A/N:
Dearest Readers,
I apologize it's taken me a while to get a new chapter out. Things have been very hectic for me lately but I'm happy to say that things have calmed down and are finally back to normal.
AND, I want to tell you that this story is going to go very quickly from now on. Most of it is already complete. (including Gabe's birth - which will be coming up soon - yay! ) I will be posting more often so keep checking back here for updates if you don't want to get behind!
Well, on to the chapter. Sort of a filler and kind of random but you might like it anyway. Until 33!
Chapter 32Around lunchtime, Alison left work to pick up Katrina from the Thornhart's. It was a good thing she was leaving early. Lugging all of this extra weight around which was a baby sure made her feet hurt.
At the Thornhart's, Alison greeted her daughter with a kiss. "Hey, baby. Did you have fun with the kitties?"
Katrina looked up at her mother, her lips pouting in a frown. "No! They've been sleeping all morning! And Mrs. Eve said we couldn't wake them up."
"Oh. I'm sorry, sweetie. Kittens need their sleep."
"Alison, would you like to stay for lunch?" Eve offered.
Alison was about to politely decline, but she could smell something cooking in the kitchen. And besides, she was hungry. And apparently, Gabe was too. How could she say no? "Okay, sure. I'd love to."
"Danny, why don't you and Katrina go play?" Eve suggested.
"Hey, Katrina? Remember what we were going to do earlier?"
Katrina suddenly smiled, forgetting all about the kittens. "Oh yeah!"
Danny turned to his mother. "Mom, can we go outside and dig?"
"Dig? Why do you want to dig?"
"Because we're going to look for buried treasure!"
Eve laughed. "Okay, but don't dig big holes in the middle of the yard. Dig by the house or somewhere."
"Okay!" Danny said as he and Katrina ran out the screen door.
Eve glanced over at Alison and smiled. "Kids."
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"Hey, Danny? How do you know that there's buried treasure here?" Katrina asked as she and Danny worked on digging a pretty good-sized hole. Danny had the bright idea of using his mother's garden shovels instead of the plastic ones he used for the sandbox, and they seemed to work much better.
"Oh, I don't know for sure. But I figure if we keep looking, there's gotta be something."
"How come?"
"I saw on TV one time these guys who found a bunch of money buried in their backyard. They got rich. See, a long time ago before there were banks, people would hide their money so no one would steal it, and sometimes they buried it in their backyards. So when they died, the money was still there, and that's how people find it."
"My daddy says when people die, all of their money goes to their kids."
"Yeah, but if they hid the money, they won't know where it is. And finders keepers, losers weepers!"
Katrina laughed. "Yeah!"
"I bet we'll find a million dollars! When we do, we'll split it."
"We're going to be rich!"
"What are you going to spend your money on?"
"I'm going to buy a car. A white convertible just like Serena's. And then like a hundred horses! A whole field of them! I'll ride all of them every day. Then I'm going to buy all the clothes at Wyndham's for my mommy. That's what I'm going to buy. What are you going to get?"
"I'm going to buy a boat."
"Cool!"
"Yeah, it's going to be awesome. I'll use it to go hunting for buried treasure in sunken ships! I think I'll name it the "Gold Hunter."
"No, don't name it that, cause then everyone would know you got gold on it. They might try to steal it."
"Yeah, good point. Hey, you know what?"
"What?"
"If we dig deep enough, we can dig a hole all the way to China!"
"Really?" Katrina asked excitedly.
"Yep. But we gotta dig really deep though! And it might take a while."
"Can we dig a hole all the way to Transylvania?"
Danny shrugged his shoulders. "I guess. But we may not want to do that, because then all the vampires living there would have a tunnel to go through and then they'd end up here!"
"I didn't see any vampires in Transylvania when I went there. Not a real one anyway."
"Well I'm not taking any chances! I was kidnapped by a vampire one time!"
"Nu-uh!"
"Yes-huh!"
"You're making that up, Danny!"
"No I'm not! Ask my dad!"
"Well, you wouldn't have to worry, cause if a vampire did come here, my Daddy would kill it. He's a vampire slayer. Did you know that?"
"For real? Like Buffy?"
"Yeah, but better. Cause he's my daddy!"
"That's pretty cool."
"I'm a vampire slayer too!"
Danny rolled his eyes. "You are not! You can't be one if you're a kid!"
"Yes you can. Cause if your daddy is one then you get to be one automatically."
Danny thought about that one for a second. Yeah, that did make sense.
"Hey! I got something!" Katrina cheered, hitting something hard with her shovel.
"Ooo! What is it?"
"I don't know! But see it? It's kinda hard. Help me dig!"
"Maybe it's a box of treasure!" Danny hoped as he continued to dig.
"Or maybe it's gold!"
"Yeah! Maybe gold nuggets! Let's keep digging!"
Together, they dug around the hard object buried in the dirt. Finally, they had cleared enough dirt around it to get a clearer picture.
"What is it?" Katrina asked, peering over Danny to get a better look.
Danny used his shovel to dig out whatever it was that was stuck in the ground. It was obvious from the look on his face that he was very disappointed.
"It's just a stupid rock!" he complained, picking it up and throwing it across the yard.
"Maybe it's a magic rock," Katrina said, getting up to retrieve the rock. She dusted the dirt off with her finger.
"Don't be stupid. It's just a plain ole rock!"
Katrina shrugged her shoulders, looking closely at the rock, which had flecks of different color in it. She decided she liked it anyway, even if it wasn't real treasure.
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"So, are you sure you want to take one of the kittens?" Eve asked, taking a few plates out of the cabinet.
"Well, we can't change our minds now. Rafe already promised her. I don't think he realizes how much work it will be. Kittens are babies too."
"I'm a little surprised at Rafe. He's a pretty smart guy."
"Oh, I'm not surprised. When it comes to Katrina, Rafe always gives in. He spoils her. She's his little princess."
"Speaking of her," Eve said, hearing the screen door slam.
"Mrs. Eve! Mrs. Eve!" Katrina shouted, running into the kitchen.
"Yes, Katrina?"
"Um…Danny said 'dookey-head'."
"To you?"
"No. He said it to a worm!"
Eve held back her laugher. "Well you just tell him the word police will come after him for saying something like that."
Katrina nodded, then ran out of the room. "Danny! The word police is gonna come get you!"
Alison and Eve laughed.
"I swear, when my daughter starts school, the teacher is going to write me notes home everyday about Katrina being the class tattletale."
"Well that's better than what Danny's teacher writes home to me. I have to hear about him singing the diarrhea song during recess."
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Not long after Alison and Katrina got back home, there was a knock at the door. Alison got up from the couch to answer it.
"Hi, Alison," the woman said.
"Um…hi…." Alison recognized the woman's face, but she couldn't for the life of her remember her name.
"Jessie."
"Oh, right! I'm sorry, come in. What brings you by?"
"I'm here to pick up Katrina for her riding lessons."
"Um, riding lessons?"
Jessie nodded. "It's Tuesday, remember?"
"I wasn't aware that she had riding lessons today."
"Oh. Well, Mrs. Barrington said she discussed this with you already. She just sent me over to pick her up."
"JESSIE!" Katrina ran down the stairs and over to Jessie, greeting her with a hug.
"Hi, Katrina!"
"Do I get to ride my pony today?"
Jessie looked over at Alison, sensing her hesitation. "If this is a bad time, we can always reschedule. I'm very flexible."
"Mommy! I want to go riding! Can I?"
"No, that's fine. She can go," Alison told Jessie. "It just slipped my mind that she had lessons today."
"YAY!" Katrina cheered.
"I guess she needs her riding clothes. I'll just run upstairs and get them."
"Oh no need. Mrs. Barrington bought her more clothes last week."
"Oh course she did," Alison said softly. "Okay, baby. Have fun!" Alison gave her daughter a kiss goodbye.
"Bye, Mommy!"
"She won't be gone too long, will she?"
Jessie shook her head. "Oh no, just a few hours. I'll bring her back before supper."
"Okay. Bye." Alison watched as Katrina and Jessie climbed into the back of her grandmother's limousine and headed out the driveway. She closed the door and laughed out loud. This was just like her grandmother.
Alison marched over to the phone and called her.
"Barrington residence," Amanda answered cheerfully.
"Nana! When were you going to tell me you scheduled riding lessons for Katrina today?"
"Well hello to you too, darling. Did Jessie pick Katrina up already?"
"Yes, they just left. Nana, why didn't you tell me about this?"
"I did, darling. Don't you remember? I told you that as soon as you arrived back from Romania, I would be scheduling regular lessons for her. Every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday."
"Nana, she's five! Don't you think that's a little excessive?"
"Well if she's tired, we'll cut back. But I want her to get in as much riding as possible before school starts. She's already missed so much since you were gone."
Alison sighed as she sat down in the chair. "Nana, I want you to promise me one thing."
"What's that?"
"I want you to promise that this is not going to be like the time you made me take piano lessons when I was seven."
"What do you mean? You loved playing the piano."
"No I didn't, Nana. I hated it! I mean, sure, I liked it at first, but then you made me practice all the time and I started to hate it."
"Well I never realized that. Alison, why didn't you just tell me?"
"Because I didn't want to disappoint you."
"You would have never disappointed me, Alison."
"Nana, look, you and I both know that Katrina loves riding. And if she wants to ride her pony all day long, that's fine. I will support her 100 percent. But I don't want this to become something she starts to hate, or something she does just to please you. Alright?"
"Alison, I hardly think you have to worry about that. She's having a great time. I'm sure of it."
"Well that's what I want to hear."
"Katrina was practically born to ride. If she keeps up with her lessons, there's no telling how far she will go."
"Nana, again, she's only five."
"Alison, the most talented equestrians have always learned at an early age. Why, Jackie Kennedy was already competing in horse shows by the time she was five. These lessons will be good for her. Oh, that reminds me. Do you remember Mildred Thompson?"
"Mildred Thompson?"
"From the country club."
"Was she that woman who always wore that ugly flowered hat and carried around that ridiculous poodle of hers as an accessory?"
"Alison, that's not a very nice thing to say."
"Oh, please, Nana, you can't stand that woman either."
"Well anyway, her granddaughter, I think her name is Chelsea, or Charity, something like that. She's Katrina's age, and Mildred was saying that she just signed her up for riding lessons. Well let me tell you, if she rides anything like her grandmother, she won't stand a chance, and she certainly won't stand a chance against our little Katrina."
Alison glanced at her watch. It was time for her afternoon nap. "Nana, I'm going to go now. I'm tired."
"Okay, fine dear. But I'm telling you, Katrina is a born rider. And that Mildred Thompson, always thinking she's better than anyone else. I can't wait until our Katrina shows her granddaughter a thing or two about how to ride a horse."
Alison yawned. "Okay. Goodbye, Nana," Alison said, hanging up the phone before her grandmother went on a tangent about people from the country club.
As she reached over to the side of the recliner, pulling the lever to rest her feet, she saw the picture on the table. Alison reached for it to get a closer look. It was Katrina at her last birthday party, standing proudly beside her beloved pony Cookie. Her nana had certainly been right about one thing. She absolutely adored that pony of hers.