Joan Pickart - Body of Evidence

“I understand.”

“I care about you, Jenny. I’m worried about the fact that you fainted. You scared the hell out of me. Will you promise me that you’ll make an appointment with your doctor and tell him what happened? Then let me know what he says about it? I need to know that you’re all right, that the baby is all right. Will you go to the doctor as soon as possible?”

“Yes,” she whispered, feeling the ache of fresh tears in her throat.

Evan was being so kind, she thought. Kind. What a bland word. People were kind to old ladies who needed help crossing the street, kind to a puppy with a burr in its paw, kind to the person who needed a door opened for them because their arms were full of packages.

But they didn’t love that old lady, that puppy, that person. They were just there, allowing a momentary surge of kindness to rise to the fore. That’s what Evan had to offer her…kindness. It was better than his earlier anger, but still…

What was she to do with her feelings for him? The kernel of love for him within her that was steadily growing? How did she snuff it out, make certain that it no longer existed, didn’t have the power to cause her pain beyond measure? How did a woman stop falling in love with a man such as this one?

She didn’t know.

But somehow, somehow, that’s exactly what she was going to have to do.

“Jennifer?” Evan said, bringing her from her jumbled thoughts.

“Yes?”

“Will you be all right if I leave you here on your own?” Evan said, getting to his feet. “I…um…I need some time alone to… But I’ll stay if you feel dizzy or-”

“No, I’m fine,” Jennifer interrupted. “Really. I’m as good as new. I’m sorry I caused such a scene with my dramatic… Well, maybe it’s just as well that everything is out in the open. I just don’t want this to keep you from having total concentration on the trial.”

“And I want you to go to the doctor.”

“I will. I promise.”

“And I promise you that I’ll work very hard at focusing on the Gardner case…for now.” Evan paused. “Well, if you’re sure you’re okay, I’ll shove off. Don’t get up. I’ll let myself out.” He strode across the room to the door.

“Evan,” Jennifer said quickly, shifting on the sofa so she could see him.

Don’t go, her mind screamed. Don’t leave me alone. I want you here, with me. I need you, Evan. If you love me even a little bit, and I allowed the love I have for you to grow, nurtured it, we could have it all, don’t you see? A future together. You, me, our baby. We’d be a family. Husband, wife, child… Oh, Evan, please? I…

“Yes?” Evan said. “What is it, Jennifer?”

She drew a shaky breath, then dashed away an errant tear that spilled onto one cheek.

“Nothing,” she said.

Evan stared at her for a long moment, then left the apartment, closing the door behind him with a quiet click.

L ate the next afternoon Jennifer approached Evan’s office and saw that Belinda had already left for the day. The door to Evan’s office was open and Jennifer stopped three feet away, gathering her courage to go farther.

Maybe she’d wait until tomorrow, she thought, to put the “we’re going to have to work together until the trial is over” bit into motion. Yes, that was a good idea. She and Evan had had a very emotional confrontation yesterday and a little time and distance would…

No, she was just postponing the inevitable and the longer she put it off, the more nervous she would become. It would be better to just march right in there and ask Evan if anything had transpired during his day that she needed to know about for the film.

Right, Jennifer thought, squaring her shoulders and lifting her chin. She was a mature woman and she could handle this. She was a mature, pregnant woman and her child’s mother was not a wuss.

Jennifer walked slowly, very slowly, toward the doorway of Evan’s office. She peered inside just as a loud sneeze echoed through the open door of the conference room beyond.

“Evan?” Jennifer called as she made her way toward the large room.

“In here, Jennifer,” he yelled.

Just as Jennifer entered the conference room, thunder rumbled and a bright flash of lightning zigzagged across the darkening sky beyond the bank of windows. The lights flickered, then steadied. Evan sneezed again.

“Bless you,” Jennifer said. “Did you get caught in that cold rain that’s been whipping about out there all day?” She glanced at the ceiling. “And is picking up force even as we speak?”

“Yes, I did,” Evan said. “I went out to lunch with the mayor and got drenched. I’ve been slogging around in a wet suit ever since.” He frowned. “We forgot the greetings. Hello, Jennifer, how are you? You should have gone on home where it’s dry and warm.”

“Hello, Evan. I’m dry and warm standing here because some of us have the good sense to carry an umbrella on a day like this. Please excuse my casual attire, but jeans and a sweatshirt are my fashion statement when I’m editing.”

“You look comfortable.” Evan rolled up the sleeves on his shirt, his damp suit coat already draped on a chair to dry. “Have you had dinner?”

“No, I came straight here from the studio. I’m eager to know how things went with your witnesses.”

“Why don’t I get a pizza delivered up here?” Evan said. “The witnesses I dealt with today are as prepared as they are going to be. What I’m going to tackle now is examining the jury pool applications. If you’re willing to keep it off the record, I’d appreciate your input. If you don’t mind. Of course, if you’d rather not, that’s fine, too.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Jennifer said, then sighed. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, we sound like people reading lines in a play. I guess our working together is going to be more difficult than I thought, but it’s necessary. We’ve got to attempt to relax, just be ourselves.”

“That’s a tough assignment,” Evan said gruffly, “when there are so many unresolved issues between us.”

“Which will be addressed after the trial,” Jennifer said. “Except… Oh, dear.”

“Oh, dear…what?”

“Well, I promised you I’d go to the doctor and I did, but I also said it would be best if we didn’t discuss the baby until the trial was over and…”

Evan sat down at the conference table and pointed to the chair opposite him.

“Sit,” he said. “Tell me everything the doctor said. Why did you faint? People don’t faint for no reason. There has to be an explanation for it. What did he say was wrong with you that made you conk out like that?”

“Whoa,” Jennifer said, raising one hand palm out. “Give me a chance to speak. The doctor said my blood pressure was a bit low but he’d keep an eye on it and it should straighten out once my body adjusts to being pregnant.

“Low blood pressure is better than blood pressure that is too high. Get it? I should…hopefully…be finishing up my tour of duty with morning sickness and that will help settle things down. He said I was doing just fine.”

“Fainting is not doing fine,” Evan said, shaking his head.

“Fainting when you’re pregnant is doing fine. Are we going to argue about this?”

“No. No, of course not. I was worried, that’s all. So, okay. You’re doing fine.”

“Yes.” Jennifer paused. “Evan, there’s one other thing I need to tell you about my visit to the doctor today.”

Evan sat bolt upward in the chair. “What? What else? What is it?”

“I had an ultrasound and, oh, it was amazing. The printer wasn’t working so I didn’t get a picture to take home but… Anyway, I thought you might like to know…well, maybe it doesn’t matter that much to you but…”