Babes Stripping For Love

It was three weeks into her new job as a restaurant junior manager in training. Mara’s grandparents had come through with their promise and gave her a job at one of the trendiest restaurants in town. The pay was good and Mara didn’t feel like she deserved it, though Keegan told her not to worry.

“It’s their way of saying that they wanted you to succeed. You can have savings on the side for rainy days, even for Cody’s education fund. Think about it.”

Mara leaned closer to her boyfriend. She didn’t feel so good. It has been days that she felt nauseated and even threw up a couple of times. Keegan was there for her. He even offered to take her to the doctor, but she kept on telling him that it was a stomach bug.

Mara knew something more was going on with her body. She thought she could handle it, but when it might be what she thought it was, she regretted the times when Keegan had come inside her. She was sure she had counted her ovulation days. She never missed them, it always came on time.

“I will.” She replied as she let him comfort her in his arms. It was her day off and Cody was at school after Keegan dropped him off.

“What time will you be meeting the girls? Maybe you should cancel it if you’re not feeling too good?” Keegan kissed the top of her head while his hand rested on her middle, keeping her comfortably in his embrace.

“I’ll be okay. It’ll only be for a couple of hours then Charlotte will take me to pick up Cody before we go straight home.” She didn’t tell Keegan that in between, Mara needed to buy a test pack and put her mind at ease. Maybe it was the stress of a new job, though she highly doubted it.

When Keegan took her to their usual coffee meet-up place, he kissed her goodbye and she kissed him back telling him that she loved him. It was true she did love him, while in the back of her mind, she did worry about his reaction if she was indeed pregnant.

Will he leave her as he did many years ago? Will he accuse her of getting pregnant to stay at his and forever attach herself to him? The thought of waking up alone left a bitter taste deep in her gut and she was hurrying herself to the restroom the second she entered the coffee shop.

Dee, Bree, Cassidy, and Charlotte had seen Mara and their eyes were on her when she dashed past their table.

“Hey, is everything okay? You look so pale?” Bree with her motherly instinct was the first to ask.

“I need to buy a test pack.” Mara blurted out to her best friends.

“Okay, is this good news?” Dee and her inquisitive mind asked as if she knew the answer already. And when Mara shook her head and her eyes were glassy with unshed tears, Charlotte put her hands on hers.

“Everything is going to be okay. You have us. Maybe it’s just a pregnancy scare?” Cassidy tried to calm her down.

Mara didn’t answer her, instead, she went on babbling with her worries. “What if he’s not ready? He left me at sixteen when he’s practically an adult at twenty-one. What makes you think he wouldn’t run when he found out that he’s going to be a dad?” Mara sobbed. “Oh… my God, I ruined everything haven’t I?”

“Hey, whatever it is, it won’t happen without the man’s involvement. Whether or not you’re pregnant, I truly think that he loves you and has matured from all those years ago. He will need to face it. But he’s very good with Cody. I’m sure it’ll work out in the end. It’s not like he hated kids?” It was Charlotte who pointed out that he may know already since it takes two to make a baby.

A baby.

“I just started working, and everything with me and my grandparents is getting better. They even met Cody a week ago. What if I was repeating my mom’s cycle all over again?” She asked no one in particular in her close circle of friends.

“Mara, I think you should not get ahead of yourself. Maybe take the test first, then we can discuss how you want to proceed from there?” Bree patiently advised her again.

“How about we go somewhere private? Take the coffee to go, buy that test pack, and go to my place?” Charlotte offered.

“Is Seamus home? What if Keegan is there?” Mara asked as she wiped her tears away.

“Oh right, how about your place?” Charlotte asked Cassidy and she nodded telling them that her place was better and closer.

When they arrived at Cassidy’s, they had managed to buy three different brands of pregnancy tests and Mara was nervous as hell. But she managed to do the tests and let them sit on the bathroom sink. And when all the tests finally told her that she was pregnant, she threw up as her body felt cold.

“Mara, honey… are you ready?” Mara heard Cassidy’s voice from the other side of the door.

“One minute,” Mara flushed the toilet and rinsed the foul taste from her mouth on the sink.

“I’m pregnant.” She held out the sticks to her friends and all of them came to her for a group hug.

“You’re going to give him the good news and everything will end happily ever after,” Bree told her. She was a couple of years older than some of the girls but her positivity and wisdom now that she had found her man had made her the unofficial mom of the group.

“Bree’s right, Keegan loves you. I am certain he will do the right thing.” Charlotte rubbed her shoulder soothingly.

“Come on, why don’t we celebrate with some ice cream.” It was Cassidy’s turn to convince Mara that everything was going to be perfectly fine. And Mara took a deep breath and followed her friends to the kitchen where Dee was already getting the bowls and spoons for them while she gossiped about her relationship with Rocco.

Mara welcomed the change of conversation as she heard how Dee and Rocco were trying out pegging and that got the girls giggling like school girls.

“Oh my God, I can’t undo his image now! Thank you, Dee!” Bree giggled but wrapped her arm around her friend’s shoulder. “Well, I think any kind of new sexual kinks is good for relationship growth. You’ve been with Rocco for many years now. It’s good to keep the romance alive.” She winked and Dee smiled smugly at the other girls as if the Queen Bee herself.

They continued to chat for another hour before Mara gathered the sticks, putting them back in the small paper bag they came with before slipping them inside her purse. Charlotte had her driver drive her and Mara to Cody’s school before dropping her and her little brother back at Keegan’s.

Mara had been nervous all afternoon. She tried hard to keep her dinner down and thankfully managed to do so. She was also able to tuck Cody in after reading him a bedtime story. She thought she could handle it until she lost the strength and threw up her dinner as her mind kept on going back and forth to Keegan.

It was just after eleven when Keegan’s finally arrived at home. Cody was still sleeping peacefully while Mara was pacing back and forth in the bedroom. The small paper bag rests on the bed. Mara had just finished emptying her stomach’s content once again when Keegan entered the bedroom.

“I’m pregnant.” She blurted out when Mara saw her boyfriend. But instead of his upset expression that she had been imagining, she saw his smile grow wider and his face brighten.

“You’re going to be the best mom.” He pulled her in for a kiss and she was glad that she gurgled with a mouthwash after her latest puking session.

“Okay, now I need to do this the right way. Please, sit down.” Keegan ushered her to sit on the edge of the bed and he kneeled while Mara looked at him with thousands of unspoken questions on the tip of her tongue.

“Mara, I’ve been carrying this around for weeks now.” Keegan pulled out a little ring box and her eyes were instantly teary.

“Mara, I love you. More than my own life. I’d die for you and will do anything in my power to make you happy. I vow to never leave you behind, ever again. I will be there for you, for our baby, for our future children, and always for Cody too. We will be the happiest family if you will take me as your husband. Mara, will you marry me?”

Mara was nodding, she was sobbing as her emotion was keeping her from uttering even a simple yes. But when Keegan slipped her a vintage diamond-crusted engagement ring. She loved it, it was the most beautiful ring she’d ever seen.

“Yes…” she was finally able to reply. “I’ll marry you.” She pulled Keegan from the floor and put her arms around his body, hugging him, kissing him, wanting to just melt into him and live happily ever after.

Mara was glad that her friends were right because she couldn’t handle it if it resulted the other way around.Nôvel(D)rama.Org's content.