This was requested by goingmywaydoll. I hope you enjoy!
Mary went to bed that night with a heavy heart, not knowing what to do. On one hand, Francis deserved to know that he was going to have a child, a baby. On the other, more selfish hand, she wanted him never to find out. It was supposed to be her; they were supposed to have their family, with little babies that would have Francis' curly blond hair and blue eyes. And if Francis did learn of the child, he would feel obligated to provide for it, and Lola. And then, he might even start to prefer Lola, for being able to carry his child, which she herself had been struggling with thus far into their marriage. If she couldn't produce an heir for a while, what would happen? Would he favor Lola's child, even after she managed to conceive one? She shook her head roughly and pushed back the covers, too agitated to sleep. She walked to the window and looked out onto the moon. She had thought everything would have been fine, perhaps even good, after the wedding, but of course nothing could be fine for longer than a few weeks. She shivered in the cool night air, and wrapped her arms around herself, still not willing to go back to bed.
"Mary, what're you doing up?" Francis' groggy voice asked. She turned around to face him.
"I couldn't fall asleep," she said truthfully.
"Is it about earlier? I thought we cleared that up, we both trust each other," he said curiously, referencing the brief conversation they'd had before retiring to bed. They had talked everything through, concerning Bash, and had figured it out, for the time being at least.
"No, it's about something else," she said slowly, not moving from her spot near the window. Francis got out of the bed, grabbed his robe and a spare before walking towards Mary and draping the spare around her shoulders, giving her a kiss on the forehead as he did so. Mary's throat tightened at the gesture. She decided to be at least a little truthful with him; she'd give Lola more time to figure things out first.
"Francis," she started hesitantly, "I know. I know what happened between you and Lola."
Francis froze. "I suppose Lola told you?"
"Yes, she did. But why didn't you, Francis? Why did my lady, my friend need to tell me she slept with my fiancé?" Mary questioned, her voice shaking a little with the emotions she was feeling.
"To be fair, I wasn't your fiancé at the time. Bash was," he reminded her, a slight edge to his voice.
"I know that. I had just thought… that I meant more to you than that, even after everything. And of all the women you could have picked, you had to pick one of my ladies, one of my friends?" she said, turning away from him as she ran a hand over her face, tired all of a sudden.
"Well, I hadn't set out to sleep with her, it just happened!" Francis said, his voice raising a little. Mary blinked, not expecting almost a shout from him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you," he said, quieter. She nodded, acknowledging his statement.
"The whole time I was with Bash and not you, I never even considered sleeping with him. It's always been you. In fact, even though you didn't believe it, I did that whole thing for you," Mary said, her voice quiet but forceful.
"I know what you believed. I know you only wanted me to be safe, but that wasn't your decision to make. It was mine," Francis retorted. "And I'm sorry that you had to find out about what happened between Lola and I like this, I should have told you. But it's over, why can't we talk about it and move on?" Mary paused at that, not knowing how to explain why this was such a big deal without letting Francis know about Lola's secret. Despite how angry she was, she wasn't going to betray her friend in return, out of spite.
She took a deep breath before turning back to him fully. "You're right," she said, forcing a smile to her lips. "Let's forget about it. But I promise you, Francis, if you ever take another woman, I won't be able to handle it, and you would come to regret it," she said strongly, only half jesting, gazing up at him. He smiled.
"I wouldn't expect anything less of you, to be honest," Francis admitted with laugh. "But you needn't worry, you're the only woman to catch my eye, now and forever," he said, stepping nearer and leaning down to kiss her. She relaxed into the kiss, pressing closer to wrap her arms around his neck. She almost managed to forget about the real reason she had been unable to sleep, but it was still there in the back of her mind. However, that was a problem for another day, she decided, feeling reassured by Francis' words and actions, as Francis moved them to the bed carefully, not breaking the kiss.
Thanks for reading, hope you liked it! Leaving a review would be a lovely birthday present for me (hint hint). Thanks!