Worth the Drive (20 page)

But life was not fair.

Or maybe it was. She was, after years of wishing and dreaming, going to become a mother. Maybe life was fair, just twisted.

Katie nodded, knowing she would do whatever it took to never put her child in the position of rehearsing a simple request of her father.

“I’m going on Tour with
Darío
,” Katie said.

She waited for
Lizzie and Alison’s reactions. W
hen she got none, she hurried on. “In fact, he’s meeting me here in a half hour, but I wanted to have a chance to tell you guys alone first. So you can tell me if I’m making the biggest mistake of my life or not.”

They were at the Commodore, in their usual booth. She’d told them of
Darío
’s unexpected arrival the day before, of Peaches’ saga and how when they got back to Katie’s house they’d talked for hours and come up with a plan. Then
Darío
had spent the night in the hotel across the street from the Commodore.

“Go on, tell us everything before we can tell you what we think,” Lizzie said.

“First, let me say how amazing it was to talk this out with him. When I went to Memphis and he shot me down, I thought it’d be like Ron all over again. Well, no, not like Ron, he and I ignored our problems,
Darío
just dismissed them. At the time I thought it was the same th
ing, but he was just caught off-
guard. Once he had time to digest the situation we were able to sit and talk this whole thing out. I tell you, it was pretty refreshing to hash out a problem with a man for hours.

“I’ll travel
with him until my sixth month. T
he doctor said travel until then would be fine, plus I’ll be getting tons of good exercise walking the course during rounds. That gives us just over three months to get to know each other better. We agreed not to bring up legal papers or rights or visitation or anything like that for the entire time. When I get to six months, hopefully we can decide how to proceed, whether I’ll live here and
Darío
will buy a home in Hancock so he can spend time with the baby.”

“Or what?” Alison asked. “What’s the alternative to you staying in Hancock? We just got Lizard back up here, don’t tell me we’re going to lose you?”

“Well, he said he was still going to try to convince me to marry him, so that’s an option.”

Lizzie piped in, “You say ‘that’s an option’ like marriage is just another choice for dinner. ‘Wel
l, honey, there’s roast beef,
chicken or, I suppose we could get married’.”

Katie placed a hand on Lizzie’s arm, “Lizard, you’re in a great marriage. I thought I was too once upon
a time. Truth is, maybe marriage
should be looked upon more like a business agreement than a love match.”

“You can’t mean that,” Lizzie said.

Katie shrugged. “What’s that saying? First time marry for love, second time marry for companionship.”

“I thought it was second time marry for money,” Alison said.

“I thought it was for friendship,” Lizzie added.

Katie waved them both away. “Whatever. Anyway, I had my marriage for love, and it was
lovely.” She saw Alison opening her mouth and cut her off. “For most of it anyway.” Alison raised her eyebrows, but kept silent. “But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. I can’t marry a man who feels about me the way he does right now. Not to  mention I barely know the man.”

Alison took a sip of her drink. “Oh, I don’t know, apparently you know him pretty well if that bun in your oven is any indication.”

Katie only laughed as Lizzie chastised Alison
with a look
. “That’s what’s so weird about it. Like last night. When he was leaving to go to the hotel,” she stopped at both Lizzie and Alison’s questioning glances. “Yes, hotel. He’d already checked in before he came to see me. I liked that he didn’t assume. So, anyway, he goes to leave and it was like a first date. Should we kiss? Handshake? Kiss on the cheek? I mean, we’re having a baby together and we didn’t know how to say goodnight.”

“So what happened?” Lizzie asked.

Katie ducked her head, her face
flushing
with the memory. “He kissed m
e on both cheeks.” It had sent
heat through her at the time as well.

“How very European,”
Lizzie
teased.

Alison, ever practical, asked, “What about your job?”

“I talked with Don a long time today. We talked about a leave of absence, but we came up with something else. So I can stay on staff and keep my benefits, I’ll file a story or two each week while I’m gone. Sort of a slice of life thing from the Tour. We’re not
sure if it will be more travel-
oriented or
sports-
oriented. We’re going to talk about it more tomorrow, nail out the details before
Darío
and I head out on Monday. He was great about it, even with no notice.”

Katie had hated doing that to Don, he’d been so good to her at the
Ingot
, but he’d been very understanding. They were more than boss
and worker. T
hey were friends, and Don knew what this pregnancy meant to Katie. She’d take her laptop on the road with her and be in constant touch with Don about different story ideas.

The thought of doing some writing other than obits and wedding announcements stirred Katie with an excitement about her job she hadn’t felt in years.

“Okay, back to
Darío
,” Lizzie said.

Katie waited. She knew her friends would support whatever decision she made, but she also knew that they’d certainly voice their opinions with no problem.

“Did he make any demands about a paternity test?”

“Not really demands. I explained we could do blood tests after the baby was born, but the only thing we c
ould do while the baby was in-u
tero was an amnio and I wasn’t prepared to do that. There’s a risk it could hurt the baby and I’m not going to take that chance for something we can find out right after the baby’s born. Something I know for certain, anyway.”

“And he was okay with that?”

Katie nodded. “He agreed that we’d wait till after the baby was born before we’d even discuss paternity tests.”

“You said he showed up with paper
s for you to sign, what was
in them?” Alison asked.

Katie shook her head. “I don’t know. I never ended up reading them. At the end of our talk,
Darío
took his papers and the set I’d taken to Memphis for him to sign and tore them up. Then he held out his hand and said, ‘This should be our agreement alone. No lawyers, no judges.’ I shook on it. That’s all he needed. For now.”

Alison and Lizzie both looked dumbfounded. “Are you kidding? A handshake? Wow. And you trust him?”

Katie sipped on her water and
took a bite of pizza, all the while thinking. “I know it’s crazy. But yeah, I trust him. I know he
’ll never go back on his word. T
hat’s why I allowed him to tear up the papers. That he
wanted
to tear up the papers says a lot, because, the thing is,
he
doesn’t trust
me
, not yet, not completely. I think a part of him still thinks I trapped him.”

Lizzie waved that away. “That’s preposterous. Not in a million years would you have guessed you’d get pregnant that night.”

“
We
know that…” Katie left the sentence unfinished.

Alison leaned forward, and Katie
went on guard for the question
she was about to ask. “So, if you think he doesn’t trust you, why are you willing to have just a handshake deal?”

Katie met Alison head on, knowing she couldn’t hide from her psychologist friend. “Because in the next three months, I’m going to make him trust me.”

“That’s important to you?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Katie sat back in her seat, put her hands on the table, fingers clasped together. She looked at her two best friends in the world. Women she’d shared everything with since kindergarten. She gave them the only answer she had. “Because he’s the father of my child.”

Chapter
Twelve

I don’t like watching golf on TV. I can’t stand whispering.

- David Brenner
, comedian

Darío
walked into the Commodore and immediately saw Katie and her friends. It was as if he sensed her more than saw her. He’d had the same feeling in Memphis when she’d walked in his gallery. He was drawn to her by some invisible force.

She threw her head back and laughed at something one of the women across from her said. Even across the entire restaurant her golden beauty was obvious.

The knot that had been in his stomach all day eased at the sight of her.

Actually, it has eased
greatly last night when they’
d made their decision.

Katie was going on Tour with him. She was giving him a chance. Was giving them a chance to perhaps become a family. Something he had never been a part of. Not really. He wouldn’t trade his mother for the world, but it had always just been the two of them. They were more of a team than a family.

He honestly didn’t think this day would come, he’d certainly never gone looking for it. But he was about to have a family of his own. And he was going to try like hell to make sure his family stayed together, that he was a part of the decisions being made about his child and its future. He’d make sure his child never felt the awkwardness that Peaches had felt last night with her own father.

He’d spent most of the day thinking about her as he drove around the area where Katie lived. The Copper Country consisted of mainly Hancock, where Katie had grown up and still lived, Calumet, where they’d gone for dinn
er last night, a
nd Houghton, which
was
home to the University.

In some ways, the area reminded him of the small town in Spain he’d grown up in and where he still resided when not traveling.
Houghton
was quaint, with just one main thoroughfare, and only one stoplight that
Darío
had seen.

Wat
er was everywhere, from the man-
made canal that divided Houghton and Hancock, to Lake Superior, just twelve miles from the Hancock city limits.
Darío
loved water, had
grown up around it
, and although he knew Lake Superior was a fresh water lake, it could easily pass for an ocean. He found himself lonesome for the Bay
of Biscay
near his home. He’d stayed at the lake for hours this afternoon as he thought about Peaches and Katie and his unborn child.

Katie’s unborn child. He could not be sure this child was his. Not yet.

And yet, all his thoughts were of that child’s future, and what part he would play
in it
.

Katie’s laughter from across the room pulled
Darío
from his thoughts, and he made his way to the booth. She had come directly from work, wearing a skirt with a floral print and a baby blue, short-sleeved blouse. It was plain, but it looked spectacular on her. The other two women were dressed more casually, in shorts and tee shirts.

Darío
wore a golf shirt and shorts. He wore shorts whenever he could during the summer. Players were not allowed to wear them on the course during events, even practice rounds. He missed the days of his youth when he played in shorts and a tee shirt, soaking up the sun.

Katie saw him as he approached. Her face lit up as he walked toward her and he nearly stumbled. She slid over allowing him to sit next to her, across from her friends.

“Hey,” she said
softly, “you found us okay?”

He nodded. “You were right. Right across the street from the hotel.”

“
Darío
, let me introduce you to Alison Jukuri. And of course you remember Lizzie.”

Darío
stood once again, moving to the other side of the booth. The women looked startled that he’d risen for the introductions. What kind of men were they used to up here?

Alison was closest to him, she stuck her hand out and gave him a sly smile. “
Darío
, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Alison, the pleasure is all mine.”

He then shook Lizzie’s hand. “It is
nice to see you again, Lizzie. T
hough I must say you have certainly changed since the last time I saw you.” He sat once again next to Katie.

Lizzie rested a hand on her protruding belly and laughed. “Yeah, I guess so. But a good change.”

From the corner of his eyes,
he
saw Katie also place her hand on her still flat
belly, not even realizing she’
d done so. The movement pleased him, though he could not say why.
Darío
nodded. “
Sí
, a very good change. You are radiant, and have my congratulations.”