Marriage and Family

Chapter Seventeen

When Sam woke up the next morning, she rolled over and found that Martin's side of the bed was empty. She couldn't help but frown at that until she started to smell the delicious scent of his cooking wafting up from the kitchen.

At first she had thought that maybe he had gone somewhere this morning, but he was just making breakfast instead. The thought of him making breakfast for her made her smile. She wasn't expecting that but it was a welcome treat. Grabbing her robe and slipping it on, she headed down to the kitchen.

"Morning." She greeted softly, entering the kitchen and heading for the coffee.

He looked at her and smiled putting down the spatula he was using and walking over to her. "Good morning." He kissed her temple before returning to the stove.

She was surprised by the kiss. He hadn't kissed her in the morning for a long time. Something was definitely going on. He was almost acting too nice to her and it making her think that something was wrong.

There was a dramatic shift in him that she could see. He seemed like he was happier, and he was being more attentive to her. What was the cause behind this change in behavior? Was it something that she should be worried about?

"How did you sleep?" He asked, flipping over a piece of bacon that he was frying.

"Really well actually." She told him, grabbing her coffee and leaning against the counter. "That bed is by far the most comfortable one I've ever slept in."

"It is pretty nice." He agreed. "How was the one at Claire's?"

"Fine I guess." She shrugged. "I guess it's just nice to be back in my own bed again."

"You have been away for a long time." He noted.

"Yeah." Sam nodded.

"Oh, before I forget, Rachel called yesterday looking for you. I think she wanted to get your advice on something. I tried to help her, but she said it was more of a 'mom' situation."

Sam laughed and walked closer to the stove to see what Martin was cooking. It looked like they were having bacon, eggs, and French toast. "That means it probably has to do with a guy."

"I was afraid of that." Martin sighed. "Is it too late to lock her up in her room and keep all guys away from her?

She lightly swatted his arm. "Yes it is, and come on! We've never had any major problems with our daughters when it comes to boys."

"We have been rather lucky that Claire married her first boyfriend and Rachel was never a boy-crazy teenager." He reasoned.

"Was it really important that she talk to me?" She asked, wanting to know if she should call her back right now or wait until later.

"I don't think so. She didn't say anything about it being urgent." Martin shook his head.

"I'll call her later today then and see what's going on." She took another drink of her coffee.

"What else are you doing today?" Martin asked casually, trying to make sure that his question didn't come out as an interrogation.

She shrugged. "Probably just unpacking and catching up on some e-mails that I'm sure have piled up. That'll probably take a few hours. I'll probably get some laundry done too."

"Could you maybe push back the e-mails until tomorrow?" He asked. "'Cause one more day won't really make that much difference, will it?"

"I guess not, but why do you not want me to catch up on e-mails?" She asked, suspicious about his odd behavior.

"Because I was hoping that we could spend the day together." He told her, keeping his attention centered on the food he was cooking so that he didn't have to look at her if she started laughing at him or rejected his idea.

She was silent for a moment, contemplating what he just said. He wanted to spend the day with her? Since when? What exactly was going on here? Martin was acting like a completely different person. Granted she liked this new Martin, it reminded her of the way he used to be before Victor moved in. But still, it was almost unsettling.

"Well what did you have in mind?" She finally asked.

"I was thinking that we could go out to see a movie." He suggested. "And then I thought we could go out to dinner somewhere nice."

"Where?" She asked.

"It's a surprise." He smiled.

"A surprise?" She questioned, her eyes narrowing. "Ok spill it! What's going on here?"

"What do you mean?" He asked, confused by her reaction. He thought that she would be happy that he was trying to plan surprises for her again.

"You're different." She told him, staring into her coffee cup.

"Different?" He repeated. "Different how?"

"You're just different." She replied. "The rose, the hand holding, the morning kiss, the movie idea, the whole dinner surprise thing…all of those things are stuff that you haven't done in a really long time. But here you are doing them again and I can't help but be a little suspicious about why. Did something happen while I was gone that I should know about?"

He was silent for a moment, wondering whether or not he should tell her about the fact that he read her journals and that's what inspired the change in him. He wanted to tell her about that but didn't want to make her mad at him, and he knew that if she found out he had invaded her personal journals she would be furious.

Maybe he would tell her that later, once they had managed to reconnect more and hopefully rebuild more of their relationship. But he still had to answer her question. He really didn't want to start talking about this until dinner tonight, but it looked like he didn't have a choice right now.

"Actually, yeah, something did happen while you were gone." He replied, looking over at her and seeing that she looked worried. "It wasn't bad though."

"Ok." She slowly nodded. If he said it wasn't anything bad, then she would believe him and try not to worry. "So what was it?"

"I guess you could say that I had an epiphany." Martin replied, placing their food on their plates.

"About?" She pressed him for more details.

He handed her a plate and they went over to the table to start eating. "About us…about what's been going on with us."

"Really?" She was definitely surprised by his answer. She wasn't sure what she had expected him to say, but not that.

"Yeah. I know that things between us haven't been very good for a long time and I realize that a lot of the blame falls on me." He picked up his fork and pushed his eggs around his plate. "I'm just trying to show you that I realize it and I want to do better."

She wasn't sure what to say about that. It seemed like he was being genuine about this and she had to wonder what had triggered this epiphany. Something had to have happened to slap the blinders off of his face. But what?

"So what do you say about the movie and dinner?" He asked, really hoping that she would agree. "Yes or no?"

"Yes." She replied after a few seconds of thinking about it. There was still something he wasn't telling her; she could see it in his eyes. And she was determined to find out exactly what he was hiding from her.

"Great." He smiled. Maybe there was a chance for them after all.

Sam picked up the phone later that morning and dialed Rachel's number, still in disbelief over Martin's recent behavior.

"Hello?" Rachel answered the phone.

"Hey sweetie. How are you?" Sam greeted.

"Fine mom." Rachel answered. "How are you?"

"Good." Sam replied.

"Are you finally home now?" Rachel hoped so.

"Yeah. I got home last night." Sam explained.

"How are you and daddy getting along?"

"We're fine." Sam replied, not wanting to talk about that right now. "I hear from your father that you had something you wanted to talk to me about. Is anything wrong?"

"No." Rachel denied. "Not really wrong…it's just…you know, I'm not sure that this is something that I should be talking to you about over the phone."

"It's that important?" Sam guessed.

"I think so, yeah." Rachel replied.

"Are you in some kind of trouble?" Sam asked.

"No. I'm not in any kind of trouble. I just…" She trailed off, gathering courage to ask the next question. "Would it be ok if I came home this weekend?"

"Sweetie of course it's ok if you come home this weekend." Sam assured her daughter. "This is always going to be your home and I don't want you to ever think that you can't come home."

"Well I just wondered because you and daddy haven't have much time alone lately and I don't want to intrude…"

"Rachel, it's ok." Sam assured her. "We'd love it if you came home for a visit."

"Ok." Rachel sighed. "I just think that this is something that I should tell you in person."

"Ok." Sam nodded. "Are you sure that nothing's wrong?"

"I'm sure." Rachel answered. "Everything's fine."

"Ok. Then I guess we'll see you this weekend." Sam told her. "Call when you know what flight you are on."

"I will." Rachel said. "Thanks mom. See you soon."

"Love you sweetie."

"Love you to mom."

Once Sam hung up, she couldn't shake the feeling that Rachel was hiding something important from her. Was she pregnant? Dropping out of school? Changing her major? Wanting to change schools?

Well at least she wouldn't have to wait too long to find out. It was already Thursday. She would be here in two days. She reminded herself not to worry. Rachel was a very smart girl and she would be ok, no matter what was going on with her.

Moving away from the phone, she looked in the mirror. They were going to be leaving for the movies soon, but as she glanced at her own reflection, she felt the need to put fix her hair and put on some light makeup.