"Do you want ta talk about it, darlin'?" asked Mrs. Lovett sympathetically, half of her actually caring and the other half just wanting to know if every moment they had spent together had been in vain.
"No, Mrs. Lovett," he replied softly, his thumb stroking the side of her face. "I want you not to open shop today."
"And why ever would I think a doin' that?"
"Because, I want you to stay here with me all day." The barber felt that if the woman left his sight today, her death would be unstoppable.
"Oh." She seemed surprised, and the thought that it would be very nice to do such a thing appeared amidst everything else in her scattered mind. Meat didn't spoil that fast, did it? She would be okay if she waited one day, wouldn't she? "I suppose something could be worked out."
He smiled slightly at her, having known that the answer would be anything but no, and pulled her closer to him. She tensed as he did so, and he felt her nervousness radiate through her into him.
"Hush now," he whispered, pressing his cool lips to her forehead. "Don't act like we haven't done this before."
"Mr. T," she began, looking as if she was about to tell him something extremely horrible. "I can't..."
"Hm?" He thought he might've been mistaken. True, it had been almost a week since the two of them had taken to sexual intercourse, but he hadn't thought that much about it.
She wasn't looking at him anymore. This wasn't good, even he knew that much.
"I can't," she repeated again, and he blinked, now realizing he hadn't been mistaken.
There was an awkward pause in which he tore apart the emotions shown on her face, searching for an answer. Finally he just had to ask.
"Why not?"
"Because," she said, as if hoping that one word was the only answer she had to give.
"Because why?" he questioned, forcing her to explain.
"Because." She took a quick breath before continuing. "I'm pregnant."
It took a moment to for the seriousness of what she was telling him to set in. He stupidly asked, "What?"
A bit of the normal Mrs. Lovett returned, so she repeated, "I'm going to have a baby." When he didn't say anything, she added, "Your baby."
"You dirty woman; you're lying to me!"
"No I'm not!" She was clearly offended by his statement. He wished terribly that he could take it back, that he never had to see that hurt expression she currently had on her face.
"You do know what this means," he said softly, not wanting to anger her but wanting to make sure she had thought this through.
"Go on."
"It means your reputation is going to be ruined for having a baby without being married."
This thought had been prominent in her mind, and she had a solution. "We can get married."
The remark that he maybe didn't want to marry her sprang to his lips, but instead he said, "Maybe I'm not ready for any of this."
"Too bad."
"You wanted this to happen, didn't you?" He didn't seem that angry, only somewhat apprehensive.
"Well." She really had, but she had still been surprised when it had happened. "Not really. I thought I wasn't able to have children." Her eyes grew wider. "It really was Albert's fault all along."
The thought that the trouble in not having children in her first marriage had not really been her fault at all but her husbands was extremely comforting.
"Apparently so," growled the barber, lurching her from her not so friendly memories. He sighed, feeling slightly guilty. He was going to have to finally take some responsibility for his actions. Plus, he really didn't want Mrs. Lovett's reputation to be hurt.
So that meant one thing; that he and the pie maker were going to have to get married very very soon. He portrayed this thought to Mrs. Lovett.
"We're going to have to get married." The thought began to dawn on him. He was going to have to marry her. No matter how much he really preferred to have a private relationship, he was going to have to publically marry her somewhere. There had to be witnesses at a wedding. And then the baby... what if the same thing happened that happened with Johanna? What if something happened to him and he left his second child, fatherless and alone? No, he would make sure that didn't happen.
"Mr. T?"
He hadn't realized that he had been quiet for about five minutes. He hadn't even heard Mrs. Lovett's response to his statement.
"Yes?"
"Can we get married... by the sea?"
He had expected this question, but that didn't mean he had come up with an answer for it. The barber couldn't see any harm in where they ran off and got married at; surely if they didn't do it in London there would be a lot less ruckus.
"I suppose so, as long as it's quiet."
She accepted that knowing that he still didn't want to do this. But at the moment, that didn't really matter. Her mind was already planning what she had longed for all her life, and even if he was non-compliant, it wouldn't matter to her.