Kiss Me Cate Pt. 05

"I don't believe that's what she meant, besides she's obviously taken." We all laughed and he bent down and kissed Mom on the cheek. Dad poked up a small fire as we sat and talked. Mom finally getting down to the business of drilling Cate for information about Ireland.

"Away from the cities, yes it's just like it's portrayed, thatched roof homes and sheep or cattle blocking the roads." She said smiling. "I imagine it's similar out west here. Though the cities are modern. Dublin is home to a few of the big tech giants. So my field of study is definitely a benefit for that. Having my teaching certification is a bonus. It will give me something to fall back on since technology tends to rise and ebb a lot depending on the economy."

"What are your plans for the future?" Dad asked. Cate smiled nervously. It was a common question of students, but in our case it was a foggy apparition in front of us. Cate and I had touched on the subject a few times but always backed away, unsure of what our responses would mean to each other.

"I'm not exactly sure. I've worked and studied in a lot of places, Barcelona, Paris, Munich, London, New York, but I haven't found the job that holds me to any of them yet. I've only worked in three fields though so it's not as if I've run the gamut of possibilities yet either."

"You haven't been to Silicon Valley yet, we could try that after graduation." I said grinning.

"With the fog, rain and mild winters it would be a lot like home." Mom added.

I could feel Cate relax slightly. My parents question wasn't directed the way she had assumed. "What are your intentions for our wealthy young boy?" Wasn't the thought on their minds.

"I'd love to visit there some day." She squeezed my hand, a clear warning that if tickets to San Francisco miraculously appeared there would be consequences. "The wine country too."

"Well we have a bit of that here too. All you need to do is poke this one on a nice weekend to get you out of town. I don't know about you two but the cake has been in the back of my mind since it came out of the oven this afternoon. I'm going to slice into it."

"I can give you a hand, that's a lot of plates to carry." Cate stood and went with her into the kitchen.

"Wow, you hit the girlfriend lottery." Dad said softly. "She's terrific." I smiled.

"I certainly did." I said my gaze lingering on the doorway. "Take it easy on her though. Yes she knows, and no she doesn't care." Dad's eyebrows went up and a smile spread across his face.

"I didn't doubt. A first year assistant professor doesn't make enough for two airline tickets much less one."

"Yes, and she's already threatened me with bodily harm over it."

"I saw the warning grip when she said she'd like to see San Francisco."

"No matter how old we get, nothing gets by our parents." I laughed.

"Cate," Jill started softly, "I want you to know that I'm aware of what Dylan did for you. To give you a little background, once he sold his software, I insisted he create a will and appoint a power of attorney. He said he wanted me to do it, I wasn't keen on the idea at the time, but until such time as he selects someone else, I know about his finances. I have yet to question his judgement, and that includes what he did recently. I want you to know that it's confidential, only he and I, and his lawyer, who is unrelated to me professionally, know the requirements of the endowment he gave. Even his father doesn't know about it."

Cate stared at her open mouthed for a moment, then began breathing again with a heavy sigh. "If I'd known what he was up to I wouldn't have let him do it. I had no idea at the time, and then it was done. I'm not sure that I'm not still angry with him over it."

"I know, and that's why I'm happy to see that his judgement was sound." She paused. "The other thing I hope you understand is that there is no shame in what he did for you. He did it out of love, that's as clear as the nose on your face, freckles and all." She added smiling. "He may only be twenty-three but he's a wise old soul already."

"Jill, I want you to know that I'm not in it for anything but him." She held up a hand before Jill could respond. "We had a long talk last week and I told him it's not fair to me to put me in situations like that. I'm making my way, slowly, and it's confining to have all my decisions made for me like I'm a pawn on a chessboard. We talked about trust and honesty and communication. It felt very liberating to sit on his chest, quite literally, and telling him how I felt. I know I can never repay what he's done for me, and I truly am grateful, but I stated it as plain as this freckled nose on my face that he's not to do anything for me again without discussing it with me first." Cate smiled, color rising in her cheeks. "I warned him if he does anything more than pick up a coffee and danish for me without my knowledge it won't be me that feels emasculated, it will be him."

"Good. I like you Cate. You're the kind of girl to keep him in line and make him think before he acts. It would be too easy for him to allow the power of it to overtake him and think he can do anything without consequence because he can buy his way out of it. We'd better get the cake in there before they start to wonder what conspiracies we're coming up with."

Only scattered crumbs remained as evidence that the cake was ever present. The wine bottle was empty and things had quieted to small talk. Cate telling stories of her home life, and Christmases from her childhood. Mom regaling her with stories of me that I felt necessary to correct at every turn to improve my reputation.

Mom stifled a yawn, and said she was done in, and was ready for bed. We wished them a goodnight and Dad gave me the run down on banking the fire and turning off the lights on the tree before following her upstairs. A few minutes of silence past, Cate took a deep breath and blew it out slowly the tension leaving her as she did.

I laughed. "It wasn't that bad was it?"

She laughed too. "Not at all, that doesn't mean that it's not a bit frazzling to be on display and the focus of all the attention for an evening." She rested her head on my shoulder and I wrapped my arm around her and kissed her on the top of the head.

"Well it's done, now it's my turn to stew about it for the next few days." That made her laugh again.

"Then there's your brother tomorrow."

"You'll do fine, Jimmy will be on his best behavior with Pam here to keep an eye on him." I said laughing. "Otherwise I'd only allow him a handshake or he'd try to steal you away from me."

"I didn't stop to think of those." She said lifting her chin towards the stockings. "Think we might have time to run out and get a few little things?"

"We can see what we can find I'm sure, but we'd best be out and back early to be here when they arrive." I was quiet for a moment and smiled. "I remember, oh I think I might have been ten or eleven and there was a shiny new harmonica in my stocking. I drove everybody crazy with it for weeks. It disappeared sometime that winter, and I accused Jimmy of stealing it. Come to find out, years later, my Dad hid the thing. He said that buying it was the worst idea that he'd ever had."

Cate was shaking with laughter. "Not a music aficionado then?"

"He was, that's why he made it disappear." I laughed.

"Didn't learn any others?"

"No, I dabbled with a friends guitar a bit but never really got bitten by the bug."

"Hmm."

"Hmm? Are you a prodigy and I didn't know?"

"I wouldn't say prodigy by any stretch. I can play the piano."

"More than just chopsticks?"

"Well I'm sure I'm pretty rusty, it's been a while. Mum and Da have a piano, I'll prove myself soon enough."

"I thought it was Shannon was the musician. Did your family have its own band?"

"She's the one that pursued it, we all had some music. It's in the blood you know. We've a great tradition, singing, dancing and all." I could see the grin on her face.

"I can't wait."

It was Cate's turn for a jaw-cracking yawn, she barely covered it in time. I stood and banked the fire and closed the little glass doors on the fireplace, turned off the Christmas lights and reached a hand out to Cate, pulling her up off the sofa into my arms. "I think it's time to put you to bed."

"I like the sound of that." She kissed me. "I'm beat, I could probably sleep until noon." She feigned passing out and her head hit my shoulder, with a phony little snore.

"Don't you worry, I'm sure there will be enough going on that you won't make it past eight." I guided Cate, by the dying firelight, to the stairs and led her up to my room.

"I sort of expected more decoration, posters, banners that sort of thing." She said holding a picture of me in a hockey uniform from when I was eleven. "You said you weren't into sports."

"I wasn't shortly after that. I ended up getting injured the next year, I was in a cast for months. I ended up swimming to build up my strength and balance again. I liked swimming better anyway. I took a lot less beatings." I said with a laugh.

"You were a handsome boy." She said putting the picture back on the shelf. She looked over the few books and other things, picking up a baseball and setting it back on its stand.

"I still am." I said wrapping my arms around her and kissing her behind the ear.

"I'm well aware of that." She spun around and kissed me back. She scrunched up her nose a bit. "You don't mind do you? I am really tired."

"Want me to run you a bath?"

"I'd probably slip under the surface and drown." She responded with a smile. "I'll just grab a quick shower." She stepped out of her shoes and began undressing.

"If you want some sleep I'd best not witness this. I'm not sure I can trust myself." I said covering my eyes.

"Okay, but you'll miss the show." I spread my fingers just in time to see her unsnap her bra and take a deep breath. She rubbed the marks and stood, reaching into her bag and pulling out a smaller bag with her toiletries and her flannel pajama top. I smiled, she had stopped wearing the bottoms completely saying she stayed plenty warm with me to snuggle up to now. She slid her panties down and I let my hands drop to my sides, she put her hand on my shoulder to steady herself as she lifted them up with her toe. She looked me in the eye with a smile and tossed them over her shoulder onto the bed.

I growled softly. "If you wanted to sleep unmolested, you're going about it the wrong way Miss Murray." I took her in my arms and kissed her. She reached between us and unbuttoned my shirt pulling it free of my jeans with a tug. Things got heated quickly and we fell on the bed. We didn't waste time, I entered her swiftly as she attacked me with her mouth. We were both very aware of each sound and muffled them in each others kiss. I finished arching myself forward into her knowing I'd taken no care of her pleasure and greedily taken my own from her. I gasped, catching my breath. "I'm so sorry."

"For what?" She said with a breathy laugh.

"Well I just, I went hell bent for leather without, well you know, holding off, and well you didn't want to..." I said guilt dripping from my voice. I rested my head in the hollow of her neck.

"Yes, you've taken me in manly fashion, but now since I'm not sure I'll be able to stand on my own in the shower, you'll have to come and finish what you started." She leaned forward and grazed my ear with her teeth.

"I like the way you think."

"I had a feeling you might."

Our shower lasted longer than necessary as I did my best to completely undo Cate. She was barely able to hold her toothbrush after I was done. We climbed into bed and I turned out the light. Cate snuggled against me like a spoon.

"You know I was just thinking. This is the first time I've ever had a naked girl in my childhood bed."

Cate snorted, turned her face into the pillow and began laughing uncontrollably. She finally got herself back together and noted that not only did I have one, I did so with my parents blessing, and they were across the hall at the time. She turned her head toward me.

"Give me a kiss." I did as told. "Now go to sleep." She demanded.

"I thought that the prince always kissed the princess awake in fairy tales."

"You can gladly do that in the morning."

We made a hasty breakfast with my parents in the morning promising we'd be back well before lunch so as to not miss Jimmy and Pam's arrival. We found ourselves bundled up against the cold and walking amongst the little shops in town. They were doing a brisk business with the last minute shoppers, it being Christmas Eve I was not surprised to see a lot more men than women about. As it would have it, this was not just an American custom, but a human one Cate informed me.

"The day jewelry stores make a killing." I said, we both laughed at that. We stood in front of one now, a small boutique with handmade jewelry laid out in a window display.

"Have you met Pam? Do you know if she's got pierced ears?"

I shrugged. "I didn't notice, but it's hardly uncommon."

"Well it's just that I didn't consider them and figured something like that might work." She said pointing at a display of earrings on a velvet stand.

"What's she look like? Give me a mental picture." She said. I did better than that and pulled out my phone and brought up the social media app and showed her. "Well that answers that." She said smiling and we went into the shop. We found a hip flask with the local hockey teams logo for Jimmy. Something I was sure would see some action before the end of the season. Cate found a candy shop, I was beginning to think she had some other-worldly sense as to how to find them, and we bought a big box of chocolates to share later.

We made it home just after they arrived, greetings completed and people settled down and conversations began. Somehow we got separated and Cate was hauled off to chat with Mom and Pam, who was enamored with Cate already. I'm sure a lot of their talk would revolve around Cate's travels. At first Dad and Jimmy talked shop, the construction business, Jimmy eventually turned to me and asked how I was doing with school.

"Good, school is fine, I'm working a new program now too, other than that, same old same old."

He looked over my shoulder to where the women had gone. "Uh huh. Just another day in the neighborhood. How did you pull that off?"

"Pull what off?" I asked innocently. He gave me a look of long suffering and I laughed. "It was fate Jimmy me boy. I happened to be in the right place at the right time, twice. She couldn't help herself when I turned on my boyish charm."

"Dad, that woman is a cradle-robber. Did you call the cops?" Jimmy said grinning and mussed my hair. "She's a beauty Dylan, you're a lucky guy."

"She continually reminds me of that." We all laughed. The noise level rose as the ladies came back into the kitchen. Mom started tossing out orders at Jimmy and I to help her out. Cate and Pam both offered to help.

"Nope, I didn't raise these two to have a girl waiting on them, quite the opposite actually." Jimmy and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes eliciting giggles from the ladies. Dad beat feet out of the kitchen saying something about refilling the wood box for tonight.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dropped it on the speaker dock on the counter. "Jimmy, do you feel it? It's in the air." Jimmy grinned and nodded. "Mom? You feel it don't you?" Mom caught on fast and grinned and nodded. I tapped a few keys and Christmas songs started playing. I adjusted the volume and Jimmy started singing, and I joined in. We were singing like a bad karaoke act. Cate was grinning ear to ear and joined in on the next chorus. Jimmy and I started puttering around the kitchen and saw what Mom had planned, we put the leftover soup back on the back burner, and I started cutting vegetables for a salad as the next song began. Pam stopped laughing long enough to grab her phone and start recording us. Cate came around the counter and started piling the salad ingredients into the bowl.

"Dude, is this U2?" Jimmy asked. "I didn't realize they did a Christmas song."

I smiled and leaned over to kiss Cate, she paused long enough for a smooch and kept singing. When "I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus" came up in the playlist Dad walked in wearing a Christmas hat.

"This is so awesome!" Pam squealed as she backed up to see the song played out. Mom and Dad finally broke apart and he started setting the table. The playlist ended and we were all laughing out of breath.

"That was fabulous! Do you do this all the time?" Cate asked me looking around at all the smile.

"I wish we did." I said smiling. Lunch was a lively and animated event.

"Eat up, dinner is a late affair on Christmas Eve around here." I said to Cate, popping a tomato into my mouth.

She asked softly. "Do you go to midnight services?"

"We can, I haven't been in years. I'd love to take you." I said and kissed her nose. We spent the afternoon visiting, moving around the house. We snuck off to wrap the last few items and brought them down stuffing the last of the small items in the stockings while nobody was watching. Jimmy and Pam left for a short while to visit with friends while they were here, promising to be home for dinner.

Cate and I went for a walk the light waning even though it was only the middle of the afternoon.

"Everything is so spread out here. I keep forgetting how big it is." She said. "It must have been hard when you were younger, no neighborhood friends, chums to climb trees with and such."

"There were a few, things are pretty open out here but you'd be surprised how much ground a kid can cover on a bike. We'd come home scratched and bruised and covered in bug bites. We found stuff to keep us occupied. Funny I always thought it would be the end of the world to live in the city, all that concrete, buildings everywhere and no open areas."

"You'll like Dublin then. There are a lot of parks, though this time of the year there won't be much to see."

"Well we'll have to go back in the spring or summer then."

She turned a gimlet eye on me and kept walking. "I've still got a doctoral thesis to write. Don't forget that."

"I know, but there's going to be time, unless you take summer classes." I said shuddering, and not from the cold.

She laughed. "What do you in the summer then?"

"Well I did intern at a software firm in the city this past summer, it was amazingly boring."

"Not a lot of glamour in thousands of lines of code?"

"None at all. I should have started a torrid romance with a beautiful woman." I said wistfully. "Much sooner."

Cate laughed loudly at that. "Torrid, hmm? I'll have to find something with a bodice so you can rip it open. Is that it?"

"Absolutely! I'm not sure if I should be some kilted savage or a pirate though. Do you have any preference?"

Laughter still bubbled up. "Oh, kilted savage of course." She leaned in close and with a loud, conspiratorial whisper. "You know what they wear under a kilt don't you?"

I gasped in horror. "Don't they get cold?!"

"Takes balls of iron to wear a kilt in weather like this." She said shrugging her shoulders against the cold.

"Imagine the noise they'd make as they clanged together. It would sound like someone banging a horseshoe on an anvil." We turned the corner giggling and worked our way back to the house. Hot cocoa and cookies warmed us up as we sat at the kitchen counter.

"I don't know about you, but with a late night last night, and an expected one tonight, I was thinking a nap might be in order."

I looked side long at Cate, a smile spreading across my lips. She rolled her eyes at me. "I mean to actually sleep." She added with a whisper.

"I know," I whispered, "the look was for the 'late night last night' statement. As if you were the only one up late." I chuckled. I cleaned up and led her upstairs to the bedroom.