A few moments later, Molly and Kit were waving smelling salts under Baloo and Louies noses. Groggily, they got up, as Katy gratefully sat down in the chair Becky offered, moving the toddler to her lap.
"Thank you Ms. Cunningham." Katy said, "Five years ago, I'd never have believed how much I'd like sitting down." Rebecca smiled. She'd been prepared to dislike Katy, but well…she was as beautiful as Baloo had bellowed on about, but she didn't seem at all the "hard to catch" girl he'd also mentioned. In fact, except for her clothes, she could be any of the housewives that Rebecca had met at Molly's school.
"I know the feeling." Becky said. "And it's Rebecca, Mrs. Dodd."
"Katy please." Katy said softly. Baloo and Louie were meanwhile looking at her in disbelief. This softspoken woman was Katy Dodd? Her dress, the kids…she looked more likely to be at home baking cookies then out digging up ancient treasures….Becky looked more likely to do that.
"K…K…Katy…what happened t'ya?" Baloo finally got out. Molly looked disgusted. She had had babies. What did Baloo think happened to her? She had gotten married. Kit rolled his eyes. Katy didn't yell…in fact if anything she looked amused.
"Before I got married or after?"
"After?" Louie asked.
"You need me to explain the birds and the bees to you?"
"After?" Louie asked.
"I thought you already knew, from how you were carrying on in Tinabula…" Katy said. "Oh…my luggage is in the taxi…could you?" She asked, batting her eyes. Becky fought…very hard… to keep from laughing as Baloo and Louie beat a retreat, getting blocked up in the doorway.
"Do you want to bet that they take at least fifteen minutes to get the luggage while they…"
"Try to come to terms with the fact that I didn't wait, pining away the moments?" Katy completed. Becky burst into laughter.
"Of course!" She said, "And how could you do that to them?" Katy laughed back.
"Well I have to confess that part of the reason I didn't tell them was to…pay them back for the way they chased me all over…although," She paused, and looked more serious, "They are friends—they did save my life, which made all…" A gesture took in her children, and the wedding ring, "this possible."
"So…what are you doing in Cape Suzzette?" Rebecca said, "And who are these?" She said, looking down at the five year old, who was considering Molly and Kit.
"This is Kara." Katy said, "My first. Kara?"
"Hello Ms. Cunningham." The daughter said. "We're moving here. Daddy got a job at the university." Becky blinked at that.
"Have you ever been to Cape Suzzette before?"
"No…" Rebecca smiled and looked over at Katy who gave a nod, "How about if Kit and Molly show you around the neighborhood….including the ice cream stand?" That got a squeal. Becky handed Kit some money, which got a sigh. At 14 Kit had long since realized he was the one who would always be sent out to miss the interesting conversations.
As the three left, Kit moseying, the other two thundering, Rebecca looked back at Katy.
"Moving out here? I thought…" Katy smiled.
"Well, I didn't tell Baloo everything…he assumed that if I was immune to him, I was immune to everyone…but I met Tom at the Tinabula conference, and a month later I was Mrs. Maybourne." She laughed, "and the honeymoon was everything I'd expected, because a month after that, Kara was on the way." Rebecca smiled at that, remembering her honeymoon.
"Are you still…working?" Rebecca said, and then kicked herself mentally. If there was anything that could be a sore point with Katy about marriage it might be if she'd been forced to stop working…and with two kids and another on the way, Becky couldn't see how she could keep working—the idea of running Higher for Hire with more than one child gave Rebecca an internal shudder.
"No." Katy said. "I'm writing a book, but digs in lost cities full of boobytraps have a problem when it comes to finding sitters." She shrugged, "But that's why we decided to have most of our children now—we both want kids—maybe four. So… I'll have them now, and that way when I do go back to work, they'll be of the age where it won't be so difficult." She smiled, "And in any case, writing the book—in all the expansive spare time I have—lets me work on some things I never would have been able to do in the field, with no libraries." She paused, and Rebecca saw a glimmer of rebellion in her eyes. "Besides, women don't get hired as professors. We're good enough to be grade school teachers, but heaven forbid we actually teach at a University!"
"So you're not going to try?" Becky asked. Katy gave a toothy grin.
"Who said anything about that—When I met Baloo and Louie I was 22 and had already been all over the world—now it's time to put it together into a book, and there are some things in it that are really groundbreaking." She raised a hand, "And it's a lot harder to say I shouldn't be teaching if they're using my book." Rebecca laughed. That was the Katy she'd envisioned reading between the lines of Baloo and Louie's descriptions.
"So, were Baloo and Louie as bad..." She trailed off. Katy burst into laughter, moderating it in time to keep her toddler from waking up.
"Oh… well lets see. There was the time they crashed my dinner."
"Your dinner date?"
"Well, you could call it that…" Katy paused, "Did they mention the bouncer?"
"No!" Becky almost squealed, "Tell me!"
Baloo and Louie finished unloading the Taxi, when the first explosion of giggles wafted to them.
"Oh Cuz…I think they're talking about us."
"I know, Louie, I know…" Baloo said, "I wonder why she didn't wait for us? What does whoever she married have that I don't?"
"Couth, Cuz." Louie said, "Couth… but that don't explain why she didn't wait for ol' Louie!"
"Maybe she's allergic to fleas!" Baloo said. Another burst of laughter caused him to look back to the office with worry.
Meanwhile, the three kids were heading back to the office, Kit, Molly and Kara talking, well mostly Molly and Kara,
and Kit looking around for salvation.
"And mommy got really mad when she found out the crate was stolen." Kara said. "There's a mummy in it."
"A dead body!" Molly said—she knew what a mummy was. "That's neat!"
"And it has a curse!" Kara said. Kit rolled his eyes. Molly practically jumped up and down.
"A real curse!?"
"Yeah! Mommy said that whoever opens the coffin will wake the sleeper!"
"Oh, he doesn't have an alarm clock?" Kara grinned. Kit shuddered. It was plain that despite their age difference, Molly and Kara were hitting it off…and since Kara didn't have an older brother, Kit had a nasty feeling what that might entail. At least they weren't in the same grade. That would keep them apart.
"Who stole it?" Molly asked. "Don Karnage?"
"No." Kara said. Everyone knew who Karnage was. "A little alligator and two big, dumb goons." She paused, "At least that's what daddy said."
"That sounds like Trader Moe." Kit replied. "I've met them."
"Good—get the mummy for mommy." Kara said. Kit choked on his icecream. She was definitely too close in character to Molly…
"So when is your husband due in?"
"Not for another week." Katy said, sighing, "After the sarcophagus got stolen, he wanted to stick with the rest of the artifacts."
"I read about it—it's the cursed one, isn't it?" Katy laughed,
"You don't believe that, do you?"
"Did you open it?" Katy shook her head,
"After everything I've seen? Not on your life."