Chapter 13

Marianne woke up and felt a warm body lying next to her. She smiled to herself, thinking about Chris, and last night. It might be coincidence that an active imagination made for a good photographer and a good lover, but she doubted it. In the three months since Knebworth, he'd shown that imagination many times, and Marianne was more than happy with the results!

She turned over and looked at him, sleeping solidly beside her in the warm morning light filtered through the curtains. Chris wasn't good looking enough to be a model himself, nor did he take enough obsessive care of his appearance, but he wasn't ugly, no, by no means.

There was more.

Marianne had fallen for him, head-over-heels fallen in love. She couldn't believe it. She still regretted hurting Simon, as she knew she had, but really, once she'd spent that night and day with Chris, it was all over.

She just hoped that Chris was feeling the same way. There was something she hadn't told him, something that was worrying her.

Marianne, the normally assertive, aggressive of the twins, was uncharacteristically reticent with him in some ways. She found she was afraid of voicing her feelings in case they weren't reciprocated. That would devastate her, she knew, and she was scared of testing it directly. So she used indirect means, testing him in ways that were less of a frontal assault than simply asking, "Chris, do you love me? Are you in love with me?"

The trouble was that Marianne didn't really trust the answers because they weren't direct. So, she was on tenterhooks.

Last night was another example. Chris, the courteous man that he was, had picked her up from her house at seven and they'd gone for a meal with Pearl and her current beau. Chris had been attentive to her all night, holding open doors, pulling out her chair, that sort of thing. He'd made sure she had her every need catered for, and then had taken her home and looked after her other, more earthy needs.

Even here, he thought of her pleasure first. He was almost as skilled with his tongue as Simon had been, and considerably more assertive in making sure he got what he wanted — her orgasm. Orgasms, if he had his way — and he did.

But was it love? Politeness in general and thoughtfulness in bed did not mean it was, necessarily. He looked at other women, of course he did — it was his profession — but he never compared others to Marianne.

What did it all mean?

Marianne got up and tiptoed into the bathroom, trying not to wake Chris up. She'd almost finished her morning routine when she doubled over and was noisily sick into the toilet. Again.

She was just about to wipe her face when she heard Chris' voice from the bedroom calling, "Marianne? Are you okay?"

"Sure Chris, fine. Probably those mussels I ate last night." She was dissembling, actually Marianne had a pretty good idea what the problem was — she was just denying it to herself.

"You've always got to watch out for seafood," Chris replied, coming naked into the bathroom. He owned little in the way of body modesty, she'd found. He'd never embarrassed her, not that way in any case, but now that she was living with him she'd noticed that he quite happily wandered around his home naked or nearly so.

Marianne herself was a little more conventional, about that at least. Straightening up, she pulled her robe more tightly around herself and made their early morning drinks. "I think I'll have tea this morning, it might help settle my stomach," she called out to Chris, getting a grunt in return. She smiled — Chris wasn't good in the mornings until he'd had his caffeine, though once running he was full of energy all day long.

He strolled into the kitchen in T-Shirt and shorts, a concerned look on his face.

"Are you okay, Mari?"

"Yeah, sure. Luckily it's only come up, not out the other end as well!"

Chris made a face and helped himself to some of Marianne's toast, untouched on her plate. "What have you got on today?" he asked, "'cos if you're unwell, perhaps you ought to let it slide?"

"Nah, I'll be okay," she replied.

"You've been peaky in the mornings of late, though."

"Maybe I just need to get to bed earlier, or something. Honest, I'm fine, Chris."

In reality, she was persuading herself more than Chris.

Four days later and she was starting to worry. She was now overdue her second period, if only by a couple of days — and she was still feeling sick when she got up.

Saying nothing to Chris, she checked her Pills. No, she hadn't missed any, so she couldn't be pregnant, could she?

A week after that, and still there'd been no 'show'. Marianne was feeling a tiny bit better that morning, but still wasn't hungry. She was worried, and Chris had noticed her lack of appetite and closed, tense body language.

"Mari, are you sure you're all right?"

He asked her this with such an open expression of love and concern that Marianne felt she had to say something.

"I don't really know, Chris. I — I'm on the Pill, but I'm late."

Chris sat back in his chair, face now blank. He visibly pulled himself together, and asked, "You think this is why you've not been well in the mornings this past few days?"

"Uh-huh. Probably." She felt tears starting to form, and her throat became tight. "I'm s — sorry, Chris, I —"

"Shhhh, Mari, love. How long before we can find out for sure?"

"I — I don't know. Chris, I'm on the Pill. I can't be pregnant, can I?"

"They're not foolproof, Mari. Not completely."

"I know." She burst into full-blown tears, and Chris came around the table to comfort her. For a few minutes she sobbed into his chest as he held her, rocking her gently.

"If I am pregnant, what am I going to do?" she wailed.

"Keep the baby, of course, love," Chris told her. She looked at him in surprise.

"You want me to have it?"

"Of course! Why, you weren't thinking of... ?"

"Abortion? I just thought you wouldn't want..."

"No! No! Er, well, I guess it's actually your choice, Mari. But- look, I'll stand by you, I'm not leaving you or anything."

"So you want me to have it."

He sat on the edge of the table, looking down at a very frightened Marianne.

"If you don't want to keep the baby, Marianne, there's another way," he reminded her quietly. "Adoption. I haven't told you this, lover, but I'm adopted. Mum lost two babies and then they told her she could never carry to term. She and Dad adopted me when I was only a very small baby."

"I didn't know, Chris. You and she actually seem to look somewhat alike."

"I know, isn't it funny? Pure coincidence. But I'd rather you kept any baby of ours so that we can bring it up together."

Marianne gave him a smile of blinding joy. She stood, pulled him to his feet and jumped on him, wrapping her legs around his waist and kissing him with butterfly soft, swift, sweet kisses all over his face.

He began to walk out of the kitchen, and she asked him, "Where are you taking me? Unhand me this moment, sir!"

"Aaarrrrgh, Oi be a pirate, and you be moi booty!" he growled, and Mari threw her head back, laughing with him as he entered the living room. He reached the couch and laid her down, carefully, kneeling on the floor beside her.

"Mari, I want you to know that I've been thinking about saying this before. I love you. I really do, and there's no getting around it, I'm going to be with you, baby or no baby. This hasn't changed a thing, except to make me say it out loud sooner rather than later."

She smiled happily back at him. She lifted her head and supported it on one hand as she lay there and basked in the joy each had found.

"I knew I loved you, Chris. I was afraid to say so, because you're right, it was quick — and yet it wasn't really, was it? We've known each other quite a while now, after all."

"I guess so. But you didn't answer my question, did you? How long before we can find out for sure if I'm going to be a daddy?"

"You're excited, aren't you? I wouldn't have guessed that," she replied. "I guess the best answer is to call the doctor and find out. Um, my doctor is still Dr. James, over near Mum's."

"Or there's the Family Planning clinic," Chris reminded her. "More discreet, perhaps?"

"Yeah, better. I think I want to know exactly what's happening before I tell Mum and Cari."

A day later, and she had it confirmed. She was going to be a mother.

At the table over supper that night, in a small, slightly tremulous voice she asked her boyfriend "Chris, are you sure you want this baby?"

He smiled at her reassuringly. "Certain, Mari. Don't even think about it, please?"

"Well. It's a lot of responsibility, Chris. It'll interfere with my modelling, too. Then there's your work, there's a lot to think about."