Page 38 of Be My Valentine

Emma didn’t let her open her mouth.

“She’s a friend of mine!”

“What a silly question I asked!” the woman apologized and looked at Kate again “How is your mother? We all remember her; it was almost a miracle.”

“She’s almost fully recovered.” She replied.

“I’m so glad! You’re looking more and more beautiful, my darling, stop by the ER and say hello. I’m sure there’s someone very happy to see you!” She winked at her and Kate blushed.

Mark, on the other hand, was furious again.

Who would have been happy to see her? He could have gone and stabbed him instantly, maybe right through the heart, to make sure it was final: better to play it safe since they were in the hospital, however his sister came to his aid, or saved whoever it was that Mark was planning to slaughter.

“You didn’t tell me that story! Has your mother been here recently?”

Suddenly he felt like a worm. It was obvious that something had happened to Kate’s mother, only jealousy hadn’t even allowed him to process the information.

“If Emma wants to know something, you’re not going to stop her so easily.” Mark’s father told her.

“You can’t get away with it, you’ll give me the details tomorrow at dinner.” Emma confirmed.

“Maybe we should reschedule,” Kate objected, “you’re not well and I’ve met your parents, not in the way we planned, though…”

“Nice try Kate, you’re not going to escape that easily though.” Said Mark.

“I wasn’t trying to escape, I’m just worried.”

“Don’t be!” Mark looked reproachfully at his family “They’re all very peaceful.”

“Oh my God! How long is this story going to haunt us?” complained Emma “I can already hear you telling it to little Grace. ‘You don’t know what your mother did while you were still in her belly’!”

Mark winced.

“Have you decided on a name? When were you planning on telling me? Let me guess I’m the last to know!”

“You were busy!”

“A name! You only had to tell me one word! You forgot! Confess!”

The father huffed and looked at his wife.

“We hoped they would grow up to be better. How deluded!”

Kate intervened.

“I’ll go home, I see everything’s fine here.”

Emma waved her fingers in her hand; her parents added a definitive: see you tomorrow night.

“I’ll drop you off.”

In front of the elevator Mark blurted out.

“Want to stop by the emergency room?” he saw the questioning look “Isn’t there someone you need to make happy?”

“No.” she said simply “There’s no one.”

“Okay.” they stepped into the elevator “Kate… about what happened in the office…”