The sound of someone clearing their throat startled me, and I turned away from Michael. In front of me stood Dane and Eden. They were an incredible-looking couple. He was dressed in a tuxedo while Eden glowed in a green strapless gown. I couldn't stop the genuine smile that spread across my face.
"Dane, Eden, you two look amazing." I smiled at them both and snuggled into Michael's side with my hand on his chest. "This is my husband. Michael, this is Dane and Eden Kauffmann. They're the ones responsible for this event." I wanted it to sound as if I hadn't spoken of them before, which was a total lie. Michael knew exactly who they were, and was very excited to meet them both.
After I met Michael, I'd told him everything. Every dirty truth about who I was and where I had been. That included Dane. He had never disliked the man I'd once shared my life with, and had even told me he was glad I had been lucky enough to have someone like Dane on my side. He commonly referred to my ex as his placeholder, keeping me available and alive long enough for him to find me.
"Very nice to meet you, Michael," Dane said, shaking his hand. "And you look stunning, Gabi. Pregnancy and marriage seem to suit you well."
I smiled. "Being healthy helps with that, too."
"Of course. Thank you so much for agreeing to do this. We've followed your organization for a while and have wanted to do something to help for some time now. What you're doing is amazing, and I couldn't be more proud of you."
We all talked a little more before sitting down together at the head table. Michael and Dane conversed as Eden and I chatted about pregnancy and babies. She showed me pictures of Adam and told me all about him. He was four and had just started preschool. He sounded so smart, exactly like his daddy. He was the spitting image of Dane, and I knew he was the apple of their eye. Not for long, though, since Eden was eight months pregnant with their second child. She was exactly four weeks ahead of me.
"Do you know what you're having?" she asked as she touched my stomach.
"No. We want it to be a surprise. Very few things in life are these days, so we want to keep this one. Makes shopping and names hard, but it's worth it in the end."
"I understand. I wanted to keep it a surprise with Adam, but Dane wanted to know. He found out and I told him not to tell me. We had names picked out for both even though he already knew what it would be. Dane woke me up one morning talking to my belly, calling him Adam. But I was okay with it. I couldn't have imagined a better way for the surprise to have been ruined."
I couldn't help but laugh. I thought it would have been weird to hear a woman talk about all the things I once wanted with the man she married, but it wasn't. Maybe it was because I no longer wanted or needed any of that with anyone other than Michael.
"Do you know what you're having?" I asked and rubbed her stomach as she had done mine.
"A girl. Evelynn Rose."
"That's beautiful. Congratulations again."
Michael interrupted by placing his hand over my belly. He then leaned in to kiss me.
There's a reason for everything.
Regardless of whether you see the meaning at the time, or never grasp the gravity of why it happened-there was a purpose. You may not like it, you may not agree with it, and you may not even benefit from it …
But there's always a reason.