by Bree Cariad
For a week that thought played around in the back of her mind, slowly going further and further back until she pretty much forgot about it. Thankfully, she found a volunteer position that she could go to as often as she was able. Two hours on any given day at the animal shelter playing with the puppies and kittens. She also got the nerve to sign up for a couple of the classes offered on the event calendar: How to Throw a Dinner Party, because she had no idea even though she had watched her mother do it a couple times, and Flying a Kite, because it sounded like fun.
Thursday, she walked home from the animal shelter, feeling rather comfortable with the winding streets that comprised her new town. Nothing was straight here and somehow it made sense. Hearing a car coming up behind her, she moved to the very edge of the dirt path and expected the car to pass. Instead, it pulled to a stop and turning, she spotted a black Mercedes. The passenger window rolled down and Xander peered at her from inside the car. “Need a ride?” he asked.
“I’m just headed home.”
He opened the door and beckoned her in. “Please. I’d rather take you.”
Shrugging, because home was only about another fifteen-minute walk, she slid into the passenger seat and closed the door.
“Were you checking out the town?” he asked in a pleasant enough voice, though there was a hint of steel there she didn’t quite understand.
“No. I’m volunteering at the animal shelter for a couple hours a day. It’s easier to walk than to have Mom ferry me to and from.”
His jaw stiffened and he relaxed, almost as though forcing himself to. “Believe it or not, there are some bad parts of town. The area by the shelter is not one of the better ones. It would be more prudent for someone to drive you.”
“It’s fine. Really. Plus, I really enjoy the walk.”
He pulled in front of her house and turned toward her. “Kathy. Please. Don’t walk down there again.” Surprised by the earnest tone in his voice, she found herself nodding.
“Okay.”
A bright smile lit up his face. “Thank you. Now you better get inside before the tongues start to wag that Alexander Covington was seen dropping Kathryn Bretherton off in his car.” He gasped as though shocked and winked at her making her laugh. She climbed out but before she closed the door, he held out an envelope. “This is for you.”
“What is it?”
“You’ll find out soon.”
Without another word, he pulled the passenger door closed and slowly pulled out onto the road. Well, that was curious. As soon as she walked inside, she called, “I’m home!”
“Hi, honey,” Carilyn called back from the kitchen. “Did you have fun?”
“Yep,” Kathy said, walking in to join her. “Need some help?” The kitchen counters were covered with a bevy of vegetables and meats. It looked like her mother was recipe creating again.
“Yes, could you chop those?” Carilyn pointed to the far counter. “I’ll finish these.”
Placing the envelope to the side, Kathy washed her hands.
“What’s in the envelope?”
“I don’t know. Xander gave it to me.”
“Really? When did you see him?”
Kathy grabbed a chopping knife and board and went to work. “On my way home. He stopped and gave me a ride.”
“Well, that was nice of him.”
“Yeah and after we got here he handed me the envelope and told me it was for me but wouldn’t tell me what it was.” And it was kind of bugging her. She wished she had opened it outside. Once inside, her first thought was to help with dinner.
“And you don’t want to run upstairs and see?” her mother teased. “What kind of daughter have I raised?”
Giggling, Kathy finished chopping. “What else do you need?”
“For you to go upstairs and open your envelope so you can know what’s in it so that you can make up something to tell me, because the suspense is killing me.”
“Thanks, Mom!” Kathy grabbed the envelope and quickly made her way upstairs. The warm peach room that welcomed her really felt comfortable and she tapped the tiny teddy bear that sat next to her clock before kicking off her shoes and plopping onto her bed. Once she bunched up the pillows behind her, she opened the envelope and pulled out… the piece of paper she had put inside the cushions.
“Oh, no.” Heat infused her cheeks as she now knew that he had found the list. He must think her an idiot. Several more pages fell from the envelope and she was half afraid to look at them. Finally figuring they couldn’t be any worse than a guy finding out she was so stupid she had to write herself out a cheat sheet of questions to ask him, she opened up the folded eight-by-ten sheets only to gasp and quickly skim through each one. They were his answers, written in his own hand. And they were so complete that lying there surprised and delighted, she learned more about him than she probably would have at twenty dinners.
Q1: Ask him what he likes to do for fun
Well, now that is a full essay possibility, but considering I do not wish to send you to sleep, I will try to be brief. I would have to separate my fun into two categories: fun and stress-relief. For stress-relief, I enjoy racquetball (who doesn’t enjoy hitting a hard ball at a wall, knowing it is coming right back for them), rugby (men who are out to hurt one another by chasing a ball – I have yet to find a woman who understands this), running, and – don’t laugh – bird watching. For fun, I love to sail, travel, channel surf, attend the opera (okay, that was a lie – does anybody actually attend the opera for fun?), play rugby (again men chasing a ball and attacking each other for it; being on top of the scrum is fun… at the bottom it isn’t), and jog by the waterfront... at least in Chicago.
Grinning as she finished the answer to her first – sort of – question, she stopped when she heard her name called. Putting the sheets down, she walked over and opened the door. “Yeah?”
“Kathy, sorry honey. Can you come finish cooking the vegetables? I’ve burnt myself and your dad’s coming home to take me to the hospital.” Darting out of her room, Kathy spotted her mother at the bottom of the stairs with a cloth wrapped around her right arm.
“What happened?” she asked, scurrying down the stairs.
“I wasn’t paying attention,” Carilyn admitted. “Bent to take the roasted vegetables out of the oven and accidentally laid my arm on top of the stove. While it was on.”
“Mom! I could have driven you to the hospital.” Kathy’s breath sped up as she felt like panicking. She hated it when her mom got hurt.
“That’s sweet. But I’ll be fine. They’ll just put some sort of medication on my arm and wrap it up. But if you could fry the rest of the vegies? And then follow the directions I’ve written for the rest of the meal? I’d appreciate it.”
“Sure.” As Kathy went into the kitchen to see how complicated her mother had made the recipe, she heard the garage door open. “Dad’s home!”
Her mother walked past her to the door that opened to the garage and waited. It opened a few seconds later and instantly her father unwrapped her mom’s arm, looked at it, wrapped it up and escorted her out to his car. He walked back inside a couple seconds later and walked over to Kathy. “Are you all right?” he asked calmly.
“Worried about Mom. Is she gonna be okay?”
“She’ll be fine. These look like second-degree burns so she’s going to be hurting for a while, but they’ll heal. Will you be all right here by yourself? We’re likely to be some time.”
“I’ll be fine. I’ll finish the dinner like she asked and then put it in the fridge so you can eat it when you get home.”
“Thanks, honey.” He pulled her into a tight hug. “I’ll call you if we’ll be much later than your bed time.”
After he left she shook her head. It was only three in the afternoon. He expected them to be there for six hours? “Poor Mom.”
Waiting wasn’t easy, and Kathy felt too antsy to go upstairs and read Xander’s letter. Instead, after dinner was finished, she put it in the fridge an
d did the dishes before going into the living room and waiting. By five all the worst ideas began to form inside her head. What if Mom was scarred for life? What if her arm was so damaged that it had to be amputated? What if something was really wrong and she never returned home?
As tears spilled down her cheeks, Kathy paced back and forth along the living room floor. When the phone rang just before six, she ran for it. “Is she okay? Are you coming home?” she called loudly almost before she had even lifted the receiver.
“Kathy? What’s wrong?” The voice on the other end of the line was not the one she expected, but she found herself spilling everything anyway.
“Dad took Mom to the hospital and he said things would be okay but it’s been hours and I don’t know how she is and—” Sobs ripped through her throat and she burst into tears. Cami kept talking, sounding frantic herself, but Kathy was crying too loudly to hear her.
“Kathy!” Cami’s shriek finally made Kathy hiccup and hold in her sobs for a second. “Dad and Xan are on their way over. They’ll stay with you until your parents get back. Okay?”
“Okay,” she managed to answer. Cami kept talking in her ear, probably more to try and keep her mind busy than anything and Kathy sat on the floor shivering the whole time. When a knock came at the front door, she jumped up and ran to it. Opening the door and spotting the two intense Covingtons was a wonderful thing in this moment. “They’re here,” she murmured into the phone.
“Okay. Call back if you need me.” The phone clicked and Kathy stood back so Alex and Xander could enter.
“Alexander,” Alex said quietly as his son took Kathy by the hand, his tone almost a warning.
“Doesn’t matter,” Xander said tersely. “This small town needs to grow up.” He led her over to a sofa and sat down, pulling her down next to him. Leaning her head against his chest, she realized she was still shaking. “Dad’s calling the hospital now, Kathy. He’ll find out what’s going on. Want to tell us what happened?” His voice was soft and yet had the quality her father had, the kind that made her want to tell him everything.
“Mom burnt her arm on the stove. Dad said it was second-degree burns. He took her to the hospital and it’s been hours. I don’t know how she is. What if something happens?”
“Shh,” he whispered, pulling her into a tight hug. “Your dad wouldn’t have lied to you. If he said she had second-degree burns, he should know. And emergency rooms take forever. Once I had to go to the ER for breaking my toe. I was there for five hours. Want to know what they told me?” Fighting her tears, she nodded. “That there was nothing they could do for a broken toe. I would just have to deal with it.”
“After five hours?” she asked, wincing at her sore throat.
“Yes.”
“Were you mad?”
“Yes.”
“And with your bad toe, you couldn’t play rugby.”
He chuckled softly. “Or racquetball.”
“All right,” Alex said, walking back into the living room. Kathy hadn’t even realized he wasn’t in the room. “We’ll stay with her until you can get home… Yes… I think she might prefer to hear it from you… All right.” He held the phone over. “Your father.”
Sitting up, she put the phone to her ear. “Daddy?”
“Hi, honey. I’m sorry I didn’t call. Your mom’s fine. Her skin’s a little damaged, but in about three weeks, it’ll be healed. There may be a little scarring, but not much. Are you going to be okay with the Covingtons? I’m sure they would be fine at taking you over to my brother’s house.”
Which was the last place Kathy would want to be. “I’m fine. I was just worried about Mom.” They spoke for a few more minutes before she finally turned off the phone, feeling like an idiot. “Sorry,” she finally said, embarrassed to even look at the two men who were standing across the room.
“It’s fine,” Xander said in a soothing tone, sitting down next to her. “Have you eaten?”
“Umm… no. I was waiting for them.” Plus Kathy had never been able to eat when worried.
“All right. How’s pizza sound?”
“Good.”
Xander gently removed the phone from her grasp and made a call. “What do you like on your pizza?” he asked.
“No olives or onions.” Everything else she could handle.
“Yes, a large, thick-crust pizza with everything except olives and onions.” He continued his order while Kathy tried to ignore the fact Xander’s father was staring at her. She must look awful. He was probably wondering why his son was making such a fuss. She certainly did. The pizza arrived and once she’d eaten, Kathy began to feel better. Unfortunately that made her feel worse to have two men watching over her like she was a little kid.
Deciding to be brave, she said, “I’m sure I’ll be fine now. You two can go home. There’s no reason for you to sta—” Xander shook his head, stopping her mid-word.
“We aren’t leaving until your father gets home,” he said firmly. “So,” he said, as if to distract her – and it completely worked, “You read the letter?”
“Only the first answer. Mom called me down at that moment because of her arm.”
“Who went into the hospital and didn’t come out?” Alex asked in his deep voice, startling her.
“Dad,” Xander said in a terse tone. Alex just held his hand up to forestall whatever he was about to say.
Confused, Kathy shook her head. “I don’t think I know of anyone that went into the hospital. Well, me with my appendix when I was ten, but that was about…” Her voice trailed off as she remembered and gulped. “My nana. Mom’s mom. She went in for routine surgery and died due to the anesthetic.”
Alex’s eyes were surprisingly kind. “Which makes sense as to why you might overreact when your mother goes in for something small.”
Kathy nodded, but she wasn’t sure she liked Mr. Covington. Unconsciously, she scooted closer to his son. Xander moved as though to put his arm around her shoulders, but his father shook his head.
“Dad!” Xander exclaimed, leaping to his feet and pacing back and forth along the floor. “This is to help. Why can’t this town get it through its thick skull? There’s nothing wrong with it!”
“Do you want to endanger her reputation?”
“No,” Xander sighed, shaking his head and seeming to deflate. “No, I don’t want that. Not that I care what anyone here thinks.”
Kathy was pretty sure they were discussing her, but in what context she wasn’t sure.
“Wait for the banns, son. That’s all you have to wait for.”
Taking a deep breath, Xander nodded and offered her a small smile. “You must wonder if we’re crazy.”
She offered a timid one back. “I know you’re talking about me, I just don’t understand the perspective.”
Nodding, he walked back over, though this time he sat as far away from her as possible on the sofa. “This town lives about two centuries out of date in some ways. I wish I could explain, but by law I cannot. Just please… don’t think it’s anything bad. It’s not.”
His words were more polite, but the meaning was loud and clear to her. It’s not you, it’s me. Wow. She had only seen him a couple times and she had already received the age-old brushoff. Well, he had seen her at her worst today. Nodding, she leaned back against the back of the sofa, pulling her feet up next to her. “Do you think they’ll be long?” she asked Alex.
“He figured another hour.”
Curling up with her eyes closed, she just wished the day to be over. It had sucked to the nth degree.
Chapter 6
Somehow she had managed to fall asleep, not waking up until her parents came home. Once she was sure her mother was okay – drugged out and giggly, but okay – Kathy went up to bed, not even bothering to say goodnight to the Covingtons. Her sleep was too restless as she had tossed the letter and the bear into the drawer under her bed and couldn’t get them out of her head.
I’m such a stupid girl. Why would I think someone l
ike him would want me anyway? Sure, he was nice enough to respond, but my cheat sheet to myself sounded like a kid wrote it and then he saw me in freak-out mode.
Groaning, Kathy finally gave up trying to sleep just before five and went downstairs to make breakfast.
“Good morning.” She looked up and smiled in relief at her mother who looked awake if rumpled standing at the door to the kitchen.
“How’s your arm?” Kathy asked giving her mom a gentle hug, afraid to brush against her hurt arm.
“Burning,” Carilyn admitted. “But honestly, Kathy, I’ve been in trouble with your father enough to know burn. I’m fine. How are you?”
“Okay. I kinda freaked out yesterday and Xander and his father had to come babysit me. I’m sure,” she added in a fake voice as she tossed a pancake into the air and watched it land exactly where she wanted it, “we won’t be seeing him again.”
“Oh, honey.” A wealth of understanding colored Carilyn’s tone and she hugged her from behind with her good arm. “I’m sorry.”
Kathy set the table so her mom didn’t have to and as they sat down at the kitchen table, her father joined them. “How are you this morning?” he asked gently, watching her push a pancake around her plate.
“Numb, I think.”
Reaching out he grasped her shoulder, squeezing lightly. “Your mom’s fine, honey.” Kathy nodded and ate because it would cause less questions and as Gerald finished his breakfast, he turned to her again. “Think you can make dinner today? Your mom can’t do a lot with only one arm and I’ve told her she won’t.” The warning tone on the last word made her mother roll her eyes and Kathy grin. She had heard it toward herself many times. “We have, unfortunately, a dinner guest tonight.”
“Dad! No,” she begged. “I’m not ready.”
His eyes softened. “I know. But I’d already agreed to this one. If any more come up before your mother is well, I’ll put them off. For now, I need you to make dinner.”
“Okay,” she said, giving in. She had planned on doing it anyway, but knowing another suitor dork was coming made her wish dinner was already over. After all, Kathy hadn’t even had the chance to mourn over a guy who wasn’t actually interested in her.