Page 122 of Perfect Chemistry

“I’m not going to apologize,” he admitted, pulling me to sit up. He was standing between my legs at the side of the bed looking down at my best attempt to appear annoyed. It failed, because he just chuckled more. “Seeing that ring on your finger, and knowing you’re pregnant with our baby…. It does something to me, Kat. I could go again just thinking about it,” he admitted.

He rocked against me to emphasize his point. I couldn’t help laughing, feeling his dick beginning to poke against my stomach. “We will never make it out of this house, Kai,” I attempted to persuade him.

He tipped his head back and sighed, knowing that what I was saying was the truth. “Be a good boy, and I will give you a surprise before we go,” I promised.

His head tipped back down, his eyes completely darkened with lust. “Fuck, Kitkat,” He cursed as his eyes raked over my naked body. He gave me a quick peck on the nose, and walked away from me grumbling. I couldn’t hear everything he was saying but enough to know that he was cursing our parents for insisting we see them today.

I couldn’t stop laughing at this childish side of him. He didn’t show it often, but this petulant man was amazingly adorable. I got dressed as quickly as my screaming muscles would permit. I had to lie on the bed to put my pants on because my legs were so weak. I tried building a grudge and blaming Kai, but I had brought this one on myself. I needed to stop sashaying my ass when I walked away from him.

* * *

I didn’t know who was quicker to notice the ring, my mom or his; but they had both reacted with the same shock and elation. My mom squealed and ran over to give me a hug before hugging Kai. She rambled about welcoming him to the family. Dad told her to stop being so dramatic, and pulled her away so that he could give me a hug.

“Ty would be happy for you. We all are, baby,” he whispered softly. His words caused me to stiffen for a fraction of a second.

Would Ty be happy for me? I was moving on with my life. I was marrying another man, having his child. Could Tyson really be happy for me? A sob choked in my throat, but my dad just held me, continuing to whisper all of the things he knew about life, grief, loss, and standing up again after a fall. It was all of the words I didn’t know I needed to hear. The small part of me that was still holding on with guilt, slowly let it go.

Tyson would be happy for me. Were our circumstances reversed, I knew I would want Tyson to find love again. I would want him to be happy in life. I forgot that Tyson had a relationship with my parents. He talked to them every day after I was medically evacuated home. My dad, more than anyone else, knew Tyson’s wishes for my health and happiness.

“Thank you, daddy,” I whispered, hoarsely. When he finally released me from our hug, Kai was ready to hold me up. I didn’t know what conversations Kai had with my dad, but unsaid words passed between them when they shook hands.

“Thank you,” Kai said quietly.

“Take care of her,” my dad said back, smiling.

“Okay, let’s eat!” My mom said, pulling us toward the kitchen. She was making our new year’s favorite: macaroni and cheese with fried spam and grilled corn. There was something so amazing about the crispy salted meat and acidic flavor of grilled sweet corn that went so well with velvety mac and cheese. My brain was doing somersaults, until my nose took it all in.

I barely had my hand to my mouth as I wretched and ran to the bathroom. I vaguely heard my dad laughing, “I told you!”

There was the sound of more squealing as I am sure Kai, confirmed what they had already guessed. After losing the contents of my stomach, I cleaned myself up and returned to see my dad and Kai tucking food away in plastic tubs and my mom trying to air out the kitchen. I felt so guilty that my hormones had ruined their meal plans.

“Sorry,” I whispered.

Mom ran over and gave me another hug. “I am so happy for you, Katie. I am just over the moon!” She gushed. “I’m going to be a Nonna again!”

I was the last of my sisters to have a baby. My younger sister had a little boy who was three years old, and my older sister had twin girls who were almost 10. I had missed a lot of their lives, but it was getting better.

“How far along are you?” Dad asked.

“Two months,” Kai answered, coming over to hold me again. “We weren’t planning on telling anyone until Katie was past the first trimester. It’d be nice if you can keep this quiet?” he asked them nicely.

My dad immediately pointed over at my mom. “If she says a word, you have my permission to uninvite her from the wedding,” he threatened. My mom balked at his words.

“I won’t say a thing! I can keep quiet for a couple more weeks!” She insisted.

I shook my head, knowing where her mind was going. She assumed Kai meant we had known for two months, not that I was nine weeks along. “Stop. Whatever you are thinking is wrong,” I warned her. “You don’t get to tell anyone anything, until we have announced it. We don’t even know if I can carry this baby to full term. Please don’t add strangers congratulating me to a list of possible humiliations if I miscarry.”

Suddenly my mother looked like I had punched the wind out of her sails. “Have you seen the doctor? Did they give any reason that there may be problems?” She asked, reaching out to hold my hand.

Kai kissed my temple and suggested that we all sit down to talk. With everything that my parents knew about my health, there was so much more that they did not know. Telling my parents everything was not something I wanted to do, but Kai made the argument that telling them some could only help me. I wasn’t alone. I was not walking by myself anymore.

I needed my village to help me get through this. To do that, I needed to let down my walls a bit and tell them what they didn’t know. Like how close to death I really was after the roadside bombing. I needed to tell them all of the decisions Tyson made to save my life. Because, although I was alive and I would have made the same exact decisions for myself, it complicated my ability to have children. My insides were quite literally rearranged. If Kai wasn’t with me, and something happened, my parents needed to know what to do until Kai could get to me.

Facing the past because of this bright and shining future was not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. There weren’t tears or accusations, as I had imagined there would be. My parents asked serious and pointed questions about my health, my wishes, and our intentions as a couple. As if on cue, my phone pinged on the table with a simple message, reminding me that I hadn’t faced everything in my past.

Mama T: [Happy New Year, Katie. From Annie and Tom]

Chapter 46

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