Page 17 of Save You
“You’re a feisty old girl, aren’t you, Mother?” Tom teases her. “Ok, Mother, just for you!”
His words have my entire body rooted to the armchair, frozen in anxiety as I contemplate what he’s about to do. With my hands gripping my thighs, I watch him rise back up, cup my cheek with that warm, calming hand of his, then press his lips onto mine.
“Close your eyes, Mary! Goodness, have you two even kissed before?” Mrs Topple chastises me and I grin involuntarily against his lips before I obediently shut my eyes.
Tom’s hands gradually slide behind my waist and up my back, bringing his chest firmly up to my rather inflated one. My arms instinctively rise so I can link my fingers behind his neck as our mouths move against one another with a tender softness. He smells of musk, wood, and soap, with subtle scents of citrus fruit. As we kiss, his hands grip around the fabric of my hideous maternity dress, as though he’s desperate to get closer to me. It feels both weird and natural all at the same time, like we’re meant to be doing this, but it’s still a first time, and we don’t quite know how to navigate through it without endangering our friendship.
It feels like my heart has jumped into my throat when he shocks me by swiping his tongue along my lips, begging for me to let him in. I take a chance on something I’ve wanted to do for such a long time, and part my mouth for him. Our tongues swipe at one another gently, tasting one another with caution before he seems to fall further into it. The slight aroma of citrus fruit makes sense to me as I taste hints of orange on his tongue.
“Much better!” Mrs Topple claps her hands, the sound of which makes both of us jump apart in shock.
She begins to talk about kissing her husband, Percy, while we look at each other with confusion, silently asking one another what the hell that was. However, within a few, short moments, it is Tom who jumps up first, breaking all eye contact with an array of mixed emotions passing across his face. He awkwardly rubs his hand around his neck before making up some excuse to leave, though I couldn’t tell you what it was. I don’t even try to stop him when he marches out the room in hurried steps, leaving me feeling disappointed and having to pretend to listen to Mrs Topple and her memories of falling in love with an American soldier during the war.
“Mrs Topple?” I ask while rubbing my stomach, “What do contractions feel like?”
“A kind of tightening around the belly, gentle at first. Why, dear? Do you think the wee baby liked their mummy and daddy sharing a kiss?” she giggles with one of her cheeky winks.
“I think it might have done, yes.”
Chapter 7
Beth, now
Disorientation takes over my senses when I initially wake up, not least of all because it is now early morning light, and I’m speeding along a deserted highway in an old car I’ve never been in before. The engine rumbles along, giving away its pre-millennium age, while the uncomfortable springs inside of the leather seats dig inside of my butt, emphasizing every lump and bump along the road. Xander is still staring wide-eyed and determined out of the front windscreen, though his bloodshot eyes and dark circles more than betray how exhausted he must be.
Before I open my mouth to utter a single word, a flood of memories all crash into me at once - the party, the explosion, the escape, and the pregnancy. I could easily enter a state of complete panic, have a freak out inside of this very car, while I contemplate the very precarious situation that I now find myself in. Instead, I stare up at my boy, count to ten, and slowly slide upward and rub my eyes; they feel like someone must have poured sand into them as I slept. At my movement, Xander shoots his gaze over to me before smiling lazily over my attempts to wake up a little. I return the happy-go-lucky grin and reach out to rub the spikey stubble growing around his chin.
“Morning, baby,” he says softly before leaning in to kiss me on my temple, “you feeling ok?”
“Better, thanks,” I reply on a yawn, then try to shake it out of me. However, nothing but a cup of tea and something sugary is going to perk me up. “You look so tired Xander; can’t we stop? Or perhaps I could drive?”
“There’s a diner coming up at the service station,” he informs me, pointing toward an upcoming road sign that indicates the turn-off. “We can grab a quick breakfast. I don’t want to risk anyone recognizing you. They’ve already announced your disappearance on the radio.”
“Holy shit!” I gasp, suddenly feeling fully awake, even without the tea. “What did they say?”
“That your ‘fiancé’ Oliver Lawrence, is extremely worried about you and suspects you’ve been abducted. Bodhi and Annie were brought into questioning, and yours truly is the prime suspect.”
“Fuck!” I slam my face into my hands before resting them against my knees, trying desperately hard not to be sick.
“Yeah, that was my initial reaction,” he says, but continues to smile like he hasn’t a care in the world. “But it turns out that isn’t the most terrifying thing I heard last night!”
“Oh, God!” I bolt upright again, “Mum? Where’s my mum?”
I inwardly curse myself for being so self-absorbed. I didn’t even think to ask about her last night. She didn’t even enter my head before I got into my getaway wagon and passed out. What if something has happened to her? What if Oliver has already got hold of her and is now going after Riley and my father? My brain enters a stage of deep-rooted panic and starts to think of all the monstrous things that could be happening to them as we speak. In true irrational style, I begin hyperventilating and flapping my hands over my face as I hover over the the verge of a complete meltdown.
“She’s not dead, is she, Xander?”
“No, no, calm down!” he gasps, pulling the car over into the parking lot before turning toward me to try and calm the crazy down a notch. “Your mom is fine, Beth! We got her a flight back to the UK last night, and she has already called to say she’s there. Your family, including your brother, have gone into hiding for a while, but are going to be calling you in about…” he pauses mid-speech to look at the car clock, “an hour.”
I slap my hand over my heart in such relief, I feel a little dizzy over it. Xander pulls me into one of his comforting hugs and strokes my hair in gentle, soothing movements, before resting his lips upon my forehead. All of a sudden, being lost in my little reassured bubble of contentment, I feel a few fluttery sensations, low down, between my belly and my knicker strap. A few moments of disbelief pass me by before I realize what those feelings are, prompting my hands to instinctively go to where I had just felt them.
“You ok, Beth?”
Xander’s words hardly make any sense to me as my hands remain firmly attached to my lower stomach, waiting in anticipation for it to happen again.
“Is that our baby moving around in there?” he asks, jutting his chin out toward my hands and looking deadly serious with a deep-set frown.
My mouth drops open when I manage to comprehend what he’s just said to me, and for a few moments, we remain staring at one another in an awkward conversation of unvoiced words.