What about you? - 28

Chapter 28

When Mason finally reached the kitchen, Kate was helping herself to bacon and eggs, Stuart was eating heartily at the table, and Paula was sat next to him picking at a piece of toast. She looked up when he entered the kitchen and smiled, then getting to her feet came around the table to him.

                “I couldn’t believe it when Stu said you were here!”

Mason hugged her and kissed the top of her head, he’d watched her grow from an annoying child to a pretty girl. She was spoiled rotten by her family, but he liked her, he’d shown her around Dubai several times in the past when she’d been visiting Brandon with her family.

                “Tell me all about my nephew! I can’t believe I’m the only one not to have seen little Jimmy!”

Mason chuckled, “don’t let Sarah hear you call James that! And he’s I guess beautiful and lovely and all the things a baby should be!”

Kate and her mother laughed, before Kate commented, “you gotta love men, don’t see anything in a baby til they have their own!”

Mason turned to her, “what am I supposed to say?”

                “Nothing!” She smiled, “Nothing at all!”

They sat together Julia the clucking hen proudly feeding her brood, and the conversation was light and fun.

Afterwards, as Mason helped Kate load the dishwasher, he smiled at her, “we need to talk. Do you want to go for a walk?”

She nodded, “once we’ve finished this I’ll get my boots on.”

It was a crisp January morning, a heavy frost still touched everything in sight, and the grass crunched beneath their feet, and their breath billowed in large clouds as they tramped along the unpaved driveway to the open fields. A line of craggy bare trees protected the farm from the road, and it wasn’t until they’d passed those that they felt the slightest hint of winter sun trying to warm their cheeks.

                “I’d have loved to be brought up in the country. We visited Clarissa a bit when I was younger, Peter was only a baby then, but I used to love the freedom...my parents were both City dwellers, and my freedom then was a six foot square concrete backyard. Or an urban park. Hardly the same.”

Their hands were linked and despite thick gloves Kate could still feel the warmth from his touch, and her whole being was tuned in to that little contact. “I think you take everything for granted, I mean, I hated being stuck out here, a teenage girl wanting to go to parties, concerts, shopping...my dad was very protective of me...” she felt a lump in her throat even now talking about him, she knew she’d let him down at the end, she’d not been there for her father when she should’ve been.

Mason spotted her discomfort and dropped her hand, instead sliding his arm around her pulling her closer to him, “that’s a father’s role, to be protective. Especially of a daughter, and you turned out good, so he must’ve done everything right.”

She glanced up at him and gave a watery smile, “he was great. I just let him down, him and everyone else...”

Turning her to face him he tilted her chin, met her eyes, “when are you going to stop punishing yourself? We get passed all that we have, yet you still seemed to wear this millstone around your neck! NO ONE can criticise you for doing the right thing love, you can’t be everything to everyone all the time, but for a period of time when he was the most needy, you were everything to Peter.”

She nodded, “I know, I just miss my Dad whenever I come out here.”

He smiled, “but that’s a good thing, it means he was important to you.”

Suddenly Kate winced, “sorry, there’s me bleating on about great fathers!”

Mason swept a quick kiss over her lips then smiled, “not all men deserve to be parents!”

They tramped further, the cold air making them both breathless and ceasing all conversations. They’d both had so much to say, but now that they were together neither wanted to upset the happy equilibrium.

Pausing on a small humpback bridge to watch the stream power over the rocky bed, swelled by recent rain, Kate finally spoke.

                “I was booked on a standby flight this morning, I was coming to see you!”

He glanced at her, “really?”

She nodded, “I know you think I’m self-centred, but I really wanted to come and see you.”

                “To say what?”

Kate realised she’d walked straight into that trap, his eyes searched hers with a hint of humour as he watched her squirm.

                “To apologise, I blocked you out, pushed you away, and that was wrong. And I wanted to see you, just to talk...you know!”

He shook his head “Nope. I don’t know. Last time I spoke to you, you wanted to wait until after Tilly’s wedding to even talk to me again. So what changed?”

She groaned, this was her first real test, but she still found it so difficult to speak about her emotions, her feelings.

                “I was wrong, and I wanted to tell you that.” She could feel the heat of a blush sweeping up her neck and face.

Mason was enjoying watching her struggle, he knew exactly why she had wanted to travel to him, it was the same reason he’d come here, but he needed to hear her say those words. “You were planning to spend hundreds of pounds and time you clearly don’t have to travel to Dubai to tell me you were wrong?

Kate saw red, the anger he always brought out in her rising like a volcano, “what do you want me to say Mason? That suddenly I realised that you were right about everything? Will that make you happy?”

                “It’s a start!” He gave a smug smile and it only seemed to fuel Kate’s anger.

The temptation to slap his smiling face was huge, but she resisted, “God you can be such a supercilious bastard when you want to!”

He grinned, “all I want is to hear the truth. I know why you wanted to come over, I know what you wanted to say...I just want to hear those words come from your lips Ms Michaels. That’s all!”

Shaking her head she started to walk, knowing that she was being stupid, but also realising that this was self preservation on her behalf. She was petrified.

A hand reached around her wrist and restrained her, “three little words, that's all it is, and it won't kill you!" Kate tried to gulp some fresh air as she avoided his gaze for a few seconds. "Well?"

Snapping, she jerked her eyes to his, "what? You want me to say I love you? Is that it? Ok you win! I do! But that does not give you carte blanche to walk all over my feelings, you hear?"

As she turned to run, Mason slid his arms around her waist from behind, his mouth at her ear, "I love you too Kate, but you know that. Now will you quit running away from me? You hide behind anger, behind Peter...anything other than face up to the fact that we love each other. I get that it's scary, but I am not going anywhere. You hear me? I know that relationships are hard, no one can predict what the future holds, but if you don't let go you'll never know."

He could see her trembling, and knew that the next few seconds were more important than any other time in his life. His hands were firm on her upper arms, pinning her bolt still her spine to his chest, leaning against him.  "Kate, please. I'm not Peter, I'm not like anyone else. I won't pay for other people's mistakes. Now please, turn around..." his mouth was still against her ear as he spoke, "and kiss me before I explode."

Several seconds past, but eventually Kate turned and gave him a half smile, "I hate that I push you away, I don't deserve your patience, but I'm scared."

Mason shrugged, "Life is a risk Kate, and you're one risk I KNOW I want to take."

With that he swooped to cover her lips with his own.

For Kate it was the greatest kiss in the world, somehow he managed to convey his passion, desire, but also his commitment in that clash of lips. Suddenly Kate felt relieved, relaxed, and most of all loved. She knew there would be problems ahead. He was right, most relationships weren't hitch free, but she knew that Mason loved her. And that was greater than any promise.

The stroll back to the farmhouse was filled with tension and promise, both wanting more than anything to teleport to somewhere alone where they could just be themselves. Instead they both had to reface her mother.

Two hours later after lunch with her mother, they entered the door to Mason's London apartment, the door had barely closed when Mason turned and pressed her up against it, his mouth devouring hers.

                "I've wanted to do this since the kitchen this morning," he growled against her neck as he pulled at her clothing.  By the time he dragged her into the bedroom, they were both naked, and tossing down onto the bed, he devoured the rest of her. Thoroughly.

Tilly had begged them to join her and Ashton for dinner that evening, but she was less than keen, selfishly she wanted to keep Mason to herself, preferably without leaving the bed.

                "Come on!" he smacked her bottom teasingly, "we owe her dinner at least."

Kate groaned, knowing he was right, and followed his lead, dressing for dinner.

It was a short journey to Tilly's and they sat on the taxi entwined like the young lovers they were, then were welcomed by Kate's best friend. It was such a relaxed, pleasurable evening that Kate felt almost normal for the first time in so long. She'd almost got used to being the token single person in every situation, and now here she was at dinner as part of a couple, equal and on level terms.

                "So," Tilly sat back and looked at her love struck friend and her hunky new lover. "What are the plans for you two? You can't go on living in different continents can you?"

If tumbleweeds had blown through the dining room it wouldn't have surprised Kate. Silence took over the whole room and an immediate awkwardness descended on the group. Ashton tried to salvage the situation by swatting at Tilly's arm.

                "Don't interfere!" Turning to the guests Ashton smiled, "my wife-to-be is very nosey, I'd ignore her if I were you!"

Kate's mind was racing as she smiled nervously, she hadn't even thought beyond them becoming a couple, now the fact that they were set to be living several thousand miles apart didn't sit too well with her. Mason's hand squeezing her thigh under the table did little to lighten her mood or pessimism.

The rest of the meal passed uneventfully, and after brandy and coffee, Kate and Mason left amidst a collection of hugs and 'see you soons', the taxi had barely pulled away from the kerb when Kate's phone bleeping, glancing down she saw a message from Tilly.

                "Sorry if I embarrassed you. Ash has read me the riot act! You look so great together though I'm SO pleased! Invite him to the wedding!"

Smiling, she sent a return text, "You're ok, love you too much to be worried, will def invite...speak soon, xxx"

                "Who's that?" Mason asked slinging his arm around her shoulder.

                "Tilly, telling me how great you are and apologising for rocking the boat!"

The hand around her shoulder reached out to stroke her arm, "she's right about me being great, but we do need to talk...about the future."

                "Not now..." Kate offered, "can we just enjoy tonight? There's plenty of time to talk."

Mason nodded, thought he knew that this was just another delaying tactics from her, but he was a step ahead, he'd envisaged this moment, and knew what he wanted to do, but also being back in touch with his mother was further reason for him to move back to the UK. He just needed Kate to understand that him doing that wasn't a threat to her independence, but also that it couldn't happen overnight. It'd take weeks to leave his business, finding a replacement wasn't so much of an issue, he had a large reserve to dip into. In his dreams they both packed a bag and holidayed for a long time, weeks...months, in reality he knew it wouldn't be that easy.

Much later Mason held Kate curled into his chest, "can we talk now?"

His fingers were driving her wild, running up and down her shoulder, almost but never quite reaching the soft, oversensitive flesh of her breast. She wanted this cocoon to last forever,  reality was painful.

                "Ok." Her voice was quiet.

                "Good! I'm leaving Dubai. I don't know when, the last few months I've wanted to come back to the UK. Not just you, but my mother too..." She bit her lip nervously, and it was all Mason could do to resist swooping down to kiss her. "I don't want you to feel threatened by that!"

She beamed at him, "you thought I'd be angry at you coming here?" When he shrugged she sighed, "I must seem like some real unstable bitch...I'm not I swear!"

Rolling onto his side to hover over her, he stroked the stray locks of hair from her forehead, "not unstable, just female!" Laughing he ducked from her hand that lashed out to try and slap his shoulder in jest.

                "We can make this work Kate, you know that, don't you?"

Smiling she wrapped her legs around him, wanting more than anything to believe that this was it...her happily ever after.