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Part Twenty-Nine

What's Not To Love?

…A voice inside says girl you;re moving too fast. He's like a tornado heading straight down your path. When I have this conversation I end up, asking myself, what's not to love? He can stop a tear, start a fire. Tear down walls, build desire. Pull a magic moment right out of thin air. He knows how to make every kiss like the first, feeds my heart with his thirst. A million dreams, all rolled into one...so what's not to love?

Perched high above, watching the events unfold, two young seraphim continued to be at odds over the other’s business practices, wise beyond their years. While one looked at it as watching the miracle of God’s creation, the other looked at it as the miracle of being ripped right off! Unaware they had an audience, Sydney, Nigel and Karen pored over his poem with great interest, jump-starting his over inflated ego to know Karen loved it so much she wanted to keep it, and that the great Sydney Fox thought it was brilliant!

“See, she called me a literary genius!” he announced, and playfully cuffed his heavenly companion in the back of her head. “Women can’t resist me… Get used to it Nasssty!”

“Hey! Stoppit!” She tried to smack his hands away from her. “That’s just because they don’t know you like I do! You aren’t exactly Mister personality, ya know…” Making a baleful face, she shrieked at him. “You, you thief!”

Feigning insult, the older of the two scratched his chin thoughtfully. “You’re just mad because I thought of it first!”

“NO, I’m not… I’m mad because you interfered again!” She had been so sure she would make her appearance before her brother… How this could have happened was beyond her comprehension! She had worked so hard to get her parents talking, and now…now this???? “How dare you, Michael! I was supposed to be first!” She openly complained. “I had plans!”

“Look who’s talking!” he whooped, slapping his hands with a loud clap against his knees, making Sophie jump. “You’re the one who gave me the idea in the first place. You don’t have the market cornered on interfering with the lives of the living, sweet girl. I saw that oh-so-innocent act you laid on Bailey. Talk about pouring it on thick… I personally wouldn’t have bought into that flimsy damsel-in-distress routine, but then, you were just cashing in on his fragile state of mind at the time…”

“You know what, for a child of God, you sure have a lot of defective qualities…” Sophie eyed him with contemptuous intent. “All of which you got from her!”

“Ah-ah Sophia… That isn’t fair. She’s got distinctions that far outweigh anything yours could come up with.”

“At least I wouldn’t stoop as low as you did. I have some standards…” she griped, and angrily folded her little arms across her chest, unwilling to admit defeat to HIM.

“Hey, I’ll stoop as low as I have to in order to get a leg up over you. Get over yourself, little Miss High and Mighty!”

“Well, one of us has GOT to have SOME sort of ethical background… You have the morals of an alley cat!” She shot him a shrewd look.

“Look, you don’t always get your way Sophie. Besides, it isn’t my fault Dad is such a popular guy… See how they fall all over him! What's not to love, huh?” He smirked. Looking about the age of twelve or thirteen, he had the plucky personality to go along with it. He was a tall, willowy lad, with beautiful bright blue eyes and a shock of champagne-coloured hair. Much like his mother’s… “It's outta your hands now, Sophie. See you later, babe!”

Part Thirty

Best Laid Plans

Motivation: Anne Murray ~ Let There Be Love

…Every life has a plan, though sometimes the map is out of our hands. Every day is a step, though we may not know the reason just yet… when you’re faith fails, when your dreams sleep, learn to let go and just let it be… there’s a time to be still, let the river carry you where it will. It’s a long, hard road to travel. Yes I know what it’s like when you lose your way. When the best-laid plans unravel, that’s when you’ve got to believe…

The fall semester always started out busy and hectic, and things in the Ancient Studies office were certainly no exception. Sydney had gotten in early, ahead of Nigel, as usual. Things had been a lot better for them in the past two months, for sure. Life hadn’t been exactly easy, but they were managing, and Nigel was good to her. It was now October and all her classes were thankfully well into their routines. Work was a saving grace for Sydney, and surprisingly, things in the office had not been the awkward nightmare she had expected it to be. Although there were moments Sydney did have trouble with, it wasn’t all that bad. She and Nigel were finally back on the right track, and that was really all that mattered to her now.

Well, aside from Karen calling in sick on a Monday morning.

Nigel ambled in about a half an hour later, none too impressed with the tower of papers he still had to grade. Sydney was all absorbed in a phone call, so he went over to the coffeepot, intent on consuming its entire contents.

“We have no secretary today. You’re going to have to do the running around, Nigel, I have too many irons in the fire!” She called out.

Oh, great… He had more than enough work to do than having to pick up the slack for Karen. “This is only temporary, right?” he asked, poking his head through the door of Sydney’s office.

Sydney plucked her reading glasses from her nose and looked up. “She said she might be able to come in later this afternoon, so no, I don’t think it’s anything long term.”

“Ah, good. I wasn’t looking forward to having to fend for myself all week.”

“Typical.” Sydney smiled and got up out of her seat. “I have a few minutes before class.” She pulled him into the office and shut the door, “start fending for yourself!”

Karen wanted to crawl under a rock and die - or was it die and be stuffed under a rock? Either way, she still preferred death to this. Anything but this… Her life was already complicated enough, and adding one more responsibility would crumble her already-fragile existence. Not to mention how on earth was she going to face Sydney and Nigel? It had been difficult enough for Sydney to trust him again. How would she react to this? The situation was bad on so many different levels it wasn’t even sickly funny. Her stomach was in knots as she climbed into her car and pulled the door shut. Throwing her head back against the seat she quietly cried to herself. "God, why in the name of all things holy would you do this to me?" So many questions, and absolutely no easy answers to be had.

Sydney was almost ready to leave for the afternoon by the time Karen half-stumbled into the office. The usually plucky secretary had indicated that she might be in a little later, so Syd just continued about her business, making sure everything was in order.

“S-Sydney… I, I need to talk to you. Where’s Nigel?”

“I’m sort of busy, Karen, I have to make sure Nigel and I are ready to leave for the Dominican Republic in the morning. Is it impor…” Sydney turned to her, immediately taken by the desperate look on the young woman’s face. There was something definitely wrong here, and it was most assuredly serious. “Oh, my God, I am so sorry! What’s the matter?”

“Where, where’s Nigel?” Karen repeated, making it sound more like a demand than a request. This was so embarrassing, so unexpected…

“He’ll be back in a minute.” Sydney was starting to really worry now. Taking Karen by the arm, Sydney escorted her to the chair behind her desk, kneeling in front of the weepy young woman. “Now tell me please, what's the problem?”

“Sydney, I think we may have a small glitch with…” Nigel was startled to see Karen in Sydney’s chair in such an extreme state of distress. His heart plummeted the minute he laid eyes on her, almost knowing what this was about before she even opened her mouth… “W-what’s going on here?”

Karen couldn’t look at him. Instead she focused her baleful blue eyes on Sydney’s dark, concerned gaze, grasping her hands so tightly her knuckles were turning white. “I, I don’t know… how to say this.” She pawed at her reddened eyes like a small child and drew in a long deep breath in an effort to collect herself. “Uh, well… it’s like this. I…I…”

“Karen, just tell us! We can’t help you if you don’t tell us what the problem is,” Sydney urged her, trying to be as patient and supportive as she could. “Now come on, spit it out!”

Lifting her eyes from her lap, Karen dared to glance over at Nigel, who was standing there quite restless and apprehensive. “I never meant for this to happen… and if I could take it back I would… Oh God, I will if you want me to!”

“Karen!” Nigel was getting agitated. He needed to hear this and hear it right now.

“I’m bloody pregnant!” Karen blurted out, then started to trail off in quiet, hopeless sobs. “I’m…I’m…” She broke down into Sydney’s arms, coming apart at the seams.

Nigel almost fell over. In fact, if he had not been leaning against the bookshelf, he most certainly would have.

Sydney was speechless, having no words to express how she was feeling. Without even thinking, she swallowed hard and had to ask. “Karen, is it… Is it Nigel’s?”

The End…

or is it????

Hehehe…