“I’ll see you there,” he snarled and hung up the phone. And yes, Ethan had to give Zane credit, he did have another smile on his face. Brief, but visible.
Twenty minutes later, Ethan’s mood had darkened once again. That’s what happened when he was left with too much time to think.
With a forced smile on his face, he strolled into the Labor and Delivery waiting room, searching for a family member. Any family member. He spotted Travis, Gage and Kylie first. They were sitting on a couch on the far side of the room against a wall of windows, looking like the loving, attentive threesome that Ethan knew them to be. Odd how they appeared to be cast with halo’s from the sun shining in behind them.
You’re losing it, Walker.
Trying to ignore the irritating voice in his head, Ethan headed in their direction. As he made his way over, he caught a glimpse of Zane standing in a corner beside V, who was sitting in a chair talking to Beau Bennett.
After a quick head nod as acknowledgement, he made a point not to look their way again. With the smirk on Zane’s face, Ethan knew his little brother was still trying to piss him off. That’s what Zane did. It irritated the shit out of him. Still, every time Ethan thought about the pain in the ass he knew his brother aimed to be, Ethan was still glad to have Zane back to his old ornery self. After the attack that Zane endured a year ago, Ethan had promised himself – and God – that he would be as tolerant as possible as long as Zane would pull through.
“Hey,” Ethan greeted Travis quietly as he approached. “How is she?”
“All is good,” Kylie assured him with a grin. “A nurse came out a few minutes ago. She said it shouldn’t be long.”
“Where’s Mom and Dad?” Ethan asked Kylie since she seemed to be the only one in a chatty mood.
This time Travis was the one to answer with a swift tilt of his chin toward the other side of the room. Looking back over his shoulder, Ethan saw his parents sitting side by side in an alcove, his father’s arm around his mother’s slender shoulders. They were huddled close together laughing as they flipped through what appeared to be a photo album. Probably Kaleb’s if he had to guess.
Ethan scanned the room looking for the twins and Sawyer, but he didn’t see any of them. As he was turning back to face Travis, he couldn’t resist the urge to look at Beau. They made eye contact, and there was that damned rush of adrenaline that lit Ethan up from the inside.
He tried not to notice how imposing Beau looked, just sitting innocently in a chair talking to V, muscles relaxed. Or how good he looked with that black Stetson tipped low on his head, blond hair peeking out from behind his ears, angular jaw and slightly crooked nose making his face as beautiful as it was rugged.
Promptly turning away, he ordered his brain to focus on the reason he was here. It damn sure wasn’t to ogle Beau. Ever since New Year’s Eve at the resort, he had managed to successfully put distance between them, seeing Beau only when absolutely unavoidable. And after all that hard work to stay away, he would definitely not be going there again.
He was there for more important things. Like the new baby that Zoey and Kaleb were about to have.
Holy fuck, he was going to be an uncle.
Oddly, the idea of becoming an uncle was the equivalent of being told he’d just been elected president. He felt bigger all of a sudden, like he could take on the world, and he had no idea why.
Ethan knew his brother Kaleb was excited as well, if not a little overprotective. Ok, so Kaleb was a lot overprotective, but still, Ethan somehow felt like he understood him.
A baby. The most precious gift they could’ve been given.
There was no way to rationalize what he was feeling or even why, but Ethan was anxious to become an uncle. Maybe because he knew he would never have children of his own, and at twenty-eight, he had actually come to accept that fate. After all, he had to commit to a relationship before he would commit to a family. Since that wasn’t about to happen, Ethan would settle for spoiling some nieces and nephews if his brothers were willing.
It was just too bad he would never be able to find what some of his brothers seemed to be finding these days. It wasn’t that it wasn’t possible, Ethan just didn’t see it happening anytime soon or in the future. As tempting as the idea had become in recent months, he knew it was just out of his grasp. The reward not quite worth the risk.
Speaking of risk…
His mind drifted to the argument he’d had with Blake earlier that morning. As soon as Blake showed up at the shop – late, of course – Ethan had been irritated with him. Specifically, the ill-timed ultimatum that Blake had offered him. As it would seem, Blake wasn’t in agreement with Ethan’s way of thinking. At all.