Disclaimer: The characters of The Mummy are the property of Universal Studios. The characters of Lord Carnahan, Delphine Bertrand (loosely based on the character of Desdemona created by William Shakespeare), Mara, and Jemima Willoughby are my own inventions. The term "amour fou" is French for "insane love," and means a kind of obsessive passion. I like that it's by nature a juxtapositional term, so it works for this story.


AMOUR FOU


The Carnahan Manor: Cairo, 1925

Evelyn sat on the floor of her bathroom with the door closed. She sat there in a cheery pale blue robe, her knees drawn up to her chest. She rested her chin in one of her hands, while the other drifted thoughtfully over her abdomen. She sat there, breathing in the steam from the bath she needed to drain.

She rubbed her face wearily, her eyes burning as if she wanted to cry. But she didn't cry. She sat there, breathing in and out. Her throat was relaxed and free of sobs.

She kind of wanted to cry.

But she just felt strange. She felt so very, very strange.

Heavy pounding on the door against her back made her jump and cry out in surprise. She called out, "Just a minute!" and pulled herself to her feet. Before she was even fully standing up, the door opened and her husband appeared in the doorway.

"You're taking forever," he said in his nerve-grating whine. "I want to shower. Your brother already left to go get Delphine from the docks."

Evelyn nodded her head numbly. She didn't move, even when he started undressing. He looked between her and the open door, and frowned.

"What is wrong with you?"

She glanced up at him, right into his bluish confused eyes. She sucked in a little breath.

"I'm late."

Beni blinked. He stared at her for a perplexed moment before saying, "What do you mean, you're late?"

"I mean I think I'm pregnant," she said quietly.

They stared at each other, frozen in their current positions. They stared at each other for an uncomfortable moment that felt as if it lasted for minutes on end. Evelyn cleared her throat and glanced at her feet when she finally couldn't stand to look into his eyes for another second.

At last, he asked her, "How late?"

She tugged on the end of her wet hair nervously. "About a month. A little more."

He nodded his head slowly. She swallowed hard and glanced up at him again.

"Please say something," she said.

Beni shook his head, his shoulders rising and falling in a very stiff shrug. "Like what?"

Evelyn's gaze quickly fled to her feet again. "I don't know..." Cautiously, she stole a look into the gray-blue depths of his unreadable eyes again. "Are you happy?"

The corner of his mouth jerked. He shrugged again. "I don't know - "

"Well you've been ribbing me about it for weeks now," she said in something like frustration, the words tumbling out of her mouth before she could stop them. "You've thoroughly amused yourself with reminding me it could happen - "

"Are you happy?" he asked evenly, turning the question on her.

She sucked in a little breath. "I'm not - I mean, it's simply not - I don't know." She looked at him hard in the eye. "Is this your first?"

"Baby?"

Evelyn winced under the word. It was the first time either of them had used it in the conversation. But she nodded her head. "Yes."

Beni sort of shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. I think so."

She felt a sinking dread drop into her stomach like a stone, but she only nodded her head mechanically. "Oh."

He watched her reaction with a defensive sneer. "What?"

Evelyn blinked, frowning in confusion. "Nothing. I didn't say anything..."

"You are being judgmental because I do not know if I have other children."

She raised her eyebrows. "Well it is something people tend to know - "

"Well I don't," he told her pointedly. "So don't be a bitch about it."

Evelyn let out a sigh and leaned against the sink. "You know, if we're going to have a child together, you might find some new words to call me now and then."

Beni scoffed, returning to the task of getting undressed. He pulled his tie from his neck and tossed it on the floor. "Calm down, Evelyn. It's not like he is the first baby whose parents hate each other."

She glanced up at him in surprise. She watched him pull his cufflinks out of his sleeve cuffs and pull his dress shirt off, throwing it in a ball on the floor.

He looked at the bathtub and let out a groan. "Are you going to drain that or what?"

Evelyn turned and bent over the tub, reaching into the now lukewarm water and pulling the plug out of the drain. She was uncomfortably aware of Beni watching her, eyeing her legs and the robe that was much too short for her liking. But she ignored him.

"I don't hate you," she told him quietly. She took a deep breath, and stood up. "Do you hate me?"

He let out an irritable groan, and she turned to look at him seriously.

"I mean it," she said, her eyes narrowing at his impatient expression. "Do you really hate me?"

Beni stared at her for a moment before an amused smirk settled into his homely face. He took both of her hands and told her in a false and saccharine voice:

"Oh, of course not, my dear!" he pulled her into a stiff embrace, his fingers twisting into her hair and pulling her as close as he could. "I love you so very, very much. And look what our love has done! We have created a beautiful, precious, miraculous - "

"Yes, alright," Evelyn muttered.

" - new life! To have and to hold, to love and to cherish - "

"Those are wedding vows, you nitwit," she told him through gritted teeth. She wrenched herself free of his arms, pushing past him to the door. Her hand was on the doorknob, and she was about to fling it open, but a sudden thought stopped her. She turned and looked at his cruel sneer. "I'd rather not tell anyone...just yet."

His eyes narrowed a little, but his mouth retained its cruel and amused expression. "Of course. We have to make sure it sticks."

She stood there with the doorknob in her hand, and stared at him.

"Why must you be like this?" she asked.

Beni crossed his arms over his chest. He looked puzzled and exasperated. "What do you want from me, Evelyn? It's a baby. People have them every day - "

Her eyes narrowed, and her lips wrinkled up in an incredulous expression. "Really, Beni? That's really how you feel about this?"

"You just now told me about it - "

Evelyn huffed a frustrated sigh. "Well I don't think it's a lot to ask for you to show an iota of human emotion..."

"Oh, come on, Evelyn," he whined.

She put her hands on her hips and glared up at him. He rolled his eyes and glanced at his watch on the sink.

"Fine," he grumbled. He didn't even bother to fake a smile. "I'm thrilled, my dear. I can hardly contain my excitement. This is the best news I have heard all day. I bet he will have your nose. Alright?"

She pressed her lips into a line, and let out a heavy, defeated sigh.

"Alright," she said quietly.

She slipped out of the door feeling like all of her emotions surrounded her in a foggy haze, and she stood amongst them, numb and alone. Mechanically, she crossed the room to her closet and pulled out the first dress she saw. She laid it on the bed and then went to her dresser and pulled out the necessary undergarments.

Her hair dripped heavy and wet down her back, and she let it. She knew she should be wrapping it up into curls for the night, but she just didn't care.

She didn't know what she had expected from Beni. Besides the endless teasing, he'd never seemed particularly interested in having children...but men didn't show interest in children as a rule. It wasn't considered proper or masculine. She wasn't particularly pleased with the idea of having a child with him, but they were married and she'd resigned herself to the fact that she wouldn't be having anyone else's.

She didn't want to have a child with him. But she wouldn't be having a child with anyone else. And, well...perhaps she might find something livable about this arrangement if she had a child. Maybe she'd find something to love - or at least like - about Beni. Perhaps it would stave off the growing hatred in her heart.

I don't hate you, she'd told him.

But she nearly did. And maybe...Maybe, if she had a child with him, she couldn't hate him. Maybe then, no matter how angry he made her, no matter how cynical or trapped she started to feel, she could always tell herself, "It hasn't been all bad. There's the child..."

Hopefully it wouldn't look like him.

With a sigh, she got dressed and piled her damp hair into a bun. She glanced at the bathroom door once before slipping out of the room without a word.

She heard the front door open before she even made it to the first landing on the stairs. She sucked in a little breath, and decided to stop thinking Beni or having a baby. She probably should have waited to tell him until after she'd seen a doctor...

But she wasn't going to think about it. She wasn't going to think about him or having a baby.

A burst of Delphine's bright, cheery laughter floated up the stairs, and despite herself, Evelyn was smiling by the time she reached the ground level.

"Happy Easter, Evelyn!" Delphine exclaimed happily, pulling her cousin into a tight little hug. "I know it is Good Friday and I am not allowed to say it yet, but there are no nuns around. Hallelujah!" she added with a devilish giggle. "Take that, Sister Monique."

Evelyn smiled. "You're looking well, Delphine."

"Oh, I am a mess," she said, touching her disheveled hair. "I will be so happy to get into a proper bath...But look at you! Evey, you positively glow! Doesn't she, Jonathan?"

Evelyn glanced down self-consciously. "Oh, it's just a flush from the bath..."

Delphine squeezed her hand.

"Darling, it's a glow," she said with a wink.

Evelyn cleared her throat awkwardly, and murmured something about getting some tea. She wondered away from the foyer, and Delphine frowned after her. She glanced up at Jonathan with puzzled eyes, and whispered:

"What's the matter with her?"

Jonathan shrugged. "I haven't a clue."

"Hmm." She glanced up the stairs, and gave him a smile. "You'll help me with the bags now, won't you, Jonathan?"

"Darling, you don't even have to ask."

He carried her bags and she bounced up the steps ahead of him, hanging back just a little so that she could say:

"Now, you simply must tell me who is coming to Easter dinner. There's no way I can make it through these next two dreary days without knowing someone interesting is coming."

Jonathan let out a sigh as he lumbered the luggage up behind him. "Oh, I'm afraid it's only the dusty old usuals."

"What about Jemima Willoughby?"

Jonathan lugged the bag up onto the floor landing and froze, out of breath and wide-eyed. Delphine watched him glance up and down the hall fretfully before looking at her with something like excitement. He took her arm and pulled her close, whispering in her ear:

"No, certainly not her."

Delphine leaned closer in interest.

"A certain person's car has been seen parked around back there quite a bit lately."

"Who?" she gasped gleefully.

Jonathan glanced down the hall again, and whispered, "Beni's."

Delphine's jaw dropped. Instead of the usual thrill she got from gossip, she instead felt something like dread. She glanced down the hallway, towards Beni and Evelyn's room, and then back at Jonathan with wide, sad eyes.

"Does Evelyn know?"

Jonathan glanced at the luggage in his hands, chewing on his lip thoughtfully. "Come here."

They darted over to Delphine's room, and slipped inside as quickly as the clunky bags would allow. Delphine quickly shut the door and turned to Jonathan expectantly. He took her arm and pulled her gently over to the other side of the room.

"I don't know what Evelyn knows," he said quietly. "She hasn't said a word of it to me, and I don't want to bring it up."

Delphine nodded. "But is he really over there all the time?"

Jonathan shrugged. "I'm not sure. I've thought more than once about going out to see for myself, but I lose the nerve. If I saw it for myself, well...I'm just not sure I'd know how to handle it properly...and I'd probably handle it very improperly, if you know what I mean."

She let out a sigh, glancing thoughtfully at her door.

"They argue a bloody lot, though," Jonathan added.

Delphine glanced up, and they shared a look. "That's dreadful. They were only just married."

Jonathan nodded gravely.

"But surely they'll work it out," she said, a hopeful determination in her voice. "He can't really be serious in these dalliances with the likes of her. I suppose most men dally at some point..."

Jonathan opened his mouth to say something, but stopped himself. Delphine sighed.

"Well, that was much more depressing than I was hoping for. Surely someone else interesting is coming..."

Jonathan shrugged. "Well, I don't know if you could say he's interesting, necessarily, but Father's invited good General Bay."

Delphine froze, and she forced a fluttery little smile that didn't quite make it to her eyes. "Really?"

"Yes, that's what I said," Jonathan said. "A Muslim to an Easter party. Have you ever heard of such nonsense?"

"No," she said softly. Her eyes wandered towards the window, and gazed thoughtfully at a stream of sunlight. "I suppose his new wife will be in attendance..."

Jonathan frowned. She turned and met his curious eyes, and watched him shake his head in puzzlement.

"General Bay hasn't married anyone."

Delphine blinked, and despite herself, she felt a strange and hopeful feeling welling up within her.

"No?" she asked.

Jonathan shook his head. "No, darling. Single and stoic as ever, I'm afraid."