Loving Kate (Acceptance #3) (24 page)

“It’s a latte, no sugar because I wasn’t sure.”

“Thanks,” she says and sets the sugar down, drinking it just as it is. “Kate, why are you here?” Her words aren’t unkind, just direct. I’ve been Jess’s best friend for over twenty years, direct I can handle.

“I’m here because Mike loves you, because you are my niece’s  mother, because you’re family now, and most of all because I’m sure you could use a shoulder to cry on right now.”

“How’s Hailey doing?” she asks, sniffling.

“She’s fine. She and Jess bonded over
Frozen
and popcorn and M&Ms and then she grabbed Bob and some milk and fell asleep in her lap watching the movie.”

“Good.” She exhales loudly. “How’s Mike? Does he hate me?”

I reach across and grab her hand. “I’ve known Mike since we were seven years old. He’s the maddest I have ever seen him but he’s keeping it under control so Hailey doesn’t see it.” She starts crying again and I squeeze her hand to get her attention. “I’m not telling you that to hurt you. I’m telling you that because Mike is a love it or leave it kind of guy. If he wasn’t head over heels in love with you, he wouldn’t be this angry. He’d just brush it off. Give him time and a little bit of space and I promise you everything will work out.”

“Really?” she asks hopefully.

“Really,” I reply honestly. “Now, I don’t want to pry, but would you want to tell me what’s going on with your grandma? I don’t know if you know this, but I’m a psychology major and I’m going to specialize in children’s grief counseling. I’ve lost a lot of people in my life and have gone through a lot of therapy. I figured I could somehow give back.” I don’t know why I just told her all of that, but she really doesn’t know me from Adam, so it can’t hurt.

“You know, I think I’ve had the wrong impression of you this whole time. I blamed you for a long time as the reason I lost Mike. I understand now he was just all kinds of messed up back then but I didn’t know that. I just knew he liked to sleep around and was hung up on his ex.”

I laugh and it feels good. “I knew you didn’t like me and I figured that was the reason. Mike and I have a complicated history. We spent pretty much every single day together for twelve years. He knows me in a way nobody else does and nobody else ever will and I know him in that same way.” Her expression changes to a frustrated one. “I’m not telling you that to hurt you, I’m telling you that because he is my very best friend and I won’t let anything come between us ever again. And I also won’t let anyone hurt him. I’ll protect him like I would protect my own child. Our relationship is unconventional and it takes some getting used to. But I’m not a threat to you, Misty, I’m an ally. You make Mike happier than I’ve ever seen him and he loves you in a way he didn’t love me.”

I pause and take a sip of my coffee. When she doesn’t speak, I continue, “When I met Daniel, we had this spark, this connection I’d never experienced in all my years with Mike. I knew that even if I had been with Mike, as happy and as in love as we were, if I had met Daniel I would have left Mike for him.” Her mouth drops and I fully understand the feeling. “Yeah, that realization shocked me, too. I wasn’t able to explain it to Mike until just this afternoon. When you broke up with him, he told me how he felt about you. Although he didn’t equivolate it to sparks, he just said he felt
something
. We talked about it and he agreed it’s the same for him and how he feels about you. Mike will always be my very best friend, so I really hope you can learn to love me, too. Besides, Hailey Mae is my daughter’s sister and when I saw her tonight it was like a piece of Lila Hope was still walking around. She has her daddy’s eyes and I always knew Lila Hope would have them, too.”

Now I’m crying and she changes the subject quickly. “Breast cancer, metastasized to both lungs, and her brain. Inoperable, and as of tonight, officially a DNR. It’s just a matter of minutes or hours. She fought valiantly, and was doing home hospice, but then her lungs filled with fluid and the neighbor was visiting with her and called an ambulance. They drained the fluid before they knew she was on hospice but she felt so much better she agreed to keep getting treatment and to stay here. My mom was a young mom, she had me when she was sixteen, and my grandma had her when she was eighteen.”

The gasp leaves my lips before I can hold it back. “She’s only fifty seven,” I say, stating the obvious.

“Yup, she’s way too young for all of this. She’s been my rock, you know? When Mike never talked to me again, she instantly hated him. Told me I was too good for a loser like him and then she helped me with the stipulation that I never reach out to him. She said if he wanted to see me he’d come to me. And he did, by chance, but he kept coming back. She was so sick I didn’t want to tell her because I didn’t want to make her angry and for her to get worse. So I left things alone and got to know the real Mike. I knew it was going to bite me in the ass, but until I could figure out where we stood, my loyalty was to her. It killed me not telling him but every day I prepared Hailey for it. I wanted her to be excited that she has a dad like other kids.

“I finally told her tonight when I got here. I wasn’t really sure if she understood me or not. Sometimes she’s lucid and others not so much. But the biggest smile crossed her face and she told me
‘I can go home to God now, sweet pea,
because I know you and Hailey are in great hands’ 
So I got the doctor since she was lucid and we put the DNR back in place.”

“Misty, I’m so sorry.” She’s been through so much. “Is your mom coming?”

“No, she died years ago. I didn’t know her, anyway. She took off not long after I was born so it was always just me and my gram.”

No wonder she never went and found Mike.

“Well, you’ve got us now and Hailey has the whole crew wrapped around her finger already.”

She picks at the sleeve on her coffee. “They must all think I’m a real piece of work.”

“I think you’d be surprised. I have a feeling Mike was getting ready to get a good ass reaming when I left. We all love Mike but he’s made some really bad decisions the past few years.”

“Including leaving you?” Her hand flies to her mouth and I laugh.

“Especially leaving me, but it was the best thing he could have done in the long run. When he left me, he finally found himself. That’s something he needed to do more than anything else.”

“Ms. Lowe, you can go back in now. Her vitals are dropping so it won’t be much longer. You can stay as long as you want.”

“Go on. I’ll wait here. I brought my kindle and I’m not leaving you alone.”

“Thanks, Kate, for everything.”

After texting Daniel back and forth for a bit about what’s going on here, I have a better understanding of what went on there, too. I’m glad they all ganged up on Mike; it’s the only way he would ever really open his eyes.

It’s late, or rather early, when Misty comes back out of the room. Her grandma passed a little while ago and she took her time saying goodbye. Although she’s calmed down a bit since it first happened, her tears are still coming and I know they will for a long time. After she signs all the paperwork and collects her belongings, I drive her back to my house.

It’s three am and I know from Daniel’s text messages everyone went home except Mike. They’re on the couch talking when we walk in. Misty looks over and sees Hailey all snuggled up on the couch and relaxes a little. The bed is pulled out and all made up for them to stay the night, and when Mike pulls Misty into his arms Daniel and I take that as a sign and go up to bed.

“I’m so proud of Mike,” I tell him when we’re snuggled together under the covers.

“Why?”

“Because of all the things he could have said or done to tear Misty down even more when she is already at her lowest point, he didn’t. He showed her how much he cares about her instead.”

“Good point, but he’s still angry. I think we helped him through the worst of it but I’m not sure how quickly he’ll forgive her.” He pulls me close and nuzzles my neck.

“Well, hopefully not as long as it took you. I’d hate for him to lose even more time than he’s already lost.”

Daniel stills and tenses up. “I’m sorry for that, Kate. I don’t know if I’ve ever really apologized for how I made you feel after.” My heart pounds in my chest with all that pain bubbling to the surface

“I hurt you first. We both made mistakes. I’m just glad we only lost two months and not four years. I love you, Daniel, with all of my heart and soul.”

“I love you, too, Kate, so much. Make a baby with me.”

Holy what?

“We have a baby, Daniel, and we talked about this already.”

He sighs and kisses me tenderly. “I want a baby girl that looks like you.”

A smile spreads across my face but thankfully it’s dark and he can’t see it. “Daniel, someday. I want nothing more than to have babies with you. But right now we need to focus on Lucas. Let’s make him the center of our world for just a little bit longer, at least until he’s out of diapers. And maybe then, if we decide to get married, we can figure the rest out.”

“What do you mean if? Are you saying you don’t want to marry me now?” he snaps, his tone hard.

“No, I um…”

Do I tell him it’s really bugging me he hasn’t even mentioned my ring?

“Well, I gave you my ring back after all that happened and you still have it, so I guess I just thought now that we’re living together maybe you were content with this.”

“Oh, baby, if you think I’m going to settle for content you’re crazy. I told you when you took off that ring that you weren’t getting it back until we were getting married and I meant that. But with everything going on there just hasn’t been a right time to figure
us
out.”

God, I feel so stupid.

“Don’t get all quiet on me, Kate. I’m so in love with you that all I can think about is making babies and buying houses. I know you have big plans for your career and Lila’s Place, but part of me wouldn’t mind if you just had my babies and stayed home to bake cookies all day.”

He cracks me up, but I also know he’s only half joking. He had a stay at home mom and so did I until she died.

“I guess I never really thought about my kids and my job aspirations. I’ve just been so focused on the end result I’ve never really thought about much else. I’ve been wracking my mind, trying to figure out how to make it all work with Lucas as it is and there’s one thing I’ve been toying around with in my mind.”

His hands slide up the back of my shirt and he tries to massage away the tension in my neck. “You’re tense. Tell me what you’re thinking, maybe I can help.”

I wanted to figure this out on my own but since we’re talking about it maybe he can help.

“Well, thanks to my lovely double major I have a degree in finance as well as psychology. I’ve been contemplating opening Lila’s Place now and building up the funding and staffing. Taking on a more executive role so to speak. And I’d make sure now, more than ever before, we have on-site daycare.”

“Go on,” he urges.

“Well it’s not that I don’t enjoy finance and the aspects of corporate work, I do to some degree. Just not the kind of work my dad wanted for me. But if I started Lila’s Place now then kids like Lauren could start benefitting sooner rather than later. We could staff it with amazing psychologists that maybe I could use as my mentors further down the line when and if I decide to go back to school.”

“I thought you wanted to be a grief counselor? You need to do what’s right for you, Kate, not what you think I want you to do.”

After placing a tender kiss on his lips, I continue, “I did, well I do, but honestly, Daniel, I’ve kind of had my fill of grief. And if I have the best of the best working for me and I can still run this organization and do what I love...helping people…I’m pretty sure I’d be happy with that. I want what is best for us, for our kids, and I can always go back to school at any time.”

“It’s your decision but I’ll support you whenever and however I can. Both ideas are great and whatever you choose to do, a lot of people are going to benefit either way. Now, future Mrs. McCormick, can I at least
practice
making babies with you?”

Oh hell.

“Absolutely, Mr. McCormick, show me how it’s done.”

This morning we had the services for Misty’s grandma. There weren’t too many people—a few friends and neighbors and all of us. Mike has been there for her every step of the way. Tonight, we have the bachelor and bachelorette parties and tomorrow I’m watching Hailey for Misty and Mike so they can finally have their long overdue talk.

The boys are playing poker and having a stripper or two at Connor’s house while we have our sex toy party here, with a few strippers stopping by to torment the bride, of course. Lucas is spending his first night away from home with Daniel’s parents. I’m so nervous but Daniel is completely relaxed.

“Knock knock,” Connor says as he walks in with…a twelve inch penis?

“Connor, what in the world…” I’m at a loss for words, but as soon as Daniel sees it he busts up laughing.

“You went and saw Handy Andy without me?”