Jarley: Be Mine Forever

Chapter 28

"I had made friends before anyone even knew, but only two actually stuck around after everyone knew I was pregnant. Johnathan and Sophie."

"Are you still friends with them?"

"Yes, Sophie is like Liv's best friend"

"What about Johnathan? Is he still around?"

"Yeah, he and Sophie got married last year, they're Liv's godparents."

"They were you're only friends?"

"No, I made a friend after everyone knew I was pregnant, her name is Lacey."

"Wait, you became friends after she found out you were pregnant?"

"Yeah, she had a daughter a year before me and when she heard, she thought I would need a friend."

"But, I still don't understand what this has to do with you becoming a singer."

"Just wait." Marley chuckled as Jake signaled for her keep talking.

"After a while we became really close and she moved in with me and helped me with my pregnancy." Marley paused and looked at Liv, who was still sleeping. "One day she heard me singing in the shower, and later she asked me to sing for her."

Jake had a confused look on his face. "I'm lost."

"Her dad was a manager, and she told me that she wanted him to hear me sing. I was really nervous, but after a while she convinced me to go. I was afraid that he wouldn't want to sign me because I was pregnant. When we got there he said that he didn't care if I was pregnant or not, that if I had a good enough voice and was willing to put in the work there was a good chance he would sign me."

"Is that what ended up happening?"

"Yeah, he signed me. I was almost seven months pregnant then."

"How did that work out?"

"He said it would take a couple of months to record the songs, but I still wanted to stay in school so we had to work around my schedule."

"That sounds hard." Jake gave Marley a sad smile, he felt guilty for not being there.

"I was really busy all the time and wanted to have Liv already, but I also couldn't believe what was happening. After I had the baby, we spent a few months writing and recording, he really wanted to get a lot of music recorded. There are so many songs that we didn't release."

"I know that you wrote the songs you sang."

"I did, some of them were written with other people. My career didn't really start picking up until a couple months before my last year in college. People wanted to be my friend once I was becoming famous, the same people who refused to talk to me when I was pregnant."

"What'd you do?"

"I was nice, but I wasn't their friend. It was a little more difficult to watch Liv and go to school and do things for my career all at the same time so I hired a nanny to help. I hated missing time with Liv, but Zoe, the nanny, only watched her during school hours and a little bit after so I could go to meetings and get in the studio. I still got a lot of time with Liv, I was trying so hard to get my dreams and make a good life for her."

"What happened after graduation?"

"I spent time building my career even more and worked harder. Lacey graduated at the same time as me and she worked along with her dad as my manager."

"I'm so proud of you, Marls. You have no idea." Jake stroked Marley's cheek.

"I'm proud of you too." Marley leaned into his touch. "I love you."

"I love you too. What's going on with your career now?"

"I took some time off before I have to start on my new album. But, I think that time needs to be extended." Marley rubbed her stomach. "I'm supposed to be back in LA next week to start. I'm going to have to call Lacey, she's going to be happy and pissed at the same time."

"You should call her soon."

"I'll call her later today. I want her to meet you, maybe she could fly out here." Marley ate a few more pieces of fruit.

"I would love to meet her."

"She knows all about you." Marley felt her eyelids getting heavy.

"So you talked about me?" Jake smiled.

"Of course I did. Let's go back to sleep for a few hours and when we wake up I'll call Lace."

Marley and Jake fell asleep with Liv and Marley woke up a few hours later. She got out of bed and left the bedroom, she went into the livingroom and dialed Lacey's number on her phone. After a few rings she heard her best friends voice coming through her phone. "Lace?"

"Hey, Marley. How are things in Ohio?"

"Good. Great, actually."

"What's got you so happy?" Lacey chuckled on the other end.

"There are a few things I need to talk to you about, and there's someone I want you to meet."

"Who? What do you want to talk about?"

"Do you think you can come here? It's some big news and I don't want to tell you over the phone."

"There? To Ohio? I guess, but what's so big you can't tell me over the phone?"

"I'll tell you when you get here."

"I'm sorta nervous and excited at the same I'm there I want to visit your mom. I'll try to get the next flight out."

"Okay, great! I'll pick you up at the airport."

"See you then, Marls."

"Bye, Lace. Text me when your scheduled to arrive."

"I will, bye."

Marley hung up the phone and turned around to see Jake standing there smiling, she jump. "You scared the hell out of me. How long were you standing there?"

"A few minutes. Do you want me to watch Liv when you pick her up?"

"Could you? I might take her to my mom's house, I'll make lunch before I go."

"It's all set then."

"Let's go make something for you and Liv to eat."

"You're not going to eat?"

"Pregnant woman don't eat three big meals, we eat a lot of small meals. When my stomach is empty it makes nausea worse."

"I'm going to do some pregnancy research." Jake laughed as he followed Marley into the kitchen.