Chapter Sixty-Six
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ Mum springs from her chair, her hands in the air.
‘Because he only just asked!’ My voice is pitched too high. I sound like a fifteen year old losing her shit over something unjust.Some things never change.We’ve been going back and forth over this for at least five minutes, neither of us willing to hear the other out, our voices growing louder with each passing minute.
‘What, just now?’ She gestures between Kai and myself, finally grasping what I’ve been trying to tell—okay, yell.
‘Mum!Did that look like a proposal to you?Jeeze,’ I wheeze out. ‘Earlier. Kai proposed yesterday.’
‘But Shane was here yesterday?’
‘Yeah, and that was pretty shitty of you, thanks.’
‘Katherine!’
‘No, I get to swear all I want right now because it was underhanded and shitty and... bang out of order! So fuck-fuck-fuckity-fuck!’
‘I sometimes wonder where I got you from, my girl,’ she berates. ‘And Shane was here, but you were engaged to him. You were supposed to be marryinghim!’
I inhale a deep breath, ready to blow my top, when Kai takes my hands in his. His gaze is levelled at my mum as he says very calmly, ‘And now she’s not.’
The phrasebrooked no argumentsprings to my mind as he leads me back to a kitchen chair before pulling one out for my mum.
‘But that’s the only reason he was here. The only reason I said he could stay. He came over, then I saw your note saying you were ill. I let him stay so you could sort this all out.’
‘There’s nothing to sort out! Shane’s a douche!’
My mum sits down as though my words push her into the chair. ‘Katherine,’ she chastises again, this time in one of thoseoh, you’re such a disappointmentkind of ways.
The kitchen is quiet as Kai takes my hand, rubbing his thumb over the knuckles. It’s the reassurance I need right now.
‘Mrs. Saunders.’
‘Cynthia.’
‘Very well, Cynthia. Whatever has happened in the past, Kate has consented to be my wife. I understand this may have come as a shock to you, but it’s happening, and it’s happening soon.’
‘You’re not—’ Her eyes flick to my waistline.
‘Fu—fudge, Mum,no!’ Pregnant? Though I suppose I’d best get used to this question because it’s the conclusion everyone will jump to.
‘How soon?’ I ask him, my eyes suddenly full of tears as they find his.
‘As soon as we can arrange.’ His gaze conveys what his words don’t. That he wants me, that he loves me. That he’s as eager to get out of this house as soon as we can.Can I get an Amen!
‘But you barely know him!’
‘I know enough,’ I answer simply. ‘And I love him.’
‘You said you loved Shane.’
‘Believe me, Mum, this isn’t the same.’
‘Will you be staying here, then? In Australia? Getting married here?’
‘If it’s possible, but we have to get back soon,’ Kai answers. We’ve a shit storm to sort out, he doesn’t need to add. ‘But Kate will visit and you must visit us.’
Or not.
