The Ring Omen
By LMR
Rated R
Chapter 2: A Free Man
"Darius," she suggested.
George frowned. "Sounds pretentious."
"It sounds elegant," his wife insisted, rubbing her stomach as she sat on their bed.
"Yeah, pretentious."
Sarah smiled. "Well, something similar. Darren?"
"You want him to grow up and marry a witch?"
"Oh, really, George, are going to be happy with any name I come up with?" But Sarah was still smiling. He was just being grouchy. And he couldn't fool her a bit with this tough guy routine. She would feel him stroking her stomach when he thought she was asleep, and once even heard him whisper, "Good night, little guy."
"Darry, then."
"Whatever."
She changed the subject and picked up her cross stitching. "I saw Anna today."
"Anna Morgan?"
"Yeah, over by your mother's."
A frown crossed his face. "Huh. She doin' alright?"
"She said she's been having headaches, wanted them checked out."
George shifted a little in the chair he was sitting in, looking uncomfortable. "That kid with her?"
In most cases, Sarah would have scolded the cold way he referred to the Morgan girl. But she found herself feeling the same way. Talking about her made Sarah feel uneasy, especially now that-"
"Hey, Earth to Sarah," George said. "You still there?"
Sarah realized she had drifted for a moment, shook it off. "Yeah," she answered, somewhat dazed. She'd stopped stitching, came to herself, and resumed. "She wanted to touch my stomach."
George seemed almost panicky. "Did you let her?"
Sarah was somewhat appalled by his attitude. "Of course! Why shouldn't I?"
"Something about her just makes me. . .I don't know."
"Anna is a perfectly –"
"Oh, Anna." The relief was evident on George's face. "Oh, that's fine then, yeah."
"Oh," Sarah nodded. "You thought I meant. . ." She broke off, shuddered a bit.
"No, definitely not." She found herself wondering why the thought was so
repulsive to her.
"Poor woman was so . . ." She hunted for the word. "Hurt, feeling it."
George shrugged. "Bad memories, I suppose. How many miscarriages?"
"I don't know," Sarah snapped. "It's not nice to talk about something like that so callously."
George knew he wouldn't win, mostly because she was right. He kept his mouth shut.
"Anyway, they're doing fine, really." She paused. "I don't know. I wouldn't want to adopt. Especially from another country. I guess if they're happy." She let her voice trail off.
"Well, I think the whole thing's fishy. Going off to who knows where-"
"Europe," Sarah intoned, annoyed.
"Whatever."
"Well they're happy, anyway," she said as if this settled it. She set aside her stitching and laid down. "Good night, George," she said, emphasizing for finality. She softened her voice to a whisper as she stroked her large stomach. "Good night, Darby."