FIFTEEN

Annaliese looked at the pieces on the chessboard. Trip was going easy on her. Not only was she having trouble remembering how to play chess, but he was controlling the game so completely that he was choosing which one of her pieces would topple his pieces.

“Trip,” she said quietly, ignoring the game in front of her. “What I’ve done to you feels inexcusable. You’ve been beyond patient and I’ve done nothing but take advantage of your goodness. If you’ve had enough, you have to tell me.”

“Why would you think I’ve had enough? You’re the one who’s been avoiding me,” he said like he was the source of the patience fountain.

“I’m sorry about that. I heard a woman laughing on your end of the phone and I wondered if maybe you’d met someone new in the months we hadn’t seen each other.”

“I haven’t done anything of the sort. This whole situation put us in a love desert, but it was never supposed to last forever. Your mother didn’t hate my guts, she just had ideas that would only be satisfied by one thing. You told me that was the deal when we were sixteen. You didn’t deceive me. This has sucked, but that hasn’t been your fault.” The patience fountain was drying up as he raked a hand through his hair. “Now, do you have anything you have to tell me?”

“Like what?”

“Well, is there another man? Did you meet someone in law school who saw you the way I saw you, like a little stalk of wheat who didn’t understand the work involved in legislative drafting and needed a hand?”

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Annaliese groaned. “No, but only because I told them to get lost. I failed half of my courses this semester.”

“Good girl. No more law school?”

“No! No more law school,” she burst, half like she was screaming and half like she was throwing up.

He got up from his chair, came around the table, put his arms around her, and pulled her close to him. Resting his chin on the top of her head, he asked quietly, “What do you want to do instead?”

“I don’t know. I don’t care. What are you doing? Can I go along with you until I have had time to think about it?”

“Yeah. I still haven’t given up my condo downtown. Do you want to live here or do you want to live downtown?”

She pulled away from him. “There’s a choice?”

“Of course there is. This house has no mortgage on it. I own it completely. If you want to live here, we can.”

Annaliese felt herself fall. His arms came around her and he stopped her from falling on her bottom on the hardwood floor. She was crying. “How can I ever pay you back for letting me have that last bit of time together with my mother? How can I ever thank you for waiting for me? How can we be in a fair relationship when all I’ve ever done is take from you?”

“Have my baby.” He didn’t even hesitate.

“What?”

“Seriously. Have my baby. We’ll live here and have little children run around this house the way we did.”

She panted, surprised. She didn’t even know Trip wanted children. “I’d throw out my birth control pills tonight, but if I get pregnant tomorrow, what will everyone think? No one knows we’re married.”

He laughed. “If you’re game, I’ll work it all out.”