Page 66 of Be My Valentine

“Gentlemen, Mrs. Carson.” said Mark looking at them one by one “I present to you Mrs. Arrow, my wife.”

Patrick Hanks laughed in delight and extended his hand to Mark.

“Great move!” he looked at Kate bowing his head “My apologies, our last meeting was less than pleasant, I assure you it won’t happen again.”

“You married her?” Spat out Annie Carson in disgust, forgetting that informality was no longer allowed.

Kate snuggled closer to her husband, with disappointment realizing that the woman still managed to intimidate her.

“If I, were you, Mrs. Carson, I would think very carefully about your next words.” Mark incensed her in front of everyone.

“I will prepare my letter of resignation right away; it would be detrimental to my career to continue working for someone who is mentally unstable.”

“That’s exactly what I wanted to hear. Your resignation is accepted effective immediately. You may clear your desk immediately.”

The woman looked at Kate.

“Don’t get your hopes up. When he gets tired of the novelty, he’ll throw you back in the hole you came out of.”

Kate paled. Mark didn’t lose his cool and flashed an icy smile.

“I just threw you into a hole I can’t see the bottom of. Get out now.”

Annie Carson slammed the door violently behind her.

Mark looked at Kate: she was waxy and motionless.

“Love,” he called to her, “don’t give any weight to what she said!”

“That woman always manages to bother me.” she confessed candidly, turning to her husband “I can’t understand it, though… she’s been watching you like a lynx forever, how did she not notice you were wearing a wedding ring?”

“Yeah, I wonder how she didn’t notice.” he calmly studied the ring out of his breast pocket and put it back on his ring finger with a crooked smile “I wouldn’t have missed her face for the world.”

Kate rolled her eyes and kissed him in front of everyone.

EPILOGUE / Two years later

What do you mean, happy ending?

Good stories don’t have happy endings.

They simply don’t end.

(Anonymous)

“How is he?” Kate asked her mother as she squeezed her hand restraining her screams.

“Honey, you have every right to scream.” She told her back.

“He s… gets sc… scared. He doesn’t like hos… hospitals” She retorted fighting like a lioness.

The mother snorted.

“Unbelievable stuff.” She forcibly removed her hand from her daughter’s grip and opened the door to the hallway.

“Mark!” she called after him in a reproachful tone “She needs you!”

“Mommyyy!” the scream jolted her “I feel like I need to push!”