24 – Jake’s Birthday Blast (2)

 

Maple stared at the TV, bored out of her mind. Couldn’t her brothers at least change the channel to something a little more interesting than a bunch of sweaty men throwing a ball? And how much longer until it was over? It felt like hours had passed. Yet her brothers sat at the edge of their seats, unable to take their eyes off the screen for even a second.

“I have to pee,” Maple announced.

Her brothers leaned forward further, Carter with his hand over his mouth, as one of the men on TV ran all the way to the end of the field. A commentator shouted, “Touchdown!”

Her brothers cheered like they had won the lottery.

Maple rolled her eyes and repeated. “I have to pee.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever.” Walker waved his hand dismissively.

Maple used the bathroom in the other room. Once done, she peeked into the family room. Her brothers were still engrossed in the game. Would they notice if she left?

Probably eventually. But she needed to get out of the house. Not to see Jake- just in general. She walked over to the kitchen, and stared at the back door. Dare she?

Loud groans came from the family room.

Maybe she could get away with getting some fresh air in the backyard.

 

Maple walked through the neighborhood. It was a bright, sunny day, though a little hot. Since she didn't know where Jake lived, and hadn’t spoken to Kyra since she went into labor, maybe Maple should see if she was home. A week had passed, so Kyra should hopefully be home by now. Destination in mind, she headed for Kyra’s.

It took her about fifteen minutes to get there. Maple wasn’t in any hurry. She took her time enjoying the sun and freedom.

Finally she arrived at Kyra’s. Ethan’s car was in the driveway. Her stomach sank. She hadn’t thought of him. Would he narc on her?

Kyra sat on the front porch, and called her name excitedly. Too late now. Maple walked up the front steps, and sat in a wicker chair next to her. Kyra’s hair was tied back into a messy ponytail, and her makeup did a poor job of concealing the dark circles under her eyes. Motherhood must be exhausting.

Still, Kyra’s face lit up, like she had missed Maple. “What's been up with you? You haven’t answered any of my texts or calls.”

“My brothers took everything away.”

Kyra sighed, as though expecting that answer. “What did you do this time?”

“They found the phone Jake gave me.”

Kyra just sighed again. Maple looked down at the infant in Kyra’s arms and figured she should ask about him. Or her. Neither of them knew the gender ahead of time. Kyra wanted to be surprised.

Kyra noticed her attention on the baby, and off she went. About how the labor lasted 18 hours. How they almost had to do an emergency c-section, because the baby had been turned the wrong way, but then she turned the right way, so they were able to do a natural birth after all. She rambled on about her stay in the hospital, how nice all of the doctors and nurses had been. How sweet it was for Ethan to take time off work to help out. And most importantly…

“It’s a girl, and I named her Eve. Isn’t that a nice name?”

“Yeah.” Maple’s mind was still stuck on how awful the labor sounded. One of the many reasons she didn’t want kids.

“Want to hold her?”

Feeling like she had no other choice, Maple agreed to it. Kyra demonstrated how exactly one should hold a newborn, before handing Eve over.

Maple looked down at the weight in her arms. Eve’s face was wrinkled and, like all babies, ugly. At least she was peacefully sleeping. Maple forced a smile, trying to ignore the bit of snot that chose to drip out of the baby’s nose at that moment. “She’s beautiful.”

“Isn’t she?” Kyra gushed. “Don’t you want one now?”

No. Maple felt nothing for the infant in her arms. Well, she didn’t want anything bad to happen to Eve, and hoped she’d grow up healthy. But that was about it.

The baby opened her eyes. They were a lovely shade of blue. Probably the only lovely thing about her. Maple positioned the baby slightly up to get a better look. Eve turned her head towards Maple, and barfed. All over her shirt. Maple nearly gagged.

Kyra took Eve back. “I am so sorry. Here, let’s go inside and wash that off.”

Maple followed Kyra through her house, to the bathroom, holding her shirt away from her chest. The yellow spit-up had soaked through. Maple grabbed wads of toilet paper, wet it, and tried scrubbing it off.

Kyra stood outside the bathroom, apologizing again. “This happens sometimes. She can’t help it.”

Another reason Maple didn’t like babies. “It’s fine.” Though her top was now wet and she was still certain the muck wasn’t completely wiped away.

“You can borrow one of my shirts if you want.”

Maple took her up on that offer. They walked through the family room where Ethan sat in an armchair, watching a football game. Probably the same one her brothers were watching. Hopefully they still were.

Ethan was much less invested in it though. He looked up at Maple. “Aren’t you supposed to be grounded?”

“How’d you know that?” Kyra asked. “I didn’t even know that.”

Ethan knew and didn’t even tell Kyra? Maple let a breath out of her nose. Men.

“Her brothers called me a few days ago. They wanted me to tell them if I saw her here.” Ethan tapped at his watch.

“Please don’t,” Maple said quickly.

“And why not?” Ethan asked. “They’re your male guardians. You need to listen to them. Your future husband-”

“She just wanted to check in on me,” Kyra said. “We haven’t spoken in over a week.”

“Yeah. I was worried she was gonna die.”

Ethan studied Maple. “I told your brothers Kyra was fine.”

“They didn’t tell me they talked to you.”

But Ethan returned to his watch. Maple groaned right as Eve let out a wail.

“Can you shut her up?!” Ethan shot at Kyra, who flinched.

So much for being a sweet husband.

 

Ethan made Maple sit and wait for her brothers to come get her. And so, she found herself sitting on a couch, watching a boring football game. How long did these games go on for? Maybe it was a different one. Regardless, it was like she was back at home. At least Kyra sat next to her. Giving her baby a bottle.

“Don’t worry,” Kyra said, when Maple eyed it. “It’s still my breast milk. I’d never give her formula. I heard it’s bad for babies. But I assumed you wouldn’t want me taking my boob out in front of you.”

How kind of her. Maple found herself smiling. “Thank you.”

Kyra then rambled on about how it wasn’t a big deal because she pumped milk regularly anyway. Maple decided not to ask what she meant by that.

The doorbell rang, causing the baby to cry.

Ethan turned his head towards Maple. “It’s for you.”

Kyra walked Maple to the front door, unsuccessfully soothing Eve at the same time.

“It was so good seeing you,” Kyra shouted over Eve’s wails. “Hopefully we can meet up again.”

If her brothers ever let her leave the house again. “Maybe when I’m married to Neil.”

“Hopefully you’ll still be able to have kids. It’ll be amazing.” But Kyra’s smile barely reached her eyes, and her cheery voice sounded forced. Was she trying to convince herself, or Maple?

Since Kyra’s hands were full, Maple opened the door. Walker stood on the other end. Carter was probably still watching the game at home, ready to update Walker on all the important details he had to miss.

“You are in so much trouble,” Walker said.

 

The drive home was deadly quiet. Neither of them spoke until they arrived home. Carter still sat on the couch in the family room, eyes on the TV. Like he hadn’t moved the whole time Maple was gone. Walker pointed at the chair, and Maple sat down in it.

“What’d I miss?” Walker asked Carter.

“24 to 12. The Grizzlies just scored a touchdown.”

“Good.” Walker turned to Maple. “You’re lucky they’re winning, or we’d be a lot more pissed off. What the hell did you think you were doing?”

“I wanted to see how Kyra was.” Maple raised her chin. “Thanks for telling me you knew she was okay, by the way.”

“You are in no position to get smart with us!” Walker raised his voice. “You are to sit in that chair for the rest of the night. And until you move in with Neil, you are not leaving our sight.”

“What if I have to use the bathroom? Or shower?”

Her brothers exchanged glances, as though they hadn’t thought that far ahead.

“There’s no window in the downstairs bathroom,” Carter said. “With one of us in front of the door, there’s no way she can escape.”

Walker nodded. “You can use the downstairs bathroom for that. But one of us will stand outside the door the whole time.”

God, this was going to be annoying. But hopefully her brothers would get tired of watching her 24/7, and she could go back to her normal life.