And when it comes to Katherine and others, the joyful party came to an end after some squabbling in
their private room. Marshall had drunk some glasses of wine, so he found himself a surrogate driver.
Kyle stumbled smugly to the club across the street, the wide sleeves of his pajamas waving in the wind.
This would be a busy time for the club, in front of which were parked a myriad of cars, and a valet was
busy bowing to everyone walking through the door. Kyle walked up to the valet and patted him on the
shoulder rather seriously.
Katherine was observing all this as she asked Marshall, “How come you’d know someone like him?”
Giving her a quick glance, Marshall shot back, “And how come you‘d know someone like him?”
“Well,” answered Katherine, “I met him through Hector, who’s a good friend of his. You could say that I
piggybacked on Hector’s popularity.”
Marshall turned around and got into the car.
After Katherine bid Hector farewell, she called to Margaret, “Let us drive you home. We can’t leave a
lady alone at night. You know, it is not safe..”
As she and Margaret went into the car, Katherine rolled down the window to wave at Hector, the smile
on her face forcing Marshall to look away.
“And you know it isn’t safe for a woman to be out by herself,” said Marshall, after the car had pulled
away from the curb. His voice was faint, but the sarcasm was strong.
Katherine frowned and clicked her tongue. She had half a mind to snap back at Marshall with the same
sass she had used on Kyle, but since Margaret was still in the car, she held it back.
The car arrived first in Margaret’s neighborhood. Margaret exited the car as she was expressing her
endless thanks to Katherine.
“No biggie,” Katherine said, waving a hand, “Let’s hang out some more when we have time.”
Margaret was happy to hear that, agreeing with her profusely.
The car pulled away after Margaret went safely inside, and nobody said anything on the ride home.
Katherine got out of the car as soon as it stopped at the house, and she went directly inside without
even a word.
Marshall, on the other hand, paid the driver’s fares, and only went in after having a smoke, by which
time Katherine had long gone upstairs.
Marshall stood by a window downstairs, looking at the yard.
The phone in his pocket buzzed a couple of times. It had actually been buzzing throughout their drive
home, and he could just tell who the calls were coming from.
Mrs. Grant was bound to make complaints after her humiliation earlier today, but Marshall didn’t want to
hear from her. In fact, had she not been his mother, he wouldn’t even consider looking at her twice. She
was annoying, plain and simple.
The phone buzzed on, and Marshall had no other options than to pick up.
“Can you talk?” asked Mrs. Grant without preamble.
“Uh, yes. Go ahead.” Said Marshall.
And went ahead Mrs. Marshall did, as she spilled out a long stream of words. “How did Katherine meet
Kyle? Did you introduce them to each other? They looked chummy and Kyle was pretty protective of
her today. What’s the nature of their relationship exactly? Marshall, you should know better than I do
who Kyle is. Does he seem like the kind of guy that is nice to people for no reason? Didn’t you hear
about the gossip of some girl that was close to him? And what happened to her, huh? Getting herself
caught at his nightclub and whatnot. I mean, think about it, and now he’s getting close with Katherine!
Boy, you gotta watch out…”
Marshall put down the phone, and could still hear her voice coming from the other end.
Mr. Grant wasn’t a chatty person, and neither was Marshall, both of whom preferred quietness. But
what did they have instead? Mrs. Grant and Katherine Jordan. A most gabby lot.
Mrs. Grant had gone through a whole spiel without hearing anything from her son. “Hello? Hello? Are
you listening at all?”
Marshall picked up the phone again. “I didn’t introduce Kyle to Katherine. Just like you, I also didn’t
know about their acquaintance until today, and just like you, I was quite surprised.”
Mrs. Grant paused, her voice laden with confusion. “How is it possible that she got to meet him all by
herself, with that status of hers?”
Marshall didn’t want to talk about it. He was a bit irritated today. The irritation had started early in the
morning, and had started to slowly fade away after he spent the afternoon with Clara talking about
work. But as soon as he saw Katherine in the evening, the feeling of irritation came roaring back and
persisted through the night.
Mrs. Grant sounded worried. “Your and Kyle aren’t exactly tight friends. And he’s such an erratic guy,
too! There’s nothing he won’t do, since he’s the kind of person to scream at his own father. Truly I’m
worried that he’d be bewitched by Katherine and turn against you and…”
“Mom,” said Marshall with a chuckle, “you’re majorly overthinking it. First of all, that doesn’t sound like
something Katherine would do. Secondly, how would she ‘bewitch’ anyone?”
“She’s quite the looker,” Mrs. Grant replied, unwilling to let it go.
Then, she said, “I would never have gotten you involved, much less agree to your marriage with her, if
she weren’t kinda pretty.”
“Let’s not go there,” said Marshall with a sigh, “there’s no point in talking about it now.”
Mrs. Grant knew that, too, so she smacked her lips together with resignation. “You’re right. I’m afraid
we ruined your life, Marshall.”
That was not entirely true. And Marshall didn’t blame anyone. After all, he had agreed to the marriage
himself, and had he not, it was not like anyone in his family would have handcuffed him to the altar at
the city hall. So, he had mentally prepared for everything that had happened, and he didn’t assign
blame.
“No, you didn’t,” said Marshall, “and my relationship with Katherine is also not what you think it is.
Additionally,” added Marshall, “you shouldn’t have insisted today, mom.”
He was talking about the fact that Mrs. Grant insisted on Katherine bringing over a friend, which the
older lady had done intentionally to humiliate the younger. Marshall knew it full well, and had he not
known that Katherine would bring Kyle Haverford, he would have stopped this. But he didn’t, because
he wanted Kyle to show up in support of Katherine.
Mrs. Grant was a little too joyful at dinner, and let a few things slip when she compared Katherine with
Clara. She wasn’t trying to be obvious, but her contempt for Katherine was still pretty apparent.
Marshall didn’t like that. It was one thing for Mrs. Grant to talk about it with him privately, but to talk like
that in front of so many people wouldn’t be fair to Katherine. So, Marshall thought, Kyle might as well
come over. At least Kyle’s presence could warn the Hendersons against dismissing Katherine too
quickly.
Mrs. Grant felt kind of uncomfortable when she heard Marshall say that. She had planned to embarrass
Katherine today, but it seemed that it was she herself who got embarrassed. On the way home, Mr.
Grant had given her a lecture on how she behaved imprudently and with complete disregard for the
occasion. Mr. Grant hadn’t sounded angry or severe, his speech strictly sticking to the event of the
evening. But Mrs. Grant could tell that he was upset, which he had seldom been before.
“I acted thoughtlessly today,” replied Mrs. Grant with a sigh, “and your father has talked to me about it
already. To humiliate Katherine in front of anyone that’s not family is to embarrass you, I know that
now.”
“Mm-hmm,” said Marshall, “because despite what we might think among ourselves, to everybody else,
Katherine IS my wife, and we are a team.”
Mrs. Grant said weakly, after a couple of seconds, “You seem more protective of Katherine than
before.”
“Do I?” asked Marshall, surprised.
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