But she was certainly the most exciting thing that had ever happened to him, and he enjoyed the distraction she provided from the tedious hours of studying and doing research for his dissertation. He was probably still a few years away from even thinking about getting married, settling down, starting a family, and it was a relief that Lindsey seemed more than content with the casual, no-strings-attached relationship that they enjoyed.
It was a huge shock, therefore, when she showed up at his apartment one evening in tears, nearly hysterical as she told him about her unplanned pregnancy. He had been relieved to leave the matter of birth control up to Lindsey, who was admittedly far more experienced with such things than he was. She'd confessed to having missed several days of birth control pills last month when she'd had a bad cold, and been too strung out on Nyquil to remember to take them.
And despite the fact that he had no real financial means to support a wife and baby, no way to afford anything bigger than the studio apartment he was currently living in, Matthew had found himself asking Lindsey to marry him, and vowing to raise their unborn child together. Lindsey had resisted at first - for a couple of weeks, actually - not at all sure she wanted to settle down just yet, and definitely not sure she wanted to become a mother at this stage of her life. And when she'd fully realized what a limited budget they would have to live on until Matthew finished his PhD and got a full time job, she balked even more at the idea of getting married and having the baby.
But the more Matthew thought about it the more he knew he wouldn't have been able to live with himself if he'd allowed Lindsey to terminate the pregnancy. His family had never been especially religious, but they had certainly been very morally upright, and responsible for their actions. And while he had always viewed the idea of abortion from a somewhat scientific, clinical perspective, he found when it came to his own child that his point of view was definitely skewed in the opposite direction.
So he'd put the pressure on Lindsey to go through with the pregnancy and marry him, vowing that he would be finished with his dissertation in just over a year's time. After that, he'd more or less have his pick of good, high-paying jobs in Silicon Valley, and would be able to provide her and their child with a much better lifestyle than what he could offer now.
His parents - God bless them - had insisted on not only throwing them a small wedding, but also loaning them the money to move into a larger apartment and buy the things they would need for the baby. And for the next year they'd continued to send him some money each month to help pay the bills, since Matthew's stipend would only stretch so far. Lindsey hadn't returned to work, since what she'd be able to earn waiting tables or being a sales clerk - the only sort of jobs she'd really been qualified for at the time - would more than be eaten up paying for childcare.
And he'd learned, somewhat after the fact, that Lindsey certainly wouldn't be able to count on her own family for any sort of support - financial or otherwise - since she was estranged from both her mother and her sister. Her father had died when she'd been in high school, and from that point on her relationships with other family members had begun to fracture and disintegrate.
Matthew had known without having to ask that his parents weren't particularly happy about the situation he'd landed himself in. It hadn't been about the money, especially since they could easily afford what they insisted on giving him, and since Matthew had initially resisted their efforts to help as a matter of pride. Instead, it had been about wanting to see him in a better set of circumstances - his PhD complete, gainfully employed in a solid, well-paying job, dating a woman who had more in common with him, and was of a similar intellect and background. Wade and Maureen weren't snobs, not by a long shot, and while they were comfortably off now both had come from distinctly middle class upbringings.
It had been more a question of Lindsey not seeming especially bright or ambitious or the least bit eager to improve herself. Matthew knew without having to ask that if she hadn't become pregnant so unexpectedly his new wife would have continued on happily with her party girl ways for several more years, and that the two of them would have more than likely ended their relationship sooner than later. They were most definitely opposites, with only their sexual chemistry and now their unborn child in common.
That first year had been one of the most difficult times of Matthew's life, especially after his daughter had been born. He'd struggled to balance the demands of his PhD program with his own research, and at the same time help out as much as possible with taking care of the baby and the household chores.