False Alarm

As the weeks passed, Amanda and Jase drifted further apart. He came home late; often after she had gone to bed. He always had a good excuse, but Amanda wasn't buying any of it. The confrontation they'd had over him not announcing their marriage at work still rung fresh in her mind.

"I wanted to keep our happiness personal," Jase explained when Amanda first questioned him. He looked sincere but his wife was still furious.

"You sent someone over to our house with a key. What did you think she was going to find? I work from here, Jase. She was bound to run into me. That's not a way of keeping anything secret but it sure did a great job of embarrassing me."

"That wasn't my intent, honey. She was just supposed to open the front door and pick up the envelope I left on the hallway table. It didn't occur to me that she would come in and confront you."

"She acted like this was her house, Jase. Just who was Jennifer to you before we married? It's obvious she thinks she was something special."

"We dated a few times. That was all. We were never really a couple. It was more of a friendship than anything else."

"Right! So let me ask you this, Jase. Do your employees know you are married now or can I expect more unannounced visitors."

"Now you are acting like a spoiled child, Amanda. Of course they know I'm married. I announced it the same day. Now can we move on from this?"

Try as she might; however, Amanda couldn't move on. Something about the whole situation bothered her. She even thought of discussing it with Michael, Jase's best friend. But she decided better of it.

Besides she hadn't been feeling very well of late. A part of her wondered if she was pregnant. Something told her that wouldn't go over well with her new husband so she was hesitant to discover the answer.

After a couple of more weeks of throwing up at the drop of a hat, Amanda decided to bite the bullet and headed to the drug store to get a pregnancy test. As she walked down the aisles; however, her mind fuzzed and she found herself standing there not know where she was.

She looked around and recognized that it was a drugstore, but she couldn't remember why she was there. Worse than that, she couldn't remember who she was. The room began spinning around her and within seconds Amanda collapsed in a heap on the floor.

"Amanda, honey, it's me. It's Jase. Amanda, are you okay?" She looked up to see her husband holding her. Her memory now back, it still took a while for it to register what had happened.

"Jase, I couldn't remember where I was or even who I was. It was so scared." She clung to her husband desperately. "But how did you get here?"

"The pharmacist recognized you and called me. Lay still, baby. The ambulance is on the way."

"I don't need an ambulance, Jase. I just fainted. I think I might be pregnant." She hadn't meant to blurt it out that way, especially with a room full of people watching. "I'm sorry. I should have told you sooner."

"Amanda, you can't be pregnant." The look on Jase's face was one of shock and horror. Amanda didn't understand.

"What do you mean. Of course I could be pregnant. I'm a woman. You're a man. That's how it works."

"Amanda, you can't be pregnant because I'm sterile. Don't you remember me telling you that before we got married?"

"Jase, I think I would remember something like that if you told me. You most assuredly did not!"

The sound of the ambulance pulling up broke the couple's line of concentration. The paramedics ran in to check on their patient. Within minutes; however, they announced they could find nothing wrong.

"I tried to tell my husband that I just fainted," Amanda explained. "But he wanted to make sure. I'm so sorry for bothering you."

"It's no bother, Mrs. Marstin. I still recommend you get checked out at the ER. We can only do so much here." The paramedic looked concerned despite the fact that all of his initial tests were conclusive.

"I'll make an appointment with my own doctor tomorrow. How's that?" Amanda wanted to get out of the drugstore and home so that she and Jase could finish their conversation.

"All right, if you promise to do that. Fainting, under any condition, is nothing to take lightly."

Amanda nodded and finally stood up to make her apologies to the drugstore owner. "Jase, please let's go

"Here, let's buy this," Jase said, handing his wife a pregnancy test. "We'll settle this matter once and for all."

She nodded and headed for the register to check out. Within 10 minutes, the couple was once again safely ensconced in their home, awaiting the test results.

"Honestly, Jase, you didn't tell me you were sterile. I would have remembered that given the fact that I want children."

"Amanda, I did tell you the night before we got married. Maybe you'd had too much to drink and just don't remember. Let's deal with the test results and then we'll go from there."

With anticipation Amanda headed back to the bathroom. She picked up the test strip and held her breath as she reviewed it. Jase was right. She wasn't pregnant.

Rather than starting another fight with her husband, though, Amanda headed to her room and went to bed without saying another word. She didn't know how she felt about never being able to have a child. It was just another in a long line of regrets she was beginning to have about marrying Jase. She cried herself to sleep within minutes.

The next morning, Amanda arose early but her husband was already gone. Wondering what else he was keeping from her, she decided to do the unthinkable and go through his personal papers. She didn't get very far. A legal document quickly caught her eye.

She opened it to find a will drawn up for her with what looked like her signature already at the bottom. Attached to it was an insurance policy taken out for her in the amount of one million dollars. It was dated the day of her wedding.

Thanks to Memmay Moore for providing the plot change marked with italics. Good one Memmay!

Help keep the story going by providing your ideas for a plot switch. I'll choose one of them and it will be featured in the next installment. home."