The Clarke Brothers (Complete Series)

by Lilian Monroe

  “Don’t worry, Zoe,” she says with a laugh. “The Clarke Brothers look a lot scarier than they are. If you’re not careful, you’ll fall in love with one of them.”

  I stiffen and Zoe laughs again. “You and every other woman in town,” she continues, mercifully ignoring the very obvious tension in my body. She points to a building up ahead.

  “There’s Harold’s,” she says. “Buy me that drink and I’ll tell you a story.”

  12

  Ethan

  I pull up outside Aiden’s garage, noticing Dominic’s car parked outside. Both my brothers must be here. The lights are on, so they must be working on a car. I kill the engine and jump down, strolling over to the open door.

  My brothers look up when I walk in.

  “Hey, Ethan,” Aiden says, glancing up briefly and wiping his hands on a rag. Dominic slides out from under the car they’re working on and grunts a hello.

  I nod to him. “Shouldn’t you be at home with Mara?” I ask. “When’s she due, anyway?” Dominic scratches his head and heaves himself up. He wipes his hands down the front of his old paint-stained t-shirt and sighs.

  “Needed an evening away from it all. I think I was getting grumpy, because Mara pretty much ordered me to come here. She said the baby isn’t coming out any quicker and my fussing was only annoying her.”

  I chuckle. “Sounds like Mara.”

  Dominic grins at me and nods to the fridge, tucked away in the corner of the garage. I head over to it and grab three cans of beer. My brothers nod as I hand them the drinks, and I nod back.

  Sometimes, we spend hours without speaking a word to each other. My older brother isn’t much of a talker, and all three of us brothers have developed a sort of non-verbal language to communicate. I lean against the work bench and crack open the cold can of beer.

  “As long as this baby holds off long enough for them to clear the rockslide off the freeway, I’ll be happy.” Dominic stares off through the doorway at the sliver of horizon we can see through it. “The highway crew told me it would be another forty-eight hours before they’d get it cleared.”

  “You drove down again today?” Aiden asks, wiping his lips after taking a sip.

  Dominic grunts. “Baby’s due any day now."

  The nearest hospital is about thirty miles away, to the north, and access to it is completely blocked by the rockslide. I chew my lip.

  “There’s no doctor closer?”

  Dominic sighs, shaking his head. “They won’t airlift her to the hospital in Albany for the birth unless it it’s life-threatening. There’s a midwife a couple towns over, but I’d just be a lot more comfortable if we could go to our regular doctor.”

  “How long does labor last, anyway? Doesn’t it usually take hours? Could you drive to Albany?”

  Dominic grunts again. “Doc said it would be best not to. Said the drive is too long and it wouldn’t be safe.”

  He’s still staring off in the distance and I take a deep breath. He’s got a lot on his plate right now. Dominic crumples his can in his hand and tosses it in the trash.

  “So what’s up?” Aiden asks. I frown, and the two of them chuckle. “The last time you came here at this hour on a work night was to convince me to burn down that hotel.”

  I tip the can of beer back and savor the last few drops before tossing it on top of Dominic’s can in the garbage. My brothers are still staring at me expectantly, and I shrug. The truth is, I don’t know why I’m here. After spending all day trying to ignore the aching in my stomach whenever Zoe was near, I just wanted to get away.

  Dominic and Aiden exchange a glance. Dominic grins at me. “I got to warn you, Ethan, my criminal days are over. I’ve got a baby girl to take care of now.” His eyes are glimmering and I finally chuckle and shake my head.

  “I’m not going to ask you to do anything illegal,” I say.

  “But…?”

  “There’s this girl,” I start.

  Aiden starts laughing, and a sharp flash of anger rushes through me. He shakes his head and looks at Dominic. Aiden’s looking at me, shoulder moving up and down as he laughs until he shakes his head and grabs another beer from the fridge. He hands one to me and one to Dominic before cracking one for himself.

  “It’s always a girl,” he explains. “Who is she? Is it Katie?”

  “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 don’t know. 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 nationwide 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 toward me and I nod toward the door. Dominic sits back down on the mechanic’s creeper and lies 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 toward Main Street, letting out one l
ast sigh. When I turn onto the road, I lean back into my seat 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 toward 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 toward 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 toward 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 toward me.

  “Get your brother,” she pants. “Mara is in labor.”

  13

  Zoe

  My heart is thumping as I run toward 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 backward toward the doorway.

  Katie rushes to Mara’s side and grabs her arm, helping her back down onto the bed. Mara lies 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 keep her comfortable. 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 toward a desk in the corner. Katie jumps up and mumbles something to Mara before rushing out the door. I head over to the desk and 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?”

  “Mm” 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 the cool 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 toward the bed.

  “Mara!” he says with a hoarse voice. “Are you okay? The fucking freeway is stil
l 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.”

  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 bassinet and linens are prepared, and sends him off to get something to eat for us all.