A/N: Nice to see some folks are still reading and reviewing - thanks for that :) More cute, fluffy Zade follows... plus some other stuff...
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 29
"Come on now, Zo. Think it's about time we were gettin' you home to bed," said Wade, standing up and holding out his hands to help her do the same. "That is the fifth time you yawned in the last couple o' minutes," he pointed out when she didn't seem all that eager to move herself.
"I know," she admitted with a sigh, placing her hands into his own and levering herself up from the chair, "but I don't want to be tired," she grumbled.
"I know, sweetheart, but that's just the way it is when you're toting a load like that," Wade said of her bump even as he pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. "It'll all be worth it in the end though, right?"
"Right." Zoe beamed up at him, making no more fuss as they walked out to the car.
It really was amazing to her how much Wade could love not just her but her baby too. When he told her he wanted to be with her and promised to love her daughter as if she was his own, Zoe never really doubted him, but there was a voice somewhere inside her head that wouldn't shut up, that said someday Wade was going to realise he made the wrong choice in being with her. So far, that hadn't happened, and every day that passed, Zoe heard the voice less and less.
Nobody else seemed concerned about Zoe and Wade announcing they were a couple, in fact, the whole town were in celebratory mood from the moment they heard the news. Zoe was most glad to have Harley's approval of her new relationship, and Earl too, obviously, but it didn't hurt that just about every other person she came across wanted to congratulate her and be so confident that she and Wade would last.
"Zoe?" Wade was frowning at her when she looked at him then. "I know you're tired and all, but you're okay, right?"
"I'm fine, I promise," she told him fast. "I'm sorry, I was just thinking too much. You know, everybody in Bluebell is so friendly and nice, but I did wonder what they would say when they found out about you and me. I don't know, I just thought... well, you tying yourself to the city girl who showed up here pregnant by somebody else."
"Hey, first off, you ain't just some city girl, Zoe," said Wade firmly as he opened up the car door for her to get in, "and second, you do know half this town reckon that baby's mine in the first place, right?"
Zoe's eyes went wide at that remark, but she had to hold on to the questions borne out of her shock until Wade ran around and climbed into the driver's side of the car.
"How can they think that?" she checked. "How is that even possible? I mean, it's not possible. I was pregnant before I met you!"
"I know that and you know that," he agreed, "but folks around here reckon maybe we was seein' each other long before. Now, I have tried to tell them otherwise, but they're not havin' any of it. Like I said, it's not everybody, but it's a rumour goin' around."
"Well, it should not be a rumour that's going around," Zoe insisted, moving to get back out of the car, until Wade stopped her.
"Hey, come on now. Does it matter so much?" he asked her in earnest. "Now, you and I both know that baby girl ain't mine, but we also know that I'm gonna help you raise her as if she was. Does tellin' just about everybody in town the truth of the matter until it actually sinks in matter so much to ya?"
Zoe opened her mouth to say that yes, it did matter, before realising quite quickly that it probably didn't at all. As Wade said, it would take a lot of work to convince some people of the truth if they were stuck on their own tale, and at the end of the day, whether the baby Zoe carried was Wade's child or someone else's kid, the only father the little one would ever know was him.
Zoe heaved out a sigh. "This is a crazy town!" she declared without pause.
"Yes, ma'am, it is," Wade chuckled, buckling his seat belt, as Zoe did the same, and starting up the car. "Wouldn't wanna be any other place though."
"I can't exactly argue with that." Zoe smiled as they headed for home. "I'm still trying to figure out why I'm so hot," she said after a while.
"Some girls are just made that way, I guess."
Zoe laughed. "Thank you for the flattery, but you know that's not what I meant," she said, rolling the car window down a little further and flapping her hands around. "I just seem to be sweating all the time. The book says that can be true at this stage of pregnancy, but this weather is so warm for February."
"Not for 'Bama it ain't, sweetheart," said Wade knowingly. "I guess you'd be doin' better if the mercury dropped below 30, huh?"
"I'm not saying I love being cold either." Zoe shook her head. "Trust me, you do not want to be out at night in New York in December without being really bundled up, and the snow creates havoc, but all there seems to be down here temperature-wise is hot and hotter."
Wade glanced over to her then with a sympathetic expression. "I'll get better, baby. I mean, sure, the weather will get hotter come summer time, but you won't be pregnant by then, so that'll help, right?"
"I really hope so." Zoe sighed.
"Well, here's a little good news for ya," Wade told her then, clearly hoping to cheer her up. "I talked to George Tucker this morning. Seems whatever squabble he and Lemon had last week, it's all fixed up. He wouldn't tell me what happened exactly but the fightin's all over from what he said."
"That's good. It was weird when Lemon didn't answer my messages. I was starting to worry, and then when she said she and George had a fight..."
"They go through this stuff sometimes," Wade explained. "Reckon it's rough on them, goin' to different schools so far apart and everything, but hey, it's all fixed now, and they both seem pleased as punch about you and me and all."
"I can't think of a reason why they shouldn't be." Zoe smiled at him. "It's a shame we won't see them for a while though. I miss Annabeth too. Spring Break is soooo far away."
"It's only a month or so, Zo," said Wade, rolling his eyes. "Not exactly forever."
"Well, sometimes, it feels like it," she grumbled all the same, just as Wade pulled the car up outside of the Wilkes' place.
Zoe couldn't help but smile again as Wade hopped out of the car fast so he could come open the passenger door for her. Guys being gentlemanly wasn't an entirely foreign concept to her, but with Wade, as with all the men in Bluebell, as far as she could tell, it was practically a crime not to be what might be considered old-fashioned in their gentlemanly ways. She didn't hate it, even though as a modern woman maybe she should consider herself too independent and such to need to the help. In her current state especially, she just appreciated the attention.
"Thank you," she said politely as Wade offered her a hand up out of the car. "Are you coming inside?" she asked then, standing very close. "Harley is working late tonight, so..."
"So..." Wade echoed, smiling widely as he seemed to realise what she meant by that.
That was confirmed when he leaned down and kissed her, taking Zoe's breath away completely. She loved that kind of attention from him too and was happy to lead him up the porch steps into the house for more.
Zoe didn't worry about what would happen when they were alone together like that. Wade was so strangely respectful for a guy that had had more than his fair share of 'girlfriends' already. He never really pushed his luck, to the point where he almost frustrated Zoe sometimes, but she supposed with her condition and with how much he loved her, it was just different to how he might behave with just any other random girl he picked up for a night of fun.
"Careful there, Zo," Wade warned her when her eagerness to be close before they were barely through the front door almost sent them both sprawling. "To think I brought you home 'cause you seemed tired."
"I rallied." Zoe grinned up at him, reaching up for another kiss.
They were giggling like kids and entangled like ardent lovers as they made their way into the living room. Zoe stretched out an arm to hit the lights and suddenly she was out of Wade's arms and screaming like she just saw a ghost. Truth be told, she was equally as shocked by what she actually was seeing.
"Mom?" she gasped.
"Hello, sweetheart," said Candice, rising from the couch. "I assume this is a friend of yours?" she said as she looked Wade over.
Zoe barely knew what to say or even what to think as Wade reminded Candice they had in fact met before, briefly, in the apartment in New York, when he came by to help Zoe collect her things. Zoe herself was suddenly feeling extremely wobbly and manoeuvred herself over to a chair seconds before her legs gave way.
"I don't understand," she said then, staring at her mother. "What are you doing here? How are you even in this house? And why were you sitting alone in the dark? That's so creepy and weird!"
"I'm here to see you, Zoe," said Candice, retaking her seat. "It's been months and I've barely heard from you. I was concerned, and then, when I finally managed to get a hold of Harley to see what information I could get from him, he told me you were practically engaged to some country bumpkin-"
"Hey!" Wade interjected at the very same moment that Zoe did.
"No way, Mom. You do not get to come here and be judgmental about my life choices!" she said definitely. "My father, my real father," she emphasised, "comes from the South, from Bluebell, in case you forgot. He was good enough for you, and Wade is more than good enough for me."
"He's not the father of your child," Candice pointed out, remarkably calmly in the circumstances. "Weren't you the one to tell me how wrong it was to let another man raise a baby and pretend to be that child's father?"
"Wade won't be pretending anything," Zoe shook her head. "Yes, he is going to be with me, and I know he will be everything my daughter needs him to be, but she will know the truth, Mom. I would never, ever put her through the pain that I went through!"
Zoe hated that she felt tears welling in her eyes, hated that a day that had gone so well, a night that could've been so beautiful was now ruined by her mother showing up out of the blue like this and still thinking she had the right to lay down the law. Zoe looked to Wade then, half for the comfort of knowing he was still there, half out of concern that he was so offended by her mother's attitude he might not be there much longer.
"I should prob'ly head out," he said, confirming Zoe's fears. "You have all kinds of things to figure out, I know."
"You don't have to go," she told him definitely, reaching for his hand. "You have as much right to be here as she does, more actually. I invited you in. Nobody invited her," she said, not even sparing Candice a glance.
Wade found a small smile for Zoe as he crouched down by her chair and kissed her hand.
"Hey, I know where I'm welcome and who wants me around, don't go worryin' on that," he promised her, "but you do need to talk to your mom. Was just the other day you were tellin' me that yourself, now, wasn't it?
Zoe sighed heavily. "Trust you to remember that now."
Wade chuckled and moved to kiss her cheek this time. "You need me, you call me right up and I will be back here like lightning. Meantime, try not to get all stressed out with this stuff, okay? 'S not good for you or the little one, right?"
"Right." Zoe nodded, stealing one last kiss before watching Wade turn and walk away.
He even stopped to nod politely to 'Mrs Hart' before he left. That was just the kind of man Wade Kinsella was, Zoe thought, and there was no way in hell she was going to hear a word against him, not from anyone, especially not from her mother!
Wade leaned in through the open office doorway and then knocked his fist lightly on the doorjamb so as not to startle the doctor within.
"Hey, Harley," he greeted the man when he finally looked up from his paperwork.
"Well, now, Wade, what can I do for you?" asked Harley with a smile, that expression changing very suddenly as a thought seemed to occur to him. "There's nothing wrong is there? With Zoe, I mean?"
"No, sir. Nothing medical, anyhow," Wade confirmed, coming further into the room. "I just thought you should know... well, maybe you already do, but Zoe's momma was at the house when we got back from the Rammer Jammer just now," he explained, one hand rubbing the back of his neck. "Situation was none too pretty when I left."
"Oh," Harley said sadly. "Well, thank you for letting me know about that. I confess, I did speak to Candice just the other day and she did mention something about hoping to come by and visit with Zoe. I told her she was welcome in my home, any time at all. I guess she took me rather literally."
"I guess so," said Wade, nodding his head and shifting awkwardly. "Seems to me now's the time to start wondering if folks in big cities don't got the right idea, you know, about locking up their houses when they ain't home and all?"
Harley smiled slightly. "You know, Candice is not a monster, Wade. She's Zoe's mother, the person who raised her to be the wonderful young woman we both know and love in our own ways. I don't have any ill will towards her. Without my having known her, there would be no Zoe."
"And the world'd be worse off for it," Wade admitted, sitting down heavily in the chair opposite Harley's own. "Still, no offence to Zoe, or to your taste in womenfolk, doc, but I can't think me and Mrs Hart are ever gonna get along."
"Well, for what it's worth, I don't suppose she'll be staying long," said the doctor without pause. "I figure she just wants to clear the air with Zoe. No doubt they'll both say a few things they don't mean, and then hopefully a few more that they do, and come to some kind of understanding. I would hate for them to always be at odds. It's no way for mother and daughter to go on," he said thoughtfully.
Wade watched him pick up a file from his desk and move to replace it in the cabinet close by. The good doctor probably made a fine point, and honestly, Wade was sure it would be better if Zoe was getting along with her mother rather than always being mad at her. He knew for sure he would give anything to have his own momma back in his life again.
Of course, all the talk of parents and children got Wade to thinking on the one thing that bothered him most about Candice Hart.
"Hey, Harley?" he said then. "You don't think... I mean, I'm pretty sure Zoe is set on stayin' around here, she's said it often enough. Still, it is clear as day what her momma thinks of her precious daughter being... Well, gettin' close to someone like me. I just-"
"Wade," Harley cut in, shaking his head. "Now, please, don't you go worrying about that," he insisted, perching on the corner of the desk and placing his hand on the younger man's shoulder. "I know how much you care about Zoe, and I see how much she cares about you. No doubt Candice will make her judgements, I'm afraid that is the way of her these days, from what I can tell, but please, son, have a little more faith in our girl than that. Zoe won't be swayed by what her mother might think of you or Bluebell or anything else. She's knows her own mind and she is strong-willed as they come, you know that."
"Yeah, I guess I do." Wade nodded and finally sound a smile for his friend. "I know it's dumb to worry so much. It's just, well, I never thought to find somebody like Zoe and now that we're all set up like we are..."
"You're afraid you're going to lose her," said Harley knowingly. "I really don't think that's going to happen, Wade. I promise you, I really don't."
Wade wanted to believe it too. It wasn't that he didn't trust Zoe, because he did, with his life, but her mother was persuasive for a living, from the way Zoe told it. After all, they had known each other that much longer than anyone in Bluebell had known Zoe. It just bothered him.
Even after Wade told Harley he was feeling better and took himself off home. His mind was troubled for hours after, until finally, around midnight, the phone started to ring. Diving out of bed, Wade rushed to answer before the noise woke up Earl.
"Hello?"
"She's gone."
"Zoe?" he checked, not sure whether to be happy or concerned to hear her voice at such an hour. "You okay?"
"I'm... numb, mostly," she admitted, sniffing some. "I just... It's been a very long night, but I talked everything out with my mom. Maybe talked isn't the right world. There was kind of a lot of yelling," she admitted then sighed. "Anyway, she knows she did the wrong thing, keeping Harley and me apart. She even apologised for the names she called you, though I hardly think what she said really qualifies as giving us her blessing."
"Do we really need that?" asked Wade curiously.
Zoe almost seemed to laugh in his ear then. "We really don't," she assured him. "The fact is, she doesn't understand the life I've chosen here. She doesn't understand me, and I'm actually starting to wonder if she ever did. That's a weird thing to have to admit about my own mother."
"I'm sorry, Zo."
"I'm not," she replied fast. "Frankly, I'm glad she talked to Harley and I'm glad she came here. We finally got to say all the things that needed to be said, and no, that doesn't mean everything is fixed between us now. I don't think it'll ever be quite how it was before, it can't be, but we're okay. I feel like everything is going to be okay, you know?"
"Sounds good to me, sweetheart," said Wade with a genuine smile as he heard her yawn on the other end of the line. "Seems to me you need to be getting some shut-eye now."
"You're not wrong," Zoe agreed easily. "Goodnight, Wade. I love you."
"Love you too, baby. Sweet dreams now," he told her, as they ended their call.
Wade had a feeling he would sleep a lot easier having heard from Zoe. Like she said, it really did feel like everything was going to be okay now.
To Be Continued...
