Page 26 of Promise Me, Katie (Bennett Sisters #1)

Waking up next to Matthew every morning felt as incredible as it did the first time. And although Katherine hadn’t shared with anyone else what was happening in her life, the changes in her seemed to have a positive effect on others around her.

Ellie stopped tiptoeing around conversations she feared would upset Katherine. Maddie stopped commenting on her appearance. And Andie, Georgie, and their mother no longer gave her the worried once-over whenever they saw her. Even Beth Ann stopped trying to set her up on dates.

In fact, things were so great that Katherine started lingering a little longer each day and not rushing off to the diner like she’d done so many times before just to fill the void.

“Are you okay?” Zach asked, when Katherine called to see if he would be able to go in early and handle the first part of breakfast service without her. “Are you coming down with something?”

“No, I just have a few things I want to take care of before I come in.”

As Katherine answered, she rationalized to herself that it wasn’t technically a lie. She did want to take care of Matthew and Libby. She just didn’t want to tell Zach about it.

“Okay, no problem.” He yawned. “I can be there in twenty minutes.”

“Thanks, Zach. I owe you.”

As Katherine was ending the call, Matthew came into the kitchen with Libby. “Is everything okay?”

“Just calling in reinforcements.”

Matthew frowned as he looked at the clock. “You’re late.”

“It’s okay. Zach’s got it covered.”

“Are you sure? I understand if you need to go.”

“I’d rather stay a while. I can make pancakes if that’s alright?”

When Libby clapped her little hands, Matthew smiled. “I think we both agree that it’s more than alright.”

“Good. You get Libby settled, and I’ll start breakfast.”

After Matthew put Libby in her high chair, he came up behind Katherine, wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. “Why don’t you ever let me help?”

“Because I like doing it.”

“I bet I’d like doing it with you,” he teased.

“Mmm… I bet we’d both like that,” Katherine said, raising her hand to pass him the whisk she was holding. “Do you think you could handle it, though?”

“Oh, I can definitely handle it,” he said, taking the whisk and pressing his lips to her neck.

“Playing dirty, I see.”

“You have no idea,” he whispered in her ear, sending a shiver of excitement down her spine. “But I’d be willing to demonstrate later if you like.”

With a shuddering sigh and a gentle shake of her head, Katherine turned to look back at Matthew. “You’re lucky Libby’s in the room.”

Her challenging words made him chuckle before he leaned in to whisper “You’re the one that’slucky Libby’s in the room. Because if she wasn’t, I’d have you up on the counter kissing you until you couldn’t think straight.”

“Who says I can think straight now?”

As their time moved in a joyful blur of laughter and conversation, once again, Katherine felt happier than she had in a long time.

Sitting alongside Matthew, watching Libby licking syrup from her lips, then banging her sippy cup on the high chair, and squealing in ear-piercing delight, it felt like nothing could ruin the moment.

Then, the back door of Matthew’s house flew open.

“Police! Put your hands in the air!”

Lost in their own little world, Matthew and Katherine hadn’t heard Justin pull up out front in a police cruiser and knock on the front door.

Now standing in the kitchen with his gun drawn, chest heaving, and eyes darting back and forth, Justin seemed incredibly shocked to see Katherine there. Flustered and red-faced, he shifted his gaze to Matthew.

“Is everybody okay in here?” he asked as he lowered his gun, then looked over at Katherine again, studying her from head to toe. Bare feet, long cascading curls, and men’s pajamas.

As the initial shock subsided, Katherine’s face colored, and Libby’s bottom lip quivered. Matthew, on the other hand, looked ready to kill Justin.

“Macomb! What the hell are you doing?” Matthew shouted, startling Libby again.

When she began to wail, Katherine jumped up and tried to take her out of the high chair, but her hands were shaking so much that it was a struggle to unclip the safety harness. “It’s okay, sweet girl, don’t cry.”

But it did little to soothe Libby and once she was in Katherine’s arms, she latched on to handfuls of the polka dot pajamas, burying her face in Katherine’s hair.

“Officer Macomb! What the devil are you doin’?”

Hearing her father’s voice, Katherine’s head shot up, and her heart started to pound twice as hard. Then she watched in stunned silence as her dad entered the open back door, panting and out of breath from chasing after Justin.

“You can’t just pull out your gun and run off like some trigger-happy rookie,” Chief Bennett said. “Explain yourself!”

“Umm… well…” Justin stammered, jamming his firearm back in its holster. “When I knocked on the front door, I heard a whole lotta loud noises that led me to believe there was somethin’ wrong.”

“Well, there’s something wrong now!” Matthew shouted. He was so angry that he didn’t realize his raised voice was just as frightening to Libby as Justin kicking the door in. “Look what you’ve done!”

Justin glanced nervously back and forth between Matthew and Katherine. Then, his eyes darted toward the Chief as if to alert them Katherine’s father was in the room.

“What are you doing here anyway?” Matthew demanded.

“We were comin’ by to see if you wanted to join us for breakfast at The Copperwall,” Justin explained, looking more remorseful by the second. “Callie offered to take Libby early so you could get out of the house for some grown-up time.”

“Grown-up time?”

“Hey, man, not my words.” Justin threw his hands up. “That’s what the wife calls it.”

Distracted by his officers shouting at one another, Chief Bennett finally turned to apologize to the woman holding Officer Brandon’s daughter. That’s when he realized it was his own daughter not ten feet away from him.

“Baby girl?” he questioned, surprised to see Katherine there, holding the man’s baby and wearing his pajamas.

“Hi, Daddy!” Katherine called out over Libby’s wailing as she bounced her up and down.

“You’re welcome to join us if you like. I made pancakes.

There’s more in the oven, and I can warm up the syrup just the way you like it.

Or I can put some peanut butter and chocolate chips on them if that sounds better. ”

Jerome Bennett remained silent as he watched his daughter blather on about breakfast food.

“We’ve got plenty of bacon, too. And you know I always give you extra and not tell Mom.”

As Jerome’s brows lifted, he had to set his jaw against an emerging grin. He’d never seen his baby girl flustered like this before.

“How about you, Justin? You like pancakes. We’ve got plenty to spare,” Katherine insisted, shifting Libby to one hip, still soothing her, as she hurried over to open cupboards and drawers, pulling out extra plates, glasses, and silverware.

Jerome watched, noticing how naturally Katherine moved through Matthew’s kitchen with his toddler attached to her hip, and he got the feeling that he and Justin were intruding on something more than just breakfast.

“We should go,” he told Justin. “Matthew doesn’t need any more company.”

As Katherine let out a soft gasp, her face colored in shame. “It’s not what you think, Daddy,” she said, passing Libby off to Matthew. “Nothing happened.”

Libby’s whimpers turned back into howling cries as Katherine pushed past Justin and her dad and dashed out the back door.

“Katie, wait!” Matthew called out, but she kept on running.

** *

Desperate to be back inside the safety of her own home, Katherine stumbled on her way past the overgrown rhododendron in the back corner of Matthew’s yard, and her long curls caught on its branches.

The pain of her hair being pulled was the last straw as the tears that filled her eyes in Matthew’s kitchen ran down her cheeks.

Deep in her heart, she understood that all of them were trying to process the circumstances they found themselves in. But now that her father and Justin knew about her and Matthew, she wondered how long it would be before her mother, sisters, and heaven-only-knew who else would find out.

She’d been too wrapped up in their connection to even consider that maybe their relationship would be revealed by forces or situations beyond their control. And now, before they were ready to face the world, her resolve and strength were being tested.

“Stop analyzing it,” she demanded of her reflection in an attempt to steel herself against the growing flood of emotions. But as she rushed to get ready for work, she couldn’t help wondering if she’d ruined things with Matthew. She prayed that she hadn’t.

“Let it go,” she scolded herself. “What’s done is done.”

But when she walked out the front door of her house, she was greeted by the slow and easy drawl of her father’s voice.

“Where do you think you’re goin’, baby girl?”

Whirling around, she found him sitting on her porch swing.

“Not now, Daddy.” She turned away, fumbling to lock the deadbolt.

“Not so fast,” he said as she tried to leave. “Come and sit down.”

“I can’t.”

“Sure, ya can.”

“I’m embarrassed,” she said, biting her lip to stop it from trembling

“And?”

“And I don’t wanna talk about it, sir.”

Katherine addressed her father as “sir” whenever she knew she was in the wrong. A habit she picked up from her older sisters whenever they’d gotten themselves into trouble as kids.

“Stop that ‘sir’ nonsense,” he told her, patting the empty space on the seat beside him. “I wanna talk to you.”

Katherine didn’t hesitate this time. She knew when this man of few words meant business, there was no running from what he had to say. Sitting down, she braced herself for the worst.

“It looks to me like you love that man.”