AFTER TITANIC
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Kathy rolled the stroller up to the door and
looked at the address written on the piece of paper that Jack had given her
three months ago. It had taken her that long to get up the courage to go see
Jake. What must he think of her? Not responding to his request for her to come
visit him for months now? He must think she didn't want to see him again...not
after what happened with Cameron. She looked down at the twins, then back at
the door. Taking a deep breath, she knocked.
After waiting five minutes, she was about to
turn around and head for home when the door opened and there stood Jake, his
blue eyes sparkling and his brown hair nicely combed back. He had a pencil
stuck behind his ear.
"Kathy! You're here! Finally! I was
wondering if you had gotten the address I left." Jake instantly hugged
her. "I mean, it's been two months now."
"I know. Jack gave it to me the minute
he walked in, but it took up until now to get the courage to come visit
you." Kathy swallowed. "I have the twins for the day and thought it'd
be perfect to take them visiting."
"Why, hello there." Jake bent down
to the twins. "Boy, you two look more and more like your parents every
day."
The twins just gurgled and laughed in
response.
"They are truly adorable. And how's Rose
and Jack? Looking forward to that new baby, I bet."
Kathy readily nodded. "Oh, yes. They
also are getting ready to get Lindsey back. They get her for the school year,
and her grandfather gets her for the summer. Then, the judge comes to a final
decision." Kathy nodded. "They're very happy indeed."
"Well, that's great. Jack and Rose are a
great couple. They deserve all the happiness in the world. I'm happy for
them." Jake nodded. "That's truly great."
The tension returned. Kathy stared at the
ground and Jake stared at her. He knew he should invite her in, but he didn't
know how much he trusted himself. He was so full of desire for her...he missed
her so much...if she came in, he might not be able to allow her to leave.
"I was about to take the twins to the
park. Do you want to come?" Kathy asked, almost shyly.
"Sure." Jake nodded. "Just let
me get my shoes on."
Kathy nodded as Jake ran in to get his shoes
and coat. Five minutes later, they were in the park sitting side by side,
watching the twins play in the grass.
"You like children, Kathy?" Jake
suddenly asked, noticing how she was watching the twins.
"I love them. Why?"
"Just wondering. I'm planning to have a
whole brood of them myself." Jake laughed.
"That's funny. So am I." Kathy
smiled.
Jake took her hand, and in a serious voice,
replied, "Maybe we can have them together."
"Jake...I..." Kathy began to answer
this when she was interrupted.
"Why, Katherine, what a coincidence to
be running into you here." Mitchell Humphrey stepped in front of her,
blocking her view of the twins.
"Mr. Humphrey...what are you doing
here?" Kathy asked, trying to get the twins back in full view.
"I'm taking a daily walk. It's a
pleasure to be seeing you again. Cameron has been telling me to come over to
visit anytime, but I can never find time. It's truly fate that I met you here
in the park you seem to love so much."
"It is interesting. But I highly doubt
it's fate." Kathy looked directly at him. "Now, if you excuse me, my
escort and myself are about to leave."
"Oh, Katherine, don't leave so soon.
Give us a chance to get to know each other better." Mitchell Humphrey
touched her arm.
"She doesn't want to get to know you
better." Jake had had enough. This jerk wasn't getting the message.
"Oh, it's you again. I didn't see you
sitting there." Mitchell looked at him with clear distaste in his eyes.
"Why don't you get lost and leave us alone? Everyone knows she'll be
marrying me in the end. Not a street rat like you." Mitchell then pushed
Jake aside and tightened his grip on Katherine's arm. "Now, come on,
Katherine. Your cousin's garden is a perfect place for us to be alone."
"Let me go!" Kathy struggled, to no
avail. Mitchell’s hold was too strong.
"Why? So you can run off with this
street rat? I don't think so."
"Let her go!" Jake immediately
threw a punch into Mitchell's face, forcing him to let go of Kathy. Grabbing
her hand, Jake began to run. They were one step out of the gate when Kathy
realized she was missing something. The twins!
"Oh, my God! I left Tommy and Molly
there! We have to go back!"
"Come on." Jake took her hand and
led her back into the park. They found Mitchell holding both of the children at
the neck of their clothes. Both children were crying for their daddy, wanting
to be put down.
"Mitchell, let them go!" Kathy
cried, reaching out for the screaming children.
"Not a chance, Katherine. Either come
with me or they'll find these two floating face down in the lake over
there!" Mitchell growled angrily.
"You wouldn't! They're just
children...you wouldn’t do that to children!" Kathy cried.
"To get what I want I will. Now, either
come with me, or else these two live short lives, thanks to you."
"Jake..."
Before Jake could answer, a very angry voice
spoke up from behind Mitchell. "Let my children go or you'll be the one
ending up in that lake."
Mitchell turned around to find Jack and James
standing behind him. Both didn't look very happy. Tommy, seeing his father,
reached out for Jack. Jack took Tommy without any problem at all, while James
took Molly.
"How interesting. The great Mitchell
Humphrey threatening poor, defenseless children to get what he wants, and yet
he thinks he's going to marry my cousin," James growled.
"I can explain that," Mitchell
tried to explain.
Jack didn't give him a chance to explain.
"You have two minutes to get out of here, and I don't ever want to see or
hear you try to get in touch with my cousin again. Is this in any way
unclear?" Jack asked, stepping up face to face with Mitchell.
The man just nodded, turned, and ran out of
the park.
"Oh, Jack, thank goodness..." Kathy
began, but was cut off by Jack.
"I don't want to talk about it right
now, Kathy. Right now, I just want to get my children home where they're nice
and safe." Jack turned to his cousin. "Don't worry. I'm not going to
tell Rose about this."
"Daddy," Tommy cried, clinging to
Jack's coat.
"I better get them home." Jack
tightened his hold on his son. "I'll see you two later."
Kathy watched them leave and turned to Jake.
"He probably won't trust me with them ever again."
"Oh, don't think that way. He's just in
shock after seeing them in that situation. He's more angry at the Humphrey
fellow than you." Jake tried to cheer her up.
Kathy just sighed and watched her departing
cousin, wondering how this incident had changed their relationship. Sighing,
she followed Jake out of the park, trying to put the incident out of her mind.