Jennifer

We walked down the hall, then two double doors opened up on my right.

"SURPRISE!"

What the hell? As if in slow motion, I looked at the people standing in front of me; Jenn took my arm and led me into the room. The people looked familiar, but what are Mom and Sara doing here? They're standing there with Carl and his wife. Then I looked to my right - this is weird, those two guys look like two guys I went to high school with. On my left were three of my staff with my boss.

As the thirty or so people in the room began singing 'Happy Birthday' my brain caught up to my eyes. This is my birthday party. Jenn was standing next to me, her arm wrapped around mine.

"Happy thirtieth, lover." See pulled my head down to give me a kiss and everyone started clapping.

It was a great night. I caught up with a few old friends I hadn't seen in years. I saw my staff and boss in a different light. It was good to share this special day with my family and some other good friends. Carl and his wife, Evonne, came up to me and he said, "Jenn didn't think we could fool you. We've been planning this for months and thought you'd catch on for sure." Evonne added. "You should have seen Jenn's face when you kept calling her the first time we met with the catering manager. She almost panicked. Jenn and Carl came off the elevator, the caterer and I were waiting, and Jenn's like, "What do I do, what do I do?" I don't think she's ever lied to you before."

Evonne, still laughing, went over to where Jenn was standing, talking to my mother. Carl looked over at his wife standing next to Jenn. "How'd we get so lucky, Ron? I mean look at us, two working class kids; we have great jobs and best of all, wives who love and support us. I don't think it gets any better than this."

The more the evening went on, the more ashamed I was of myself for doubting my wife's fidelity.

About two hours into the party, I was opening cards from the guests. Most of the cards contained gags, such as a dollar bill. I opened the last card. It was just a black and white photo of two people kissing on the front. Inside, it simply read, "I love you" and signed "Jenn" but taped to the left side was a stick. I had to stare a second, never having seen one of these before. The stick had a 'plus' sign on the end.

Then it hit me. I looked at Jenn, anticipation on her face. I knew then I was the happiest man in this big city. I scooped Jenn up in my arms and twirled her around.

"I'm going to be a father." I told the crowd. Cheers broke out, it was madness.

Jenn looked at me. "If I'm anything like my mother, I'm probably going to gain some weight with the baby. I'll probably look like I did five years ago."

"You mean like you did when I fell in love with you and asked you to marry me?"

Jenn smiled. "Yea, like that."

I was sober enough an hour later when we got up to our room. Jenn went into the bathroom, I made an excuse, "I'm getting ice, Jenn.", grabbed the divorce papers out of my suitcase and threw them into the hallway trash can after ripping them into a thousand pieces. Some secrets you're better off carrying to your grave; this will be mine.

Well, I know there are some guys out there who, for whatever reason, can never trust a woman. You're thinking - 'what a naïve mope, his wife was cheating and the baby's not his'. It turns out I did get a chance to see the final bill for the party and those four charges? All listed as various deposits for the event. And the baby boy Jenn gave birth to just eight months later? As my Sicilian grandmother said, "he spit him out"; yea - Ron Junior is my boy.

I learned some valuable lessons. One, some women are worth trusting. They're just raised right. And two, don't let things fester. Got an issue? Talk it out. And three, you get what you pay for - hiring the cheapest private detective nearly cost me my marriage. (I finally looked a little closer at the fuzzy photo my PI took of Jenn and Carl walking off the elevator. Right there, on Carl's left side, half hidden by a tall guy, is Evonne. Son-of-a-bitch!)

It cost half my bonus to learn these lessons; but in the long run, not as much as it could have - if I had handed Jenn those damn divorce papers that day.