Chapter 49

Jenny arrived at the deli first. Her feet had eagerly carried her to their meeting, happy that her future would soon be decided.

Joe dragged his feet as he crossed the street to the deli. He knew what he had to tell Jenny was going to hurt her. Truth be told, it was going to hurt him as well! He was in love with the woman he was now going to break up with. He was not in love with the woman he would soon be married to.

Jenny chose a table near the window so she could watch for Joe since he wasn't there yet. The smile she wore grew when she saw him come out of the DA's office. He spotted her when he reached the sidewalk in front of the deli and offered a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes when he saw her happy wave.

When Joe got to the table Jenny jumped to her feet and gave him a warm hug! "Oh Joe, I thought I could wait until we had talked for a while, but I'm just bursting to tell you the news! Devin is out of my life and I am now all yours!"

Joe looked stunned. Here was what he had wanted all the weeks that he and Jenny had dated and now it had happened too late for him to be able to even be happy about it! How he wished he could pull her back into his arms, profess his love for her, and ask her to marry him! But that wasn't possible! He had made a mistake and now had to make it right. So he would marry Gina after finding a way to tell Jenny the news.

He sunk into a chair at the table and looked at Jenny with sad eyes. "I have news too Jenny, but mine is not nearly as good."

When he paused, Jenny took the other seat at the table and waited for what sounded like bad news that he had to deliver.

"Jenny, I was upset that you were dating Devin at the same time as me, so I started dating someone else too."

During his pause to figure out how to phrase the next part of what he needed to tell her, Jenny smiled and patted his hand forgivingly. "It's alright Joe, I understand. But now we can be together so all that can be in the past."

"I wish that were true so much more than I can say, but I wasn't as…careful as I should have been and I…got her pregnant." He stopped to draw a deep breath with his head down so didn't see the shock and hurt look on Jenny's face. "I need to make this right Jenny, so I am going to have to marry her."

Jenny sat there unable to catch her breath. She felt like she was dying. How could she have no idea how intensely she loved Joe until that moment?! She had been happily planning a future with him, not even realizing how deeply her feelings went. She was devastated!

Joe finally looked up when Jenny had gone quite a long time without saying anything and he saw the look on her face. She looked the way he felt! He was going to destroy both of their happiness because of his upbringing to do the 'right thing' in this situation. So now, not only was he feeling his own pain, he was also feeling horrible for her suffering. "Jenny you can't know just how sorry I am about this! If there was any way out of it I would take it in a heartbeat, but I have to face up to my responsibility to Gina or I couldn't respect myself at all. Please understand that it is you that I wish I was going to marry!"

Jenny looked at him with such a mixture of emotions crossing her fact that Joe didn't know what she would do or say to him. He saw horror, pity, rage, sorrow, and he knew that love had flashed through there as well, but the other emotions were so raw that they were definitely taking precedence. Jenny stood and slid her handbag over her shoulder, in a voice calmer than he expected she said, "Do you really think that offers me any comfort in this?!" Then she moved away from the table.

Joe was at such a loss for what to say to help the situation that all he could think of was to call after her, "Jenny, what about lunch?!"

To be continued…..