The Woman He Married

34. Honesty

It all happened in a flash. Before they knew it, they were really seated inside a police station for getting involved in a brawl at a nightclub. Mae looked at Zane and he turned to look at her. They did not get hurt, not even a scratch. Ellie didn't, either. The only one who got slightly hurt was Ruth. She might have dislocated her jaw.

She chuckled, "You just jinxed us when you said we're taking a nap at a police station."

Zane gave her a small smile, patting her hand gently. He shook his head, "I'm sorry for everything."

"I forgave you since the day you explained everything to me," Mae told him, "So you can stop apologizing for it now. I just want to be happy with you without this mess. I want to move on from it and start a new chapter of our life together."

He pulled her close and embraced her, "I'll buy you anything you want once we get out of here. We'll eat everything you want."

"You're going to have sweet tea."

"Except that, I can't," Zane muttered.

Mae laughed, reminiscing the one time that he decided to try sweet tea because she persuaded him to. It messed with his mood because sweet drinks make him feel sick.

"By the way," Zane leaned down to her ear and whispered, "That was hot, the way you claimed me."

"You're lawfully mine." Mae pointed out. They stood up when an officer came out and updated them on the situation.

They were advised to go home because it was very likely that the two will be detained until they're slightly sober, because they cannot stop fighting. The officer described that the two women were still having verbal fights inside and were locked up separately to calm them down.

"We should get breakfast while we wait," Zane suggested, helping Mae with her seatbelt as soon as they got into the car.

Mae looked at him and couldn't help but to notice how dispirited he had become than compared to before he found out about Ruth. On any other day, Mae would have assumed that he was fatigued from the lack of sleep and having to wake up so early - but she knew that there was more to his dull expression than just exhaustion.

She knew Zane had been diligently reading and learning about parenting and what to expect when one is expecting. He tried to be calm and composed about it, but Mae could tell that he was serious about raising the baby who turned out to have never been there all along. She knew that Zane was not just exhausted, but he was disappointed that all his efforts had become useless.

But he still looked good with some facial hair going on.

Mae shook her head when she realized her thoughts just wandered elsewhere. She cleared her throat and looked at him, "Are you sad about the baby?"

Zane caught his breath, then he pursed his lips as he shook his head. He sighed, "Well, not sad... Just... I don't know. It just hurts a little because I was daydreaming about raising a boy or a girl, and what would I name him or her. What we would do together... all that stuff."

Mae reached for his shoulder and squeezed up to the nape of his neck to help him loosen up. "I'm sorry that this happened."

"I guess I don't know how to feel, either guilt or relief, because the baby was never there. I'm relieved because I'm not having a child with another woman or have to raise the child separately which could have been scarring for the poor kid, but also guilty, because it somehow felt like I just neglected my child and lost them in a tragedy of some sort."

"Well, they don't exist to begin with," Mae pointed out.

"Yeah," Zane hummed, putting on a small smile. "Also, I have to live with the fact that my efforts are going down the drain."