by Iris Blobel
“Jared. He’s Mark’s friend. Idiot hung up on me.” Rubbing his face, he added, “My apologies. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Then he turned to look at her, studying her eyes for a moment. He brushed the hair from her forehead. “Thanks for helping out. I really appreciate it.”
“I wasn’t much help though,” she said.
He shrugged. “More than you think. Having someone with me was good.” Then he looked out the front window into the near darkness. “Sorry I got carried away.”
“Will you pick her up now?”
Slightly irritated that she had ignored his last apology, he just shook his head. “She’s going to call me in a minute or two. Hopefully, that is. I’d like to pick her up and take her to the hospital, so they can all concentrate on having the baby. Everything else will sort itself out. In theory at least.”
There was a brief silence before he spoke again, hesitantly, “I’d love to see you again.”
“How about you will drop me off, and give me a call when everything’s settled?”
He looked at her as he scratched the back of his head. “That sounds vague.”
Natasha choked back a small laugh. “You have more important things to attend to is all I’m saying.”
Nodding, he slid the car into gear and merged into the traffic. It was a short drive to her house. He parked in her driveway, got out, and accompanied her to the door.
“Expect that call soon,” he whispered as he cupped the back of her head and slid his fingers into her hair.
“I certainly hope so.”
Then he drew her head closer to his with gentle pressure. His lips brushed hers, softly, yet hesitant. He’d never felt like this with a woman before. He had guarded his heart for years, but it seemed this time, he’d lost. For the first time he could remember, a woman made him feel, made him want more. Bizarre thing was, he hardly knew her. Zach was used to having unattached women. He enjoyed his freedom, so this feeling inside him was not only new, but scared the everything out of him.
The phone rang, and still in a daze he apologised. “I will need to answer this.”
Natasha nodded, turned, and went into the house.
“Mi?”
“Hey there,” she answered quietly. “Are you mad?”
Closing his eyes and inhaling deeply he wanted to say Yes, I am mad as mad one can be. So mad, in fact, I wanna ground you for a year. But he knew better. “More disappointed that you ran.”
“I’m sorry.”
It nearly broke his heart when he heard her sobbing on the other end of the line. He rubbed his chest, trying to breathe. Alone was good. Having someone in his life was better. But hurting this someone was unbearable.
“How about I pick you up and grab a bite to eat before heading to the hospital.”
There was a hicuppy reply. “Mm-hmm”
“I’ll be there in about ten minutes.”
“Thanks, Zach.”
****
Mia hung up the phone and joined Jared in the lounge room. He was watching his favourite show. Mark had complained a couple of times that when he'd come over to watch the footy on telly, Jared had always had to finish his garden program on ABC. It was his ritual. A small smile played on her lips.
“Zach will be here in a couple of minutes.”
“Righteo.”
She stepped closer and sat on the sofa. “Thanks, Jared.”
He turned and looked at her, first puzzled, then seeming to understand. The expression on his face changed to something she couldn’t really figure.
“I… I’m,” he hesitated and scratched the back of his head. “I’m a bit lost, though, as to why you came here, but also as to how much I’m allowed to tell Mark.”
Avoiding his gaze and not really knowing the answer herself, she shrugged. “I probably knew you wouldn’t make much fuss, like ringing Mark or Zach.”
“Right. Is that good or bad?”
She couldn’t help but chuckle. “Kinda good I suppose.”
“I did ring Zach, though.”
Mia nodded. “Yes, you did. But you listened to me first and–” Her whole body sagged with the weight of the whole situation.
“Mia?”
“Hmm?”
“Come over any time, will ya? As in, when you need time out and such. Ya know.”
Looking up, she noticed he was scratching the back of his head again. Probably feeling awkward as well.
“Thanks,” she whispered. “I honestly do appreciate it.”
There was a brief silence, and the knock at the door sounded like thunder and made them both jump.
Jared shook his head and headed towards the door.
“Easy with the door, mate!”
Mia saw Zach’s curious and confused look and smiled. She went towards the door, placed a quick kiss on Jared’s cheek, and turned to Zach.
“Hi.”
With his eyes slightly narrowed, he replied a cool "Hi" and moved aside to let her walk to the car.
Zach quickly thanked Jared, and probably brought him up-to-date with the events of the day. Mia couldn’t hear. She was already in the car trying to find a stash of tissues. This crying thing was a real problem that she had to solve quickly. Crying was good for the soul, apparently cleansing, but hey, it was an embarrassing nuisance.
She stared out the window towards the two guys still chatting. Jared nodded, and Zach shook his head. It looked comical in a way, but neither of them was smiling, so she guessed it wasn’t funny at all. She had never really given Jared much thought, but had to admit he had been very nice. Didn’t freak out or tell her off for running away. Cool and collected. Laid-back would probably be a word Mark would use. She knew he, too, was laid-back in so many things, not fussing about life or stressing about it either.
The sudden opening of the door brought back her wandering thoughts, and she looked over to Zach. But he avoided her, started the car, and drove down the street.
“I did say I’m sorry,” she said quietly.
“I know.”
“You said you weren’t mad,” she tried again.
“Not mad, but not in a talking mood with an empty stomach.”
Mia nodded and pulled out more tissues.
Chapter Fourteen
Zach and Mia had a quick stop at a fast-food chain and were on their way to the hospital. He was mad, but not really at her. Possibly mad at the situation. Sophie would easily blame Jupiter and the Moon for this kind of havoc. How could he be mad at Mia? She’d barely made it to teenage years and had finally found out who her father was.
“I’m not mad. Probably sick with worry, is all,” he finally said.
But the girl was quiet.
“Mark left me a message about an hour ago. They prepped her for surgery.”
“Is she okay?” Mia nearly screamed, and Zach nearly jumped out of his skin.
“Surgery for a caesarean, honey. The baby’s stuck or something. We’ll find out in a minute.”
Out of the corner of his eye he watched her, so fragile, so young and still so strong.
“I went to see him,” she suddenly said.
That took him by surprise, although he wasn’t sure why. After all, Darren had already told him. He stopped on the side of the street and turned to her.
“I went to see Darren Schuster,” Mia repeated, but did not look at him.
Zach rubbed his hands over his face. “I know. Why, though?”
She seemed in her own world and ignored or didn’t pick up on his admission that he’d known. “I wanted to know things, ‘kay!” She justified her action. “It really sucks having a stranger tell you he’s your dad and everyone else is like, completely, so not straightforward. Get that?”
He drew in his lips and just stared out into the darkness. Yes, he got that. Of course, he did. But that was no reason to just take off.
“Pumpkin, thing is, I’m more like a buddy and not babysitter to you, right? So, fact is, I’m right with you with everyone being a jerk, but runni
ng away is not the answer.”
Then he moved to meet her eyes, but she kept them averted.
“I was scared out of my brains, Mi.” Zach placed his hand on her shoulder. “You’re my little girl. My best buddy. Not sure what I’d’ve done if anything had happened to you.”
When she finally looked at him, her eyes shimmered with unshed tears. He felt strangely inadequate, uncertain how to deal with this.
“Talk to me.”
“I’m sorry, Zach. I truly am.”
“I know you are. So let’s move on to the next step.”
She shrugged. “Dunno. I s’pose something just went haywire in the head.”
He chuckled softly. “Haywire, eh. Promise me you’ll keep your cables in order from now on,” he replied as he placed a finger to her head.
Zach put the car back into gear and moved back onto the street. “So did you have a chat with Darren?”
“He’s not the most talkative person, you know. Kinda creepy.”
That made him choke back a laugh.
“Well, he did tell me the reason why he came here.”
“And that is?” Zach asked after a small moment of silence.
“It’s… ehrm… it’s… well, the way I understood it is that he wants to retire, and I get heaps of money.”
His head shot around. “Say again!”
****
“Well, his words were more or less I’m about to retire from the day to day management of the company. You’re my daughter and only family. I want you to be financially involved in the company.”
The words still sounded so bizarre in her mind. Unreal. Business. Her head hurt, and she gently massaged her temples. Never before had she missed her mother like she did that night. Never before had she needed a mother like she did that night. She loved Sophie. With all her heart and even more, if that was possible.
But Sophie and Mark were headed towards a different life. As much as she knew that they both would never make her feel second-best to Connor, the little baby, she knew he would subconsciously be their first priority. And Zach. Yeah, little Connor would wrap Zach around his finger in no time. The cool and tough man from across the road actually was a big softie at heart. There was no doubt.
Admittedly, that day was just one Murphy ’s Law coincidence after the other, but it somehow made her think about her upbringing. A family. Or, in her case, the lack of parents. Okay. One parent was still there and had just told her less than two hours ago that she was going to be part of his business. Who knew what kind of business? Funny, she’d never asked. She made a mental note to do that. But, the whole day with Murphy around had showed her, that when it came to the crunch line, there'd been no one there for her. All she wanted was for someone to just take her into an embrace and hold her. That was all.
“Mi?”
A slap on her arm jerked her out of her thoughts.
“Earth to Mia. Are you still with me?”
She could feel Zach’s stare on her, but didn’t look at him. “What does that mean? I’m going to be part of his business.”
There was a pause, and Mia looked over to Zach. She wasn’t really sure whether he was concentrating on the near non-existent traffic, or already looking for a parking spot, or considering her question.
“I wouldn’t have a clue, pumpkin.” He inhaled deeply, set the blinker, and drove into the parking lot in front of the hospital. “This is just one big mess that needs to be cleaned up. One step at the time.”
“Baby comes first. Right,” she muttered.
He parked the car and switched off the ignition. Then he slowly turned towards her and placed his arm on the back of her seat.
Mia could see the line of his jaw was tense, and she bit her lip. The ensuing silence was so immediate it was as if all the sound had been sucked out of the car. She felt the colour burn her cheeks.
“Before we go up there, I have a feeling we’d better clear some air in regards to little junior,” he demanded quietly.
Mia nodded.
“So let’s clear it, pumpkin. What’s wrong?”
Those stupid tears were rolling again. It was just like in one of these terrible movies where the woman just couldn’t stop crying.
“Okay. The thing is–”
“Give me the short version, Mia. I’m tired, miserable, cold and–”
“Thing is, I haven’t got anybody in my life I can go to when in trouble.”
He shook his head in disbelief. “You’ve got me.”
She met his gaze and saw the hurt in his eyes. “I know,” she whispered. “But, you know, like kinda…” She sighed. “Zach, what about when I wanna talk about boys or girl stuff?”
Drawing in his lips, he nodded. “Think you’re gonna be the third wheel in the family?”
“Kinda.”
“You know, though, you’re not. Sophie fought hard for you all these years. And the reason why she never told you about Darren Schuster is simply because she’s scared of losing you.”
She looked down, her chin almost on her chest, and heaved a big sigh. As she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, she replied in a barely audible whisper. “All you want to do is get me to the hospital instead of listening.”
His eyes went blank and almost emotionless. It worried her a bit. After all, everything else had gone wrong that day.
“Don’t want to see Soph?”
“I do, but–”
“But you don’t want me to ignore your problem and put Connor first?”
That made her smile. Not because he'd seemed to understand what her teenage mind had been thinking, but because he had called the baby Connor.
“I think that’s about it,” she replied.
He rummaged in his pockets and pulled out his phone. Without hesitation, he dialled a number.
“Mark! How are things?”
Chapter Fifteen
Zach rubbed his eyes trying to focus in on things. His eyes scanned the cars in front of him and then the hospital windows. It probably had about ten floors, and considering that even though it was Australia’s second oldest hospital, it looked modern. He looked at the lights and wondered which one was where Sophie and Mark were holding their newborn baby. Still deep in thought, Zach jumped at the sudden knock at the car. He lowered the window and instead of holding his newborn upstairs, Mark stood right in front of him.
“Still here?”
“Mark?” Mia screamed and opened the door and ran around the car and straight into his arms.
“Hey, sweetpea. You all right?” Mark place a gentle kiss on her forehead and whispered, just loud enough for Zach to hear, “We’ve got a little baby girl.”
Her tired eyes locked with Mark’s. “Connor is a girl?”
He nodded with a smile. “Yup, he is.”
“That kinda sucks, but as Zach clarified, Connor O’Connor wouldn’t have been the best name anyway.”
“Agree.”
Zach opened the car door and stepped out. Holding out his hand towards Mark, he said his congratulations. “How are mother and baby?”
“Both doing fine. Soph’s exhausted, but fine. So’s the baby.”
“You’re staying the night?”
Mark shook his head. “Naa. I thought I’d better take my favourite sis-in-law home and either tuck her in or have a hot chocolate and a well-overdue conversation.”
Zach noticed that Mia snuggled into Mark’s arm a wee bit more, and something inside him tore apart. He told himself that this was for the best, and after all, he was the buddy, but Mark was family. He nodded. “She’s already halfway there with the conversation, as well as in need of it.”
Mia moved out of Mark’s arms and flung her arms around Zach. “I’m so sorry I caused you so much trouble tonight. I make it good, I promise.”
He hugged her tight and kissed the top of her head, then he moved her away from him so he could look her into the eyes. “You’re right, mate. Just don’t do it again, okay? I’m getting too old for this nonsense.”
Mia choked out a laugh as she nodded and then turned to go.
“Mark?”
Mark turned to Zach.
“What’s the little rugrat’s name?”
Mark laughed softly. “Hope.”
Mia screwed up her nose. “Hope?”
“Don’t you like it?”
“Sure, but it’s so… so…” She looked at Mark. “It’s kinda perfect,” she finally said.
Mark looked slightly offended.
“No. No, Hope’s nice. I’m sure it’ll grow on me.”
“You’d better let it grow quickly, because it was Sophie’s choice,” Mark said.
She nodded. “Yup, already grown.”
The men laughed, and Mark thanked Zach and invited him for early breakfast the next day.
“I reckon I'll have a sleep-in and will call in on Sophie afterwards. But, hey, thanks!”
Mark took Mia’s hand, and they walked into the night to their car, and Zach stood there for a while watching them. His head was heavy, although empty at the same time, as he slid back behind the wheel and started the car. The colour of Natasha’s eyes suddenly popped into his mind. The feel of her mouth. The sound she’d made when he had kissed her. He felt an easy smile cross his lips.
Tired and exhausted, he drove along Hobart’s streets until he found himself in front of Natasha’s house twenty minutes later. Sitting there, he stared at the window. The light was still on, and it was close to ten o’clock. He should turn and go home and get some decent sleep. But his body just wouldn’t listen. He got out, and with only a few long steps, he heard himself knocking at the door. There were quite a few more reasons other than just his tiredness that this wasn’t a good idea. For one, she was Mia’s teacher, and he was the babysitter. That wasn’t family, though, he told himself. But she was also one of Sophie’s friends. And, according to Mia, she was a dragon. He knocked again and waited, his body on full alert. This was a bad idea.
“Who’s there?”
He nervously scratched the back of his head. Bad idea, but hearing her voice made it right. “The babysitter,” he said.
She opened the door a bit. “I’m in no need of one.”
