Caroline lay with her head resting on Kate's thigh. The room was still but for the sound of breathing returning to a normal rate. It was this moment Caroline loved best, feeling that in the quiet she absorbed some of Kate's peace, stocking it up against the morrow's worries. For Kate, the best thing afterwards was lying on her side and looking into Caroline's eyes as her pulse slowed - leaning in to kiss her lightly on the lips, seeing her smile mirrored - leaning over to touch her cheek lightly or brush her hair. "Come here," she said. "I want to see you." Caroline sighed happily and scouched her way up the mattress.
"Well, hello," she grinned. "Here you are."
Kate smiled. "Yep. Here I am." She lifted her hand and ran it through Caroline's hair. "That was wonderful. Thank you."
"No thanks needed. I'm sure you'd do the same for me." Caroline said. They laughed together.
"How do you ever think of these things?" Kate asked. "You should write a book: How to give your very pregnant girlfriend fantastic orgasms, by Dr. Caroline Elliot. . We'd retire on the profits."
"Think there'd be much demand?" Caroline asked, running a finger over the length of Kate's jaw.
"Are you kidding me?" Kate replied. "You'd do well by doing good."
"Might be a few legal issues." Caroline noted.
"What?" Kate asked. She grabbed Caroline's wandering hand and brought her fingers to her mouth for a kiss. "I thought all the decency statutes had been revoked."
"Mmm," Caroline whispered. "Copyright's still on the books. That would be a scandal."
"Huh," Kate was confused but Caroline's eyes were laughing.
"'Private School Headmistress Plagiarizes Pregnancy Sex Book.' Screaming headlines in the Courier. Board of Governors would love that," Caroline said.
"Wait." Kate said. "You mean there are third trimester sex books?"
"Yep." said Caroline. "Lots of them. Found them on the internet and I've bought and read them all."
"Took notes, too?" asked Kate, smiling.
"Copious." said Caroline.
"You are magnificent." said Kate.
"So you say." said Caroline.
xxxXXXxxx
Caroline was washing up after dinner. Laurence had retreated to his room to cast his eyes over assigned readings whilst studying text messages.
"I have to ask you about something" Kate said. She was sitting at the counter, toying with a glass of water. It had to be her 10th of the day. Laurence, the water Nazi, knew, no doubt.
"What?" asked Caroline.
"Are you planning anything for Valentine's Day?"
"Might be." said Caroline.
"I've a favor to ask." said Kate.
"Anything." said Caroline.
"Would you mind if we don't go out for dinner on the day itself? asked Kate.
"Really?" asked Caroline. "I thought we'd get gussied up and make a night of it."
"I don't think we'd have a lot of fun." said Kate.
"Really? asked Caroline. "Why not?"
"John ever take you out for Valentine's?" she asked.
"Now and again." Caroline answered. "Not every year."
"Ever see a lot of gay couples out on your State Authorized Date Night journeys?" Kate questioned, her smile belying the bitterness of her words. Caroline thought back over a handful of scenes over the years. In each memory the interior design and the cut of her clothes became more expensive and more tasteful. The entrees became more expensive, if not necessarily better. No same sex couples in any scene.
"Oh." said Caroline. She sighed. "Well, we could try the Italian Connection, or Hales," she offered. Kate smiled. It was an open question whether Caroline would be more uncomfortable in a gay pub or as half of the only gay couple in a fancy restaurant.
"Already tried. Italian Connection's booked and Hales doesn't do reservations."
"Well," said Caroline, "I know you can get reservations at Malden's because I already have some."
"Really?" Kate was surprised. After a Christmastime review in the Courier, getting a reservation at Malden's for anything, much less Valentine's was a coup.
"Careful planning is my stock in trade," Caroline said lightly.
Kate walked over to her and put a hand on Caroline's arm. "It's one of your best traits," she said, smiling. Kate kissed her and Caroline made a quiet, happy humming sound. Kate kissed her again. "You're done in here." she said when their lips parted. Let's go sit down."
"You might persuade me," said Caroline.
"How many?" Kate asked.
"I think," said Caroline, pausing as though to reflect upon the question, "I think three." So Kate kissed her three times and taking her by the hand, led her back to the lounge.
After Caroline had helped her sit and adjusted pillows at her back and beneath her feet, she asked, "So no dinner date on Valentine's? I thought, 'We're out, we're proud, we're demanding equal access to restaurants on Valentine's day.'" She sounded defiant.
"Already done it. Not ever going to do it again. You go, you go solo." Kate said, grinning.
"That would rather defeat the entire purpose, wouldn't it?" Caroline said with a laugh. "Tell me?" she asked. Kate wasn't one to rhapsodize about her youthful escapades, Caroline had come to realize. Stumbling across this one pleased her greatly.
"The worst night of my life was a Valentine's date in a posh restaurant." Kate said with a laugh.
"Do tell!" said Caroline, eagerly.
"Show a little respect here, Caroline," Kate admonished, but she was grinning. "I'm about to bare my soul about a terrible experience."
"With someone who wasn't me on Valentine's," Caroline laughed. "As far as I'm concerned, the story already has a happy ending."
"You're incorrigible," said Kate. "It was a hundred years ago. I was just out of university."
"Who was the girl so lucky to catch you and so foolish to let you go?"
"Her name was Miranda. Miranda Jackson." said Kate.
"Miranda Jackson, the human rights lawyer?" asked Caroline incredulously.
"Well, she was just Miranda Jackson, reading law at Durham, then," laughed Kate.
"And she had a mad pash for you?" prodded Caroline.
"That she did," Kate agreed with a smile. Caroline let her head fall as though crestfallen. "But," Kate continued, "you'll be relieved to hear that she had a madder pash for grand gestures that seems to have survived our few dates. Have you seen that bit on the news about the sit-ins for domestic workers?"
"Yep," said Caroline, determined to head off one of Kate's patented narrative walkabouts, this time on migrant domestic workers - a worthy topic of discussion for some other night. "She's right. They're screwing workers. Back to the story of your tragic date," she said insistently. Kate smiled her slow lazy grin, the one that always accelerated Caroline's pulse.
"Well alright then," she said, picking up Caroline's hand and twining their fingers together. "She made reservations for us at a very nice restaurant. Well, I think more accurately it was an expensive, boring restaurant. The kind of place you take your parents to when they visit you while you're at university. But this place must have been run by idiots, because when we got there the wait was crazy. I thought at first it was just us, because we were, well, you know, a gay couple. But everyone was waiting and complaining. At least an hour. It was one of those restaurants in an old Georgian town house. The bar was in a parlour but it was jammed and we ended up stuck in the vestibule. Waiters walking through occasionally with trays over their heads and all of us scared half to death that the à l'orange sauce would wander off a duck breast and on to our fancy best if they ever tripped over any of us."
"Miranda and I were carrying on talking, pretending it was an ordinary night in an ordinary restaurant. But of course it wasn't. And all the lovely heterosexuals were trying to stare at us without actually staring at us. Which was hard because we were all crammed together like sardines in a tin. I'm sure a few astigmatisms were created that night."
"Why didn't you just leave?" asked Caroline.
"That's what Miranda asked after all of ten minutes." observed Kate.
"Obviously the wrong question." Caroline noted.
"Not for you. You're not the one who took a perfectly lovely opportunity for an evening with your girlfriend and turned it into some all politics is personal political event." said Kate, surprised to find that after all these years she was still a bit angry about the evening.
"Darling," said Caroline in very serious tones, "I can assure you that no evening out for us will ever be an all politics is personal political event." Kate hooted. "You declined to leave?" Caroline prompted.
"Of course I did. I had wanted to stay home, order pizza, watch a Katherine Hepburn movie on the vcr and see if perhaps we'd be inspired. She's the one who insisted on going out to that damned restaurant. What was it called?" she mused to herself.
"I'm sure it's long since closed," Caroline said hastily. "What happened."
"Well, eventually they sat us. But it was another hour till we were served. And conversation was, well, it was not Miranda's most sparkling evening. Although I did have a bit of fun with the folks at the tables nearby. Miranda was furious."
"What did you do?" asked Caroline.
"I talked about all the churches I practiced in or played services at or performed student concerts in. So when anyone listened in - which to be fair, we were squashed together so closely it probably violated every fire code in the county, it'd be hard not to listen in - they'd hear two black lesbians on a Valentine's date talking about Anglican churches in the area." Kate grinned. "That part was fun," she admitted. Caroline hooted.
"Finally we were done and the crowd had thinned considerably. And the very sweet, very gay boy who had been tending the bar put on Indigo Girls music for us on dining room stereo system." Caroline looked at her blankly. "Never mind," said Kate. "You probably missed them. Girls, guitars, harmony. Anyway, we left and I asked Miranda never to call me again."
"That's a bit stern," observed Caroline.
"Well, yes," agreed Kate. "I see that now. But then I was furious. I mean the nerve. It was her plan, wasn't it? We were going to embody equality and force all those heterosexual couples to consider their own assumed but unexamined privilege. If we had to stand in a crowd in the vestibule for an hour because the maitre d' didn't know how to manage his own reservation system, well that was all to the better for us, in terms of political action, wasn't it. Because it wasn't going to be a romantic evening, was it? It wasn't going to be a Valentine's Day date. But after ten minutes Miranda was ready to chuck it. It was her idea in the first place."
"Did you really talk like that at university?" asked Caroline. "Heterosexual privilege?"
Kate blushed. "I was very young," she said. "I was right. But I was young."
"Funny," mused Caroline. "First this language comes out as activist theory and I completely miss it. A quarter of a century later it's bullet points in government directives I get on safe and healthy school culture and I damn well better know it backwards and forwards."
"I suppose it's progress," said Kate grudgingly. "But I'm not going anywhere out of this house on Valentine's. So if you want a lovey, dovey romantic evening, plan something for home."
"I'm on it." said Caroline with a grin. "I should probably call Malden's though. Every straight couple in Harrogate is no doubt dying for a reservation." Kate laughed and Caroline picked up the television remote. Then she stopped.
"Kate?" she asked.
"Yes, Caroline?" Kate replied.
"Don't ever let me do something as stupid as that. I know I can be dense. But I never want to be compared to Miranda Jackson in your mind."
"Too late. Have been. You're better. Worth the wait, too." Caroline heard herself giggle. "But you know Caroline," Kate interrupted her. "I've learned a lot over the years. That's why we're having this conversation now."
"Oh," said Caroline. "Ok." And she leant back to snuggle against her.
"What are we watching?" asked Kate.
"Whatever you want." said Caroline.
xxxXXXxxx
"I do appreciate this, Celia," said Kate again as she struggled with the seatbelt of Celia and Alan's car.
"Don't be silly, love." said Celia. "I'm happy to do it."
"I've just had the worst time with my eyes lately. I'm afraid to drive." explained Kate.
"It's just your time, dear." said Celia waiting, not with complete patience, as Kate sought to settle herself. Kate would have preferred to take her little Fiat, which while small was not so impossibly low as to make the car all but impossible for pregnant women to enter or exit or to sit comfortably in. "Kenneth's sister, the one in Australia, had the same problem. Her eyes were always tired. She used to say she felt like she woke up with her eyes so blurry she felt like she'd read all of Dickens in her sleep. Which if you knew her, Kate, you'd find funny, because it's not clear to anyone that she ever had read so much as a cereal box. So it's very common, I'm told."
"But you never had it?" asked Kate, knowing what the answer would be.
"No. When I had Caroline I was as healthy as an ox. I had so much energy then, I'd have washed walls for the sheer pleasure of it," Celia said with a laugh that did not have half the trace of smugness in it that Kate heard.
"It's just the boredom of sitting around all day with nothing to read. Even playing the piano's hard if I want to play something new. And now I can't even get out on my own to do the shopping." Kate hated whiners and it was pretty clear that she was whining. She sighed.
"Aren't you are a sorry chick," said Celia with some rough sympathy. "Don't worry love, it will be over soon enough. So, where are we off to?" Celia asked good naturedly.
"I thought we'd start with Leng's and if I can't get all of what I need, then if you don't mind the co-operative?" Kate asked, a little hesitant, as always, with Celia.
"We're off, then. First stop, Leng's. Handy for me. I can pick up some bananas for Alan."
xxxXXXxxx
"Gillian, Hi - it's Kate - Kate McKenzie." Kate began in a voice she hoped sounded self-assured.
"Kate! What a surprise." said Gillian. "Listen, just a second. Could you give me a mo, here. Shit." Kate heard the phone drop, some banging of metal on metal. Some cursing. Then a sigh. Then quiet.
"Kate?" asked Gillian embarrassed, half expecting her to have hung up.
"Hi Gillian - sorry to interrupt." Kate said.
Gillian smiled broadly. "No worries. You can't call a farmer and not interrupt something. So what can I do for you?"
"More than a little bit," said Kate. I need some advice and some help." Poor Kate, Gillian thought to herself. If ever there was advice or help needed in the Buttershaw clan, Gillian's name always failed to make the call list.
"Sure. What's up?" asked Gillian.
"It's Saturday." Kate began.
"Ah, yes, the big rugby match." said Gillian. "Dad's all excited about it."
"That's sweet. Caroline's thrilled he wants to come. Grandfathers are rather thin on the ground in Harrogate and Laurence is over the moon. I didn't know Alan was a rugby man."
"Neither did I. He went to all of Raff's football matches and never said a word about rugby. Probably follows the boys' lead. So what do you need?"
"Well the first part," Kate explained, "should be easy. I want to make up some picnic hampers for the match and I hoped you'd do a lamb roast for sandwiches."
"Is the second part asking me to match?" asked Kate.
"Oh, no, Gillian," said Kate. "You're coming to the match, with or without the lamb roast." Caroline had told Gillian that once Kate had the bit in her mouth about something it was just a matter of time before she made it happen.
"I've finally learned," Caroline had told her, "to agree as quickly as possible whenever she's in Demeter of the Dales mode. We're working on my ability to recognize the mode more quickly." So this is what Caroline meant, Gillian realized - there was no threat in Kate's voice, just pure certainty.
"Of course I'm coming, Kate. Thanks for thinking of me." said Gillian. Kate heard the chuckle in Gillian's voice, imagined Caroline and Gillian playing happy sisters over a glass of wine and blushed.
"The thing is," she said, "I'm not quite sure that Caroline's quite realized what a scene this will be."
"I'm not sure I have either," said Gillian. "Surely she's gone to one of Laurence's rugby match before."
"Not with her very pregnant partner, mother and father-in-law. To the first match at home of the season. In front of half the parents, a third the faculty and probably a good number from the Board of Governors."
"Oh," said Gillian. "I see. Well, actually, I don't Kate. I thought you were all out and about now. Surely she's thought this through."
"I hope so," Kate said. "And perhaps I'm doing her an injustice, but I'm afraid she's at the part of the coming out process where she's not thinking about the emotional costs to herself."
"Ok," said Gillian, "but now I'm confused. I thought being out was a big deal to you. She's said as much to me."
"It is," said Kate hurriedly. "It very much is. But I'm just worried that she'll be stomping along the rugby pitch, shouting Laurence encouragement and she'll hear somebody say something. Or maybe just look up and see all the people in the stands and all of a sudden she'll feel like everybody in the entire world is watching her and she's got a big sign hanging over her saying, "Caroline's a lesbian."
"Mine says, 'Gillian's a knob," if it's any consolation, said Gillian sympathetically.
"Well it shouldn't, and I'll work on you next if you'd like but I'm a bit preoccupied now," said Kate.
"Right," said Gillian, all business like. "What can I do."
"Well, first of all," said Kate, be there so she knows when you look at her the sign says, 'Snotty Bitch.' I'm trying to pack the scene with people who she knows think all sorts of different things about her."
"That's brilliant, Kate. Of course I'll come." said Gillian.
"Yes, well, that's the easy part." said Kate.
"Oh dear, said Gillian. "John."
"Right. I have to ask him. It's Laurence's match."
"Right," said Gillian. Of course you do. I can't imagine what her sign will say when he looks at her."
"You know Gillian," Kate said, "to be honest, I think he may be the one person in the world whose opinion matters not at all to her. But it does to Laurence."
"Right," said Gillian. "Look, Kate, does this conversation lead to the part where you tell me to run interference between John and Caroline and maybe Celia, and also myself?"
"Inexorably," said Kate. "Which I know is asking you the world, but I'm juggling a lot here Gillian and I really need your help."
"Short answer is yes," said Gillian. "But can I just observe that if I'm the solution, you may have stumbled into a very worrisome problem, indeed."
"That not how I see it Gillian." said Kate. "But listen, I've got to run. Celia's taking me shopping and she's ready to go."
"Celia's taking you shopping? Dear god, you're tough."
"Right, well, needs must." said Kate. "Listen, thank you. I'll call you later in the week after I hear from John."
xxxXXXxxx
"My mother took you shopping?" Caroline asked incredulously.
"No. Well yes. She wanted to buy Alan's bananas. It wasn't like a dragged her out at gun point." said Kate defensively.
Caroline put her glass down and wrapped her arms around Kate. "Shh, shh. It's ok. I'm not being critical. Just surprised. Why did my mother take you shopping?"
"I wanted to get the fixings for Saturday." Kate said.
Laurence extricated himself, laden, from the refrigerator. "My rugby match is Saturday," he reminded Kate and Caroline nervously.
"I know." said Kate in exasperation. "I thought we should have some food, sandwiches, hot tea, muffins. You know. For everyone who's coming."
"It's not like cricket, Kate." said Laurence a little snottily. "No scones required."
"I am aware of that, Laurence." said Kate. Actually, she wasn't. She liked to hike, but organized team sport and its various subcultures might as well have been differential equations as far as Kate was concerned. Somehow, she sensed, Laurence knew this. "But Alan and Celia might get a bit chilled between the moments of your prowess on the field."
"And I'll want a thousand little snacks because, you know, I'll be awake." Kate continued. Laurence laughed. "And your mother will need to refuel between cataclysmic bouts of questioning the visual and analytical acuity of the referees." Laurence laughed again.
"Now, just a minute." Caroline protested. Both Kate and Laurence laughed now. Caroline was not a sports fan, but she was a loyal and vocal fan of the SH teams whose matches she attended. Before Laurence began rugby, she simply asked the coaches to rotate the sport she would follow each season and send their home game schedules to Beverly. Once Laurence began playing, rugby always had a place in her schedule. Part of her legend included rousing, if in retrospect ironic, tales of Caroline sweeping the sidelines, her coat flowing behind her, her judgment about adverse decisions never shouted, but enunciated clearly enough to be heard in the bleachers ("I suppose in an alternative universe comprised of 6 dimensions with unicorns there might exist a field on which Mr. Heffernan could have been off-sides; that, however is not the reality we inhabit." "Charging? Really, you call that charging? Miss Wilton no more charged that girl than she sprouted wings and flew like Ariel.") Once Laurence began rugby her reputation among students and alumni entered a phase of epic retelling.
Kate smiled down at her. "Darling, it must be aerobic, all that sidelines commentary. You'll need to keep your strength up."
"Fine," said Caroline. So what are your catering plans?" she asked with a smile.
"Well, I thought I'd ask Laurence to do sandwich bread for us."
"Can do." said Laurence agreeably. "I've been wanting to try a new recipe I found with molasses for the feeding the yeast."
"That's nice, dear, said Caroline absently, "just plan a schedule this week so you get the bread done and make a nodding acquaintance with your homework."
"How much will you need, Kate?" he asked, pointedly refusing to rise to Caroline's bait.
"Well, there's me and your Mum, Alan and Celia, Angus' mum - I hope you don't mind that I asked Felicity," she looked at each of them carefully but they both seemed unperturbed." Laurence shrugged his shoulders - the truly indifferent, not eloquently dismissive shrug and Caroline's face brightened.
"Oh, Kate - how kind, " she said.
"Self interest, really," said Kate. She promised to explain the rules to me. Also Laurence, Gillian's coming too, if you don't mind." Again, the shrug of genuine indifference from Laurence.
"Gillian? Our Gillian?" asked Caroline?
"I hope it's alright. But I wanted to ask her for a lamb roast for the sandwiches and I couldn't not invite her. And, I think she's been a bit lonely." Kate rushed on, still uncertain and defensive. She felt nervous taking the lead in organizing social plans for Caroline's family. Caroline hated to hear that note in her voice.
"No, not at all," she assured her. "Sweetheart, you could invite the Sheik of Araby and I'd be happy."
"Will my Dad be there?" asked Laurence. Suddenly the temperature in the room dropped.
"Laurence, I've called and invited him. I hope that was alright. I only got his voice mail." said Kate. Her voice was steady and low. Laurence's deployed his feigned indifference shrug, which was painful for his mother to watch. "But why don't you call him and remind him." Kate continued. "He hasn't even tried your bread yet, has he?" Kate asked. Caroline turned to busy herself sorting the post. One part of her mind was furious that John hadn't had the courtesy to return Kate's call. One part of her mind was angry that Laurence so badly wanted him there. One part of her mind was angry with herself, that she'd begrudge Laurence his own father's support. One part of her mind knew that after dinner, when Laurence had cocooned himself in some xbox game in his room, she would curl herself into Kate and they'd talk about their day and the plans for the rugby match over and Kate would help her feel alright with the chaotic mess of social relations her family life had become. That part thrummed with such contentment that the rest of the parts seemed entirely manageable.
xxxXXXxxx
"More stuff for the baby?" asked Laurence as he struggled to move the last of the boxes from drive into the kitchen as Caroline had asked.
"No." his mother replied. "Stuff for your match. Won't do you any good, Mr. Muscles, but the rest of the party will appreciate it."
"What's all this?" asked Kate coming into the kitchen from the hallway stairs. Caroline looked up from the post Kate had left sorted on the counter for her.
"Hello, love," she said to Kate. "I was just going to make some tea? Would you like some?"
"Depends," said Kate. "Can I help Laurence?"
"Depends on what?" asked Caroline.
"Sure," said Laurence. He handed her one of the smaller boxes. "Mum," what did you buy? This thing weighs a ton."
"If you make it properly." said Kate. "I don't mind making it myself if you want to run up and change, though."
"Mum," Laurence squeaked. "Why did you buy," he paused to read aloud from the carton, "a wheeled battery charger with engine starter?"
"Would you mind. Fleece and flats are the only possible solution to a Friday afternoon." Kate, still toting the box Laurence had handed to her came round the counter and gave her a quick kiss.
"It's to charge the seat batteries, Laurence," Caroline explained. "We'll keep it for the jeep as a safety measure, though."
"Off you go, then," said Kate, taking Caroline by the shoulders and turning her towards the stairs. I'll get this sorted and if you play your cards right, you may add foot rub to your Friday devotions."
"God, the mysteries of the Trinity finally explained." Caroline stole another kiss, then grabbed her purse and ran up the stairs to their room.
She returned to find a tray with tea on the dining table, and five heated stadium seats and a battery charged heated blanket piled neatly on the kitchen counter. Every available plug in the kitchen was charging the batteries. Laurence, by now unselfconscious in his mother's kitchen apron, the one that said, "Kiss the Cook!" across the chest, was carefully scoring bread dough for its last rise.
"I'll put it in 20 minutes," he said to Kate. "It shouldn't take more than an hour after that."
"Would I face a rebellion," Caroline asked as she walked to join Kate at the table, "if I insisted on curry takeaway for dinner?"
"Not from me." said Kate."
"None here, said Laurence.
"I shall deny it if either of you ever repeat this," Caroline said as she put her cup down, "but Mum's right, darling. You do make a lovely cuppa."
"It appears, Dr. Elliot," that you've played your cards well." Kate laughed. "A post-prandial foot rub for the lady."
"Well played, Mum," said Laurence as he set the timer for the bread.
"So what did you do all day?" Caroline asked Kate.
Kate smiled, a bit sadly. "Slept mostly," she said. Worked on the picnic fixings for tomorrow. Chatted with Laurence when he came home."
"It's important for the baker to engage in witty repartée whilst working." Laurence said with mock solemnity.
"I thought that was sushi masters?" Caroline said.
"We are all brothers under the apron, Mum."
"Listen to you," Caroline hooted in appreciation.
Kate smiled. "I owe you, Laurence. I'm going a bit stir-crazy - although I seem to need the naps."
"What happened to reading. Teachers are always telling kids to read when they're bored."
"Can't." said Kate simply. My eyes won't focus properly.
"Let me guess," said Laurence. "Hormones." Kate and Caroline laughed.
"Why don't you do books on tape?" Caroline asked.
"There's an idea." said Kate.
"Do we even have a tape recorder?" asked Caroline. "I might bring something home for you from school."
"I'm sure your Mum would run me to the library, too." said Kate.
"You guys are kidding, right?" asked Laurence. "Pulling my leg? Winding me up? Teasing the adolescent in the house? Talk about fish in the barrel."
"What?" asked Caroline.
"There's an app for that, Mum. Honestly, Kate, I thought you'd have figured that out by now." Caroline and Kate turned to each other with raised eyebrows.
"We should snog, just to pay him back," suggested Kate.
"Right here?" asked Caroline, playing along. "Right now? Over the teapot."
"Oh," said Kate. "I forgot about the teapot. That would probably be inappropriate."
"Saved by the teapot," laughed Laurence. "Ok, I'll stop being a brat. There's a bunch of different apps that let you buy and listen to 'books on tape,' as you so quaintly put it. Amazon and Apple probably have the biggest libraries but there are other platforms too. I can set it up for you if you want, Kate."
"Thank you, Laurence. That would be lovely." answered Kate.
"What will you listen to first?" asked Caroline.
"Oh, hadn't thought about that. Serious question - formative experience for the smart phone. I should ponder this."
"I say," said Caroline, "you should listen to all of Jane Austen."
"Kill me now, Mum." Laurence interjected.
"Actually," said Kate, "I wonder if someone's recorded the Patrick O'Brien novels about Aubrey and Maturin. I swear his prose is as good as Austen's and you get sea battles and swash buckling for good measure."
"Check and double check." said Laurence, staring at the screen on his phone. There's a lot of them Kate."
"Swashbuckling? You? Kate?" Caroline said in surprise. "The things you learn in your own kitchen."
"You saw Master and Commander, didn't you Laurence?" asked Kate.
"Talk about a rhetorical question," muttered Caroline.
"Yeah," Laurence said. "It was alright." 'Alright,' of course, was adolescent for, 'the best thing ever.'
"The movie's based on the O'Brian novels," explained Kate. "You should listen to one. They're all set in the Napoleonic Wars. Very exciting stuff. O'Brian's a bit hard on the French, but I loved reading them."
Laurence knew that she was baiting the hook. Kate had been on a campaign to get him to read more since Christmas.
"There's another series you might like," he offered. "It's set in the Napoleonic Wars. Let me check if they're recorded."
"Really?" asked Kate, genuinely interested.
"Yep," said Laurence. Here it is. Audio download available. Her Majesty's Dragon." Caroline laughed.
"No really, Kate," he said earnestly. "You might actually like it. They're like Master and Commander, except there are also dragons."
"Beats zombies," Caroline muttered.
"Up for a challenge?" Kate asked Laurence.
His eyes narrowed. "Depends on the challenge," he said cautiously.
"I'll match you book for book." "You listen to O'Brian, I'll listen to the dragons." We can compare notes while you're baking.
"You're on," He said, after awhile. Upon reflection, the thought of his Mum finding Kate with earbuds on, listening to a novel with dragons made him smile.
"Then make it so with all the technology, Master Elliot."
"Yes, Ma'am." he said with a smart salute. Then he turned to put the bread in the oven.
"This will be good," Kate said to Caroline. We can listen tonight while I'm giving you a footrub."
Caroline sighed and looked down at her hands. "The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away."
"You'll manage," said Kate with little sympathy. She loved a good swashbuckler,.