I finally get to put this up!! Hooray!! It's been done for a few days, and now I get to share it with all of you lovely people. Enjoy!
Chapter 7
The Calm
I went about my days in a numb shock. More tests confirmed what I already knew: I was a month along. As luck would have it, I was absolutely certain that Mark was not the father, and Jareth was. Once I knew this, I wished I had told Jareth to come and get me sooner. I wanted him to experience this along with me and it was torturous having to wait another three weeks before I saw him again. After I got a hold on the morning sickness, I busied myself with training my replacement at work and disposing of most of my Aboveground possessions by giving them to friends and coworkers, or selling them in neighborhood garage sales.
My friends shook their heads at my bizarre behavior, but kept their silence. I finally quieted their fears of my insanity by announcing that I had met a foreign man who had attended Aunt Rachel's funeral. We fell in love at first sight and he had asked me to marry him and move to his home country with him. I could almost hear Jareth laughing heartily as I carefully wove my story for their benefit. I knew he was watching me when I fabricated the story, but not when I had found out about the baby. That was still my secret that I had yet to share with anyone.
There was actually a very good reason why I hadn't told anyone that I was pregnant. Mark had been calling me several times a day on a regular basis, and the last thing I wanted was for him to find out. At first I consented to talking to him, glad to hear that he had reconciled with his family and had begun anger management classes. As my going home day drew nearer, I began ignoring his calls. I knew that he wanted to try again, but I had moved on with my life. Everyday I grew more and more anxious when the phone rang, praying that it wouldn't be him and wishing that Jareth would come sooner than he promised he would.
However, Mark was not on my mind as I prepared for a task that I had put off long enough. I was going to tell Jareth my secret. I tried to play the scene out in my head using so many different words, but everything seemed all wrong. I wasn't quite sure how Jareth would take it, so my envisions always ended right after I actually said it. I became so frustrated with the whole thing that I blurted out his name without thinking.
"Jareth!"
"You called? About time, too. You have no idea how boring things got after you left. I knew you couldn't make it the entire time. Almost, though, and I admire you for your ability to stay here as long as you did." He slid his hand around my back, pulling me to him and holding me there. I had almost forgotten what that was like. I sighed as his lips brushed mine. It was a wonder that I had made it as long as I had without him. But, that was beside the point.
"Jareth, I have something to tell you." I said between the kisses he was placing on my lips.
"Hmm....go on, I'm listening." He busied himself with wrapping his fingers over my own with one hand and running the other through my hair.
"You're not making this easy." I savored each stroke of his hand through my hair, but realized that it was distracting me from telling him, "Will you stop that and look at me?"
Jareth dropped his hand from my hair and grabbed my other hand, "My dear, I thought we were past the petty argument stage."
I lowered my head and took my eyes from his face, "Well, knowing us, we've only just begun."
"Begun what? I love you, you love me. What more is there to argue about?" Jareth's eyebrows knitted together, showing that he clearly did not understand my train of thought.
"What to name our children, for example."
"We shall cross that bridge when we..."His voice trailed off as he finally got it. "Sarah, is this a bridge that we have to cross soon?"
I nodded, "Pretty soon."
"Am I..?"
"Yes."
Jareth looked stunned. He didn't let go of me, just standing there like he was frozen solid. After a few seconds, I got extremely uncomfortable at his silence and began to pull away.
"If it upsets you so much, then why don't you say something? I've enjoyed it, but if you don't then.."
Jareth's eyes came back into focus, and he looked right into mine. "What are you saying? Of course it doesn't upset me. I'm a little surprised, but it's a good surprise. Don't ever think otherwise. I'm trying to imagine the castle with children running through the halls." He framed my face with his hands and smiled. "My Sarah. My beautiful, darling Sarah."
Relief flooded through my entire being as we held each other in the bareness of my living room. I hadn't realized how much was riding on my sharing the secret with him, but I felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. I realized what a fool I had been, thinking that he wouldn't take it well. We stood in the middle of the floor, countless thoughts running through our heads. We probably could have stood their all night had Jareth not spoken.
"Sarah?"
"Hmm?"
"Does Mark know about this?"
"No, he doesn't."
Jareth looked panicked. "You've got to leave here. Come back with me now and leave him. If you won't do it for yourself, do it for our child. Sarah, he will kill you if you don't go, especially when he finds out that you are pregnant."
"Don't worry. We broke everything off between us before I even found out. He doesn't know and he won't know. There is no reason for him to. Once I leave in a few days, I won't ever have to think about him ever again. It was really quite easy to break it off with him, too. He didn't even put up and argument."
"I don't think I like the sound of that. He doesn't seem to be the type to just give up like that."
"Will you stop worrying? Everything is fine! Mark has absolutely no reason to suspect anything, and I am coming home in just two short days. Nothing is going to happen."
"Why don't you just come with me tonight? It wouldn't make much of a difference anyhow. What is two days in the grand scheme of things?"
"I know, but I still have a few things to do. I have the carpet cleaners coming tomorrow and I still have a few things at the office.."
Jareth covered my mouth with his own, signaling me to be quiet. I smiled at the thought of him wanting to take me away from all of my Aboveground troubles. Just minutes before, I had had so many things on my mind and now all I could think about was how good it felt to him to hold me again. If I hadn't been so focused on Jareth and how he was making my heart pound, I probably would have heard a key being slid into the lock and the bolt being pushed over.