Chapter Twenty-Six

22 weeks

"Sarah!" He pushed the bathroom door further open and walked over to the bath tub as fast as he could without slipping on the wet floor. Sarah was in the water, her face and belly just sticking out of the water. Richie turned off the water, to his relief Sarah's eyes shot open.

"What are you doing?" She asked as she sat up in the bath.
"What are YOU doing? You're flooding the bathroom, getting me panicked."
"Why are you panicking? I'm taking a bath." Sarah looked around the bathroom, noticing the wet floor. "Oh."
"Yeah, oh." Richie agreed.
"It's just a wet floor, why were you panicking? Not liking I was drowning or anything?"
"No?" Richie asked unsure. Sarah had come to Montana with him very reluctantly, he didn't really know what he was thinking she might do.
Sarah watched him, then realization hit her. "You thought... I was drowning myself? You thought that?" Her question was filled with disbelieve and shock, edged with some anger.
"I don't really know."
"Oh my God Richie, honestly? I have a baby!"
"I know you do." He hesitated. "Do you think you can come out of the bath now?"
"I was enjoying my bath until you got here, so I think I'll stay here." She said sure of herself, mad at him.

How could he think she'd kill herself? Was that really what he was thinking? She didn't want to do this but she wasn't going to risk her life for it or Sammy's and leave her husband and sons behind, an unborn child. How could he? Over something like this?

"Seriously?" She asked, still full of disbelieve.
"I don't know." Richie shook his head as he sat down on the edge of the bath. He had no idea anymore of what he was thinking.
"I'm not looking forward to this but I'm not gonna do something like that to get out of this."
"I know." He sighed.

He knew Sarah wouldn't do something like that, but seeing the bathroom floor flooded, it was the first thing he could of instead of thinking rationally. Panic had taken over his mind.

"I'm sorry. Enjoy your bath." Richie got back up and made to leave.
Sarah grabbed his arm. "I'm sorry, I should have been more careful, not flood the bathroom."
Richie nodded and walked back to the door.
"Rich?" Sarah asked when he turned to leave.
He looked back. "Yeah?"
"Can you help me out?"


"I was just trying to relax." Sarah said while she got dressed by the bed.
Richie was sitting on the couch, a little bit away, and had turned on the TV. "I know."
"You obviously don't."
Richie turned on the couch to look at his wife. "What?"

He knew she meant something with it but Sarah didn't answer him again. She finished getting dressed and sat down on the couch next to him, leaning over so she could cuddle, her head on his shoulder. Now she wanted to cuddle but five minutes ago she was angry at him. What was all that supposed to mean.

"You don't have to panic so quickly or worry so much." She said, her arm moved around his waist to hold him.
"You didn't answer me when I called you three times." Richie said calmly. Of course that had panicked him, how could Sarah expect him to stay calm then?
"I just didn't hear you."
"I know."
"Just relaxing." Sarah repeated.

Her bath had been very relaxing until Richie had barged in. She liked having baths and had found out that Sammy liked it too. Because Richie had decided to go to the gym, she thought it would be nice to have a nice bath and her thoughts had drifted to Sammy. How he or she would be, character, personality, who it would resemble the most. If the baby would have her green eyes or Richie's deep brown ones.

"I thought you were relaxed though." Richie said.
"We're involved in a lawsuit... How is that relaxing?"
"We're not involved yet. We're only meeting that lawyer, that's it."
"But you know it'll lead to the lawsuit, me having to testify." Sarah said even though she hadn't made her decision on that matter yet, that's why they were having a meeting first.
"You don't have to if you don't want to. I'm sure they have enough evidence as it is."
Sarah shook her head against him, disagreeing. "How do we know that? What if they don't and really need my testimony?"
"It's up to you if you do or don't."
"I know." Sarah sighed. "See, this isn't relaxing. It's not good for Sammy and now we're arguing."
"What's not good for Sammy?"
"The stress. I've already been in the hospital twice."
"But that was because you couldn't eat." Richie said.
"I know, but the stress isn't good either."
Richie sighed. "I thought you said you were okay with coming here."
"I am." Sarah agreed, she had said so before they left. "For now. But it's still scary and still makes me worry."

What did she need to worry about? Richie didn't understand. They were in a hotel, not even near where Sarah used to live.

"Why then? What's to worry about?" He asked.

Sarah looked down, not really wanting to answer because she knew her reason to be worried was silly and pointless. She watched her arm that was still holding Richie's waist.

"What if he finds me?"
"Jonathan? He's not going to find you, he doesn't even know you're here."
"I know he doesn't." Sarah agreed, she knew he wouldn't understand.
"Well then."
"Try convincing my brain that he doesn't know I'm here. I keep imagining ways he might find out and knows where I am and then comes here and something happens."
Richie finally put his arms around Sarah. "Nothing is going to happen to you. I'm always here to protect you." He said and remembered how he had left to go to the gym, thinking that was what had made Sarah take a bath to relax. "I won't go to the gym again."

Chapter Twenty-Five

22 weeks

Two weeks later Sarah and Richie were on their way to Montana. It was hard for Sarah to go back to the place where life had been so bad but she had to try and perhaps Richie really was right that this would help her too. Maybe it was a way to get closure with it for once and for all.

This time they would only meet with the lawyer, find out everything that had happened and if Sarah wanted, she still had an option of backing out.

For the most part of the flights Sarah stayed quiet, which was fine by Richie, he knew it was difficult for her. Just the decision of coming here again, he understood it was no easy choice. She was going back to the place where she had been hurt so much, where she would rather stay far away from for very good reasons. It was only a place but it was close enough to Jonathan.

They were only staying for a few days, their appointment with the lawyer was Wednesday afternoon, the next day they would head back home. All in all, they would only be in Montana for three days.

At the hotel, Richie dropped their bag on the bed, it hadn't particularly been a long flight, specially with time difference, it was only four in the afternoon, while it would be three at home.

Sarah sat down on the bed, she was uncertain of being in this area, even though she had no clue where Jonathan was, it felt as if he was close and that he knew where she was. Like it would be so easy for him, to knock on the hotel room door and enter back into Sarah's life. Even though everything she had gone through in the past year, this was still something she feared, having to face Jonathan again.

"Do you want to out or something?" Richie asked, looking around the room, it was a normal hotel room, nothing to do in a hotel room.
"No." Sarah answered immediately, here she was a little safer than outside.
"Why not? We can go for dinner or something." Richie suggested, already starting to feel hungry.
"No." Sarah repeated.
"You can't be tired, the flight wasn't that long." He didn't want to spend the rest of the day in a hotel room, they should go do something.
"I'm not tired."
"Then why don't you want to go out with me?" He asked confused, usually Sarah liked going out with him. It had been difficult at first to convince her to go to the fancy places but he knew she liked them now.
"I don't want to go anywhere." Sarah insisted.
"Alright then, can I go do something then?" Richie asked, he really didn't want to sit down, he'd been sitting long enough, he needed to do something more active.
"Go ahead."

Richie sighed and opened the bag on the bed, looking for a pair of shorts. He could use a quick run, still needing to lose some weight. He needed to be in top condition for when he went on his solo tour in the fall.

A few minutes later he regretfully left the room. He didn't want to leave Sarah alone but he didn't want to stay in the same small room all day and on top of that Sarah was pretty annoyed with him. At least she had made the right decision.

He didn't ran as long as he usually did and skipped on lifting weights, he wanted some time on his own, to clear his mind but didn't want to leave Sarah alone for too long either.

Once off the treadmill, he picked up the towel he had brought and wiped his sweat, trying to get rid of the sweat he had created.

He left the empty gym and went down the hotel lobby, going back to the elevator to go back to his hotel room. He pressed the button with the number 4 on it and waited for the doors to close, then stood back against the wall waiting for them to open again at the floor.

It wasn't difficult to find the room they had been booked into and Richie used his key card to get in. He hoped Sarah was feeling better now. Maybe she wanted to go do something, finally leave the room and have something fun to do. It was a different city after all, there were lots of things for them to do and see, it was a beautiful state after all.

He wiped the towel over his face again when he walked in and closed the door behind him. He moved the towel to wrap it around his neck, letting it rest over his shoulder, then he noticed the bed was empty, and so was the couch and the entire room.

"Sarah?" He asked nobody.

The room was empty, the curtains still wide open, the bed sheets ruffled, his bag on the floor, not where he last left it.

he threw his towel on the bed and looked around.

"Sarah?" He asked again, then noticed the bathroom door ajar, water flooding the floor.

Chapter Twenty-Four

20 weeks

"What are we gonna do with this?" Richie asked as he leaned further back into the couch, putting his feet on the coffee table, reading over the piece of paper with the lines that him and Jon had just written.
"Lets just keep it for now. Maybe we can do something with it later."
"Mmmhhmmm." Richie put the paper down on his thighs, reading it again. "It's not bad."
"Not bad at all."
"Just don't know how to go on." Richie shrugged and put it down, then reached over to pick up his guitar again.

It was Tuesday afternoon, Jon's kids would be home from school soon but the kids knew to not come bother them while they were writing. So far writing had been better the day before, today they seemed to constantly get stuck with some of the lines or the music to play with it.

Not only Richie's mind drifted off but also Jon's, they'd been writing for hours and they were in need of a break.

"So how's Sarah doing? The baby?" Jon asked carefully, knowing he wasn't supposed to really know about it.
"Oh she's good, baby too, we went to hear Sammy's heartbeat a few weeks ago." Richie said happily, it was still a nice memory to think of the baby's heartbeat.
"Sammy? You know it's a boy then?" Then he realized it would work for a girl too. "Or a girl?"
"No, we decided to wait on that, but we can tell people now."
"Oh good." Jon said, faking relief.
"You've already told Dot haven't you?" Richie knew him, he knew Jon would have told Dorothea.
Jon smiled guiltily. "Yeah, I have. She's very happy for you guys."
"Thanks." Richie smiled back.

His trip to New York wasn't very long, Sarah had given him permission to tell his mom the good news while she stayed at home, not wanting to take time off of work and knowing Richie would be busy with Jon anyway.

Richie could easily remember when he had told him mom when Heather was pregnant and they were expecting Ava. Again, he was happy and proud to tell her and was glad to see that his mom was excited too. Right away she wanted to make arrangements to come visit at the end of October and stay for a little while.

So far Richie didn't think that was needed, Sarah did have her own mom closer by after all but it still might be nice to have his mom at his house then too, so he agreed to it. Then hoped the baby wouldn't be up all night keeping everyone else in the house up too.


Thursday afternoon Richie was back at home with Sarah, they hadn't talked while he was in New York but Sarah seemed alright, she didn't mention anything bad to him and didn't look bad either. He assumed she was alright for now.

What her decision was on the lawsuit that would happen sometime soon, he didn't know. He just knew he had to phone the lawyer back this week, he still had a day before letting him know what they were going to do.

Richie's opinion hadn't changed at all. He still believed Sarah should help get Jonathan behind bars even though she was scared, it would be in court, there was no way he could physically hurt her and he'd be there to protect her too.

Thursday went on as any usual Thursday, summer had gotten around, Ava was at her mom's house and the boys were having a day at the beach, having left Sarah alone at home all day. Hopefully she had taken that time to think everything over for a last time. Richie needed an answer.

Richie and Sarah spent the afternoon together, watching television, having a calm afternoon. Richie still thought it was best for Sarah to stay relaxed and calm, she was pregnant after all.

He was glad when Sarah got comfy on the couch with him and put her head in his lap, to hold her, Richie put his hand on her belly, gently stroking. He started thinking about the baby inside there, Sammy.

What would Sammy be? How would Sammy be. Not just as a baby but as a toddler, child, teen and adult. He looked forward to see another little person grow up from a baby to an adult, like he was still watching Ava grow up.

Sammy? But they weren't sticking to Sammy, it was just a name for now until the baby was born. Like Sarah had said, something nicer than just saying The Baby every time. Sammy Sambora would be a bit repetitive, he preferred another name for after the baby was born.

His hand was still stroking Sarah belly, by now it was getting a little more obvious that she was pregnant, he liked it.

He felt something move against his hand, like a little kick, and looked down at his hand on Sarah's belly.

"Was that Sammy kicking?" He asked Sarah.
"Yeah, Sammy's been kicking for a while now, that was the biggest kick yet though."
"Oh." Richie wasn't sure if he should move his hand or not and carefully rubbed again. "It's okay right?"
"Yeah, just some kicks, you didn't cause it or anything."
"Good, got a little worried." Richie said honestly.

Their conversation awkwardly ended, both of them turning back to the television and watching their show together quietly.

"I love you." Richie said, looking down at Sarah on his lap. He felt like he needed to reassure her right now.
Sarah turned around, curled up a little bit and looked up at him. "I love you too."

Chapter Twenty-Three

19 weeks

"You can't be serious." Sarah said full of disbelief, this just couldn't be true.
"I wish it wasn't true honey but it is." Richie said calmly, he didn't need Sarah to get all worked up again.

She was somewhat calm now and he would like to keep it that way. Stress was something Sarah should definitely avoid during her pregnancy but he had to tell her someway and either way would cause stress.

"I'm sorry." Richie said as he sat back down on the bed with Sarah, he didn't know what more to do.
"I don't know what to do with this information." Sarah said confused.

Richie sighed. He had been unsure of how Sarah would react but hoped at least that she would understand what she needed to do here and that she needed to go to court and tell the jury what had happened in her marriage.

Sarah had heard everything Richie had said. Jonathan was being sued for abuse and attempted murder. Had he really tried to kill somebody. She had no clue what happened in his life after she ran away and left him.

She rather didn't think of Jonathan and had spend years of forcing him out of her mind but now everything that she had ever wondered about him crept back in.

Would he have changed his life for the better, sobered up and fallen in love again. Have his own family again and really  be there for him? Obviously that wasn't what had happened.

Had he just continued as he had when they were married? Did he keep drinking, getting drunk and abusive? Was that how he was now facing charges of attempted murder or had it been an accident that he really didn't have control over?

No.

She was glad Richie was sitting with her and let her take her time. She needed to process this before she could talk to him. He just sat quietly next to her, holding her hand.

Sarah continued talking, by the time she left Jonathan he would never have been able to get sober on his own. He never wanted to go to rehab and had been furious when Sarah had. Then she had never though he would get abusive. Then he would just drink and get drunk, when he came home she would just leave him alone but then they had Caleb and Noah and there wasn't peace and quiet when Jonathan came home at night.

The abuse hadn't started until Caleb had arrived and had gotten even worse after Noah had joined.

But when she had left, she took her sons with her, so maybe there was the possibility that Jonathan didn't get aggressive anymore.

Was it possible that he had gotten remarried? Or at least had gotten a new girlfriend. Did he love her more than he had loved Sarah. Would he change for her and try to stay off the alcohol, treat her nice and loving like Richie now did for Sarah.

No. She remembered the charges, if he was being charged for abuse and attempted murder then he hadn't turned his life around for the better at all. He had just gotten worse than he had been than the night that Sarah had left him.

What was she supposed to do now?

She couldn't meet him, she's be terrified to see him. Just to see him, she knew that would be enough to hurt her and break her spirit. She wasn't strong enough to face him, it would be too difficult and too hard to handle.

Sarah was scared, all these years she had feared almost everyone, until she met Richie and made progress. Now she was alright with meeting people, during her job she met loads of people everyday but she hadn't thought she'd ever had to face Jonathan again.

She didn't know what she had to do.

"Honey?" Richie asked carefully, not wanting to interrupt her but he needed to know what she was thinking.
"I don't know what to do Richie." She said, letting him wrap his arms around her and hold her as she started to cry.

For a while she just let him comfort and hold her.

When he felt Sarah relax again, he rubbed his hand over her back.

"You know what to do."
"I can't do it Richie. I can't" Sarah sighed.
"Yes you can, I'll be there with you."
"No, I cant!" She got up from the bed walked out the room, slamming the door.

Chapter Twenty-Two

19 weeks

Richie couldn't put the phone conversation out of his mind, he hadn't told Sarah about it the night before and still wasn't sure what to do the next day. How was Sarah going to react to this? She had gotten over her past but meeting the guy in court. He didn't think she would ever be up to that. But the charges, abuse and attempted murder lingered through his mind, if the charges were this bad, Sarah should testify about the abuse she had to live with, to make sure this man would go to jail. Often he had felt he wanted to be able to beat Jonathan up for what he had done to his wife while they were married all those years ago. He knew he wouldn't be able to do such a thing, but knowing the person would be in jail, would be a relief too. Possibly, it would help Sarah mentally too, to really let it all go and be free of him. Richie just didn't know what to do and if he decided, he didn't know how he was going to tell Sarah.

Sarah was still sleeping in bed next to him, he hadn't been able to sleep well but it wasn't that early either. He just had a big decision to make which was turning into a dilemma, he needed to talk to someone about it, someone that would be able to help him on this part. But who?

Carefully he got out of bed, not wanting to wake Sarah up yet so he wouldn't have to tell her anything. The night before she had been a little suspicious about what was distracting him all evening. He wasn't sure if she would continue to believe him if he said there wasn't anything wrong.

Downstairs he hoped Sarah would sleep in, she had been tired the day before and maybe she would sleep a little longer than usual so he had some more time to think about what he was going to do with this knowledge.

A few hours later he had his mind made up, on what should happen at least, he still didn't know how he would ever be able to tell Sarah that she should see her ex-husband in a court room. Sarah had to testify, she had to so they could help putting Jonathan behind bars. If his abuse really had gotten out of hand, he deserved to be in jail. Wait if the abuse had gotten so bad while Sarah was still married to him and what if she hadn't been able to escape him?

Richie couldn't think of it, he couldn't imagine his life without Sarah anymore, he needed her and he was sure she needed him too. If only he could figure out how he was going to solve this.

He knew Sarah was getting angry with him, she was doing laundry and avoiding him. He hated it but he didn't know what to do either.

His phoning ringing was a very welcome break through the stress of the day. When he read the called ID, he was a little surprised to see who it was.

"Abbey? Is everything alright?" He asked concerned.
"I'm fine, how are you and Sarah? I had a phone call from a lawyer yesterday that was looking for Sarah." Abbey sounded just as worried as Richie.
"Yeah he phoned here. Did he tell you what it was about?"
"He did, have you told Sarah?"
"No, I don't know how she'll handle it." Richie said worried. "I don't want to stress her out right now, with Sammy and everything. I don't know what to do."
"You do know what to do." Abbey urged.
"She needs to do it, she has to, if she can help get this guy behind bars, she has to do it."
"How are you going to tell Sarah about this?" Abbey asked concerned.
"That's what I don't know. I'm supposed to protect her. I've tried to make her forget him and now I just have to let her be in the same room with him? I can't do that to her. It'll hurt her."
"I know Richie, but she needs to do this and it might still benefit her in moving on."

Richie sighed, he knew Abbey was trying to help him to make a decision, the right one, he knew what the right decision was. He just didn't know how to do it.

"You'll find a way." Abbey tried to be encouraging. "At least you know what you need to do."
"Yeah. I just gotta figure out how to tell Sarah this without stressing her out, she doesn't need that."

Sarah was still avoiding him after he had ended his conversation with Sarah's mother. He didn't like his wife ignoring him but it gave him some time to think things over.

Finally he decided on how he was going to tell her, what he was going to say and how he hoped Sarah would react to everything.

He went to find Sarah and took her to their bedroom, they needed to have this conversation privately but once there, he was again unsure of how to go on.

"Richie, if you wanna know Sammy's sex that badly, just phone the doctor and schedule a new appointment." Sarah said annoyed when he once again denied anything was wrong. She knew well enough something was bothering him and the fact that he didn't just tell her, bother her even more.
"What?" Richie asked confused.
"Something's bothering you and stop telling me there's not. Just phone the doctor and we'll go back." Her voice didn't lower and stayed agitated.
"There's nothing about Sammy."
"Then will you just tell me what the hell is going on?"
"Honey, calm down, you're not supposed to get stressed." Richie urged her to stay calm, he didn't want anything to happen to the baby because Sarah was stressing.
"Then what is it?" Sarah didn't calm down at all.
"Okay, honey, come here." Richie took her hands and walked her over to the bed, urging her to sit down as he sat down too. "But you have to promise you'll stay calm."
"I can't promise that if you keep avoiding the matter."

Chapter Twenty-One

18 weeks

A few weeks later, first of June Sarah and Richie were getting ready for another visit to the hospital. Today they were finding out the sex of the baby.

Sarah hadn't asked for the sex of her baby during her previous pregnancies and was rather unsure to find out now. She hadn't really asked Richie about it and was unsure of what he wanted. Personally, she wanted to wait for the baby's birth to find out.

Their appointment was for later that morning and out of convenience they had decided to let Caleb drive everyone to school. At home alone, Richie sat with Sarah on the couch, letting her enjoy her day off of work.

"So, a son?" Sarah asked as she settled against Richie's chest.
Richie shrugged. "I don't know, it doesn't really matter. I'd like a son but if Sammy's a girl, I'd be just as happy."
"Really?" Sarah asked, maybe now was a good time to say she didn't want to know the sex.
"Yeah of course. It doesn't matter. Why?"
"I think I don't want to know. I want to wait and see when it's born."
"Oh okay..." Richie wasn't sure what to say or think, he didn't even know himself if he wanted to know or not.
"But you do want to know." Sarah looked up at him, a little worried that he was disagreeing.
"I don't know but if I do, I can keep a secret." He assured her.

As Sarah got up from the couch to get ready, she felt a first real kick inside her. "Oh." She said amazed and put her hands on her belly.
"What's wrong?" Richie asked, looking up at her.
"Sammy just kicked." Sarah smiled at him.
A smiled appeared on Richie's face too. "Really?"


An hour later they were sitting with Sarah's doctor again, she was telling them how the baby should be developing and that Sarah could indeed start feeling the baby kick. The baby would also be able to hear sounds and voices, so the doctor advised them to talk to the baby so it could already get used to their voices. Of course that gave Richie the idea to sing to the baby, making a mental note of doing so that same evening before they went to bed.

Another ultrasound let them hear the baby's heartbeat again.

"Everything still sounds good." The doctor said and made sure they could take home some more pictures. She looked around and checked the baby over.
Sarah and Richie were both watching the screen to see the baby too. A little curiosity made Sarah ask, "Is that Sammy sucking it's thumb?" She wasn't completely sure of what the picture what showing exactly but it looked like it.
The doctor looked a little closer too and confirmed Sarah's thoughts. "Looks like it. I'll take a picture of it."

A few minutes of watching the baby on the screen and the doctor continued with her check over.

"Do you want to know the sex of the baby?" She looked up at them to make sure what they wanted.
Sarah looked up at Richie, wondering what he was thinking.
"Let's wait a little longer." Richie suggested.
"That's fine too." The doctor agreed. "If at any point you change your mind we can do another ultrasound to see."
"Yeah, I like that." Sarah agreed.


At home they went back to where they left off and got back on the couch together and turned the television back on to relax the rest of the afternoon.

When everyone got back from school and found Richie and Sarah in the living room watching TV, it was obvious that they wanted to knew what the doctor had said.

Sarah showed Ava the picture of the baby sucking it's thumb, Ava thought it was adorable but it didn't distract her from her question.

"So is it a girl?" She asked anxiously.
"Or a boy?" Caleb insisted as usual.
"We don't know." Richie smiled, having a strange feeling of revenge for all the fights the two of them had had about the baby.
"We decided to wait a while before finding out what sex Sammy is." Sarah agreed.
Both Ava and Caleb got frowns on their faces while Noah smiled.
"I don't want to know anyway." Noah said happily.
"You don't?" Richie asked.
"Yeah, I rather wait til Sammy is born and see then."
"I think so too." Sarah agreed with her youngest son.

Richie was somewhat relieved to hear Noah say that, now he might not need to talk to Noah about it.

A couple of minutes later things turned back to peace and quiet as everyone went of to do their own thing, Sarah and Richie stayed in front of the TV.

Pretty soon, Richie noticed Sarah starting to fall asleep.

"Why don't you go upstairs and nap a little and I'll start dinner?" He suggested.
"Are you sure?" Sarah asked, she could make dinner, he didn't have to, she wasn't that tired.
"Yeah, go on upstairs and I'll come get you when dinner is ready."
"Thanks." Sarah said as she got up, turned around and kissed him.

When Richie got up from the couch to go start dinner in the kitchen, the phone started ringing. He turned the TV off and answered the phone.

"Hello?" He asked.
"Hello, I'm looking for Sarah Matthews and was told I could reach her on this number."
"Who's asking?" Richie asked suspicious.
"Thomas Slone, I'm a lawyer in the case of the State of Montana against Jonathan Gibson. I am trying to find witnesses that are willing to testify. According to records Sarah and Jonathan got divorced years ago."
Amazed, Richie didn't know what to say, had he heard that all right? "Uh yeah they did. She's not here right now though... Why do you need to talk to her again?"
"Are you related to Sarah?"
"She's my wife, we got married last September." Richie explained, still unsure of what was going on.
"Alright. As I said, I'm looking for witnesses that are willing to testify-"
"Witnesses of what?" Richie asked still confused.
"Mr. Gibson is being sued for abuse and attempted murder. I'd like to know if Sarah has gone through abuse during their marriage too and if she's willing to testify in court." The man on the other line said.
"Fuck, wow... I don't know... I'll have to talk to her."
"I'll leave you my number and someone could phone me back next week." The man offered.
"Yeah, thanks." Richie agreed and wrote down the number.

Chapter Twenty

14 weeks

Tuesday afternoon Sarah was glad she didn't have to work that day. The dress she had bought with Richie was beautiful, it was white with a floral pattern on it in beige. She honestly thought she looked beautiful but was worried a baby bump was visible. She knew she had gained some weight and her jeans had become a bit tight but it in a dress it would be even more obvious.

"Maybe I could wear one of those big belts everyone always wears." Sarah said as she looked at herself in the mirror.
"That doesn't go with your dress and will only put more attention to it." Richie was watching her from the bed. He liked the fact she was getting a baby bump, proof that they soon would have a little baby. "What if anybody asks about Sammy tonight?" He asked, remembering he had to ask Sarah how she felt about telling people now.
She shrugged, which didn't give Richie much hope, "I guess it's alright to say, it's the second trimester now but..."
"But what?" He pushed on.
Sarah left the mirror for what it was and moved over to the bed. "I don't want people to start making a huge deal about in and tabloids and stuff."
Richie smiled. "I know honey, I don't want those things either but they usually do happen. To be honest, rather have them telling a true story than making something up and making everyone go crazy."
Sarah nodded. "I guess that's true but can we not mention how many weeks, the date and the name we gave the baby now?"
"We can do that. Just say that you're expecting, nothing more. Just expecting, not even what you're expecting."
"I think it's pretty obvious what I'm expecting."
"Could be lots of things really," Richie shrugged, "a promotion, renewed wedding vows, a new car..."
"Renewed wedding vows?" Sarah asked interested.
Richie chuckled, "we only got married a year ago, do we need to renew already?"
Sarah sighed. "I guess not."

The whole family joined to the award ceremony where Richie would be accepting his award for the work he had done to help the homeless. It was something Sarah loved about him, he might be rich and famous but he was generous enough to help out different kinds of charities, doing something back for the community.

When he was honored with his award and invited upon stage, Sarah couldn't possibly be any prouder than she was feeling right then. His own life had been quite a turmoil the last few years but he still did what he could to help people in need, she was incredibly proud of him for that.

As Richie's speech ended, she clapped just as loud of the entire audience, when her husband returned to their table, she reached over to kiss him.

"I'm proud of you." She smiled as she realized that usually it was Richie telling her he was proud of her. "Everything in the past year has made me proud of you."
Richie smiled back happier as if knowing how Sarah felt was more important than accepting an award. "Thanks sweetheart."

After the dinner and reception, journalists were still waiting outside. Sarah had been getting tired, he knew she must be, it had been a long day and with a baby, she shouldn't be stressed. Richie decided to do one quick interview before leaving. The children waiting a little way away with his mother and Richie took Sarah's hand and walked up to one of the interviewers.

The lady  introduced herself a little, mentioning she wrote for an online newspaper and that she was a longtime fan.

Her first few questions were about Richie's charity work, asking for more details of everything he had done and how he had been able to help. She also asked him how other people could help too.

"On a more private note, only a year ago you were looking for your future ex-wife, seems your search has been successful, right?"
"It completely failed." Richie smiled brightly, confusing the lady that was interviewing him. "I'd never divorce Sarah, we're in it for life."
"That great to see and we're all very happy for you. You've also mention then that you wanted to have more children do you think that might still happen?"

Sarah thought it was impossible for Richie to smile even brighter than he just had, but he proved her wrong with his smile.

His eyes darted over at Sarah, then back to the interviewer. "I think that will happen soon." He smiled at Sarah again and pulled her a little closer.
That made the interviewer look at Sarah too. "You're pregnant?" She asked without having her pen ready to write notes.
"We're expecting a baby soon." Richie confirmed, trying not to give too many details.
"Would I be pushing my luck by asking if you know the sex of the baby?"
"That would be pushing your luck." Richie smiled again and ended the interview.

Once they were at home, it was late and everyone went to bed. As last Sarah and Richie finally went to bed too.

"I really am proud of you." Sarah said as she walked over close to him once they were alone.
"I know you are." Richie said as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Not just for the award. I mean, everything. They served alcohol and I'm proud that you didn't touch it too." Sarah answered, trying to convince him. "I don't think I've ever told you how proud I am you have been able to be sober. I know it's not easy."
Richie smiled, hearing the compliment was quite satisfying. "Thanks but you help me and now I don't need it anymore, I got you to make me happy and cheer me up when I'm down."
"Well I'm glad to help." She reached up and kissed him deeply.

Only a second later she started pulling at his clothes, wanting to get him naked and as close to her as possible. All of a sudden she needed him as soon as possible.

Richie was all too happy to oblige and unzipped Sarah's dress, helping her out of her clothes too.

A minute later they were kissing on the bed, soon it was already almost unbearable for Richie and moved down the bed to pay attention to Sarah's breasts. As he started kissing, nibbling and sucking, an excited sigh escaped Sarah but Richie interpreted it wrongly.

"Sorry, did I hurt you?" He looked up at her, hoping he hadn't.
Sarah shook her head. "Not really, just a little sensitive." She assured him.
"I'll be careful." He continued his kisses but more gentle and careful.

As he sat up, he moved Sarah's legs further apart to settle between them. Watching her in all her naked glory, his eyes lingered on her baby bump, slowly Richie bent down and kissed her belly. He couldn't wait for November, it couldn't come too soon.

Positioning himself, he carefully moved inside her, now that it was getting more obvious that Sarah was pregnant he wasn't sure about the matter of sex anymore. Could they just have sex like they always did or should he be more careful?

He started thrusting slowly at first but Sarah's moaning urged him on, knowing she wanted more and if she wanted more, he assumed it would be alright for the baby too.

"More Richie, harder." Sarah moaned loudly.
He loved when Sarah got vocal during sex, but, "harder?"
"Yes, harder." She tried to pull him down on top of her but Richie restrained.
"The baby..."
"Is fine, come here, I want you close." She was successful this time to pull him down on top of her own body. "Now, harder." She almost ordered.

Richie grinned, were this the so called pregnancy hormones? He might like that.

He started thrusting harder and faster, making it harder for himself to hold back but Sarah was close to her climax and he couldn't deny her of that. Trying to hold back he thrusted a few more time until he could feel Sarah's inner walls contract around him as she loudly came for him.

He captured her lips as he let go too, feeling his orgasm explode inside her took his mind off the sting he felt as he kissed her.

Sarah kept kissing him, sucking his lip between her own, moaning again, she continued kissing him until it got too much for her and pulled away, breathing heavily.

"You're bleeding." He said as he wiped away the blood on Sarah's lip but when he did, there wasn't any cut visible, then he tasted blood as he licked his own lips. "You bit me." He said a little amazed, that was definitely a first.
"I'm sorry... I just... I don't really know." Sarah tried to apologize.
"Are pregnancy hormones gonna make you rough during sex? I don't mind some rough sex." He grinned and kissed her again.