After their marriage was arranged due to a business agreement between their parents, Jason and Aria had no choice but to get to know each other quickly. A few months in, the couple were expecting their first baby. But now that Lily is seven months old, Aria begins to wonder if Jason is really happy…
I wasn’t supposed to overhear it.
But maybe I was meant to. There’s something about family gatherings that always feels familiar. Warm.
Chaotic. Comforting. Today was no different.
Our daughter, Lily, was seven months old, and every time we visited Jason’s parents, she was the center of attention. Jason’s mom fussed over her, while his aunts and uncles passed her around, taking turns cooing and doting on her. I sat on the couch outside, watching them, feeling a sense of contentment wash over me.
“She’s just such a beautiful baby, Aria,” Jason’s aunt said. “Look at those eyes!”
I smiled at her, wondering how different everything could have been if Jason’s family hadn’t accepted us as we were. Jason was in the kitchen with his mom, helping prepare dinner and getting everything ready for the grill outside.
He always seemed so at ease in these moments, slipping effortlessly into the role of devoted son, loving husband, and doting father. It hadn’t always been that way. At least, not in the beginning.
We were married young. I mean, I was only 20, and Jason had just turned 21. Our marriage was arranged by our parents in an effort to strengthen a business deal.
At first, I hated everything about it. I mean, Jason and I were only given two months to get to know each other before the wedding. I wasn’t sure if love could grow in such a short amount of time.
Especially between two people who were practically strangers. But we tried. And day by day, we learned each other’s quirks, built trust, and started creating a life together.
“I know that our relationship is based on our parents, Ari,” Jason said one day when we were getting ice cream together. “But we’ve both decided that we’re in this for the long haul. Right?”
“Right,” I agreed, adding chocolate sauce to my sundae.
“We can be happy, Aria,” he said, picking the cherry off my ice cream. Things moved fast after that. We got married at a vineyard my father owned.
And just a few months into our marriage, I found out I was pregnant with Lily. The news hit us unexpectedly, and we were both hesitant about keeping our baby. “What do you want to do?” he asked me one morning when I sat and looked at the pregnancy test.
“Keep her. I think the baby is a girl,” I said. And just like that, it was decided.
Neither of us were prepared for it, but Jason stepped up in ways I hadn’t expected. After the business deal went through, my parents moved to a different state, leaving me to fend for myself in my marriage with a baby on the way. Instead, Jason spoke to his parents and decided to take a year off work from his job at his father’s company to support me.
From that moment on, he was by my side, through every bout of morning sickness, every doctor’s appointment, and every sleepless night. I leaned into his support, but at the back of my mind, I wondered if he ever felt the weight of it all. Jason was many things, but emotional wasn’t one of them.
The story doesn’t end here — it continues on the next page.
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