Chapter Thirty

"Man's best possession is a sympathetic wife."

- Euripedes

Nadia sat stretched out on the beach next to Claire, running a hand over her stomach. It had been four months since Nasser's disappearance into the jungle, and she was now showing. She knew that when the baby came less than eight months after her marriage to Sayid, people would either suspect that they had engaged in an affair or deduce that the child was Nasser's. She didn't like either prospect. Perhaps if the baby were small, they would just think it premature.

She supposed she should not care what others thought of her, and, besides, it was likely they would only be supportive. There was no luxury for judgment in this place; although gossip flowed freely, it was rarely harsh.

And yet she did care…she cared because she was proud of Sayid's virtue, because she was grateful everyday that on that frigid night, he had found the strength she had not possessed. He had always had more courage than he knew. And because of that strength, they could now be together without the stain of shame to tarnish their pleasure. But she wanted the baby to be known as Sayid's, as did he, and if that meant allowing the suspicion that they had committed adultery…so be it. She only prayed the child looked like her.

Claire glanced over and smiled at Nadia. "Feels weird, doesn't it?" she asked. "Like you're not quite yourself."

Nadia shrugged. "Now that the worst part is over, I do not mind the way it feels…but this is not the best place to give birth. I am glad to know you survived it."

"Yes, but I didn't have to endure that awful first trimester here."

Nadia smiled. "Well, at least there is plenty of time for sleeping." She had developed an unexpected but fast friendship with Claire. The two were very different, yet they got along well; perhaps it was because of their common experience with pregnancy, or perhaps it was because their contrasting personalities balanced one another. Whatever the reason, Nadia was grateful for the friendship.

"Hold on," Claire said, running up the beach a few feet to grab Aaron. She brought him back to the blanket she had stretched out. "I had to have an early crawler, didn't I?" The boy now seemed content to stay and play with the wooden toys Locke had fashioned for him.

Charlie walked by, stopped, and offered the ladies each a bottle of water. They thanked him, and he smiled at Claire. "You want me to take Aaron off your hands for awhile?" he asked. "I could take him for a walk in that buggy thing Locke built." Locke had salvaged some wheels from the prop jet and had managed to make something like a stroller. It was clumsy, but it worked.

Claire hesitated but then consented. Charlie was being kind to her again, and he seemed to have accepted her decision to be nothing more than friends, albeit warily.

When Charlie and Aaron had taken off on their beach romp, Nadia and Claire began to discuss pregnancy, but they were soon interrupted by Marcus. "Where's your husband?" he asked Nadia.

"I do not know," she said. "He does not see fit to report to me his every movement."

Marcus squinted against the sun and saw that she was smiling.

"I think," Nadia continued, "he may perhaps be in the caves with Jack, discussing the new map."

"Why are you looking for Sayid?" asked Claire.

"No particular reason," answered Marcus. "I thought he could maybe help me with something."

"With what?" Claire asked, looking up curiously at the priest.

"Just…a thing," he said. "I hear he's good with his hands."

"Yes," Nadia agreed, a pleased expression stealing across her face, "he is quite skilled in that regard."

Claire giggled girlishly, and Marcus thought it best to extract himself from their presence as quickly as possible.

----

Sayid softened the metal in the fire, drawing it out periodically to see if it would be responsive to shaping. "This is to be an engagement ring?" he asked.

"Yes," replied Marcus, who was sitting beside him, toying nervously with the crucifix he wore draped across his waist. "I hope I'm not wasting your time."

"You are not sure if she will accept you?" Sayid asked, a little surprised. He could not imagine asking a woman such an important question if he was not sure of the answer. Then again, he had done it himself, hadn't he? He had not known whom Nadia would choose. Oh, he had been certain that she wanted him, that she loved him. He had also been confident that Nasser did not deserve her. What he had not been sure of was whether she might choose to sacrifice her happiness for duty, her fulfillment for hope.

The priest shrugged. "She's clearly fond of me, but…she's been spending a lot of time with Charlie lately."

"Charlie is her friend," Sayid replied. "He was very kind to her when we were first on the island. She is not going to relinquish that relationship. You had better grow accustomed to it."

"I know I sound childishly jealous, but, how would you feel if, for instance, some other man had more to do with your wife's child than you did?"

Sayid shot an abrupt and tense look at the priest and then returned his gaze to his work at the fire. "However I felt," he said slowly, "I would act as a father to that child, and soon enough, I am certain I would feel like a father to him."

"It's not as if I haven't made an effort. And I love that boy. But…Claire seems to want Charlie to spend a lot of time with him."

"So, consider him a…what do you Christians call it? A godfather?"

Marcus nodded. "I will. I will. It's just…easier said than done."

Sayid glanced at him sympathetically.

"Do you think she'll say yes?" the priest asked.

Sayid suppressed a smile. "You ought to know better than I."

"Yet I don't, really. I can see why Charlie was confused…"

"She never gave Charlie quite the encouragement she has given you." Sayid pulled the metal from the fire and began to shape it.

"If it hadn't been for this island…I don't see how we would ever have been together, in the real world, you know. She isn't particularly religious, and out there, that would have been an insurmountable object for me. But here…"

"Here you must take what comfort you can."

The priest nodded. "Her heart is so kind, so sensitive." Marcus watched Sayid work for a moment and then said, "Perhaps I'd know better how she felt if we had…you know…if we'd ever…but I am a priest, and the self-discipline…"

The Iraqi concentrated on his welding, but he answered, "Well, you will know even better when you ask her directly. There's no mistaking that response."

Sayid himself wondered what Claire might say. She was rather guarded with her feelings, at least until they reached a summit, like they had that night in the tent, when she had sobbed against him. Perhaps Nadia could guess her response. Sayid could only see that she clearly cared for Marcus and that he had brought out in her a new confidence.

The priest was protective of her, but not in the same way that Charlie had been; Marcus's guidance was never the impulse of correction, but merely the result of affection. Although still hesitant and uncertain at times, Claire had become a more self-assured mother and a woman more inclined to stand up for herself. That latter change meant that, if she wanted to, she shouldn't have a problem saying no.

When the ring had finally cooled, Sayid handed it to Marcus, saying, "I hope it fits."

Marcus turned it over in his hands. "I hope she'll want to find out."