A Tough Moment

Chapter Nine

The rest of the meal passed drama free. Ethan left for a moment to retrieve Georgia from her bedroom. When she came back down she apologised, and ate the rest of her dinner in silence. As soon as everyone had finished eating, I quickly gathered up the plates and took them out to the sink. As I placed my hands in the sink, Kirstie entered the room.

"Hey, are you following me?" I chuckled.

"Nope, I'm just avoiding Cal." she admitted.

"Why?" I frowned, as I handed her a plate to dry up.

"He's just so exhausting." she sighed.

"What has he done now?" I asked.

"Well despite what he tries to make out, he's not really interested in Kai. As soon as he gets a new girlfriend, he drops Kai and isn't interested. He's just pretending to be Dad of the year because you and Ethan are here." she explained.

"Oh, I didn't realise." I said quietly, shocked at what I'd found out.

"It's just typical selfish Cal." she pointed out.

"I thought he'd be a good Dad." I said thoughtfully.

"Yeah well, he just throws money at a problem." she said.

We both instantly stopped talking as Malia enter the room.

"Hey." she smiled.

"Hi." I said quietly, glancing at Kirstie who had fallen silent.

"Would you like some help?" she asked.

"I guess you could put the things away." I said quickly.

I watched her out of the corner of my eye as I continued washing up, trying to ignore the awkward silence between the three of us.

"Did Caleb not tell anyone about me?" she asked eventually.

"Nope." Kirstie replied bluntly.

"Are you dating him?" I asked.

"Not exactly, we're friends." she answered.

"It's kind of a casual thing." she added.

I nodded slowly and glanced at Kirstie who rolled her eyes at me. I knew exactly what she was thinking. It seemed as if Caleb would never grow up, face his responsibilities and end his womanising ways.

Ethan's POV

As I sat silently at the table, I watched Kai and Georgia play together happily in the corner. I couldn't help but notice that Emma was taking a long time doing the clearing up. I stood up to go and check that she was okay.

"Ethan, hang on a sec." Caleb said.

I sighed and sat back down.

"What?" I sighed.

"I'm going to see Mum again tomorrow and was wondering if you wanted to come along?" he offered.

"Yeah I guess I should." I said quietly.

"Maybe you could bring Georgia and Emma along?" he suggested.

"Not a chance." I replied quickly.

"Why not?" he frowned.

"I'm not going over this again, I said no!" I said angrily.

"But you know that she's dying, her pneumonia isn't going to get better." he pointed out.

"It would be a shame if she was to pass away without meeting her Granddaughter." he added.

"I said I don't want to talk about it." I insisted, quickly standing up and leaving the room.

As I walked into the kitchen, I saw that Malia was helping Kirstie and Emma.

"Do you need a hand?" I asked Emma as I stood behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist.

"No, it's okay." she said quietly.

I watched as she quickly dried her hands and turned to face me. She silently wrapped her arms around my neck and sighed as she gazed at the floor.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"Nothing, I'm just being silly." she replied quietly.

"Tell me." I muttered gently.

"I just...I don't know, I have a bad feeling." she said tentatively.

"A bad feeling about what?" I frowned.

"I don't know, I can't put my finger on it." she admitted.

I gazed at her for a moment and sighed quietly. She was more intuitive  than I gave her credit for. She could obviously tell that something wasn't quite right...and she was correct. I had to hope that my test would come back negative and that everything would be okay. It didn't even bear thinking about the repercussions of a positive result.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine." I said, trying to reassure myself as much as her.

She nodded and looked into my eyes for the first time. I smiled down at her and gently kissed her lips.

"I forgot how cute you two are." I heard Kirstie's voice from behind me. Up until the moment that she spoke, I'd completely forgotten that we weren't alone. Emma smiled at me as I blushed.

I glanced up as Caleb entered the room.

"There's still some wine if you guys want some?" he offered.

Emma's POV

I glanced up at Ethan as Caleb offered us some wine. Caleb didn't know that I was pregnant, so he had no idea that I couldn't drink. Ethan didn't want him to know, possibly because he was still angry with him for abandoning us.

Malia instantly agreed and poured herself a large glass. No matter how much time I spent with her, I couldn't seem to figure her out. She quickly downed the glass and poured herself another one. I watched her closely, as she started to wobble.

"You need to slow down Malia" Caleb said.

"Nope, let the good times roll!" she squealed.

I glared at her as she walked towards Ethan and draped herself across him. He glanced at me and smiled awkwardly, clearly not sure what to do about the situation. Her behaviour was totally inappropriate, I could feel my blood boiling. Even though she was under the influence of alcohol, she seemed aware of what she was doing. As she laughed and flirted with my husband, I couldn't help but notice that she kept glancing over at Caleb, as though she was trying to provoke some sort of jealous reaction from him. But as usual, he was completely oblivious to what was going on around him. I continued glaring at her as she removed Ethan's glasses and put them on.

"Do they suit me?" she giggled, turning to face him and wiggling her eyebrows at him.

Kirstie glanced at me, a shocked expression on her face. I knew exactly what she was thinking. Ethan should do something to get himself out of this situation, but typical Ethan, he was frozen, like a rabbit in the headlights. I didn't want to be the one to tell her, and then be labelled a jealous wife. My head snapped towards her again as she giggled and sat on his lap.

"If you guys will excuse me, I'm going upstairs for a bit." I said hoarsely, my mouth suddenly feeling very dry.