20. Epilogue – Katy
Epilogue – Katy
Sixteen months later…
“I’m so happy,” Marianne sniffed next to me. “All my boys are finally married. All I ever wanted was for them to find love. And to give me grandchildren. Human grandchildren.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Andrew roll his eyes at his mother’s dramatics. “Patrick is such a suck up,” he mumbled. “Goldie is a fine grandchild, but no, he had to do us one better.”
Marianne leaned forward and smacked him with the program. “I heard that. And cats aren’t the same.”
Andrew’s brother had fallen for a single mother, giving Marianne the human grandchildren she’d been hoping for. That’s how we’d all ended up at the elementary school watching the harvest talent show. Sadly there wasn’t a lot of talent at the talent show, but the kids were all adorable.
Behind Marianne’s head I exchanged a look of amusement with Steph. It was still sometimes weird for both of us to be a part of this close knit family. The Lawsons, as much as they gave each other shit, loved each other with all their hearts. And once you were a part of their family, you were a recipient of that same love.
Marianne had taken it upon herself to be a surrogate mother to both me and Steph and even though her nosy intrusiveness was sometimes annoying, we both loved her.
Time had flown since I’d gotten together with Andrew, and as much as I believed that I didn’t need a man to make me happy, my man made me very happy. We got married six months ago in a small ceremony at the church here in Lawson with Steph and Carmen standing up for me and his two brothers standing up for Andrew.
Depending on our work schedules, we spent one or two weeks a month in Lawson and the rest in Denver. We weren’t always together – my job still required a fair amount of travel and on-site work -- but we tried to coordinate when we could. Goldie had gotten used to traveling back and forth too.
We’d half-heartedly shopped for a different house in Denver but eventually we just decided that my place worked fine. It was smaller than Andrew’s house in Lawson, but it was conveniently located, in good condition, and had a low interest rate mortgage so it seemed stupid to move somewhere else.
We all winced as a little girl dressed as a cat tried to hit the high notes in Memory.
“When is this damned thing over?” Christopher grumbled loud enough that we all heard him.
Patrick turned around and silenced him with a glare, making the rest of us smirk. His unflappable personality turned protective where his new family was involved. It was kind of sweet.
When it was finally over the whole group of us headed downtown to get celebratory ice cream sundaes. After we finished, Andrew and I walked hand in hand back to our house. The leaves were falling, and the temperatures were getting colder, reminding me that our trips back and forth o Denver were going to get more difficult soon.
“What would you think about me quitting my job?”
Andrew’s head whipped around. “I thought you loved your job?”
“I do, but Steph and I have been thinking about starting a consulting company. There’s a lot of need for emergency management consultants and with our contacts in the industry, we think we could do well,” I explained. “Then we could spend more time in Lawson too.”
“I’d love that, if that’s what you want,” he replied. “Is that what you want?”
“Yeah. Local government politics get exhausting after a while, to be honest.”
When we reached the house he pulled me around and pressed me against the front door, giving me a deep, claiming kiss.
“I will support you whatever you decide,” he said against my lips. “It doesn’t matter if we are here or in Denver, as long as we’re together.”
I gave him a wry smile. “You’re such a sweet talker.”
“I’m your sweet talker,” he said. “Now how about we work off that ice cream – in the bedroom?”
***
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Keep reading for a special preview of Steph and Christopher’s story, Disaster Planning.