A REASON FOR MARRIAGE

“That’s what I thought.” Sara nodded abruptly. “Well, it’s been…interesting knowing you, Simon. Don’t you forget to change the security code on your private lift when you get home, “she said lightly.

Simon arched one dark and mocking brow. “Is there any danger of you ever wanting to come back there?”

“Probably not,” she acknowledged with a tight smile, remembering the last time she had done it. Not again.

“Then why would I bother changing the security code?” He shrugged unconcernedly.

Sara hesitated. “I’m sure you’re not really interested, but I-I already decided not to go ahead with my plans for IVF.”

A nerve pulsed in his jaw. “Why not?”

She gave a wistful smile, knowing she couldn’t tell Simon the real reason- that, having fallen in love with him, it was impossible for her ever to want anyone else’s child but his. Like a lovesick idiot, she’d thrown away her plans. Despite the warnings in her head, she’d let herself get carried away. She’d let go of her past, and she’d fallen in love with him. “Maybe I’m no longer that selfish.”

“I was wrong to say that,” Simon spoke huskily. “After what you went through during your engagement to Bruce Bennet, it was not selfish to want a child of your own, Sara,”ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

“Merely ill-advised?”She grimaced.

“Not that either.” He gave a slow shake of his head.

“Then what was it?”

“I have absolutely no idea,” he admitted evenly.

She nodded abruptly. “Goodbye, Simon,”

“Sara,” he returned tersely and began to get dressed.

She wouldn’t cry, Sara told herself firmly as she walked over to her bedroom, turning to look across at Simon where he stood so tall and darkly handsome-and icily distant-across the room.

She would not cry.

She had loved and lost, yes, but she had no one to blame for that but herself. It was a loss Sara had a feeling she was going to have to live with for the rest of her life…

———

By the time Sara let herself into her house that evening, she was a mess. She’d barely been able to get any work done at the off as she couldn’t think about Simon and the fact that their relationship had ended.

But that wasn’t the reason why she was anxious and scared at the moment. She’d done some thinking, and based on her calculations, her period should have already come this month. She was freaking out, and on her way home she’d stopped at the drug store to pick up a pregnancy test kit.

As Sara sat on her couch now and thought of everything that had happened she couldn’t stop the nausea rising. She just made it to the bathroom in time and emptied the contents of her stomach. As she washed her face, she thought of something, and with a fatal air went back out to her bag and extracted the chemist’s bag. She went back into her bathroom.

She had to take the test now because she had to know or she’d go completely insane. A lot had already happened and the day couldn’t get any worse.

And then it just did.

____________

She tried to ignore the doorbell which was ringing persistently, the door-knocker banging violently. But the thought of her neighbors hearing the commotion finally made her move off her couch and out of the state of shock that had held her immobile for the past few minutes. She opened the door and didn’t wait to see who it was. She knew.

Simon came in and towered over her, the door shut behind him. “What the hell is going on? Why did you take so long to answer?”

Sara moved around to her armchair and sat down, because she was afraid she might fall. “It took me so long to answer because I didn’t want to see or talk to you, Simon. I thought we already agreed on that this morning!”

Simon had moved to the center of the sitting-room, and glared down at her. “Yes I I know that, but I was… I was worried about you,”

Sara winced, and Simon grunted something unintelligible and sat down on her couch. She was still a little too numb to react.

“I’m fine, Simon. Please go away,”she said, her gaze fixed on her feet, and she couldn’t even look at him.

He didn’t move, “I thought that maybe I didn’t handle things well this morning,” he began, “And I…”

Sara stood up before he could finish speaking, moving back towards her kitchen as if seeking refuge. Simon stood up too and followed her.

“Please go home, Simon. I’m fine,” she said as she finally turned to face him, “I think that you handled things pretty well, and we made the best decision for the both of us this morning. There is no need to talk about it or for you to check up on me. I’m not your responsibility. We shouldn’t have even let it go this far…. We made a mistake.”

He started advancing towards her, and Sara backed away further.

“Is that what you think was happening between us? Is that what is happening here?-a mistake in the making?’

Sara shook her head, confused. Did he mean them? “I don’t…What are you talking about?”

He was still advancing into her kitchen, making the space become tiny. Sara was starting to feel desperate. She felt so raw and vulnerable right now that if he so much as touched her…She stopped abruptly as her hand that had been sliding along the counter hit something. Instinctively, she covered it. She knew immediately what it was; she’d left it there in her shock and confusion just minutes before.

Simon’s eyes darted to where her hand had made the betraying, concealing movement. Sara gulped as he looked back at her. She felt guilty. She looked guilty.

“What’s that, Sara?”

“Nothing,” she said, almost hopefully.

“So why are you trying to hide it?”

“I’m not.”

“Show me what it is.”

“It’s nothing, just rubbish.” Desperation tinged her voice, and in a rising surge of panic and rejection at the thought of confronting this, too, when so much had just happened, she whipped it off the counter top and whirled around to put it in the bin. But before she could a strong arm wrapped itself around her midriff and pulled her back into a hard body. With effortless strength, Simon reached round and pulled the object from her hand. She closed her eyes.