12. Matteo
12
Matteo
"It is a curious thought, but it is only when you see people looking ridiculous that you realize just how much you love them." – Agatha Christie
“ Z oe.” I slap my hand on the counter. “Where is my Zoe?”
“Last name?” the receptionist asks with a smile. Jesus, why are they all so happy here. This place could give the Fear Factor a run for its money.
Last name. I don’t even know her freaking last name! I scrub my face, “Are there many Zoe’s giving birth at the moment?”
“Just one.”
I snap my fingers and point the index one at her, “Bingo. That one is mine.”
“And you are?”
“Father of the baby, babies,” I amend. “Matteo Loverson. Where do I go?” The girl slowly lifts up her eyes to mine, regarding me with a shocked expression.
Yes, yes. Me, Matteo is becoming a dad. The playboy days are over. Can we get on with it?
I give my head a slight, impatient shake, bulging my eyes at her as if to say, “ Any day now ,” and she clears her throat, quickly looking up the room number.
“Room 105, down the hall,” she says, and I’m running that way before she finishes the sentence. I’m almost at the door when Zoe’s agonizing scream pierces through me.
Fuck!
I burst in, seeing her changed into a hospital gown with something strapped around her belly as she stands by the side of the bed, her hands fisting the sheet.
“Beastie, I’m back!” I run over to her, dropping the bags in the corner. “What should I do? Tell me what you need, Sunshine? Where is the fucking doctor? Can’t you do something to help her?” I glare at that same chilled-out nurse, sitting by the monitors.
Forget cheap, diluted liquor. She’s getting the dish water.
I place my hand on her back, rubbing it and it seems to do something because she takes a deep breath and releases a soft sigh.
“It’s all going according to Zoe’s plan. The midwife will come when it’s time. Just breathe, Zoe, this is a natural process.”
“Fuck the plan,” Zoe seethes through her teeth. “I want the epidural,” she says, yet the nurse is not moving.
“She said she wants whatever that is! Why aren’t you moving yet?” I yell out.
“Zoe, you don’t really want that. You have a plan and it’s important we stick to it.”
“Dear God, I’m going to die!” Zoe cries out, and I’m about to throat punch someone if they don’t give my Zoe what she needs.
“Here, why don’t we try the ball while your husband rubs your back, okay?”
Zoe doesn’t correct the nurse when she calls me her husband.
And neither do I.
Maybe the world did flip over today after all because just an hour ago I’d run out screaming if someone called me the word that up until now shared a spot with pineapples on my “top hated” list.
In case you didn’t know, I’m allergic to it and break out in hives when I eat it. Yet now I’m waiting for her to call me that again.
Yep, the world is about to end.
The next hour is spent just like that. Zoe on the ball, me rubbing her back and it does seem to work a little. The contractions are close, but the first baby seems to be stuck in the wrong place—or something like that. So, we are trying to twist and turn Zoe so the baby moves, each time with a whole lot of pain for my girl.
“Matteo, I need some water,” Zoe whispers, and of course the useless hag is not here when we actually need her.
“I’ll go get you some.” I kiss her sweaty forehead and take off, looking for a vending machine or a cafeteria when I come to a screeching halt at the scene in the waiting room.
“What the fuck is this?” I extend both of my hands toward the seven elderly members of Loverly Cave—my own mother amongst them—who are sitting right there, a blanket in the middle of them with sandwiches, fruit, and fucking cookies laid out neatly as if they are having a picnic! “Are you out of your minds? Wait, what am I asking…of course you are.” I pinch the bridge of my nose.
“Well, we are going to be stuck here for hours, might as well eat,” Fanny says and takes another bite of her sandwich like it’s a completely normal thing to do.
“Oh, Matteo!” My mom jumps up right away, running to me and cupping my face in both of her hands and the second I see that too-sweet smile on her face I know I’m in for it. “Where did I go wrong in this life?”
Here we go…
“Apparently, at every corner if my only son doesn’t think to call his own mother and put her out of her misery thinking she raised a manwhore.”
“Jesus, mom.” I pinch the bridge of my nose. Again. “Tell me how you really feel.”
“Oh, I’ll tell you.”
“Can it wait? I’m kind of in the middle of something here.”
“Yep. I’ll just be right here, eating this garden sandwich with the knife in my back.” Leave it to my mom to make this life-changing day about her…why not?
She pats the wrinkles out of my shirt. “How is it going? Is my favorite grandchild that I will raise much better than you, here yet?”
“Wrong question, Willa,” a grumpy, threatening voice sounds from behind me, and I swear a chill runs through my body. I turn around to see a pregnant Joy Levine glaring at me, with her arms crossed at her chest while her fiancé, Jacob is rubbing her back and giving me a I’m sorry, man look.
“The real one is what the hell are you doing here? And go tell that nutwit at the reception that you are leaving so I can go in and be with my friend.”
“Wildflower, you need to calm down.” Jacob tries to coax her, but she only gets more fired up.
“I need to calm down?” She points to her chest and then redirects it at mine. “He has no business being in there! Zoe needs me and they won’t let more than one person to go in.”
Hope and Grace, her sisters, try to calm Joy as she keeps yelling and threatening the whole hospital if they don’t let her in. Come to think of it, there are a lot of people over here.
“The hell I don’t!” comes out a lot harsher than I thought it would. “I’m the father! So, you all can go home or sit here quietly and wait.”
Dead silence fills just now a very noisy waiting room as all eyes descend upon me.
“What did you just say?” Joy asks slowly.
“I don’t have time for this right now,” I snap. “Zoe needs water.” I start moving but before I can turn around, a hard fist connects with my jaw and a little crunching sound echoes around us as I feel the coopery tang of my blood over my lip.
Who the fuck just punched me? Pressing my hand to my mouth I turn my head and see an older guy standing there, his nostrils flaring, his hand still balled into tight fist as he glares at me before thrusting a water bottle into my hands. “Go give this to my daughter, then come out so I can hit you a few more times.”
Whoa…this is…Zoe’s dad?
Fuck…that’s not how I planned to meet her father. Well, I wasn’t planning on it at all before just a second ago, but what else is new today?
“Kevin.” My mom places her hand on his, gently tugging him away from me. “Why don’t we all take a moment to breathe, yeah? Right now, we need to focus on Zoe and the baby. Let’s light up some healing essence, shall we?” Mom proceeds to take deep breaths and I see Jenny and Rick Levine, Nina and Sam Colson along with their son Alec, Jacob and Grace all take a deep breath too.
“Okay, you all keep breathing,” I turn my head toward Zoe’s father. “Kevin, I’ll let you punch me some more after my babies are born, okay?”
As I’m rushing back to the room, I hear Fanny say in sultry voice, “My, my, Nerds, if you wanted to impress me, you did it.”
“Fanny! Leave the poor man alone,” someone hisses back.
Did she just refer to Zoe’s father as Nerds?
“Did you go to the Alps for this water?” Zoe grumbles as soon as I walk in and then her eyes widen slightly. “What happened?” She tries to get up but immediately cries out in pain and slumps back onto the bed.
“Zoe! Don’t move like that by yourself.” I rush over, lifting the water bottle to her lips so she can take a sip.
“Why is there blood on your lip, Matteo?”
“Um, I just met your dad,” I tell her, wrinkling my nose slightly. “It’s safe to say, he’s not my biggest fan.”
“What? Why? And you mean to tell me he…punched you?” she asks through labored breaths.
“He did. And to be fair, I’d punch me too if I was in his shoes.”
“Why?” Those magnetic brown eyes bore into mine.
“Because I wasn’t there for you. Because you did all of this on your own. Because I didn’t hold your hair when you were throwing up in the mornings or got up in the middle of the night to chase down whatever it was you craved to eat.”
And up until just now I didn’t realize how much I missed out on. Or how much I wanted to be a part of all of that.
What is happening to me?
Her eyes soften with tears gathering there. “Matteo, you…” She starts to say something but once again the contraction cuts her off. “Oh God, oh God! This is a bad one!”
I grab her hand, letting her squeeze the life out of me again because it seems to help her.
“Come on, let’s breathe.”
“Matteo, why are you breathing like that too?” Zoe asks when I expressively fill my lungs and stomach with air.
“Moral support.”
“Aha. It’s totally working.”
“It is?” I do it again, and she smacks my stomach with her hand.
“Not in the slightest so stop it! It’s pissing me off,” she hisses and grunts, squeezing my hand.
Why the fuck did my dick twitch just now? It’s her violence, damn it. It did me in last time too but now is so not the time. What’s also not helping is how beautiful she looks even now with her hair a mess, her face red and peppered with precipitation while wearing this hideous gown.
“Did I tell you how gorgeous you are?” I say, brushing away a sweaty lock of her hair from her forehead.
“MATTEO!” she screams.
“What, Beastie?”
“Stop. Talking. And using that stupid nickname. Oh God, it hurts so so bad.” She squeezes her eyes shut hard and all I want is to take away her pain.
“Remember that night? Our night?” I ask her, and she opens her eyes, looking at me in confusion. Honestly, I’m not really sure why I brought it up either, but she needs a distraction and sex is the only distraction I know. Sue me.
“Why?”
“Because I need you to remember it right now, Zo,” I whisper into her ear. “I need you to remember the way my tongue slipped over your sweet pussy. Need you to remember the way my teeth grazed over your sensitive, hard nipples. Damn, those fucking nipples of yours,” I growl, feeling my cock growing hard just at the memory of her buds in my mouth.
Who am I trying to distract again?
“If you had any idea what a mere thought of you does to me.”
“What…what does it do to you?” She looks at me, her hand still squeezing mine.
“It makes me hard. So fucking hard, it’s almost unbearable. And needy. I am fucking needy for you, Zoe.” Her breath catches and I’d like to think it’s in reaction to me, not the pain. “I am needy for a taste of you. Needy to get my cock back inside your sweet pussy. To slide in and out of you. Slowly at first, teasing your little clit and then thrust all the way back until you feel me in every inch of you, until my balls are slapping against your wetness, making a fucking mess on the sheets.”
My lips are now hovering over hers, desperate for a taste and I’ve never been the one to deny myself much—even now—so, I do just that. I press my lips to hers in a slow, sensual kiss. Just one. Just for a second.
But that’s a lie.
One second was never enough with her, even the universe knew it and brought us together, so I linger on her lips a little while longer. My free hand now cupping her beautiful face.
“Did it work? Did I distract you?”
“Matteo,” she breathes out, closing her eyes. “I fucking hate you.”
“What? Why?”
“Because only you could make me horny while I am thinking of the fastest way to die!”
“Want to kiss again?” I wiggle my eyebrows, silently hoping she says yes but Zoe just shakes her head with a small smile and goes back to breathing.
“Oh God, I think she’s coming!”
“The watermelon?” I squeak, my heart jumping to the bottom of my stomach.
“The baby! The baby is coming Matteo!”
“Right! Right, the baby, babies. Oh God, I don’t feel so good.” All of a sudden, the realization of what is about to happen really hits me and I feel my legs shaking, but before I can think of fainting, Zoe grabs my hand and pulls me to her with inhumane strength.
“I swear to God, if you think of fainting, I will kill you!” she hisses and then starts crying. “I can’t do this alone, Matteo! I’m scared!” she sobs and just as quickly as I was falling apart, I’m put back together.
I bend, leaning over her and press my lips to hers in a gentle kiss while my fingers caress her cheek. “You are not alone. Never again.” I make that promise knowing I will keep it until the day I die.
I might not have been ready for a family. Might not have ever entertained the mere idea of kids, but here and now, with Zoe…I want it all.