I 100% stand by my comment last chapter that this fandom has the best readers! This story has the fewest followers of my fics, but the most comments every time I post and it has me so much wanting to keep coming back to this story (every day if I had time!)
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Chapter 12
Kate had entered the big brick house a million times before. But she had been a different person then. Skipping through the front door in her school uniform, tossing her backpack toward the stairs and calling out a cheerful hello for her mother, followed by a snack in the kitchen while she chattered on about her school day.
Today, Kate's ripped jeans and clunky boots carried her inside with slower movements. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her sweatshirt and willed herself not to look around to see if anything had changed. She had changed. That was all that would matter.
"Is that you, Jaime?"
The sound of her grandfather's voice was painfully familiar, even after four years without hearing it. It almost brought her to her knees. She tightened her clenched fists within her sweatshirt pockets.
"Come on, Uncle Jaime, we're starving and you're late!" The youthful voice had to be one of her nephews, Jack or Sean. "Dad won't let us eat until you and Aunt Eddie get in here!"
The low murmur of admonishment was Danny most likely and Kate froze.
"Yeah, it's us. Sorry we're late," Jaime called back, hanging his coat on the coatrack by the front door.
Eddie and Jaime went a couple steps before they realized she had stopped.
Kate met Jaime's eyes. She wanted to run. But that would show weakness and whatever else Jaime might think of her, she didn't want him to think she was weak.
She grit her teeth and started moving again.
"We stopped to pick someone up on the way," Jaime was saying, crossing through the doorway into the dining room.
Eddie gave Kate an encouraging smile, while Kate just tried to steel herself for whatever she was about to face.
#
Danny reached over to grab Sean's phone. "No phones at the table," he said, pocketing the contraband until after dinner.
"We stopped to pick someone up on the way," Jaime said.
Danny hardly heard him, he was snapping his fingers to get Jack's attention and keep the starving teen from sneaking another slice of roast.
It was the feeling that the air was being drained from the room that got Danny's attention. Everyone had gone stone still. He looked up.
Katie.
He froze, staring at her.
She was a grown woman now. A grown woman with a bruise marring one side of her face and a cut on her lip. Her dark eyes were hard, unflinching, no sign that she had missed any of them. Her face was more angular, her cheekbones high and sharp, her hair darker and loose, falling straight to below her shoulders without any sort of fancy cut to soften it. He didn't see any hint of the little sister he remembered under the rough exterior.
Erin was the one who got them breathing again, a small cry escaping her as she got up and went to Katie.
"I can't believe it," Erin said. She reached out, wrapped her arms around Katie in a hug that Katie didn't return. She held herself stiffly, but there was the brief moment when Erin first held her that Danny saw the smallest flicker of emotion in her eyes. And then Katie winced and pulled away from Erin.
"Go easy, Erin. She's got a couple cracked ribs," Jaime said quietly.
Erin's face creased in concern, but she didn't comment on the injuries. "I just—I can't believe you're here," Erin said.
Katie still didn't speak.
Grandpa was standing then, and apparently so was Danny. He was rounding the table after Gramps, not able to take his eyes off Katie, worried she would disappear just as easily again if he blinked. Their grandfather held out his arms. "Katie girl," he said.
Katie hesitated, but then went into his embrace. Grandpa was gentle with his hug and Katie didn't return it, but her stone face was showing cracks.
When Grandpa finally released her, she stepped back, tightening her jaw. Her eyes darted around the room and met his. Raw pain and guilt tore across her face when she looked at him.
"Danny." She spoke for the first time, four years of explanations and apologies in the rough whisper.
He told himself to be mindful of her ribs and whatever other injuries she came with, well aware most of them were not physical. But he held her in a hug, wishing he could hold onto her tight enough to keep her from taking off again.
He felt, more than heard, her take a shaky breath, and knew she was fighting for control.
"It's good to see you, kid," he said, like she had just been gone for a week at summer camp.
Katie didn't respond, but Danny could feel her hands shaking as she reached around and squeezed him back, before quickly stepping away. She met his eyes briefly and Danny hoped the apology he couldn't speak was clear in his eyes.
Katie looked away. Her gaze landed on their father. Frank hadn't moved from his seat.
Danny saw Katie steel herself, square her shoulders and clench her jaw as she faced their father.
The only sound in the room was the ticking of the antique clock, measuring each second Katie faced off with the older man.
There was the quiet brush of the chair across the floor as Frank pushed back from the table. He rose to his full height and Katie countered by lifting her chin in defiance.
Frank's mouth thinned beneath his mustache, but he didn't speak. His jaw moved with emotion. Finally he lifted his arms. "We've missed you, Katie."
Katie took the few steps it took to get to her dad and hugged him in a tentative grip before quickly pulling away, risking only a quick glance at their dad.
"So you're back, Aunt Katie?" Jack asked, breaking through the loaded silence.
Katie quickly shook her head. "Just dinner," she said in that unfamiliar raspy voice.
Katie looked from her nephews to the empty place next to them. "Where's Linda?" she asked.
If her arrival had drained the air from the room minutes before, her question filled the room with too much pressure.
Jaime seemed to have forged some sort of renewed relationship with Katie and so he spoke first.
"She's…Linda's gone, Katie."
#
Kate narrowed her eyes. Linda left Danny? Not that she didn't believe her brother didn't deserve it over the years, but Linda had the patience of a saint with her brother. She couldn't imagine she would ever walk away from her marriage.
Danny spoke. "It was a helicopter crash. Two years ago." The quiet grief in his voice wasn't part of the brother she remembered. And then his words caught up to her.
It was like a punch to the gut. Katie groped blindly for the back of a chair, anything to steady herself against. Linda was dead. Danny's wife, who had been as much of a sister to her as Erin, was gone. And she hadn't been here. She hadn't even known.
She remembered her senior prom, after her mom died, when Erin was absorbed in her own struggling marriage, Linda had stepped in and made sure Kate had a dress. She had even taken her to her hair appointment. It was Linda who had invited Kate over every weekend and taken the time to talk to her about boys and college and family, making sure Kate wasn't lost in the big house while her father grieved.
Kate wasn't even aware that her legs were buckling under her until Danny's arm was around her, keeping her from going all the way down.
"Let's get some air," he said.
Kate blindly let him steer her through the kitchen, out onto the back deck where she half collapsed onto the top step. He sat next to her, keeping her close to his side.
"I'm so sorry, Danny," she finally managed to get words together. "So sorry." Her breath came in short gasps. But there were no tears. Her eyes were so dry they stung. She couldn't remember the last time she had cried.
"I know," he said.
They sat in silence, shoulder to shoulder, until Kate's breaths slowed.
"Come on," Danny said, rising to stand. "I'm hungry and Jack's not going to save us any roast if we stay out here."
Kate shoved down the rest of her grief. It wasn't like there weren't enough other losses to keep it company. She followed Danny silently back into the house.
#
