4.38 Just Say Yes

After seeing the days papers, Jaydean had broken down crying. It was a reaction Kaity had been anticipating since Leighton's phone call the night before, but it didn't help how guilty she felt. It was her fault, she knew it was her fault. If she'd not done as many crazy things that landed herself in the papers, the press would have ignored her years ago and Jaydean wouldn't be in this mess right now.

She watched as Sophie tried to console her sister, and was glad she was there as she had nothing of use to say herself. She was too consumed in her own self-pity as always, and she hated that about herself. She had no idea what to say to make it better, and her mind kept wandering to thoughts of revenge. She knew revenge was impossible. If she tried to seek revenge on the press, they wouldn't let up and things would just get worse for herself. 'Like mother, like daughter' the headline kept playing through her mind. Jaydean was nothing like her, Sophie either, and for that she was thankful. At least this could maybe be the last time either of them made it into the papers.

Winter quietly entered the room, closing the door behind him to keep out the three rowdy children Shaena was struggling to control.
  "Winter." Jaydean stated, alerting her sister and mother to his presence. He forced a comforting smile before moving towards her, crouching, and placing a hand on her knee.
  "How're you doing?"
  "I don't know." She shrugged. "What do I tell Alvaro?" Fresh tears fell as she realised she'd dragged him into this too.
  "Hey, shh, it'll be ok." Winter wiped her tears with his fingers as he cooed soothingly. "He'll either stick by you or he'll go. If he goes then he wasn't worth it anyway. We'll all be here for you no matter what, so you'll never have to go it alone."
  "I know, but... Why can't they just let us live in peace? Who even reads that crap anyway? Does anyone care where mum bought some bread from? No. Does anyone even know who me and Alvaro are? No. So why bother?" Jaydean raged, and Winter smiled inwardly at how much she looked like her mother in that moment. He pulled both the twins to him for a quick hug, and they leaned into his embrace.
  "Jay, if you want we can go back to court and get them to keep off until you're eighteen?" Kaity suggested. Winter pulled away from them so they could see their mother.
  "No, what's the point? All the pictures they're gunna get of us, is us going to school, so just leave it and they'll get bored and forget about us before we're old enough to do anything interesting."
  "I hope you're right." Kaity sighed, as she wrapped her fingers around Winter's wrist and gently tugged. "We'll let you two get ready for school-"
  "I'm not going to school! Are you kidding?!" Jaydean protested.
  "Yes you are! Maybe if you hadn't let your grades slip again I might let you take the day, but you've got a test at the end of the week." Jaydean groaned as Kaity pushed Winter gently out into the hallway.

  "I didn't think you'd be home til later." Kaity mumbled as she wrapped her arms around him.
  "I told you last night I'd get an earlier flight if I could."
  "I know, but I didn't think you'd get here this early even if you did." She squeezed him a little tighter before pulling back. "Thank you."
  "It's fine, you know I'll always be here for all of you."

He lifted her face and kissed her gently.
  "But the girls aren't even your kids and you just treat them so nice..."
  "They're not biologically mine, no, but I've been here since they were five and helped raise them. Why wouldn't I come rushing home if one of them was hurting?"
  "I don't know..." Kaity sighed, there was clearly something she wanted to say but she couldn't find the words. "Would you-" She was cut off by shouting downstairs.
  "Please, just eat your breakfast!" Shaena's desperate voice carried up the stairs.
  "But Autumn hit me!" Elise's whined.
  "You shouldn't be such a stupid head and then I wouldn't have to!" Autumn was shouting.
  "That boy." Kaity growled, face of thunder, before she charged down the stairs to reprimand him.

***

Elise looked around at all the people filling their house with noisy chatter. All this fuss for her 'cousins' boyfriends. Jaydean had over that Alvaro kid that she'd been in the paper with, and Sophie had some guy called Norman who nobody had even heard her mention until yesterday. All these people were their family. Autumn and Josh were off being annoying boys somewhere, and she was too young to fit in with anyone here. She noticed Kaity turn away from her sister, Rose, and her grandmother, Lisa, and start walking towards her. She looked away, half hoping she wasn't coming over to talk to her. She liked Kaity and Shaena, but they weren't her mothers, and they never would be. She knew she held her own mother on a pedestal, holding on to every little thing the girls had told her about her. She'd never know the lady whose photos hung on her walls, and she'd never have a real family.

  "Hey, lets go upstairs a second, I want to talk to you." Kaity raised her voice over the music, and guided her upstairs ahead of her.

They got to her bedroom, and Kaity closed the door behind her, before kneeling on the floor infront of her.

  "Do you want to know a secret? One you can never tell anyone? You and me would be the only people in the world to know it." That made her interested. How could she refuse an offer like that?

  "Not even Winter? Or Shaena?" She questioned. Kaity had never seemed like the type who could keep secrets, and she knew Winter and Shaena knew everything about her.

  "Nope. Just you and me." Kaity smiled at her, and Elise nodded entusiastically. "I know you feel left out, like you don't have any family, and that is the only reason I'm telling you this. I swore to your mother I'd never tell a soul, but if she could see how lonely you felt then she'd do the same." So Kaity knew that she was lonely? Maybe she just didn't know what to do about it? She wasn't known for being touchy-feely, or being in-tune with others emotions. "You have two half brothers."

  "Really?!" Elise's eyes were wide, she couldn't believe this!

  "Really." Kaity confirmed, nodding. "Alvaro, downstairs, he's one of them. And there's a boy about your age, Chin-Han Chin. Do you know him?" Elise shook her head. She recognised the name but didn't know the boy. "Well, Dequan, that's their father, lived next door to your mum. Things weren't going to well with his wife, Kimberlee, and he and Bonnie started having an affair..."

  "So Dequan is my dad?"

  "Yes, but he doesn't know."

She pulled her into a hug quickly.

  "I know this is going to be really hard, but you can't tell anyone. Kimberlee would leave Dequan, and then Alvaro and Chin-Han would have their worlds turned upside down. I just wanted you to know that you weren't alone, and maybe this was the wrong thing to do, but I think you deserve to know where you came from."

  "I won't tell anyone." Elise promised. "I'm glad you told me, though. Now I can make friends with Chin-Han and see if we have things in common."

  "Exactly." Kaity pulled away, smiling. "You need to make more friends anyway, because Autumn and Josh are just cruel to you."

  "I don't mind." Elise shrugged.

  "Well, I do. If they say anything mean to you, come to me and I'll sort it. This is your home just as much as theirs. Just because your family doesn't live with you, doesn't mean you deserve any of the things they say and do to you."

  "Ok." Elise replied. She really didn't mind that the boys bullied her. She knew they were just being immature and stupid, that's what boys did. One day they'd grow up and see that they were stupid-heads, and then the guilt would eat them alive. She couldn't wait for that day.

***

Two months later...

Kaity wasn't sure what woke her, but something didn't feel right. Winter was asleep beside her, and he didn't stir when she slipped off the bed and crept into the hall. The light was still on, so either Shaena got home so drunk she forgot to turn it off, or she hadn't got home. Kaity smiled to herself as she tiptoed past the twins' room and down the stairs. The date must've gone well.

She poured herself a glass of water, and absent-mindedly re-read the notes on the interactive fridge for the thousanth time. Elise had a re-take of a test on Thursday, Jaydean was staying at a friends on Saturday, Autumn had scribbled out a note about his science project, and they were out of milk. Kaity cursed to herself, realising she'd have to get up really early to get milk for breakfast, as warm fluff rubbed against her leg.

  "Hey Popcorn, what you doing up?" She cooed, placing her glass on the counter and bending to pet the dog. Popcorn panted and rubbed against her legs.
  "Kait?" Shaena's croaky voice called through from the living room. Kaity quickly stood and moved towards her friend, finding her curled in a ball, mascara streaked down her cheeks, she rushed over and pulled her into a comforting hug. Shaena started up crying again, resting her head in the crook of Kaity's neck.
  "What did he do?" Kaity asked after Shaena's sobs had subsided.
  "No... I don't know..." Her cousin mumbled into her hair.
  "Want to talk about it?" Kaity asked softly.

   "He asked me if I wanted to go steady." Shaena sighed after a short pause, sniffing and wiping a stray tear with the back of her hand.
  "And judging by your reaction, you don't want to?" Kaity pressed.
  "I don't know. I like him, but..." She let out a shaky breath, and Kaity brushed some hair behind her ear as she pulled her closer.
  "But you don't trust him. Because of Alex." She said it so blunt, so clear-as-day, like it was an everyday conversation, and that made Shaena relax the tinyest bit. Kaity understood.
  "Yes. I know it's stupid, but I can't help comparing... Maybe I'm not ready for this after all."
  "You are. I believe in you, Shaena Lansing. What you went through... There was no way I could have done that, I still can't get my head around how normal you acted for so long, even though he was torturing you and locking you away like Rapunzel..."
  "But you knew, didn't you? You knew all along, that's why you hated him."
  "Not for certain. I'd had a few visions of him being... Well, a total llama, but I couldn't ever be one hundred percent sure that they would come true. And like I said, you acted so normal and covered the bruises so well that I thought he was treating you right. I still didn't like the guy. He was stuck up his own-"
  "Kaity, I don't want to talk about him." Shaena cut her off.
  "Ok." Kaity leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Leighton, then. What did he say?"

  "He said I didn't have to answer right away, that I should think about it and let him know whenever, but that he really liked- well, no, he said he was really into me and didn't want to push me."
  "He said he was into you?" Shaena nodded her response. "He really has a way with words, right?" The girls giggled. "So, how did he say it? In a 'please be my girlfriend' way, or in a 'I just want to bed you' way?"
  "I don't know, he just said it."
  "Well, was he staring dreamily into your eyes, or was he feeling you up?"
  "Neither!" Shaena giggled. "We were on the porch, and he was holding my hands, he said it, then he gave me a quick peck on the lips and practically ran off back to the taxi." Kaity pulled back and squealed, squeezing Shaena's hands.
  "Leighton loves you! Hahaaa! Oh my plumbob, I can't believe this!" She squealed again, and clapped her hands.
  "Kaity, stop! What are you on about?" Shaena laughed at her friends overexcitement.

  "He was all shy, right? And I'll bet his palms were all sweaty, right? And I'll bet he couldn't make eye contact, right? And then he just wanted to run off and hide incase you laughed at him."
  "And how would you know that?" Shaena asked, concerned that her friend seemed to know exactly what happened.
  "Because Leighton is so unbelievably like me it's almost scary, and that is exactly what I wanted to do when I figured out I loved Winter. Infact, I went one better and hung up the phone on him and refused to answer it until he came home."
  "You told Winter you loved him over the phone and then hung up?" Shaena questioned, staring in disbelief at her friend.
  "This isn't about me, Shaena, it's about you." Kaity ignored her cousin's shock and turned the conversation back around. "What are you gunna say? Do you love him too? Please can I phone him and make fun of him when you've answered him?"
  "No, Kaity, leave him alone!" Shaena paused while she thought on the other two questions. Did she love him? What was she going to say?

   "I don't know, Kait."
  "Well, do you like him? Do you have fun on your dates? Do you think he'd be a good father to Josh? You have to think of him now too, and if Leighton would be an awful dad then it's best to just let him go." Kaity paused, then continued quieter. "But Leighton is a fantastic father, so you can ignore that one. He had his own kid once, who died before we were born, but you don't even know how many times he looked after my girls when I was off being stupid. The only way I can repay him is for you to go steady with him, so I guess you'd better say yes..." Kaity winked, and Shaena lightly punched her arm.
  "Yes, I like him, and yes, we have tons of fun on our dates. But... I don't really know what's making me hesitate."
  "What's making you hesistate is you're a fool. Just say yes." Kaity gave her best puppy dog eyes, and stuck her bottom lip out in a pout."
  "Ok." Shaena smiled, and Kaity grabbed her and pulled her into a tight hug.

  "I'm so happy for you!" Kaity announced as she squeezed her friend even tighter.
  "Who ever thought I'd be taking relationship advice from you." Shaena laughed, Kaity loosened her grip and laughed with her. "You're so lucky, you know that?" Shaena said quiet and more serious.
  "What do you mean?" Kaity pulled back to look at her, but kept her hands on her shoulders.
  "You're so lucky to have Winter. He's perfect for you, and how he puts up with you I'll never know." Shaena smiled, to show she meant no harm. "I mean, you told him you loved him over the phone and then refused to talk to him for however long until he was home? I'd've gone insane. But no, he comes back and you act like nothing happened. I hear you arguing sometimes, and you're being completely unreasonable... What was it the other day? You were shouting at him for buying cream-coloured bedsheets?"
  "No, listen, I can explain! He keeps going on about how my- our room shouldn't be so pink, and then he just goes out and buys cream bedsheets like he's trying to change me! How is that acceptable?!" Kaity was getting angry all over again, Shaena laughed a little at her before continuing.
  "Ok, sorry, I didn't realise that was still a sore subject, but you see what I mean? Anyone else would just think you were completely insane, but he sticks by you and he took those bedsheets back to the shop even though it's just a bedsheet. He loves you, Kaity. He'd do anything for you, please don't let him get away." Kaity stayed silent, the angry scowl on her face replaced by a thoughtful look, Shaena took her hand and stroked the back with her thumb.
  "I should probably get back to bed." Kaity mumbled, pulling her hand away and standing.
  "Ok, I should probably get some sleep myself." Shaena agreed, standing beside her. "I didn't mean what I said in a mean way, I just wanted to make sure you know what you have with Winter."
  "I know. I know what I have." Kaity said quietly. "I just need to make sure he knows that I know." A single tear escaped her, and she turned her back to Shaena so she wouldn't see, before walking out the door and up the stairs. Shaena followed, turning lights off as she went.

Kaity closed the bedroom door quietly behind her, being careful not to wake Winter. She stood by the bed, watching his chest rise and fall with steady breaths, his mouth open just a crack and the soft sound of air passing his lips. His eyelids were fluttering, his eyes darting around beneath them as he dreamt. She briefly wondered what he was dreaming about. Her? She dreamt about him lying beside her whenever he was away. Or did he just dream random things? Either way he probably wouldn't remember when he woke. Do you know how much I love you? She thought to herself, daring to take another quiet step closer. Do you stay with me just for Autumn, or do you love me how I love you? She hated doubting his feelings, but she couldn't help it. I take you for granted, Shae's right. You deserve better than me, though I'll never tell you incase you take my advice. I'm too selfish to let you go. It's hard enough when you go for a few days... She wiped a tear from her cheek as she took another step, leaning forward she gingerly touched his hand, featherlight, she barely knew she'd made contact when his eyes shot open.

  "Kaity? What's wrong? Why are you crying? Why are you out of bed?" He always was quicker at waking up than she was.
  "Go back to sleep." She whispered, forcing a smile, turning, and taking a step towards the door. His hand gripped her wrist, pulling her back towards the bed, before he turned her to face him. She hung her head, unable to make eye contact as he wiped a few tears with his thumb.
  "What's happened?" He asked softly. "It takes a lot to get you out of bed, is everything ok?" She raised her head and looked him in the eyes, worry marked his face and it broke her heart to see him worry about her. Without a word, she reached out and kissed him. Just a simple peck was how it started, just to stop him worrying, but she couldn't control herself, her body was hungry and she wanted more. His arms wrapped around her, holding her tight to him as he hungrily caressed her lips in return. He's the best kisser in the universe. Kaity smiled at her thoughts before regrettably breaking the kiss and resting her forehead on his shoulder, panting a little.

  "You can ask me now." Kaity whispered, pulling out of the embrace a little.
  "Ask you what?" Winter searched her face, trying to see what she meant.
  "To marry you." She breathed, her voice cracking as more tears began to fall. She locked her eyes to his, and the room fell silent again.
  "No." Winter replied after a too-long pause. "Not like this. Not when you're crying in your room. Is this the story you want to tell everyone when they ask you how I proposed?"
  "Please." Kaity shut her eyes tight, trying to stop crying as she dried her cheeks. Winter reached over and pushed a stray hair behind her ear.
  "I want to do this properly. I want to take you out, buy you a nice dinner, walk along the beach, watch the sun set..."
  "Winter." Kaity rolled her eyes as she opened them, and let out a frustrated sigh. "Why would you think I'd want it to happen that way? I'm not like other girls, I don't like fancy romantic crap. I'm not going to go weak at the knees while you kneel in front of me, and I'm not going to burst into tears of joy while you push some overpriced ring on my finger."
  "I know." He smiled. "And that's why I love you. And because I love you, I want to do all that so you realise you do have a soppy side." Kaity glared at him, before pulling away angrily and pacing the space between the bed and the door.

  "Kaity." Winter stood, and pulled her to him. "I will ask you. Now I know for certain you're ready, I'll book a table at a restaurant and we'll do it properly as soon as we can." Kaity growled and pushed him back.
  "I told you, I don't want that. I don't like waiting." She dropped down on one knee.

  "Kaity. No, what are you... no. Get up. Please."
  "If you won't do it, I will."
  "Kaity."
   "Winter. I love you." Winter sighed, he knew he wouldn't win this one, and so he joined her kneeling on the floor. Taking both of her hands in his, he leant forward and kissed her gently.
  "Ok. You win." He whispered, telling himself it didn't matter where or when he proposed, as long as she let him do it.

  "Kaity. I did have a whole speech planned, but you've panicked me now and I don't remember half of it. Sometimes you're the most difficult person in the world, and you can throw a tantrum better than a two-year-old when you don't get your own way. But I don't care. Months ago you asked me if I thought it was love at first sight, and I lied when I told you no. The truth is, the moment I saw you I felt complete. And I mean the moment, I hadn't even seen your face, just the back of your head as you sat there at the bar, bored already."
  "But you bumped into me." Kaity pointed out.
  "Of course I did... How else would I have got you to pay me attention? You didn't look like the kind of girl who would even look up from her drink if I'd just said 'hi'. Anyway, when I had the premonition that night, I didn't know what to do. From that moment I didn't want to leave your side again, but I knew there would be an end. I decided to go for it when you noticed me deep in thought and came over. You kissed me, you said you could make it all better, you didn't even know what was wrong, but you were right. My life before you was busy. Full of different jobs, lots of money and fake friends. And I thought I had it all until I met you. You can't ever imagine how happy I was when I found out about Autumn, it was the perfect excuse to leave all that behind and just be with you."
  "Please stop. I don't want to ever remember that day." Kaity butted in. "Because of Bonnie. Not you." She clarified, and Winter nodded before leaning in to kiss her quickly. He'd forgotton he'd returned the day of her death.
  "The point I'm trying to make is, that without you I'm only half a person. Even when I'm at conferences, it feels like part of me is missing." Kaity nodded, admitting she felt the same as she swallowed the lump in her throat. "I never believed in soul mates until you, and although you'll probably never admit it, you feel the same." He pulled back, and reached under the bed, pulling out a small ring box, and flipping the lid open. "So, Kaity Mattell. Will you marry me?"

Kaity let out a squeak as she tried to stop herself from crying. She couldn't get her mouth to work, so she only nodded. Holding her hand out, letting Winter to slide the ring on her finger, the tears began to pour down her cheeks.
  "I thought you weren't the kind of girl to cry with joy?" Winter teased, his own voice cracking with emotion.
  "Shut up." Kaity whispered as she grabbed him for a kiss.

When the kiss ended, they sat on the floor against the bed, just holding each other while Kaity admired her ring.
  "It's pink." She smiled.
  "Of course it's pink! You'd have killed me if it wasn't." Kaity grinned at him before kissing him again.
  "You're right." She whispered.
  "About what?"
  "About our room being too pink. This is your room too now, and there should be some things in here that are yours instead of it just being mine. We can go and buy those bedsheets back tomorrow."

FINALLY! Right? :)
Ok, those eagle-eyed readers will notice that the clocks randomly started working again in that second-to-last pic. 
Ring spam. It's sooo Kaity haha!

Also, Lisa aged to adult, finally! But the aging is still screwed up. Shae's only about 5 days into her YA... I don't understand either... :/