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Alissa left the doctor’s office feeling good. The baby was healthy and where he should be at this point in the pregnancy. They had given her another picture and she couldn’t wait to show Brooke. She also asked for a second one to give Denise. After all, she had been terrific and Alissa knew how much she wanted to be a part of this baby’s life. This would be a good surprise for her.

 

On the way back to Brooke’s, Alissa stopped by Denise’s house and rang the bell. She waited a few minutes and, when no one answered, she put the picture in an envelope and left it in the mailbox. She would call Denise and leave her a message letting her know it was there. As she was turning around to leave, she saw a familiar truck pull into the driveway.  The truck parked and AJ stepped out. Alissa felt like all the air had been sucked out of her body and all she wanted to do was get out of there.

 

AJ had a different reaction. He always thought Alissa was beautiful but seeing her pregnant was a whole other level of beautiful. She truly was glowing. Unfortunately, there was also an extreme sadness that had taken over her face. AJ was devastated, knowing that he caused that look. All he wanted to do was run over to her, kiss her and tell her how much he loved her.  The problem was he was so floored by all of these emotions that he was almost frozen to the ground.

 

“Hi.” was all he could manage.

 

“Hi. I’m sorry; I wouldn’t have come here if I knew you were back. I was just leaving.”

 

Not giving him a chance to say anything else, she got into her car and sped past him out of the driveway.

 

AJ stood there for a few minutes kicking himself for not doing or saying something. He started walking into the house when he realized there was an envelope sticking out of the mailbox and he remembered that Alissa was putting something in there before she left.  He pulled it out and opened it up. He gasped and almost dropped the picture. The baby suddenly became much more real to him. The little boy in the picture was beautiful and he was overcome with emotion. It was real, he was having a son.