It's time

 

Gabby had a feeling she did it this time when she looked at the receipt on her phone from the photo shoot. She winced hard, thinking why was she like this, spending money when she knew she should be saving. She put it on her credit card, so that had to help for something, right? It wasn't that she'd maxed it out, but she was still paying for Christmas.

When she got home, she noticed how the place had been tidied up.

"Did you do this?" She was shocked that Oliver had the energy to do it because he was always dragging with so many lesson plans, and now that track had started, he was helping the high school coach out for extra money from the school.

"No, Mom came over." He shrugged as if maybe he'd been through a horrible talk with her.

"What did she say?" Gabby asked out of concern, as if maybe she needed to say something to her.

"Not anything, she brought some dinners I froze so we'd have something to eat, you know-" He looked at her stomach as if he didn't need to tell her why.

Gabby nodded. "Well, what is it?" She knew they were actually doing OK. Carrie entertained herself a lot with her dolls and artwork.

"I just," he sighed. "I should have asked you sooner," He didn't look at her when he said it, but he took both of her hands, and they sat down on the empty couch that she'd forgotten was so yellow.

"I know we should be married by now," he said.

Gabby told him it was OK. She understood. They were both on the rebound, which felt funny to think. 

"I know it's me," Oliver explained. "I remember thinking when I was young, I always wanted to have a family. But..but it turned out different from what I expected.

"Well, you know, we were both in Foster care growing up." She remembered that, except that she was adopted, he wasn't until he was practically an adult. "I took advantage of my parents; I was not a good teenager." She nodded, thinking she still expected too much, but change was hard.

"You were, you were my friend." He recalled.

"You were a good listener," she told him. "You never once told me what was going on with you. All I could think about back then was what I wanted. And I'm still that way. I know that. "

His smile was weak when he looked into her eyes. She hugged him. Even if she was beginning to feel uncomfortable. She should be out walking, getting ready to have this baby, but they made plans to go down tomorrow to get a marriage license.