Perhaps Sawyer was sitting in his house, trying to decide on the perfect way to woo her. But she had no guarantees of that, just a confident grandmother. He could just as easily be working on his renovation plans for the District. That was right around the corner, and despite her best efforts, Kat was unable to stop it from happening. She was right back where she’d started, although now she had a baby on the way and a broken heart to complicate things.
That said, Kat wasn’t the kind to sit around and wait on a man to decide what he wanted. She had a studio to relocate and a baby to plan for, so she would focus on what she could control. And if he ever showed up with his heart in his hands, maybe she wouldn’t stomp on it the way he’d stomped on hers.
Twelve
It was the last day for the District as Kat knew it and loved it. By five today, everyone had to be gone, for renovations to begin. Most of the tenants had already moved out, leaving the old warehouse hollow and empty sounding, when it had once been filled with life and art.
She did love Sawyer, but a part of her would never forgive him for turning this place into some high-end mini-mall for people who liked to be seen as art savvy. Even if he just made repairs and reopened, it wouldn’t be the same. Most of the people she knew wouldn’t be returning, because they couldn’t afford the rent. With each artist who had packed up and gone forever, the District lost a little bit of its soul.
Kat wasn’t sure what she was going to do. She was one of the few who could afford the new rent. She just wasn’t certain she wanted to come back. It wouldn’t be the same without Hilda and Zeke arguing, or the little chocolate shop owner coming around to test a new recipe on willing volunteers.
Kat’s place had an old outbuilding at the head of the driveway that had once been the kitchen. It got so hot in Charleston during the summer that the early homes had been built with the kitchen separate from the rest. Kat’s had been converted years later into a storage room when a new kitchen was added to the house, but it wouldn’t take much to put her equipment out there. That would be more convenient, especially with the baby, but it wouldn’t be the same.
As she opened the door to her studio, even it felt like its soul was gone. All her work and most of her tools were already packed up and gone. The movers had come the day before to take her bigger pieces of equipment and the giant owl that was too heavy for her to move. Today, she was taking a few last items off the walls and closing up shop.
The final thing, the most important thing, was for her to remove the sign above the shop door. The wooden plaque had been one of the first pieces she’d made when her father gifted her with some basic woodworking tools on her sixteenth birthday. The hand-carved sign had a crescent moon and stars etched around the edges, with a textured background that looked like cumulous clouds once she’d applied the dark oak stain and sealant. In the center were the words Wooden Dreams.
She had made the sign long before the idea of having her own studio developed. Her father had hung it proudly in the house, where it had stayed until after they’d passed and Kat sold her parents’ home. After college, when she’d heard about spaces available at the District, she’d gone down to pick a location and knew exactly where the sign needed to be. It wasn’t her best work, but it was one of her favorites, and Wooden Dreams became the name of her shop.
Looking up at it hanging there now, Kat felt the tears start to come.
Just one more item in the list of things she’d lost over the last few weeks. She’d lost her shop, her artist community, her chance at a family and, apparently, she’d lost her heart to a man too honorable to admit how he felt about her. Altogether, it was almost enough to send her back to the dark place she’d lived in after her parents died. Her little girl was the only thing keeping her going. And a little bit of hope. Hope that Sawyer might change his mind.
At least, if Grandma Ingrid was right to begin with. If she was wrong, then Kat had just given away her heart to someone who had no desire to take it. Either way, she hadn’t heard a peep from Sawyer. Finn had called to let her know he was heading back to China, and Jade had texted her about setting up a date for a baby shower, but other than that, it was like before the baby, when there were no Steeles in her life.
She had to admit life was simpler then. And lonelier. But she loved her daughter’s new family. So at least she had that.
In the empty cavern of the warehouse, the grind of the freight elevator was audible even on the far side where Kat’s studio was located. She didn’t pay much attention to it, though. It was probably another tenant here to load up their dreams and memories into cardboard boxes.
Instead, Kat unfolded her stepladder to take down her sign. On the second step, she couldn’t quite grasp it, so she climbed to the third, which she hated because she felt so unsteady. Thankfully, she was able to hold on to the door frame as she reached up with her other hand to get the sign.
“Whoa,” she said aloud, when the unexpected weight of the freed wooden panel threw off her balance. Her center of gravity was all out of whack because of the baby.
“Easy now,” someone said, and she felt strong hands at her lower back and hip steadying her.
Kat tucked the sign under her arm and looked around to see who was there. To her surprise, it was Sawyer.
“Hand it to me,” he said. “It will make it easier for you to get down.”
She reluctantly passed him the sign and climbed down to the wood plank floors. Once she was on firm ground again, she snatched the sign from Sawyer and turned her back on him to return to her shop. While a part of her was happy to see him after all this time, he was the reason she was packing up today, hovering on the verge of tears.
“Kat?” Sawyer called after her in confusion.
“I appreciate your help in keeping me from falling, but why are you here?” she asked. “I haven’t heard from you since the dinner party for your brother and then you show up out of the blue. It can’t be just to see me or you wouldn’t have waited so long. It must be because of the building. Are you here to make sure I don’t chain myself to the front doors or something?”
Sawyer appeared contrite. He tucked his hands into his pants pockets and looked down at the ground the way he always did when he was thinking. “I’m sorry, Kat.”
She put the sign into the last box she had left in the studio, and then turned around to face him. “Sorry about what? About closing this place down and uprooting everyone and everything I care about? About refusing to tell me how you felt for me, at the critical moment when I had to decide if I wanted to marry your brother? About disappearing off the face of the earth after I turned Finn down, making me wonder if I was crazy or just plain stupid for falling for you?”
He stood there and took every angry word she had to level at him. And when she was done, he reached into his breast coat pocket and pulled out an envelope addressed to her. “I’m sorry for all of it,” he said.
Sawyer held out the envelope until Kat reluctantly took it from him. In the corner the address was imprinted for the District Arts Center. But it wasn’t her District. This was his, with a fancy new logo to go with the new vision. She tore through the logo as she opened the envelope and pulled out the single-page notice inside.
Her eyes quickly scanned what was written, but she kept having to stop and go back because it didn’t make any sense. She couldn’t be reading the words she was reading. Starting back at the top, she went through it word by word, hoping this time she could believe what she saw.
It was an official letter from Sawyer’s development company about the closure today. It stated that they expected to complete the necessary renovations in three months. At that time, any previous tenants who wanted to return to their studio would be grandfathered in to rent it at their current rate. Any new tenants would pay the higher rates.
Kat’s hand began to tremble as she reached the end of the letter, making it hard to read. Espec
ially while her eyes were overflowing with tears. Sawyer was going to fix the place up so it was safe, and let them return. Hilda and Zeke could reopen their studios. They could all do so if they chose to.
It was an incredible compromise and it made her angry that she hadn’t thought of that first. But of course, Sawyer the Strategist had.
“Oh no,” Sawyer said, whipping a pressed handkerchief from his pocket. “You’re crying. I’m sorry. Please don’t cry, Kat. I thought you would be happy.”
She accepted the hankie, pressing it to her eyes and dabbing the tears from her cheeks. “I am happy. It’s just, I don’t know, pregnancy hormones combined with everything else. Ignore the tears.”
Sawyer reached out to wipe a fresh one from her cheek with his thumb. “That’s hard for me to do. I don’t like seeing you cry.”
Kat shook her head. “I can’t help it. What changed your mind about all this?”
“Once I realized how I felt about you, and that I wanted to be with you, I knew something had to be done about the situation here. You are more important to me than the bottom line. It may take a while to make back my investment in the renovations, but it isn’t a rush. I think what I have planned will allow the community here to continue safely, but also bring in more foot traffic. It’s a win-win, as long as you’re happy.” Sawyer reached out to take her hand.
“I’m happy,” she said, as he squeezed it gently. “Thank you. On behalf of everyone here, thank you.”
“I was just thinking, what would be the greatest gift I could give Kat for an engagement present?”
She froze in place, her hand still in his. She was almost uncertain she’d heard what he’d said, since he continued talking as though he hadn’t dropped a bomb in the conversation.
“A ring is traditional, of course, and I have one of those, too, but I really wanted to give you something that would have meaning for you. This place is what brought us together, in a way, so it seemed sort of poetic that it would be what would bring us back together...for as long as we both shall live. I love you, Kat. More than anything.”
“You love me?” Kat asked, the letter slipping from her fingers to the ground.
“I do. And I hope that you feel the same way. I wasn’t sure, so I’m taking a gamble here.” Sawyer reached into the same pocket, this time pulling out a small velvet box. “Finn gave me the ring he proposed with. I knew you would like it, but it felt wrong to give you the same ring. I was going to buy a different one and then an opportunity came along that I couldn’t pass up.”
He opened the lid on the box, which looked a great deal older than the one Finn had presented to her. This ring was vintage, she presumed, without even looking at it. Once the box was fully open, Kat gasped at the sight.
The diamond ring was unlike anything she’d seen in the jewelry cases at the mall. It actually looked like a daisy. In the center was a large, round, canary-yellow diamond, surrounded by six smaller diamonds that were at least a third of a karat each. The flower was set in platinum, with leaves and vines engraved into the band. It was unique. Beautiful. And yet oddly familiar.
“This was the ring that my grandfather Edward gave Grandma Ingrid when he proposed. She wore it every day after that, even after he passed away, until a few days ago, when she gave it to me.”
That’s where she had seen it before. Ingrid had worn it every time she’d seen her. Except the last time, when she’d come by her house. Kat thought back to Ingrid’s visit and her next stop, at the jeweler. Perhaps she’d been making plans then, having it cleaned or resized for Sawyer to give her.
“My grandparents were together for nearly sixty years. I don’t know how many I have to offer you, but I will happily give you any that I have left. If you’ll have me.”
* * *
“Will you marry me, Katherine?”
Sawyer dropped to one knee as he said the words and then held his breath. He wasn’t certain what the answer was going to be. He’d thought for sure she would accept Finn’s proposal, but she didn’t. She hadn’t said that she loved him, either. She’d just gotten weepy when he said the words, making him nervously talk far more than he’d intended to. But now he’d asked the question, and all he could do was await the answer.
After an extended moment of silence, he was getting more and more nervous.
“Kat?” he asked.
She was looking down at him with tears in her eyes and her hand covering her mouth.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded before wiping at her tears and taking a deep breath. “Sawyer, are you sure you want to marry me?”
He flinched at the question. “I’m absolutely sure. At the moment, I’m concerned about you, though. It doesn’t sound like you want to marry me.”
“I do,” she said quickly, then crouched down until her eyes were level with his. “But what about the baby?”
Sawyer frowned. “What about her?”
Kat swallowed hard and bit her bottom lip. “Are you going to be okay with raising another man’s child? Your brother’s child at that. It’s not the ideal way to start out a relationship, much less a marriage.”
“You’re pregnant?” Sawyer asked, with mock dismay and surprise.
Kat punched him in the shoulder. “I’m serious. It’s a lot to ask of you, to help me raise Finn’s baby. You and I both know how he can be. I have no idea how involved he’s really going to be in her life. I’m not going to pretend it isn’t a big deal.”
Sawyer understood her concerns. He’d spent the last week thinking all this through. He made sure every eventuality was thought through, every t crossed and every i dotted. He no longer had any doubts about what he wanted to do, so he had to make sure the next words he spoke were enough to convince her that it wasn’t the issue she believed it to be.
“Kat, I love you. And I love that baby. I have since the first moment I saw her on the screen and heard her heartbeat echo through the examination room. Yes, she’s my brother’s child. But that’s as close as she could possibly be without being my own. As far as I’m concerned, she’s as much mine as she is Finn’s daughter, and that’s how I’m going to treat her.
“I want to be there for every doctor’s appointment. I’m going to be there when she’s born and I’ll fight Finn to hold her first. I want to be there when she takes her first steps and says her first words. That baby is a part of you, and a part of Finn. And as much as he makes me crazy sometimes, you two are the most important people in my life. So that means this baby is going to be an amazing combination of the two of you. She’s already the love of my life. The apple of my eye. And I’ll love her just as much as I’ll love any children that you and I may have together someday.”
“Stop now, or I’m going to get jealous,” Kat said through her tears.
Sawyer smiled and reached out to caress her cheek. “There’s nothing to be jealous about. There’s not going to be another woman in South Carolina who is as loved and adored as my wife will be. But first, she’s got to accept my proposal.” He slipped the ring out of the box and held it up to Kat. “So what do you say? Do you want to marry me and become Mrs. Sawyer Steele?”
Kat looked at him and nodded through her tears. “I do. Yes!” She held out her hand and let him slip the family heirloom onto her finger. “It fits perfectly,” she said, before leaning in and giving Sawyer a kiss.
“I know this isn’t how you wanted things to turn out, or the family you envisioned when you came looking for Finn that day—” Sawyer began.
“It’s not,” Kat interrupted. “It’s so much better.” She kissed him again and he knew that she was right.
Their future together would be perfectly imperfect.
Epilogue
“And with the cutting of this ribbon, I’m happy to declare that the District Art Center is now officially reopened!”
Sawyer gave the nod to Kat a
nd she, along with several of her fellow artisans, used the ridiculously large scissors to cut the ribbon. The audience cheered and the media happily filmed the crowds as they pushed through the front door to see the new and improved District.
Kat was bursting with pride as Sawyer sidled up beside her and wrapped his arm around her ever expanding waist. She was just a week into her third trimester now and she was starting to feel like an overfilled balloon. She couldn’t imagine getting bigger and yet she had nearly three months left to go. Beatrice Astrid Steele, or Sweet Bea, as Sawyer referred to her, would be arriving sometime around Christmas. It was the best present she could ever expect.
The renovation of the District was a close second. Sawyer and his team had done amazing work on the building. It was basically a gut job, by necessity, but now there were sound floors covered in ceramic tile, ceilings that weren’t on the verge of falling onto anyone’s head, electrical and plumbing systems that worked and a new, blessed addition—air-conditioning and insulation. The open space around the warehouse was redone, too, with benches and fountains, trees, and an outdoor amphitheater for musical and theatrical performances. Later tonight, one of the local bands was going to be playing a concert to celebrate the reopening.
Kat and Sawyer followed the crowd inside. Most of the former artisans had returned, but in the unrented studios and newly developed spaces, there were some additions. Not only did they gain new painters, jewelry makers and other crafters, but they got some food vendors, too. A Mediterranean falafel place opened up near the entrance, an artisan Popsicle shop was on the third floor and a cupcake bakery—Kat’s favorite stop—was on the ground floor.
There were no commercial chains, something Sawyer had promised her, but there was definitely a nice, upscale feel about the place now. Yes, there were artists at work, but it didn’t feel like they were squatters in an abandoned warehouse any longer. It felt like they belonged, and their art was something worth coming to the District to see and, hopefully, to buy.
From Seduction to Secrets Page 14
