Hidden Truths (Intertwined Souls Series Book 3)

by Mary D. Brooks

  “You were rubbing it,” Eva replied quietly as she put her hand on Zoe’s knee.

  “Woke up this morning feeling a little sore but it’s all right.”

  “You didn’t say anything. Remember what we agreed...”

  “Evy, do you tell me every time you get up in the morning that you’re feeling sore?”

  “I don’t have to; you already know.”

  “Not all the time.”

  “Is it annoying to you that I worry about you?”

  “No.” Zoe shook her head and took Eva’s hands. “I know you worry about me because you love me, but you will give yourself an ulcer if you worry every time I get on Mabel.”

  “You na...” Eva stopped. What she was going to say wouldn’t be the right thing to say. “You worry about me all the time as well.”

  Zoe smirked.

  Eva sighed in resignation. “Is there any way I can get out of this with my pride intact?” She gave Zoe her best puppy-eyed look.

  Zoe laughed. “You know that works on me every time.”

  “Does it really?”

  “You know it does. Those sad, droopy, blue eyes. How long did it take you to perfect that look?”

  Eva just smiled. “It comes naturally.” She stood up, gave Zoe a quick kiss, and went back to the sink. She smiled when Zoe followed.

  “Good girl, now don't slouch.”

  Eva shook her head and stood to her full height.

  Zoe went down on her haunches next to her to measure her.

  “Zoe...”

  “Oh, come now, Evy, it’s taken me weeks to create this pattern and I want to see you in it.”

  “Zo, we can go—”

  Zoe looked up at Eva. “Yes, we can go to the department store and buy you a new outfit, but it won’t be the one I’m fantasizing about.” She got up, put the measuring tape on the table, and turned back to Eva, who was grinning at her. She put her arms around Eva’s waist and looked up. “I want to see you in something I’ve created, and it’s going to be very beautiful.” She stood on her toes and kissed Eva lightly. “I need a better view. Help me up.”

  Eva helped Zoe up onto the bench top. Zoe opened her legs and captured Eva's body and brought her close.

  “Comfortable?”

  “I am now.” Zoe cupped Eva’s face and stared into her eyes. “When I was confined to my bed, I drew all sorts of outfits for you.”

  “Like little girls do for their cut-out dolls?”

  Zoe chuckled and nodded. “Yes, but I have a living doll. Some of my designs are just…well, let’s just say you can’t wear them outside our bedroom.”

  “Zo…you see me naked all the time.”

  “Yes, but what does that have to do with it? It’s my fantasy.”

  “Your fantasy?” Eva couldn’t quite believe it, but a blush travelled up Zoe’s neck to light up her face. “Are you blushing?”

  Zoe grinned. “I’ve had this fantasy for a long time. I’ve drawn it, but it’s not the same. I want to see the real thing. You dressed in a fire engine red costume with horns and a tail—a cute demon. Oh, my goodness, I get all hot and bothered just talking about it.” She fanned herself with her hand. “I’ve drawn it, now I have to see you in it.”

  “I won’t have to wear it outside?”

  Zoe’s gently tapped Eva’s cheek and said, “Don’t worry, only you and me will see it.”

  Eva shook her head and laughed at Zoe’s vivid imagination. It had led to some interesting situations and none of them were her idea.

  Eva took Zoe’s hands and held them for a moment before she brought them up to her lips and kissed them. “You still fantasize about me?”

  “What do you mean do I still fantasize about you?”

  “There’s nothing left to fantasize about,” Eva said quietly, unsure why she was feeling insecure at that very moment.

  “What?” Zoe asked. “Do I still fantasize about you?”

  “Yes.”

  Zoe sighed. “I’ve been fantasizing about you since we met.”

  “Well...”

  “All right, maybe not since we met,” Zoe amended and smiled. “Maybe a few days after we met. I fantasized about you when I wasn’t even sure why I was fantasizing about you. I’ve had dreams about you; I’ve had daydreams that would set off the fire alarms in a dozen theatres.”

  “A dozen?” Eva asked, feeling a little goofy for even voicing one of her deepest concerns.

  “At least,” Zoe replied.

  “Are the dreams good?”

  Zoe cocked her head and regarded Eva for a moment. “No. Reality is much, much better.”

  They gazed at each other for a long time.

  Eva took in a deep breath. “Wow.”

  “You didn’t know that?”

  “I...um...I...” Eva didn’t not quite know how to give voice to the tiny doubts in her mind or if they even made any sense.

  “You don’t feel the same way?”

  “Oh, I do, I do...” Eva rushed the words out, not wanting Zoe to think she had any doubts about her. “It’s me.”

  “What?” Zoe shook her head. “I’m sounding like one of those scratched records.”

  “Zoe, I’m thirty.”

  Zoe grinned. “Yes, I know. I planned your birthday party.”

  “And you are twenty-two.”

  “Yes, I know that too. Thank you for reminding me.”

  Eva nibbled her lip and wondered if Zoe hadn’t thought about the age difference before. “Um.”

  “What is going on up there?” Zoe gently touched the side of Eva’s head. “What is going on up there that has been going around and around for a long time, if I know you?”

  “I’m a lot older than you.”

  “Yes, we have already established that.”

  “I’m...you...may...”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I have this fear that one day you will wake up and will see and won’t...”

  “Stop!” Zoe grabbed Eva by her shirt and brought her closer. Eva stared into her wide green eyes. “Do not tell me that one day I’m going to wake up and have fallen out of love with you.”

  “I—”

  “Don’t utter those words; don’t even utter a syllable.” Zoe gently put her fingers over Eva’s full lips. “There is never going to be a world where I won’t be madly in love with you. There will never be a time when I open my eyes and the eyes gazing back at me won’t belong to you.”

  “Z—”

  “Shhh,” Zoe admonished. “You love me, don’t you?”

  “Yes, I love you.” Eva’s voice broke a little, and she tried not to let the tears come. “It’s nothing.”

  “Shhh. If you love me and I love you, what is the problem?”

  “You are missing out.”

  Zoe’s head fell backwards, and she looked up at the ceiling. With a very deep sigh she looked back at Eva. “You must be out of your mind.”

  “What?”

  “You have gone totally insane. I think we need to call that mental asylum...”

  “That’s not even funny.” Eva scowled.

  “Oh, stop that.” Zoe smoothed out the crease between Eva’s eyes. “You are out of your mind. I have no idea how long that’s been going on in your head but it does need to stop. Yes, I am younger than you. Yes, you are eight years older. So why is this a problem other than the reason you have cooking up in that pretty head of yours?”

  “I don’t know,” Eva said as she put her arms around Zoe. “I don’t know. I just feel something is going to happen.”

  “It is going to happen.”

  “What?”

  Zoe grinned and looked sobered. “Life will happen, Evy. Life will happen, like it’s happened to us. Some good, some bad, some downright unbearable. It’s happening.”

  “I don’t want anything to change.”

  “You don’t have a say,” Zoe responded, much to Eva’s bemusement. “It’s out of your control.”

  “What if...
”

  “What if my green eyes turned blue? I don’t think that’s possible.”

  “Zoe, be serious.”

  “I am serious. I’m not going to wake up one morning and not want to be with you.”

  “How—”

  “Holy Mother of God,” Zoe exclaimed. “Good God, woman, you just have to look at me and I fall to pieces. Don’t you understand?”

  Eva nodded, trying not to cry.

  “You love me, don’t you?”

  Eva nodded.

  “All right now. I love my old lady and that isn’t going to change. I’m not sure why you are feeling so unsure about my love for you. Was it my teasing that you are my old lady?”

  “No.” Eva shook her head. “It’s not that. I have this bad feeling something is going to happen to us.”

  “What?” Zoe asked and shook her head at using that word again. “I think it already happened, love. Remember...Me, motorcycle, tree.”

  “It’s not that. I don’t know. I just have this feeling.”

  “Well, we don’t know what that feeling is, but can we talk about it in the living room where I can cuddle up on a nice sofa rather than this hard bench?”

  “I thought you liked it up here.”

  “I do, but I think this needs cuddle time to go with it.”

  Eva kissed Zoe before helping her down off the bench. She watched Zoe for a moment and then took her hand and led her into the living room.

  Chapter Nine

  The evening breeze fluttered the lace curtains in the living room and brought the hint of impeding rain. The temperature had also dropped a little but not by much. Eva was stretched out on the sofa and Zoe lay beside her with her head resting on Eva’s shoulder.

  Zoe looked up and smiled as she lightly traced Eva’s dark brows with her fingertip and kissed her lightly.

  “Is it going to rain?” Eva said softly.

  “Yes, it is, and I would love to talk about the weather but...Evy, what’s going on up there?”

  “A lot of thoughts rumble up there.”

  “You think too much.”

  “Isn’t that what God made it to do?”

  “I think He gave you an extra dose of the thinking portion,” Zoe gently teased. “I think I know what’s going on.”

  “You do?”

  “You hit thirty and you think I’m going to run off.”

  “No.”

  “If it’s not that, then what is it?”

  Eva closed her eyes before she looked down to see Zoe’s steady gaze. “I can’t give you what you want.”

  Zoe blinked. “What do I want that I don’t already have?” She scowled when Eva didn’t answer. “What don’t I have?”

  Eva sighed deeply and looked up at the ceiling. “Children.”

  “Er...” Zoe was stumped. Children were the last thing on a list of things that might be wrong. “Children?”

  “Yes.”

  “Evy, hmm.” Zoe shifted to where she could see Eva’s face. She gently tipped Eva’s face towards her. “I don’t think you are capable of giving me children.” She tweaked Eva’s dimpled chin.

  “I’m serious, Zoe.”

  “I know you are, but who said anything about wanting children?”

  “You.”

  “Me? I said to you that I want you to give me children? Did I do that when I was on my pain medications? Because if I did, then I was out of my mind.”

  “No.” Eva shook her head. “It was at the party. You and Elena were discussing babies and...”

  “Oh, that.” Zoe mentally slapped herself for being so stupid. She had seen a flash of something on Eva’s face. She thought nothing of it until now.

  “Do you want children?”

  “Do I want them? Yes, I’d love to have children. Can I have them? No,” Zoe said honestly. “If it was possible to have them, I would have a dozen, but I’m afraid it’s not possible.”

  “What if it was?”

  “You are now being totally silly.”

  “I’m not,” Eva said quietly.

  “Yes, you are,” Zoe insisted. “I don’t believe we are even having this conversation.”

  “Why?”

  Zoe mentally rolled her eyes. Most people thought she was stubborn, but they had never encountered Eva’s stubborn streak. She could latch onto a topic and never let it go until she dissected it into oblivion. “Other than the fact that we are both women?”

  “Zoe—”

  “Other than the fact that having sex with a man would be tantamount to me jumping off the Harbour Bridge?”

  “Just—”

  “Evy, are you serious? Do you want me to have sex with a man?”

  “No!” Eva’s voice rose.

  Zoe blinked in surprise at her vehemence and volume. “All right then. No sex with a man, and that is the only way this woman is ever going to have children.”

  “There are other ways.”

  Zoe hitched herself up on her elbow and stared at Eva. “You are out of your mind. What in the hell is going on up there?”

  “I want you to have what you want.”

  Zoe groaned and slapped herself on the head. “Ow. Nope, I’m not asleep. This would be a crazy dream if I were. So let me understand this. You want me to have children but you don’t want me to have sex with a man.”

  “Yes.”

  “My name is not Mary and there won’t ever be an Immaculate Conception part two, so there.” Zoe nestled back down. Eva’s body shifted and a very light laugh emanate from her. Bingo! She mentally gave herself a slap on the back for getting Eva to laugh.

  “Zoe, it is possible.”

  “No, I don’t think the Immaculate Conception part two is possible...why would it be? He’s already come once; how many more times does He have to come down to earth?” Zoe continued, knowing full well what Eva was saying, but it was an area that wasn't going to be any good for either of them.

  Eva turned to her side and regarded Zoe with a half-smile. She cupped Zoe’s face tenderly. “I know what you’re doing.”

  “What am I doing?” Zoe asked and smiled.

  “I want you to have everything you have ever wanted.”

  “I already have everything I’ve ever wanted. Even when I didn’t know what I wanted, I had it. Can we please stop this? I want you to stop thinking about this. It’s upsetting me. I already got angry today.”

  “At me?”

  “No, not at you, but you thinking I want to have children and be unfaithful to you makes me sick to my stomach.”

  “I’m sorry.” Eva put her arm around Zoe and brought her in for a kiss. “It’s just...”

  “I know how you are feeling but it’s time to stop, all right?”

  “Yes.” Eva nodded. “What upset you?”

  “I got a letter from Thanasi today.” Zoe reluctantly let go of Eva and rolled off the sofa onto her knees and quickly went to where she had scrunched up the letter. She came back with a very crumpled letter and smoothed it out against her thigh before she sat down.

  “What did he say?” Eva asked.

  “You got a letter from Father H and I think it might be better to read that first before I go off on my tirade against the Greek golden boy.”

  “Oh, dear, all right. Do you want to read it?”

  Zoe went to get the letter, settled back next to her, and ripped it open. “‘My dear daughters, I hope this letter finds you both well and happy. I pray every day that Zoe hasn't crashed Mabel again.’ What a funny man.”

  Eva chuckled.

  “‘I’m feeling better each day. The weather has been good for my health, and the change in climate is just what I needed. I’m going to Trikala for a dip in the artesian waters, which should help my leg a bit. I am blessed with two daughters who have made me a very happy old man. I love you both, more than you will ever know. Here I am, crying like a baby. I have some exciting news to report—Thanasi is getting married!’”

  “Is that what upset you? Thanasi getting married?”
Eva asked. “Go on.”

  Zoe scowled and then went back to the letter. “‘I never thought I would see the day. His fiancée is a lovely young woman. Her name is Althea, and I have enclosed some photographs of the lovely couple. The wedding is going to be a huge event here. Larissa loves her hometown heroes, and all the town will be at the wedding. It will be a wedding to remember for a long time. Give my love to Henry, Earl, Elena, and Friedrich. I keep both of you in my prayers every night. I love you both. Love, Father.’” Zoe sighed. “I miss him.”

  “So do I, but I think the Greek climate is better suited to his health. Why are you angry with Thanasi?”

  “I’m not angry with Thanasi. I’m angry at the news he brought me.” Zoe held the crumpled letter. “The government has passed a law that says landowners have to reclaim their property.”

  “Alright.”

  “Thanasi wants me to go back to Larissa and make sure the fields, Thieri’s cabin, the house, and the farm are all claimed.”

  “Look at you—I married a wealthy woman,” Eva teased.

  “Your wife won’t be a wealthy woman in a few months.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m not going back.” Zoe crumpled the letter and threw it in the direction of the fireplace. It missed and landed on top of Eva’s stack of books.

  They looked at each other and smiled.

  “You have to, Zoe, this is your inheritance.”

  “My inheritance can go rot. I’m not going back.”

  “Zoe, come on.” Eva got up, bringing Zoe with her. “You have to go back.”

  Zoe scowled at Eva and shook her head. “I’m not going back. I don’t want to talk about it now.”

  “All right but...”

  “Evy, what did I just say?”

  “You don’t want to talk about it.” Eva put her arm around Zoe as they settled back down on the sofa.

  Zoe glanced at Eva and mentally shook her head. There is no way I’m taking you back to hell. Mama and Papa will understand, and even if I lost everything, she is worth more to me than anything Larissa has for me.

  “Zoe...”

  “Yes?”

  “I love you.”

  Zoe looked up at Eva’s face in the semi darkness and the smile that reached the blue eyes. “I sure hope so. You’re stuck with me.”