Chapter 25
"Right, where in this huge place are the potatoes?" Michelle asked admiring the size of the kitchen.
"In the pot," Kate added walking towards the stove.
"What kind are they?"
"Baby whites," Kate answered, and Michelle raised the lid to see the golf ball size potatoes floating.
"They are small."
"Yes, I believe that's why they were called baby whites," Kate smiled, and Michelle chuckled.
"Then, there's not much to do." Kate turn the element on to cook the potatoes
"I guess we are only missing the meat."
"Kate, I know we just meet, but if you find the need to speak to someone, you can talk to me."
"Thank you, Michelle." She smiled. "Mike told me you would offer."
"Oh, well. He knows what I'm like." She shrugged.
"We should go and check them," she said as the doorbell rang.
"Or, I should open the door," Kate said.
"Go, I'll catch with them."
Michelle moved to the garden, while Kate walked to the front door and opened it. A couple was standing on the other side with three kids. They looked at her then took a step back to check the number.
"It's this Mike Flynn's house?"
"Yes, let me get him for you." She turned to go and find him. She took a couple of steps inside the house, and she stopped him.
"Mike!" Kate called him over.
"What is it, Kate?" he answered coming closer.
"Someone is looking for you?" She said pointing towards the door, he walked and then smiled brightly.
"Hannah! You made it!"
"Yeah, we made it," she said hugging him.
"Brad," he hugged his brother in law.
"Mike"
"Come, mum and dad are in the back." They walk inside, and the kids walk behind them, Kate closed the door and followed them to the garden. She observed as the Flynn's exchanged greetings and hugs from far away, then Patrick noticed her and called her over with a head gesture.
"Hannah, Brad, Amanda, Don, Ben… This is Kate. Kate, my twin sister Hannah. Her husband and their kids. Don and Amanda are twins."
"Twins, really?"
"Yes," he grinned.
"Hi, I'm Kate, nice to meet you." She said as Hannah stepped forward and hugged her.
"Mike told us a lot about you, Kate. We were all thinking he had a teenage crush."
"As you should talk, Hannah, you wentthrough you with your teenage crushes," Mike said, and Hannah rolled her eyes at him.
"Do anyone want a drink?" Kate offered.
"I'll take a beer," Brad said.
"Sounds good to me too," Hannah added.
"Okay, I'll be right back," Mike said.
"Please, take a seat." Kate said
"He said you are in the Navy," Hannah commented to Kate.
"Yes, I'm a Sub-Lieutenant."
"Oh, and what is your interest in him?" Kate frowned.
"What do you mean?" she asked confused.
"Are you sleeping with him to climb up the ranks faster?" Hannah clarified her question.
"Hannah, that's enough!" Patrick said in a warning tone.
"if you should know Hannah, Kate has worked hard to get to where she is. In fact, Mike was her instructor for a course she was doing," Michelle said, and Hannah grinned.
"So, you are not using him to climb the ladder, just to get a nice grade?"
"That's enough Hannah. Sorry, Kate, she's very protective when it comes to Mike girlfriends."
"It's okay. For your information, I've never slept or dated Mike until after the course was over and he was back from his tour overseas. I wouldn't sleep my way up the ranks; I simply work hard to get what I want. I was a dux at the high school, received the sward award when I graduated from ADFA, and I have been the top in all my courses. You might be protective, but you know nothing about me so don't you dare to accuse me of sleeping my way up the ranks." Kate hissed in a commanding tone.
"Then it's the money you are after," Hannah added angrily.
"What are you talking about?" Kate asked frowning.
"Oh, you know what I'm talking about…"
"No, I don't."
"Kate?" Michelle said. Kate turn to her. "Didn't Mike tell you about his inheritance?"
"No, ma'am."
"You are lying; you are after his money."
"I don't know what money you are talking about, Hannah!"
"My parents left us with over twenty million dollars for each," Michelle said. Kate turned towards Michelle, the frown still on her face
"Twenty million?"
"Yes, that's how he could afford this place," Patrick smiled.
"I never asked him how he could afford it; I'm simply not interested in money."
"Yeah, sure. That's what they all say." Hannah hissed. Kate chuckled.
"Well, twenty million does sound like something anyone could be interested in. But, I'm not one of those." She affirmed then said.
"Tell me one good reason why I would want his twenty million when I have over four billion dollars of my own?" They looked at Kate in shock.
"Four … billions?" Brad asked in shock.
"Yes, inheritances from my late father."
"And you are in the Navy?" Hannah said
"I don't see the relationship; I love what I do."
"Does Mike know about this inheritance of yours?"
"Of course, he does, he simply doesn't care about my money as I don't care about his."
"You are making that up."
"No, she's not." Mike's voice interrupted them. He walked outside and placed the tray with beverages on the table before seating next to Kate.
"Hannah, stop it. You have no rights to treat her like this; she's not like other women. I asked her weeks ago, what would say to me if I told you I'm a millionaire? And she answered me she didn't care about money. She cares about me."
"Why would I be interested in your millions if I got billions for myself," she shrugged.
"That was what she answered when I asked her what did she meant with that. I almost fell off the chair when she showed me her bank account." Then Mike said
"I warned you, Hannah, not to do this."
"You know what I'm like, I worry about you."
"I know, but I'm old enough to decide who is going to be my girlfriend. You remember when we were young what I said to you about my girlfriends?"
"Yeah, none of them captured your heart."
"And I told you I wanted someone who could be my equal, right?"
"Yeah." She looked at him then at Kate. "Is her, isn't she?"
"Yes, it's her. She had the guts to stand up and correct me on class. We argued for a while until I realized she was right."
"Twice," Kate chuckled.
"Between that and the time we took to know each other, I know she's the one."
"We took the time during the course to really get to know each other, then we wrote back and forth during our different situations."
"I found out her nickname at the ADFA is Perfect Princess." Kate chuckled.
"It's because I like to do things perfectly, including my tests."
"So far, no one in the Navy has managed to beat her scores." Kate blushed.
"Can we talk about something else, like… what was Mike when growing up?"
"Kate, no," Mike pleaded.
"Why not, is there something you don't want me to know?" She raised her eyebrows at him
"Oh, I got stories to share," Hannah grinned.
"Please, do tell." Kate said smiling
"I'll better go and fire that barbecue up," Mike said walking away as Hannah started telling her histories about Mike.
Half an hour later, all traces of the awkwardness from before were gone, and they were laughing and talking. They all shared with Kate histories of Mike when he was younger, and after dinner, they talked for around three hours more before Hannah and her family left.
Mike, Kate, Patrick and Michelle sat outside talking for a while longer before they all decided to call it a night and head to bed. The next morning, when Mike's parents walked to the kitchen for breakfast, they overheard as Kate and Mike were talking.
They entered the room and exchanged Good mornings and merry Christmas until they finally sat on the breakfast table while Kate prepared them their drinks.
"Do you need any help in the kitchen?" Michelle offered.
"No, we are good. Thanks, mom."
"So, if this is your idea of breakfast, do tell me what are you planning for lunch?" Michelle asked.
"Well, we thought of roast chicken, pork with apple sauce, roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, butter bean, peas, carrots…"
"A huge meal."
"Yeah and that's not even counting dessert."
"Dessert" Patrick asked
"For that, we have cheesecake, jelly, fruit salad, ice cream, brandy snaps and chocolate eclairs."
"You are joking." They told them.
"Oh, you are not," Patrick added after noticing his son expression.
"I guess we should walk our lunch off afterward. And we will have plenty of leftovers to last for months."
"I don't know about leftovers mom; my old crew from the Hammersley is coming later for drinks and snacks. We are going to share the collective leftovers."
"Will they bring their families?"
"
That's the plan, yes."
After breakfast, while Mike did dishes, Kate took care of the pork and chicken. Then, they started to get the snacks and drinks sorted. An hour later Hannah and her family arrived. And they walked to the family room to check the presents.
Mike and Hannah started to give the presents, and Kate sat on the couch watching everyone unwrap their presents until Mike walked to her and sat next to her and passed her a gift.
"Merry Christmas, Kate."
"Thanks' Mike."
She slowly removed the paper and noticed it was a box, inside there was a smaller box. She picked it and opened looking the contents, her eyes widened in surprise.
"Mike! It's beautiful!"
It was a one-karat heart shaped diamond set in a bezel nine karats yellow gold, along with a yellow gold rope chain. She pulled the necklace out of the box and looked at Mike.
"Here, let me." He said taking the necklace from her hand.
She turned around and lifted her hair up, while Mike placed it around her neck and clasped it closed. He placed his hands on her shoulders, and she turned around looking down to the pendant and then up to him. She leaned towards him and kissed him.
"I love it, Mike!"
"I'm happy you are happy, Kate."
Then she gave him her gift; she watched with a smile as he ripped the paper off.
"I love this, Kate!" He grinned noticing his new fishing box.
"Open it." He did as she ordered and found a photo and tags in the box. Picking them up, he looked at them and then at Kate.
"You got to be kidding me." He said in shock. She shook her head and chuckled
"No, it's in the garage."
"What is it?" Patrick asked.
"A two and a half thousand-dollar rod and reel, dad."
"And a fish net," Kate smiled then said.
"Now you can go fishing whenever you want."
"Oh, I definitively will. Thanks, Kate." He kissed her.
"I need to go and check the meal," she said standing up and walking into the kitchen. On her way, back she brought a tray of drinks, and they talked for the next couple of hours. Kate kept coming and going while preparing the meals.
When it was lunch time, everyone sat around the dining room table. They had to add a smaller table to set everything on it. An hour later, Mike and Kate cleaned everything while the rest walked out to the garden or strolled to the beach. Everyone returned later as waited for the other guests to show up.
Mike took the opportunity to introduce Kate to the missing members of his former crew.
"Kate, are you okay?" He asked her after a while finding her hiding in the kitchen.
"Yeah, it's been a long day," she told him smiling and looking out at the house full of people.
"It has, come here." He pulled her into his arms and kissed her; they broke up the kiss quickly.
"Let's go and join them," he pulled her, but she didn't allow him. Instead, she kissed him again.
"Now, we can," she said once they stopped kissing. She walked away from him grabbing a tray, Mike shook his head and picked another tray, and they joined the party outside.
"Enjoying yourself, Buffer?" She asked the man when she had a chance to sit.
"Yes, Ma'am"
"is something bothering you?"
"I head you are going to Afghanistan next year."
"A three-month tour, why?"
"Do you know your ship?"
"HMAS Anzac." He sighed.
"I've been transferred to HMAS Darwin for my patrol over there as well."
"When?"
"Next year," he said taking a sip of his drink.
"And you are not used to frigates."
"I've been on one before, for three years before I was transferred to patrol boats."
"I'm sure you will get used to them again."
"I'm sure I will, ma'am."
Later that evening, after having munched all the variety of left over from cold to warm ones, people started to leave as it was getting late. By eleven, they all were gone, and Mike, Patrick, Michelle, and Kate could call it a night.