Chapter Fourteen
"Please. Colin. I know you have work to do." Kate sighed as she ran a hand over his hair. "It's OK. You can go. I feel better. I do."
"Are you trying to convince me or yourself?" Colin asked.
"Both of us. I guess." Kate admitted.
It had been four days since her transfusion. She was telling the truth, she was feeling much better, but she was worried that it would be a strictly temporary solution.
She leaned back on the couch and placed her hands over her stomach. "This is so wrong." She whispered.
"I know." Colin covered her hands with his. "There's some way to fix this, Katrina. We'll figure it out." He looked into her eyes and spoke softly, knowing she was going to protest. "Katrina. Hear me out before you say something. Look, I'm thinking maybe we should tell our parents..."
"NO." She said sharply as she tore her hands from his. "I told you. I don't want to worry everyone."
"Katrina. Please. Listen to me. I've thought a lot about this. This problem we have is caused by our families. I just think that maybe they can help us figure this out."
"Chris will figure it out." Kate replied, not able to let herself believe anything else. "He helped Lucy - he can help me."
Colin agreed, but couldn't give up until he could make her see. "Shouldn't we keep all our options open though? Sweetheart, maybe there's something in our history that can help us get through this."
Kate began to get angry. "The only thing we know for sure is that we were never supposed to fall in love or get married or have children. Is that what you want to hear?"
"Katrina..." He tried to calm her down.
"I don't want to hear someone else tell me that. I don't want to go digging and find out what else could be wrong. I don't..."
"Katrina..." He said again.
"I want to be your wife and I want us to have children together." She said her voice full of tears. "That's it. Colin. That's what I want. I don't want to know what our relatives did a hundred years ago. I don't want to go back and try and figure out what happened to make our families hate each other. I thought we finally fixed that three years ago, when we got married." She blinked back tears as she pleaded with him. "Colin. I don't want to go looking for trouble. I've had enough to last me a lifetime."
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Chloe took a long sip of water as she made her way out of the studio. She couldn't believe how much more like herself she was feeling. It had been a year since she'd even been able to recognize herself.
She and Grant had fallen into a familiar routine. It was similar to when they were younger, before they admitted how they felt about each other. Grant would sneak looks when he thought Chloe didn't notice, and Chloe found it hard to keep her eyes off of him.
Cindy had learned a lot in the past week. She hadn't known that Grant and Chloe had been engaged once upon a time. It all made sense now. She understood now how Grant always seemed so distracted and Chloe lost seemed to be off in a daydream half the time.
She looked towards the front of the gym and her eyes opened wide. Uh oh. Cindy thought with a grin. She looked beside her and wondered how long it would take for Chloe to notice the blond who was talking to Grant. From the looks of it the girl seemed to have more than cardio on her mind.
It didn't take long. Chloe put down her water and sighed, her eyes roaming around the room and falling on the scene Cindy had noticed a minute before. Her heart began to pound as she saw the girl, smiling up at Grant and flipping her hair over her shoulder.
"Are you kidding me?" She muttered under her breath. She tried to make her voice sound casual as she asked. "Do you know that girl, Cindy?"
"Hmm?" Cindy replied as she pretended to just notice what Chloe was referring to. "Oh. No. She must be a new member."
"I should welcome her then." Chloe said her voice shaking a bit. Cindy smiled as she watched her make her way towards the front of the gym. Somehow she thought a welcome wasn't quite what Chloe had in mind.
"So...tell me. How many classes do you have a day?" The blond was asking as Chloe approached. She flashed a huge grin at Grant as she added "And which ones do you teach?"
The girl was doing her best to get him to notice her, but Grant was completely oblivious. "We have between three and five – it depends. I teach kickboxing."
"I can tell." She grinned wider as she reached out and ran a hand over his bicep.
Chloe's blood was boiling. The only thought in her head was that she wanted to break the girl's fingers - in the slowest and most painful way possible.
"You might want to rethink that." Chloe called out as she walked up to them.
"I'm sorry?" The girl said as she turned to face her.
"You will be." Chloe replied with an artificial smile. "You wouldn't want to get yourself hurt."
Grant couldn't believe the words coming out of her mouth. "Clo?"
"I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Chloe. I teach everything but kickboxing. And you are?" The question sounded more like an accusation.
"Tiffanee." She giggled and smiled at Grant again. "With two F's and two E's."
Chloe looked the girl up and down, with her brassy blond hair and hot pink spandex showcasing her considerable assets. She could not believe that in a year Grant could have changed his tastes and become interested in someone like this.
"Figures." Chloe said bitterly and rolled her eyes. "I just wanted to warn you – I don't think kickboxing is quite right for you."
Grant watched the whole scene is disbelief. What the hell was wrong with her?
"You need to be very careful where you put your hands." She grinned and turned on her heel calling over her shoulder as she made her way back to the studio. "You wouldn't want to break a nail."
Cindy bit back laughter as she saw Grant run off after her.
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"OK. OK." Colin said as he pulled Kate to him. "We'll see what happens. I just need you to promise me, that if things start to change that you'll consider it."
Kate nodded and sighed as she buried her head in his shoulder. "I just want to forget for a little bit. Please? Can you help me do that?"
"Sure." He said as he leaned in to kiss her. Anything you want."
"I want to think about something else. I want to pretend for a little while that nothing is wrong." Kate said then as she moved closer to him. "I know it won't be long until everyone knows. Lynnie and Aunt Abby probably already do."
"So what do you want to do?" Colin asked, willing to do anything she wanted.
Kate eased away and moved to stand. She reached for his hands and tugged at them until he stood beside her. "Come with me." She said with a smile.
"What?" He replied, knowing exactly where she was going. He took a deep breath and tried to keep the worry from filling his mind.
Kate dragged him towards the bed and pulled him closer. "Please, Colin. Let's forget for a while." She kissed him deeply and stared into his eyes. "For just a little while, I don't want to think of anything but you."
She sighed as he kissed her back, finally feeling more like herself than she had in weeks. His hands ran up her back, pulling her closer.
"Please..." Kate said with a smile as he swept her into his arms and laid her carefully down in the center of the bed.
"Katrina." Colin whispered her name between kisses. "Katrina...I love you..."
"I love you too. That's all that matters isn't it?" She replied smiling as she felt him touching her. She reached up and framed his face in her hands. She looked deeply into his eyes. "As long as that's true it will all work out."
"That's right." He said as his lips trailed down her neck and back again. With everything else around them not making any sense, this was just what they needed. They needed something they could be sure of. Colin stared into Kate's eyes as he promised her. "That's all that counts."
"We'll be fine, won't we Colin?" Kate said as her mouth searched for his again. "Everything will be okay."
"We will." He promised, wanting with all his heart for it to be true. "It will."
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Grant followed Chloe into the studio and slammed the door behind him. "What the hell was that?"
"What?" Chloe replied as flipped through a stack of cd's. She was still trying to calm herself down.
"That." He said, gesturing towards the door. "I can't believe how rude you just were to that girl."
"And I can't believe how friendly you were." Chloe snapped back, slamming the cd's back down next to the player and glaring at him. "She was all over you and you just stood there."
"What are you talking about?" Grant was stunned.
"Tiff-an-ee." Chloe said with disgust. "With two F's and two E's no less. Grant. I thought you had MUCH better taste than that. I had no idea you were so into plastic."
"WHAT??" Grant couldn't believe what he was hearing.
Chloe couldn't stop herself. She didn't know exactly what had happened but she knew she was furious with him. "I guess I don't know you as well as I thought. I didn't think you'd ever be attracted to someone so artificial." She laughed as she added, "You know her hair color isn't the only thing about her that isn't real."
She gave him a grin as she stood there with her hand on her hips. "I wonder if she does alot of sailing. Don't you think her chest could be used a floatation device?"
Grant tried to process what she was saying. Realization washed over him and he blinked furiously. He stared at her and began to laugh uncontrollably.
"Oh. My. God." He said as he tried to catch his breath. "I don't believe it. You're jealous."
"OF THAT!?!" Chloe yelled in disbelief as she pointed towards the door. "Are you kidding me!?!"
"You are." He nodded as he finally got hold of himself. He took a step towards her and grinned. "I can't believe it."
"Don't be ridiculous." Chloe denied it again. As she did she couldn't help thinking – is that true?
Grant couldn't hold back his laughter as he stared at her. Her eyes were a vivid green and strands of her hair slipped from the ponytail she wore, curling crazily around her face. She was as beautiful as he'd ever seen her. Grant knew there was no contest. The girl Chloe seemed to be so worried about didn't even come close to competing with her.
He laughed louder as he replied. "I'm telling you I never thought I'd see the day. Chloe Ramsey – jealous."
"I am not!!" She protested, much too loudly, confirming the truth. "If you want to date someone like that..." She pretended to shiver. Her cheeks were flushed with color as she tried to sound casual. "Go right ahead." She was trying to redeem herself and failing miserably.
Grant knew she was pretending and wasn't about to let her get away with it. "Oh c'mon Chloe. All she was doing was signing up for membership. Who said I wanted to date her?" His voice was incredulous.
"Well she certainly wanted to date you. It was so obvious!" Chloe replied. "GOD. You always were oblivious to those things. I mean, c'mon Grant. When we first got together, you didn't realize how I felt about you until I practically threw myself at you."
Grant began to get angry. He threw the clipboard with Tiffanee's application onto the ground forcefully. He stared Chloe up and down. "Oh yeah - RIGHT. Like you tore yourself away from Doug Miller long enough to pay attention to anything else. PLEASE!"
Chloe's jaw dropped as she looked at him. Her voice was full of shock. "Oh my God. Please tell me you are not bringing him up now. Doug Miller?? Of all people!!! You are kidding me!! That was almost ten years ago Grant!!"
"Yeah well let's fast forward then. Just a year ago you told me to get the hell away from you." Pain filled his eyes and was mirrored in her own as he finished. "So. I'm so sorry, Chloe. That's just tough. I don't think you get a say in who I do or don't date at the moment."
"The hell I don't." She promised, closing the distance between them and shoving him forcefully. "I'm telling you right now. As long as I'm around no one else is getting near you."
"Is that a threat?" He asked her as he moved back towards her.
"That's a promise." She replied titling her face up to his and staring into his eyes.
Before either one of them knew what had happened, Grant's arms pulled Chloe close and suddenly his lips were on hers.
Chloe clung to him, her heart pounding nearly out of her chest as she kissed him back, all the love she felt for him evident in her kiss. Grant's hands speared though her hair, causing it to spill from the band that held it up. Through it all what was actually happening barely registered to either of them. All they knew was that after all this time, it was clear that this much hadn't changed.
She moaned as he deepened the kiss, pulling her closer and tightening his arms around her. Her hands moved up to caress his face. "Grant..." She whispered between kisses. "I missed you so much..."
"Chloe..." He said softly as he eased back a bit. He thought he must be dreaming as her hands ran over his skin.
A knock sounded on the door. A reluctant Cindy called out. "Chloe's next class starts in five minutes, boss." She smiled, wondering just what was going on in there. Even though she wasn't sure she had a pretty good idea.
Grant was snapped back to reality as he reluctantly pulled away. He picked up the clipboard and moved towards the door. He paused before leaving and stared into her eyes. His voice was serious and a bit arrogant as he promised. "We are not finished with this." With the words hanging in the air he opened the door and stepped outside.
Chloe clasped her hands together and pressed them to her heart as she watched him leave. "I guess not." She whispered, her heart soaring. It looked like there was more than a little bit of hope for them after all.
