Chapter Nine

Caroline walked past her secretary into her office; Beverly followed her with the inevitable clip board on which were all the meetings and jobs Caroline would need to get to.

"You look very chirpy this morning. Did you have a good long weekend?"

"Yep, I sure did. Oh God, I know I can trust you and I can't hold it in anymore. I took Kate to Paris, we are back together Beverley and I couldn't be happier."

Beverley was jumping for joy inside at this news; she knew her boss well enough and had seen how miserable she had been these past few months. "I am so happy to hear that, you might be a bit less prickly now! Is Kate OK, is the pregnancy going well?"

"Me prickly," she feigned outrage; "Actually, Kate is more than well; we've just been to see the doctor and we're expecting twins."

"Oh my God Caroline, that's wonderful; you must both be so ecstatic."

"Well yes we are but we're still coming to terms with it. Two babies at our age is something we hadn't bargained on."

She took the list of jobs from Beverley and wondered how on earth she was going to concentrate on it all; her mind was in all kinds of turmoil about the news and all its implications.

Kate's brain was almost mush as she tried to hold down her classes and act as if all was normal. Some of the students had noticed her swelling tummy and offered her their congratulations on the quiet, but for most it was business as usual.

At recess she took her mobile phone and found a quiet corner, there was only one person she wanted to talk to, besides Caroline.

"Issy, is this a good time to talk to you for a minute?"

"Katie, my love how great to hear your voice; I have five minutes but I am off after six today so we can Skype if you like."

"Issy, I have some amazing news. I err we, Caroline and I that is, have just discovered that we're having twins."

"Oh gosh Katie, that must have been a shock, is it good or bad? I'm so happy for you."

"Good of course, but it will take some getting used to. I couldn't wait to tell you. Anyway how are you? Sorry it's been a while but it has been a time of sorting things out with Caroline, working out what we both want. How are you going with Tash?"

There was quite a long pause. "She's not you Katie darling; not quite the right piece. I guess I'm not ready yet, not as ready as I thought, but better to find out now."

Kate was dismayed to hear this; she had hoped for the best news which would be Issy happy and moving forward. "I'm sorry to hear that, are you coping OK?"

"Yes I'm fine, but you'll be cross with me when I tell you I've slipped back into my occasional one night stands, hell I've even had the odd 'comfort shag' with Jimmy. My workload is so heavy and consuming that I really don't have time to work on anything remotely serious, unless of course the right person just zaps me."

"I don't know what to say, I really have no right to say anything. We can talk about it this evening if you like."

"Yes, I'll call you when I'm home from the hospital and settled. Bye for now."

"Why are you making secret phone calls, skulking in a corridor Ms McKenzie?"

Kate nearly jumped out of her skin. "Caroline you scared the shit out of me! I'm not skulking anywhere; I just wanted some privacy for a few minutes."

"Who were you calling?"

"Issy, I just wanted to tell her my, err our, good news."

"Oh I see, is it going to be like this now, jumping on the phone to Issy every five minutes before we've even told the family."

Kate was enraged by this statement. She glared at Caroline. "I won't dignify that with an answer right now. Excuse me." She brushed past Caroline and made for the staff room.

Caroline stormed back into her office and slammed the door. After she had calmed down, she buzzed through to Beverley, "could you look and see if Kate is teaching next period?"

"No, she's off next."

"Would you mind ringing through to the staff room and asking her to come up here straight after lunch. Thanks"

Twenty minutes later after all the next classes were settled, Kate walked into Caroline's office. Before she could say anything, Caroline got out of her seat, walked around the desk and pinned her up against the closed door. She pressed her lips firmly against Kate's and kissed her roughly and hard. "That's how jealous I am; pathetic isn't it?"

"Caroline, there's nothing to be jealous about. Issy is someone I care for deeply like a kid sister who's a bit more than that; if it makes sense. I wanted to tell someone, someone of mine, you've already told Beverley."

"How do you know that?"

"She sidled up to me before lunch and whispered her congratulations, and I don't mind. Surely you can't resent me having close friends, remember my mum is in America, I have no siblings, no other family here except my dad who doesn't know me."

"Oh God, see how selfish and unthinking I can still be. I'm so sorry."

"It's just about trust Caroline, respect for each other, and if we become too possessive we will suffocate each other.

Issy is still struggling; her new relationship has not worked out; I guess she's not over us yet. I'm going to speak to her tonight; I want to be there for her. She's so happy for us, for the babies. I promise you she's no threat my darling."

Caroline was once again in awe of what Kate could bring out in her.

Here it was, the night of nights. They had invited Celia, Alan and Lawrence to dinner at Kate's. It was just going to be a simple take-away as it was a school night, but they couldn't put off the inevitable anymore. Kate found herself quite nervous, wishing Caroline would hurry up and get there. Celia and Alan were coming from the farm and she dreaded the thought of them arriving first. Lawrence and Caroline were going to stay the night, and Kate had gone to a lot of trouble to de-feminise the spare room; she had even had a quiet conversation with Angus about what comics she could put on the bedside table; at least she knew the lad was a comic fanatic. Angus had given her the names of the ones Lawrence was hanging out for and she had got them. There were one or two 'masculine' items in her bathroom too.

She heard the familiar sound of Caroline's car door outside, then the sound of a second. She realised Alan and Celia had arrived at the same time. It would be interesting to see how Caroline treated her when the family was with them, she couldn't help but remember the secrecy and distance that was normal when they lived together before.

Celia's first surprise was to see Caroline pull out a set of keys and let them in to the house. "Kate darling we're all here." No mistake. Things were different and Kate could feel the tension dissipating; Celia on the other hand could feel it building. Caroline walked into the room and pulled Kate into her, kissing her tenderly. "I hope you've not tired yourself too much getting ready for us."

"Caroline, I'm pregnant not dying, stop fussing." Kate walked over to Celia and Alan and welcomed them. Alan was a darling and congratulated her on the baby. Celia nodded in agreement but refrained from getting too enthusiastic. Lawrence looked a little sheepish and put out his hand. Kate put her arm loosely around his shoulder and whispered;"there's something on your beside table in the spare room if you get bored."

Lawrence feigned the need to put his bag in his room and galloped upstairs to see what was there. He was surprised when he saw the comics and immediately lay on the bed and started to devour them. Nice one Ms McKenzie.

Once everyone was settled and had a drink of some kind, Caroline called Lawrence downstairs. "We need a few minutes of your time kiddo if you can drag yourself away from 'Captain whatever his name is" she called upstairs.

"I have something to tell you all," Kate started. "Caroline and I found out yesterday that we are having twins!"

Silence, shock, everyone looking at everyone; Kate slipped her hand into Caroline's for moral support. "We are of course over the moon to be having two healthy babies but we aren't silly enough not to know it's going to be hard work with two little ones at our age."

Lawrence was the first to speak. "So I'm having two brothers or sisters?" The women had decided that there was no real need to hide the babies' gender as they would be buying stuff soon and people would know. "Yes you'll be having two little sisters."Caroline said very gently.

"Cool" was all he said. Then back to the comic. Caroline got up and kissed the top of his head; "Thank you sweetheart."

Celia was next to speak;"Well, I can see now why you'd want to be with Caroline, you wouldn't bring up two of them easily on your own."

Kate was ready. "No you're right Celia there is no one I would want to be with other than Caroline to bring up our children."

"What about their father, what does he think?"

"I think he'll be thrilled when we tell him Celia. He's a good man, one of my oldest and best friends. But, he knows that these babies are ours, mine and Caroline's and he won't stand in our way. We'll decide later what if any, involvement he has."

Alan walked over to Kate and kissed her."Congratulations love," then he did and said the same to Caroline. "We'll be around and we'll help in any way we can won't we Celia. Everyone looked at Celia. There was a slight chink in the armour. Caroline had seen it many times before and knew it usually meant surrender to the inevitable. "Yes love, we'll do our best. We've got Calamity as well you know."

"I know mum and we will be grateful for anything you do for us. Kate's mum is going to take some time off from University when they are born so she can help out too."

"So the next major step is to look for a house. We want Lawrence and William to have a say but we will be a family of six in a few months. God it sounds amazing doesn't it?" Caroline said as she nuzzled her face against Kate's. "In the meantime, Lawrence and I will move here to Kate's until we find something suitable. What about you two?"

"Oh we're just going to stay at the farm until we find something. We have been looking and there are a few nice bungalows available. I'm waiting for my tenants to tell me if they want to buy my little house or not." Alan explained.

So far so good; a bit cool Caroline thought but no fireworks thank God. "I'm just going to ring the restaurant and ask them to deliver our order in the next half hour. Caroline disappeared into the kitchen with her phone. Lawrence bolted back upstairs and Alan headed for the bathroom.

"I know, I wasn't very nice to you before Kate. I just didn't want to see Caroline make a fool of herself; I only ever want her to be happy."

"Celia, I understand that. I don't bear any grudges. But when Caroline and I separated we were both utterly miserable. I even tried to forget her by finding a new partner. It didn't work for either of us. We are just very much in love and want to be a family. I want my, our children to grow up in a peaceful loving environment. Caroline and I can give them that and the boys will be wonderful with their little sisters. Lawrence is still young and boyish but he'll come around, he's a good kid. We both really value family and we want you and Alan to be part of it."

Caroline stopped dead in her tracks as she came through the doorway. A scene she never in a million years expected, was before her; Celia hugging Kate, and telling her that she would do her very best to be a good mother and grandmother. It brought tears to her eyes. "Can anyone join in this hug?" she said as she wrapped her arms around them both.

Not long after, the meal arrived and they all got stuck in. There was a lot of chatter about things that needed to be bought for the babies and houses that needed to be inspected; all in all it had turned into quite a good night. That is until there was a knock at the door.

"Who can that be?" Caroline asked Kate quizzically. Kate got up and went to the door. "Oh God" Caroline heard her say. "Who is it?" Kate walked back in to the room. "This is one for you Caroline, it's John."

"What does that nit wit want?" she heard Celia say as she took a deep breath and walked to the door.

She put on the outside light and the opened the door.

"John, what are you doing here?" He had obviously been drinking as usual.

"I came to see my family, my family who think they can cut me off and hide from me."

"John you're drunk, you need to get a cab and go home to Judith." He tried to push past her into the house but she blocked his way.

"Aren't you even going to let me in, my son is in there."

"No, I am not going to let you in. My family and I are in the middle of dinner. This is not Conway Drive; it's Kate's and my home. You are drunk and I don't want your son to keep seeing you like this. For God's sake John where's your dignity?"

"Bollocks to you, you're the one with no dignity, shacking up with another woman who's having a baby that's not even yours."

"That's it. If you don't leave right now, I will call the police. So you choose, a taxi or a paddy wagon?"

"Popsicle!" Lawrence shouted as he came to the door. He stopped short as he saw the state of his father. "Mum he's drunk again."

"I know Lawrence, please go inside and I'll deal with this." She said nothing else, just stared at him until eventually he walked off. She had no idea if he got back into his car or called a taxi. She didn't care.

Caroline offered to drive Alan and Celia back to their flat in Conway Drive as they weren't too good in the dark, but they assured her it wasn't far and they would take it slowly. Lawrence thanked Kate again for the comics and said he was going to go back upstairs. That left the two of them alone for the first time that day. After cleaning up they decided to call it a night and go to bed. They were both ready to just fall into each other's arms and digest the day's events. Caroline was also aware that they had managed their first argument and she was keen to soothe away any hurt she might have caused Kate.

"Can you forgive me for yesterday's outburst Kate, I feel so bad about flying off the handle?"

"It's over darling, of course we are going to have fights but it's about how we resolve them." With that, Kate slipped under the sheets and began to stroke and kiss Caroline's body, she knew every sensual spot, every move that would make Caroline groan with desire for her. "It will be so wonderful when we can do this every night, in our own home." Kate whispered with a husky voice.

"Every night until two little lungs start screaming and we won't be able to say 'your turn' because we'll both be up. So Kate McKenzie let's make the most of it." Caroline rolled Kate on to her side so that she could hold her closer, the baby bump was starting to get in the way. She let her hands wind around her lover, caressing her and bringing her to a place of ecstasy. They both giggled as they tried to stifle their cries of pleasure, they were aware that Lawrence was on the other side of their bedroom wall.

As they lay basking in the depth of their love and enjoyment of each other Kate asked, "Caroline, when we look for our new home can we find one where our bedroom that is at the other end of the house from the others?" they both laughed, promising to make that happen.