How Long I Have Waited

"Lawrence. Yes. Hello?" Did the endings of her nerves suddenly make contact with the blood in her stream and titillate her core? "Is everything alright?" Kate tried to quell the dread now battling for top position in her head.

"It's…it's…it's just that I can't get hold of me Mum. She won't pick up when I ring her and me Dad's gone off and left me for Judith and I can't get hold of me Gran. I didn't know what else to do, I rang Will and he said that I should ring you." He relinquished nervously without ever taking a breath. Kate heard shades of Caroline.

"Its fine Lawrence, what do you need me to do?"

"Can you come and get me, please? I'm sorry that I got it all wrong!"

"Of course I will, Lawrence, just tell me where you are?" The door to Kate's mind quickly shut to an encroaching panic.

"I don't know!" The voice on the line scared and lost. "Judith's flat! I don't know where I am!"

Using a logic that came naturally to her, she instructed Lawrence to find some mailer lying about with Judith's return address. Tapping the address into her navigator device, she grabbed her ring of keys and headed for the front door only to stop in her tracks! "Shit! That chicken will be roasting!" She doubled-back to the kitchen and extinguished the oven. "Last thing I need is to drive up to a house afire," she exhaled as she headed off.

Kate recognized the sullen boy standing under a street-lamp as she slowly stopped her car in front of him and nodded towards the passenger seat.

XX

They took the ride back to Kate's in silence. Kate was focused and yet confused without the details; Lawrence seemed occupied with guilt and disappointment. Kate could now see shades of Caroline. A side glance at him made her wonder what he'd meant when he said, 'I'm sorry that I got it all wrong'.

Kate pulled the car to a stop at her cottage, "We're here, but you've been here before so you know the lay of the land. I'll attend to the chicken in the oven while you wash up and get settled." She couldn't help taking in his exasperation over the embarrassing situation. "Not to worry, I had the forethought of having the feathers removed before I placed it in the oven. " She was amused, he was not.

Once inside, Kate headed to re-ignite the oven for supper and set a pot of water to boil for rice, and then went about collecting linens for the spare for her unexpected guest.

Lawrence re-appeared from her upstairs, looking lost and unsure. Kate settled him squarely and asked him what, exactly, had transpired. She listened intently as Lawrence poured out the details.

"I'm sorry that I got it all wrong! I'm sorry I called her boring and I said that I wanted to go and live with me Dad! And now she hates me! "

"No one hates you Lawrence, not your Mum or your Dad. Your Dad is probably beside himself with worry that you've gone missing. Won't you give me his mobile number so that I can ring him, let him know where you are? That you're okay?"

"No, me Dad is only happy beside a bottle and an alcoholic!" Kate couldn't argue with that observation, given the circumstances.

"Right. So, I'll just get some supper on the table and try ringing your Mum. Would you mind keeping an eye on the veggies atop the burner?" He shrugged compliance as she went to dial up Caroline.

XX

Kate's call went straight to voicemail: "Please leave your message for Caroline Elliot at the signal and I will return your call."

"Caroline, its Kate, slightly a bit worried that you haven't picked up your phone or your messages. I've got Lawrence here with me. Please don't make me call in the cavalry to find you! Ring me." Mentally, she smoothed the worry furrows from her brow and headed back in to look after Lawrence.

The playful mischief in his eyes had gone dark, "Did you find her, Ms. McKenzie?"

"No, Lawrence." she herself defeated in the answer, "But let's not fret, shall we? She'll turn up…and please call me Kate."

XX

Oh, were they a pair, a strapping teenager and an insatiable Mum-to-be. Dinner was devoured.

"Ms. McK…Kate…can I ask a question?"

"Sure." There was nothing she loved more than directness.

Under hooded eyes and rose-blushed cheeks, he made a start. "Are you…pregnant…you know…having a baby?"

"Yes, I am."

"So, this means that you and me Mum are finished? You have a fella'?"

Kate wasn't sure if his question was born out of grief or relief, she could only acknowledge that there was confusion.

"I think the world of your Mum, and I'd never, ever want to hurt her." Now feeling the ground separate itself from her feet, she tried to adjust, "You and William and your happiness and security are your Mum's highest priority…it's what makes her so unrepentantly alive and living. She will never stop loving you."

"But she loves you…she loves you Kate! I've never seen her happier! Why did you choose another fella'? Why did you abandon her?"

"Lawrence, there is no one for me other than your Mum, I've not chosen another fella'…I've just chosen to be a Mum…and that is the sum of its parts. Now, go scrub and floss your teeth and head to bed. I promise you your Mum will turn up."

"She won't be the same without you."

"Off you go, try and get some sleep."

XX

She'd hoped that Caroline would turn up to collect Lawrence, mainly because she needed to know that Caroline was safe, and honestly because she had no desire to come face-to-face with the idiot that was Caroline's husband. There was still no word from Caroline and John had demanded that Lawrence be returned immediately. As if she'd kidnapped the boy!

Ever the repugnant ingrate, John made no real attempt at offering Kate an explanation. Which was well and good as far as it concerned her. Caroline had surfaced, easing Kate's anxiety, and that was all that mattered to Kate. Not that John would ever consider her feelings where Caroline was concerned.

Door shut on her face, easily dismissed as if she were simply there making a delivery! Kate sat in her car, just outside Caroline's drive, lost for words…

Her mobile vibrated, thankfully it was Greg.

"Greg!"

The only sound she heard was him humming a few notes.

"Easy!" Kate snorted. "The Look of Love. Burt Bacharach, composer; Hal David, writer and original recording by Dusty Springfield. "

"Of course there's no stumping you!" He laughed.

"Well, try harder Crabtree."

"I will do. You have not heard the last of me McKenzie! How'd you get on with your Dad yesterday?"

Kate let go a deep, audible breath.

"So…not great?" Besides Richard, Greg was the only other person Kate found comfortable in confiding her heartache over the situation with her Dad.

"Yeah, no, it was great to see him. He looks well, just can't tell me from a stretch of road." She snapped.

Kate felt as if a hurricane was beginning to build in her head.

"And your Mum?" Greg treaded cautiously.

"I don't know, really. Not exactly the ideal way to grow old together, is it? But, hey, stand by your man!" Kate knew that she wasn't getting wound up about her parent's situation. It was all over a wretch called John. "Sorry, I didn't mean that."

"What is it Kate?"

Kate began to tell Greg the tale of her night with Caroline's son Lawrence. "How could one be so reckless with the greatest gifts given to him?" She wondered. And what Lawrence had told her about Judith being pregnant? Just more for him to squander! "And shutting the door on my face as if he'd just signed for a random delivery? If I never set eyes on John Elliot again, that would be just fine by me!"

"Kate, get hold of yourself, you mustn't get so upset. I don't want to have to worry about you. Where are you?"

"I'm sitting in my car, just outside of Caroline's. I should get off home and lie down."

"Are you sure you're fit to drive?"

"I'll be fine. I'll ring you later." She closed the mobile, switched on the radio and pulled onto the road ahead. Suddenly she burst out in gales of laughter.

…the look of love is saying so much more than just words could ever say…and what my heart has heard well it takes my breath away…

Kate wondered if the baby was showing early signs of being a Bacharach enthusiast or just relieved to feel the vibrations of laughter as it gently shifted beneath her.

Another academic year in the record books and lazy summer days ahead, I hope to move this story along and do Kate and Caroline justice! Thanks for the feedback!