A Family Kind of Wedding (21 page)

“There is an edge of romance to that,” Katie allowed.

“Well, it's your decision.” Bliss reached across the table and squeezed her half sister's fingers. “Don't mind me. I just learned at an early age to speak my mind, even when I know that discretion is the better part of valor, and I should be shot for being so blunt.”

“Forgiven,” Tiffany said with a wave of her hand.

“Good, then consider a big wedding.”

“I'll think about it,” Tiffany promised.

They split the check, and Katie headed back to the office. For the next forty-five minutes she worked on her story about Octavia Nesbitt and decided not to mention the tea leaves.

She checked her email and regular correspondence, hoping that someone had answered her “For Rent” advertisement for the house she and Josh had called home for over a decade, or, on the off chance that Isaac Wells had tried to reach her again. No such luck.

By four o'clock, she'd met the following day's deadlines, endured a late staff meeting and left work. Josh was at soccer practice and another mother had offered to drive him home, so Katie had an hour or so alone in the house, an hour she could use to clean and put away odds and ends.

She'd introduced herself to all of her tenants and was particularly fond of Roberta Ellingsworth, known as Ellie, an older woman who lived in a unit downstairs. On the second day Katie had been in the house, Ellie had brought her a home-baked pie and a cluster of asters, then promptly offered to watch Josh whenever Katie needed a hand. All in all, living in the old Victorian manor was beginning to feel like home.

Except for the fact that Luke lived nearby. Being this close to him was unnerving. And exciting. To her disconcertment she found herself looking out the window, watching his comings and goings, waving as he passed by a back window and dreaming of making love to him.

Don't trust him,
she told herself when she found herself fantasizing about him again.
You barely know him. He could have a dozen women in a dozen different towns.

“That does it,” Ralph Sorenson said, his voice shaking with emotion. “Loretta and I will be on the next flight to Oregon. I've got to hand it to you, Luke. I didn't have much faith in you when you took off, didn't think you'd really put your heart and soul into finding Dave's son, but you did it. And don't think I won't remember that I said I'd pay you.”

“I think you should slow down a minute,” Luke interjected, trying to tamp down the older man's enthusiasm. “I said that Katie Kinkaid told me that Dave was Josh's father. She told her son as well, but I think you should hold off coming out here until the dust settles.”

“Hold off? For the love of Pete, why?”

“To give everyone time to adjust.”

“Like hell, boy. I'm seventy years old. It's up to the Man Upstairs how much longer I'll be walkin' on this planet, and I don't see any reason to slow down. By next month I could be six feet under.”

Luke doubted it. Ralph, though no longer a young man, was as spry and healthy as most men ten years younger.

“Why don't you just give me the boy's phone number, and I'll call him up?”

“Wait a second.” Luke's head began to pound. “How about the other way around? I'll have Katie and Josh, if he's up to it—call you.”

“Why wouldn't he be up to it?” Ralph demanded.

“He's ten, for God's sake. Give him a break, would ya?”

“I guess you've got a point.”

“Good.” Luke wasn't convinced that the old man was actually listening to reason, but he had no other options. “I'll let you know how this all turns out.”

“Do. Loretta and I…well, we don't get along much. Been separated for years. When Dave died we nearly divorced, but we're hangin' on by a thread right now, Luke, and that thread is Dave's son.”

“I'll call.” Guilt squeezed through Luke's innards as he replaced the phone. He'd have to talk to Katie again, and this time he couldn't be distracted as he seemed to forever be whenever she was near. Just the thought of her brought a tightness to his groin and a longing that he didn't want to scrutinize too closely.

“You're a fool, Gates,” he muttered and grabbed his hat from a hook near the front door. The excavating foreman was scheduled to meet him at the ranch to discuss the addition to the house, and he had just enough time to get there.

He'd deal with Katie, Josh and Ralph later.

* * *

“Any more information on the Isaac Wells story?” Pat Johnson, Katie's editor, asked as he paused at her cubicle and leaned against the edge of her desk. He was all of five feet six inches, but he carried himself as if he were a foot taller. With a shock of white hair, round eyeglasses and small features drawn close together, he was far from Hollywood handsome, but his sharp mind, bright eyes and quick wit compensated for his lack of pure physical beauty. Everyone loved him. Including Katie.

“I wish,” she said, but shook her head. “I've badgered the police and my brother and a few of Isaac's associates, all to no end. I've even tried contacting whoever sent me the letter through the personal ads in the
Review,
as well as the local paper in California where the last letter was postmarked. So far, nada.”

“Too bad.” Pat removed his glasses and wiped them clean with a handkerchief from his pocket. “I thought it would be this year's big story.”

“Me, too.” She offered him a smile. “At least I'd hoped.”

“Well, something could still break.” He slipped his spectacles back on to his nose and patted the edge of her cubicle's thin walls before moving on.

No one wanted the story more than Katie. Despite the problems and distractions in her life—a new mishmash of a family of half sisters and brothers-in-law, Josh's attitude toward her, Dave's death and her fascination with Luke Gates—she was still anxious to solve the Isaac Wells mystery and get the byline.

She forced herself to finish an article on the change in the school district's curriculum, then accessed the internet and, through cyberspace, found the obituary on David Sorenson of Dallas, Texas. So it was true. Her shoulders sagged a bit. She hadn't doubted Luke's word, but seeing Dave's short life in an even shorter article was strangely sad.

“Great,” she muttered under her breath. It was bad enough that she'd been forced to tell Josh about his father's death, but now she was trying to get him to call his newfound grandparents, and her negotiations with her son on the subject weren't going well. Josh was interested, but wary. Tonight, if he didn't do the deed himself, Katie would call them. She had to. The Sorensons deserved to know their grandson.

She was grateful for the end of the day. At home, she started dinner and turned on the radio. Josh had a ride home from soccer practice, so she threw together potato salad and baked pieces of chicken in herbs. She wasn't used to the thermostat in the new oven, so she was doubly careful, and as she unpacked what seemed to be an endless number of boxes, she kept an eye on her meal.

The phone jangled just as Bliss, with Mason's daughter, Dee Dee, pulled into the drive. “Hello?” Katie answered, waving Bliss and the girl inside. Holding the phone to her ear with one hand, she kicked open the screen door.

“Ms. Kinkaid?” a gravelly voice asked.

“Speaking.”

“This is Ralph Sorenson.”

Her heart dropped to the floor, and she leaned against the cupboards for support. As much as she'd tried to bolster her own confidence and had told herself that she wanted to talk to Dave's parents, now that she was down to it, she was apprehensive. She felt as if all the blood had drained from her body in that one instant. “Hello,” she said, trying to sound calm when she knew that her life was about to shred.

“I don't know how to say this but straight out. So here goes. I know about the boy. That he's David's.”

“I see,” she replied tonelessly as Bliss and Dee Dee rushed into the room.

“This is very awkward for me.”

“Me, too,” Katie said and met the worry in Bliss's eyes. “I did try to call you once, but when I didn't get through I'd hoped I could call another time, when Josh was home…”

“Glad to hear it.” He sounded appeased, and she was relieved. “Difficult as all this is, I have to tell you that I'm pleased to know that I have a grandson, especially now that Dave's gone. It's comforting to know that a piece of him lives on.”

“Of course,” she replied, her eyes and nose burning.

“But I can't imagine why you chose to hide him from Dave for ten years. It would have done my boy some good to know that he had a son of his own.”

“I didn't mean to hide—”

“I guess it don't matter now that Dave's gone—” The old man's voice cracked, and Katie crumpled inside.

“I did try to tell him, before he left Oregon,” she said, shaking her head at the unspoken, worried questions forming in Bliss's eyes. “He never called or came back to find out.”

“So now it's his fault?” The man's voice rose an octave, and Katie could almost feel his agitation.

“That's not what I meant.”

“I should hope not, missy, because our boy's gone. Gone. It nearly killed Loretta—” His voice cracked again, and Katie wanted to drop off the face of the earth.

“Look, I'm sorry about Dave. Really. He was a good person.”

“But not good enough for you to contact and tell him about his son.”

“That was probably a mistake,” she allowed.

“Amen to that one.”

“But I was young and scared—”

“Maybe we should be running along,” Bliss said as she caught a glimmer of the conversation.

“No, it's fine. Please. Stay,” Katie mouthed, placing her hand over the mouthpiece of the receiver.

“Okay. We'll be outside.” Without another word, Bliss shepherded Dee Dee outside, found the basketball on the back porch and challenged her stepdaughter to a game of horse.

“I know why you were scared,” Ralph Sorenson said. “Can't say as I blame you, but the here and now of it is that Loretta and I have a grandson—the only one we'll ever have—and we want to meet him.”

“Of course you do,” she said, trying to stay calm. “I think that it would be a good idea.” That was stretching the truth a bit, but she couldn't deny Josh the right to see his grandparents, or vice versa.

“Then let's do it. The sooner the better.”

She'd forgotten how pushy Ralph Sorenson had been, how Dave had complained of an overbearing father. “Listen, Mr. Sorenson, I said I was sorry and I am. I probably handled this all wrong from the get-go, but the most important person in this situation is Josh. I just want to make sure that he's strong enough to handle this. I think he is. And certainly, very soon, he's gonna want to meet you.”

There was another pause, then a sigh. “All right, Ms. Kinkaid. You do what you think is best, but remember, Mrs. Sorenson and I are here waiting, dying to meet Dave's boy.”

“I know. I'll let you know when Josh is ready to meet you. Then, of course I'd love you to visit. You can even stay here at the house, if you want.”

“Well…that's very kind.” The anger in his voice faded away, and she thought she heard him sniff, then blow his nose, as if he were overcome with emotion. Her own throat was thick, her hands sweating over the receiver. But she wouldn't break down, wouldn't allow herself the luxury. It seemed that all she ever did anymore was cry, and she hated it.

“Tell Luke that we spoke and assure him that he'll get paid, just as promised.”

“I will,” she said, wondering at the turn of the conversation.

“I know he told me not to call, that he'd set it up, but… Oh, hell, the missus and I, we just couldn't wait for him.”

“‘Wait for him'?” she repeated uneasily.

“You'll let us know when we can visit?”

“Of course.” She hung up, mystified. Why was Ralph Sorenson talking about paying Luke for something now? A hint of an idea pricked her mind, but she didn't want to think about it, couldn't let that little niggle of horrid doubt burrow into her brain.

Bliss, as if sensing the conversation was over, lost her game to Dee Dee, then, while Katie was rummaging in the refrigerator for a pitcher of lemonade, returned to the kitchen. Both mother and stepdaughter were sweating, their faces beet red, their eyes bright.

“I won!” Dee Dee announced.

“Fair and square,” Bliss agreed. “But wait until next time. Then we'll see who's the champ of the court.”

“I am, I am!” Dee Dee cried excitedly. She turned big eyes toward Katie. “I'm gonna be a big sister!”

“A what?” Katie nearly dropped the pitcher of lemonade. She turned and saw a blush creep up Bliss's neck.

“That's right,” Bliss admitted, her eyes shining with her secret. “I'm pregnant!”

Katie left the pitcher on the counter and hugged her half sister fiercely. “I'm so happy for you and Mason! When is the baby due?”

“A long time off,” Bliss admitted. “I'm really not sure, but in the spring sometime. I'll find out when I go to the doctor.”

“A baby!” Tears threatened Katie's eyes all over again. From the edge of her vision she saw Dee Dee gazing up at them both. “Oh, Dee Dee, how lucky you are,” Katie said. “I was never a big sister, always the youngest.”

“Not me.” Dee Dee's smile was back in place immediately.

“Let's have a toast,” Katie insisted. She poured them each a healthy glass, sliced lemons and tossed them into the liquid, added a couple of plump strawberries for good measure, then plopped ice cubes into the drinks. “Here.” She handed them each a glass and touched the rim of hers to Bliss's. “To the baby and his big sister.”

“No way. It's gonna be a girl,” Dee Dee insisted.