Defending Zara (Mountain Mercenaries #6)(12)

Daniela got the woman settled on a sheet in the middle of the living room, as the room they usually used for birthing was currently occupied by Meat. The little girl sniffed and looked scared to death. She’d probably been watching her mother struggle to bring her brother or sister into the world for hours now.

Not giving it a second thought, Zara took hold of the girl’s small hand and led her toward Meat’s room. He was sitting up and staring at the doorway when she entered.

“What’s wrong?” he asked urgently.

“Her mother is here to give birth,” Zara said. “Can you watch over this little one?”

“Of course,” Meat said without hesitation, holding out his hand.

Zara led the child over to Meat and told her in Spanish that Meat was a nice man, and he would keep watch over her while she and Daniela helped her mom.

“Meat?” the girl asked.

Zara smiled. “It’s a nickname.”

She nodded. “Like how Mamá calls me Bonita but my real name is Natalia.”

“That’s right,” Zara told her. “Bonita because you’re a beautiful little girl.”

Natalia giggled, then sobered as she asked, “Is my mamá going to be okay?”

“Daniela is going to do everything she can to help her.”

The little girl nodded.

“So you’ll stay here with Meat?”

She nodded again.

Zara turned to Meat. She knew he’d been watching her very closely as she’d spoken with the little girl. “Her name is Natalia.”

He nodded. “I’ll take good care of her. Go on, go help Daniela. We’ll be right here waiting.”

Zara didn’t have a lot of opportunities to thank anyone. People here didn’t go out of their way to help others, simply because they were so busy trying to keep their own heads above water. But she felt immense gratitude toward Meat at that moment. “Thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me for doing the right thing,” he told her. “Go on, we’ll be fine.”

Nodding, Zara turned back to the doorway. She couldn’t help but look behind her before leaving the room. Meat was leaning toward Natalia. He was wincing as if the movement hurt, but he didn’t call her back and say he was in too much pain to help. He patted his chest and said, “I’m Meat.” Then he pointed at her and said, “You’re Natalia.”

The little girl nodded, and the last thing Zara heard before getting preoccupied with the young woman trying to give birth was the little girl’s soft giggle.





Chapter Five

Meat was exhausted, and both his ankle and ribs were throbbing. His shoulder felt pretty good, though; the ache from having it put back into place wasn’t very concerning compared to his other injuries. He also had to relieve himself, but he stayed stock-still as he leaned against the wall of the room and kept his eyes glued to the doorway. He had no idea how much time had passed, but it had to have been hours.

He’d done his best to keep Natalia occupied, playing a game where he said a word in English and she told him what it was in Spanish. They’d gone through numbers, colors, and body parts. Meat couldn’t say he was any more fluent than he’d been a few hours before, but he’d half fallen in love with the small child now sleeping in his arms. She’d begun to get tired, and since there wasn’t a bed in the room and he was sitting on the pallet, she’d crawled into his lap, put her head on his chest, and fallen asleep almost immediately.

She wasn’t very heavy, but even the slight weight against his ribs was painful. Meat ignored the way it felt as if he had a baby elephant resting on his chest and concentrated on the noises he was hearing from the other room. It was frustrating to not know what was happening, to not be able to help. He was accustomed to being useful. To helping out in emergency situations. But all he could do was listen to the three women speaking Spanish in low tones and the occasional moan from the woman who was trying to give birth.

He was half-asleep himself when he felt Zara return. He didn’t even question how he knew she’d entered the room; he just did. Night had fallen, and the only light in the room came from beyond the door. Zara was silhouetted with her body blocking the light, and Meat could practically see through her threadbare shirt and pants.

“How is she?” Meat asked quietly.

“Resting,” Zara replied, keeping her voice low.

“And her baby?”

Zara shrugged. “It’ll be touch and go for a while, but we got him out. He was breech, but I got him turned around, and they’re both resting right now.”

As her words sank in, Meat gaped. “You got him turned around?”

She nodded.

“How?”

Zara held up her hands. “I’ve got small hands. I was able to reach inside and physically turn him. It’s not ideal, and very painful for the woman, but it worked . . . this time.”

Meat was blown away by her matter-of-fact words. Back home, when a woman had a baby in breech position, she was brought to the operating room to have a C-section. But Zara had literally used her own two hands to reach inside the woman’s womb and physically turn the baby so it would have a chance.

My God, the more he got to know Zara, the more she impressed him.

But he could also see the toll the work had taken on her.