Flight to Paradise Ch. 12

Cynthia looks at Bert for a moment, then smiles, taking his hand and standing up. "Of course." She turns to Kate. "Nice meeting you, Kate," she says before giving Mac a hug. "Bye. We'll see you tomorrow."

Mac and Kate escort his parents to the door. "Sleep well," he says as they step out of the house.

"I'll see that she does," Bert says, causing Kate to snicker and Cynthia to blush before she slaps him on the arm.

The moment the door clicks shut Mac sags against the wall. "Fuck," he mutters.

"What?" she asks, surprised at his attitude.

"I love my parents, but there's a reason I live in California. My mother wears me out," he says then looks at her with a grin. "She seems to forget I haven't lived in Hays in 20 years and I don't know half the people she's talking about."

"That's twice as many as I do," she replies with a grin. "But I really like your dad. He's a nut. I see a lot of him in you, or you in him, whichever."

He grins, relieved that she approves. "He's a great guy. They both are. It's just that mom gets a little to wrapped up in the family social scene and she doesn't understand that not everyone cares who's dating who, and so on."

She almost blurts out that Cynthia reminds her of her mother but decides at the last moment that isn't exactly a compliment, so she holds her tongue. "Are you ready for bed?" she asks instead.

"God yes. I'm exhausted," he says dramatically before levering himself off the wall with a grin.

Later, in bed, he makes no attempt to seduce her, seeming content to simply hold her close. She enjoys the snuggling, but she's surprised and disappointed at his passiveness.

"Are you okay?" she asks, pulling his hand to her lips for a kiss.

"Yes. It's just my parents have kind of put a dampener on the weekend."

She swallows her disappointment. "It's only a couple of days."

"I know," he says, pulling her tighter to him, but making no other move. "Nothing I can do about it now, but I was looking forward to having you all to myself."

"You have me tonight," she whispers.

"Yes," he says, kissing her gently on the shoulder. "But would you mind if I just hold you tonight?"

"No," she whispers, smiling as she realizes she means it.

When Bert and Cynthia arrive the next morning, Mac gently takes control of his mother and steers her into the kitchen with him, leaving Kate alone to talk to his father. Kate is thankful that Mac's taking one for the team, allowing her time to talk with his father. Bert delights Kate with stories of Mac's youth, filling in many blank spots about Mac and his personality. The more she talks to Bert, the more she likes him, until as lunch time nears, she feels closer to Mac's father than she does to her own.

"Let me go see if Mac and Cynthia need some help with lunch," she finally says, more to make a good impression on Bert than any actual desire to help with lunch.

As she nears the kitchen, she can hear Mac and Cynthia's voices. They aren't arguing, but Kate can tell they're discussing something important. She slows her steps, unsure of what to do, not wanting to barge in on a private conversation.

Mac is standing propped against the counter in the kitchen, his arms crossed across his chest as him mother talks.

"All I'm saying, Tony, is be careful. There are a lot of women that will try to take advantage of you," Cynthia says. Why does Tony always have to be so bull headed? Can't he see I just want the best for him?

"I understand," he says coolly, "but Kate isn't like that. She's just not and I don't appreciate what you are implying."

"I'm not implying anything," she protests. "But you know there are women like that. They've tried it before, haven't they?"

"No," he says flatly, but his mother's look causes him to backpedal. "Okay, yes, some may have, but I didn't let them now did I?"

"No, but I still worry."

"Mother," he says in exasperation, "I'm almost forty years old. I think I can handle myself."

"You may be almost forty, but you're still my baby. You've only known Kate a month, not even that really, and she's already living with you?"

"She's not living with me. She's just here visiting. A visit I suggested, not her."

"Spending a month sleeping in your bed? She might as well be living with you," she says with a pout.

"And I will have her spend a hell of a lot more time in my bed if I can," he says, his voice sharp.

Her mouth pulls down even more. Tony is a good boy, but he's far too trusting. "Tony, Kate seems like a very nice girl, but after only a month you can't possibly—"

"Mac! Can I help with anything?" Kate calls loudly to let Mac and Cynthia know she's coming.

"—know the kind of woman she is," Cynthia says just as Kate enters the room.

Mac hears Kate's voice and looks up just as Kate strides into the kitchen, the shock and hurt on her face clear as she hears Cynthia's last words.

Cynthia sees the look on Mac's face and turns to see Kate standing there. "Oh, Kate! I'm—" she begins, horrified that Kate has overheard her comment, but Kate pivots and runs away.

"Goddammit, Mother!" Mac barks before charging out of the kitchen after her, the slamming of the front door giving away her location. He wrenches open the door, looking for her, but she's nowhere to be seen. "Kate!" He calls, listening for any noise to give away her location, but he can only hear the wind rustling in the leaves.

Kate is horrified by Cynthia's words, the words tearing open wounds she thought long healed. It's her mother's shrill harping on the sins of the flesh all over again. She bolts from the room, needing to get away, to get some space. She runs out of the house as fast as her feet can take her, leaving the stone path and plunging into the tree covered lot surrounding Mac's house. She hears Mac call, but she doesn't stop, turning and running down the hill toward the lake. How could he! Just when she felt she could trust him, when she was preparing to open her heart to him, he stabs her in the back! The bastard! He doesn't even have the courage to tell her face to face.

As Mac stands listening, straining to hear any sign of Kate, his mother appears at his side, his father close behind. "Tony! I'm so sorry," Cynthia wails. "I didn't mean for Kate to overhear. I just worry—"

"Mother! Just shut up, okay? You've said enough already. Kate!" Mac calls again, stepping onto the flagstone walk, then turns to face his parents. "I think it'd be best if you are not here when I get back. I have find Kate and try to fix this... mess." He has to bite his tongue because he wants to rage at his mother for fucking up the best thing to happen to him in years. "Kate!" Mac calls a third time, trotting down the walk toward the drive.

Mac is becoming worried. He has been looking for Kate for over thirty minutes, and though he's found signs of her passage, he hasn't found her. He stops by the hanger for the second time but sees no sign of her. He starts to leave, but decides to check the Goose again, just in case. As soon as he opens the door and finds her sitting in one of the chairs, his eyes fill with tears in relief.

"Thank god you're okay," he gushes, hopping into the plane and kneeling at her side before placing his hand on hers. She doesn't acknowledge his presence and doesn't move. She's obviously been crying, her eyes red and puffy.

"Kate, you have every right to be mad, to be hurt. Mother was completely out of line. But it's not what you think," he says softly. He receives another ping from his mother, the third in the last thirty minutes. He sends the ping directly to his mailbox like he has all the others.

"What do you think, Mac? Do you think I'm just a whore out to get from you what I can? Is that what you think too?"

He lowers his head in shame. Goddamn my mother! "No Kate. I hope you know that isn't what I think."

"I don't know what to think anymore," she says quietly. "I just want to go home."

He sags, his shoulders slumping in despair. "Please Kate, don't go. At least stay the night, then if you still want to go home in the morning, I'll take you, but I hope you'll stay. Mother was wrong. We can work through this. Please don't go."

She doesn't speak for a long time. He changes his position and sits on the floor of the plane, holding her hand, determined to sit there as long as it takes.

She sits, thinking. It's true, I didn't hear the entire conversion. But it doesn't matter. Nothing matters anymore. The fact that he was letting Cynthia talk about me like that and not defending me, that's what hurts most of all. I wouldn't have let my parents talk about him like that. I would have been in their face about it, defending him to my last breath. Maybe he can't defend me. Maybe I am nothing but a whore, like my mother all but said all those years ago. She looks at him, sitting on the floor, looking so sad. If he had just defended me! She can feel the tears threatening again. She thought she was cried out, but his betrayal cut so deep she can't hold her tears.

He watches as she struggles to hold her tears, his heart breaking at her pain. He gets to his knees and moves in front of her, squeezing in between her seat and the one in front of it, and pulls her into his arms. She resists at first, but then allows him to hold her.

"I'm so, so sorry, Kate," he says quietly, slowly rocking her as he would to comfort a baby.

"Why didn't you defend me, Mac? Why?" she asks, the pain in her voice tearing at his heart.

"Kate, I did. I told mom she's wrong about you," he says, still rocking her gently.

"I didn't hear anything," she says into his shoulder.

"I know, but I was defending you, Kate. I was. Have I ever lied to you?"

"I don't know. Have you?" she asks with a sniff.

"No. I've never lied to you. I'm not lying to you now."

"I don't know if I can believe you," she says, pulling out of his embrace.

"You can believe me Kate. I..." he almost says that he loves her, but his isn't the time, "... I'll never lie to you." He leans into kiss her but she turns her head away.

She sniffs and looks into his eyes, trying to see the man inside. "I'll stay tonight. But I want to be alone for now. Go back to your house and I'll be there later. You'll take me home tomorrow, if I still want to go?"

"Yes. If you still want to go, but I hope you'll stay. I want you to stay." He waits a moment more but she doesn't appear to have anything else to say. With a sigh, he disentangles himself from the seat, gets to his feet, and leaves, quietly shutting the hatch behind him.

While he waits for her, he sends a text ping to his mother, telling her he's found Kate and she's physically unharmed. His mother deserves that much, but her near instantaneous return ping he shunts to his mailbox. He isn't ready to talk to her just yet. Moments later he receives a ping from his father. He thinks about sending that to his mailbox as well, but finally accepts the ping.

"Son! Are you okay? Your mother is worried sick. She told me what happened. Is Kate okay?"

"No, Dad, Kate isn't okay. She's hurt. Badly hurt. So badly hurt I may never see her again after tomorrow," he says, feeling his eyes well with tears at the thought.

"Will it help if I talked to her? I can try to smooth things over."

He sighs. "Thanks Dad, but I think everything that needs to be said has already been said. Now we just have to see if we can work it out." He sighs again and then continues. "Tell Mom I'll ping her later. I just can't talk to her right now. I've already said things to her I regret, and I'm afraid if I talk to her right now, I will say even more. I just need some time to try to patch things up with Kate."

"Okay, I understand. I know it won't help anything now, but Cynthia has been crying almost continuously since we left your house. She feels terrible over what happened." Bert pauses for a long moment. "You know she loves you and is only trying to protect you, right?"

"Yeah, I know. But she's really messed things up."

"I know, son, I know, and she knows too. She's desperate to make amends, if you can fix it with Kate," Bert says, his sadness clear in his voice.

"I don't know if I can fix it, Dad. I really don't. But I'll ping mom in a few days. Tell her not to worry."

"I will Tony... and good luck with Kate. She seems like a fine woman."

"She is. She's the best thing that has ever happened to me," Mac says quietly.

It is after dark when Kate finally enters the house. Mac has started to go to the hanger several times to check on her, to make sure she's okay, but then resolving to wait, to do as she asked, circling in his house before he gets to the door.

"You haven't eaten all day," he says when she enters the house, rising from the chair where he's sitting, waiting for her to appear. "Would you like something to eat?"

"I'm not hungry," she says, not stopping, heading down the hall to his bedroom. "I'm tired and going to bed."

He watches her disappear down the hall. When she turns into his bedroom, he follows. She's just beginning to undress as he enters the room. They undress in silence, settling into bed. He tries to gently seduce her, but she ignores his advances, so he stops, snuggling in close behind and holding her. She allows him to hold her, but she's indifferent to his touch.

As he holds her he can feel her silently weeping, not making a sound, only the slight shaking of her shoulders and her quiet gasps as she catches her breath indicating her distress. He desperately wants to take away her pain, to comfort her, but he doesn't know how, so he holds her, trying to lend her strength until she sleeps.

As he waits for sleep to take him, his thoughts race in ever tightening circles, leaving him feeling completely helpless.