Author's Notes

It's just been one of those days.


Chapter 7, Which Takes an Unexpected Turn


Howl rolled over and inhaled deeply as sleep slowly receded from him. Sophie shifted too, and in a moment they were both fully awake.

"'Morning."

He kissed her on her warm cheek, running his fingers across her stomach as he did. The pregnancy was closing in on its third month, and Sophie's belly had become hard. A small curve was definitely starting to surface.

"And good morning to you," he murmured, addressing that bump and tenderly pressing his lips to the bare skin there.

He felt Sophie's hands tangle in his hair and rose to be eye-level with her again. She lifted her head to kiss him.

"Time to get up," she said against his mouth.

"Don't want to," Howl groused playfully. He snatched up the quilt and threw it over both of their heads.

"Howl…" Sophie reproved, trying to sound stern but failing.

"Uh-uh. We're staying here all day." He enclosed her in his arms to keep her from doing otherwise.

"And what about the flower shop?"

"Bother the flower shop."

She didn't even try to struggle. Instead she said evenly, "Well, all right, but I guess that means no gypsy toast for breakfast."

Howl paused. "Damn you're good," and he relinquished his hold.

He watched as she slunk out of bed, went over to the closet where she pulled out a ruby-colored dress, and slipped it on. When she had done, she peered at him deviously over her shoulder.

"You've only just realized that?"

Howl flopped back onto the pillows, giving a shout of laughter as she walked out of the room.

/\/\/\/\/\

"I knew it was the blacksmith who kidnapped her!" Calcifer yelled triumphantly.

It was late in the evening, and Sophie was just closing the book she'd been reading aloud in the common room. It was a mystery novel, and when she recited the conclusion, Calcifer was ecstatic to learn that he'd rightly guessed the culprit behind Lady Rhea's disappearance. It was one of his favorite ways to pass the time when he didn't feel like wandering far from the hearth, but unfortunately, he could never read to himself because there was always the danger of him burning the book up. He'd learned that the hard way on three separate occasions.

"Shady sort of bloke," the fire demon was saying. "I ask you, what kind of blacksmith carries around an embroidered handkerchief in his pocket?"

"The very stupid kind, no doubt," Howl said absently.

A knock from the front door made them all jump.

"It's the Kingsbury door," said Calcifer.

Sophie got up from the sofa and went to turn the knob to the orange section of the dial. "Who could it be at this hour?"

Behind her, Howl got to his feet.

"Lettie!"

She was standing on the doorstep with an abstracted air about her. Sophie stepped aside to let her inside the castle.

"Sophie, thank goodness. I'm not sure what to—" She froze at the sight of Howl and Calcifer looking at her.

Sophie studied her sister and felt apprehension gnaw at her stomach. What could she have to say that she wouldn't go on about in front of the others?

"Er…Calcifer," said Howl swiftly, "it's time for us to be leaving for that appointment we have to see to Clark Gunner's magpie problem. Sophie, we should be back…in about an hour?" His eyes seemed to be asking her if that was enough time.

She shot him a grateful look for his comprehension that Lettie needed to be alone with her and his quick-thinking to invent a reason to go. "Yes, all right."

He set out by the Market Chipping door. Calcifer went drifting alongside him while giving Lettie, who was carefully staring at her knotted fingers, a mystified glance. The door snapped shut.

"Okay, Lettie, come sit and tell me—" started Sophie.

"I think I'm pregnant."

"…what?"

"But I can't be," Lettie was babbling, "it's too soon. I've only been married for four weeks. I'm still sending out the thank you notes, for goodness' sake! This is all happening too fast."

Sophie forced herself to speak. "Lettie, just hold on and breathe a moment." Carefully, she took her sister by the arm and led her to the sofa. "I'm making tea. Just sit tight there. I'll be back in an instant."

When she returned holding two cups and the kettle, Lettie was staring blankly into the empty grate. Sophie lit a fire and set the pot over the flames.

"I've missed my courses."

She nodded slowly. "Okay. It may be nothing, but you may be right. It's not impossible. You might be pregnant."

Lettie's head dropped into her hands.

"If you are, it's nothing to be upset over!" She set the teacups on the coffee table and rubbed her sister's back.

"It's too soon, it's much too soon," she kept chanting, like it was a mantra.

"Listen, Lettie, listen! Your being pregnant is possible, yes, but it's by no means definite. Have you been feeling lightheaded?"

"No."

"Nauseous?"

"No."

"Okay. So…so how about this? Wait until next month to be certain about this one way or the other. Until then, we can keep this between us if you like."

Lettie raised her head. She seemed to be mulling over what she had said. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Sophie poured the tea into a cup and pushed it into her sister's hands, making her drink some to help soothe her nerves. By the time Lettie had drained the cup, she decided.

"I'll do that. I'll wait to be sure."

"Okay," said Sophie. She was relieved to see some of the color returning to her sister's face. "Does Ben know you've left and where you are?"

"I told him I was coming to visit to see how you were." Lettie turned to look Sophie in the face for almost the first time since she arrived. Her expression reflected that she was still lost in a state of bewilderment. "How are you, by the way?"

Sophie had to fight an ill-timed urge to laugh. "Much better now that I know you aren't hurt or sick."

Lettie got up from the sofa.

"D'you want me to walk with you?"

"No," she shook her head. "It's better if I walk alone to clear my head for when I see Ben."

/\/\/\/\/\

In the weeks that followed Lettie's strange call to the castle, neither Howl nor Calcifer asked Sophie about it. For once, they seemed to understand that since she didn't bring it up, the matter was private.

Sophie was hard at work in the flower shop once again, all the regular customers returning full-sail once they saw that she'd reopened from her spontaneous vacation.

She was nearing the finish of her fourth month, and slowly, her belly was swelling. Howl had been helping her more frequently than he used to, clearly under the impression that she couldn't tend to everything in her condition. When he couldn't stay himself, at the very least he insisted that Edmund or Michael always be in the castle to lend a hand if she needed it. At first, she had teased him for being overly worrisome, but she soon found that her usual routine at the shop tired her out much more quickly than it once had. On the rare occasion that she did feel unequal to what had to be done, she was thankful for his attention to it.

It was unusually busy for an autumn morning today. Men were buying their sweethearts roses by the dozen. Elderly grandmothers sought carnations to adorn straw hats and buttonholes. Children came in with pence pieces to buy lone daffodils or sweet pea flowers for their mothers.

In a passing lull, Sophie walked about the shop with a watering can in her hands, making mental note of what she would have to restock for the next morning.

"Perk up," she told some sorry-looking asters that had been sitting untouched in their window-box for the better part of the week. She sprinkled water over the lot and conversationally advised them, "Straighten up a bit and you're bound to be noticed."

After that, it seemed that every customer who entered the shop had a particularly keen need for asters the second they caught sight of them. By late afternoon, she was sold out and the window-box lay vacant of anything but a bit of soil and water, much to the disappointment of half of her clientele. She told them to come back again tomorrow when she had brought in a fresh stash.

Another respite from business came just before closing time, so Sophie went into the back room to sit at the bench and rest. At this rate, she was sure that she would need either Michael or Edmund permanently next to her before the next nine months were out.

The chime of the bell signaled that someone had entered the shop. She got back to her feet, loath to leave even the hard seat that the bench offered, and walked back to the front.

"Can I help—?"

It was Howl. He turned from smelling a tiger lily. "Yes, you can. I'd like my wife to close up shop just a bit early, if you please. I'll take her to go."

Sophie smirked. "Sorry, sir, but she has to tidy up in here before she can even think to leave or be available. I can deliver her sometime after five when her shift has ended."

"No, that won't do."

Before she could say anything else, he scooped her up and was bearing her out the door. He carried her across the yard and into the castle.

"Michael, can you see to closing up the flower shop? Sophie's exhausted."

"Sure thing!" came Michael's voice from somewhere above them.

Howl shrugged complacently at her. "All taken care of. And…" From thin air, he pulled out the tiger lily and handed it to Sophie.

She took it with a wry look and twirled the stem between her fingers. "I hope you paid for this."

He responded to that by kissing her soundly, sending a thrill all through her. She writhed in his arms a bit so she could get down to her feet. Clinging to his hand, she went to the front door, turned the knob to purple, and drew him out into the garden with her.

After a full day of being surrounded by nothing but flowers, it would have been very easy for Sophie to want escape from anything to do with them once out of the shop. But that was not the case, and it was mostly because she had never been anything but happy when it came to dealing with the stuff. She could never grow tired of her flowers, not like what had happened with the hats she toiled over thanklessly for Fanny.

Howl and Sophie rambled through the lush meadow until they reached the edge of the water. Once there, she pulled him down to sit beside her on the ground. He held her close and she pillowed her head on his shoulder. Though they started by watching the garnet clouds drift across the setting sun, very soon they picked up where they had left off in the castle, sinking to lay back on the grass, lost in their self-made tangle of straining arms and fiery kisses.

/\/\/\/\/\

A few days later, Sophie was carrying an armload of blossoms through the castle yard towards the shop. When she swung open the door, she found Howl already inside and arranging sprays into clay pots.

"Are you staying here today?" she asked him as she dumped her load onto the counter and started sorting out the different types she'd gathered.

Howl finished what he was doing and joined her in divvying up the fresh-cut flowers. "I thought I would. The boys are concentrating on a tricky upper-level spell and they need to focus on it completely."

To him, this plainly meant that there was no other possible choice but to come in and help her out himself.

Sophie smiled to herself. He really was getting ridiculously protective, but she didn't mind so much. It was times like this that she felt for her to love him any more than she did would be impossible. She took up a bulrush from the table and playfully tickled Howl with it under his chin.

A sudden banging at the shop door startled her, each thud making the bell jangle discordantly. It was still before hours, but Howl walked over to see who this customer was that couldn't wait another hour until they opened.

"Lettie," she heard him say with some surprise. "Come in."

At once, Sophie knew what her sister was doing here. Why she was coming from the Market Chipping side of the castle was another question altogether, but that was beside the point. Lettie had probably been with Martha for some reason and was trying the shop with the idea that she would avoid everyone else and catch Sophie alone. Sophie took her apron off and tossed it onto the stool near the counter, rushing over to the door. Lettie looked slightly calmer than when she'd come to the castle that evening a month ago, but she wasn't exactly composed either.

"Howl," said Sophie, "I've just remembered that we're out of geraniums. Could you go collect some for me?"

She very well knew he had just watered a whole two boxes of geraniums, but without a word of opposition, he flicked her a look and left the shop quietly by the yard door.

"Well?" she asked without preamble.

Lettie looked at her sister restively. "Nothing. I have nothing. I really am pregnant." Her voice came in a bare whisper, "What am I to do now?"

"You're going to go and tell your husband that you're having a baby." Sophie grabbed Lettie's face in her hands. "Lettie—you're having a baby!"

"Am I ready for this, Sophie?"

"At least as ready as I am."

Lettie let out a noise that sounded halfway between a whimper and a weak giggle. Sophie hugged her then, laughter bubbling from her.

"Now, go. Go and tell Ben. And for the love of all that is good, smile, Lettie! Everything is going to be all right."

When Lettie exited the flower shop, Sophie took a deep breath and went out to find Howl. He was wandering aimlessly under the tall, gnarled willow tree in the yard to pass the time. She parted the draping branches to reach him.

Howl saw her and started talking at once. "I promised myself I wouldn't pry since you weren't saying anything, but really Sophie, what is going on? Is Lettie in some kind of trouble?"

His brow was furrowed and he watched her carefully while she attempted to figure out just how to begin.

"You're never going to guess…"


End Author's Notes

I suppose it's just been one of those days for Lettie too. Or, rather, one of those months. At least Martha is well on her way to getting her wish of being surrounded by loads of babies. They're just not hers yet.