“What if she just throws us out? I didn’t really ask her if it was okay to bring you.” Katherine looked a little green. She’d thrown up once today already and I didn’t know if it was the nerves or the morning sickness.
“Listen, we will stick together no matter what. Okay? It will be fine.” I didn’t know what to say to encourage her or make her feel better. She had been keeping all of her thoughts to herself, so I didn’t even know what she was thinking or feeling without making assumptions.
I pulled up to the house and parked in the drive. I had to admit; Baxter was a rich old devil. He had a veritable mansion—a two-story, sprawling colonial, fully bricked. And the landscaping had to have cost him a half-million dollars. At one point I’d have snatched this house up and been the talk of the town. Now, the only thing that mattered was Katherine.
It was strange to me how I had changed simply because I’d fallen in love. Katherine had been the best thing to ever happen to me, and I had almost wrecked it by my insecurity that she only wanted my money.
“Why did you break up with her?” Katherine’s timid question drew my attention away from the trappings of John Baxter’s life, and at the same time, made me wonder why she’d even ask that. I paused before answering, studying her face. Her bottom lip quivered, and she picked at her fingernails as she looked away from my face. She didn’t really need to know, but she deserved to have answers and peace.
“I left for a few reasons. She was definitely only out for my money, so it was a no brainer. But she didn’t want a family with me. I have always wanted to have a few kids. And she was just an average socialite—the kind who attends parties just to flaunt their wealth and status. I’m not that person. I never have been. We just weren’t compatible.”
I took Katherine’s hand and held it, even when she tried to pull away from me. Her brows furrowed with some unreadable emotion, I wanted to calm her. Her fingers were cold, so I wrapped both hands around hers and warmed them.
“Why all of the sudden are you asking this?”
She shrugged and looked down, then back to my face. “You seem pretty hung up on the money thing.” Her eyes searched my face, and my heart sank. That’s what she really thought all of this was about.
“No, Kat.” I took a firm tone with her but kissed the back of her hand so she’d know I was not upset. “This has never been about keeping my money all to myself. This has always been about my heart. Would you like it if I married you only because you were carrying my baby? If I didn’t genuinely love you, and I was only interested in what you gave me?”
She looked up to me with understanding in her gaze. “Of course not. I want you to want me, not just the baby.”
“And I want you to love me, for richer or for poorer. I, like anyone else on this planet, deserve someone to love me for who I am.” I kissed her hand again and smiled, which prompted her to smile back at me. “You really had a crush on me?”
I winked at her as her cheeks flushed and she looked away. “Just take me inside.” The playful way she spoke told me she was feeling a bit better.
I climbed out of the car and opened the door for her, taking her hand to help her stand. Our lips met briefly before we started for the door. The winding sidewalk snaked past the flower beds, now hosting fall foliage. Soon the green would disappear entirely, and we’d be thrust into the dead of winter, where everything turned brown and got buried in a layer of ice or snow.
I caught Katherine staring at the pumpkins and gourds on the front step and made a mental note to take her back to the farmer’s market and buy her whatever her heart desired. She deserved the entire world for putting up with my antics.
“You ready?” I asked her, poised to knock on the door.
“As I’ll ever be.” She took a deep breath and blew it out. “Let’s do this.”
I knocked and we waited. It was no surprise that it took a while for someone to answer. The house was so large I wondered why they didn’t have a bell, only the barely visible brass knocker. When the door finally creaked open, a haggard-looking Jillian stood in front of us. She wore posh house slippers and a bathrobe, hemmed in by a fuzzy trim. The sleeves hung in flowing satin waves, and the robe itself puddled on the ground around her feet. Her hair had been tied up in a bun, and her makeup washed off. She looked tired.
“Can we come in?” Katherine nestled into my side closer, and I put my arm around her. Jillian’s eyes flicked from Katherine to me and back. The animosity she harbored was palpable as her eyes narrowed to slits and her lips puckered.
She stepped aside without a word and gestured down the hall, and Katherine took off. She captured my hand, and I followed her. The inside of the house was no less extravagant than the outside. Expensive original paintings lined the walls, hung in gold-dusted frames. The great room welcomed us to very uncomfortable-looking wingback chairs, and a Victorian era sofa. This was exactly why I didn’t find myself compatible with Jillian. This was 100% her.
Give me a chunky leather sofa in front of a 60-inch flatscreen to watch the game and I was a happy man. Who needed to show off their wealth with material objects?
“You may as well sit down.” Jillian flopped onto the couch in a show of leg I hadn’t seen in a decade. “I’d call the maid, but I gave her the day off. And Tita Pera is sick.”
“Is John home?” I settled down next to Katherine on the sofa. If John were there, I could at least escape this torture and talk about politics or something less painful than this conversation.
“John is in Baltimore. He won’t be back until day after next.” Her smug tone wasn’t anger, more fatigue or irritation. Maybe she missed him? “You can come over when he is home. We can plan dinner or something.”
I watched Katherine’s eyes grow wide and a fleeting smile graced her lips before it vanished, swallowed by a serious expression.
“Mom, I need you to understand that Victor and I are together now. We’re getting married and I’m having his baby.” Kat’s eyebrows rose, and she glanced at me before locking her gaze on Jillian’s face.
“I know, dear. And all of that is just going to take me time to get used to.” She fussed with her robe, picking at the fluffy material and situating it so she was perfectly on display. “Family is really the only thing that matters.”
Katherine’s surprise was real, and so was mine. Both of us hid our grins as Jillian looked down at her hands folded on her lap. Maybe after all this time she realized money can’t talk to you or comfort you when you’re hurting, but family does, and Katherine loved her mother enough to be that, even after all this trouble.
“You’re right, Mom. Money can buy things that make you happy, but it can’t get you love.” Kat looked at me and squeezed my knee. “I’m glad you have John, and you have us too. And we are an awkward family, but we are still family.”
“So—” Jillian smacked her legs and her expression changed on a dime “—what are we going to name the little guy? Do we know boy or girl? When are you due?”