Take a Chance

by Simone Jaine

  I wonder what he said to have someone let him in, she thought as she took her time crossing the floor to the front door.

  “Who’s there?” she called out.

  “The tooth fairy,” the voice replied.

  “You have the wrong apartment. Try the Pearsons next door. They have a seven year old,” Jem said.

  “Oh honey, I’m sorry I got you out of the bath but could you please let me in? Dinner’s getting cold.”

  So he has an audience, Jem thought and glanced at the clock.

  At this time of night it was probably Mrs Dwyer returning from the senior citizens buffet down the street. Jem had run into her earlier and the older woman had been shocked by how distressed she appeared. Jem hadn’t been in the mood to explain the situation so had quickly excused herself.

  I hope it is her. She will help me get even for that appalling accusation he made.

  “Do you still think I’m too fat?” she asked in a loud, trembling voice, all the while trying not to laugh.

  Mrs Dwyer would be outraged by the thought considering she repeatedly commented Jem was too skinny already.

  “What? When did… No, no,” Eben responded, sounding confused.

  That wouldn’t do. Mrs Dwyer would need more misinformation to act.

  “You’re not going to make me eat celery and drink water again while I watch you eat real food?” Jem whimpered.

  There was a loud thwack and some muffled accusations from beyond the door before Eben had a chance to respond.

  True to form, Mrs Dwyer acted before hearing both sides of the story.

  I’m glad she still has her umbrella. Yay me, Jem thought with satisfaction as she listened at the door.

  “Hey lady!”

  Thwack! Thwack!

  “I never,” thwack, “said that to her,” thwack, “I would never,” thwack, “Jem open the door!” Eben called urgently.

  “I didn’t order any pizza,” Jem told him happily.

  Thwack!

  “Give that to me!” Jem heard Eben order Mrs Dwyer.

  There were sounds of a scuffle then further up the hall Jem heard a door slam.

  “I haven’t got pizza,” Eben said a little breathlessly through the door. “Now would you please open up or do you also have some flying monkeys you’d like to sic on me first?”

  Jem opened the door reluctantly, telling herself she was only doing so to ensure Mrs Dwyer hadn’t been hurt.

  “You have an evil streak,” Eben said in admiration as he entered and handed her an umbrella that was bent in the middle.

  She closed the door behind him and dropped the umbrella into the umbrella stand. It was too bent to go very far in and toppled onto the floor.

  When she turned around she saw him gaze around her open plan living area. She looked around herself, wondering what he thought of the white on white scheme. He probably thought it looked sterile despite her pot plants.

  “The apartment is so small I thought painting it white would make it appear bigger,” she said defensively and crossed her arms.

  “The walls just need a few small brightly coloured handprints about this high,” Eben said, smiling and held his hand just above knee height.

  “Aidan has only managed sticky ones on the ranch slider so far,” Jem told him with a reluctant smile.

  “There’s still time,” he told her. “Do you mind if I sit down? I did bring dinner.”

  He set the bag he’d been carrying onto the small dining table. Jem recognised the packaging. How did he know she had a weakness for Indian food? Lucky for him she hadn’t had time to eat so she would allow him to stay for as long as the meal took to consume.

  “Make yourself at home,” she said grudgingly with a wave of her hand then retreated to the kitchen to grab a couple of plates and cutlery.

  She came back out to find him placing a bottle of sparkling apple juice on the table so she returned to the kitchen to fetch glasses. This time when she returned she found him lighting all the candles she had on display around the room.

  “What’s all this?” she asked, alarmed.

  If he had seduction on his mind she wouldn’t give in, not after the way he had treated her this afternoon. Besides, her relocation to Hong Kong was only days away so their relationship had to be over despite her being pregnant. After all, only this afternoon he said he didn’t want children.

  “Our dinner last night was interrupted before we got to the best part. I just wanted to make up for it,” Eben said, oblivious to the thoughts racing through her head. He took a seat and indicated she should sit in the one adjacent to his.

  “How about we eat first and talk after dinner?”

  Biting her lip, Jem sat down. She served the rice and butter chicken then shared the naan bread by tearing it in half while Eben poured the juice. She accepted the fizzing glassful.

  “Now where were we?” Eben mused. “I know. Here’s to the future.”

  “The future,” Jem repeated dully and dutifully clinked her glass against his.

  They both started eating, quietly. Once again Eben seemed to have a lot on his mind and didn’t say much. She had been hungry moments ago but now the small amount of food she had swallowed sat uneasily in her stomach. After a few more mouthfuls made no difference she pushed her plate away.

  “What’s the matter?” Eben asked.

  “I’m not feeling hungry,” Jem replied, and rubbed her eyes, feeling tired all of a sudden.

  “Oh. Then here’s to us,” he said, raising his glass for another toast.

  Jem gripped the stalk of her wine glass but didn’t raise it.

  “There can’t be an us,” she said helplessly.

  “Then what have the last few weeks been about then?” Eben asked as he cautiously placed his glass down.

  “They were a reaction to the circumstances,” Jem answered numbly.

  Eben released his glass and grabbed Jem by the shoulder.

  “You aren’t going to try and tell me that with Jess in the hospital what we had was a life affirming thing?” he demanded.

  “No. It was more than that,” Jem admitted. She shrugged his hand off.

  “Then why are you determined to end what we have?” he asked.

  “I thought you did that this afternoon,” she said.

  “Ouch,” Eben said under his breath. I deserved that.

  “Jem, I made a horrendous mistake. I mistakenly believed something I was told without taking the time to think whether it was true. The demonstration in the hallway before I came in reminded me how much lies can hurt someone you care about,” he added ruefully.

  “You deserved it for even thinking there could possibly be another father,” Jem said unrepentantly.

  “I know. That’s why I need to apologise for ever even entertaining the notion and I am truly sorry.”

  Eben took her hand, clasped it in his and looked into her eyes.

  “I want you to know that I am going to be here for you and our baby,” he said.

  Jem turned her head away and looked unseeingly into the living room.

  Here. Didn’t he see that was the problem? As of next week she was going to be over nine thousand kilometres from here.

  She turned back to look at him.

  “I don’t expect you to do that considering it was completely my fault I got pregnant,” she told him.

  “It takes two,” Eben reminded her.

  “But you trusted me and I made a…”

  Eben put a finger over her lips.

  “I still trust you. Cherie told me why you thought you couldn’t get pregnant. I can’t help being such a stud,” he added teasingly.

  Jem wanted to bite his finger. Men.

  “So who made up something so nasty about me?” Jem asked, instead of acknowledging his remark.

  Eben frowned as he returned his hand to the table top.

  “Mark,” he answered, disgusted with himself for ever considering what Mark had to say as being the truth.

  Jem bri
efly closed her eyes in disbelief. Was this promotion so important to him that he would stoop to anything to get it?

  “Why would you believe anything he had to say?” she asked incredulously.

  “Let’s just say he knows my weak points and was very convincing,” Eben replied grimly.

  Jem had to concede to that argument. After all, she would imagine the identity of the father to be a contentious point in a pregnancy being announced so soon after they had first been together.

  “Now have we cleared the air?” Eben asked. “Because there is something I want to ask you.”

  Please don’t have him ask me to pick between him and my promotion, Jem thought desperately. I’ll choose him for me and our baby and I’ll wind up resenting him for it.

  Instead of proposing as he had intended, his insecurity over the ring came first.

  “Do you like jewellery?” he blurted. “I noticed you don’t really wear any.”

  Oh, subtle enquiry, he berated himself. Very smooth.

  Surprised and relieved by the innocuous subject, Jem answered easily.

  “Coco wears a lot so I consciously chose not to for a while. Now it’s just habit.”

  “If you did wear something, would you prefer something new and expensive or something older with a story behind it?” Eben asked casually, looking over her shoulder towards the living area.

  He didn’t want to make eye contact in fear of giving away how important her answer was to him.

  Jem scrunched up her nose in thought.

  “I guess it would depend upon what it was,” she said.

  “Say it was a diamond ring and you had the choice between something that was a few carats and something that wasn’t even one carat.”

  “Oh, that’s easy,” Jem replied. “The smaller diamond.”

  “Why is that?” Eben asked, feeling a little relieved by her answer.

  “I’d be worried all the time about something happening to the more expensive ring that I wouldn’t really enjoy wearing it.”

  Eben released his breath.

  So far, so good.

  “What about something new over something inherited?”

  “I guess I would prefer to inherit something I liked for sentimental reasons but it really depends upon the history,” replied Jem.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I wouldn’t want to inherit any of Coco’s jewellery even though by now I’m sure her collection is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. I’d look at a sapphire and diamond necklace and think “this is the one Ronaldo got her after he’d been caught with another woman” or “this diamond ring is one of several that Freddie’s Dad gave to apologise after hitting her”. They’re not the sort of things I like to recall.”

  Eben took Jem’s hand and threaded his fingers through hers.

  “I can understand that,” he sympathised “but I have a much happier story about a piece of jewellery in my family.”

  “How does it go?” Jem asked with interest as she picked up her glass of sparkling apple juice with her free hand and took a sip.

  “It’s about a soldier stationed in Italy during World War II. The thought of his sweetheart waiting for him at home was the only thing that kept him going after he was wounded in battle while friends he couldn’t help died around him. When reinforcements arrived he and the other survivors were rescued and taken to hospital. He wound up having one leg amputated below the knee due to shrapnel.”

  “I thought this was supposed to be a happy story,” Jem interrupted.

  “It is,” Eben insisted then frowned. “I’ll skip the bit where he thought she wouldn’t want him because he wasn’t whole and couldn’t do the things he could do before.”

  “Yes, that would be a good idea,” Jem said dryly.

  “Okay. The ending is that he had a ring made for his sweetheart. He proposed, they got married, had children and according to her they lived mostly happily ever after.”

  “And what did the man think about the mostly happily ever after?” Jem asked.

  “Well, he thought it was happily ever after but he deferred to the wisdom of his wife because she was always right,” Eben said with a smile.

  “Smart man,” Jem replied, smiling back.

  Eben withdrew a velvet covered box from his trouser pocket and held it in front of her. Distracted by the box Jem didn’t notice him slipping to one knee beside her.

  “Do you like this ring?” Eben asked her earnestly as he flipped open the box with one hand. “My Pop had it made for my Nana after coming back from Italy.”

  Jem looked at the ring consisting of a small diamond set on a delicate platinum band etched with tiny open roses between leaves.

  “It’s beautiful,” she said.

  “I want you to wear it. Jemima Flint, will you marry me?”

  Chapter 31

  Jem’s fingers hovered over the ring nestled in the box. Despite the circumstances of their coming together, she counted the last few weeks as being amongst the best in her life and that was solely due to the man beside her.

  Unfortunately she loved Eben too much to allow him to propose for the wrong reason. She withdrew her hand and looked into his eyes.

  “I can’t let you do this,” she said quietly.

  “You’re not letting me do anything. I want to marry you,” Eben asserted.

  “You don’t have to be noble about this Eben. Only this afternoon you told me that you didn’t want kids.”

  “I lied,” Eben said baldly.

  Jem inwardly tampered down the hope that came with his words.

  How do I know you’re not lying now?

  Despite what he said, she didn’t want a proposal based on her pregnancy. She’d seen from Coco’s many examples how marriages not based on love wound up. Her feelings for him alone wouldn’t tide them through rocky times.

  She had thought she had loved Alan and look how that had turned out. There was no way she would put herself out there emotionally if he wasn’t as committed to her as she was to him. Getting married because it was the right thing to do wasn’t enough for her.

  Not only that but she had known him for a long time and although his reputation as a rolling stone was exaggerated there was some truth behind it. She didn’t think she could bear it if he returned to his usual pattern and moved on.

  Unaware of Jem’s inner turmoil, Eben took her hand, picked up the ring and gently slid it on her finger. It was a perfect fit.

  Eben kissed the corner of her mouth then nudged his thumb under her jaw to make her look into his eyes.

  “Marry me Jem,” he said.

  “I’m leaving the country next week,” she pointed out weakly, looking away.

  “We’ll sort something out,” Eben assured her gently.

  Not trusting herself to speak, she shook her head, taking care not to look at the ring on her finger.

  “Don’t you even want to give us a chance?” Eben asked, dumbfounded.

  “It’s safer not to,” she said quietly.

  In the silence that followed she heard him sniff and realised he was as upset as she was. He moved back to his seat and they sat there for a few moments, each trying to hold back tears that kept threatening to fall. Eben was the first to break the silence by changing the subject.

  “Are you going to eat that?” he asked roughly, indicating her dinner.

  She shook her head then watched as he scraped her food onto his plate. He got out of his chair and picked up his jacket from the back of the couch and put it on. He then picked up the laden plate and carried it to her front door.

  “I’m not giving up on us,” he told her as he turned the door knob.

  “Then where are you going?” Jem asked as she rose from her seat.

  “I’m going to regroup,” Eben informed her and headed out the door.

  Jem got to the door just as the elevator opened for Eben.

  “Why are you taking my plate?” she called down the hallway.

  “Being upset makes m
e hungry,” Eben informed her “and it will be your fault if it all goes to my hips.”

  He walked into the lift and the doors shut before Jem could think of a suitable response.

  As she closed the door she noticed the ring was still on her hand.

  The next morning after turning off the alarm clock Jem lay back and listened to the silence. Instead of appreciating it, for the first time ever she felt as though she was missing out on something. Then Eddie Pearson next door started bouncing a ball in his room and she heard the muffled thuds coming through the wall until his mother told him off and it stopped.

  It was a sound that usually annoyed her but today it was comforting. Someone beyond the room she was in was alive and enjoying themselves.

  Jem pushed her way out of bed, having no warm body to hold and entice her to do otherwise. After showering, she dressed in one of the new outfits she and Cherie had chosen on their shopping spree. She put on a v necked white blouse and a clingy taupe skirt which had a matching jacket and slipped on sling backs with an inch high heel.

  She had to smile about the heel height as Cherie had wanted her to get stilettos like she wore to work but after the difficulty she had walking around at the party Jem wasn’t interested. One inch was as big a compromise she was prepared to make.

  Standing in front of the mirror, she tried on a few necklaces but they all looped down the v of her blouse and seemed to scream look at my breasts so she decided to go without. The phone rang and Jem went into the living room to pick it up.

  She was surprised to hear her mother on the other end considering they had spoken recently and because it was out of character for her mother to instigate contact when no travel plans in their direction were imminent. Jem quickly crossed her fingers against that possibility.

  After pleasantries were exchanged the reason for the call became clear when Coco started complaining about Jason refusing to put Jess on the phone because he said she was asleep.

  “She probably is asleep Coco,” Jem replied calmly. “After all she only got out of hospital yesterday.”

  She then listened to her mother rant about the time difference and how inconvenient it was to be expected to wait around and how Jason should have just woken Jess up. Then Coco went on to say that Jess could sleep for as long as she liked afterwards.