CH 21
Kate raised her left hand, "He proposed to me on Christmas Day under the mistletoe and in front of his shocked family."
"Shocked?! I almost fainted!" Wendy said.
"Lucky you were sitting down Mum." Mike said.
"I was shocked at first and then he said to me, ' I'll wait until you're ready, Kate. I don't care how long our engagement is. I'll wait for you'... I knew he was being honest with me and I said yes."
"We got married after Kate's sixteenth birthday, With some help from my lawyer and heaps of credit references. Then we went to see a judge about getting the court's ok for us to marry. We had to wait for a week until we received the letter. The judge said that we marry and we did. There was only family and close friends in attendance." Kate picked up her wedding photo and passed it to Spider.
"Wow! You looked beautiful in your wedding gown, Ma'am."
"Thanks, Spider."
"Ma'am it almost looks like your prom dress except for the different top part of the dress and train."
"Yes, it was much like my prom dress."
"It was the best... nervous, happy day of our lives." Mike said.
Kate picked up a photo album and put it on the table "You can look at it later."
"So you two have been married for...seventeen... eighteen years?" Charge asked.
"Eighteen years last month," Mike said.
"So how was your wedding night?" Swain asked curiously.
"We took it slow. Kate was scared, but I reassured her that love making is very different from being raped."
"We did it but I cried after wards. Mike thought he had hurt me, I assured him that he didn't. I was just very emotional. We only had a week before Mike had to leave for a patrol."
"We spent that whole week in a hotel, hardly left the room," Mike said with a grin.
"Or the bed," Kate said making everyone laugh.
"That is what honeymoons are all about," Swain said.
"When Mike returned from his patrol, I had some shocking news to tell him," she picked up an album and turned it around.
"You were pregnant?" Nav asked when she saw a photo of Kate in a hospital bed with Mike sitting on the side with his arm around her shoulders and a baby wrapped up in a blue blanket between them.
"Yes."
" Can I take a closer look?" Nav asked.
"Getting chunky are you Nav?" ET said grinning. Nav gave ET a serious look which made the crew laugh.
"Your in trouble now Mate," Buffer said.
Mike passed the album to Nav, "you look so happy here."
"We were."
"Four months after MJ was born I went to do my officer training. Mum and dad looked after him while I was away and Mike was out on patrol."
"We would try to get together when we could but it was hard on us both," Mike said.
"When I finished officer training I was stationed at Sydney which made us both happy. He had shore posting and looked after our son while I was out on patrol. Until six months later, I found out that I was pregnant again." Kate said smiling.
"MJ was eighteen months old when Kate found out that she was ten weeks pregnant. When she told me, I was shocked but happy."
Kate pick up the next album and showed the crew the front photo. It was like the other photo album but this time it was a pink blanket.
"You had a girl!" Spider said
"Yes, and because of my pregnancy I had a shore posting plus if you notice the date. Kathrine was three weeks early and it was MJ's second birthday."
"What are the odds for siblings to be born on the same day but years apart," Charge wondered.
"High'" Mike said.
"When Kathrine was six months old I returned back to patrols while Mum and Dad looked after them. Two years later on the same day, our Connor and Michelle were born."
Kate got out another two photo albums and passed them to Spider. "Kate had a difficult birth, she hemorrhaged after having them."
"Connor was six pounds two ounces and Michelle was six pounds four ounces when they were born. After they were born,the doctor had to stop the bleeding. That photo was taken the next day. Despite the pain I was in I was able to hold them for the first time and that is when the photo was taken."
"The doctors advised us not to have anymore children. They had to revive Kate twice because of the amount of blood she lost. The surgeon spoke to me and I asked what the best option would be. He said having Kate's tubes cut. It was the hardest decision I had to make. I told the doctor to do it."
"When Mike told me what happened, and the decision he had to make, I was upset with him at first until the doctor came in. He explained to me more about what had happened and said that Mike did make the right choice. Mike and I did talk about it a few days later, and it was good that our family was there for support."
"A year later Kate went through ADFA. She studied hard, winning most of the awards as well the seaward award, I was so proud of her. After that she went to Watson Bay where I was an instructor there for a year."
"Did you both know that the other one was going to be there?" Charge asked.
"Yes, she was one of my students. We kept it quiet and I informed the base CO about it, he contacted Chief of Navy. We never heard back about what he was going to do." Mike said.
"We kept our private life away from our work. It was hard for the both of us but we did it"
"All that sexual tension... That must have been hard," Buffer said with a wink.
"It was. But when there were long weekends we went to stay in a hotel, and also on holidays we flew to Brisbane, on separate planes, so we could spend time with our kids. After the course I was sent to Iran. I was on HMAS Anzac in two thousand and three." Mike explained.
"You were involved with operation Falconer then?," Charge said.
"Yes, I was."
"Wow"
Mike continued,"When I returned I was stationed in Sydney for three years then to Perth for eighteen months then Cains for six months"
"Did you two get to spend time together?"
"No" Kate said.
"It was hard on our families," Mike said.
"Well you two sure shocked us. We knew that you two were married but... not to each other! Talk about a shock!" Charge said.
"Now, you all know."
"Where are MJ, Kathrine, Michelle and Connor now?" Nav wondered.
"MJ just finished officers training. We don't know where he'll be stationed yet but he will let us know soon as he knows. Kathrine, Michelle and Connor are at boarding school" Mike said.
"Boarding school, that sure costs a lot of money," Swain said.
"My dad's inheritance is paying for their education, and to have this house built." Kate explained.
"Wow..." Nav said.
"What happened to your mum and stepfather?" Swain asked.
"Mum was serving thirty years and Kurt was serving fifty years."
"You haven't seen or spoken to them since?" Nav asked.
"Five years ago Kurt died in prison, he contracted the AIDS virus from the drug parties. My mum died six months later, she also contracted the virus and also she was diagnosed with a brain tumor."
"Kate doesn't know where they are buried. She told the detective that she didn't care what they did with the bodies."
"Do you know where they are, Sir?" Spider asked.
"No, and I respect and support Kate's decision."
"So now you all know everything there is to know about Kate and Mike Flynn, questions?" Kate asked.
The crew asked both Mike and Kate a number of questions which they answered, and Mike's family continued to share some stories about Mike and Kate which caused Mike and Kate to smile while the crew was still looking through the albums.
An hour later Kate went inside to get some more snacks when she noticed a blinking coming from the security panel on the wall. She walked over to see a light flashing and the location next to it letting her know that someone is coming up the driveway.
She walked to the front door where she saw a taxi pulled up outside as she opened the front door she saw who was getting out of the cab. Kate was shocked when she saw who it was. She ran out to greet the person with a hug.
"MJ! What are you doing here?"
"Hi Mum, surprise!"
"Just like your father," the cab driver passed MJ his bags.
"Thanks," MJ said before turning back to Kate.
"Why am I here? I'm stationed here in Cairns."
"Does Dad know?"
"No"
"Come inside."
"Wow Mum! You weren't joking about the size of the house!"
"No, I wasn't, put your bags down here." MJ put his bags down while looking around.
"So you have a shore posting here?"
"No, I've been assigned on HMAS Childers," Kate smiled.
"I know the Captain." Then they heard laughter coming from the back of the house.
"Come on, the family is here."
"Sure," they walk towards the kitchen.
"Remember when you were little how you always teased Dad when you would take his drink off the table and just about take a drink from the bottle?" MJ laughed.
"Yeah, I remember. You want me to do again?"
"It's one way to surprise him," MJ was laughing.
"Oh, he will be surprised alright," Kate went and got some more snacks.
"Oh, and I'll introduce to you my crew."
"They're here?"
"Yes, they found out an hour ago about Dad and me."
"I bet they were shocked."
"Yes, they are, come on," MJ followed Kate outside.
When Kate walked out she first put her fingers to her lips when family and crew saw who was walking out behind Kate. MJ walked quietly over to Mike while Wendy told the crew a story about what Mike used to when he was little when Mike saw a hand appear over his shoulder taking the bottle from the table quickly.
Mike turned around and was shocked to see who took his bottle, "Surprise!"
"MJ!" Mike stood up just as MJ put the bottle back on the table and gave his son a hug.
"What are you doing here?" Mike asked which caused Kate to grin and MJ to laugh.
"I've been posted up here. I'm assigned on Childers."
"That's great, Son," Mike said smiling.
"Yes it is." Then he went to hug the rest of the family while Kate got MJ a bottle of beer and passed it to him after putting the snacks on the table. MJ then he sat down next to Mike.
"MJ, this is Hammersley's crew."
"Hi" MJ said.
"I'm Buffer, what do we call you, Sir?"
"Junior, Buffer, and I know who you all are. Mum and Dad tell me a lot about you all."
"All good I hope," Charge said.
"Yes and no... Spider, Mum is way better looking than you are when you try to look like her," the crew laughed.
"Hey Buffer, like the dress with your wand."
"Dress? what dress?" Buffer frowned.
"Buffer, when Kingston took Thor," Charge reminded him,as the crew continued to laugh.
"Oh that. Funny, but we did get Thor back and took Kingston's Crown."
"I heard about that." MJ said. The crew continued to share some funny stories with Mike's family which had everyone laughing.
A couple hours later Mike fired up the barbeque while Kate showed the crew through the house and MJ took his bags up to his room, it's got his name on the door.
Everyone loves the house plus they got to see more family photos on the walls. When they were back outside, MJ walked over to Mike. "Dad I hope you got plenty of bread."
"Why's that?"
"Mum told me about Buffer's eating habits." Mike had to grin.
"Yes... we bought plenty of bread. So, what do you think of the crew?"
"They're great, Dad. I wonder if the Childers crew are like them."
"Don't know, Son."