She froze to the spot when she heard behind her, "Hey Kate".
Chapter 25
She turned around on tiptoe, "Sir? Did you forget something?"
"It's Mike, Kate and yes I forgot something. We need to talk", he said but left her office door ajar.
"Mike, I don't think we have to talk. Everything has already been said", she answered.
He completely ignored her remark.
"Do you know that you are always so irresistible? Your hair, your white shirt, the skirt, your perfect legs and those sexy white heels", he said walking, approaching her and she moved back until she was pinned against the wall.
"Wha…what do you want?", she asked unsure.
"I just want to kiss you, as we have done so many times", he said and bent his head towards hers so that their lips were only a few centimetres apart.
"But…"
"I can still kiss my son's mother, can't I?", he said, leaning over to kiss her while putting his hand on her thigh and quickly moving it down to slip under her skirt.
Kate widened her eyes in surprise and ducked down under his arm to walk away.
"Hey? Wait", he said and wanted to grab her arm, but he only got her shirt.
Her moving away and his firm stance caused three buttons to be torn from her shirt, revealing her white lace bra.
Kate looked flabbergasted at him and said fiercely, "He. Is. NOT. Your. Son!", when suddenly the door opened.
Dylan saw them both and noticed her open shirt. All at once, it made his blood boil immediately. In two steps, he was able to grab Mike by his collar and pushed him hard against the wall, "What the hell are your intentions?"
Mike raised an eyebrow and looked at Kate, "Now, everything becomes clear to me! You were fucking him while we were together and YOU claim I was cheating on you. You're not going to tell me your son was really the result of a shag hunt", he said angrily.
Dylan was about to give Mike a good right jab, but Kate held him back, "Dylan, stop it! He's not worth it".
Dylan dropped his arm and released Mike who adjusted his collar.
"You are wrong Mike. It happened after I caught you with that slut of a Maxine", she said bitterly.
"Slut? You are the slut in this case!", he spat out. He looked angrily at Dylan and pointed his finger at him, " And you bastard, I'm going to destroy you. Insubordination against a superior officer is a serious mistake. Start packing for a lousy job in Afghanistan", he ranted at Dylan spitefully.
Was it the accumulation of bad luck that day or the stress or the humiliation of twelve years ago or the frustration of his dumb remark or simply the accumulation of all these elements, be as it may, Kate lost her composure. She gritted her teeth and with all her might she threw a punch at him in his jaw. As her fist hit his jaw, a dull crack was heard.
Flabbergasted, he lost his balance and fell backwards.
"You….you asshole. You are NOT going to destroy my life a third time! Get the hell out of here immediately or I'll call security!", she yelled pointing to the door.
He got up holding his jaw and pointed a finger at Kate before leaving, "You're at an end too McGregor. Start looking for another job, outside of the Navy!", he said with difficultly.
Kate stared white with anger at the door he had left through and when the adrenaline wore off, she began to feel a sharp pain in her right hand. She bent double holding hands, "Aaah, jeez, this hurts! Oh… my… God!", she hissed, eyes brimming with tears, pale as white as a ghost.
Dylan had seen what had happened. It had happened in a fraction of a second before he could act.
He grabbed her by the arm, "Honey! May I see your hand?"
She shook her head, "I can't move it, it hurts", she mumbled.
"Come on, we're going straight to the hospital now", he said ushering her out of her office.
"Hospital? Duncan is waiting", she hissed.
"Honey, Duncan is safe. I'll text him, so he doesn't have to worry. Your hand is now more important", he told her.
"Okay then", she gritted between her teeth.
What they didn't know, was that someone had witnessed the latter part of the incident…
He drove Kate to the hospital where accident and emergency took care of her. She could just tell him he had to take care of Duncan before they took her for x-rays.
He stood there, alone, puzzled. He wanted to stay with her, to know the diagnosis, even if he already knew it. She had broken one or more bones in her hand by punching Mike's stupid jaw. On the other hand, he had to take responsibility as a parent. HIS son was waiting for his parents or at least one of them. No, Kate was an adult and she was in good hands here. Duncan needed him first.
He grabbed his smartphone and send him a Whatsapp message.
Hey mate, I'm already in Cairns. Within 30 minutes I'm with you. Mum has broken her hand and is now in the hospital. No worries.
He pressed the 'Send' key and headed for his car.
Almost immediately he received an answer and smiled after reading it, Okay, tell me everything. What are we going to eat?
He answered, We'll see when I get home.
About thirty minutes later he arrived at their house. The boy ran towards him as soon as he saw the car pull into the driveway.
"Dad! What happened? Where's mum? Is it serious? Is there a problem with the boat? What are we going to eat?", he asked in one breath.
"Hey mate. Everything's fine and it's not so serious. She just broke her hand in a stupid accident. Just a few weeks in a plaster cast and it'll be fine again", Dylan said, patting Duncan's shoulder when walking into the house.
"Hmm, can we see her? When can she come home?".
"Later tonight, I'll call the hospital and we'll know more", he said, putting his visor cap on the hat rack in the entrance hall.
"You're already back. That's fine, but was there a problem with the boat?"
"Yeah, you can say so, a problem. We were caught in a thunderstorm and a flash of lightning hit an antenna. All radio equipment and radar turned off. The only thing we could do, was return to the base. We couldn't even announce our return", he said, entering the living room and looked around realising once again that there was life in the house now. He smiled.
"Let me take off my uniform. Meanwhile you can set the table", he said.
"Yes!", Duncan said as he walked to the kitchen.
He came back and opened the fridge to see what Kate had put in there.
Hmm, vegetables, some pork chops, veal escalopes. Pfft, I don't have the mind to prepare gastronomy. Let's make it simple.
He put a packet of parmesan cheese on the table and closed the fridge. He opened another cupboard and took out a can of ravioli.
"It'll be ravioli and cheese, okay?", he asked.
"Yeah! Great", the boy answered.
Eating together reminded him of the day when they had both done things like teaching him how to drive a car. After diner, Duncan had asked him to have a look at his maths exercises.
He suddenly realised what parenthood was all about and that Kate had been doing it all by herself for twelve years. He grimaced as he was learning to be a father at high speed.
Finally, he could have called the hospital to find out how Kate was doing. To his relief, he learned that the surgery had been a success and that she was asleep. If all went well, the next day she could already leave the hospital!
Shit, I almost forgot to call the base. Where's William Coughan's number?
He scrolled through his contacts and found the number.
"William Coughan speaking", Kate's assistant said on the other side of the line.
"Will, it's Dylan".
"Hey Dy… sir", William said.
"Will, if you start calling me sir, then you're a moron", Dylan grumbled.
"Uhm, aah, okay, Dylan, what's going on?"
"Kate had an accident. Nothing serious, but she won't be in the office tomorrow", he said.
"Ouch, that's bad. What happened?", William asked.
"Ah, like I just told you, it's nothing serious. A stupid accident. I think she broke her hand. I'll keep you informed tomorrow, okay?"
"A broken hand? Hmm, nasty. Good! I expect to hear from you tomorrow", William replied and ended the call.
To be continued
