SEVENTY-SEVEN

Before my date, I was in an important meeting to discuss sales and despite my being the most important person in the large room, I was the one to finish gulping down all the water provided for me halfway through the first sentence.

The moment the important but soul destroying part was over, I dashed to my office to change my clothes, then to the elevator.

At the restaurant, a waitress asked what we wanted then I said,"I'm feeling quite fancy today, aren't you, my lovely rose?"

She slightly scoffed as I said,"Why don't you get me the most exotic sounding dish on the menu like... prairie...oysters, that sounds fantastic."

As the waitress wrote it down, Rose asked,"Tommy, are you sure about this?"

"Of course Rosalie, why wouldn't I be?"

She shrugged then said she'd just take a lobster salad, with no oysters.

I then asked,"Why don't you want any oysters? They're too exotic for you?"

"On the contrary, I jsns

"What?"

"I love them, it's just, I'm not in the mood today."

"Well I am, in fact I'm getting some from the prairie, somehow."

"Tommy, prairie oysters aren't actual oysters, they're the cooked testicles of a young calf."

I choked on the goat milk I was drinking the spat it out onto the nearest waiter then yelled,"What?! Why the heck would anyone serve something like that?! That has gotta be some kind of insult against the male gender!"

"Well, you were just drinking milk and technically, that's also an insult to the female gender."

"That doesn't count, we are leaving."

"Where are we going?"She asked, scoffing.

"To a restaurant where they don't serve food that only rich people with nothing better to eat will buy, let's go! And I'm not paying for anything! Oh, here's a tip for great customer service, keep it up, let's go Rose!"

She just followed me to the next five star restaurant and this time, she took the order for the both of us, I wasn't letting anyone poison me with something like that again, and she gave me some wonderful tasting haggis!

It was delicious, complements to the chef.

When we got home, she immediately went to put on her bath robe then came back down to answer the doorbell and took in a package she had ordered.

I asked what it was and she opened it and I saw it, a blue and white coloured baby crib, complete with those dangly thingies they hang over it for the baby to nibble their tiny fingers on.

She asked if it looked okay and I gasped then squealed and lifted her up then said,"Rose! You never told me you were pregnant! That's great news, I can't believe it! The boys are so going to be jealous that I got a kid too even when they think I am one, yes!! I love you baby!"

I ran up the stairs to cool down and casually talk to them and Rose still had the nervous smile plastered over her face, the crib was for Ruby...now she had to burst my bubble...sigh.

From up the stairs, a child's bawling was heard...

***

I checked my abs out in the mirror for a few seconds then decided to go to bed without a shirt on and saw Rose intently reading the book, then sighed.

If she was that interested in it, I had to at least give her some support.

I climbed on the bed then asked,"What are you reading?"

She looked at me then said,"Something... interesting."

"What does it say?"

"Oh it doesn't matter, it isn't compulsory anyway."

"Something in the Bible that isn't compulsory? That I've gotta see."

"Promise me you wouldn't overreact?"

I crossed my heart as she sighed then said,"A couple of days ago, I read a passage in the fourth book of the New Testament, John, where Jesus Christ was talking about divorce and at the end of his speech, one of His disciples said it would be better not to marry if that was the case."

I chuckled nervously then asked,"What?"

"That was my exact reaction, so I kept searching for insight till I found this passage in 1 Corinthians chapter 7. It explains it in so much more detail."

I looked into the book and read it intently and saw that same passage I mentioned, but a couple of stuff I hadn't seen there either...verse 8 and 12 caught my eye.

I looked at her with a grave expression on my face then asked,"Is this why you no longer ask me to pop the question? Because you think I'm not at your status so you should become some kind of nun or something?!"

"What? No, of course I want to marry you, there are even places which talk about..."

"Talk about what?!"

"False teachers who forbid marriage and promote abstinence from certain foods that God..."

"Oh no, no, no, don't bring God into this, you are using some random book you found in the attic to describe some indescribable being you're not sure exists?! I'm a good person, I always was and you know what?! My parents died, the day I wanted to tell them I got into the school play, choir, student council and aced all my classes, and as if that wasn't enough, my only brother was killed in the worst possible way, by his own girlfriend because he saw it in this book that you have no greater love than to lay down your life for your friends, and as if the giving and serving part wasn't enough, he let himself die because of me! Do you know all the guilt that put me through?! This thing is pulling us apart and you can't see that?! If this really is the word of God, why did so many people die because of it? Jesus's own disciples were killed, crucified and decapitated, why didn't He do anything then?! You have to choose, me or ' the Good Book '?".

"I...I can't...."

"Wait, you actually have to think about this? What happened to you Rose?"

I stormed out of the room and banged the door behind me, sleeping in the guest room never seemed better.

Rose burst into tears and dropped the book on the floor, then covered herself in the sheets as she cried, she stayed there for several hours, before she had the courage to go and speak to me.

She got off the bed by stepped on some soft pages then looked at the Bible below her foot and picked it up, she was about to close it when she saw something...in 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 13 to 19, it said,' Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed...

It felt like the passage was literally speaking to her, she closed her eyes and for the first time in her life, said a prayer...