Page 48 of Bountiful
The baby’s hand wandered off her mother’s breast and into Zara’s hair, which she wrapped around her little fingers as shesuckled.
I was witnessing something intimate and touching in a way that seemed entirely foreign to me. Goosebumps broke out on the back ofmyneck.
I’d never been in so far overmyhead.
ChapterFifteen
Zara
So there I was,tit in the breeze, Nicole slurping away like a starving baby while my brother laughed and my former lover avertedhisgaze.
If I’d learned anything the past two years it was that humility and motherhood were bosombuddies.
“Anybody heard any good jokes today?” I asked into the uncomfortablesilence.
Bess dabbed at her eyes. “You’re a good sport, Zara. Thank you for letting us come overtoday.”
“It’s my pleasure,” I said, although it was a lie. I couldn’t think of a more stressful moment in my life, including the scary day when I’d taken a home pregnancy test and had seen aplussign.
Dave leaned forward and grabbed another of Audrey’s mini muffins. “This is a cool old mill. When was itbuilt?”
“In the 1890s,” my brother said, rising from the couch. “From over here you can see the original hydraulicsystem.”
Dave followed my brother out onto the terrace, and I could hear Ben’s voice as he pointed to the old water wheelbelow.
Bess and I were left alone, and I let myselfexhale.
“You must be freaking out,” shewhispered.
The observation caught me off-guard, and I laughed. “So much for my actingcareer.”
She grinned. “Bumping into him must have been ashock.”
“I don’t know which of us was more stunned,” I admitted. “I searched for him, you know. Benitodid,too.”
“Davesaid.”
I shrugged. “Never meant to drop a bomb like that on anyone. I was at least as afraidashim.”
Bess sighed. “Dave said he was kind ofabrupt.”
“It was a shock,” I said,dismissingit.
“Sure, but…” She glanced toward the terrace and back at me. “We had kind of a harrowing childhood. He has a pretty dismal view offamilylife.”
Wonderful. I kept my face impassive, but she probably saw meflinch.
“Listen.” She leaned forward. “He’s a good man. He just might need a little time to get his head around the idea. He used to talk about you,youknow.”
“He did?” I failed to keep the surprise out of myvoice.
“Whenever he got drunk and mellow. He’d say, ‘I met this girl in Vermont. Did I tell youaboutZara?’”
All the hair stood up on the back of my neck. The story I’d told myself was that Dave forgot about me the minute he left Vermont. And I’d sort of needed that to be true, so that I wouldn’t think wistful thoughts about him. “We had a lot of fun together,” I said slowly. “But that was a longtimeago.”
Bess’s green gaze looked thoughtful. “I’m just saying, it meant something to him. He’s freaked out right now, but he’ll come around. He’s an excellentcaretaker.”
“Of who?” Iwhispered.
