Then There Was You

“Sofia, from the moment I first saw you, I knew you were the one with whom I wanted to share my life. Your beauty, heart, and mind inspire me to be the best person I can be. I promise to love you for eternity, respecting you, honoring you, being faithful to you, and sharing my life with you. This is my solemn vow.”

The words that he spoke almost a year ago before in front of two witnesses, a minister and their son still brought tears to her eyes. Sofia was laying on the couch in the apartment with the comforter from the closet over her pajama clad body with her son who was sick and had given his cold to her. Running her hand through Bryson's thick brown hair. She knew everyday that she was blessed with what she had. She had a son who meant the world to her, a husband who treated her like she was a princess. At times she liked it, but there were the moments she didn't and those moments were the ones that usually led to fights between them. They were just like any other couple in her opinion, besides that in two weeks her husband would be starting in his first NHL game for the Buffalo Sabres.

Hearing the front door open and close, she opened her eyes before closing them again. It took her an hour to get Bryson to lay with her and fall asleep and there was no way she was going to move if she didn't have to. Hearing the familiar clicking of a camera, Sofia opened her eyes and saw the end of Ryan's camera. She shook her head at him. “You probably should ask someone if they want their picture taken before you just go and take it. They might not like it.”

“Even when your both sick, you know how to make me want to have another baby. He's growing up so fast.”

“I'm just glad that his fever is gone.”

“Yeah, he wanted nothing to do with Uncle Drew while he was here.”

“That's because Uncle Drew starts college soon and he'll be playing hockey and Bryson just didn't want his uncle to have to sit out because he's sick.”

“Or he just loves how he can get away with snuggling with mommy when he starts feeling icky,” Ryan said as he put his camera away and made his way to the other side of the couch. “But I don't think mommy minds too much.”

“I'll take the time with him when I can. He's my baby.”

“He's not going to stay a baby for long, but he'll be your little helper when we have the next one.”

“But that won't be until he's out of diapers,” Sofia sighed as she felt Ryan's hand brush some of her hair out of her eyes. “I still think its too soon. And we don't have room here. We agreed on this, didn't we?”

“Doesn't mean I can't dream about extending our family,” he smiled. “So did you make a decision? About that letter Ashley told you about? From your family.”

“What family?” Sofia asked. “You and Bryson are my family and I'm okay with that.”

“Do you want to know what they say?”

“What can they say after all this time?” Sofia asked. “Answering them back would be asking for drama and we really don't need that.”

“Want me to put him to bed?” Ryan asked.

“Can you do it without waking him up?” Sofia asked, as she rubbed Bryson's back when he started whimpering.

“Do you want to take the rest of your nap on the couch?” Ryan asked.

“No, but I also don't want you to wake him up since he is finally sleeping,” Sofia said while yawning. “If you wake him, you can get him to go to sleep.”

Carefully picking up his son, Ryan kissed his head before Bryson started moving his head from one side to the next on Ryan's chest. Knowing that he was no longer with his mom, Bryson started squirming until Ryan started talking to him softly as he walked into his son's room that had toys all over the floor.

When he was sure Bryson was fast asleep, Ryan closed his bedroom door only leaving it cracked open. He hadn't heard Sofia go to their bedroom. If she had gone to the bedroom she would have looked in on them and waited for him to make sure he was sleeping before figuring out what they wanted to do for dinner that night. But she didn't. Ryan walked towards the living area and saw the comforter on the couch. Walking over to it, he was about to grab it, when he noticed the stain on it. Looking at it he knew exactly what it was.

Making his way over to the bathroom, he knocked on the door. “Are you okay?”

“Go away.”

“Sofia...”

“Ryan, I seriously love you, but go away right now.”

“Are you okay?”

With a sigh, Sofia walked over to the door and gave him a look. “The bathroom door is closed. It means I need privacy.”

“I saw the blood.”

“I skipped two of my periods and I thought I was pregnant and I guess I'm not since I just got mother nature's idea of a gift.”

“Did you ever take a test?” he asked as moved to let her out of the bathroom.

“Yeah, it was negative, but I just didn't know how to tell you.”

“Tell me what? That it was possible that we might have another baby?”

“I just-” Sofia said as they walked into their bedroom. “I know you want another one.”

“I don't get why you didn't tell me when you first suspected that you might have been pregnant. It's not like I would have been upset or anything.”

“That isn't why I didn't tell you.” Sofia said as she crawled into bed and under the covers, but Ryan laid on top of the covers.

“What's going on? You know you can tell me.”

“I just didn't want to get your hopes up,” Sofia said as she looking into his eyes. “Seeing the disappointment in your eyes hurts more than not telling you at all. Then at least I know you wouldn't be upset because we aren't pregnant again.”

“We'll stick to the plan,” Ryan told her as he ran his hand down her face. “When Bryson is out of diapers and we move into a bigger place, then we can start actively trying for a baby girl.”

“I told you, no girls, all boys.”

“Don't most girls want a little girl to teach the girl stuff to?” he asked.

“Drew can have the girls, I'll be fine with the boys. That way we know there won't be any heartbreaks within the family.”

“What happened with your sister and your ex is in the past and there is no way that could happen to our family.”

“How do you know? I mean I never thought it could happen to me and yet it did.”

“Because that guy is nothing more than a little boy.”

“Daphne is pregnant again.” Sofia sighed as she moved closer to her husband.

“Was that in the letter?”

“Yeah. And she wants me to meet her other kid. She says its time that I get over it and that I'm being a bitch for not talking to them for so long.”

“They don't know your married or that you have your own family,” Ryan said kissing the top of her head. “Your sister is nothing more than a little girl with too much drama. You knew this. It was one of the reasons why you made me agree to not go back to your home and tell your family about anything.”

“Do you think that I was wrong in keeping them out of our life?” Sofia asked as she felt Ryan's arms wrap around her. “If we let them into our life, they'll be hitting us up for money and Daphne will make us regret having anything to do with her. I don't want to have our family brought into stuff like that. Do you?”

“I think you are trying to protect Bryson and even me from them. And I love you for it, but is there a chance that you're trying to hide and pretend that they don't exist? Yes they did wrong by you, but maybe we should give them a chance to prove that things are different now.”

“Even if I don't believe it is?”

“Sofia, sometimes you have to take the chance to find out. If worse comes to worse, we can escape back here. We won't tell them where we live and it isn't as if we have to stay with them.”

“We could go and see Miranda's parents? After all they've done for us?”

“Yeah, maybe they'd like to see Bryson in person and not in the pictures you send them all the time.”

“That would be great.” Sofia yawned.

“Get some sleep, I'm home and I'll watch the little man when he gets up.”

“You might want to eat then,” Sofia sighed before another yawn escaped her. “You'll need the energy to keep up with him.”

Placing a kiss on her head. Sofia fell asleep faster than either of them thought she would.

Ryan had made it into the NHL. That was something that he and Sofia were celebrating a lot. It had only been a month, but he loved it. It was what he dreamed about and now it was reality. Bryson was well enough to come to the first game. It made all the difference, having his family there supporting him. His parents were there and Drew didn't have class the next day, so he left right after his last class so he could support his brother.

But even though he had the support of the ones he loved and cared about more than anything, he was still nervous. He and Sofia had agreed to meet up with her family, but not in Buffalo or Erie. They had decided to meet in Pittsburgh since Ryan would be playing the Pittsburgh Penguins that week. And since the time flew by rather fast, Sofia was doing last minute packing. It wasn't her stuff although that was something she hadn't even started on yet.

Currently she was sitting in front of Bryson's dresser trying to figure out what the weather would be like. He was over his cold, but this was his second time on a plane. She just hoped that he would be okay during the flight. She knew she didn't like when kids would scream throughout the entire flight and just hoped that her own son wouldn't be like that. Glancing towards the door she saw Ryan carrying a sleeping Bryson into the room.

“You haven't packed his stuff yet?”

“I feel like if I don't bring certain things, the weather will turn into the opposite than what its supposed to be, ya know?”

“Worse comes to worse we can find a store and pick something up.” Ryan said as he laid Bryson into his bed.

“And if we can't find a store?”

“Pittsburgh isn't a small town, I'm sure if we need to find something that we can.”

“I'm his mother I should know what he needs,” Sofia said as she grabbed an extra bag of diapers and placed them into the suitcase. “How many wipes are left in the open package?”

“Enough to get us there and even a day or two afterward. We aren't staying that long. I play in two days and then we meet your family the day after and depending on how that goes, you can stay an extra day or you can come home with me.”

“I'll want to come home with you, I just wish we were able to see Miranda's parents.” Sofia said as Ryan picked up the suitcase and walked into their bedroom.

“We'll do it another time,” Ryan promised setting the suitcase on the floor. “I promise.”

“And so far you are 50/50 on those.”

“What are you talking about?”

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes before looking over at him. “You said that we'd have a bigger place before we have another kid. We are still in the same two bedroom apartment that we've had since I came here over a year ago.”

“Why does that matter?” Ryan asked tossing some extra things into the suitcase before the words sunk in. “Are you-”

“Pregnant?” Sofia asked.

Watching Ryan nod his head, Sofia gave a small smile and nodded her head as well.

Taking a few steps, he took her into his arms. Sofia wrapped her arms round him and buried her face into his chest. “What are we going to do? I think it's a little soon for this.”

“It might be unexpected, but maybe its telling us that we should start to look for places to move to.”

“When we get back?”

“After the paycheck goes into the bank,” Ryan told her. “We have money saved, but I want to make sure the place we move to is somewhere we can see ourselves with our kids for years to come.”

“Maybe we should wait on buying a house and just find a larger apartment. This place was fine when it was just you and me, but Bryson is walking now and this one might need his space too.”

“His?”

“I know its a boy,” Sofia grinned. “Mother's intuition.”

“I'm sure it isn't wishful hoping on your part.” Ryan said.

“Can we not tell anyone?” Sofia asked. “Since it's still early.”

“Don't want your sister to know since they are trying again and aren't able to get pregnant?”

“I just don't want them to know,” Sofia said. “They'll suck the happiness out of it. And I want to be happy.”

“I want us to be happy.”

“Forever?” Sofia asked as she stood on her tippy toes and placed a kiss on Ryan's lips. A short and sweet kiss that held more meaning for the two of them.

“Forever,” he nodded his head. “I love you Sofia Miller.”

“I love you too, Ryan Miller,” she smiled. “And I'd love you even more if you'd help me finish packing everything so it will be all done in the morning.”