Trying Not To Love You

Part Thirty Eight

Chapter Thirty Eight

A/N Feeling the love, so here is another chapter! :

                “I’m with him,” hissed Johnny when he answered the phone on the second ring. “I told you I’d call if there was a problem, now piss off!”

Sonny stared at the disconnected phone and smiled to himself, this was all moving far better than he’d anticipated. And it was such a relief to not have to interfere, to know that this was running itself, that he could focus on the more imminent matter - Martha and Ethan. With a spring in his step he headed for the bookies, how could he lose when things were finally going to plan?  

For as much as Martha felt the walls of her world were falling in, odd snippets of pleasure helped her cope. Ethan’s glorious rapture at the freedom of the farmyard, at feeding the chickens, of Mickey the ever growing puppy teasing him, chasing him. His whoops of joy echoed around the place and she could almost forget her dread that loomed when she thought of the next day and her father.

They were sharing hot chocolate warming up after an afternoon in the cold November air when the kitchen door threw open and Sonny burst in with two huge pizza boxes in his arms. Ethan whooped again, all his Christmases were coming at once, and as Sonny absorbed the shoulder charge to his body, his eyes were on Martha as he laid the pizzas on the table and scooped her son up into his arms, and the look was anything but calm.

                “You win?”

He shrugged, “a few horses came in, then I had a few drinks...it was a reasonable afternoon...although there was someone missing from it all.”

She gave a smile; he was so loving, for someone who seemed so standoffish, so distant to so many. It was amazing that everyone misjudged him, or rather prejudged him, and it was the fact that he didn’t care what they thought, didn’t challenge that image that meant no one learned any more about him. They’d made their decision and he didn’t care enough to prove he was better than that. It was so tragic.

                “Hey why so sad? Isn’t this what you want?”

She looked around at Ethan so happy in her family home, Sonny so attentive beside her. “I’m not sad, I’m just thinking.”

                “Well, me and Ethan want to eat this pizza then watch Indiana Jones, what do you think?”

Martha looked between Ethan’s expectant and excited eyes, to Sonny’s warm and sensual ones, “who am I to argue with that plan?”

As Sonny handed out large slices of pizza, she found a few beers in the fridge and opened a couple. Then the three sat at the kitchen table wolfing down the gooey cheese and pepperoni.

Indiana Jones never failed to deliver, and the three of them sat on the sofa, Ethan in the middle and watched it avidly.

Ethan fell asleep his head on Sonny’s arm, and eventually Martha carried him upstairs to her bedroom. He would sleep in with her; she was worried he’d be disorientated when he woke up otherwise thought she wasn’t looking forward to sharing her bed with such a wriggler.

Sonny was opening a bottle of wine when she re-emerged from the hallway and sighed, “he likes you!”

That made him laugh, “I’m bribing him, to get in his mother’s good books.”

Martha grinned as he abandoned the wine and walked towards her, pulling her into his arms theatrically, as his mouth descended on hers, she breathed, “you were already there Mr Carter!”