It was a scorcher of an August evening. Joe and Katrina were tiredly eating their lazy dinner of turkey sandwiches and water with lots of ice when there came a knock at the door.
When Joe went to answer, there was a woman at the door with slick blonde hair and a wicked twinkle in her eyes. "Eh, bonjour," he said awkwardly. "Peux-je t'aider?" (Uh, hello. Can I help you?)
"Yeah," said the woman. "Are you Joseph Beaufort?"
"Oui," said Joe, a little flustered over being recognized.
"Good," said the woman, nudging past him. "Laura Sanders. I believe you knew my sister?"
Sanders? Why, that was Heather's surname. "Uh…oui."
"Perfect," said Laura. "I came to see my niece."
"Ta niece?" This must be Heather's sister or someone. Before Joe could react, Laura made her way to the kitchen, where Katrina was stirring the ice in her cup.
"There she is," said Laura, putting on an air of over-sweetness to mask her disappointment that Katrina looked like Joe and not Heather, "my little niece!"
Katrina looked at her, confused. "Who are you?"
Laura laughed awkwardly. "I'm your auntie."
Katrina looked at Joe as he entered the room. "I thought Tatie Gina was my only auntie."
"Eh bien, je suppose que tu as deux taties," said Joe sheepishly. (Well, I guess you have two aunties.) He sat Laura down for a few questions. "Comment tu nous-avons trouver?" (How did you find us?)
"Oh, I did some poking around online," said Laura. "I knew there had to be some sap out there that fathered my sister's kid. Found you, booked a weekend in a hotel room, and now here I am."
Katrina paid Laura's words no mind, as she got up from her chair and tugged Joe's hand. "Come on, dad, our show starts soon."
As Katrina's bedtime approached, Joe couldn't help but grow disdain towards Laura. She wasn't very polite to him; in fact, she seemed to be encouraging Katrina to keep his distance from him. But eventually it was time to put his daughter down for the night. He brought her upstairs to her bed and tucked her into the sheets; it was far too hot for blankets.
Now that Katrina wouldn't hear, he went downstairs to confront Laura. "Laura, je sais que tu es excité de rencontrer ta nièce, mais franchement, je trouve ton behaviour très impoli." (Laura, I know you're excited to meet your niece, but frankly, I find your behaviour extremely rude.)
"Rude?" Laura rolled her eyes. "What's rude is not telling someone for years that her sister had a baby."
Joe was taken aback. "Pardon, mais je ne te vu pas a sa funeral." (I beg your pardon, but I didn't see you at her funeral.)
Laura sighed. "Heather was always the black sheep of the family. After so many years without talking to her, it just didn't seem right to show up at her wake."
"Alors pourquoi es-tu intéressé maintenant?" Joe wanted answers. (So why are you interested now?)
"Karina needs to be with her family," said Laura sharply. "I'm filing for custody."
Joe was appalled at the cheek of this woman! "Son nom est Katrina, et tu ne peux pas la prendre!" (Her name is Katrina, and you can't take her!)
"She's my family," said Laura, standing up to tower over Joe. "You don't have the right to keep her away from her family."
Now Joe was getting agitated. "Elle est ton sang, mais elle est ma famille," he said firmly. "Je la nourris, je la prends à l'école, je la prends soin chaque jour de ma vie. Tu la sais seulement pour quelques heures." (She's your blood, but she's my family. I feed her, I take her to school, I take care of her every day. You've only known her for a few hours.)
"You kept her away from us for her whole life!" Laura shouted. "You can't shelter her from half her lineage forever!"
"Ne crie pas à moi dans ma propre maison." (Do not yell at me in my own house.) Joe put a hand on Laura's shoulder and looked her square in the eyes. "Je ne sais pas qui tu pense que tu es, mais tu ne peux pas me parler comme ça, tu ne peux pas rester ici, et tu n'es pas prendre ma fille. S'il vous plait, partir, maintenant." (I don't know who you think you are, but you cannot speak to me like that, you can't stay here, and you are not taking my daughter. Please leave now.)
Laura scowled, but picked up her purse and went to the door. "We will be coming back to this."
"La réponse est non." (The answer is no.) Joe ushered Laura out of the house. He breathed a sigh of relief, then turned around and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw Katrina watching from the staircase. He guessed that she'd heard everything. "Je suis tellement désolé pour ça, ma belle. Viens, c'est temps pour coucher." (I'm so sorry for that, sweetie. Come on, it's bedtime.)
"I guess Aunt Laura's not taking me to the mall for back-to-school clothes shopping tomorrow," said Katrina, dejected.
Had Laura promised that? If so, Joe hadn't heard about it. He silently cursed her for arranging things behind his back without asking permission. "Nous pouvons aller demain après le dîner," said Joe. "Nous deux." (We can go after dinner tomorrow. Us two.)
Katrina smiled. "Thank you, daddy." She crawled back into bed, and Joe gave her the goodnight kiss he'd neglected to provide the first time around.
"Tu sais, ma vie se rend vraiment plus facile quand tu apprends à attacher ta propre ceinture." (You know, my life got a whole lot easier when you learned to buckle your own seatbelt.)
It was the next evening; a Sunday, to be exact. Joe and Katrina had just arrived at the mall as promised, and to Joe's dismay, there was Laura, waiting for them at the entrance. "Evening, Joseph."
"Laura," said Joe stoically. The three entered the mall, and first went to a small children's boutique.
"I like this one," said Katrina, showing Joe some polyester overalls with silver buckles. "They're pink".
"Ils sont beaux, Katie," said Joe, ruffling her hair. (They're lovely, Katie.)
After a bit more mulling and browsing, the three ended up in a larger place, one that catered to all ages and genders.
"Joseph, I think this fits you very well," said Laura, presenting him with a yellow shirt, deliberately selected in two sizes too small.
"Eh…" Joe grimaced a bit. "Je ne sais pas." (I don't know.)
"Oh, come on. Once you've got it on, you'll love it." She waited until Joe had gone off to the change room, she took Katrina by the arm and pulled her out of the store. "Come on, we're leaving."
"But what about Dad?" Katrina was confused and a bit alarmed.
"Come on," insisted Laura, "you're going to come live with your real family."
"You can't take me!" Katrina cried. "Besides, Dad has the car keys."
"Forget him; we're taking a cab. You need to be with your family."
She didn't need Aunt Laura! She needed her dad! So she did something she knew would get her help.
"Stranger!"
Katrina shouted every single stranger danger thing she could think of. "Stranger danger! Stranger danger! Kidnapper! Kidnapper! This is not my mom!"
Soon enough, she had a crowd of people staring at them. A tall blond man went up to them. "What's going on, sweetheart?"
"She's got it all wrong," stammered Laura. "I'm her aunt."
"She's trying to take me away from my dad!" Katrina wasn't going to let Aunt Laura tell the story. She was pushing her away from Dad, and nobody came between her and Dad.
The man lowered himself to Katrina's level. "What does your dad look like?"
"He's really tall, he has red hair, he was wearing a blue shirt and jeans, and his name is-"
"Katrina!"
Both darted their heads around when they heard the shout. Katrina instantly recognized her father's voice, and connected it to him standing over closer to the entrance of the store they were just in.
"Daddy!"
Joe looked up and saw his daughter in a small crowd. With a wave of relief crashing over him, he rushed over and pulled her into a tight hug.
"See?" Laura attempted to assure the blond man. "Her dad just got separated from us. She's fine." But when she tried to reach for Katrina, Joe slapped her hand away.
"No! You stay back!" Joe shouted. "And don't ever come near me or my daughter ever again!"
The blond man and other crowd members surrounded Laura, asking dozens of questions, giving Joe and Katrina time to get out of there. Joe ushered Katrina into the car and they both took off. Joe didn't care that he had just left Laura stranded without a ride; he and his daughter weren't safe around her.
Von Kaiser was in his kitchen preparing a mug of cocoa when he heard a frantic knock at the door. When he answered, he found the Beauforts standing there, looking frazzled and panicked.
"Was ist los?" Von Kaiser cocked his head. (What's wrong?)
"Nous avons besoin de quelque place à cacher pour la nuit," said Joe, his voice wavering. "S'il vous plait, peux-tu nous aider?" (We need somewhere to hide for the night. Please, can you help us?)
"Komm natürlich rein." (Of course, come in.) He herded them inside and shut the curtains. "Was ist passiert?" (What happened?)
"Cette femme, soi-disant la soeur de la mere de Katrina," said Joe, trying to regain his composure. "Je ne sais pas quel est son problème, mais elle est dangereuse pour moi et ma fille." (This woman, supposedly Katrina's mother's sister. I don't know what her problem is, but she's dangerous to me and my daughter.)
"Was hat Sie getan?" (What did she do?) Now Von Kaiser was curious.
"She separated us in a mall and then tried to take me and run," said Katrina bluntly.
"Hattest du keine Angst?" (Weren't you scared?) Von Kaiser was surprised at Katrina's nonchalance about almost being kidnapped.
"A little," said Katrina, "but then I remembered stranger danger, so I yelled until someone came to help me."
"Kluges Mädchen," said Von Kaiser, tousling Katrina's hair. (Smart girl.) He turned to Joe. "Also geht es euch beiden gut?" (So you're both okay?)
"Oui," said Joe, "et première chose demain matin, je vais déposer une demande pour une injonction d'éloignement du domicile conjugal. Cette femme ne peut pas etre un tante a Katrina." (Yes, and first thing tomorrow morning, I'm going to file a restraining order. That woman cannot be an aunt to Katrina.)
"Gut," said Von Kaiser. Seeing as it was getting late, he figured it was best to put the Beauforts to bed.
…Except, his bed was the only bed in the house.
Well, so what? He could deal with it for just one night. Besides, Joe was his best friend, and he and his daughter had just been through something stressful. "Komm, Joseph. Du brauchst etwas Schlaf." (Come, Joseph. You need some sleep.)
"Dans ton lit?" (In your bed?) Joe's eyes seemed to twinkle at the idea. But he caught himself, and blushed a gentle pink. "D'accord."
Soon, the three were settled into bed. Joe held Katrina in his arms (as best as he could; she was starting to get a little too big to do that), while leaning on Von Kaiser's shoulder.
"Du hast ein hartes Kind großgezogen," said Von Kaiser. (You raised a tough kid.)
"Yeah, I'm tough," said Katrina. "I wasn't gonna let that meanie take me away."
Joe said nothing. How could he be expected to say anything when he was snuggling in bed with the love of his life for the very first time?!
He stammered for a bit, but seeing the pleading look in Katrina's eyes, he knew that this was it. The moment of truth.
"Viktor, je…" He put a hand over his chest in an attempt to calm his pounding heart. "Je t'aime beaucoup." (Viktor, I…I like you a lot.)
"Und ich dich," said Von Kaiser. "Du bist der beste Freund, den ich je hatte." (And I you. You're the best friend I've ever had.)
"Non, je…" Here it comes. "Je t'aime tellement plus que ça. Il n'y a personne au monde que je veux passer ma vie et la vie de Katrina avec. Viktor, je…je t'adore." (No, I…I like you way more than that. There's no one in the world I'd rather spend mine and Katrina's lives with. Viktor, I…I love you.)
Whoa. Now that was a game changer. Von Kaiser didn't quite know what to say to that. So he turned to Katrina. "Wussten Sie davon?" (Did you know about this?)
Katrina yawned. "Since I was five," she mumbled, rubbing her eyes.
Katrina was eight now; Joe had been holding that back for three years. That was…impressive, really.
Did Von Kaiser really love him back?
…Yes! He and Joe had been so close for so long; of course this was the next logical step!
He gave Joe a warm smile, pulled him in close, and kissed his forehead. "Ich liebe dich auch." (I love you too.)
A warm rush of relief rushed over the redheaded Frenchman. After such a long time of biting his tongue and zipping his lip, it was out. And it felt good.
Finally relaxed, Von Kaiser clapped the lights out so the new family bundle could get some much-needed sleep.
