“Guess they didn’t find anything too serious.”
“The doctor will speak with you before you leave.” The nurse gave nothing away in her face or demeanor.
She couldn’t go back to sleep so she turned on her phone. There was a single text message from Olivia.
Glad you’re okay.
Call Jack!
That wasn’t going to happen.
Instead, she decided to try FaceTiming her new Romanian cousin.
The first call was dropped. Determined, she tried again and was rewarded.
“Alo?” A blurry, yellowed image of a teenage girl came on the screen.
“Hello. Roxanna?” Zoe spoke slowly. “This is your cousin, Zoe.”
The girl squealed in delight. “I am so excited to be speaking with you. Please, wait. I get my great aunt who is living with me. My English is only so good, but I can be doing this.”
Even with the poor video quality, Zoe could see her great aunt had tears glistening in her elderly eyes. The woman spoke and Roxanna translated, “She say she is so very glad to be meeting you. She is overcome with happiness.”
Zoe smiled and nodded.
“She say she will send you a ticket and you must come see her or–” Roxanne chatted excitedly with the elderly woman. Suddenly her face dropped into a serious frown. “Or baby may be died.”
Zoe sat up more fully in her hospital bed.
“Aren’t you making baby?” The teenager looked back to the old woman for verification and nodded.
“Yes, but how did you know?”
“My grandmother knows things. She is ummm…most powerful healer.” The girl gazed intently on the screen. “Cousin. You must come. Grandmother buys you a ticket. No tell anyone. Someone meet you at the airport of the JFK. No more internets. No more emails. Danger for you. You see? Grandmother says baby in danger. You are in much danger. I don’t know how to translate for you. Bad men want your baby but baby may die without her help.”
“How do you know all this?” Zoe went cold. What was going on?
“Bad men find you. Go now. Is no time. She fixes everything. No bring baby father. No trust warrior men. Understand? She says no to trust anyone. Come now. Hurry. About an hour we text your phone.”
The connection broke and Zoe stared at the blank screen.What the hell?At a very witchy gut level, she knew her great aunt was right. Her baby was in trouble, but lie to Jack and his family? How could she do that? The old woman had said to trust no one.
Not knowing what to do next, she decided to stop putting off the inevitable and called Jack.
“Hi, Jack.” It took an awful lot of effort to sound cheerful.
The phone went silent for a while and then he whispered, “It’s good to hear your voice. I’ve missed you, angel.”
Zoe’s mouth went dry. Truth be told, she ached for him every day and cried nonstop without him. “Me too. Did I wake you?”
“No. I’ve been up all night. Waiting for you to call me.” He sounded as miserable as she felt.
“I’ve uh…been in the hospital.” She should’ve called him last night.
“I know. I’m not supposed to upset you. Can I come in?”
Startled, she looked to the door where his voice originated. He stood in silhouette, back-lit by the hallway lights. His suit was wrinkled, his shirt untucked, and a tie hung loose out of his pants pocket. He moved in closer. Dark circles lined his eyes, his hair stuck out all over the place. Despite all that, he was a cool drink in a desert of loneliness.
She pushed up on her elbows and ended the call. “They didn’t tell me you were here. I thought…I don’t know what I thought.”
