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“Good. Now, I have a wedding tomorrow and I need your help.”
“I don’t perform ceremonies. Hell, I don’t even go to weddings, Katherine.”
She shook her head. “I need a ride there. Maybe come inside just in case I start to feel weak or something.”
“I can do that. But are you sure you wouldn’t rather have Richard there as your backup in case you need someone to step in for you?”
“He can’t.”
Or won’t.
“Busy?” I asked.
“No. The couple is a same-sex couple,” she explained. That definitely crossed him off the list. She added, “But he was sweet enough to meet with them last night and walk them through the rehearsal.”
“Really? Why?” I asked, surprised.
She wrinkled her nose at me and said, “Because he loves me.”
“And I don’t?” I questioned.
“Of course you do.” She rubbed her stomach. “I guess for the next few months, we’re going to have to see which one of you two loves me more,” she teased.
Katherine had a way of always getting what she wanted as the only girl. Sounds like even though we were all grown up, that hadn’t changed.
“You know, I’m very competitive,” I warned her.
“Sounds like a win for me,” she said with a smile. Then she hugged me. “Thank you, Robert. I really was worried about telling you.”
“Why? I’m the easygoing brother!”
“In your own mind, yes, but you are…stubborn.”
I nodded. “A Bennett trait.”
“Well, I’m not stubborn,” she said.
I chuckled. “Yes, you are. You just cover it up better than me.” She huffed, so I added, “Don’t get all defensive about it. It’s what’s going to make you a wonderful mother, just like it did Mom. Stubborn, with the right amount of sweet.”
“I just hope I can make them proud,” she sighed.
“You already have. Don’t ever doubt that.”
She hugged me again. “You really are competitive, aren’t you?”
“Bet your ass I am,” I chuckled. But I had meant what I said. I knew my parents were proud of Richard and Katherine. It was me I wasn’t so sure of. I was pushing sixty; I didn’t think I was about to change much and I wasn’t looking to, either. “Not only am I going to win, but you’re going to name your baby after me.”
“And if it’s a girl?” she laughed.
“Then I guess she’s going to be Roberta,” I grinned.
“I was thinking Mary-Ellen, after Mom,” she replied.
“Not Percy after Dad,” I said. “The kid will hate you,” I half joked.
“Then we’d better hope it’s a girl,” Katherine said. “But honestly, I’ll be happy as long as the baby is healthy.
Me too.
