Treading Water: Coming Home Part 26

"We'd love to."

"I'm going to invite Dad and Andi, too."

"I had no doubt."

"You're sure that's okay?"

"Do you know the first Christmas I ever spent alone-"

"When you first moved to Stowe?"

"Right. All I hoped for then was that the time would come when we could all spend holidays together without it being awkward."

"You and Dad did that for years when Maggie was still at home."

"Right, but you've never been there, and it's been a long time since Jill was home for the holidays, so it wasn't quite the perfect Christmas I envisioned."

Kate had spent most of the last ten Christmases performing somewhere in the world while yearning for her family and home. The last five years, her sister had been with her, too.

"So I'd love nothing more than to spend Christmas in Nashville with you and your sisters and your father and the rest of our family."

"Do you think Dad will come?"

"It might take some cajoling, but he won't let you down."

"He never has before. I guess I'd better call him now."

"Best of luck with that."

Kate laughed at her mother's droll comment. "He never changes."

"Thank goodness for that."

"How're Aidan and the boys?"

"Good, busy as all h.e.l.l. The usual. The boys are playing hockey this fall and keeping us hopping. I don't remember being this frantically busy when you girls were their ages."

"They're boys, and you're a lot older than you were when we were their age."

"Thanks for the reminder," Clare said dryly. "Speaking of the boys, I have to run to pick them up at their friend's house. Let me know how it goes with Dad?"

"I will. And Mom, thanks."

"What for?"

"For being you, for understanding, for loving me no matter what."

"I do, Kate. I'll always love you no matter what. Don't forget that, okay?"

"I never could. Talk to you soon."

"Bye, honey."

Emotionally drained after the conversation with her mom, Kate wanted to postpone the call to her dad, but that wasn't fair. He was probably frantic with worry by now. Bracing herself for his anger and his disapproval, Kate placed the call.

"Kate." The single word conveyed a world of relief. "I'm so glad you called."

The familiar sound of his voice brought tears to her eyes. "I'm sorry to have worried you."

"Tell me you're not really back with him."

She closed her eyes tight, trying to contain the flood, but was unsuccessful. "I can't tell you that."

His silence spoke volumes.

"I know it's not what you want for me-he's not what you want-but he's what I want." She recalled what her mother had said about wanting to know her daughter was loved. "He loves me, Dad. He really does, and I love him, too. I never stopped loving him."

"Surely there has to be someone closer to your age-"

"Maybe there is, but I spent ten years thinking about Reid every single day. That has to mean something, doesn't it?"

Again he was silent.

"Dad?"

"I guess so," he said grudgingly.

"I know this is hard for you to understand."

"It's impossible for me to understand. It always has been. I know that's not what you want to hear."

"No, it isn't."

"If he loves you so much, how could he have led you into a situation that ended up all over the Internet?"

"Dad, I'm twenty-eight years old. He didn't lead me anywhere I didn't want to go, and besides, I'm the public figure. Not him. I should've known better."

"He should've known better."

"Why? Because he's older than me?"

"Among other reasons."

Kate rested a hand over her stomach, which was rejecting the breakfast she'd recently enjoyed. "There's something else I need to tell you," she said haltingly. "I don't want you to hear it on the news."

"What?"

"He... Reid and I... We're getting married."

"You have to be kidding me, Kate! Why in the world would you want to marry a man so much older than you? You'll be a widow when you're barely married."

At that, Kate began to get angry. "That's an awful thing to say, Dad."

"Are you going to sacrifice your chance to be a mother so you can marry this older man?"

"Who said anything about not being a mother?"

"He's actually interested in having kids at his age?"

"He's considering it, and you're one to talk. Your youngest kids are only ten."

"And I'm painfully aware of how much more difficult parenthood is in my fifties than it was in my thirties and forties. This is crazy, Kate. You go down there to St. Kitts on a wild hair a couple of days and one s.e.x tape ago, and now you're going to marry him?"

Kate fought to keep her cool. The last thing in the entire world she wanted was another rift with her dad. "It was hardly a wild hair. It's something I've wanted to do for a very long time."

"You know I want to support you-always. But I can't support this. I just can't."

"Mom understands. I wish you could, too."

"Maybe Mom is more enlightened than I am, but the idea of my gorgeous young daughter sleeping with a guy my age doesn't work for me at all."

"This is about how well it works for me! He loves me, Dad. Doesn't that mean anything? I'd think you'd be grateful to know that someone loves me as much as you do."

"No one loves you as much as I do."

"Yes, Daddy," she said softly, wiping at a stray tear that rolled down her cheek. "He does. He might even love me more than you do."

"I'm hardly going to compete with Reid Matthews for my daughter's love," he said disdainfully.

"It's not a compet.i.tion. I have more than enough love for both of you, but once again you're putting me in the awful position of having to choose between you. I won't do that. I can't do that. I'm asking you-as an adult-to respect my choices and support me."

"I can't support this, Kate. I'll support you in any other way you need, but not this."

"I want you and the family to come to Nashville for Christmas."

"Will he be there?"

"Of course he will, Dad! He's my fiance."

"Then I won't be there. I'm not spending the holidays with that guy. No way."

"Dad-"

"I have to go, honey. The twins need a ride to soccer practice, and they're waiting for me."

Kate didn't bother to remind him that she'd called his cell phone. "Okay."

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

"Let's leave it at that, okay?"

"Sure," she said as she dealt with a torrent of tears. "No problem."

"I'll speak to you soon."

And then he was gone, and Kate was transported back to that awful day in Nashville when he'd caught her with Reid and demanded she come home to Rhode Island with him immediately. When she refused, he'd driven away from her after forbidding her to have any further contact with him or her younger siblings.

Their relations.h.i.+p, which had always been close, had taken a big hit that day, and had never truly recovered. There'd been distance between them ever since, despite the fact that they spoke regularly and saw each other as often as her busy career would allow. They were always cautiously polite with each other, which she absolutely hated. But since it beat the alternative of not speaking to him, she went along with it.

"Miss Kate?" Bertha asked softly as if she was afraid to intrude on a private moment. "Are you all right?"

Kate shook her head and brushed the tears off her face, embarra.s.sed to have been caught weeping. "Not really. Rough couple of days."

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

"No, thank you. I'm going to take a walk."

"That path over there leads to the sh.o.r.e."

"A walk on the beach is just what I need. I'll be back in a while."

"Enjoy." Bertha gathered up Kate's dishes and went inside.

Kate took the stairs from the veranda to the path Bertha had identified and headed for the beach. The crash of the waves became louder as she got closer, but tears blurred her view.

She supposed she'd been deluding herself to think her dad would understand her relations.h.i.+p with Reid this time around. After all she was no longer a fresh-faced eighteen-year-old who'd just landed in Nashville to chase the dream. She'd done a lot of living and a lot of growing up since she left home. She sat atop an empire worth hundreds of millions of dollars and certainly knew her own heart. Why couldn't he give her some credit for any of that?

Perhaps if he hadn't once been friends with Reid, hadn't trusted him to look after his young daughter in the big city and then been so betrayed by their affair... Perhaps if Reid were any other fifty-five-year-old man, her father wouldn't be so angry about their relations.h.i.+p.

"Who knows?" she asked out loud. "Maybe he's predisposed to hate any guy I love, any guy Jill or Maggie loves, too."

Though the thought brought some comfort, she knew in her bones that the reason her dad was so unhappy was because she'd chosen Reid. Her dad had certainly never forgotten how he'd forced her to choose between him and her lover and been left on the outside looking in at his own daughter.

Kate and her dad and sisters had been through a lot together. After their mother's accident, the three girls had been crippled by grief and the unending horror of having to relive the accident they'd witnessed over and over again. Their equally grief-stricken dad had stepped up for them as best he could.

For years afterward, Kate would wake up in a cold sweat after dreaming about the car coming at them, out of control in a parking lot. And her mother, just standing there, as if wis.h.i.+ng the car would hit her. Much later they learned about the rape that had traumatized their mom and the threats the man had made against her children.

Kate shuddered as if chilled, though the day was warm. Storm clouds hovered, dark and ominous. She hoped they weren't a harbinger of things to come.

Desi sent a car from the resort to meet Reid at one of the public docks. On the way to Half Moon Bay, Reid relived the last few glorious days with Kate, culminating in their engagement the night before. It had taken being with her again, being swept up in the magic they created together, to fully understand just how lost he'd been without her.

Watching the scenic island pa.s.s by in a blur through the window, Reid thought about how he'd done his best to forge ahead after their breakup. The move to St. Kitts had worked out well for him. He enjoyed his life here, especially the work he did with the local community to build affordable housing for island residents. He'd made friends here-good, genuine friends who he enjoyed spending time with.

He'd met Mari here and had tried his best to give her what she deserved from their relations.h.i.+p, even if he'd held back the most important part of himself. He'd done that, he now knew, because that part of him belonged to Kate and always would.

It had taken about ten seconds in her presence for it to become clear to him that for all his contentment and serenity, he'd been living half a life since the day she'd walked out of his home in a fit of fury he'd completely deserved.