Love and Marriage

Chapter Seventy-Nine

When Sam awoke the next morning she found that she was alone in the bed. Martin had gotten up without waking her up, but she should have expected that. Last night didn't go very well and she wasn't sure how to fix it. Short of relenting and letting him stay, there didn't seem like a way to make him happy. He wanted to stay here, and she understood why. But would that make her happy? Would that be the best thing? She wasn't sure anymore. Everything was such a mess now. At least he was happy about the baby, but she wasn't surprised about that.

She could smell breakfast being cooked and decided to head into the kitchen. She threw back the covers on the bed and swung her legs over the side so she could get up. As soon as she stood up, she felt the need to rush into the bathroom. "Oh no. Not again." She moaned as she ran into the bathroom and lifted the toilet seat.

Meanwhile Martin was in the kitchen with Claire making breakfast. He had decided to make her blueberry pancakes, bacon, eggs, and sausage. Normally he wouldn't make that much food but didn't see the problem with overindulging his daughter since he hasn't been around for a while.

"Is breakfast ready yet?" Claire asked, getting slightly impatient. She was hungry.

"Almost." Martin told her. "It'll just be a few more minutes."

"Ok." Claire replied. She could wait a few more minutes.

"So how did you sleep last night?" He asked his daughter as he simultaneously flipped the bacon around in the pan and stirred the pancake batter.

"Fine." Claire replied.

"No more bad dreams?" He asked. "Mommy says you've been having some bad dreams lately."

"No bad dreams." Claire shook her head. She only had bad dreams when her daddy wasn't there. She would always imagine him being sad and alone without anyone to talk to. That made her sad and she didn't want to think about her daddy being lonely or sad.

"That's good." Martin nodded. "But if you did have a bad dream, you know that you can talk to either your mommy or me about it, right?"

"I know that." Claire replied.

"Morning." Sam greeted with a smile as she entered the kitchen. After getting sick, she had brushed her teeth and swished around some mouthwash in her mouth to get the bad taste out. She walked over to Claire and placed a kiss on her daughter's forehead.

"Morning mommy!" Claire smiled brightly.

"How did you sleep sweetie?" Sam asked.

"I already told daddy. Fine." Claire repeated. "Is breakfast almost ready?"

"Almost." Martin told his daughter, not turning around to face her or Sam.

Sam walked over to the stove. "Need any help?" She hoped offering to help would thaw the cold reception she was receiving from him.

"Nope." He replied curtly. "I have everything under control."

"Fine." She sighed, going over to sit at the table with Claire. "So what do you want to do today Claire?"

"Can we all go to a movie together?" Claire asked, getting excited. There was a new movie that she wanted to see and it would be so cool to go with both of her parents.

"What do you say Martin? Want to go see a movie?" Sam asked.

"Sure." Martin replied as he started dishing out the food for everyone.

"Ok. Then I guess we'll go see a movie." Sam smiled at her daughter. "After breakfast we'll check the movie times, ok?"

"Yay!" This was definitely a good day for Claire. Not only was her daddy there, but she was also going to go to the movies. And she was getting her favorite breakfast.

"Here you go ladies." Martin said as he placed two plates full of food down in front of Claire and Sam.

"Thanks." Sam and Claire replied at the same time.

Sam soon noticed that she had nothing to drink and started to get up.

"What do you need?" Martin asked her, motioning for her to sit down. He felt bad for the way he was treating her. Although he was frustrated with her, he shouldn't be so flippant with her. This was his last full day here and he didn't want to spend it arguing with her or avoiding her. He'd only regret it once he returned to New York.

"Something to drink." She replied. "But I can get it."

"I'll get it for you." Martin told her. "Orange juice or milk?"

"Orange juice please." Sam replied, confused by the way he was treating her. He was doing nice things for her but wouldn't look at her if possible and wouldn't talk to her. This wasn't going to be a very fun day.

"Here you are." He said as he placed a full glass of orange juice in front of her.

"Thanks." She picked up a piece of bacon and started eating. Thankfully, after her earlier encounter with the toilet this morning, her nausea was gone. So she was able to eat this big breakfast that Martin worked hard to create.

Martin grabbed a plate full of food for himself and then came over to sit next to Claire. "How are the pancakes?" He asked his daughter, hoping that they met her standards.

"Great!" Claire smiled, shoving the fork full of pancake into her mouth.

The rest of breakfast went by without any problems. Having Claire there prevented Martin and Sam from arguing and it was nice to be together as a family again.

"Can I go watch cartoons now mommy?" Claire asked as she finished her chocolate milk.

Sam looked at her daughter's plate and saw that she had eaten almost everything that was given to her. Satisfied with the amount that Claire had eaten, she nodded. "Yes you may."

Claire smiled and then ran out of the kitchen. If she was lucky, she would be able to see her favorite cartoon.

Once Claire left the kitchen, Martin and Sam went back to eating in silence. Both were lost in their own thoughts. "This was really good."

"Glad you liked it." He replied without looking up at her. He simply continued eating the last piece of sausage on his plate.

Sam knew that now probably wasn't the best time to bring this up since Claire was just in the next room, but didn't want to have this hanging over her head the entire day. "Are you going to stay mad at me for the whole weekend?"

He sighed. Although he had been thinking about this whole situation with Sam, he didn't really want to talk about this right. But it seemed he didn't have a choice. "I'm not mad at you."

"Could've fooled me." She moved a small piece of pancake around her plate with her fork.

"I'm just frustrated." Martin continued, looking over at her. "You say one thing and then you go and say something else that contradicts everything else you've said. I don't know what you want from me and I'm getting tired of guessing. Why can't you simply tell me what you want?"

"Because I don't know what I want anymore!" Sam exclaimed, realizing that she needed to keep her voice down so that Claire didn't hear what they were talking about. "I know it's frustrating you and I'm sorry I don't know what I want. I want you but..."

"But you don't want me." Martin finished her sentence for her.

"It's not that I don't want you. It's never been about that." She sighed. "I don't want to do something that will hurt our marriage." She explained.

"How is living in the same state going to hurt our marriage?" Martin asked. She wasn't making any sense to him.

"Well look at us. You've been here for less than a day and we're already arguing again." She pointed out.

"That's only because…"

"It doesn't matter why. The point is that we can't even spend twenty-four hours together without reverting back to fighting the way we used to." Sam explained.

"Sam, we're married. Married couples fight all the time—even the 'stable' married couples fight. It's a healthy part of marriage." He still didn't understand what her problem with him staying here was. "I think the time has come for you to make up your mind. Do you want me to stay or do you want me to go?" Martin asked.

"Why does this have to be so black and white with you?" Sam asked. "Why does it have to be all or nothing? Can't we try to compromise?"

"How do we compromise about this?" Martin asked her. He jokingly added, "You want me to just fly up here every weekend or something?"

He chuckled at his statement, but she didn't think it was that funny. "You know, that's not such a bad idea."

"I was kidding Samantha." He told her as he got up from the table and took his plate to the sink to rinse it off.

She got up and took her plate over to him because she was done eating too. "Well I'm not. I think…"

"Mommy! When are we going to see the movie?" Claire asked, bouncing into the kitchen and tugging at her mommy's shirt. Her favorite cartoon had already been on while she was eating and she had missed it.

"I don't know sweetie." Sam replied, wondering how much of their conversation Claire had heard. Judging by the smile on her daughter's face, she guessed that Claire was still oblivious to the tension that had built up between her and Martin again.

"You said we'd look after breakfast and it's after breakfast." Claire reminded her.

"Yes it is." Sam smiled. "So why don't we go get dressed and then we'll check the movie times?"

"Ok." Claire answered happily. She was going to get to spend the whole day with her mommy and daddy. They were a family again and she was going to enjoy it. Not even the fact that she missed seeing her favorite cartoon was going to make her sad today.

Sam looked over at Martin. "Just try to think about what I said?" She took Claire's hand and went to go help her daughter pick out clothes to wear for the day.

Martin watched them leave the kitchen and sighed. He really had been joking when he suggested that the compromise be that he visited every weekend. But for some reason Sam seemed to like that plan. He'd think about it later. Today he was going to get to spend the whole day with his daughter and his wife. He planned on enjoying this as much as possible.