She Never Knew (5 page)

Dottie answered,
“Twenty-five dollars per person.” When Kat looked at her in surprise, Dottie
nodded. “If it means saving a life, I have no problems making that happen.”

Kat instantly
relaxed. She smiled warmly at Dottie and asked, “To keep your prices low, do
you have a minimum class size requirement?”

Dottie nodded.
“I do. I like to keep it around twelve to fourteen people, preferably an even
number so that everyone has a partner.”

Kat studied her
for a moment, then took a deep breath and said, “Well, that settles it. Count
me in!”

“All righty,
then.” Dottie approved. “I’ll let you know when I come up with a couple of
dates. I’ve got to check the schedule from my other job, but I’d like to have
the class on a Saturday morning.” Kat nodded in agreement and Dottie continued,
“Most people can usually get the time off.”

“Sounds good.”
Kat said. By this time, Tyler joined them and was ready to leave. “You itching
to go, little boy?” she said.

“Yes!” Tyler
jumped up and down. “Bye bye, Miss Dottie.”

“See you next
week!” Dottie held up her hand and Tyler gave her a high five.

After Kat and
Tyler left, Dottie thought about their conversation with curiosity.
There’s
a story behind that one, she thought.
Shaking her head, she returned to her
computer and resumed her work.

After Kat tucked
Tyler into bed, she walked across the hall toward the guest room she used as an
office. She usually did her computer work at night so that she could focus on
Tyler during the day.

Her home office
was similar to the one in her former apartment, except that here her furniture
was antiquated. She had sold her computer desk because it was unstable and too
much trouble to dismantle. Besides, the wood had been dark in color and she
wanted something entirely different.

The walls of her
office were separated by a chair rail. Above the rail, Kat had painted a green
monsoon color that emanated a cozy atmosphere throughout the room. The bottom
section was coated with a deep mahogany color, giving the space a subtle flair
of ambiance.

In one corner
sat her computer desk. It was more of a table that one would typically place in
a foyer. Kat had fallen in love with it when she discovered it at an antique store.
It had a flip-down panel shelf that accommodated her keyboard and mouse. The
table was made of solid wood and had an antiqued white finish applied to it. A
flat screen computer monitor sat near the edge, accompanied by a small desk
lamp.

Next to her desk
stood a matching two-drawer lateral filing cabinet that Kat used as her printer
table. It offered cubbyhole storage features with two adjustable shelves. In
it, Kat kept her class materials and office supplies.

At the opposite
corner of the room was a built-in bookcase that served as the library. The
bookcase took up the entire wall and the shelves were filled with a variety of
fiction and non-fiction novels. Kat was an avid reader and was always on the
lookout for antique books to add to her massive collection.

When Kat entered
her office, she turned on the light and powered on her computer. As she waited
for it to boot up, she circled around to the double-hung windows next to the
bookcase and raised the bottom hutches a few inches. It was one of the cooler
June nights and she wanted fresh air circulating throughout the room while she
worked on her computer. Then she reached for the ceiling light and pulled down
the switch that turned on the fan. Satisfied with the cool breeze that flowed
within the room, Kat sat down in her high-back swivel chair. The floor was made
of hardwood, but Kat had a little section of carpet that she kept under her
desk. With her bare feet buried in the shag carpeting, she got to work.

When her
computer was ready, Kat signed into her money manager account. After she paid
her bills online, she clicked on her investment portfolio.

Before Michael
died, he had set up power of attorney in Kat’s name and turned over his entire
savings to her. Michael had over $100,000 in an aggressive retirement plan,
with the majority of it invested in overseas stocks. Michael had also arranged
for a trusted colleague, a financial advisor, to oversee the account so that
Kat would gain the maximum return on her investments.

In addition,
Michael had put a down payment on the house Kat and Tyler were living in now.
He didn’t tell her about it until the night he proposed. A couple of months
prior to that, they had taken a weekend trip to the coast to look at homes.
They had been to the coast several times before and decided they wanted to live
there once they became husband and wife. On each visit, they had slept in
separate bedrooms at their favorite bed and breakfast inn. Michael respected
Kat’s wishes to wait until they were married before becoming intimate with one
another.

They explored a
section of the coast they had not seen before and immediately fell in love with
the area. When Kat saw her house, she knew it was the perfect home for them to
live in after they were married. Michael agreed and the two went as far as to
speak with the former owner who had put up the house on the market. She had
been recently widowed and could not manage the house by herself. It needed
quite a bit of work, but with a little bit of love and manual labor, it could
be restored to its original beauty.

When Michael
died, his lawyer had contacted Kat to let her know that she was the new sole
owner of their house and that it was ready for her to move in. At the time, Kat
was stunned to learn of the lengths Michael went to in order to provide for
her. He had had the house restored for her so when they got married, they could
move in right away. It was an unexpected yet pleasant surprise. She had no idea
what a shrewd businessman he was nor did she realize how financially successful
he was before he died. He had taken care of every little detail to ensure Kat
had the house of her dreams. Unbeknownst to them, it would be his last gift to
her.

Kat had
initially considered selling the house because she didn’t think she would be
able to manage the responsibilities that came with home ownership, living in a
house that was intended for her and her future husband. She didn’t know if she
would be able to cope with the painful reminders of everything Michael had done
for her.

But all of that changed
the night of the rape. She knew she couldn’t stay in her apartment after what
had happened to her. She didn’t feel safe there. The only place she felt safe
was on the coast, where she and Michael discovered their future home together.
She had stayed in a hotel for a week while she packed up her apartment. She
kept only a few things, such as her clothes, and the dishware set her mother
had passed on from her own mother. The rest she either sold or gave away. She
resigned from her job and drove out to the house that Michael had lovingly
bought for her.

Shortly after
Kat moved in, one of her new neighbors kindly brought over a blueberry pie to
welcome her to the neighborhood. Rhonda Burns had a way of making people feel
special that Kat had taken an instant liking to her.

Rhonda was a few
years older than Kat, but the two shared much in common. Both had similar
interests in books and music, and had parents who were deceased. Rhonda’s
parents had died when she was in her early twenties so she understood how much
Kat missed her own parents. While Rhonda was happily married, she was
compassionate when Kat told her about Michael.

Both women
wanted families and Rhonda excitedly shared with Kat that she and Robert would
be bringing a little boy into their lives in the next few months. She explained
that since she and her husband were biologically unable to have children, they
would adopt. It was God’s plan, they believed.

A few weeks
later when Kat discovered she was pregnant, she was initially repulsed by the fact
that she was carrying her rapist’s baby. She seriously considered giving it up
for adoption as she didn’t believe in abortion; however, after much soul
searching, God had answered her prayers. He had a plan for her, too.

She believed He
wanted her to raise her innocent baby and give it the love it needed and
deserved, the love that a mother gives her child, the love that Michael never
had from his own mother.

It all made
perfect sense now. God had answered Rhonda and Robert’s prayers of having a
family of their own. Wasn’t He essentially providing the same for Kat? Was it
possible that Rhonda was an angel sent by God to influence Kat’s final decision
when it came to her baby?

In honor of
Michael, Kat decided to raise her child with all of the love she had to give.
She believed fate had led her to change her last name to Brennan before her
trauma. It was all coming together now. Kat would carry on Michael Brennan’s
legacy through her love for Tyler.

As she studied
her portfolio, her mind kept drifting to the memories she had of Michael. She
remembered their laughter as they chased each other on the beach. She recalled
how he would buy her ice cream with sprinkles. He would tease her by telling
her the ice cream shop was out of cherries, when in fact, he had eaten them
himself. They were a perfect fit for each other and were inseparable until
death parted them.

A tear slowly
trickled down her cheek as she recalled a time when Michael shared his
childhood dreams of having a family with her someday. He didn’t seem bitter
about the fact that his mother gave him up, nor was he embarrassed to learn
that she had been promiscuous and didn’t know who his father was. As far as
Michael was concerned, Kat’s parents were his parents too and he loved them as
much as they loved him.

Kat’s parents
had also left her money. Upon their death, Kat and her sister each inherited a
sizeable inheritance. Before her parents and Michael died, Kat had a savings
account with a modest sum tucked away. The income she made from her job was
more than enough to cover her monthly expenses. Kat did not believe in credit
and paid for her purchases with cash whenever possible.

Most individuals
would love to be in Kat’s shoes as she was debt-free, owned her house, and had
substantial savings. Most of all, she had a well-mannered and happy child who
was the light of her life. But what most people did not know was that Kat
continued to live in the past, clinging to memories that were fading as each
day passed.

As she shut down
her computer, her eyes drifted toward the handmade picture frame Tyler had made
for her in preschool. The frame sat on her desk next to the reading lamp and
the picture was of her and Michael smiling and hugging. They were standing in
the front yard of her house the day they had first discovered it six years ago.

Good night, my
love, she whispered to his smiling face in the picture. She always bid him
goodnight each evening before going to bed. After a moment, she got up and
walked over to the huge bookshelf. She had just finished a murder mystery the
night before and wanted a new book to start reading in bed tonight. After she
made her selection, she closed the windows, turned off the lights and fan,
checked on Tyler, and went downstairs to her bedroom.

The following
afternoon, Kat came home from grocery shopping to find several packages stacked
against the side of her garage door. When she got out of her car, she was
pleased to see that the packages contained the crafts she had ordered for
vacation bible school that would begin in a couple of weeks.

After Kat
unloaded her groceries and put them away, she carried the large packages one by
one into her house. She wanted to unpack them immediately to ensure she
received everything she had ordered. But first she needed to pick up Tyler.

From across the
street, she could hear the sounds of high-pitched shrieks of two little boys,
one of whom came from her son. Smiling, she strolled her way to Rhonda’s front
door and tapped gently on the frame of the screen door. The porch claimed a
ten-foot square space and was decorated with wicker furniture. Seashells clung
from a cast net that was strung across one wall. A ceiling fan spun rapidly,
its blades blowing air onto the pages of an open magazine on a small table.
Curled up in the corner of the porch was Marlowe, a beautiful white and orange
tabby cat that shed hair everywhere she went. When she spied Kat, she meowed
lazily and went back to sleep.

From where Kat
was standing, she could see Tyler and Eli chasing each other inside the house.
When Tyler saw her through the sliding glass door, he shrieked again. He ran
over to let himself out and unlocked the screen door to let Kat inside.

“Mommy!” he
squealed, his little arms reaching up to her. Kat bent down and scooped her
soon into her arms, smothering his face with kisses. He giggled with delight as
she hugged him tightly.

It was a typical
scene she walked in on. The boys had trashed Rhonda’s living room as toys were
scattered all over the floor. The volume on the television was turned up and
costumes of action figures were in disarray on the couches. It was obvious that
the boys had dressed up as action heroes.