As soon as I got back to my room in the German house I immediately called Kirsten to talk about what had happened.
“I just can’t get over it,” she said. “He was in my Religion 101 class. I feel so bad for his parents. Speaking of parents, are you ready to go home this weekend? Have you told Mom and Daddy you’re coming?”
“I don’t think it’s something I can say on the phone or on Skype. I just need to get home and then we can talk everything over in person.”
I didn’t bother contacting Brad. Still, I wondered why he hadn’t come looking for me. I hadn’t directly told him about our baby, but surely word had gotten to him through the Elkie Grapevine by now?
Friday morning a knock on my door woke me.
It was Brad. “I’m glad you’re still here!” he said when I emerged from my room, a robe over my flannel pajamas. “Owen told me you were going out of town for the weekend. When are you leaving?”
He didn’t mention the baby. Maybe he hadn’t heard that part of the story?
“In a few hours,” I said. “Ian’s taking me to the airport.”
“Maybe you don’t have to go emptyhanded,” Brad said.
“What do you mean?”
He pulled a velvet box out of his pocket and got down on one knee. “Marry me. We can go over to the courthouse this afternoon. You can apply for financial aid and enroll in the local community college, or you can just wait until I graduate from here and you can finish school wherever you want, when Junior is a little older.”
Tears sprung to my eyes. “Oh, Brad!” I said and hugged him tight. He did love me!
“So I take that as a yes? Let’s go buy you a wedding outfit. Who can we take as witnesses?”
The practical questions brought me back to reality. What about my promise to Zoey to talk to her first if I was going to get back together with him? And did I really want to raise a baby with someone like Brad?
But if I didn’t marry him, who would ever take me? I was sure all Christian guys wanted to share their first time with their wife. I couldn’t offer that to anyone anymore. As much as I loved this baby, I knew he or she was like a living announcement of that fact. But then again, I didn’t want to get married in a courthouse either.
“Not today, Brad. I have to go home, at least for the weekend, to tell my parents what is going on. I’ll think and pray about it. Maybe we will get married one day, but not like this. Can you wait?”
“Sounds like I don’t have any choice. At least let me hang out with you today before you go?”
Zoey came out from her room into the hall just then. "Giselle, good you're up. Hurry up and get ready, or did you forget? Sorry, Brad, but the girls and I are taking her out for a goodbye breakfast, no boys allowed." She winked at me.
I smiled back, grateful to her for looking out for me once again. I didn't know how I was going to answer Brad, but I definitely needed the space.
