The Contract

by Jerry D. Young

  “The lad is correct, Lassie,” Mrs. MacDougal quickly said, “You are a McKindrick now, whether you carry the name or not. And I am sor…”

  “No, Mrs. MacDougal. No. Don’t say it. You have nothing to be sorry for. It is I who should…”

  “No, everyone,” Jason said, rather sternly. “Everyone understands everyone else, I believe. Audrey needs to get to the Carlton and get settled. It has been a long last leg of her journey. Candy and Juliet can take care of that nicely. Mrs. MacDougal, I know you and the rest of the staff have something you were working on, and Sara and I need to finish settling a difference of opinion about a wedding gift.”

  Sara was suddenly glaring at Jason, which the staff totally ignored, and Audrey looked on with some amusement as she headed for the front door, followed by Candy and Juliet.

  “I thought that was already settled!” Sara said, forcefully as Jason turned back toward the study.

  “It is,” he said calmly. “That one, anyway. I’m just sure there will be one about the wedding gift we get for Audrey and William.”

  “Audrey and William? William Frankenson? What are you talking about?”

  Jason just smiled.

  “You don’t mean to tell me that you think she’s going to marry him! She hasn’t even met him!”

  “Actually, she has, but just the once, for about five minutes.”

  “Jason!”

  Jason was grinning. “So what are you going to say when I tell you that I do believe that not only is he going to marry her, but she will be having a child about nine months after that.”

  Sara was standing there calmly now, just shaking her head. “You have got to be kidding. You said yourself Audrey can’t get pregnant.”

  “No, I didn’t. I said she has never been able to get pregnant, despite trying. I don’t know for sure what the doctors told her, but from a remark or two, I believe that it is simply a case of difficulty, not impossibility.”

  “You can’t really know that, Jason.”

  “True,” Jason said. “But I do believe that she can and will have a child within the next twelve months. With Mr. Frankenson.”

  Sara shook her head. “If I didn’t already have everything I’ve ever dreamed about wanting, I’d bet you on that.”

  “Sometimes I think we bet too much,” Jason said.

  “Wait a minute,” Sara said. “You never give in that easy.” She looked at him askance. “Are you doubting yourself?”

  Jason shook his head. “No. Just you don’t really want to bet, anyway, and…”

  “Oh, no. You backtrack like this and you’re up to something. You name the stakes.”

  “You really don’t…”

  “Jason. Name the stakes.” She stood facing him, arms crossed, eyes flashing.

  Only the faintest of smiles curved Jason’s lips as he said, “You let me name her M’Lady Sara.

  Sara’s eyes widened and her arms jerked down to her sides as she stiffened even more. She knew exactly what her he meant. The yacht he’d commissioned, that would be completed shortly after their wedding day. He’d planned to name it M’Lady Sara from the beginning, but she’d been adamant that he choose another name.

  Remembering what they were betting on, she relaxed, though there was just a slight touch of uneasiness remaining as she said, “Sure, Jason. You don’t have a chance, anyway. I can’t believe you used this to try to get that.” Sara shook her head.

  Jason just smiled.

  When Audrey stopped in a month after her wedding to William Frankenson, and told them she was pregnant, the amazement still evident in her face, Sara turned to Jason, an incredulous look on her face and asked, “How did you know? How could you possibly know?”

  “How could he know what?” Audrey asked, seeing the total amazement on Sara’s face.

  “He bet me…well…I made him…I guess…bet me that you wouldn’t be married to Billy, much less pregnant. He said you would be, and you are!”

  Audrey turned wide eyes to Jason. “Okay, Jason, I accepted the fact that you more or less set Billy and I up. That was okay, because you didn’t really do anything except create a situation and let nature take its course. But how…oh…”

  When her words faded away, Sara looked at her sharply. “What? How could he know you would get pregnant?”

  “It’s just…the doctors had told me that despite a couple of minor physical problems, I could get pregnant. I tried and tried and it just never happened. Jason has told me before that when I gave up worrying about it, it would happen.”

  She dropped her eyes. “I always said I really didn’t want children, but…”

  Sara looked at Jason, then at Audrey. “You really did, but didn’t think you could have them, so…”

  “When I quit worrying about it, and just lived happily…”

  “It happened,” Sara said, turning to stare at Jason.

  “Nature just took its course,” Jason said.

  Both women looked at him for long moments, then turned away when he simply looked at them with that not-quite-a-smile expression on his face that both knew meant there was nothing they could say or do to get anything else out of him. They looked at one another and Audrey said, “It’s useless, isn’t it?”

  At Sara’s nod they headed for the doorway, already discussing Audrey’s preg-nancy. They had become friendly, then friends, as time had passed after Audrey’s return, despite the difference in their ages, which wasn’t as great as Sara had assumed it to be, initially. She’d already begun to wonder when she saw Audrey that first time.

  The End

  THANK YOU FOR READING

  “THE CONTRACT”

  By

  Jerry D. Young

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