With Me From The Start (With Me - book 1)

Chapter 32

“Please say something,” I said as he just stood there in silence. “Joe, please say something. You're starting to scare me.”
He blinked a few times. “You're...”
I nodded my head slowly. “You're gonna be a daddy.”
A few seconds passed and a smile grew on his face. He picked me up and spun me around.
“Put me down, Joe.” I laughed. He put me down and held me as close to him as he could. “Joe, you're squashing me.”
He let go of me a little and gave me a kiss. “ I love you so so soooo much!”
“I'll take it you're happy?” I asked.
“I'm beyond happy. Words can't describe how I feel right now,” he replied.
The song ended and Enrique invited everyone up to dance while he continued to sing some of his songs. He had just started to sing Escape when Lisa approached us to go and get changed into our second outfits. We quickly walked out the ballroom and went straight to get changed.

I wasn't in my room for more than five minutes when I felt hands unbuttoning my dress. Once it was unbuttoned, I held it against my chest and turned round. I couldn't say anything because Joe's lips came down on mine. He held me close and I put my arms around his neck. He lifted me up and placed me on the bed. He slipped my dress off and kissed me again. I unbuttoned his shirt and slipped it off his shoulders. He moved his lips to start kissing my neck when I felt sick.

I pushed him off me and ran to the bathroom.
“This explains everything,” Joe said while coming in to the bathroom and holding my hair and rubbing my back. “Why didn't you tell me sooner?”
I slowly stood up and washed my mouth out. “I didn't know how to tell you. I thought that today would be better because we could focus on this and not if I would make it down the aisle.”
“I'm not saying that it's a bad thing to tell me today, it's just...” He started.
I looked at him. “ Just what?”
“I just wish that you told me when you found out,” he said, stepping back back from a little.
“Don't blame this on me!” I snapped. “You have no idea as to how hard this was to keep it from you!”
“I would have like to have known before now that's all I'm saying.”
I stormed past him and out the bathroom to my open suitcase. I rummaged through the suitcase and picked up the envelope I was looking for and gave it to him. “There you go. That's what your baby looks like right now! But don not stand there and say I didn't think about you in this for one second!”

I turned and picked up my other dress that was neatly laid out over a chair by the window and walked back into the bathroom to put it on.
I came back out the bathroom 10 minutes later in my other dress, a simple thin- strap white chiffon dress with diamantés across the bodice that stopped just above the knee, and Joe wasn't in the room. I noticed that the pictures of the scan were lying on the bed and I put them back in the envelope before putting it in my suitcase. I checked my reflection in the mirror before going back downstairs to the ballroom.

I walked back into the ballroom and didn't see Joe anywhere in the crowd. I walked over to Roshien, who was sitting with my little sister, and lightly tapped her on the shoulder. She turned and looked up at me and I told her to come with me. We walked outside and I looked at her.
“Joe looked happy. See? I told you he'd be-” She started.
“I don't know where he is,” I said worriedly.
“What? What did you say to him when you went to get changed?” She asked.
“We talked about the baby and my hormones got the better of me. We argued, I showed him the pictures from the scan, went to get changed and when I came out, he was gone.” I explained.
“Okay, calm down. It's be fine. We'll find him, just don't worry.” She said calmly. “I'll have my brother go and look for him.”
“Thank you,” I said.
I nodded and we walked back into the ballroom. Roshien went to get her brother to go and look for Joe while I went to get a drink.

It was 11:30pm and I hadn't seen Joe for over two hours now. Where the hell was he? I was dancing with my friends and family when Roshien's brother approached me.
“He's out by the lake,” he shouted over the music to me.
“Thanks Michael,” I replied.
I excused myself from the group of friends I was dancing with and walked off the dance floor, making my way out to the lake outside.

As I approached the lake, I saw Joe sitting on the grass drinking a bottle of champagne. This wasn't good. I walked over to him and sat down.
“I-I didn't know what else to do. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have acted like that. I'm just scared at the thought of going to become a dad for the first time. I mean, this is the first time that we actually know about the pregnancy and I don't want you to suffer another miscarriage.” His voice slightly shook as he spoke, never lifting his eyes from where he was looking out at on the lake.
“I know you're scared and so am I. It's only right to be scared after what we went through back then. “ I placed one of my hands on the top of his arm. “I half excepted you to be a little scared but you shouldn't have just disappeared like that. I needed my husband and you ran off.”
“I'm sorry,” he apologised quietly.
I moved closer to him and rested my head on his shoulder. “It's okay. Tell me something though.”
“What?” He asked.
“Did you drink that entire bottle?”
“No, it was half empty when I got it. Now, it's finished.” He threw the empty bottle into the lake and stood up. He reached for my hands and pulled me up to stand in front of him. I looked at him and undid his tie a little more.
“I love you.”
“I love you too,” I replied, placing my hands flat against his chest.
He pulled me close to him and gave me a kiss. Just as we kissed, fireworks went off across at the other side of the lake. Everyone came outside to see the firework display and gathered round us to watch it.
I turned round to watch the fireworks and Joe stood behind me. He pulled me close to his chest and rested his hands on my stomach. I put my hands on top of his and rested my head back against his chest. We stood that way until the firework display had ended, happy and in the moment.