He collected the knapsack
and pushed through the doors.
Sitting outside the room in one of the hard plastic waiting
chairs, was Kate.
Without a word she stood and caught him in her arms. She held him
for a moment, stiffly, then guided him to the seat beside her.
"Jesus, Kate. How did you - ?"
"I called Peggy. She told me you were here."
Peter looked at the silver doors. "She's so tiny. "
"I heard," Kate said. She pressed her folded hands into her lap
and cleared her throat. "Peter, why? Why didn't you tell me?"
He closed his eyes. He felt precariously close to throwing up,
surrounded by riddles and agony. Ivy. The baby. Kate.
"Kate," he said, "I didn't think this would happen." He opened
his eyes and looked at her. "You have to believe me."
"How many does this make?" Kate said, bitterly. "We could have
adopted."
He tried to put his arm around her, but she pulled away and
stood, hugging her arms tightly around herself.
"Kate, none," he said, moving closer. "There have never been any
others. I didn't plan this to happen."
"And she did?"
"No. Yes! I don't know," he said. "She was desperate. It just
happened. I didn't want it to, but it just did. We'd had too much
to drink. It was the wine - "
She slapped him hard across the face.
Without a word, he dropped his chin to his chest.
Pages:
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352