Love and Marriage

Chapter Seventy-Five

That evening, Martin stood in the kitchen with Sam, helping her with dinner while Claire was in the living room watching TV. He was chopping up lettuce for a salad as she got the rest of the meal ready. "So how was your doctor's appointment today?" He asked.

She froze when she heard him ask her that. How did he know about her doctor's appointment? Just how much did he know about this doctor's appointment? Who could have told him about it? Olivia was the only one who knew about the baby and Sam knew that she wouldn't go behind her back and tell Martin about it. Did he even know about the baby?

"Doctor's appointment?" She decided that the best way to handle this situation was to play dumb. That way, Martin would have to explain what he knew.

"Yeah." He replied, putting a bunch of lettuce into the salad bowl. "Didn't you have an appointment with your therapist today? When I was looking for you I ran into Trevor and he told me that you had a doctor's appointment today."

"Oh." She sighed in relief. He didn't know about the baby yet. That was good because she wasn't sure how he would take the news if someone else was the one who told him. This news should come from her and not some outsider. It was good that he assumed she had an appointment with her therapist. She wouldn't set him straight about it right now. She'd wait until Claire went to bed to talk about the baby.

"Yeah. I had an appointment today." She lied.

"How do you like her?" Martin asked, glancing over at her.

"Jackie? She's great." Sam replied, looking over at him and seeing that he was looking at her. She gave him a small smile. "She's a lot like Leslie, only a little more straightforward. If I say something that irrational or wrong, she'll point it out."

"Have you said a lot of irrational things lately?" He inquired with a laugh.

The only really irrational thing she had said to Jackie so far was the fact that she wanted to keep this pregnancy a secret from Martin until the end of the first trimester. She was quickly realizing that would be impossible and very damaging to her marriage.

"I may have said one or two things that weren't completely rational." She confessed as she stirred the pot of rice on the stove. "But Jackie seems to think that I'm making pretty good progress."

"That's great." He stopped what he was doing and wrapped his arms around her waist. "I'm proud of you."

"Thanks." She smiled, resting her head on his shoulder. "So how's your therapy going with Leslie?"

"Well…" He wasn't sure about the best way to say this to her. "I'm trying to make progress but my progress has been slightly impeded by the fact that I can't think of anything except how much I miss you and Claire."

She moved her head from his shoulder so that she could look into his eyes. "I'm sorry." She knew that he had been having a hard time and still felt completely responsible for it.

He flashed her a smile, seeing that she was blaming herself. He didn't want her to blame herself for his sadness. "You don't have anything to be sorry about."

"Yes I do." She told him. "I'm here with Claire and everything's going well for me. But you're stuck in New York and miserable. It's not fair to you."

"Yeah, but it's ok." He assured her. It meant a lot to him that she was realizing how unfair this situation was and gave him a glimmer of hope that he would be able to convince her to end this break. He planned to talk to her about that this evening after Claire went to bed. "None of that matters right now because I'm here with my family."

Where you belong. She thought that but didn't say it aloud, even though it was true. He belonged here with her and Claire. It was funny how small some of their problems were now that they weren't in New York.

The whole incident with Bethany seemed like it happened years ago instead of simply a few weeks and she no longer seemed like a problem. The job issue seemed to be almost completely resolved, and their communication skills were definitely getting better. Although they still had a few problems and obstacles to overcome, for the most part everything was better since they left New York.

While she knew it wasn't completely true, it seemed like they had left most of their problems behind in New York. Getting away from there and getting a new, fresh start in Houston might have been one of the best ideas she's ever had. Her reverie was broken when she heard Claire's voice.

"Daddy?" Claire asked, looking at her daddy and then at her mommy.

"Yes Claire?" He answered, turning around to face his daughter.

"Do you have to leave again?" She hoped that once her daddy got here he wouldn't leave. Maybe she could convince him to stay. "Can you stay here forever?"

He wasn't prepared for that question to come from his daughter and stumbled around for a good answer. He wanted to stay here, but it wasn't entirely up to him. Sam had a say in it too. He looked over and made eye contact with Sam, trying to gauge her reaction to Claire's question. She looked just as caught off guard as he was so he decided to field this question.

He kneeled down to her level. "Well, um, I would love to stay here with you and your mother forever. But I'm not sure that I'll be moving here right now."

"Why not?" Claire asked sadly. "Why can't you stay here?"

"It's complicated sweetie. But I don't want you to worry. I will be moving here, maybe not right now, but I will happen." Martin assured her.

"Sweetie, have you washed your hands for dinner yet?" Sam asked her daughter with a smile on her face, trying to change the subject. Now wasn't exactly the best time to be having this conversation with Claire. She needed to talk to Martin alone before they said anything else to Claire.

"Not yet mommy." Claire shook her head.

"Well dinner's almost ready." Sam told her. "Why don't you go wash up now please?"

"Ok." Claire left the room, but the bounce and skip that usually was present in her sep was gone because she was hoping for a better answer. She was hoping that her daddy wouldn't have to leave again since he was here now. She couldn't understand why her daddy was going to have to leave again. It wasn't fair and she didn't like it—not one bit.