Текст книги "Katherine in Gold"

Автор книги: J. B. Hartnett

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Текущая страница: 12 (всего у книги 15 страниц)

Katherine

After I’d hung up, Holst’s mom moved closer to where I was sitting on the bed.

“They all went for a walk since it’s nice and sunny. I told them I’d let you know where we’re headed. But I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

“It’s been…” I closed my eyes and smiled. “This was my first real Christmas since I was a kid. And from what I’ve seen under the tree…it’s just getting better and better.”

“What’s that?” she asked, nodding toward the beautiful box on the bed.

“Oh! This is from your son. I should open it now so I don’t have to start crying in front of him again.”

“Your ring is lovely by the way. Maybe it’s earrings to match.”

I started ripping at the paper. “I’ve been single, for, like…years so no one ever gets me jewelry but me. It’s a nice treat.”

She sat on the end of the bed with an expectant smile on her face, probably matching my own when I discovered a plain white box. Then I took off the lid and lifted two velvet pouches out.

“Oooo, the presentation is excellent!” I grinned. Then I opened the first one and lifted out a silver ankh. The second was almost identical.

For a change, I wasn’t the one crying; his mother was.

“Oh my God, Becky…what…?”

“My baby…” she sobbed.

“I don’t…”

“His father sent me the first one. He had it made and sent a note that told me life was eternal, even if the body ended…the spirit went on. And when Chelle and Holst had that fight…”

“He—” I began, but she didn’t let me get a word in.

“It wasn’t his fault. I watched that woman, Katherine. She was a violent drunk, and when he pushed her…it was self-defense. He was going to work with bruises and cut lips from trying to control her. He thinks he’s like his father, but he’s nothing like him. He’s—”

“Mom?” Holst asked as he entered the room and closed the door behind him.

She wiped her eyes as I sat there with the two pieces of jewelry in my hand.

“I was just…Holst, I was just…”

He held her eyes with his own and asked, “Can you give us some time alone, Mom?”

“Of course,” she said and wiped her face. “Of course. I’ll catch up to Al and your mom,” she said to me.

And left us alone.

“So, the second ankh and the second tattoo?”

“I got the first one for my sister. The second I got after I lost control with Chelle.”

“And by ‘lost control,’ you mean…?”

He took a breath and picked up the small box and took out the two ankhs. “I pushed her off of me…harder than I should have. It was two weeks after I’d fired her, and she wanted her job back. I said no, not until she got her drinking under control.”

“That put you in a pretty tough spot, Holst.”

“Yeah,” he scoffed. “She came at me with an empty wine bottle. It was then I told her I was done. I couldn’t do it anymore. In the months before, she wanted me to fight with her. She punched me, slapped me, threw anything she could find at me, came at me with a knife…twice…but that night, she pulled out all the stops and got the rise out of me she wanted. She hit me in the head with the bottle. You probably haven’t noticed it, but I have a scar at the back. It probably needed stitches, but she came back for another hit, and I pushed her. I did it to protect myself, but I also did it in anger, Katherine. I completely lost control.”

I was watching him stare out the window, but the whole scene must’ve been replaying in his head.

“She landed on the coffee table with such force, it broke her nose, fractured a bone in her jaw, and knocked out two of her teeth. Even with blood dripping out of her nose and mouth, she smiled and said, ‘See? You’re just like him.’” He dropped his head and looked to the floor. “I live with the fear I’ll lose control again, and the second tattoo is a promise to myself that I will never lose it again.”

“Please…let me say something,” I requested and spoke just as calmly as he had.  I walked up to him and put my arms around his neck. “You’re not him,” I whispered. “Remember yesterday, how pissed you were when you found me at the train station? You weren’t violent, and you were pissed.”

“Katherine.” He shook his head. “I was pissed at myself. That’s completely different.”

“And when Mark called me a slut, and when my dad came into Bear Claw and insulted me…I think with Chelle, you were faced with a violent drunk, and it stirred something up in you.”

“I reacted, plain and simple, no other thoughts in my head, and unlike Frodo, I can’t use drinking as an excuse. I was sober.”

“Why didn’t you tell me before?”

He blinked away tears and breathed deeply through his nose. “The time was never right. When would it ever be right to warn you I had the ability to hurt a woman?”

“I should have let you tell me this morning, H. I’m sorry.”

“The night you told me about Max…when you opened the door for me and I asked you to let me in. I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t think you could handle this.”

“We’re in this together,” I promised.

He let his head fall on my shoulder and whispered against my neck, “Merry Christmas, my Katherine.”

“Merry Christmas, H. Next year, let’s try to have a little less drama.” I smiled.

“Next year, let’s get married,” he suggested.

“Okay,” I replied.

“Okay?”

“Absolutely.”

***

After all the drama, it appeared the world around us had called a truce.

I, for one, felt it was about fuckin’ time.

There were no more fights or break-ups, no more surprise visits from unwanted relatives or ghosts of the past. All was well in our little world.

And my best friend was having a baby.

Paper Petal had a growing reputation for exquisite party packages created by Ruby. She’d gone baby-bonkers and had outdone herself for Tori’s shower. The nursery colors were pale yellow and muted turquoise with a theme of clouds and sunshine. Dee organized the food with Tori’s mom, Joan, and mother-in-law, Paula. Her dad’s wife, Jenny, was bringing some kind of white wine Sangria with tropical fruits to match the theme. It was all about the color scheme, according to Ruby, who, I hadn’t known before, was petite in size, but huge in bossy-bitch attitude—as far as I was concerned, a strength. First impressions, she was adorable and cute. But when there was a job to be done, she was like Mary Poppins on speed.

I walked into Tori’s place armed with something called a diaper cake. I had my own crafting skills, so I trolled the Internet to come up with ideas for a gift. I’d already gone nuts with the entire Spring/Summer collection from Baby Gap. Now, I was on to practical items. This resulted in a three-tier diaper cake with little white and yellow socks fashioned into roses and each tier wrapped in muslin swaddling blankets in hues to match the nursery.

“Where’s your man?” Cam asked, divesting me of my giant diaper cake.

“Working. And he’s gone all garden-crazy. I know you’ve seen what he’s done at our place, but have you glanced down at the deck above the shop? When there’s a lull, he leaves Leo to it and goes upstairs like it’s his own little Zen garden. Give him a sandbox, some stones, and a rake…I think he’d be in Heaven. Next Christmas, I’m giving him a bonsai plant and a how-to book. That oughta keep him busy.”

“It’s looking very nice.” He grinned. Cameron had a green thumb. The hillside that lead to their house had been transformed in just under a year: maples that matched the yellow of their eaves and little flowers he changed with the seasons to give the place color year round. I remembered, one day, when Tori had gone inside to get us a drink, I commented on how hard he’d worked on their garden. He told me, “When someone gives you happiness, try to fill their world with beauty.”

My bestie was a lucky girl.

Five days a week, Dee ran Beachy Bride alone. Lark came in to bring new dresses and meet with clients by appointment to design a made-to-measure gown. Her two seamstresses actually worked from their homes, and all Dee had to do was take measurements and pin up hems, and one of the seamstresses would come to pick the dresses up and deliver them back when they were ready. Dee lived in the cottage next door, so it was all very convenient. After she’d delivered and arranged her part of the party food, she gave Tori a gift certificate for the expensive baby shop downtown then went up to work.

When the shower was in full swing and the Sangria flowing, I went down to Bear Claw to see my man.

Saturday afternoon was steady with most of the seats taken. Gloria’s book club had an impromptu meeting because today was a special movie outing. Apparently, if they read a novel with a movie adaptation, they re-read the book, saw the movie, then discussed all the ways the book was better. I had to agree, a lot of times the book was better. However, sometimes it was nice to see your favorite stories brought to life by a hot guy and some chick you wished you could hit in the face because she wasn’t you. But I had my own movie, and everything that could have gone wrong, already had…

Or so I thought.

Standing behind the counter, Holst smiled at me. His hair had that mussed look of saltwater and sand from his morning surf. He had a navy blue, long-sleeve tee on that was fitted, not skin tight, but tight enough that, every time I looked at him, all I saw was abs and nipples. Honestly, it made me want to fuck him. Blow him, then fuck him, which, by the grin plastered on his face, he knew was exactly what I was thinking.

He was just finishing orders for a couple, so I kept myself busy and helped out by washing two mugs and a plate with custard tart remnants. When he was done, he came up behind me and put his hands in the soapy water to join mine.

His lips at my ear, he asked, “Are you wet?”

“My hands are wet,” I clarified.

Then he licked the edge of my ear, sending a message straight between my legs, and asked, “How about now?”

“Yeah. Yeah, that did it.” I laughed.

My happy little moment with Holst was broken when Cam’s brother, Drew, threw the front door to Bear Claw wide open. “Something’s happening.”

“Leo,” Holst called out.

“Got it,” he called back, and Holst and I were out the door, through Tori and Cam’s gate, and up her stairs.

“Get some towels,” Paula told her son, Cam, trying to calm him and everyone else down.

Me? I was shoving people out of the way to get to Tori.

“Babe?” I asked, that one word conveying the billions of questions I wanted to ask.

“Really sharp pains,” she said through a gasp, holding her breath as another pain hit her.

“You think it’s labor?”

“It’s…” she breathed. “Hurts,” she answered, tears falling down her cheeks. She leaned her head close, and I put my ear near her mouth. I could tell, whatever she wanted to say, she didn’t want anyone else to hear. “I’m scared,” she whispered.

“You want me with you? I promise I can keep my shit together, honey.”

“Don’t let me go.”

“I won’t, Tor,” I promised. “I won’t.”

Cam was talking to 911. I heard someone call out that the car was ready in the alley out back. Before I knew it, Cam and Drew were both carefully helping Tori. When another pain hit, she let out a blood-curdling scream, and by the look on her face, I knew something was very wrong. So wrong, she let go of my hand, her head rocking from side to side as Cam decided slow was no longer an option.

Suddenly, the house, all the activity, chaos, and fear, just hung in the air and everyone else stood there feeling helpless and lost.

“Katherine,” Holst said, holding my hand as tight as I was holding his. “The hospital is only two minutes from here. Let’s go. She’s gonna be okay.”

“Lana…” I said, not crying, just trying to keep my shit together, because I knew this day was going to be a long one.

“Remember Teensy went into labor early and they stopped it, and she and baby were absolutely fine.”

“Yeah.” I stared out the window as he entered the parking lot.

I don’t know how they did it, but Drew was already there with his mom and Tori’s mom. Ruby had to go back to Paper Petal, but I knew, over the next few hours, the waiting room of Laguna Beach Private Hospital was going to be filled with Tori and Cam’s family and friends while we waited.

And prayed.

Holst

Three hours later and we were still waiting.

Katherine paced for a while then said, “Give me the car keys.”

“I can get whatever you need,” I said. “She might need you—”

In a calm, even voice, she said, “Give me…the goddam…car keys.”

I dropped them into her hand.

Just over an hour later, Katherine returned with one of two loads from the car. The first was bags of burgers, fries, and cans of soda, which she gave to me with the directive, “Feed everyone.” The next, was a box of cake and sweets from the baby shower. “When it’s time, call Frodo, and he’ll bring coffees.”

“Baby…” I said and tried to stop her as she stood in the doorway, the automatic door that led to the waiting room opening and closing behind her.

“I have shit to do,” she said. “I love you. Be back in a little over an hour. If people are ready for coffee before that, call me, and I’ll bring it.”

“Katherine,” I started.

But she walked to me, squeezed my hand, and said, “I have to keep moving or I’m gonna go nuts, H.”

For the next forty minutes, I watched Cam wait near the door that stood between him and his wife. Someone came out now and then and spoke to him. He nodded, his brother close by, the rest of their extended family in a huddle. All we knew was, Tori had been rushed into surgery.

I hadn’t called him, but Frodo did show up with an urn of brewed coffee, milk, sugar, and cups. He then went around to everyone and took orders. Dee was the last person he served, and instead of giving a coffee order, she threw her arms around him. He pulled her head into his neck, her body moving with tears. His hand gently brushed down her hair as he whispered in her ear. It was a sad and beautiful sight.

I kept my focus on my coffee, on the piece of yellow cake with white frosting and lemon filling, and waited until Katherine sat down beside me. She had two small suitcases, and before I could even ask about them, she explained.

“The red one is Tori’s. It has all her stuff in it for the hospital, and she’ll be pissed if I didn’t bring it. The other one is the baby stuff. But she’s thirty-four weeks so everything is gonna swim on Lana. So when I left here, I called Baby Gap…” She turned to face me. “I know I shouldn’t talk and drive, but it was on speaker.”

“Okay, baby,” I said gently.

“And they picked out a bunch of preemie clothes, took off all the tags, and let me pay for it over the phone. I picked them up, went to Tori’s, and got her bag and the baby’s bag, got the special laundry detergent she used on all the stuff we bought before, and put all this in to wash. Then I had to go and buy the tiny diapers. Holst, they are so little. I thought the newborn ones were little, but these are so small and…”

“Baby, I think you need to—”

“Don’t even say it,” she whispered. “She wants to give Cam a baby. He would never, ever be upset if she couldn’t or if something happened. But his ex was pregnant when they split. It wasn’t his, but for months before she left, he thought it was. He was devastated, Holst. He lost her, and he lost a baby that wasn’t even his. Then…he said it was seeing Tori smile that kinda made him start to live again. It was quick, I mean, like, he saw her, he wanted her, but she was someone else’s. Anyway, he wants this, and she wants to give him everything. So…it has to be okay, H. Tori and Lana have to be okay.”

Half an hour later, a doctor came out and spoke to Cam, who pulled the doctor into a hug and was then enveloped by the entire Muir clan. Enthusiastic nodding went around the room, but Cam looked over the crowd and nodded our direction. Katherine silently stood up and took the bags in each hand.

“Love you, H.” She smiled down at me.

“I’ll be right here, baby. Can’t wait to meet her.”

Eventually, Cam’s mom explained everything to Dee, and Dee told everyone else that Tori had gone into premature labor, something about the placenta. I tuned out a little after that. An emergency C-section was performed when they determined the baby was in distress. Not only that, Tori was bleeding internally. But all had ended well. Baby Lana was perfect, early, but perfect. Tori, had lost a lot of blood, but she was going to be just fine and go on to have more children…but in the words of Dee, she’d be “watched like a hawk.”

Frodo sat down next to me as Dee left the hospital. “Your Katherine…she did well under pressure,” he commented.

“She did.” I smiled proudly. I knew Frodo was struggling. Regardless of his recent affection toward a new woman, that woman was not Dee. “And how are you?” I asked.

“Friend…” He smiled warmly. “I pray my dove will one day return. But today is not that day.”

And with a wave of two fingers like a salute at his brow, I was alone in the waiting room and waited for Katherine.

FEBRUARY

Katherine

“Katherine…”

Holst loomed over the bed. I was dressed. I even had my shoes on. But I refused to go.

“Not going.”

“Get out of that bed before I drag you out.”

“Make me!” I snapped. But I had to admit, it was getting harder to breathe under the layers.

The covers were yanked off, not just me, but the bed, so I couldn’t grab them back. Holst knew me; he knew my tricks.

He also knew my weaknesses.

Mainly his tongue.

His hands were at my waist, then at the button of my jeans, and…

“Fine!” I threw my fists on the bed. I knew, if we got started now, I’d be late, and I hated to be late.

“You haven’t seen them since Christmas.”

“What is it with moms? You know…” I plonked my feet down. “This happened to Tori. One minute, her mom is working for—in Tori’s words—‘the Dark Lord.’ The next minute, she’s mother-of-the-year and buying baby furniture with Cam’s mom. Your mom and my mom meet and it’s BFF’s forever. Jesus!” I yelled.

Holst smirked at me and crossed his arms over his chest.

“You know they’ve taken over everything, right? Like, I might as well not be involved at all!”

“Baby.” He opened his arms, feet spread apart, and motioned with his hands. “Come here.”

“Fuck you! You’re in cahoots with them!” I accused.

He smiled wide, cocked his brow, and said, “I can make you come here.”

I needed to keep some of my energy for my next battles with the mothers. But I couldn’t just relent. I had to remind him that I was a woman not to be fucked with. “I just want to sucker punch you and run away.”

“How about you stick your tongue in my mouth, put your hand in my jeans, and feel how hard my dick is right now. Then get this over with so you can come home and let me eat that fantastic pussy of yours.”

I hadn’t realized my mouth was open until I replied, “That works, too.”

I walked up to Beachy Bride, and even though Holst had dampened the fire, he hadn’t quite put it out. So when I walked in and was greeted with two fifty-year-old women, clucking and cooing at baby Lana, that fire started to rage, and I let everyone in my path know.

“Back the fuck off!” I leaned down and gently took my Lana-girl into my arms and smiled down at her. “Auntie K is here to rescue you, baby girl.”

My mother turned to Holst’s mom, Becky, her co-conspirator. “When she hasn’t had a decent night’s sleep in three months, that’s when we’ll get our turn.”

“No.” I practically sung the word like a lullaby. “When we have a baby, he’s going to come to work with us. Holst and I will take turns with him in the carrier. He’ll be able to sleep through a thunderstorm or a rock concert, and I’ll get him on a napping schedule right from the start.”

And I couldn’t fucking believe it, but not only did my mom and Becky burst out laughing, Tori joined them. “Sorry,” she said, her shoulders shrugging with her apology.

“I’ll show them, baby girl. They will rue the day they ever doubted me. I’m the ‘baby-whisperer.’”

Dee appeared with her hands on her hips. Her hair was slicked back, her lip gloss was on super-shine, and her toe was tapping with impatience. “Quit stalling!”

“Baby girl, I have to go be pretty for these party-poopers.”

Tori stretched out her arms and smiled. “Give me my child and put on the damn dress.”

I rolled my eyes and made a big production of walking…more like harrumphing…to the dressing room. “Fine!” I squinted my eyes and pointed my finger around the room at my audience. “Just so you know, you say one bad thing—one—and you are out of the wedding festivities! Got it?”

They all laughed again, but now the curtain was pulled, and Dee stood back and studied me. Her eyes searched my own, her brows were knitted, and her beautiful lips sucked in on one side.

“What?” I asked.

She took a giant step back and asked, “Are you…having second thoughts?”

“What’s wrong with you? Are you sniffing glue?” I demanded.

“Well…” She hesitated.

“Spit it out!”

“You’re kind of being a bitch.”

“Oh.” I waved my hand like my behavior was completely and totally warranted…which it was. “Do you know what they did?” I asked.

Dee gave me a careful, tentative smile. “How about you talk and I’ll listen while I get your dress ready. K?” She moved past me and instructed, “Start getting undressed.”

I watched while she fluffed out the layers of tulle beneath its satiny overlay and began to unzip and unhook the top. “They went to Ruby’s, and the three of them picked everything. And paid for it! I haven’t had a single say in anything, and it’s my damn wedding!”

Dee turned around and placed a pair of gold, strappy heels at the foot of the dais.

“You have nothing to say about that?” I asked.

She kept her face pointed at the shoes. “Nope. Get it all out of your system.”

“You’re on their side?”

I was now standing in a balconette bra and panties called French Knickers. They were pricey, but super comfortable, pretty, and silk. Perfect bridal lingerie…but I had to try them out first, so I bought a simple baby pink pair to match the bra, because, well, like I said, they were super comfortable, pretty, and silk.

Dee looked me up and down. “You have such a good body.”

“You’re changing the subject.”

“And you told Frodo you were gonna have a gold wedding and make babies with Holst. Isn’t that right?”

Damn.

“Yeah, I might have said that.”

“He might have shared that information with me, and I might have shared it with Ruby, who told Tori, who told Holst, who told his mom, who told your mom, and here we are, and all you have to worry about is standing next to the man you love and saying ‘I do,’ you lucky bitch. So, stop being a jerk and embrace this moment. Because some people will never, ever have this, Kath. Some people will never find ‘the guy,’ or something will screw it up, and I don’t mean me. I mean most of the world. You’ve got the guy, you’ve got the dress, and you have two women out there who want to make it perfect for you because they didn’t get that. They both married men who didn’t take care of them. One was lucky enough to get a second chance, but those memories…you can see it on their faces.”

“Dee,” I tried to interrupt.

“Let me finish. I always tell a bride, it’s her big day. But sometimes I get a bride who I can relax with and give her some honesty. To them I say, it’s not really your day. It’s the day you host the biggest party of your life. It’s usually a funny thing, but to you, my dear friend, this is the day you give a gift to those women out there. They have no doubt you and Holst will be forever. And you’ve been fighting them tooth and nail, trying to take away their joy.” She brought the dress to the dais and made a hole in the middle for me to step into. “If you’re afraid something’s going to go wrong, tell them and let them fix it. Stop being a bitch.”

“You’re hot when you’re bossy, you know that?”

She rolled her eyes and said with a huff, “Put the damn dress on.”

I looked down at her, her hands keeping the mass of dress open for me to step inside. “Honey…”

“Put it on!”

“Honey,” I said again, softer, and waited until she looked up at me. “I promise, I’ll try not to say anything again…but I think you need more distance from having your heart broken. You met him too soon after the fact. It’s too raw. I don’t think it’s over for the two of you… not yet.”

She looked back down, but said, “Yeah.”

I held onto her shoulder as I stepped inside the dress. One by one, she put on my shoes, then zipped the skirt and back as she buttoned and laced and fussed. Finally, she arranged a creamy veil that glittered gold when the light caught it.

“You need earrings. Turn around.”

My entire body felt like it was covered in static electricity. I was shaking, jumpy, and could barely speak when I managed to say, “I look like a princess.”

“Yeah.”

“This dress is my bitch,” I told her. I heard Lana making baby-fussy noises as Dee opened the curtain. I stepped off the dais and walked to the three women, who all sat in silence, looking me over, and whispered to them, “This dress is my bitch.”

Tori was the first one to talk. “It totally is.”

My mother was next. “Can I buy you earrings?”

“Yeah.”

Her next words were genuine and heartfelt and made me realize just how much of an absolute bitch I’d been. “Thank you, Katherine.”

See, I hadn’t let my mom get off with an apology. I was making her pay for her mothering-failure by being an absolute bitch. I was a smart-ass, I was rude, I was bossy, and I was about as unladylike as possible, until one afternoon, she turned to me and said exactly what I wanted to hear.

“I understand you’ll always remember what I didn’t do, but I hope now you’ll allow me to do the things I can, honey.”

And accepting her offer to buy me earrings…I’d just put up a big ole white flag and called a truce.

“Mom…”

Becky interrupted our moment, which was a relief. “Al is waiting at that Mexican place. Would you all like to join us?” she asked me.

“I’d love to. But I need to check-in downstairs first.”

Holst said he’d be down at Bear Claw if I needed anything. I knew he was only going to have a surf and tend the garden. Gloria and Leo now had a man named Harry to help out. Three employees: two part time, one full time. We could hardly believe our luck.

“You meet us whenever you’re done. Bring my boy, too.” Becky smiled.

“Okay.”

It was a silent standoff until Tori announced, “I need to feed my girly-girl here and—”

The door opened to Beachy Bride, and, I swear to God, Dee really needed to remember to lock that fucker. Cam walked in, smiling huge, and said, “It’s my turn, Fairy. Where’s my Baby Sunshine? Time to give Mama Sunshine a rest.”

He was armed with a fresh bottle, took off the top, and scooped Lana into his big, manly arms.

My mom began to fan herself, Becky let out a little sigh, and I…well, I was me. “Dude, Cam, ovaries exploding all over the inside of my pretty dress.”

His shoulders moved ever so slightly with a careful laugh. “Kath, just behind my gorgeous wife and baby girl here, you are third in line as absolutely beautiful.”

“Holst has already seen it.”

Cam teased Lana’s mouth open until she began her slumbering milk nap, and in a quiet voice, as he stared at Lana, he said, “He could see you in it before the day a thousand times, Kath. It wouldn’t matter. I can see the very moment when my Fairy appeared to become my wife. It’s a memory a man can recall in an instant, the moment he knew his life had changed for the better, when she was about to become his wife.”

Dee stood with the mothers.

I joined them.

And the four of us looked at the little family: Cam holding Lana, Tori leaning into him, his eyes closed, and his lips against her forehead…

Dee whispered to me, “It all started with a dress.”