Love is a Miracle Ch. 04

I do not know any of the real people mentioned in this chapter. This is a work of fiction.



"So why do you want to leave Heaven and move to Vegas?"

Gavin sighed. "To be honest, I don't want to leave Heaven, but I don't have much of a choice," Gavin said, trying not to fidget. He knew Serenity would flip if she found out he was sitting in front of Bobby Flay asking to work at Mesa Grill.

"Melinda has given you a glowing recommendation. If you don't want to leave Heaven, why are you here?" Bobby wanted to know.

"My girlfriend, well, fiancée actually, she's a freshman at UNLV and we just found out that she's pregnant. I can't really support either of them if I'm still in Riverside," Gavin admitted. He forced himself to look Bobby in the eyes the entire time.

"How old are you?" Bobby asked.

"Almost twenty one. Serenity will be nineteen in May," Gavin answered. He found it increasingly difficult not to fidget under Bobby's scrutinizing stare.

"I can't give you the position you have at Heaven, but I can start you as an entry level prep cook with the ability to advance. I'll set your salary at twenty-five thousand a year. It's a little more than what the prep cooks start out at, but I've met Melinda and she speaks very highly of you," Bobby said.

"Thank you. I'll need a few weeks to get my things moved up from Riverside," Gavin said. Bobby nodded.

"You can start the first of next month," Bobby agreed.

-2 hours later-

"Gavin, what are we doing here?" Serenity asked as Gavin led her through Caesar's Palace. Gavin grinned and pulled her into one of the wedding chapels. Serenity zeroed in on Josie, Leslie and Chris. "Gavin, what's going on?" Serenity wanted to know.

"I know I should have warned you, but I arranged ..."

"A wedding," Serenity finished the statement for him. Gavin nodded and she sighed. "Gavin, you don't have to marry me," she told him.

"Sere, we planned on getting married, eventually," Gavin reminded Serenity.

"But after college."

Gavin sighed. "Serenity, I want to marry you now. If you don't want to, I ..." Serenity threw her arms around Gavin's neck.

"I love you," Serenity whispered. Gavin led Serenity into the chapel where her friends and the minister waited. When they turned around Serenity gasped seeing Bobby Flay standing in the doorway of the chapel.

Gavin suppressed a grin. "Serenity, meet my new boss," Gavin said. Serenity shook her head, it was all too much to handle in one day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Are you sure we can afford this?" Serenity wanted to know as she watched Gavin, Jake and Mark move things into the two bedroom apartment. Gavin sat down on the couch next to her.

"Relax Serenity, I have things covered. The housing department at UNLV agreed to refund the amount of rent it would have cost for winter semester for you to live there and Melinda gave me one hell of an ending bonus," Gavin said. Melinda and Ashira looked at each other before literally dragging Serenity into the kitchen under the guise of showing them where she wanted what.

"How are you feeling?" Ashira asked.

"Overwhelmed," Serenity admitted. Melinda laughed.

"We've been there," she said.

"Where'd these pots and pans come from?" Serenity wanted to know.

"A wedding gift," Melinda answered.

"You don't have to ..." Melinda sighed.

"Serenity, you're going to need this stuff, so why not have good stuff so you don't have to replace it," Melinda said gently.

"I don't know how I'm going to do this," Serenity whispered, taking a bottle of water from the fridge.

"Serenity, if you need help, all you have to do is ask. And you need to let Gavin know how you feel. He isn't leaving you to deal with this on your own, he's here for you," Ashira said gently.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Serenity turned around as her name was called and she smiled, seeing Josie and Chris hurrying towards her. "Hey!" Serenity said.

"You look great! We haven't seen you since the wedding. How are you doing?" Josie wanted to know.

"A little tired, but not too bad," Serenity answered. It was mid February. "What classes are you taking?" she wanted to know.

"Just general ed," Josie said, wrinkling her nose. "How about you?"

"Math, Creative Writing for an elective, social sciences, a social work class, and world history," Serenity answered.

"Wow, that's a lot," Chris commented.

"I know, but I want to get as many classes as I can in before the baby comes," Serenity said with a sigh.

"Still having a hard time with this aren't you?" Josie murmured. Serenity nodded. "You look so great though," Josie said.

Serenity laughed. "You said that already," she reminded her friend. "Will you quit staring?" Serenity grumbled. Josie pulled her eyes away from Serenity's slightly rounded abdomen.

"Sorry," Josie said sheepishly.

Serenity looked at her watch. "I have class in ten minutes, I'll see you guys later," she said, before walking away.

Serenity walked into her creative writing class with five minutes to spare and slid in one of the desks with a sigh. One of the boys in the class grinned; he'd been watching Serenity for weeks and never saw her alone with a guy. "What are you doing tonight?" he asked.

"You're John right?" Serenity asked. John nodded. "Why do you want to know what I'm doing tonight?" Serenity wanted to know.

"Because I want to ask you out," John answered, giving Serenity a flirtatious smile.

Serenity sighed. "And why is that?" she asked, suddenly drained of all energy.

"Well, aside from the fact that you're beautiful, you look like you could be one to have a good time," John said. One of his friends laughed.

"You think I'm easy," Serenity said. John nodded.

"You are a pregnant freshman after all," John reminded her. His friend laughed louder and gave John a high five.

"Not all pregnant college women are easy," Serenity shot back, holding out her left hand. The diamonds on her ring sparkled in the light and the opal shined. The thin diamond band behind the opal glistened.

"You're engaged?" John asked.

"Married," Serenity snapped as the professor walked in.

She gave Serenity a disapproving look; she had never approved of young women getting themselves knocked up while they were in college, but she did appreciate the fact that Serenity was sticking it out and hadn't dropped out. The lecture went by fast and finally, it was time for the first major writing assignment.

"I want you to write a letter to any person dead or alive, real or fictional. The letter has to be at least one hundred words and in this letter. That is the only real stipulation other than please use spell check and make sure you use the proper tenses and correct English grammar," the professor said before dismissing the class. Serenity walked up to the professor and waited for her to look up.

"Yes, what is it?" the professor asked, somewhat impatiently.

"I was wondering if you could either move me or move John and his friend that sits behind him. They have been making comments lately and they make me uncomfortable," Serenity said quietly.

"You should have thought about that before you decided to get pregnant," her professor thought. Instead she asked, "What kind of comments?"

"John asked me out because he thought that I'm easy, but I'm really not," Serenity answered.

"You're an eighteen year old college freshman and you're pregnant, it's a normal assumption," the professor pointed out.

Serenity sighed. "I'm not easy. And I don't appreciate being called a whore by John and his friends behind my back; I can hear their whispers," Serenity said. The professor nodded; she could see the girl was getting worked up and she knew that was never a good sign.

"I'll rework the seating chart for the next class period, however, I must warn you that most people in this class probably feel the same as John and his friends do," the professor said before leaving the room.