Chapter 69: Love Is Blind

After Allen’s birthday, the Sheridans decided to take all of the children to the park to give the Pruetts a little break. The children were hoping to make some new friends, but there were no other children at the park that evening. Bianca saw Mackinzie and ran up to say hello. But when she got in front of her, she was in for a huge surprise.

“WHOA! You’re…what happened??”

“Isn’t it great?!”

“Ummm…” Bianca hesitated.

“Where’s your husband? I want him to know what he did!”

“What’s going on, Mackinzie? What does my husband have to do with this??”

“Hi Mackinzie! WHOA!! What happened?!”

“Yeah, Mackinzie,” Bianca chimed in. “Shouldn’t you be an elder by now?”

“The baby is keeping me young!”

“I’m very happy for you, Mackinzie, but what in the world happened? Last week you were down on yourself for not having children, and now you turn up pregnant. Forgive us for being shocked and confused, but…you understand, right?”

“Of course. I know it’s a bit of a shock. Heck! It was even more of a shock for me! So when I left your house last week, I went into a terrible depression. I think that was the first time I had ever verbalized my feelings, and it really got to me. Some kind of way, I ended up at the library! Of all the places, huh? Anyway, there was this young man there, and he was new to town and was looking to make friends. I wasn’t interested. But he was very persistent. After a while I was more annoyed than depressed, and so I thought if I had a conversation with him he would leave me alone. We began to talk, and he kept telling me how beautiful I was and how he didn’t understand why someone like me wasn’t married, yada yada yada. I thought about what you said, Giancarlo, about it not being too late, and I decided to give him a chance. He took me out, and we had the most amazing time! One thing led to another, and we ended up back at my place! I woke up not feeling so well, and I had never felt that way before. Because you were right about one part of it, I decided to take a pregnancy test just to prove you wrong, but you were right! I was soo scared though. I mean, I had just met this man, and now I’m pregnant with his baby. I wanted to send him away and never see him again and just deal with things on my own, but that wouldn’t be fair to him or the baby. So, I mustered up all the courage I had to share the big news, and to my surprise, he was super excited! He said he wanted to move in with us and buy us a bigger house! It was beyond real!! But, I just want to thank you, Giancarlo, for being soo positive and believing for me. I would have blown him off and would have died alone if it weren’t for you!”

“Wow,” Giancarlo said. “That’s some tale! So where is this mystery man? As a matter of fact, you look like you could be due any minute! Should be out here by yourself?”

“Yeah, I should really get home. But, if you guys have a few minutes, I would love for you to meet him.”

“Sure, we can do that. Bianca, get the boys and send them home. I’ll wrangle the girls.”

They followed Mackinzie to her new home. It was a nice three bedroom one bath home that was actually right next door to their old house.

Mackinzie went in the back to find her boyfriend to meet her family, but he wasn’t at home.

“He must haved stepped out. I’m not sure where he could have gone at this hour.”

“That’s fine. We’ll give him a few minutes.”

“Mackinzie,” Bianca called from the back, “Can I speak with you for a minute?”

“I’ll be right back,” she said to her guests.

“What’s up, cuz,” she said nursing her aching back

“I’m really happy for you, I am. But, how do you know you can trust this guy?”

“That’s the beauty of it! I don’t know if I can trust him, but I am willing and ready to find out.”

“So, you’re just gonna let this man buy you this nice house, sleep in your bed, and raise your baby when you’re gone and you barely know him and don’t know if you trust him??”

“I get it, Bianca! But what’s done is done! I can’t put a return to sender sticker on the baby! And I’m sure as heck not gonna let him go. You’ve had a love all your grown life. I haven’t! Let me have this!”

“I’m sorry. You know how I am. You know why I worry.”

“Yes, I know why, but you need to let that go and stop trying to put that on everyone! What happened happened between them. It’s not an epidemic that can spread. It was a lone, one-off incident between two people. Let it go!”

“I don’t know how!”

“Figure it out!”

“I need to get back to my girls.”

“Everthing cool,” Giancarlo asked.

“Yep.”

“Are you sure?”

“Giancarlo, please. Not in front of the girls!”

“Hey! This is the first time we’ve all been in the same room together since your birthdays! I feel like singing…

Me and my girls rockin’ all night long

Me and my girls sing the sweetest songs

I got my BJ and my Cadence and my Melody

Come on baby girls sing along with me!”

“You’re soo funny, daddy,” Cadence said.

“It’s getting late. Let’s go,” Bianca ordered.

“Mackinzie, we’re going to go now. Tell…what’s this man’s name anyway?”

“Skylar Aleman.”

“Tell Skylar we’ll meet him another time. Please call me when you’re home from the hospital, ok?”

“Sure thing.”

“Ok. Take care. I’ll pray for twins.”

“Don’t you even dare!”