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“Austin is right,” I say. “I’ll get another internship after the baby is born. The one I had sucked anyway. I was never allowed to do anything other than order lunches and make coffee. Mr. Hopper treated me like crap and made me cry all the time. It was awful.”
“He did what?” My dad’s nostrils flare from my confession.
I raise my hand. “Dad, chill. It’s okay. I don’t work there anymore.”
“Hopper made you cry?”
“Yeah, for the short time I worked for him.”
Duke balls his hands into fists at his sides. Even Austin has an angry snarl going on.
“Guys, calm down, okay? He’s an asshole, and I don’t work for him anymore.”
“I’ll have his job,” Dad snaps.
“I’ll kill him,” Duke growls.
“That asshole will pay,” Austin mutters.
“We got your back, Kit-Kat,” Theo says.
“Yeah, what he says,” Travis says, pointing at his twin.
“I’m gonna miss you guys.” I throw out my arms and they hug me. “Don’t kill anyone for me.”
“I can’t make any promises,” Duke says.
“That’s what you said when I told you Dean is the father of the baby, and look at the mess you made.”
“It’s just a suspension,” Duke counters.
“Twenty games,” Dad yells. “You’ll be lucky if you still have a career after it’s over.”
“Dad, I’ll be fine.” Duke gives him a wicked look. “Now that I don’t have to travel or train, I can go bother Kit-Kat in Philly.”
“Oh, no you don’t, Denny. You’re not going to harass Dean and me after what you did.”
“Why? Is your little boyfriend afraid I’ll kick his ass again?”
“First off, he’s not little. And second, you’re an asshole for going after him. You took Dean by surprise when you told him I’m pregnant. That wasn’t even a fair fight.”
Duke rolls his shoulders. “I would’ve kicked his ass either way.”
“You better apologize to him,” I yell. “Because you owe him one! You owe me one, you stupid jerk.”
Duke’s head lowers in shame. “I’m sorry, Kat. I wanted to hurt him not you.”
“Well, you hurt me in the process. I need him, Denny. He’s the father of my child. I love him. So, don’t touch him ever again.”
“It was my job,” Duke says in defense.
“No, that was too far,” Austin says. “Even for you. Everyone watching could tell it was personal.”
“I tried to play it off like it wasn’t,” Dad says. “But you know, with modern technology, people zoomed in the videos to read your lips.”
“They don’t know he was talking about Kat,” Austin says.
“Eventually, someone will figure it out,” I interject. “My stomach will get too big to hide it.”
“Is Dean going to marry you?” Duke says with venom in his tone. “The least he can do is make an honest woman out of you.”
“You’re an idiot, Denny. Honest woman? Who says that? I’m not some woman from one of your old Western movies.”
“You know what I mean,” he shouts. “And leave The Duke out of this.”
“Don’t raise your voice with me, Dennis McAllister Baldwin.”
Using his full name gets an instant response from him.
“Don’t call me that.”
His middle name is my mother’s maiden name. She said she wanted her son to have a part of who she used to be, and I thought that was pretty damn cool. So, guess what my baby’s middle name will be?
“It’s the name your mother and I gave you,” Dad says.
“Oh, dear Lord,” I whisper. “Does everything have to be an argument in this house? All you guys do is fight about something. Can we just take a minute to be thankful that we have each other? That we’re all here right now under one roof for once. And in the middle of the hockey season, of all things.”
“Speaking of hockey,” Dad says. “The Flyers are on in an hour. I was thinking we could all watch the game together.”
I smile at his offer. “Yeah, I’d like that.”
“I’ll order the pizza,” Austin says, reaching into his pocket for his cell phone.
“I’ll get the beer,” Duke says, turning on his heel. “I’ll need a lot of it to watch this shit,” he mutters under his breath.
“I heard you, jerk.”
He snickers and then leaves the living room.
“We’ll keep the couches warm,” Theo jokes, kicking his long legs up on the coffee table.
Tavis nods to add his agreement.
“I’ll… umm…” Dad looks lost. Austin and Duke left him with nothing to do. “I guess I’ll get the TV ready.”
“Okay, Dad.” I smile. “You do that. I have to run to the bathroom.”
He nods. “Your mother practically lived in there when she was carrying each of you.”
“You can teach the baby your famous slapshot.”
Dad chuckles. “I’m sure Dean wants to do that.”
“He learned it from you.”
He hugs me, holding me until I feel like I’m going to pee myself. Damn pregnancy side effects have ruined the moment but not the night because I plan to enjoy the time I have left with my family.
