Part One

When Anna's mother found out that she was pregnant it was not a joyous occasion to say the least. There was no happy announcement, no party being thrown and no showing off sonograms. Her mother instead hid the whole thing from everyone...including her then husband Greg Shene. She knew that if he found out things would go from bad to worse.

“ Mr and Mrs Shene, I hate to tell you this but due to the accident at the warehouse you may have to look at other ways to have a child. I am sorry.” The doctor had sounded so solemn and the room went deathly quiet. So quiet that you could hear the receptionist in the other room across the hall typing away at her computer. No one dared to utter a word until Anna's mother couldn't hold it in any longer.

“ I'm so sorry Darlene. If I could find someone to make your dream come true I would.” Greg wrapped his arms around sobbing wife and held onto her tightly. Darlene didn't have the strength to pull away nor did she want to. She sunk farther into his 6'5 frame and body building arms and just sobbed more. How could this happen to a young couple like this? What was the reason to have this gift taken away? They weren't bad people. They went to church every week and they even volunteered in the church. She was a third year Sunday School teacher and he played the lead guitar on their worship team. After the accident at his job last year they had prayed so hard that things would work out. That by some miracle they could start the family they always wanted. But it just didn't seem in the cards.

That appointment seemed to have been forever ago. The next two years flew by and still no miracle baby. They didn't want to believe the doctor...they wanted to believe in their faith. They scheduled prayer time with the pastors and even under went counseling to ensure that their marriage would last through this trying time. The young twenty-one year olds figured they could get through it with no problem.

“ Greg maybe it is time that we look into adoption. We could -...” Darlene cautiously said. Knowing that they had had this discussion before while dating and the answer never seemed to change.

“ NO! You know darn well that I have always wanted a child of our own or nothing at all.” He announced before she could finish her thought. “ How many times do we have to go over this? When we got married that was what you promised. You agreed that the only way we would have children is through us...not some stranger and not some stranger's baby.”

“ That was before the accident though Greg. Things have got to be changed. We no longer have that option.” Darlene held tears back.

“I am not going to argue with you on this one Darlene, now drop it. You'll just have to be happy with the two of us....that's it!” Greg went back to watching the basketball game that had been muted in the background. Darlene knew that he would not be listening anymore. It seemed lately all he wanted to do was look at that screen. He hardly ever wanted to look at her.

She figured that it was as good a time as any to go for her daily jog. Maybe if she kept in shape he would keep being interested in her. As she took one last look at the back of his sandy blond head, she tried to smile. She had promised God and everyone else that no matter what life threw at them, she would always be thankful to him as her husband.

Life for Michael Andrews seemed to be standing still. He loved the job that he was at, but could never really quite motivate himself to do more that the bare minimum at times. Sure he loved teaching people the basics of computers and didn't mind giving the occasional lecture at a college, but he wanted more than that. He wanted to know that his work was making a difference in someone's life. How long would he have to be stuck doing the same thing and feel no different?

“ You know Michael sometimes I think you daydream more than the kids that we teach.” Darlene Carroll's voice broke in his thoughts.

“ You may be right Darlene. You can't blame a guy for getting lost every now and then though can you?” He got up from the break room table and started clearing his mess. He and Darlene had been assigned as partners a year back. Not so much partners as teacher/ teacher's assistant. At twenty she didn't feel the confidence of going on her own so she had asked him if she could shadow him for awhile until she could settle in. He had willingly agreed. It might make the students pay attention more if someone close to their age was helping out instead of them listening to thirty-seven year old. At their age he was considered too old to know what was hip and cool.

“ So how are things with the husband?” He asked casually leaning against the counter, arms crossed in front of his fit chest.

“ Things are going good I guess.” She didn't make eye contact which struck Michael as odd. Usually she was very happy when the subject of Greg came up.

“ Just good? Come on now I know your guys' anniversary is coming up. Any romantic plans?”

“I am usually the romantic one when it comes to planning for it. He doesn't mind though and I have to say neither do I. I want us to go on this romantic getaway to an Island off the coast of Europe. It looks so romantic and secluded.” She caught herself smiling at the thought.

“ Sounds very lovely. The students will miss you but I might miss you more... because I have gotten used to having back up.” He smiled and touched her arm. “ I'll see you back in the classroom.”

“ Alright.” Darlene waved and smiled. He was always so nice to her. He accepted her help the moment she had asked a few years back and then agreed to let her shadow him for awhile. Things had been going very well.

Greg was struggling. He had been struggling for awhile but didn't want to admit it. Everything seemed to be going downhill faster than he could ever imagine. His wife Darlene seemed insistent on having a child even though it was impossible. He wanted to be closer to her badly but just didn't know how anymore. The one thing she really wanted was the one thing they couldn't have.

Replaying the events in his head from last week made him cringe.

“You agreed that the only way we would have children is through us...not some stranger and not some stranger's baby.” He had said that to the woman he loved. Why did he feel the need to say that then and what is making him say that now? What would be wrong with adopting a child? There were plenty of them out there and all deserve a loving home.

The only thing he could think of was the fact that he grew up in the foster system and when he was finally adopted , the parents he was placed with didn't quit mesh with him. They always wanted to tell him what to do and never once was he treated like the kids they already had. He felt that because of this experience it would be hard to bring a child into their home and treat them as their own.

Later on that day Greg had come to the conclusion that his experience was actually the reason why they SHOULD adopt a child. Just because he was treated horribly did not mean he had to take that experience and put another child through it. He loved his wife and wanted her to be happy. The fact that adopting was a sore spot had nothing to do with her.

Michael ended his day on a high note. While gathering his papers he caught himself whistling. While he couldn't be completely sure where this would lead him, he had to say this was the best day of his life. Aside from his daughter being born of course. Andrews was just about to close up his classroom when he found something lying on the floor. Without thinking about it he picked the object up and tossed it into his desk drawer. Still whistling Michael locked up and headed home to get started on his weekend.

Greg was finishing the final touches on his surprise for his wife when he heard the door to their apartment open. Taking one last look around the kitchen he decided it was going to have to do.

“ Hey hon, welcome home!”

“ Thanks babe.” She hardly looked up at him as she dragged all her stuff through the door.

“ I have a great weekend planned for us so I hope you are ready.” He finished walking towards her to help out with her full hands.

“ I'm kind of tired. Do you mind if I just take a moment and relax before we start anything...” It was at that moment she looked up and noticed the place had been completely decorated. There were heart shaped balloons in the corner of the living room and at the rose pedals leading to the kitchen.

Before Darlene could make her way to any other part of the apartment, Greg was standing there with a blindfold.

“ I want to surprise you with the rest of the place.” He smiled as he placed the blindfold on her and after making sure she couldn't see, lead her to the dining room.

Sitting her down gently at the head of the table he slowly pulled the blindfold off and stood in front of her. What laid before her took her breathe away. Before her was a fully set table , complete with a beautiful table cloth and their best china. Two wine glasses with a bottle of the finest wine he could find. Scattered all around the table were more rose petals and in the middle of the table was a big vase of a dozen pink roses. The same color that he had bought her on their first date when they were just sixteen years old.

The whole setting was gorgeous. Darlene actually had tears coming to her eyes. She could not believe that her husband was being this romantic. After the week they had she was sure he would still be upset with her. She had guessed wrong. This was the second most romantic moment in her life. There was nothing that could ruin this moment.

After the wonder dinner which consisted of pasta and meatballs with a side of Caesar salad and garlic bread. All of Darlene's favorites. She was in Heaven and it was about to get better.

“ I made this night special because I wanted to talk to you about a pretty big decision. I was thinking that maybe we could revisit the whole adoption thing.” Greg began as he took a sip of his wine, taking a peek up at his wife.

“ What???” She about spit her own sip out.

“ I have been thinking that I have been very rude about the whole subject and that was not fair to you. I should have been more understanding to what you wanted as well. This has to be a collaborative decision. So what do you think? Do you want to still go through the adoption process and get us a little munchkin?”

Darlene dropped her fork on the ground before he could finish his last word. Flinging herself on to his lap she couldn't hide his excitement.

“ I take that as a yes?” He kissed her back passionately. The two lost each other in each others embrace totally forgetting the food that was now starting to get cold. As Greg carried his wife up to their bedroom she had almost forgotten how strong he was. She buried herself in his chest taking in the smell of the combination of body wash and cologne.

What happened that whole weekend was a lot of reconnecting for the young couple. The magic seemed to be back in their marriage and Darlene couldn't be happier. It was the best time in their marriage that had been in a very long time. Nothing else seemed to matter, nor anybody else. It was just her and him getting to know each other intimately all over again. She had missed the way he held her in his arms and as the drifted off to sleep both exhausted but energized at the same time, she pulled his arms tighter around her.