A proposal

[Jeremy Casing]

2nd Fall, 515AV

"Well, I mean. It's certainly not ideal, is it?" The red-faced farmer stormed up and down his living room, fists clenched and his teeth bared. He stopped suddenly, gave his daughter and her companion a daring, hard look, before he restarted his angry pacing. "What were you thinking, Pen? You're smarter than that." His question was answered by an explosive whimper from the corner of the room. The farmer turned sharply towards his wife, who sat timidly on a plush-looking chair, her eyes red and filled with tears.

"It wasn't exactly planned, 'da." Penelope replied indignantly, her arms folded on top of the slight curve to her stomach: which was the cause of all this drama. Beside her, Jeremy winced. He had been dreading this day for some time, ever since the woman sitting beside him had informed him of her carrying his child. In truth, the news had not yet fully settled in his mind; he still felt completely numb about it all.

"Not planned!" Penelope's father cried out, throwing his arms up to the sky to demonstrate his frustration and hopelessness. He stared up to the ceiling of his home. Suddenly he snapped his head back to face his daughter and Jeremy. Only this time, his attention was focused solely on the latter. "So, do you make a habit out'a this? Didn't realise you went around curing animals and sullying a girl's innocence."

Penelope snorted, but Jeremy simply stared at the floor. She was far from the innocent girl her father seemed to think. In fact, it had been Penelope who had seduced Jeremy, undressing in the middle of the night after they had spent the evening drinking wine. Even now, whenever they were alone together she often touched him, or guided his hands to touch her. For whatever reason, she seemed unable to resists Jeremy's polite smile or awkwardly tall frame. Though he found her attractive, the Kelvic failed to return her gestures with any true enthusiasm or desire.

"Well?"

The farmer stamped his foot and leant down to stare at Jeremy, his face mere inches from the Kelvic's.

"N-no. Sir." Jeremy stammered out, his golden eyes flicking from the farmer's face to the carpeted floor. "Of course I don't."

He was suddenly aware of how weak he must seem. Jeremy had made a terrible error, but it was a mistake that many people made every day. People had sex, and most times, there were no real consequences. Penelope had only been the second woman Jeremy had been intimate with, and the last thing he had expected was to get her pregnant. But he had -- and amongst the guilt, shame and panic, Jeremy felt strangely proud of himself because of it.

He desperately needed some of that pride right now. Licking his lips, Jeremy tried his best to sound confident and sure: "Penelope and I did not plan this. But that doesn't mean we can't start planning now." Somewhat mechanically, he held Penelope's hand to try and emphasise their unity on this issue. "I want to do all I can. Simple as that."

[Jeremy Casing]

The mother of his child turned slowly to Jeremy, her eyes bright with delighted tears. "Really?" She asked, her voice cracking with hope.

"Of course." Jeremy shrugged, not quite sure why his promise had resulted in this overly emotional response from the woman. Maybe it was the pregnancy, or the relief that she would not have to raise his child alone.

Even more surprisingly, Penelope's father equally seemed placated by the Kelvic's admission. Though the older male looked far from pleased, her gave Jeremy a curt nod and rubbed his hands together. "I see. Well, I respect you for that at least, Jeremy."

"Thanks." He replied slowly. Something did not feel right. Jeremy had the distinct impression that this conversation had moved on in topic without him being even being aware of it. Had he passed out for a moment? Carefully, he tried to drive the topic back onto what he could do to make Penelope's life easier, "I want to be involved in every step. The preparation, the planning, the..." he stumbled. How did one describe childbirth without utterly terrifying oneself? "...event itself. Everything"[/color]

As soon as Jeremy finished speaking, Penelope threw her arms around his neck. She, like her mother, was now sobbing uncontrollably. Jeremy stiffly patted her back, trying not to remember just how delectable he had found the smell of her hair. "Oh, Jeremy!" She gasped, her breath hot and wet on his neck. "I'm so happy! Of course you'll be involved. But we must start planning right away."

Yes, he supposed silently, I hear that children do require lots of preparation.

"Too right. We want this thing over and done with by the end of fall, so you two can get on with your lives." Penelope's father said with a nod. His pacing had changed from aggravated to concentrated. He seemed to be deep in thought.

Uncharacteristically, Jeremy found himself chuckling as he said to the farmer: "The end of fall? I'm not sure that it's possible for everything to be over and done with by then." Though he did not know the exact time frame, Jeremy knew that pregnancy lasted at least the best part of a year. Perhaps her father meant fall of next year?

Penelope leaned away from him, wiped her eyes and frowned. "But I don't want people to know at the time. People will assume, of course, but I don't want to prove them right."

In the corner, her mother released another painful whine.

[Jeremy Casing]

There was that sinking feeling again. Jeremy gulped. Something - a slow growing fear - gnawed at his stomach. Penelope and her father were clearly no longer talking about the baby. They were talking about...

"A wedding doesn't need to be anything fancy. We're simple people, Jeremy. A simple ceremony, a nice dress... Some flowers... I don't need anything fancy." Penelope picked up Jeremy's hand and placed it gently on her stomach. She stared up at him with utter adoration in her dark eyes. "I only need you and our baby."

The world around Jeremy dropped away. His mouth suddenly became dry and he was sure that his heart had transplanted itself into his throat. And why was it suddenly so difficult for him to breathe?

"...Grandmother's ring. I never expected to give it to you so soon, Pen. But... well, I suppose I won't actually be giving it to you, I'll be giving it to--"

A small, gold band was placed into Jeremy's apparently open and waiting hand. He stared down at it with blurred vision. Penelope's father stood before him, and when Jeremy glanced up to the farmer, he was taken aback by the man's sudden transformation. Where he had once been scowling and glaring, he was now grinning ear-to-ear. In fact, the large man now radiated excitement and happiness. Thankfully, Penelope's mother was still crying in the corner -- at least someone else other than Jeremy appeared to be horrified by what was happening.

"Jeremy?" Penelope whispered, her voice barely a sound at all, "do you want to...?" She extended her left hand towards him, fingers splayed out. There was that stare again: filled with love and wonderment. Nobody had ever looked at Jeremy like that before, and it filled the Kelvic with a strange sense of... almost affection.

But his growing fondness towards the mother of his unborn child did not slow down time. Jeremy finally realised what was expected of him. He looked at the gold ring in his palm, then at Penelope's displayed hand. They were waiting for him to formally propose to her.

If he was ever going to explain himself, now was the time to do it. He began to close his fingers around the ring, desperately thinking of the kindest way to say that he had no plans to marry Penelope. This was not what he wanted, not in the slightest.

But then again, he had slept with her. He had made a child with this woman, and now -- what? He was just going to nod to her in the streets and talk about the weather with her, as he did all the other people in the Mithryn? Penelope was no longer a stranger to him. She knew him in a way that nobody else in their community did. And though he did not love her, he did... like her, when she wasn't being too bossy or forward. Which, granted, wasn't often. She wasn't a bad person. He could grow to like her.

Could he ever grow to love her? Probably not.

[Jeremy Casing]

Jeremy chewed his bottom lip. He wished desperately to disappear, to steal himself a few moments to finally come to a decision. Penelope, her father, and now even her mother, were all staring at him with hopeful eyes. What would happen if he simply said no and walked out? Penelope would be devastated. It was quite obvious that, for whatever strange reason, she doted on Jeremy in a way that nobody else did. There was no way that he could hurt her, not when she carried his son or daughter inside her. He owed it to Penelope, and their child, to at least.... try.

Try.

He inhaled slowly. "Penelope." He said, opening left right hand up to reveal the ring. With his right, he picked the ring up and placed it cautiously on the top of the third finger on her left hand, "will you...."

He swallowed.

Two more words. They're just words. Just say them.

But those two words would not stay words for long. Soon enough, they would mature into a dress, a chosen date. A crowd of people, a suit (or, at the very least, a clean shirt). They would watch her walk down to him, and then someone would join them together in matrimony. On that day, Penelope Hope would become Penelope Casing, wife of Jeremy casing.

Say it, you bloody coward!

"--marry me?" he spurted out finally.

Technically, she didn't say yes.. Penelope gave an excited squeal and leapt towards Jeremy. Suddenly, the ring was on her finger and she was on his lap, crying and smiling and kissing him. Her father clasped a gigantic hand onto Jeremy's shoulder, almost knocking the Kelvic through the wooden floor of the house. "Oh, Jeremy! Jeremy!"

He was quite overcome with emotion himself, so all Jeremy could do was smile and return her kisses with limited emotion. Thankfully, the Hope family were all too excited to notice the true meaning behind his lack of... enthusiasm. He found himself being enveloped by Penelope's father, and suddenly her mother was standing before him.

"I'm just... so happy!" The woman declared, reaching up to kiss Jeremy's cheek, "welcome to the family, Jeremy."