Eyes still on Zoe, Matt soon allowed her cousin to guide him to the couch, and he silently accepted the food and drink other family members put in his hands.
Zoe kept trying to catch Max's eye, desperate to leave, but he was focused once more on unwrapping gifts and feigning enthusiasm.
"So, h-how far along are you?" Matt finally managed, though it came out a little too loud and caused everyone in the room to go silent.
When Zoe gave no reply, pretending to be focused on the slice of cake her mother had just passed her, Max replied with a smile. "26 weeks."
"That's…nearly 7 months?" Matt questioned, and Zoe knew immediately that he was trying to do the math, and that he would come to the same conclusion she had. It could easily be his child.
"Yep!" Max replied happily, before feigning surprise as he unwrapped another box of nappies.
As people's conversations began to start again, and eyes were no longer focused on him, Matt reached out to Zoe, but before his fingertips had even brushed her leg, she was standing up, making her way quickly from the room. Though neither noticed the other, both Matt and Max watched with a frown, but it was Max who followed her. "Zoe?"
In the bathroom, Zoe kept her eyes tightly shut, willing Matt to disappear. Max may say he's okay with everything, but what about when he finds out who Matt is? What if Matt wants a paternity test done now, while she's still pregnant?
Warm hands suddenly enveloped her own and held them tightly. "Zo, deep breaths. In…and out."
Zoe tried to follow Max's instructions, but every time she opened her eyes and saw him in front of her she would begin to panic again. "I want to go home."
"Ok, we can go, just try to calm down first." Max attempted, releasing her hands to stroke hair back from her face.
Zoe nodded, trying to bury her face in Max's hand and feel his comfort for what she thought might be one of the last times.
"I'll go and put everything in the car and then come and get you, okay? Just stay in here, and I will make sure no one bothers us as we leave."
This brought tears to Zoe's eyes, that Max would know exactly what she needed eve though he didn't know why. "Thank you."
Max dropped a gently kiss to Zoe's head and stood up, slipping from the room.
Zoe was silent on the drive home, and Max soon decided she must be asleep, so he reached out and turned the radio on, the quiet music somehow making it easier to face the long drove home.
She wasn't asleep though, her eyes staring out the window now no more tears would come. As Max began to sing along to the radio, her eyes drifted shut, but they soon flickered open once more, for the baby began to move. Usually all she felt was gentle, slow movements, but as Max sang the baby almost felt as though it was dancing.
A sudden laugh from Zoe made Max jump, but a smile soon lit his face as she grabbed his hand and put it to the side of her bump.
"Keep singing." Zoe urged.
Though Max began again, he was soon interrupted by his own delighted laugh as he felt the baby move. "I guess someone likes daddy's singing."
The word Daddy made Zoe's heart ache and the smile quickly fell from her lips. She had to tell him. He had to know. Look at what had happened when she'd tried to keep something from him before. "Max."
"Zoe." Max replied, one hand still rubbing her bump.
"The guy who came in with my c-cousin-" Zoe managed, her eyes dropping to watch his hand.
"What about him?" Max glanced at Zoe and offered her a gentle smile.
"He…he's…" Zoe attempted, her heart beginning to hammer painfully in her chest once more as she felt the panic beginning to rise. "He's completely wrong for her." She finally offered.
"Since when have you been a matchmaker?! No doubt they'll work it out themselves soon enough if they are wrong together." Max laughed.
"I guess so." Zoe nodded, looking out the window again.
"Why were you thinking about another couple at our baby shower, anyway? And remind me if we ever go to a baby shower that we should not buy nappies. At this rate mini max is going to be sorted for at least a year!"
Zoe just gave a slight smile, eyes focused on the lights of the homes they passed. Homes in which proper, loving families lived. The sort of family she so desperately wanted and thought she would never get.
"Okay?" Max asked gently a few moments later.
Zoe shook her head, her eyes filling with tears as she said softly. "It was him. He was the man I slept with."