Kate was at next to Maddie as she played with a small set of Lego bricks and Dan was sat on the sofa. Kate knew that he was staring at her, she could feel it. Maddie yawned, 'Time for bed madam' she pulled herself off the floor and sat crossed legged on the carpet, 'but I'm not tied' Maddie said through another yawn, 'Oh, I think you are' Kate lunged forward and pulled Maddie into her arms. Maddie started to laugh. Kate stood up, Maddie's arms around her neck, 'Say night night to Daddy'
'Night night Daddy' Maddie said, blowing him a kiss, 'night night sweetheart' Dan said, he was staring at the windows now.
Kate left the room and climbed the stairs and as she reached the landing, she set Maddie down, 'Teeth and toilet' Maddie yawned again and went into the bathroom. Kate then turned into Maddies makeshift bedroom. She hadn't gotten around to decorating it yet; she had thought that they could do it together. She lent over and flicked a switch and the room was flooded by a pale pink glow. The room was filled with boxes, Maddie's clothes, her toys, there were some photographs of her mum too, she had thought about faming them, but Dan had told her not to. They were just going to sit and gather dust.
Maddie brushed past her and climbed into the bed in the middle of the room. Kate smiled, and started to tuck the covers in. When she had finished, she sat on the edge of the bed, and smiled at her. 'Katie'
'Hmmmmm'
'Do you think nanny and papa will miss me?'
'I think so, why?'
'Because I miss them'
'Well, the we'll go visit them'
'Daddy said no' Kate wiped a tear from Maddie's face, 'Well, then they can come here'
'Daddy said he doesn't want them to'
'Well, then I'll talk to Daddy, and I promise that one day you can go and see them. I promise. Now you go to sleep' Maddie nodded, and pulled a stuffed lion close. 'Night night, don't let the bed bugs bite' Kate got up off the bed and turned the light off, and shut the door over a little. She went downstairs and back into the living room, closing the door, she was about to speak, but Dan got in first, 'Who was that Andrew bloke' Kate sighed, 'Andrew is the deputy headmaster, we went to Uni together'
'You never mentioned him'
'You never asked about him'
'You should have told me about him Babe'
'Don't call me babe, and stop calling Maddie sweetheart, you know I hate it'
'Well you're not her mum are you?'
'I'm the nearest that she's got to one though.' Kate bent down and began to pick up the Lego bricks, Dan knelt down beside her, 'I don't like you working at that school'
'What?'
'It's changed you Kate'
'How has it changed me, stop being daft.' She looked up at him, 'Oh, you mean that you don't like me working with other men' She stood up, lego bricks in hand, 'I didn't say that'
'But you meant it. I'm not looking for another job, I like it there, I feel like I fit in there. Do you know what? I don't even know why I'm defending it. Why did you tell Maddie that she couldn't see her grandparents?'
'Dan moved closer to her'
'Because it's what we agreed'
'I didn't agree to that!'
'Yes you did'
'No, I agreed to her coming to live here, I didn't agree to her never going back to Africa to see them' Dan wrapped his arms around her, 'you know I don't like them' he tried to kiss her, but she jerked her head back, 'what's the matter Kate, we haven't seen each other for months' she could feel his hand up and down her back, 'I'm not going to sleep with you when Maddie's in the room next door'
'who said we need to do it in the bedroom'
'Let me be more clear, I'm not going to sleep with you when Maddie's here full stop, now get off me' she used all her strength to him off her. He stumbled back, and she could see rage in his eyes. Dan raised his hand, and slapped Kate across the face. She fell back onto the sofa, she rubbed her cheek, 'you think I've changed?' She stood up and glared at Dan, 'You want to take a look at yourself!' Kate got up quickly, leaving him alone in the room. Kate ran upstairs and locked herself in the bedroom.
'I was thinking about the wedding'
'Not having second thoughts are you?'
'No, course not, I just think that we shouldn't rush into it, take our time, you know?' Kim bit her lip, she didn't want to offend Andrew, she had just been thinking about it all a lot recently, 'well how long do you want to put it off for Kim, weeks, months?' Andrew asked her, a confused look in his eyes. Kim took a deep breath, 'Well, I was thinking about a year, maybe, and a few months so that we can have the wedding in the S..'
'What? A year? Why?' Kim started to count on her fingers, 'Well, we'll need a house together, so we'll need time to do that'
'What's wrong with your place, I thought I was moving in there'
'Even if you do that, you'd need time to sell your place, and besides, this isn't the sort of place that I want to raise our children' she took a sip of her tea, Andrew's jaw dropped, and he leaned forward, 'you're not…. Pregnant are you?' Kim nearly spat her tea out, 'Don't be daft, what gave you that idea?'
'The wedding in a year, the new house, I just thought that…'
'No, I'm not pregnant Andrew' He leaned back into his chair and let out a sigh of relief, 'you do want kids don't you?' Kim asked. 'Of course I do Kim, just not now'
'Good job I'm not pregnant then isn't it?'
'Don't get like that Kim'
'Do you know what Andrew, I love you to pieces, but you don't half get on my nerves. I want us to work out. I don't want us to end up like Tom and Lorna.'
'And we won't' Andrew stood up and sat back down next to her, placing an arm around her and kissing her on the cheek, 'I promise. Now, we'd better go, or we'll be late for work!' Kim smiled, and they left for work, hand in hand.
*******************
1 Month LaterKate flicked the lock on the teachers toilet so no one could come in. She didn't want anyone to disturb her. She went into the middle cubicle, locked the door, and rooted around her bag. She emerged a few minutes later. Box and plastic stick in hand. She set the stick on the side, and threw the box in the bin, covering it with tissue paper. She took a deep breath, and went back to the stick. She slowly looked at the display, before she turned into another cubicle and was violently sick. She heard a banging on the door and quickly hid the test in her bag and wiped her mouth. She went over to the door, and flicked the catch, 'sorry about that, must have locked itself' Kate hurried past Steph and down the corridor. 'That was odd' Steph said to herself. She looked over at the bin. Steph slowly walked over and pulled the long sheet out of the bin and threw it on the floor, her eyes widened, as she pulled out a box, but it wasn't any old box. It was a pregnancy test. She stuffed it into her own bag, she didn't want anyone else to find out about this bit of juicy gossip, then ran down the corridor in the same direction as Kate.
'We need to talk. Where's Davina?'
'In a lesson'
'Good. That's good'
'What the hell's up Kate? What's so important that you've broken your vow of silence against me? Spit it out'
Kate took a few steps forward, rooting around in her bag. As she got closer to the desk, she pulled out the stick of plastic and sat it on Jack's desk. 'It speaks for itself really' She began biting her nails as Jack picked up what he recognised as a home pregnancy test kit, the word 'Pregnant' displayed clearly on the front, 'Is this the only that you've taken?' Kate shook her head, 'That's the seventh one…. I've got three more in my bag. 'I don't believe this'
'Trust me, you're not the only one' She sat down in the chair opposite him, she couldn't look at him, 'Are you sure it's mine? I mean what about Dan' Kate sniggered, 'Trust me, it's yours. Me and Dan haven't…… not for ages now. It's your baby Jack. 100 percent.'
'But how? I always used protection'
'Accidents happen Jack, all the time'
'But what about you'
'This is my 15 percent' Jack noticed that her hands were rubbing her stomach, 'Well Jack, at least you know that you're not fireing blanks'
'It's not funny Kate' he glared at her, 'what are we going to do?'
'Well, I'm not having an abortion, so don't even think about it.'
'I wouldn't ask you to do that' Jack looked up, at her, and he could see how relieved and greatful she looked, 'I'm going to the doctor's tonight, he can tell me more, how many weeks, that sort of stuff. Can I come round later?'
'Yeah, Davina's going out for a bit, I'll call when she's gone' Kate stood up, 'thank you Jack, we'll sort this out, yeah?'
'Yeah, we will, come here' Jack walked over to Kate and pulled her into a hug.
Steph pulled her ear away from the door, her mouth wide open, unable to believe what she had just heard.
