Daughters of the Lake(19)

Kate was stunned. It had all happened so quickly. He didn’t know her family; she didn’t know his. She knew that he had grown up with a father who was in the military, but she didn’t know he’d attended fifteen different schools before he graduated from high school. She didn’t know anything about his early years, a life that consisted of making friends and losing them, over and over again. Young Kevin had quickly learned—after watching through the back window of his father’s station wagon as countless best friends disappeared, only to reappear in the next town in the form of some other boy just his age—that people were replaceable.

During his childhood, Kevin had honed the art of making friends quickly and deeply, in a frantic effort to create some sort of intimacy in his life before it was smashed to pieces when the family had to pack up and move to his father’s next post. After many years of this, it became easy for Kevin to create relationships. Sustaining them was another matter. He never had any practice at it. He simply left people behind as he began new phases of his life, knowing that someone else would arise to take their places. But Kevin never thought consciously about these things, or how they might impact a marriage. He was not a deep thinker. So when he asked Kate to spend the rest of their lives together, he had no idea he was proposing the impossible.

Kate did not know any of these things that day on the dock as he sat next to her with a ring in his hand, but she knew there was only one response to his question. She couldn’t imagine a life without Kevin in it. Unlike his, Kate’s close relationships lasted a lifetime.

She said yes, he slipped the ring on her finger, and they sat on the dock together for hours, staring at the sun glinting off the water’s surface and talking quietly about the rest of their lives, which, to both Kevin and Kate, had suddenly come into sharper focus.

Later, they wondered how they were going to broach the subject of their engagement at the office. Interoffice dating was forbidden, after all. And here they were, getting married. They both loved their jobs. How would they explain this? What would happen when the truth came out?

“I think we should call Stan right now and invite him to meet us at the Tavern,” Kevin said, referring to Stan Corrigan, the paper’s editor in chief. “We’ll tell him what’s been going on between us, ask for his blessing, and hope for the best.”

The meeting went better than they had hoped. Stan had no idea they were dating, but he seemed delighted to hear they were planning to marry.

“Kids, that’s great news,” he said, hugging them both and buying a round of drinks for the table. “A married team will probably stay around awhile,” he said, mostly to himself, it seemed.

Kate had the peculiar sensation that her dream life with Kevin had just been given legs and stepped into the cold world of reality. Stan knew. Soon everyone would know. It was real. It was happening. They decided to break the news to the rest of the staff on Monday.

Kate was nervous when she arrived at the office that morning. She found Kevin already sitting at his desk with the same kind of cool demeanor that had helped keep their relationship secret for the past three months. They exchanged cordial smiles.

The paper’s editorial staff always had a meeting first thing on Monday to talk about the coming week. Each department would lay out their editorial plans, discussing possible stories and angles. The staff was small enough and friendly enough that the meeting was also the forum in which they acknowledged birthdays and other important events in each other’s lives.

When it was Kate’s turn to speak, she talked about this story and that story, chasing this source and that photograph. Then she said, “I have something else to add. I had an exciting development happen over the weekend. I’m engaged!”

Kate’s news elicited, at first, open-mouthed stares from the staff, none of whom knew she was dating anyone. From there, the scene quickly evolved into a chorus of shouts and hugs. Everyone wanted to know, Who was the lucky guy?

“Kevin, maybe you could take it from here.” Kate smiled at her fiancé across the table.

More open-mouthed stares. Then cries, hugs, and shouts from the staff. It was a great moment for both Kate and Kevin, who were laughing and talking and telling the stories of how they’d had to keep their relationship secret.

Stan even got into the act, saying that everyone was invited to celebrate at the Tavern after work. “The first drink’s on the Gazette!” Stan cried.

For Kate, it was a relief to finally be able to show her true feelings for the man sitting next to her.

From that moment until their wedding day, Kate was caught up in the whirlwind that descends upon a newly engaged woman. Introducing her parents to the man of her dreams and announcing their engagement was as joyful an experience as she had ever had. First, disbelief, then the floodgates opened, along with several bottles of wine. Fred and Beverly toasted the young couple, welcoming Kevin into their family in the warmest possible way. Kevin’s parents, who had settled in a small town several miles away after his father had retired from the military, were similarly thrilled.

Then, it was on to the flurry of wedding planning—shopping for a dress, choosing the photographer (a young kid from the newspaper) and the florist, the music and the venue. Steak or chicken at the reception? Open bar or cash bar? When Kate finally walked down the aisle on her father’s arm toward the only man she had ever loved, she believed, deeply in her soul, that she was blessed. Now all that was left was to live the spectacular life that they had created for themselves.