clearly conveyed that she thought I was crazy.

“You have a great job that pays well,” Alona countered, counting off each point on her fingers. “And yes you’ve been unlucky with landlords, but you’re resilient, you remember everyone’s birthdays, you’re smart as hell, you’re an incredible problem solver, and you’re an awesome mom to an asshole cat that everyone else hates.”

Maybe it was the stress of the day, or maybe the pregnancy hormones were kicking in already, but I started to cry again.

“You really don’t think I’m a fuck-up?” I asked tearfully.

“Not at all,” Alona said firmly. “You created that narrative in your head a long time ago, I suspect, but now it’s time to rewrite it. You’re going to have a baby to look after soon, and that kid deserves to have a mother who sees her own worth.”

We sat in silence for a while before Alona spoke again. “What are you going to do about the Michael situation?”

“I don’t know. I’m so confused.” I dropped my head down onto the table, suddenly exhausted.

“You’re confused about what to do about him and his sudden declaration of love, or you’re confused about how you feel about him?” Alona asked.

I considered her question, opening my mind and letting my feelings flow through me without trying to talk myself out of anything. It was time to be honest and bring things out into the open. I’d been avoiding my feelings long enough.

“I love him,” I said quietly. “I have for a long time, but I really thought Michael only saw me as a friend and someone to fool around with. I’m just worried that he’s telling me he loves me now because of the baby.”

“If you thought he only saw you as a friend, you’ve been blind. It’s been plain as day to all of us that Michael is in love with you, and has been for some time,” Alona said. “That’s why Mama keeps pushing him to marry you.”

Just then Jayden came up from the basement, detouring to grab a water from the refrigerator.

“Even Jayden noticed that Michael has feelings for you, and he’s mostly clueless.” She sent her husband a teasing smile.

“It’s true, the dude has it bad for you,” Jayden confirmed.

“By the way,” Alona said. “Olga is sleeping over so you’ll need to stay in the guest room.”

Jayden didn’t miss a beat. “Okay then, good night girls.”

I really liked my brother-in-law. He was generally affable, treated my sister well, and never resented the closeness she had with me. I appreciated that a lot. We’d both dated guys in the past who had issues with us being so close.

After Jayden left, Alona and I talked for a little while longer, then she loaned me a pair of sweats and we cuddled up in her bed together, the same way we’d done a million times over our lives. Then we watched re-runs of Modern Family until we both fell asleep.

I was feeling much better in the morning. Everything seemed clearer and less tragic now that the initial shock of finding out that I was pregnant had worn off. Alona fixed me pancakes and bacon, gave me a pep talk and a long hug, and then I headed back home to talk to Michael.

Funny, somewhere along the way I’d started calling Michael’s place home.

As soon as I opened the door, Nutella came racing over, clawing at my pants trying to get up my body. I stooped down to pick him up, snuggling him close to my chest. He gave me a pathetic look and let out a long whining meow.

“What’s the matter, kitty?” I asked in that voice you used to talk to babies and pets. “Did that mean old Michael starve you while I was gone?”

“Hey! I fed him canned tuna,” Michael called from the kitchen. “You want coffee?” He paused. “Oh crap, are you supposed to have coffee?”

“I don’t need coffee, thanks.”

Usually I had two or three cups, but I figured I should probably avoid caffeine until I saw a doctor and found out what I could and couldn’t have while I was pregnant. Ugh, I was probably going to have to learn to like tea.

Michael walked out, looking a little rough. His hair was sticking up in all directions, and there were circles underneath his eyes as if he hadn’t slept. He gave me a look that was full of apprehension.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

He nodded, watching me carefully. “Are you?”

“Yeah,” I said softly. “But I guess we should talk now.”

“Okay.”

We moved to the couch, me still cradling Nutella. Michael sat on the other cushion, turning to face me.

“I’m sorry I ran out like that instead of talking,” I said.

“You needed your sister. I get that.”

Damned if that didn’t make me love him more.

“I want you to know, no matter what you decided to do, I’ll support you in however you need,” Michael started. “But just to be perfectly clear about my intentions, I love you and I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you – and our child.”

“I didn’t plan this.” For some reason it felt important to say it out loud.

“Neither of us did, but maybe this was meant to happen. We’re both stable, mature adults with a good income. We’re good friends and we care about each other. The fact is, that a lot of babies come into this world in way less ideal circumstances.”

“We more than care for each other,” I said. “We love each other. We’re in love with each other.”

His eyes widened as my words registered. “What are you saying, Olga?”

I set Nutella on the floor and moved closer, taking his hand. “I’m saying that I’ve been in love with you for a long time, Michael. I told myself you didn’t see me that way, so I put you in a box labeled friend. And even when we started sleeping together, I couldn’t allow myself to hope for more.”

“And now?” he asked softly.

“Now I’m hoping for more.”

“Then more is what you’ll get,” he said firmly. “I love you Olga. I loved you when we were six, and I loved you when you walked into Sweet Cocktails looking like you lost your best friend. I fall more in love with you every single day, and if you let me, I’ll fall in love with you a little more tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that.”

Tears were sliding down my cheeks again. “I don’t know why I’m crying. I’ve cried more in the last eighteen hours than I did in the last eighteen years.”

“But they’re happy tears, right?” he asked hopefully.

“The happiest,” I sniffed.

“In that case, I need to ask you something.” Michael reached into the pocket of his hoodie and pulled out a blue velvet ring box. “Olga Pavlenko, will you marry me?”

He opened the lid, revealing a beautiful square cut diamond set in a platinum band. I stared at the ring in shock.

“Wait, when did you buy this ring?”

“The day after we slept together for the first time,” he said. “I wanted to be prepared when the moment was right.”

I stared at him in shock. “Are you saying that you wanted to marry me even before you knew I was pregnant?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” he said firmly. “I’ve been holding onto this ring for months, trying to get the courage to tell you how I felt about you, hoping that I was right, and that you loved me too.”

I lifted my hand to cup his cheek. His stubble felt rough against my palm.

“You were right Michael, I do love you. I have for a long time.”

He gave me a huge smile and pulled the ring out of the box, slipping it onto the ring finger of my left hand.

“So, will you marry me? Or do I need to ask your father first?”

“I will marry you, Michael. I’m a grown woman who can make my own decisions, although according to Alona, this will not come as a surprise to anyone in my family. Apparently they’ve ‘shipped’ us for a while now.”

“We can tell them the news tonight at dinner,” he said. “All the news.”

“Tonight?” I asked.

“It’s Saturday, Family Dinner Night at the Pavlenkos, remember?”

It struck me then that Michael was already part of my family, long before I even realized it, and that felt pretty special.

“They may like you, but my parents are going to be super pissed with both of us. You need to be prepared for that.”

“They’ll get over it, especially when your mother realizes that she’s finally getting that grandbaby she never thought would come,” he said confidently. “Besides, we’ll have Alona and Jayden there to back us up, right?”

“Yeah.”

I stood up and shifted so I could straddle his lap, my knees coming to either side of his hips. Taking his face between my hands, I gave Michael a long, deep kiss. When I pulled back, we were both breathing heavily.

“I love you,” he said. “I can’t wait to have a family with you and the baby.”

Somewhere in the next room Nutella let out a shriek, and we both laughed.

“Yes Nutella,” Michael called. “You’re part of our family too, little buddy.”

He hugged me close. “I hope our baby looks just like you.”

“I hope he or she looks like both of us,” I said. “Let’s just keep them away from martinis, okay?”