Run to Me: A Mountain Man Romance (Clarke Brothers Series Book 3)

by Lilian Monroe

  “What? No! Why does everyone keep saying that?”

  “She’s been in love with you since you were nine, Ethan.” He says as he tips the beer back. I look at the full can of beer in my hand and do the same before guzzling half of it down.

  “It’s not Katie,” I finally say after wiping my mouth on my sleeve. “It’s a woman I work with. She’s investigating the fire.”

  Dominic’s eyes narrow as his eyebrows come together ever so slightly. His chin dips down and I know that means ‘keep talking’.

  “Well, she’s not really investigating the fire. She works for the Parks, and she’s consulting on how to improve our fire safety measures to prevent it from happening again. Or something.”

  “Right,” Dominic says. Aiden stares at me for a while, and I know both of them are worried. Even though Aiden had nothing to do with the fire, most of the town thinks he does. And Dominic and I definitely had something to do with the fire.

  We say nothing to each other for a while. Finally, Dominic looks at me.

  “So is she going to cause trouble?” He asks.

  I shrug. “I dunno. She could. She’s nice, though!” Dominic sips his beer and stares at me. His eyes feel like laser beams and I try my best to ignore him. “I mean, I like her. As a person. Coworker.” I clear my throat and avoid their stares.

  “Stay away from her, Ethan,” Dominic finally says. “If you get close to her, and she finds out you, me and the Sheriff burned that fucking building to the ground, you’re going to get us all in serious trouble. I’m talking nation-wide news. Can you imagine the headlines? Police Sheriff accused of felony arson,” he says, sweeping his arms to highlight the words.

  “You wouldn’t even be the headline!” Aiden agrees. “Bill would take all the glory. And you’d drag me down along with you.”

  Dominic grunts in agreement. “Nah, you need to stay the fuck away from that woman. We’ve got families to take care of now.”

  “I don’t want to go to jail either, guys,” I sigh.

  I take a deep breath, closing my eyes. All I see is Zoe. I want to tell them how amazing she is. I want to tell him about our weekend together, and the way she makes my heart thump. I don’t want them to look so suspicious. I know they’d laugh if I told him about her walking into the office right after we’d spent the night together.

  Something is holding me back. Maybe it’s the thought of him chastising me for getting close to her when I know now that she could put us in prison. Maybe I just want to keep that weekend between Zoe and me.

  I sigh and nod, throwing my empty away.

  “You’re right,” I say to Dominic. “I’ll stay away from her.”

  Even as the words leave my mouth, I’m not sure how I’m going to do that. I work with her, for crying out loud. And when I’m not working, I’m thinking of her!

  Maybe it’ll pass and I won’t be so infatuated with her. Maybe I should just pursue Katie. Everyone seems to think it’s meant to be between us.

  I grunt to my brothers, who grunt back. Aiden nods his chin towards me and I nod towards the door. Dominic sits back down on the mechanic’s creeper and lays back, grabbing the edge of the car they were working on. He looks at me and nods before sliding under the car again.

  When I get outside, I take a deep breath.

  I know he’s right. I know I need to forget that night with Zoe ever happened, and I need to keep my distance. It’s not just me that could get in trouble. It’s the Sheriff and Dominic, too. Aiden could even get in trouble even though he wasn’t there.

  No, I need to stay away from her.

  I bounce down the rutted road towards Main Street, letting out one last sigh. When I turn onto the road, I lean back into my chair and resign myself to the fact that I’m not going to feel Zoe’s skin against mine again. Not anytime soon, and probably not ever.

  There’s a weight on my chest that doesn’t seem to be leaving. I drive slowly, heading back towards the center of town. When Harold’s comes into view, I frown.

  A couple people are running. They’re running in the same direction I’m driving, over to the far end of town. I glance at the horizon, looking for a sign of what might be going on. I turn off the radio and press my foot down, leaning towards the steering wheel as I accelerate. It doesn’t look like they’re out for an evening jog.

  When I get closer, I see who they are. Zoe is with Katie, running down the street towards the edge of town. I roll down the window and slow to their pace.

  “What’s going on?” I holler.

  Zoe doesn’t seem to hear me. She keeps running, and Katie turns towards me.

  “Get your brother,” she pants. “Mara is giving birth.”

  Chapter 13 - Zoe

  My heart is thumping as I run towards the edge of town. My head is spinning and I’m not sure if it’s because of what Katie was telling me about the fire and the Clarke brothers, or the thought that Mara McCoy will be giving birth any minute. I’ve only met her once, last night when I arrived, and her belly was bulging with the unborn baby.

  Katie says a few words to a car but I don’t have the energy to look over. She reappears beside me and we jog alongside each other.

  “I hope Mara is okay,” Katie breathes. Her face is drawn, with deep lines across her forehead. She shakes her head and speeds up.

  “Is there no hospital to take her to?”

  “The freeway is still blocked,” she says. “We’ll have to help her out as much as possible until we can find her a doctor.”

  “Is there no other doctor nearby?”

  Katie snorts. “I’m not sure you realize how isolated Lang Creek is,” she says. “Look around you.”

  She’s right. Once I left Long Lake, it was nothing but wilderness until I saw the sign for Lang Creek.

  We turn off the main road and down the long lane that leads to Mara’s house. We pass a building that looks like a workshop, and I follow Katie straight to the main house. We burst through the doors. Katie rushes into the bedroom and I follow.

  “Got your text,” she says as we step through.

  I immediately feel like I’m overstepping. I hardly know these women at all, and somehow I’ve been admitted into the most intimate of places. Mara McCoy looks up at me, her face crumpled in pain as she doubles over, clutching her belly with both hands.

  She moans, and I can see her stomach shifting. It contracts and moves as she moans in pain, and my own hand flies to my stomach. I remember that feeling. I take a deep breath, stepping backwards towards the doorway.

  Katie rushes to Mara’s side and grabs her arm, helping her back down onto the bed. Mara lays back, and I see the thin film of sweat all over her face and neck. I swallow, and Katie glances at me. I can see the whites of her eyes and can almost feel the fear emanating off her.

  Mara’s eyes are closed and her chest is rising and falling gently. The contraction is over, and she’ll have a few minutes of rest before the next one.

  I remember how that felt. I remember the fear, the terror of knowing what was about to come. All the jokes about ‘pushing a watermelon out’ suddenly became a lot more real. I barely remember the pain of the contractions. I was in a hospital when I gave birth, surrounded by nurses and doctors and loved ones, in a haze of pain and adrenaline and medication.

  Katie’s mouth opens and closes again, and I watch her squeeze Mara’s hand.

  Something shifts inside me, and I take a step forward.

  “Is it your first?” I ask. Mara’s eyes flutter open and she seems to see me for the first time. Her chin dips down ever so slightly and a lump forms in my throat. I nod.

  “Katie, go get as many towels as you can find. Get a bucket with cold water and we’ll bring her temperature down. Do you have your doctor’s phone number?”

  “I have the hospital’s phone number,” Mara says. Her voice is weak, and she waves her arm towards a desk in the corner. Katie jumps up and mumbles something to Mara before rushing out the door. I head over to the desk an
d flick through a few papers.

  “The post-it note,” she says weakly. I glance up at the wall and see a name and number scrawled on a faded post-it note.

  “Doctor Bertrand?”

  “Mmm” she says, closing her eyes and bringing her hand to her forehead. I grab the number and sit beside her on the bed. She’s rubbing her stomach back and forth, taking long breaths. I put my hand over her arm as I call the number and wait to be connected. When I explain the situation, I’m put on hold and I glance at Mara.

  “I’m Zoe, by the way,” I say. “We met this morning. I hope I’m not intruding.”

  Mara laughs, and then groans. “I don’t give a shit right now. I just want to get this baby out of me.”

  “I know the feeling,” I say, almost to myself.

  “You have kids?”

  “Just one,” I say. My hand finds hers and she squeezes it. “It’s worth it, in the end.”

  Mara chuckles again. “I fucking hope so,” she says. She takes another long breath. The phone clicks and an old, gravelly voice comes on.

  “Doctor Bertrand speaking.”

  “Hi, Doctor,” I say, shifting my weight and standing up. “My name is Zoe Randall and I’m with Mara McCoy. She’s started having contractions. They’re–Mara, how far apart are they?”

  “I don’t know,” Mara groans, glancing at the clock. “Fifteen minutes? Maybe more?”

  “They’re fifteen minutes apart,” I say into the phone.

  Doctor Bertrand makes a noise and then sighs. “She’s a couple days early. Of course this would happen. I’ll get in touch with the midwife down in Glens Falls. I have her on standby for this reason. How is the patient?”

  I glance at Mara, who’s turned onto her side, clutching her stomach. Her mouth is open and her face is contorted as she lays in bed.

  “She’s… I mean, she’s about to give birth, so she’s not great.” Mara snorts and the corner of her mouth lifts up. “But she seems to be okay.”

  “Put her on.”

  I pass the phone over to Mara just as Katie reappears with a stack of towels and a small bucket of water. She motions to the bed with the stack of towels.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Doctor’s going to try to get a midwife over.”

  She nods. “Good. Hey,” she turns to me after putting down the towels, and then glances over my shoulder at Mara. “Thanks. I kind of panicked when we got here.“

  I shake my head. “I haven’t done anything. I just called the doctor.” Katie’s lips pinch together and she glances at Mara again, who’s still groaning over the phone to her doctor.

  “Still,” she said. “It’s nice to have someone else here.”

  I try to stretch my lips into a smile and turn back to Mara. She hangs up the phone and looks at us through hazy eyes. “He’s going to get a midwife,” she pants. “Be a couple hours before she’s here.”

  Her sentences are short, spoken between labored breaths. I nod and soak one of the towels in water to put on Mara’s forehead. She sighs in contentment and starts to relax. I look at Katie, who readjusts the pillows and pats Mara’s hand.

  “It’ll be okay,” she says to Mara. “We’re here.”

  The silence in the room is only broken by Mara’s breaths. She breathes in deeply and forces the air out of her nostrils. I can see the pain etched on her face, and I try to keep her as cool as possible.

  We have a few minutes of peace until the door flies open and the largest man I’ve ever seen barrels through. I jump up, eyes wide and heart thumping as he rushes towards the bed.

  “Mara!” he says with a hoarse voice. “Are you okay? The fucking freeway is still blocked! Fuck!”

  Mara’s eyes open and she grimaces at the man. “Zoe called the doctor and got the midwife to come. It’s okay.”

  The man seems to notice me for the first time. He stands up, and even on the opposite side of the bed he seems to tower over me. He’s got the same piercing blue eyes as Ethan, but he’s taller and wider than the Clarke brother I know. This must be Dominic, Mara’s husband. I nod to him, and he looks at me almost suspiciously. It’s not until someone clears their throat behind him that I notice Ethan is here too.

  “Zoe, this is my brother Dominic. Dominic, this is Zoe Randall. She’s the consultant I was telling you about.”

  He was talking about me?

  “I want her to stay,” Mara says. She’s staring at her husband fiercely, and he tenses. Dominic’s eyes narrow, and he looks me up and down. Finally, the tension in the room dissolves and he grunts. I’m guessing it roughly translates to ‘okay, fine’, because Mara lays back in bed.

  Dominic sits down beside Mara, and the bed dips under his weight. He strokes her cheek more gently than I would expect from a man his size, and leans over to kiss her forehead. My chest squeezes and he finally looks at me again.

  “Thank you, Zoe.”

  “I haven’t done anything,” I say, waving my hand. “But we do need to get to work.”

  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.”