Page 35 of Mate Match: Curtis & Jae
“There’s something I wanted to tell you all,” Curtis began.
“Jae moved in permanently?” Ricky asked hopefully. He turned to me. “Are you going to rent your place out?”
“Yes. I’ve given the apartment to an agency for them to lease it for me. I love living with Curtis,” I answered honestly. Taking that leap of faith had been the best thing for our relationship. Not once had I regretted moving in.
My boyfriend squeezed my thigh gently. “Love having Jae here. Especially since he brought Percy, too.”
“I love Percy. He’s fluffy,” Milo commented from his place on the floor, where he was tempting my cat with scraps from his plate.
“That wasn’t what I wanted to tell you.” Curtis paused, looking at me. “Me and Jae are having a baby!”
The room erupted in chaos. Everyone congratulated us with hugs and lots of happy exclamations. It was so warm and welcoming; I struggled to hold back tears. Curtis had told me they’d be overjoyed, I just hadn’t expected them to be so welcoming.
“Well, that makes two new babies for the family then,” Lara spoke over the din. “Jennie’s five months pregnant! We wanted to wait to check…”
Curtis pulled his sister into a tight hug. I went to Jennie and wrapped my arms around her.
“I’m going to be a big brother!” Milo had abandoned Percy to hug his grandpa.
“And a cousin! Two babies for you to help with, Milo.” Ricky turned Milo on his lap so he could feed the child. “Grab grandpaanother slice of that quiche. I’m going to need more energy for all these grandchildren.”
“Congratulations!” I said to Jennie, really meaning it. Curtis had told me about their problems. I was relieved not to be causing pain on our happy occasion.
“You, too! Curtis is so sweet. I’m glad he has you and now your little one on the way.”
I looked at the man a computer had decided was pretty much my ideal match. “I’m glad I have him.”
Sixteen
Curtis
Givenhowwellthemeeting went with my family and how overjoyed they were for us, I thought Jae would be more enthusiastic about taking me to see his parents so we could tell them our news.
Avoiding their calls and messages surprised me. I knew he was still having some sickness, though it was lessening now he was done with the first trimester. He eventually told me he wanted to wait until after the scan to tell his family because he feared the stress was going to harm our baby.
His family would not approve of me. I got that. They wanted another Korean guy in the family. There was pressure from his grandparents to marry well, and the only way he could do it was if the man was someone like Hwan. It didn’t matter to them that Jae wanted a partnership. He had his own goals in life. My man was about to release his first children’s book with illustrations he’d drawn himself. Something I supported him fully in. Oneday he would be rich and famous and I’d be the kept husband looking after the kids, I often teased him. I’d be happy to do it.
My dad was still fairly fit and active. He wanted to help with childcare and offered to babysit a couple of days a week, while Jae worked from home to create the sequel and do any other work he had. Dad would come to our house on the days he took care of the baby so Jae could get some hours in. I was going to train up a couple of my crew to take on more jobs, helping me cut my hours to forty, max. It was time to prioritize my family.
We didn’t need either of us to work all the time to provide. The house had a tiny mortgage I could probably pay off with my savings, but I was secretly adding to them to start a college fund and maybe pay for a wedding.
Jae was my future. I wanted to make sure he knew it.
“Now,” Erika said with a smile. “Let’s go see your baby, shall we?”
She led us to a room where the sonographer was waiting. I didn’t pay much attention to the sonographer, couldn’t even have pulled them out of a lineup, because I was too distracted by what was about to happen. We were finally going to see our baby!
“Tracy will put the gel on your tummy and you’ll feel pressure as she gets the best picture of your baby,” Erika explained the process.
“Ah, cold!” Jae shied away when the gel was poured on him.
“Sorry,” Tracy said, setting to work.
Quicker than I thought, the flub-flub sound filled the room.
“A very healthy heartbeat,” Erika remarked. She looked at the screen and muttered something to Tracy. “See there, that’s the baby’s head and down here is their spine. They are measuring perfectly for their gestation period. Great job, Jae.”
“Thank you,” he mumbled, with tears in his eyes. “I can’t believe that’s our baby.”
