7
Catherine cast a quick but penetrating look at both Mattie and Harm. Given Harm's recent and unexpectedly whimsical displays of humour, she hadn't really believed him when he'd greeted Mattie as 'boss', but then the girl had claimed it too… and she didn't look surprised at his introduction… so, either they had set this up previously, or incredible as it seemed he really was working for her! "Umm… are you guys snowing me, by any chance?" she addressed both of them with a doubting smile.
"No, Mattie takes care of all the paperwork and the day to day operations for Grace Aviation. Her dad flies, so I guess that in a way she's his boss too…" Catherine's smile became more the real thing, and she cocked an inquiring eye at Mattie.
Mattie's, "Yeah… I guess…" however, didn't sound too enthusiastic as she jammed her hands into her jeans' pockets and turned back towards the office.
Harm turned a concerned look at Catherine and shrugged apologetically as he started after Mattie, "Hey, wait up there, Mattie… What's up?"
"You've come to tell me you're quitting… that you're going back to work for that mean old guy." It was a statement, not a question.
"Uh… Actually, Mattie, no. He did come out here to offer me my old job back, but I said 'no'."
"Yeah?" Only a fourteen year old girl could pack so much cynicism and outright disbelief into a single syllable and for a moment Harm felt at a loss.
"Yeah, he asked, I turned him down. So as far as I know, I'm still hired by you?" He flashed a toned down version of his flyboy grin at her.
Mattie blushed and murmured something he didn't quite catch, but for the first time during the conversation she raised her blue eyes to his and he saw that they were suspiciously moist. "So whadda you doing out here on a Sunday, if you didn't come to quit? Why did you say no? I thought you wanted back in the navy?" she challenged.
Harm sighed, "Yesterday was a real bear. Catherine and I were looking at houses all day. I dragged her around five different houses, and well… you can see her… by the end of the day her feet hurt, her back ached, the baby was kicking. and she was pretty pis… uh… ticked at me. So today I brought her out here for a picnic, just to say thanks. I figured we could borrow a couple of chair from the hangar and sit and watch the 'planes come in and out."
"Yeah, whatever, help yourself to a couple of chairs… so, why did you say 'no'?"
"Mattie, there's a lot of history between me and that mean old man, as you call him. And up until a year ago, I thought we were solid. But things went to hel… things went bad between us, and I told him after what happened in the spring, that I couldn't work for him, because I didn't trust or respect him anymore. So, it doesn't matter what I might or might not want. I'm through with him, and he's through with me."
Mattie looked up at him, searching his face. His obvious honesty was easy for her to read, although her unfamiliarity with truth from grown-ups made it difficult for her to identify. At length, satisfied that he was speaking the truth, she nodded. "OK, I'll get you a couple of chairs, if you grab a trestle table?"
"Uh… Mattie…" She looked back over her shoulder at him, "Make that three chairs… you are joining us, of course?"
"Ummm… Uh… Thanks Harm, but I don't want to get in the way. Three's company and all that, you know?"
"Mattie, there's already three of us. You'll be making a fourth."
Mattie's forehead creased in a frown, and then as she understood what Harm meant, her face broke into a sunny smile, "Yeah, OK… And Harm?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."
Harm removed one of the back-squabs from the Lexus to give Catherine some support and a degree of comfort while she sat in the hard wooden chair, and then poured three mugs of iced tea from a thermos. He kept his contribution to the conversation to a minimum, only occasionally corroborating facts as Catherine and Mattie dominated the talk. He had needed to bring Catherine to meet Mattie, although she had believed him when he'd told her she was only a teenager, he'd got the feeling that as Catherine's pregnancy advanced and her abdomen swelled she might start feeling a little insecure. There had he thought, already been flashes of doubt in some of their recent conversations, and the way she upped the pace of the game with her… insistence on kissing. Not that he was complaining. Catherine was a beautiful woman and her kisses were sweet, very sweet. But taken with her blatantly sexual teasing this morning… Hell, it was all well and good, and yes, it was kind of exciting too. But…
"Huh? What?" he asked as he became aware of the two women, well, woman and girl, looking at him expectantly.
"I thought you said you were a pilot!" Mattie accused him.
"I was… I am… I flew F-14s in the navy, and lots of other types too when I worked for…" Harm floundered to a confused stop. How the hell could he explain to Mattie that his last flying job had been for the CIA? He cast an agonized look at Catherine, silently begging her for help.
"The State Department," Catherine calmly finished for him. He smiled at her, that was definitely one he owed her. His smile faded as he took in her smug expression… cats and canaries sprung to his to mind… what was that devious brain of hers thinking up now?
But his answer still hadn't appeased Mattie's curiosity, "So what were you doing in court when you fired a weapon into the ceiling?" she demanded.
"Oh… Catherine! Please tell me you didn't…?"
"Of course I did! It's one of the best Harmon Rabb stories around!"
"Mattie. That story is so old! It ought to have been forgotten years ago!" He turned back to Catherine, "Where the hell did you hear that?"
"Oh… Clayton Webb filed it away for you… and I just… uh… happened to find the file."
Both women noticed the bleak look that swept across his face when Catherine mentioned Webb's name, and Mattie was about to ask Harm what this guy had done to piss him off, but Catherine caught her eye, and with just the faintest frown and the slightest shake of her head, she dissuaded the teenager from any questions on the thorny subject of Webb, which would almost certainly raise further questions about the even touchier subjects of Mac and Paraguay.
"So…" Mattie picked up her original thread and continued with teenage persistence, "What were you doing in court?"
"I am a pilot, Mattie, but I'm also a lawyer. I used to be a lawyer in the navy - that mean, old, bald guy that was here on Friday?" He waited for her nod of recall, "Well, he's the Judge Advocate general for the US Navy and for the Marine Corps. I used to work for him."
Mattie gave him a quizzical look, "You're a lawyer, right?"
"Uh-huh"
"And lawyers earn like thousands of buck an hour? Right?"
"Well… in private practice, they can earn a lot, yeah, but not thousands."
Mattie gave a look full of disbelief, "Yeah, right."
"Honest injun, he assured her, "ask Catherine - she's a lawyer too!"
Mattie looked aghast, "That poor kid!" She exclaimed looking at Catherine's belly, "Mom and Dad lawyers? It's doomed."
Harm was about to remonstrate with her when Catherine caught the look of mischief in her eye and intervened, "Oh, Mattie, please don't make me laugh - with the pressure she's putting on my bladder, if I laugh, I'll pee myself!"
"Yeah… OK, I'll go easy on you", Mattie agreed with a smile, "But I ain't letting you off the hook, Harm. How come if you're a lawyer, that you end up crop dusting for less a day than you could get in a hour?" The look she gave him was part challenge and part suspicion.
"Yeah, how come, Harm?" Catherine reinforced Mattie's question.
It began to dawn on Harm that maybe he'd made a mistake allowing these two to become acquainted, "Hey! No fair!" he complained, "No tag-teaming me!"
Catherine gave him that slow, patient, half-pitying look, "Harm, we're not tag-teaming you. We're ganging up on you! Right, Mattie?"
"Damn straight!" The teenager grinned.
Harm looked at them in turn, a helpless expression on his face, "I'm doomed, aren't I?"
The mirror-image smug smiles he received in return were all the confirmation that he needed. Groaning, he got to his feet, "OK, I know when I'm whipped; I'll just go get the food like a good little boy, then, shall I?"
"Yeah, good thinking," Catherine agreed, "our daughter's getting hungry."
Harm stopped for a second and looked back over his shoulder at Catherine, 'our daughter', he smiled. "Hey, I like the sound of that," he said softly to her.
Catherine looked blank for a second, and then remembering exactly what words she had used, she blushed, and retorted in embarrassed affection, "You are such a sap, Harm Rabb!"
Mattie looked in momentary confusion between the two of them, and then as she realised what had been said, and perhaps more importantly what had been left unsaid, she smile sunnily at them both.
Mattie wasn't quite sure what to expect when the food was laid out on the table, but her face fell when she noticed the distinct lack of pizza, or animal protein, but with the curiosity and appetite of youth she made a respectable dent in the assortment of cold quiches, salads, dips and crispy vegetables that she tried, and was compelled to admit that it wasn't a bad lunch.
Harm raised his eyebrows at the lukewarm compliment, and Mattie quick to realise her solecism, added hurriedly, "I don't mean that there was anything wrong with it Harm, it was just different… you know, strange to me and I'm not really used to this sort of thing…" she trailed off anxiously, hoping that she hadn't offended the man who was in some sort her host for the day, as well as being one of her employees.
Catherine saw Mattie's awkwardness and stepped smoothly into the breach. "Anyway, Harm, you still haven't answered Mattie's question; why are you dusting crops, instead of running a law office?"
"Well… it's like I told AJ on Friday," he replied, grateful to Catherine for smoothing over what could have been a difficult moment for Mattie, "I get to choose my hours..." a slight cough from Mattie caused to him to grin and to add, "within reason, I don't have to wear a suit, and I like my boss." He finished his summation, with a full blown grin at Mattie, which caused her to undergo a feeling she'd never had before, and made Catherine feel slightly weak at the knees and thank all the saints that she was already seated.
Catherine was the first to recover, and leaning towards Mattie she said in a stage whisper, "You shouldn't believe everything he says, you know, he's such a shocking flirt…"
Mattie blushed and then over-compensating she came back with, "Yeah, but an effective one…" with a significant glance at Catherine's bump, and then horrified realisation of what she'd said struck her, "Oh… crap! Catherine... I'm so…" and her eyes shot back and forth between Catherine and Harm as she flamed crimson, desperately wishing for a hole in the ground into which she could sink and then pull the top closed over her.
To her relief however, although Harm looked dumbstruck, Catherine burst into peals of laughter, "Mattie," she gasped through her laughter, "you will never know just how effective his flirting is!"
Harm shot Catherine a filthy look, and then as the meaning of what she was saying made its way from his ears to his brain, he grinned sheepishly, and said, "And you don't need to listen too much to what she says, either Mattie; remember she's a sneaky little lawyer too!"
His accusation caused Mattie to giggle and Catherine to renew her laughter, until she suddenly stopped and clasped her belly, "Oh…" and a strained expression crossed her face.
Harm was instantly on his knees next to her chair, "What is it Catherine? Not the baby? Please, it's too soon!"
"No… no… relax, it's not the baby, Harm, it's just… Remember what I said about not making me laugh? Mattie, could you please show me where the rest room is?"
Harm gave Catherine his hands to help her up to her feet and stood by ready to catch her in case she overshot her centre of balance and then stood for a few moments as Mattie led Catherine's waddling progress towards the hangar's side door. He had barely taken his seat again and freshened the three drinks standing on the table when Mattie returned, and in answer to his raised eyebrow she grinned, "Said she didn't need me to go in with her and hold her hand."
Harm grimaced, "Too much detail there, boss."
Mattie kept her grin in place, but stayed silent, gratefully taking a sip of her iced tea, and reflecting ruefully that Harm's words described exactly how she'd felt as during their short walk to the hangar, Catherine had explained about how the weight of the baby pressed on her bladder, and that laughing caused the baby to bounce up and down, adding to her physical discomfort. But not as much, Mattie thought, as Catherine's words had added to her mental discomfort. But before she'd had much time to develop her train of thought she was brought back to the here and now, by Harm's insistent voice. She looked up in surprise, and could see by the puzzled expression on his face that he must have called her at least a couple of times.
Seeing that he had re-captured her attention, he grinned, "Hey, Space Cadet Mattie, what planet were you visiting?"
"Oh…" she hesitated, "Planet baby, I guess, I was just thinking about what Catherine told me about being pregnant and how…"
"Aw… yeah, right… Now, that really would be too much information," he mumbled.
Mattie looked across at him in astonishment… was that a… it was! Harm was blushing like a twelve-year old in her first health-ed class!
Harm saw the dawning realisation of his plight cross Mattie's face and the beginning of a triumphant grin, but fortunately he was saved from further discomfiture - or so he thought - by Catherine's stately return from the hangar. The necessity for making sure that Catherine was safely bestowed and comfortable in her seat was a sufficient interruption of his and Mattie's conversation for him to regain his usual colour and composure and for him to stretch out his hand and retrieve Catherine's beaker from the table.
She looked at it and grinned wryly, "Uh, I don't think so, Harm… I know I've just made room for more, but I think I'd like to keep it that way for a while longer…"
"Yeah, geez, Harm, don't you know anything about how the baby's weight presses on a woman's bladder, and makes her want to pee all the time…" Mattie chipped in, hoping to see if she could get Harm blushing again. She was not disappointed as the colour flooded his face again.
Catherine was about to interrupt a flow of information that she was sure that Harm didn't want or need to know, and that she wasn't quite sure that Mattie, at her age, ought to know, but then she saw the teasing smile on the young girl's face and turning to look at Harm saw that not only were his cheeks red, but that his ears were burning crimson. The temptation was too much.
"Oh, Mattie," she said, apparently disregarding Harm's presence, "that's the least of it, apart from wanting to pee all the time, by the end of the day, your ankles get so swollen and your feet hurt so much, plus of course there's the back-ache, and the nausea…"
"Oh, Catherine, please…" Harm begged, "you're killing me here!"
"Well, so I should!" she declared, with a hidden wink to Mattie, "after all, it's all your fault…"
"Oh, no! No it's not!" But then Harm realised he really couldn't have this conversation with Catherine in front of a witness, "You are at least half to… you are at least half responsible…" he defended himself weakly.
"No I'm not," Catherine stated calmly, "You sweet talked me into this… remember? It was all your idea." She smiled sweetly at him and Harm only then realised that somehow, she and Mattie had by some unspoken means set him up.
He summoned up a rueful smile and shook his head, "OK, you got me," he admitted, as he relaxed back into his seat.
Catherine turned back to smile at Mattie as the teenager hissed "Yes!" and pumped her first into the air.
Harm looked soulfully at them both, "I knew this whole idea was a mistake…" he lamented, only to have his complaint drowned out by two distinctly different giggles. "Oh, well… If I get ahead and clear this mess up, it might give you two a chance to regain what little wits you might still have left…"
The two women sat and smiled beatifically at him.
By dint of an herculean effort Harm managed to keep the rest of the afternoon's conversation on more or less innocuous subjects, ranging from whether or not they'd decided on baby names, Elizabeth was a given of course, but neither of them had come up with a suitable middle name; Mattie's contribution was "For God's sake, don't let it be Mathilda!", which raised a smile from both Harm and Catherine.
Mattie too smiled, it seemed that without either of them noticing, Harm and Catherine had edged their chairs nearer each other, and while not ignoring Mattie, their attention during the baby-name part of the conversation had been almost wholly focused on each other; and at some stage their fingers had become loosely intertwined as their hand hung at their sides.
It was only when Harm described the difference between flying bi-plane relics of a by-gone age and the aircraft that he swore was the best modern military airplane in the world, the F-14 Tomcat, that a slightly discordant note was struck, even while he was speaking, he felt a pang of regret at the knowledge that never again would he be allowed to strap-on one of those beautiful machines. Mattie couldn't know, and Catherine could only guess what was wrong, but despite Harm's valiant attempt to ignore it, both of his companions felt the shadow that had passed over him.
In an effort to divert the sombre mood that Catherine felt sure was about to descend up on him, she shivered, almost theatrically and asked, "Hey, guys, I'm sorry to bust up this party, but Harm, I'm getting a bit tired… would you mind if we headed back to DC?"
"No… of course, not. And Mattie, I'm sorry… you came here to do some work, and we've kept you distracted all afternoon."
"Hey, don't sweat it… I'm a teenager, I'm supposed to cut class once in a while…"
x-x-x-x-x
Mattie watched as Harm's SUV rolled across the parking lot to the exit road, and then sighed as she turned back towards the office with a sinking feeling in her stomach. For the past few hours she'd been able to relax and temporarily put her problems on the back burner. She liked Harm, he made her feel warm and comfy, and she'd liked Catherine too. The older woman had treated her if not quite as an equal, but without being patronising and condescending. She had been remarkably open about her pregnancy symptoms, and hadn't tried to dress anything up in baby language; in short she'd treated Mattie like a friend. And it had been fun too; the way the two of had teased Harm. Poor guy, she reflected, he hadn't stood a chance, as much chance as she had she thought bitterly as she sat at her desk, of keeping the company afloat, and with sigh reached for the pile of bills and receipts. All at once tears sprang to her eyes as she contrasted this afternoon with the struggle she had with the rest of her life, just trying to keep her mom's business alive for her. She was a freaking teenager! She should be enjoying family life, instead of missing her mom. The afternoon she had just spent with Harm and Catherine showed her what life could - should - be like for her; and the contrast between what should be and what was, only reinforced the sense of hopelessness that threatened to overcome her. Damn her dad! Damn him for drinking and driving! Damn him to everlasting hell for killing her mom! And damn him for taking out that damn loan anyway. Mattie slumped over the desk, buried her face in her hands and wept tears of pain, loneliness and loss.
x-x-x-x-x
Sarah MacKenzie was restless. She'd tried sitting curled up in her favourite armchair, and had spent thirty eight minutes and twelve seconds attempting to read the latest John Le Carré novel, 'The Constant Gardener' but had given it up as a bad job. She had spent another forty two minutes and twenty seven seconds channel hopping, hoping to find a Sunday afternoon movie to engage her interest. That attempt too had resulted in failure. The last of her four cups of tea stood half-finished and cold on her coffee-table, and her face wore a pout of discontent.
Damn Rabb anyway, him and his Goddam moral certainties. What right did he have to criticize her? Or the choices she made, whether those choices were professional or personal. And damn him for trying to lay a guilt trip on her, and damn those insubordinate squids in the bull-pen too. It wasn't her fault that he'd resigned his commission; she hadn't asked him to. And damn him for not standing up for himself when the Admiral had reamed him out. How the hell was she supposed to defend him, when he hadn't lifted a fucking finger to help himself? And damn Coates too. She was only signed up for one enlistment, she hadn't put sixteen years of her life into a career, how the hell was she supposed to risk that for a man who didn't… who she didn't… anyway, for a man who'd already cooked his goose, and who hadn't returned her calls, and who had been so scathing and indifferent to her when she'd confronted him. That wasn't cowardice; that was plain good sense and self preservation. And talking of self preservation…
She reached over for the 'phone and dialed in a number, waiting for the pick up at the other end; the phone rang, again and again until there was a click in her ear, and a voice, I am sorry, I am unable to come to the 'phone right now, please leave a message at the tone, and I will call you back when I am able. Thank you.
Dammit! That was not the number she had meant to call! Although the sound of Harmon Rabb's voice made her heart jump into her throat and her eyes sting.
Redialling the number she really wanted, she told herself, brought no improvement; the 'phone must have been ringing off the hook, but remained unanswered. "And damn you too, Clayton Webb! Where the hell are you now, when I need you…" Sarah fought back the tears. OK, so maybe Clay was out of town, well that was part of his job… but he could at least have let her know he was leaving. But that didn't explain the loneliness she felt…
That was it, she needed some company… picking up her 'phone she scanned through the speed dial list: Sturgis Turner, well she could include him out, despite his own ongoing arguments with Rabb, he too had turned a definite cold shoulder to her since she'd returned from Paraguay, Bud and Harriett… well, maybe… but she really didn't feel like an afternoon of what passed for domestic bliss in the Roberts' household, Carolyn Imes, oh yeah, that would be a great career move, wouldn't it. Consorting with a former officer who'd been dishonourably discharged that very week. The admiral? Forget it, baby!
The stark realisation took hold of her… she had no friends to whom she could turn. She could seek company, sure, McMurphy's would be having their Sunday afternoon Happy Hour, but going to a bar on her own, and in her present mood would be courting disaster twice over. So her personal life sucked, and face it, so did her professional life, she was barely tolerated now by people she once considered, how was it Rabb had described Imes? Oh, yes, respected colleagues, well not any more, at least it didn't appear that any of them respected her any more. Face it, her life, personal and professional, was a mess. And damn Rabb was right, what was she doing still serving under an officer who had abandoned her to torture and death. Almost without volition she found herself sitting at her computer and opening its word-processing program. Thirty minutes later she sat back with a sigh, and closed the document on which she had been working, saving it under the filename of ResignationLetter, and sending it via e-mail to her military e-address..
Her shoulders slumped, but at the same time she felt as if a great weight had been lifted off them.
x-x-x-x-x
Harm and Catherine had been heading north on US-29 fo4 nearly an hour when she turned her head towards him, "Harm, I thought you were going to go flying today?"
"Yeah, well… I was. Until I saw how you and Mattie were ganging up on me. I was afraid that if I left you two alone together for an hour, by the time I got back, I wouldn't have had any secrets, or any dignity left!" Although he was smiling, Catherine wondered if perhaps there wasn't more than just a germ of truth in his words.
Smiling back at him to let him know that she hadn't taken his words too seriously, she replied, "Well, you might have had a point there." She deliberated for a few seconds before saying "I liked Mattie."
"Good!" he smiled in satisfaction, he liked the teenager too, and he was hoping that Catherine and she would get on well together.
Catherine's face lost its smile as she asked in a serious tone, "Have you ever met Mattie's folks?"
"No… no, I haven't, but I've only been working for her for a few days. I know her mom's dead, and her dad seems to spend every hour he can in the air. Whether that's to take his mind off losing his wife, or just trying to earn every penny he can, I don't know." He paused for a few seconds, and then drawing his brows together in a frown he asked, " Why?"
"Well… on my way back from the rest room, I took a wrong turning - it's pretty dark in that hangar," she added defensively as she saw a skeptical look come over his face.
"OK," he conceded, "and…?"
"Well I sort of stepped into her office, and the desk was covered with bills, a lot of them marked 'Past Due', and they were all addressed to her, not her father…"
"Well if she's running the paperwork, that's reasonable."
"Yeah, but if she's doing the paperwork and running the daily operations, what's she doing about school? Harm, she's what, fifteen years old?"
"Well, fourteen, I think."
"Even worse! Harm, she should be at school every day, not trying to run a business, particularly not one that looks like it's struggling to stay afloat. Harm we need to talk to her father!"
Harm considered what Catherine had said, and was overcome by an uneasy feeling that he, and probably Catherine too, had missed something significant. "Well… she might be home schooled," he suggested. But a snort of rebuttal from Catherine made him glance across at her. She had a frown on her face, but he guessed it was through concern with Mattie's situation rather than from annoyance at his response, although it was also pretty clear that she didn't believe in his theory either..
"Yeah… you're right… I think I'll take an early run down here tomorrow morning… see if I can catch hold of him before he starts work for the day… If I can't catch him before work, I'll wait until he gets back, but that might mean I'll be really late back. If that happens, I'll call you, OK?"
Catherine looked over at him, "Thanks, Harm. I know I'm probably worrying over nothing, and that Mattie is being home-schooled but… I'm… uh… still worried." She laughed self-consciously, "It's probably nothing, just all those maternal hormones sloshing around inside me…"
"Hey, I may not be able to do anything about your maternal instincts, but if they are making you worry, then the least I can do is try and get rid of the cause of those worries!"
"Thanks, Harm." She sighed heavily.
"What was that for?"
"All of a sudden I feel like Maria von Trapp."
"What?"
"Well, I was thinking, trying to think anyway, about what I'd done to deserve you, and then I remembered Maria… From 'The Sound of Music?" she prompted him seeing him baffled.
"Oh… oh, yeah. I got it now - go on!"
Catherine raised her eyes to the heavens, "Well, in the movie, there's a duet between the Captain and Maria, and in it she sings, that 'somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good…' and that…" Catherine became tongue-tied and flushed crimson. Making a supreme effort, although her cheeks were still bright red, she continued "and just then, when you said about getting rid of worries for me, that was the way I felt. Pretty corny, huh, and not to mention way overboard?" She smiled weakly, hoping to God that she hadn't just scared him off.
"Well, yeah, it's pretty corny, and yeah it's way overboard… but it's kinda flattering too…" he responded with a smile, and then reaching out with his right hand he caught her left hand and squeezed gently. "Just don't go buying me any shiny armour and a white horse just yet, though, please."
Catherine managed a weak chuckle, "I'll try and resist the temptation," she said, giving his hand a gentle squeeze before she reluctantly let him go.
x-x-x-x-x
Esther Gale smiled in tired satisfaction as Catherine and then Harm, much to her surprise, bestowed a goodnight cum goodbye kiss on her cheek and left her hospital room as they'd entered, hand in hand. Her instincts about that young man had been completely right, she sighed happily to herself, he was going to be so good for her Catherine, and unless her instincts were now leading her well astray, he was going to be a fantastic father for Catherine's child; no, she corrected herself, for their child.
Her gentle, non-accusatory, but leading, method of questioning had led to him being more and more open and forthcoming with each visit he'd made, and although her curiosity had sometimes made Catherine blush and protest that she was embarrassed, Esther Gale now knew more about Harmon Rabb than any of his contemporaries at JAG, and although she was glad enough of that information for its own sake, his answers to her questions had necessarily been heard by Catherine, which of course was exactly what she had intended right from the start.
And he was so attentive too, not just to Catherine, but to herself. It had been he who had seen the first signs of fatigue that she'd tried to conceal, and had said that he would love to stay for a while, but he was afraid that the day had been too long for Catherine already. She really would have to speak to him about making up better excuses, but that could wait… for the moment she was so very tired… It would be so easy just to let go, but she wasn't about to let that happen. She wasn't going to go until she was good and ready, and that wouldn't be until after she had seen Catherine's baby…