by Brenna Lyons
Katheryn looked at him suspiciously. “You’re not telling me something,” she accused.
Keith’s eyes darkened and he tried to look away again. She stood from his lap and sat straddled over his legs so he couldn’t avoid her. Katheryn brushed his sandy hair away from his forehead.
“Keith, please don’t ignore me,” she pleaded.
“Idle threats. That’s all,” he whispered, but his hands tightened around her, drawing her further into his body.
“Our baby?” she guessed.
Keith looked at her in horror.
“That’s not it. You hadn’t even considered that possibility. He threatened me, but that’s not new. He wouldn’t threaten Carol. That would put him far too close to me. The only person left to threaten me with is—” She suddenly felt it hard to breathe. A tear ran down her cheek.
“Idle threats,” he repeated, wiping away the tear gently.
“No, they’re not. He has nothing left to lose. It’s the only bargaining chip he has left.” She cupped his face. “Tell me, please.”
“I’m prey for any tigers strong enough to invade your range and take me,” Keith replied evenly.
“No. I can’t let that happen.”
“He won’t,” he soothed her. “He’ll wait until you’re very pregnant to move on me. He won’t risk having nothing to hold over you ever again. Even if you’re carrying, he doesn’t dare move on me for five or six months.”
“No, I think you’re wrong. He’s running out of time. Whatever he does, he has to do it quickly.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Inspiration— Why now? Why demand Kyle, now?”
“You know why?”
“I think I do. He’ll lose Kyle if he doesn’t bind him soon.”
“Why?”
“Several reasons. At five, I couldn’t destroy him, but I could stop him from taking me out. Kyle will be able to stop him very soon. He’ll get in there and be in the same boat he’s in with me, now. He has to win soon or not at all.”
“Go on,” he urged her.
“Kyle will reach the age of reason soon, true compassion for others and true comprehension of right and wrong. He already understands cause and effect, and he is developing empathy for others. Already, Ty has to keep Kyle in the dark. If he didn’t, Kyle could and probably would fight the atrocities Ty is committing through his mind. When Kyle learns to get past that mental curtain, Ty is through, and he knows it.”
Keith nodded. “How much time do we have?”
“From the insane things he’s doing, I’d say it’s coming to a head.” Katheryn bit her lip and considered what she knew for sure, what clues she had.
“What is it?” Keith asked in concern.
“You see Kyle again on Friday.”
“Yes, I do. Why?”
“Cancel.”
“No. Why?”
“He’ll use you to prove he can. I know it.”
“Not seeing him won’t stop that. Monica was nowhere near him. Not seeing him may actually set him off.”
“Why would it?”
“He wouldn’t have the chance to intimidate me. He likes that.”
She nodded and bit her lip again. “I still wish you’d cancel—for me.”
“Tell me why.”
“I don’t know,” she answered in frustration. Katheryn calmed herself before continuing. “I have to ask. It’s childish, I know. I just feel better knowing you’re not with him.”
Keith smiled grimly. “If something did happen, can you do anything?”
“If I’m there and I know it’s happening, absolutely. If I’m not—” She shrugged. “I mean, I can, but only if I know it’s happening. I won’t lie to you. I might and I might not.”
“Wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t he want you to?”
Katheryn considered it carefully. “Probably not. He wants to convince me I can’t protect you. He’ll try to hide it as long as possible, until he’s almost done, and I can’t do much to interrupt him.”
“Can he do that?”
“He can try. He can talk to Kyle without my knowledge. Luckily, the more impressive things require a drain from me— At least, they have in the past.”
“So, you could have stopped him?” There was no accusation in his tone. There was only confusion.
“I didn’t know I could then. The problem is, I can’t differentiate between Kyle being upset or hurt and Ty controlling him to use his powers.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means he can cause false alarms to drive me batty. It also means I can’t ignore anything.”
“You mentioned a shield you use. Can you do that for me? If he can’t get into my mind, he can’t do anything, right?”
Katheryn shook her head miserably. She wished it were that simple. “No. No, I can’t do that,” she admitted.
Keith cupped her cheek. “Now there’s something you’re not telling me.” His voice was calm, but she could read the anger in his tense jaw and darkened eyes without playing in his mind.
“The only way I can keep him out of your mind is to control you first.”
“Like the Coke?” he asked in shock.
She nodded. “Sort of. It can be done easier—gentler, if you were willing. And I think if you were willing, it would be harder for him to break the link, maybe impossible.” Katheryn sighed and shook her head.
“No, I don’t want that,” he managed.
“Neither do I,” she assured him. “I can’t do that to you again. That’s why there’s no way.”
Keith nodded his agreement. “Well, I think my appetite is ruined. How about you?”
“Pretty much. Oh, well. I’ll make it again someday.”
* * *
Keith arranged his parts of the ceremony with as much fervor, if not as expertly, as Katie. By Thursday morning, he had ordered a bouquet of white and purple-edged roses surrounding a single red rose for Katie; white rose boutonnières for himself, Steven, Kyle, and one for an uncle of her choosing to give her away—or to dedicate to her father, and a corsage of the purple roses for Carol. He also purchased rings for the ceremony and set up a friend of Gabe’s as the photographer. How Katie made it all look so easy was beyond him.
He waited nervously for lunchtime then rushed to meet her at the courthouse. Their blood tests in hand, they produced their drivers’ licenses and birth certificates, signed the statement of intent, and left with receipt in hand.
“In the age of computers and with all that information, why does it take a week to accomplish this?” Keith grumbled.
Katie laughed in amusement. “Because Pennsylvania is a Commonwealth, of course. They have to protect hotheaded people by giving us a cooling off period, like buying a gun,” she teased. “And, because you have no choice if you want to get married here. They have no competition.”
He grunted his agreement. “So, tonight’s the big dinner,” he mused. “Nervous?”
“Terrified,” she admitted.
“Why? You loved my grandfather, and he loves you.”
“If it was just Steven, I wouldn’t be nervous. What about your father and grandmother?”
“Well, my grandmother is going to love you. She and Grandpa have been together almost fifty-five years, now. So, you can guess that they agree on some things.”
“And your father?”
“Dad’s a little stuffy, but he’s okay. I promise, he doesn’t bite.”
Katie’s mouth twitched in amusement. “Just like you don’t bite?” she teased.
Keith laughed heartily. “Only when you want me to,” he countered.
“True enough. So, what should I wear?”
He raked an intense look down her body, and her cheeks darkened. “You look fine. Don’t put on airs. They’ll love you just as you are.”
“I hope so.”
“Look. If anyone has worries about family, it’s me. You have to pass muster with three people. How many uncles do you have?”
She grinned. “You’ve passed the important ones already. If Carol, Kyle, Mama Toni, and Mac have given you the thumbs up, all the others will fall in line.”
“Have they all given me the thumbs up?”
“Of course. Kyle has labeled you cool, which places you in my class. Carol and Mac are sold. Mama Toni bought you lunch. You’re in.”
“I’m not so sure about Mac.”
“I am.”
“How?”
“When a man I’m dating is deemed unworthy, he has problems. You don’t. Therefore, you have the thumbs up. Don’t worry.”
“Jordan?” he guessed.
She looked away for a moment. “So I’ve heard.”
“Then, I like your Uncle Michael and Mac even more,” he decided.
* * *
Katheryn was nervous as a cat despite Keith’s assurances. She cleaned the house to the point that Laura, Keith’s grandmother, made a comment about the change a woman’s touch made. That alone sent Katheryn into the kitchen with a deep blush.
Stupid. What if Keith didn’t want to announce that I am living with him? Okay, let’s think logically. Take his lead and let him confirm or deny. She groaned at what a woman of Laura’s generation would make of that when her own mother would have had a stroke.
Dinner was served shortly after everyone arrived, so there was not much opportunity for discussion until the dinner table. Katheryn had been counting herself lucky up until that point, but she would have started talking earlier if she realized what she was in for in the long run.
Laura cocked her head as if in consideration of her. “So, I understand you wouldn’t let Steven run a pregnancy test the other day,” she commented calmly.
Katheryn choked—literally. She coughed on a mouthful of Kung Poa and shot Keith a startled look. His concern turned to amusement when he realized she would survive.
“It’s okay, Nana. Katie and I just want to do things our own way,” he answered for her. He shrugged at Katheryn. “Guess I should have warned you. I have one of those awful fully-functional families where we discuss everything.”
“Well, what’s the fun of being a doctor’s wife if you can’t bend the rules just a little?” Laura continued.
Katheryn felt her face burn. Keith should have warned her. He was going to pay dearly. His barely controlled glee caught her eye. Oh, he’d pay all right—right now, if she got half a chance. She smiled sweetly at him, and his eyes widened.
“I don’t know Laura,” she began, “considering Keith’s rather outrageous dating history, I’m surprised you all aren’t jaded by the possibility that he might have produced progeny by now.”
It was Keith’s turn to cough on his food, but his amusement never flagged. On the contrary, his eyes sparkled in challenge.
Steven raised an eyebrow. “I told you she had spunk. That’s good in this family. It means she can hold her own.”
“So, Katie. What do you do for a living?” Marcus asked.
Katheryn sighed internally. She was stuck with Katie to a whole new group of people, she supposed. “I write—poetry, commentary, and novels,” she answered, feeling on safer ground.
“Published?”
She nodded through a mouthful of Kung Poa and swallowed quickly. “My books are in storage or I’d show you.”
Keith stood. “That’s okay, honey. I’ll get my copies,” he offered.
“Your—You’ve read them?” she asked in disbelief.
His smile spread and he winked over his shoulder. “Of course. I arranged for copies of just about everything you’ve ever done. I’m an avid fan.”
Her shock dissipated into sober nerves as she realized that she hadn’t intended for them to actually read her work. Somehow, Katheryn doubted that straight-laced Marcus Randall was ready for her genre. Sensual Romance Fantasy hardly seemed like his cup of tea.
To her surprise, Keith came back with two scrapbooks, her four paperbacks, both anthologies her poetry was included in, and a thick binder. She took the binder and started leafing through. Her high school and college work came first, poems she wrote to him, her early free-lance stuff just after college— “You weren’t kidding,” she breathed. “Everything.”
“Not quite.” Keith shrugged. “But, what I am missing, I can probably photocopy from your files, if you don’t mind.”
“Sure. Anytime.” She barely registered that he was handing books to his family. When she looked up, she was glad to see that he gave Marcus and Steven the anthologies. She went back to scanning the pages with a sigh of relief, her dinner forgotten.
Laura’s chuckle interrupted her train of thought. “Keith, I must borrow this. You bought me those other two, but this is the third book, and you never told me about it,” she scolded.
Katheryn’s head snapped up. Laura was holding a copy of Lair. She swallowed painfully. “You’ve read my books?” she asked quietly.
“Oh, yes. I liked Trek quite a bit, and I thoroughly enjoyed Outpost, though I would have liked it more if Marissa wouldn’t have stopped Jeren in the solarium.”
Katheryn laughed in amusement. “Terrin was just outside the door,” she reminded the older woman.
“You have no sense of adventure,” Keith teased.
She smiled wickedly. “May I remind you—”
He raised an eyebrow and brought a forkful of food to his mouth. “If you dare.” Keith waited only a second before he put the food in his mouth, believing he had her outflanked.
Katheryn waited just long enough for him to start chewing. “The theater balcony comes to mind,” she mused.
Keith coughed harshly and turned a red that was too deep to be anything but a blush. She rubbed his back softly, feigning deep concern for his condition.
Steven looked at her in renewed interest. “What exactly happened on that balcony?”
Keith smiled smugly. “Get yourself out of that one,” he invited.
“Not much, Steven,” she answered. “Nothing that would have made you great grandparents, at any rate.”
“Barely,” Keith muttered.
Katheryn smiled. “And whose fault was that?” she challenged.
His mouth moved as if he intended to protest. Then he nodded and smiled sheepishly.
“No sense of adventure,” she mused as she took a bite of her dinner.
“In my own defense,” he began.
“I know why you stopped. I never said it wasn’t a smart move.”
“No, I don’t think you do know. I wanted our first time to be more dignified than that,” he complained.
Katheryn laughed heartily. “I don’t think we upgraded much,” she managed.
“Regrets?” he asked honestly.
“Nope. At least—” She chopped it off with a grin and a blush.
“At least what?” he prodded.
“If you insist.”
“Oh, I do.”
“All right. At least we had tinted windows and darkness going for us.”
To her surprise, Marcus started laughing before Steven and Laura did. “Are you telling me that my grandchild was conceived in the back seat of a car?” he asked.
“No, I am not,” she assured him. “First, we don’t even know that there is a baby to be charted, but if there is— Second, I have an SUV, not a car, and the seats were folded in. Third, if there was a baby conceived, it was conceived in a bed—or my Dad’s chair.” She sighed and put her chin on her hand.
Keith leaned close to her ear. “Or the shower,” he reminded her.
“I still think it was a bed. It’s more romantic that way.”
“You mean the first day we decided to start trying for one?” he purred.
“Or the night we got engaged. That would be pretty special.”
“Either one works for me,” he admitted.
“So, hindsight being twenty-twenty, what would your choice have been?” she asked.
“The balcony?”
Katheryn nodded.
“I wouldn’t have lost my sense of ad
venture.”
She smiled. “Good.”
“So,” Laura cut in, “was the scene in the solarium based on that balcony?”
Katheryn laughed lightly. “Loosely. Very loosely.” She looked at Keith’s raised eyebrows. “I have to get my ideas from somewhere,” she protested.
“So I’ve become research?” he asked.
“There are worse things you could be.”
“True.”
Laura regarded them with a rather concerned expression.
“What’s wrong, Nana?” he asked.
“There may be some truth to the possible progeny line. If you’re even half as talented as that scene painted you,” she smiled, “you must have had women falling at your feet.”
Katheryn laughed. “Get yourself out of that one,” she invited.
“Okay, I will. First of all, I think it’s safe to say that Katie was—boosting my prowess. That day on the balcony, I was a fairly inexperienced eighteen-year-old coupled with an excited, willing, but completely inexperienced girl. To top it off, I was scared to death.”
“Scared of me?” she asked in surprise.
“Of losing you, or hurting you, or not living up to your expectations,” he admitted.
Katheryn grimaced.
“Don’t say it. Not your fault. Beyond that, women weren’t exactly falling at my feet.”
“Why not? It’s safe to say I’m not boosting your prowess now. I can’t imagine any woman finding you lacking.”
Keith smiled sadly. “I’m sure it was a much different encounter for them. My heart wasn’t in what I was doing, and my mind was always somewhere else. I’m single-minded when it comes to you.”
“Good answer,” she mused, but a disturbing sense of oneness assaulted her. Their relationships were all that same empty encounter she hated and ultimately rejected. No wonder every touch was an explosive reaction. The chance to have their minds, hearts, and bodies so in sync with someone else was something they were both starved for.
“See what I meant?” Steven asked Marcus.
“I believe you were right,” the younger man agreed.
“Right about what?” Katheryn asked nervously. She set out to be bold and to embarrass Keith as he had embarrassed her. Now, she was worried that she had gone too far. These people would be her in-laws, and Katheryn didn’t know them well enough to gauge if she had gone too far.
