Mr. Whitfield- By: Riley Rivers

Chapter III

Months passed from the day Jesse Whitfield found out he had cancer, the good news was that the cancer left his body, but the bad news was that the doctors didn't know if it would return. Nicole was glad that her boyfriend's cancer had cleared as of right now and her baby belly was slowly getting bigger, so she called out of work for maternity leave while Jesse worked until he was able to get paternity leave which was in several more months. One day he was in his room grading papers during the block wait time, Nicole went to go visit him. She knocked on his door and peeked her head in.
"Jesse, are you busy?" She asked.
"Just grading these darn papers. Sadly, most of them are F's." He sighed.
"Since you're busy, I guess I'll wait until you get off."
"No, no, no, no. Don't leave. Besides, I'm not that busy." He looked up at her.
"Ok, I wanted to talk to you about something."
He continued grading. "Go on, I'm listening."
She sighed, wishing she didn't have to tell him her news. "I-" She stuttered.
"If it's bad or good I want to know." He insisted.
"Fine, I lost the baby..." She mumbled.
"What?" Mr. Whitfield asked.
"Jesse, I lost the baby!" Nicole yelled.
He clicked the end of the pen against his desk and the news struck him hard. He dropped the pen, took off his glasses with a depressed sigh and tried to wipe the anxiety off his face, then he looked down and cried lightly into his palm. "To think I wasn't ready to be a father weeks ago, now I lose the darn child I was anxious to see."
"I'm sorry, Jess. I went into early labor last week and I-"
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I was going to but-"
"You know what? Forget it, I'm done grading these papers anyway. I think it's best I leave." Mr. Whitfield sneered, grabbing his stuff.
"Please don't be like this."
"I'm done Nicole; end of discussion." He bursted out the door in anger.
"You don't have to be like this, we can work something out. Perhaps even try again."
"No, what we had is done. We are no longer friends nor lovers." He scoffed and sat on a bench outside. Nicole sat beside him and comforted him.
"Jesse, you're going way too far with this."
"Am I? Because I'm not the one who told me they had a "miscarriage."
"It's ok, please calm down."
Jesse choked on tears. "Nicole, it's not ok. I know I was hesitant to have a child in the beginning, but now that tension has loosened up. I was counting down the hours, minutes, weeks, and months until our sweet little bundle of joy arrived, I assume you haven't seen the calendar, huh?"
"I did see it this morning."
"Did we lose a girl or a boy?"
"We lost a girl, she wasn't even fully developed yet."
"I wish you would have told me sooner. Even if I would have known she would die, I would have loved her every second that I could be with her."
"I know, you would have been a great father."
"You really think so?" He sniffled.
"I really do."
"This is going to sound stupid, but I'm going to try this again." He pulled out the ring from his wallet, getting ready to propose to her under a nearby oak tree.
"Listen, Jess never put yourself down until you try."
"But I have tried and you keep saying no." Jesse rebuked, fiddling the ring with his fingers.
She sighed, trying to think of something to say. "Jess, just get on one knee."
"What's the point I know you'll say-"
"Just get on one knee."
"Ok." He did as she told him.
"Now hold the ring up and look me in the eye."
He chuckled. "Ok, Nicole. I know what to say to you. Will you marry me?" He asked one last time.
"Yes."
"God, I love you." He smiled with happy tears in his eyes and made it official.
"I love you too, babe." She embraced him.
"You'll be the future, Mrs. Whitfield." Jesse's eyes gleamed.
"Or you'll be the future Mr. Needham."
"Nah, I'm keeping my last name." He added, and they kissed under the oak tree.