Page 51 of Miracles and Marriage
“I think you need to give more thought to my idea of moving in together. If you don’t get pregnant in the next few weeks, you’ll need help the next time this happens.”
She knew it.
“Cal, I’ve managed for years with this. I can handle it.”
“Except you don’t need to handle it alone anymore. You have a husband now.”
She smiled.
“You take your husbandly duties very seriously. We’re not really married.”
“Yes, we are.”
“Not in the traditional sense, I mean. You’re not responsible for me.”
“I want to take care of my baby’s mother.”
She studied him a moment.
“Would you have married Suzanne if she hadn’t aborted the baby? Did she need taking care of?”
“She wanted marriage without any babies. I wasn’t ready to commit to her. Perhaps subconsciously I knew what kind of woman she is. But, yes, if she’d continued the pregnancy, I probably would have married her.”
He didn’t want to think of what kind of marriage they would have had. Parties every weekend, shopping expenditures spending thousands of dollars, vacations in exotic locales. There’d have been no longtime family sea cottage.
And he suspected Suzanne didn’t deal with family problems well. She’d been convenient for the social scene. But he’d never thought about marriage around her.
He looked at Zoe. He’d never thought about marriage with her, either. But now he admitted to being oddly content. Logically it made sense to move in together. Why didn’t she see that?
“If you’d leave, I could go to bed,” she said.
“Go to bed if you like. I hardly need entertainment.”
She eyed him.
“You brought your laptop?”
“It’s in the car.”
He could see her debating the merits of leaving him and going back to bed.
“Go on, Zoe. I’ll stay for a little while in case you need anything.”
She nodded and rose, heading for the back of the apartment, bent over and walking slow. He hadn’t seen her bedroom and wondered if it was frilly and feminine or more tailored. Should he have carried her back to bed?
He didn’t like not being able to fix things.
He went to his car and got his laptop, letting himself back in the door he’d left unlocked. The apartment was silent. He walked down the hall and peeped in the room. She was sleeping. With a glance around to satisfy himself on her room, he returned to the kitchen to make some coffee. Opening his laptop a few moments later, he began searching the Internet for information on Zoe’s condition.
The next morning Cal woke at first light. He’d bunked down on the sofa again. He walked down the short hall and peeked into the bedroom. Last night he’d checked on Zoe a second time before going to sleep. She’d been sound asleep and he hoped she’d been able to sleep through the night undisturbed. She was still curled up under the covers, only the top of her head visible. That was a good sign, wasn’t it?
Taking a quick shower, he wished he’d thrown a change of clothes in the car. He could go a day without shaving, but he hated putting on the same shirt he’d worn the day before.
He was leaving the bathroom when he heard the front door open. Stepping into the living room almost at the same time as Zoe’s twin did, Cal knew Chloe hadn’t suspected he was in residence.
“Oh, you startled me,” Chloe said when she spied him. “What are you doing here?”
“Zoe’s not feeling well,” he said easily.
