"Katie?" He asked softly, seeing the tears on her face and she looked almost green. "What?" she said with a mix of rage and tiredness in her voice. "What is the matter?" "Oh Howie, I don't know what to do!" She said crying again. "About what? Is the baby okay?" He asked, he knew that the baby meant the world to both Katie and Brian. "Yes...but, well you remember Annabelle." "Oh yeah! Never could forget a girl like that, she was a liar and a real stuck-up piece of work!" He said and shook his head in disgust. "Well, she came to visit today, with their son." "Who?" "Brian and her son, which by looking at him, looks like he was conceived when Brian and I were getting serious." "I told you though...she is a liar." "No, I can't believe it,"she then showed him the picture. "See, I told you, he doesn't look a thing like Brian!" Howie said, seeing the look of panic on Katie's face. "So, he is still a baby..." She said and burst into tears, off in the distance she could hear the front door and she stood up and went to her dresser.
"Thank you for listening to me Howie, you are a great friend," she said with a sad smile and got out her suitcase. "Don't do anything drastic Katie," he said eying the suitcase that she filled up, she was just zipping it shut when Nick came in. "Hi Kat-what are you doing? What is the matter?" He said, looking at Howie in confusion. "Out!" She said looking at his handsome face in dismay. She hated him because he was friend's with the man that was making her so upset. She knew that she shouldn't blame Nick, but she couldn't help it.
Brian came upstairs with a big smile and a long stemmed rose. He walked into
the room with a look of cheer on his face, followed by Kevin who wanted to see
where everyone was going.
"What are you doing?" He said looking at the suitcase in fear. He knew this
wasn't good.
"Out!" She yelled at him, how many times did she have to tell him?
"Where?"
"Who cares?"
"I do!"
"Why?" She said angerly and picked up the suitcase and headed out the door.
Everyone watched, they didn't want to be nosy, but they also didn't want
things to get carried away.
"Because I love you and you have my child." He said with tears running down his cheeks in apprehension. "What? Which one? Oh! You mean this one! Well, I don't think that really matters, does it? Seeing that Miss Annabelle also has your child." "WHAT!?" "Yep, a little boy, must have been conceived when you and I were getting serious." She said, her back turned to the door and opened it, running outside to her new Jeep. "She is a liar then!" "Sure! Here of the picture," she threw the picture at him and he looked down, Katie took the opportunity to jump into the car and drive. Brian stood there and didn't know what to do, he didn't even see what direction she had gone.
"Howie? Did she say anything to you about this?" Brian said, pale with disbelief, amazement and embarrassment. he had never seen Annabelle since before he met Katie, there was no way that she could have gotten pregnant, Brian had seen her use the pill and they used other precautions. "Yes, I guess Annabelle came here when we were out and brought the boy with her, when I got home Katie looked like she was as sick as a dog, I didn't know what to do," he said and shook his head. Brian ran up to his room and sat in their bed and cried.
Katie drove about an hour out of Orlando and stayed at a seedy motel, checking in under the name of Kathleen Smith, in hope that no one would find her. She didn't know what she was going to do, just wait and see if she could think of anything. She sat there and stared at the ceiling, not knowing that that was the exact same thing that Brian was doing back in Orlando. She loved him, but she didn't know if he had cheated on her or not. Worst of all, if the cheating had resulted in a baby, the least he could have done was help the mother out, but only if it was his. Katie had heard that Annabelle was a slut, she could have slept with anyone since before, during and after her relationship, so the child could be anyone's.
She sat in bed for two days, getting a little snack to eat when she woke up, she knew that no one would find her, which was a relief. Just when she thought that someone knocked on the door. Katie got up and opened the door, not even thinking that it would be anyone that she knew, but it was.
"Kevin, what are you doing here?" "I have to check up on you." "Did Brian send you here?" "No, he doesn't even know that I came here." He had looked all over the place, he knew that Katie would use her maiden name so it wasn't that hard to find her, Brian had never even thought of tracking her down. "Come on in," she said and pointed to the chair that was in the small hotel room. He walked over to the chair and sat, trying to think of something to say to her to convince her to come back. "I'm not going back," she said stubbornly, seeing the look on Kevin's face. "Come on, you have to." "No, I don't." "Brian didn't do it. That baby isn't his child, he doesn't have any kids, yet," he said and smiled at her enormous stomach. "How do you know that?" "I have known him my whole life, and when he loves something, or someone, very much he would make sure they he wouldn't do anything to destroy it. Before you two got serious all he could talk about was you, how much he thought you loved you and that he knew all along that you were going to be his wife. He never even mentioned Annabelle when you were in his life." "I know, I feel so stupid..." She said with tears running down her face. "Don't, just come with me and we will all feel better," she nodded her head, grabbed her bag and followed Kevin to his car after checking out.
They drove the long way home in almost complete silence until Kevin remembered something. "Nick said that if you somehow came back early that we could leave for Maine early." "Oh! I would love that, I haven't seen snow in a long time, that would be wonderful," she said with a bright smile on her face. "Me neither and I love snow!" They drove for another half an hour and then they finally reached the Orlando home. She walked in the door, everyone looked happy to see her, but not surprised, they knew that she would show up some day. Everyone but A.J. and Brian were there, A.J. was going to spend another month or so with Nancy, until everyone came back from Maine, and Brian was in his room. Katie walked up and no one followed her, they knew that they should leave the couple alone. She walked in her room and saw Brian staring at the ceiling, the same thing that she had been doing for the last couple of days. "It sort of gets boring, doesn't it?" She asked with a happy smile on her face.
"What?" Brian said, then sat straight up when he realized that it was Katie talking to him. "Staring at the ceiling." "Yeah, especially when your wife isn't here," he said and patted the spot next to him and she sat down and put her arm around him, he put his around her and on her stomach. "I'm sorry, I didn't know what to think...." "I know, but it is over now and we can enjoy ourselves in Maine," they both knew that they were cutting it a little close to the baby's due date, Katie was already 8 months pregnant but she had reassured then that there were hospitals in Maine, if need be. "When are we going?" She asked and Brian jumped up and punched some numbers into the telephone, Katie could hear that he was talking with their travel agent. He got off with a smile and ran downstairs.
"We are leaving for Maine in four hours!" He said and everyone stood up and started packing, Katie finished and went into her old room, seeing that the door was closed. She opened in looked with tears running down her face. The room was purple with a little crib, a bunch of stuffed animals, and everything that they could possibly need, she heard Nick come in behind her. "You like it?" "I love it, who did this?" "Me, Howie and Kevin, Brian helped a little," he said and grinned, he like to take a lot of the credit. "Thank you so much! I love it!" She exclaimed and gave Nick a big hug. 10 minutes later everyone was done and they were piling into the limousine, heading to the airport to start their adventure in Maine.