by Leela Ash
Kathy grinned, so happy for the women she had come to think of as friends. It had hurt to have to leave them without saying goodbye and she hoped they weren’t still mad at her. At the time it had seemed like the only wise option, but as a tribute to them, she had made certain to take better care of her hair since then.
It hung down in a single plait down her back, the ebony color shiny and unblemished.
Klyana chortled, “Well, I hope we’re not too late for some cake.”
Derek grinned, “It just so happens that we have a baby shower tonight for Marissa and Kelly.”
He looked meaningfully at Kathy’s stomach and added, “We have a lot to celebrate it appears. Although we could have used some warning about Kathy’s… marriage. Drake is still hung up on her. I wonder how he will take it.”
Klyana started to correct him about the marriage bit but Kathy shook her head slightly and the older woman lapsed into silence. Kathy offered Derek a bright smile, unaware that he had seen the quick exchange.
“How will he feel about everyone celebrating when he’s now… um, in the state he is?” Kathy asked.
Derek shrugged, “He’s a big boy. I mean for the first three months after you left he went back to Hollywood, but he got more careless and reckless and he hurt himself really bad. It was so bad even his powers couldn’t help him heal. He had to come back home for the other dragons to help heal him.”
“Right. Desiree and others,” Kathy growled angrily.
She didn’t notice Derek flick a knowing look at her.
Then something he had said pricked the edge of her consciousness and she asked, “What do you mean he went to Hollywood? He was in a vegetative state, right? How could he have gone all the way to Hollywood to work as a stuntman if he were in a vegetative state?”
Derek frowned, “A what? Why would he be in a vegetative state?” he demanded, as the car pulled into the grounds of their mansion.
Kathy straightened, “Do you mean to tell me that you lied to me?”
Derek stared as though she had grown two heads, “How could you ask me that? I would never lie. What do you think I lied about?”
“You said Drake was in a vegetative state since I left—” she began.
“I said he hasn’t been himself since you left,” Derek clarified. “But why would he be in a vegetative state?”
He looked genuinely confused and Kathy recalled that she hadn’t gotten the full details from Derek. She had merely jumped to conclusions about what he meant.
She caught Klyana’s pitying glance and she felt worse. “Okay, maybe the mistake was mine,” she agreed. “I didn’t get enough details before believing the worst. , what did you mean?”
The car came to a stop then before the house. Derek sighed, “You’ll see in a few minutes. Come on.”
The door was already flying open and Jeanine, Kelly, Marissa and Megan were all pouring out of the house, their husbands right behind them.
Bo was holding a soft fuzzy bundle in his arms and Joshua followed close behind with another bundle wrapped in his own arms.
Kathy couldn’t hold back happy tears as she was embraced and passed from one hand to the other. When she reached the babies, she dissolved in happy laughter. Jeanine’s baby had inherited its mother curly head of hair and Megan’s baby had inherited its mother’s Barbie doll looks.
“The women seem to be in the lead over here,” Kathy laughed as she and Klyana cooed over the babies. They all headed inside everyone talking at once.
When they reached the living room, Kathy flicked a questioning glance at Derek. He looked at Joshua, “Where’s Drake?”
“Sleeping off another hangover,” Marissa informed him, her tone dripping disapproval.
Kathy hid her shock as she turned to Marissa and Kelly, “It’s nice to see you both expecting.”
Kelly laughed like a little girl. “You have no idea. It’s the best feeling in the world. Derek has spoiled me rotten these past few months.”
“Oh, but she does have an idea,” Derek intervened. Everyone looked at him and he clarified, “Kathy is pregnant too.”
A hushed silence fell over the entire room and in the silence, an ant’s sneeze would have been magnified a thousand times.
Joshua was the first to break the silence, “That’s— Well, congrats my dear.”
Kathy blinked. They all seemed sad.
Klyana quirked an eyebrow at Joshua, “You could pretend to have a little more joy at her news you know? You won’t die if you do.”
His cheeks darkened in anger, “I do not have to pretend anything. I am sincerely happy for her.”
“Your expression says otherwise,” Klyana snapped. “You and your family are just a bunch of users, aren’t you? First you wanted her to help heal your rift and now you want her to help heal your son. You cannot even find it in you to pretend to be happy that she has some good news of her own. And people accuse witches of wishing people ill,” she spat.
“Klyana!” Kathy cried, shocked by the unprecedented attack. “Why are you being so rude to Joshua, he hasn’t done anything wrong.”
“On the contrary, he’s done everything wrong!” Klyana spat.
Joshua rose to his feet, “That’s it. You’re coming with me,” he grated. Then he wrapped his hand around her arm and yanked her to her feet. He hustled her out of the room before anyone could even squeak.
Bo watched them go and then he opined, “That sure sounded like a lovers’ tiff.”
It strangely had, Kathy realized. She shifted, uncomfortable with the thought that perhaps for the first time ever, Klyana had fallen in love with someone, but she had been so wrapped up in her own problems that she hadn’t seen it. For the first time, it made sense all those times Klyana had gently prodded her about returning to Weirna someday, carefully skirting around mentioning Drake’s name. And every single time she had shut Klyana down.
Klyana had been nursing a broken heart of her own too, but she had been too self-absorbed to see it..
She moaned, dropping her head into her hands, “I deserve to be beaten. How did I never see that Klyana was in love with Joshua? It makes perfect sense.”
“You had your own drama going on Kathy,” Megan consoled her. “Now tell us who the father of your child is. That’s big news and I know we’re all dying to hear about it.”
Fear spread through her again as she recalled Drake’s words. Would he really have no choice but to harm her if he learned about her baby? A baby between a dragon and a witch was forbidden and as far as she knew, that law hadn’t changed yet.
Deliberately she changed the topic, “I think right now it’s more important to know why you have brought me here. What is wrong with Drake that you thought I could help with?”
“Oh, he hasn’t been himself since you left,” Jack said.
Everyone nodded.
It was the exact same thing Derek had said, but it didn’t tell her much.
“What do you mean? How is he different?”
“Well for one he’s taken up drinking,” Kelly recounted. “He never sleeps, he never eats, he’s gone pale and lean as a rod.”
“His eyes are always red-rimmed from alcohol. He’s lost his sense of humor and he doesn’t fly anymore,” Marissa stated. “All dragons fly but Drake… now he’s grounded.”
“Plus, he’s now terribly rude,” Megan added. “Honestly Kathy, he’s scary. He’s worse than Baxter now.”
Kathy sighed, “So he’s undergone a personality change, what does that have to do with me?”
Marissa came over to seat beside Kathy on the seat Klyana had vacated. “Remember I’m a doctor, Kathy? Drake is under a lot of emotional stress and that can cause such personality changes. We know he really liked you when you were here and —”
“Stop it!” she spat, rising to her feet and twisting her fingers as anger worked through her. “He never liked me. I was just one more conquest on his already long list of women.”
Marissa shook her head, con
fusion on her face as she rose to her feet, “Why would you say something so horrible? He loved you, Kathy, otherwise your leaving would never have affected him like this.”
“My leaving? He’s the one that told me to go,” Kathy cried, tears springing to her eyes at the memory of how he had expressed eagerness for her departure. Leaving earlier than she had expected had been her last gift to him. She had merely granted his wish.
“Drake was up first thing the next morning, picking roses and muttering about how your preferred white orchids,” Bo told her. “Jack and I teased him about it until we learned you were gone. He was going to ask you to stay.”
Kathy shook her head and she groaned, feeling the pain like a physical punch, “No.”
“Yes Kathy. It’s true. He went crazy. He wanted to go after you immediately, but Jeanine went into labor and because her pregnancy was so difficult, we needed him there with her in case she needed supernatural healing. He was only able to go after you one week later. He came back like a mad man after he found out you had left the Forest of Astare.”
Jeanine whispered brokenly, “He loves children so much, but he’s never even held my son since he was born. I worry that he blames both of us for delaying him and making him miss you.”
Kathy didn’t bother to check her tears this time, letting them flow freely down her cheeks. She didn’t even notice that Joshua and Klyana had returned to the room until Klyana spoke, “What about his other women? Desiree and that Tracie girl?”
Bo scoffed, “Please. Tracie was lying. Drake made me use my powers to get the truth out of her mind after that first day Kathy saw them together. And Desiree wants nothing to do with him because he’s not his usual charming self.”
“And for what it’s worth Kathy, there was never anything between Desiree and Drake,” Joshua said. “She hoped there would be, but for some reason he never gave her the time of day.”
“He is a playboy Kathy, or at least he used to be until he met you. But since he met you, it’s only ever been you,” Luke said.
“Oh God, I’ve been such a fool,” Kathy whispered, one finger cupping her mouth. “After he said those horrible things to me at the party—”
“He only said those things because Desiree convinced him that being with you would kill him. She convinced him that you would get pregnant some day and die having the child. He said all those things to protect you but the next morning when he tried to tell you the truth, it was too late, you were gone,” Bo said.
“He admitted this to you?” Kathy asked doubtfully.
“I read his thoughts one of those many nights when he was drinking himself under the table and mulling over his bad luck. He wanted to keep you away from him. He wanted to save you from getting pregnant with his baby,” he added as his gaze dropped to her stomach. “But he was too late, wasn’t he?” he finished with a pure grin that said he was delighted about the baby.
Unable to lie anymore, Kathy’s hand caressed her stomach and she flicked a glance at Klyana before admitting, “Yes. The baby is his.”
A low cheer went up in the room.
Just then a voice, very much unlike Drake’s but low-toned and vibrating with fury, hissed, “What baby? Whose?”
Kathy turned around and her gaze clashed with a pair of familiar silver-grey eyes but instead of the humor that usually lurked in their depths, Drake’s eyes were filled with rage.
19.
“Drake,” she breathed, unable to help herself.
His gaze flicked coldly down her length, lingering on her protruding stomach, before raising to meet her gaze, “So, old Robin didn’t waste any time getting you in the family way, did he?”
She frowned in confusion, “Who?”
“Cheers to him and his dick,” Drake jeered raising a bottle of beer in a mock toast. He tipped the bottle to his lips and took a healthy swig. “He’s a real stud our Robin. I hear sometimes all he has to do is look at a woman and she’s knocked up.”
Her heart swelled with love and remorse and she walked towards him, “Drake stop making a scene and come with me. We need to talk.”
He scoffed, “We needed to talk six months ago. Now there’s nothing left to say. Take your protruding tummy and get out.”
Wow. His family hadn’t been kidding about his new personality. He almost sounded like someone else.
But she wasn’t easily cowed. She planted both hands on her hips and scowled at him, “You can either come with me or we discuss it right here in front of everyone.”
He looked at her, “Go to hell!”
She knew what he was doing. He was tossing her last words to him right back into her face. He sank into the nearest cushion and lifted the beer for another sip. He stared at the bottle in amazement and then turned it upside down. Nothing came out.
“What the hell?” he growled.
Everyone stared at the beer wondering why it had frozen inside. He still held it upside down and gave the bottle a wriggle.
Suddenly the contents came pouring out in a rush and spilled all over his pants.
He cursed rapidly, rising to his feet and trying to shake off the worst of the beer.
Kathy grunted with satisfaction, “Why are you complaining? You already smell like the inside of a bottle.”
“Woah, did you do this?” Derek demanded, laughing.
Her eyes twinkled at him. Then she looked back at Drake, “I hear you’ve been more of a pain in the ass than usual. Care to tell me why?”
His lip curled in a sneer, “Why don’t you run on home to Robin?”
“I could say the same to you about you and Desiree.”
He glared. “There’s no me and Desiree.”
“There’s no me and Robin either,” she told him.
“He throw you out? Is that why you’re here, to beg for crumbs? Gotten used to the rich lifestyle, aye? I don’t know why I didn’t think to check the Archstones for you,” he murmured.
“If you’ll stop insulting me long enough, you’ll notice that I’m tiring out from standing here and trading insults with you,” she told him.
He hurriedly moved aside and helped her into the seat behind him, his motions gentle and tender as he arranged a small pillow behind her back to make her more comfortable.
“You little fool,” he grumbled. “You’re pregnant and you’ve been standing around like a soldier. Why didn’t you say something?” he scolded.
One of Kathy’s hands went to his cheek and he stilled. His gaze rose to hers and her heart rent in her chest at how thin and pale he had gotten. His face was gaunt, his clothes hung loosely on him. He truly had been starving himself.
“Why do pretend to be angry at me? And why do you not take better care of yourself?”
He stared at her as though he couldn’t look away to save himself. They didn’t notice as the members of his family slowly slipped away one after the other, giving them space.
Drake dropped to his haunches in front of her, all the fight going out of him and all the false bravado slipping away.
He buried his head in her lap and Kathy hesitantly dipped her hand into his hair.
“Please forgive me Kathy. I’ve been such a fool. I made a big mistake that day, Kathy,” he whispered brokenly.
She caressed his head, “What do you mean?”
He looked up at her, his eyes tortured. “I only said those things to you because I was scared you would get pregnant and my baby could hurt you. I was trying to protect you because I didn’t want to lose you; even if it meant protecting you from myself. And I didn’t think about the fact that I was losing you anyway.”
She cupped his cheek, letting the tears slip freely.
“Please don’t cry, Kathy. I cannot bear to see your tears,” he whispered, rising to his feet and lifting her into his arms. He sat back down and cradled her on his laps.
“You told me to go to Robin,” she pointed out in an aching whisper.
“I was a fool,” he assured her. You’re mine. Only mine. Maybe someday
Robin Krossings will fall in love, but it certainly isn’t going to be with my Kathy.”
She giggled as she lifted her face for his kiss and with a groan, he sank his lips against hers. The feeling was pure bliss. It was something she had never expected to feel again. As he kissed her, the baby started to kick in her womb again and she carried his hand to her stomach.
He froze for a minute and then slowly he began to caress her stomach. He stroked and caressed the stomach while still kissing her until the baby began to quiet.
Finally, he lifted his head and looked down at her, his eyes blazing with a love so profound that her breath caught in her throat.
“I love you,” he whispered.
Something loosened in her chest and her eyes still shining, she whispered, “I love you too.”
He took her lips in another fiercely possessive kiss. Then she pulled away laughing, happy tears sparkling in her eyes. “That’s enough kisses, lover boy. I don’t want my baby drinking its weight in beer from your lips.”
He laughed too and rubbed his nose against hers, feeling the rightness as everything seemed to slide into place.
“I love you so much Kathy. I cannot believe I ever thought of letting you go. And look, I am so glad about your baby, even though it’s Robin’s.”
She looked at him in surprise.
He continued, “I mean, I am not glad that I pushed you into another man’s arms, but I’m ecstatic that you’re back in mine. I want forever, Kathy and I don’t care that your baby isn’t mine. I’ll love it as my own.”
Kathy frowned, “But it is your baby.”
He grinned, “Come on Kathy, you don’t have to lie to make me feel better or anything. I am very happy right now and I couldn’t be happier. All I need is for you to forgive my stupidity.”
Kathy caressed a thumb down his lips and whispered, “I have no reason to lie. It is your baby. I’ve never been with Robin or anyone else.”
His nostrils flared, “Are you saying this is my baby?”
She nodded.
His joyful scream brought everyone running. They all skidded to a halt when they saw he was laughing and hugging Kathy and alternately peppering her entire face with kisses.