“I did...” Her voice trailed off. “Wow. A daughter.”
“Hmm. Hopefully she won't be as much trouble as you are, but I expect I better take stock in bandages.” Zoe glanced at him then and he winked. She had constantly been in his office growing up, for stitches and a twice broken arm to a dislocated ankle and several sprains.
“I didn't mean to get lost.”
“It's easy enough to get turned around in those woods. Don't stress yourself. You have to take care of that firecracker girl.”
She nodded and took his proffered hand to sit up. He busied himself in the cupboards and came back with cleaner and bandages for her legs. She winced as he cleaned them thoroughly and applied alcohol. He was still very old school and believed that if it didn't burn, it didn't clean it. Once her legs were decorated in bandages, he stood and shook his head.
“Go home and rest. I mean it.”
“Yes, sir,” she whispered. “Thanks.”
“You're welcome. And congratulations.”
She walked slowly into the front of the building and Tim gave her a wary glance. “You okay?” He looked very uncomfortable reading the latest copy of Paparazzi Weekly. Splayed across the front was actress Delilah Monroe bragging about how she'd lost fifty pounds in six weeks.
“Yeah. You brushing up on your dieting tips, Tim?” Her smile didn't meet her eyes and she wavered on her feet.
“Maybe. I need to keep this sexy figure up.” He jumped from the seat and caught her arm in his. “I have all these fine ladies to impress.”
“Hah. Like Layla?”
His face shuttered and he sighed. “Let's get you home.”
The ride was mercifully short and it seemed like every light in the house was on. The little house glowed and was very visible as they pulled into the drive. Zoe glanced in his direction and murmured, “Please tell everyone who looked for me I'm sorry.”
He nodded briskly. “It's what we do. We look out for our own. Always have, always will. Get inside and rest.”
“Thanks, Tim.”
“You got it, honey.”
As she popped open the car door, the front door of the house opened wide and Grams stepped outside. “Timothy, you better bring that girl inside.”
“Yes, ma'am!” he spluttered, whipping his seat belt off quickly and coming around to her side to help her out.
“She's onto you, you know.” Zoe couldn't resist mumbling in Tim's ear as they walked up the sidewalk.
“There's nothing to be on to,” Tim muttered back.
“Suuuuure there's not,” Zoe retorted.
“Shut up.”
“Make me.”
“I did once before.” His eyes twinkled with warning.
“You can't hit pregnant women. You'll go to jail.”
“Fine. You have a spanking coming when that baby is out of you.”
“She'll be here in a few more months.”
“She?” Tim glanced at her with big eyes.
“Yeah. She.”
Tim's face blanched and he grimaced, “Aw hell. Major can't take another one of you.”
Zoe laughed and shrugged. “That's kind of what the doctor said.”
“Jesus, the two of you will make me grey before my time.” He ran a hand through his thick hair and shivered.
“Or bald.”
“Shut your mouth, Zoe! That's like wishing herpes on someone. Damn!” He helped her up the stairs and passed her off to Grams. “Best lock this one up for a bit.”
Grams frowned. “She's gonna march into that bed and get some sleep, I know that. Thank you, Tim for rallying folks to look for her and for bringing her home. You're a good boy.”
“You're welcome.” He hauled ass off the stairs and Zoe shook her head.
“I'm sorry, Grams. I just was following that path and lost my way. I didn't mean to ruin Thanksgiving.”
Grams shook her head. “Don't you worry a thing about it. That's what the microwave is for, I can warm it all back up and we'll eat fine tomorrow. Layla has a bee up her back end, but we're fine. Calvin called while you were gone. He was worried, said he'd call back tomorrow, and if we didn't find you... Well to call the Red Cross. But I don't have to give him no bad news now, thank goodness.”
“I missed Calvin calling?” Sadness whooshed over her in waves.
“Yep, he called not long after you left. What did the doctor say?” She closed the door behind them both and pointed to the recliner in the living room. “Sit.”
Zoe walked over to the chair and lowered herself slowly to the seat. “He says the baby is fine...” She paused and debated telling about her daughter, but decided to wait. What a Christmas present for Calvin!
“Well good. We'll not be having anymore tripping through the woods. You hear me?” Grams waggled her finger and Zoe nodded.
“I hear you. I just want to sleep.”
“You need food!”
Zoe stood and shuffled down the hall. “Nah, I've got enough natural resources to feed the baby for a little while. I need sleep.” She pointed at her curvy figure and smiled tiredly. “Night, Grams, and for what it's worth, I'm sorry.”
Grams just smiled and shook her head. “Get on to bed then. I'll be checking on you in the morning, Zoe Hall!”
Chapter Seven
The sound of glass shattering woke her from a deep stupor, followed by shrieking and stomping down the hall. Zoe sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes and wincing at the bright sunlight that streamed through the window. A door slamming made the walls of the room reverberate and she frowned. What the hell?
Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she stood and rushed for the door, twisting the knob and letting herself into the hall. Grams was sweeping up a shattered dinner plate and Pops was rocking furiously in his recliner. “What is going on?”
Grams pointed the dustpan toward Layla's room. “That girl is what's wrong.”
Zoe rubbed her forehead and sighed. “What is it NOW?”
Grams pursed her lips. “She says it's you.”
At that moment, Layla came back out of her room with fury written on her face. Her breath came heavy and fast, and her fists were clenched. “It IS you! You come in here like we are supposed to give a shit! Calvin only married you because he feels sorry for you, Zoe! Now you've saddled him with a baby that may or may not even be his! And because my brother is a good person, he will take care of you. I know him! I know how he falls in love with things that he shouldn't. You tell that boy a sob story and he will love you forever. I watched him with Callie. Every time he wanted to leave, she came up with something else and it made him stay, just like you're doing. Why do you have to hold on to him, Zoe? Why? He's a strong, smart, wonderful black man and there are not enough of them in this world.”
Her chest heaved again as she sucked in a breath and Zoe stepped toward her, palms up. “Layla...I didn't know you felt this way. You seemed happy helping me pick out a dress...like you were okay with everything. What changed?”
“You changed! You were pregnant! You suckered in Calvin!” Layla shrieked.
“Whoa!” Zoe shook her head. “I didn't know, Layla, I didn't know!”
“Bullshit! You thought you could ride the gravy train with Calvin. Sorry your dad is a dead beat and that your momma died, but Calvin and I lost our parents too. Now I'm losing him to you. He'll always be true to you no matter what I feel or what they feel. He's like that. So thanks a lot for taking him too!” Her voice cracked and tears poured down her cheeks.
Zoe threw caution to the wind and stepped closer, her hands outstretched. “Layla...I'm not taking him from you. Ever.”
“What if this baby isn't his?” She wiped at her nose with the back of her hand and smeared snot across her cheek.
“I don't know, Layla. We'll cross that bridge when we get there. Calvin and I have talked about this. We know that our relationship isn't built on a lot and that this is a heavy burden, but I have told him he has an out, always. I would never saddle him with this if he
didn't want to be. I'm not Callie; I'm me. I'm beating myself up about this just as much as anyone could.”
Layla rolled her eyes. “You always think about you. What about all those people yesterday who didn't get to have dinner because you had to go wandering off?”
Zoe blew out a breath. “I know. I feel horrible about that. It was an honest mistake. It's not like I went into the woods and thought, oh shit, why don't I get lost to draw attention to myself. Jesus, Layla, you make me out to be some horrible person!”
“This much bad shit can't happen to one person, Zoe. It just can't without you helping it along.”
“Wow,” Zoe paused. “You really think I'm that pathetic? That I'd purposefully do this? Let me remind you, little girl, I'm not Callie Derringer. I'm not one of your little friends. I'm a grown woman. Yes, I've made mistakes in my life. I've had bad shit happen, but I do what I can to pick myself up and keep going. Calvin is the one who proposed to me. I gave him an out then. He wanted to be with me. I'm constantly telling him that he doesn't have to stay and I mean that. I can take care of my child by myself if I have to.”
“Bullshit!” she squawked. “You'll just go back to licking on Derek's pole! You don't know HOW to take care of yourself!”
“And you do? Seventeen years old and sneaking around fucking a cop?” Zoe regretted the words as they slipped between her lips. Silence stretched between them and a pin could have dropped and it would have been heard clearly.
“You don't know shit about me!” Layla finally whispered.
“Just like you don't know shit about me,” Zoe whispered back. “You're basing me on Callie. You're basing me on other people. Not on me.”
Grams blew out a breath. “You two need to stop this mess. Layla, come sit down at the table. You too, Zoe. No more yelling. That baby, regardless if it is Calvin's or not, doesn't need this stress. We're gonna hash this mess out like we have common sense, not like we're common whores.”
Zoe turned and nodded. “Fine.”
Layla huffed. “I have nothing left to say.”
Grams growled low, “Get your ass to the table, Layla. You're not too old for me to warm your back end up.”
“Oh, for Christ's sakes!” she groaned and stomped down the hall, pushing rudely past Zoe as she went.
“Excuse me!” Zoe muttered.
“I can't find one for you.” Layla cattily sniped back.
At that moment, the house phone jangled and broke the tension in the air. Grams picked it up with a tired, “Hello?” She smiled and looked back at them both. “Calvin. You're just in time. We're having a nice little family discussion.”
Zoe felt her heart leap at talking to Calvin, and she glanced at Layla, who had paled. “Well,” she started softly, “we better get this over with, huh?”
Layla shot her a nasty look and flounced to the table, where she flopped into a chair with another huff. Zoe sat down slowly across from her and Grams sat down, placing the cordless phone in the middle of the table and pressing speaker. “Pops!” she barked. “Get in here!”
“Uh uh! You couldn't pay me a million dollars to be in there with you pit o' vipers! I'd rather get strung up from the next tree. No, siree! This ain't my fight!” He turned the TV up and the sound of Matlock poured through the air.
Zoe snorted and smirked, which garnered her another dirty look from Layla.
“So,” Calvin said gently, always the peacemaker. “What's going on?”
Layla jumped into the fray first. “I hate your wife. She's screwing you over with a baby that might or might not be yours.”
So the gauntlet has been thrown, Zoe thought to herself.
Calvin sighed. “Layla, that’s completely between me and Zoe. It's not your fight. Regardless of if the baby is mine or not, I love her and we'll work it out.”
“But that's not FAIR!” she shrieked and Zoe stuck a finger in her ear to ease her throbbing ear drums. Pops turned the TV a little louder.
“Why does it bother you so much, Layla? It has not one damn thing to do with you.”
She leaned back in the chair and crossed her long, dark arms over her chest. “I – I,” she spluttered. “I don't want to see you being screwed over.”
“Who says I'm being screwed over, Layla?” Calvin gently asked.
“Well,” she started and then frowned, seeing that her anger was misguided. “I don't know,” she finally admitted, before sagging further into the chair.
“You're not mad at Zoe. You're not mad at me. You have something else going on, don't you?”
“No!” she barked adamantly, sitting back up in the chair, her brown eyes spitting fire.
“Methinks thou doth protest too much, Layla. Instead of trying to screw in my life, deal with your own shit. Leave Zoe alone and stop stressing her out. Do you hear me?” His voice was low and it sent a shiver up Zoe's spine. A veiled threat was there and she didn't like it too much. Neither did Layla apparently, who sagged back in the chair.
“Fine. I hear you. Can I be excused?” She glanced over at Grams, who nodded.
“Get on out of here.”
“Bye, Calvin. I – I love you,” she whispered raggedly as she ran for her bedroom and closed the door, this time silently.
They all sat for a few moments in quiet, the tempest of the storm taking most of the wind from their sails. “You there?” Calvin finally asked.
“Yeah, we're here.” Grams answered.
“Zoe?” he queried.
“I'm here.” Zoe wiped at her eyes, moisture coming away on her knuckles.
“You okay, baby?”
Grams picked up the phone. “Here, you two talk.” She poked the speaker button and handed the phone to Zoe. “I'll be in here. I want to talk to him for a minute before you hang up.” She hobbled into the living room and Zoe put the phone to her ear.
“Hey,” she whispered.
“You okay? The baby okay?”
“I'm fine. Scratched up, but fine.” She turned in the seat toward the front door, as if to give them more privacy.
“I'm sorry about Layla...She's protective.” He blew out a breath. “I love you.”
“I love you, Calvin. I'm sorry about all of this. I've been kicking myself. If only, if only, you know?” She ran her hand through her hair, pushing it off her face and grimaced as she came across a tangle.
“Well, if all the if only stuff didn't happen, we wouldn't be together and having a baby. So I'm happy with how things have happened. Maybe it wasn't how we planned, but it happened. It is what it is and I'm okay with all of it.” He paused and Zoe could hear him smile. “Y'know,” he started then paused. “I miss the way you kiss.”
She grinned and warmth crawled up her cheeks. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. I could kiss you for hours.”
She smirked. “Think we could try that out when you get home?”
He chuckled. “I'd love that. You take care of yourself and our baby ‘til I get there, okay?”
Her stomach fluttered and she pressed her hand to the bump. “Okay. I love you.”
“I love you. Let me talk to Grams, I don't have too much longer. Eat, get rest, okay?”
“Okay, bye, baby.” She stood and moved into the living room, passing the phone off to Grams.
Her next stop was a shower, where she scrubbed herself until her skin was pink and slightly tender to the touch but she felt clean. The hot water eased away the last of the tension in her shoulders and she relaxed under the spray. As the water cooled, she stepped out and toweled herself dry. Once she was dried off, she wrapped herself in the towel and tiptoed across the hall to her room.
Before she could get much more on than underwear and a soft old t-shirt, she had dozed off again, curled up on her side.
Chapter Eight
The days moved by at a snail's pace. Things were still tense between them all as Layla spent more and more time out. Grams tried to make up for the tension by baking up a storm and feeding Zoe. “We have to get that baby big and healt
hy!” she’d say as she pulled another tray of cookies from the oven.
Christmas was less than two weeks away, and Calvin would be arriving in less than a week. They decorated the house, venturing out into the woods together to cut down a small fir tree. Pops attached it to the back of his grass cutter and drug it up the path. Once they got it inside, Grams shifted it relentlessly into a tree holder and turned it at least ten times before she was satisfied with the front of the tree.
“Can you just let the poor tree be still?” Pops quipped. “Lord have mercy.”
“Hush! It has to look just right! This is the first Christmas Calvin has been home in a long time, and I want it to be perfect. Switch the TV over to one of those Christmas music channels and let's get in the Christmas spirit.”
They spent hours decorating the tree. Layla begrudgingly came from her room and strung popcorn on a string. Her mouth was twisted into a grimace and she refused to meet anyone's eyes. Her hand strayed frequently to her buzzing phone and only then did she smile or show any emotion. Grams sighed and kept on layering ornaments on each branch.
Zoe sat quietly on the couch, stringing popcorn on her garland with memories flowing through her. The last real Christmas they'd actually had was the year before Momma had died. Back when Daddy had been...well, her Daddy. Thinking of the way he had callously dropped her, ripped through her and she nibbled at her bottom lip, the aching pressure of her teeth against the flesh giving her time to breathe through the pain of the memories.
She swallowed down the pain and focused completely on stringing the popcorn. Poke and push. Poke and push. The needle jabbed her finger and she hissed, sticking the injured digit into her mouth. “I have to go out and get some air,” she choked and stood quickly, the bowl of popcorn tumbling off her lap.
Grams eyed her. “You okay?”
“Yeah, yeah,” she lied, her hand already on the door knob. “Sorry,” she whispered, bolting out the door into the crisp air outside. Her arms wound around her waist and she curled into herself as the tears poured.
Damn you, Daddy. Why did you have to do this to me? I miss my mom...God, she would be so excited about this baby coming...You should be too. But you're not here. You're God knows where. She wrestled with her thoughts and wiped at her eyes, taking slow, cleansing breaths.
November Foxtrot (Rhythm of the Heart Book 2) Page 6
