Chapter 14 - Ethan
I watch Zoe out of the corner of my eye. She’s stroking Mara’s back as Mara leans over with her hands on the desk. She’s breathing heavily and watching the clock anxiously as we all wait for the midwife. Doctor Bertrand called back with instructions, and Zoe has been the de facto leader of our little birth room.
Every time Dominic comes in, his eyes narrow and his back stiffens. He goes over to Mara and strokes her back, squeezes her hand, generally just emanating anxiety.
As Mara gets more frustrated with his stifling attention, Zoe will give him another task to do. She sends him to get some water, and then to the kitchen to get some orange juice. She sends him off to make sure the baby’s cot and linens are prepared, and sends him off to get something to eat for us all.
When he comes back with peanut butter sandwiches, she looks at the plate of food and nods.
“That was quick,” she says. “Thank you, Dominic.” And then she sends him to chop some wood.
He glances at Mara, and then nods his head. I can see the relief in his eyes when he walks out of the room. Zoe keeps her head down and prepares all the towels and buckets and bits and pieces that the doctor told her to. She gets basins of water ready, and prepares plastic bags for garbage.
Most of all, she takes care of Mara. She squeezes her hand and puts a cold towel on her head. Katie is gone with Dominic to chop some wood that none of us need chopped, so it’s just the three of us.
“How old is yours?” Mara asks with her eyes closed. Zoe glances at me before responding.
“She’s seven. Turning eight in two and a half months.”
“So you’re passed the baby stage,” Mara breathes.
Zoe chuckles. “Way passed it, yeah. She’ll be a teenager before I know it.”
Mara smiles, and Zoe puts a fresh towel on her forehead. I sit in a chair, feeling generally useless. I almost feel like I’m intruding.
I clear my throat.
“I didn’t know you had a daughter,” I say, looking at Zoe. She holds my gaze for a few moments and then nods.
“You never asked,” she replies simply.
A pang passes through my chest. Even when we were entwined in bed, talking and fucking until three in the morning, she never mentioned her family. My eyes widen as another thought crosses my mind.
As if she can tell what I’m thinking, she answers my unsaid question. “Her father died when she was two,” she says. “It’s been just me and Audrey ever since then. She’s with my mom now, until I get back to Seattle.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Mara says. I grunt in agreement.
I glance at Mara. She’s laying back, with one hand on her stomach and the other clasped between both of Zoe’s. The intimacy between them makes them look like they’ve known each other their whole lives. Maybe that’s what motherhood does to women. It gives them automatic admission to an exclusive club, where they understand each other on a level that I never will.
I jump when the door opens, and a short woman in her late thirties comes in. She has a bit of a waddle, and heaves a big bag of medical supplies onto the table near the door.
“Well, what do we have here!” She exclaims. She looks at me. “Father?”
“No, my brother is. He’s just outside.”
“Hmph,” she says, opening her bag. “The wood chopper, I’m assuming.” I’m not sure what the noise means, but I stand up and get out of her way. Zoe glances at me and shrugs. “My name is Lulu. Doctor Bertrand told me about your situation, Mara, and I came as fast as I could. Now, let’s have a look, shall we?”
She glances at me and Zoe and I clear my throat, wiping my hands down the front of my pants. “I’ll give you some privacy.”
Dominic and Katie reappear, and Zoe and I use the distraction to slip out the door. When it closes behind us, she lets out a big sigh.
“I’m glad she got here when she did. I was running out of things to give your brother to do.”
I laugh. “I thought that’s what you were doing.”
Zoe laughs as we walk towards the front door. “He was just stressing Mara out. I can tell he loves her, but it was getting to be too much for her.”
“Mmm,” I respond. We step outside and Zoe gestures to a path in the trees.
“You want to go for a walk? I feel like I need some fresh air.”
I nod, and as soon as we take a few steps, both of us let out a sigh. “The air tastes so good here,” Zoe says, staring up at the starry sky. “I didn’t even know it was possible.”
“It’s a pretty special place,” I say, glancing over at her. Her eyes are almost misty, taking in the vast expanse of stars above us. We walk in silence for a while, and I resist the urge to take her hand in mine. Every few steps, her shoulder brushes against mine and it sends a tiny thrill through my chest.
Finally, I ask her the same question again. “Why didn’t you tell me about your daughter? We talked about so many things on Saturday night.” And it seems strange not to mention her.
Zoe looks over at me and her face relaxes. She smiles at me, but her eyes are distant. “It seemed really personal. You were just a guy I met at a bar. It didn’t seem appropriate to talk to you about my daughter. And then I found out I work with you, and I just had no idea how to react.”
She nudges my shoulder with hers. “And like I said, you never asked.”
Her lips curl up into a smile and she starts chuckling. She shakes her head and looks at me again, her grin widening.
“What are the chances, hey?”
I grin. “Started the job off with a bang, you could say.”
Zoe laughs, and leans her shoulder into me. I move my arm behind her, brushing the small of her back. The path winds through the trees, and the sound of running water gets louder as we wander towards the river. Zoe stops and watches the running water. I look at the river for a moment, and then over at her.
“That’s Lang Creek,” I explain. “What the town was named after.”
Her eyebrows raise a bit. “Looks like more of a river than a creek to me,” she says.
I chuckle, and make a noise to agree. The moonlight is making her skin look almost silver. Her eyes look dark, and her hair is tied in a high pony tail. A few rebellious strands of hair have found their way out of the hair tie and are blowing gently in the breeze.
Zoe looks at me, and her face is serious. “I can’t get involved with you, Ethan.”
I’m taken aback, but I nod. “I’m not asking you to.”
“I know. But I also know that we get along, and I’m attracted to you. I’m just letting you know that I have a family back home, and we work together. It’s just too messy. I’m not here for very long, and…” She trails off, glancing at the river’s rushing water.
“I agree.”
She turns towards me and looks at my face. She stares at me intently, and my chest starts to beat a little bit harder. Her words are still ringing in my ears, and I know she’s right. Her tongue darts out to moisten her lips and my cock throbs.
Her eyes drop to my lips and she takes a deep breath.
“What?” I whisper as she shudders.
She lifts her eyes up to mine and chuckles softly, shaking her head. “I just really want to kiss you right now.”