Love Begins with You

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

We are all looking at each other. We cannot believe what we are hearing, to be honest. Lindsey tries to grab the phone out of my hand and I put my hand in front of her arm to stop her while I bring the other hand up to my mouth.

"MICHELLE! Where are you? Who is going to kill you?" I'm trying to scream into the phone, but the phone blinks "call ended" and the screen goes back to my home screen. Just like that, anything that will tell us where Michelle is, is gone. Feeling more and more hopeless, I decide to call the Officer that we talked to at the police station and let him know that we heard from her. At least we know that she is alive, for now.

Aria comes to me, in the living room where Lindsey and I are watching The Bachelorette.

"Hey, babe. Can I talk to you?" Aria says, with the look of worry on her face.

"Of course!" I say, looking up at her. She stands there and looks down at me, motioning her eyes over to the stairs.

"Oh, Ok" I add, realizing that she means in private.

We go up the stairs and I sit on the bed. I feel like I should comfort her because she looks upset. "Look, babe. I know that everything is crazy right now. I may not be the best girlfriend right now, but I'm just wor——"

"I'm pregnant" Aria interjects into my sentence.

At first I'm so happy and then I begin to think about how I couldn't have done this and feel silly. I get off the bed and walk to the window and look out of it. "What?" I say in reply. Aria walks towards me and I move backwards. "What do you mean? How?"

"Look, I didn't want to tell you right now because everything is really hard right now. I just needed you to know since I found out. It was my ex, Aaron. Remember? The guy I was dating when you announced to the whole party that you loved me. I am 2 months along. I just found out a couple weeks ago Gracey." Aria says, with tears welling up in her eyes.

I walk over and take Aria into a hard, meaningful hug. "I love you. We will take care of this baby together. If that is what you want."

"I love you so much. Yes, I couldn't handle getting an abortion or giving the baby up for adoption. If you're here with me, we can do this. I know we can." Aria says with a big grin, following a soft and butterflying kiss.

Aria and I go down the stairs hand in hand. Lindsey is in the kitchen. She yells out, "Hey, y'all are okay, right? We run together over to the kitchen and yell, "We are going to be mommies!!" Lindseys mouth drops and she begins jumping up and down and smiling. Lindsey wraps Aria and I into a tight hug. "Oh my god! Congrats y'all! I'm going to be an auntie!"

We all sit down for dinner and Lindsey is still talking about the baby and showing me cute things she found on Pinterest.

**4 months later**

The sound everyone hates to hear at 7 AM, my alarm. I open my eyes to a bedroom filled with sunshine. I roll over to see my true sunshines. My little Aria isn't so little anymore and she is 6 months pregnant now with our little GIRL. I turn my alarm off and roll back to my girls and place my hand on her belly to feel my baby girl kicking. "Good morning, sunshine" I whisper to Aria and she awakens with a grin as I kiss her gently on the lips. She looks stunning right now. I have never believed in the whole "pregnancy glow" until now. She's perfect.

"Come on, baby. Get up and get dressed and I will go make your favorite for breakfast. Brown sugar oatmeal with apples and cinnamon." I smile, thinking about how lucky I am as my princess lays in bed, in her watermelon night gown. "Okay. Thank you baby" she replies.

I put on my robe and shuffle down the stairs. Lindsey is still asleep so I start making coffee for her and I. I crack the door to Lindsey's bedroom and I hear a conversation and Linds crying. "Yes, thank you Officer. Thank you. Goodbye" Lindsey says into the phone.

"What's going on, Lindsey? Did they find anything?" I ask, concerned.

"Let's go turn the news on, Gracey" Aria replies. I run over to the TV and turn the news on.

The first thing I hear makes my heart drop all the way through the floor. "The remains of Michelle Romino, 22 from Raleigh, North Carolina have been found in Catawba River. The body is being sent over to the state crime lab for a cause of death."

I begin crying so hard that I fall to the floor. I cant breathe. All of a sudden, everything is black.