Kate & Louis (2)
“I have Kate, you know that,” he replied gently. She snorted. “She is a child!” She stomped her foot several times. “Stop it,” he said tiredly. She regarded him with smouldering anger. “You will regret this!” Then she stormed out of the house and slammed the door. A few days later, Kate disappeared. Louis panicked. At first he hadn’t been worried on learning that she went for one of her walks along the streets, but by night, he was worried sick when she didn’t appear. Where could she be? She didn’t know Tijuana well, her Spanish wasn’t fantastic, and it was most unlike Kate to pull such a trick on him. Next morning, Kate still hadn’t returned. Louis was chewed up with anxiety and went to lodge a missing persons report on realising that Kate hadn’t packed to go home. They split up to search. Louis knew Tijuana as well as Miguel, having spent a number of years here when he was still in a relationship with Isabel. All the possible places turned up blank. Miguel could say nothing to comfort his friend. It was during this worrying period that Louis actually realised just how much Kate really meant to him. It was strange how one only begins to cherish something when it is gone. A few days passed. No results, and the police provided no clues. Only Maria remained indifferent to Kate’s disappearance, and Miguel was too exhausted to berate her. Louis insisted on searching even when Miguel wanted to give up. His persistence paid off. One dusky evening, Louis spied Maria walking briskly down one of the quieter alleys and decided to follow her. Miguel then recalled having once seen his sister together with David, but had dismissed it as coincidence. Now, it was beyond doubt that Maria was meeting David, and they were hurrying towards the outskirts of town. The four, separated by a healthy distance, reached a rather deserted area that Miguel hadn’t realised existed in Tijuana. In the foggy distance they saw a small, dilapidated house, dimly lit, which Maria and David entered. The next few agonizing moments saw Miguel and Louis creep cautiously to the house so that they wouldn’t be noticed. Miguel had to clamp Louis’s mouth shut when they saw Kate, trussed up like a chicken, lying unconscious on the dirty floor. Maria kicked her with a booted foot, non too gently, and gestured to David to do what he was supposed to do. He refused, and placed the gun in her hand, telling her he didn’t want a murder charge on his head. Miguel was so surprised by his sister’s calm that he relaxed his hold over Louis, and the latter crashed into the house, startling Maria, causing her to drop the gun. “So it’s you.” Frost laced Maria’s expression. “Never imagined I’d be so clever, right?” “How could you?” Miguel said, anguished. Maria was surprised, not having noticed her brother’s presence. But she remained unperturbed. “I have to get rid of my rivals.” She stared with disdain at the unconscious Kate. “What is she? Nothing but a child. And she dared to fight with me for your love.” Her lovely eyes bore into Louis’s face. “I have to make sure she learns her lesson.” Louis didn’t seem to have heard her. His gaze remained on Kate’s limp form, his eyes filled with grief. “Isabel was your sister,” he whispered. Maria calmly picked up the gun. David had shrunk back into a corner of the house. She ignored him, but shook Kate awake and pointed the gun at her head. Kate’s groggy state only registered Louis’s infinitely gentle eyes upon her, until Maria cocked the gun and Kate became aware of the cold metal against her temple. “No, Louis mi amor, she was my rival.” Miguel gasped. “How could you?” he roared, rushing forward, stopped only by Louis’s firm grip on his arm, and Maria levelling the gun at his abdomen. “Do not think, Miguel, that I didn’t know I was adopted.” Maria’s eyes were bitter and her voice turned icy. “She had all the things I could never have. She even ensnared you, the bitch –” “You are not fit to insult her,” Louis replied calmly. Maria smirked. “Goddess of purity, was she?” she sneered. “The slut slept with all the men of Tijuana and you still think she’s a paragon of virtue.” “You probably had the pleasure of that particular feat,” Louis said pleasantly, though he did not smile and his eyes remained on Kate’s face. She gazed back at him and actually smiled. Maria was provoked into pressing the barrel of the gun harder against Kate’s temple. “Very well, you wish her dead. And I shall have the pleasure of finishing her off. After that, we can all go for dinner.” Kate was incredulous. The woman was nuts. She was talking as if nothing had happened, that she was not pressing a gun to Kate’s temple and about to shoot her dead. There was behind her a very small sound, very annoying, as if someone was scraping his shoes against the wall for fun. Maria was also annoyed. She turned to admonish David, who was making the noise, thus giving Miguel the chance to jump down on her and send the gun flying to the far end of the house. The ensuing struggle between Miguel and his sister allowed Louis to free Kate, with the help of the Swiss army knife that David always carried with him. But Miguel couldn’t bring himself to hurt his sister and she was soon back on her feet, gun in hand, warning him to step back. “Don’t do this,” he pleaded. “You’re begging me? I like that! It was exactly the way the slut begged me to let her off, but oh, I loved firing those shots.” Louis blanched. His heart constricted and his arm tightened painfully around Kate’s shoulders. Maria was boasting of how she shot Isabel 4 times in the abdomen, leaving Isabel to bleed to death. “Four shots, for each year she spent with you. I have been very magnanimous.” Louis closed his eyes. He was reliving the scene where paramedics stretchered Isabel into the waiting ambulance, her hand in his, her soft voice asking him not to grief for her death and to take care of Maria. His hands were filled with her blood. She died on the way to hospital. He had been inconsolable. Devastation now crashed in. “She asked me to take care of you!” he yelled hoarsely, startling everyone in the little house. Maria’s eyes filled with bitter memory. “I made her tell you that. Otherwise, how could I get to see you?” She choked back a sob, but the hand that held the gun remained steady as a rock. “But everytime you come back to Tijuana, you went to see her. What am I to you? Why did you never realise how much I love you, how much I want to be with you?” Her anguished voice and turbulent feelings struck a chord with Kate. The incomparable Isabel. She could not fight against that. Kate suddenly felt very defeated. Was she not like Maria in some way, only a little more fortunate that Louis’s feelings for her were more than platonic? Louis was too preoccupied with his own emotions. Isabel’s death had been too much for him to bear. To realise that Maria was the killer was the final straw. He let go of Kate, walked slowly towards Maria, who was staring incredulously at him and backing away, and motioned for her to kill him. “You want to join Isabel,” Maria realised. Louis continued his slow walk, forcing Maria to step out of the house. “Stop, or I’ll shoot!” she yelled desperately. “Louis!” Miguel, Kate and David shouted, to no avail. Kate darted forward to hold onto his arm, but he shook her off. Maria was now holding the gun with both hands, clearly unwilling to shoot Louis, but equally determined to stop his advance. Louis quickened his pace. Maria panicked, retreated and stumbled, got up and retreated some more. Louis continued coming closer, and Maria stumbled again. The gun went off. Louis collapsed onto the ground, a bright red stain blossoming on his white shirt. Kate was sobbing as she dashed forward to hold him in her arms. Maria was so stunned that she sat dumbly on the ground, her eyes on the unconscious Louis. Soon after, the sirens of the police and ambulance could be heard making their way to the deserted area. Maria and David were arrested. Kate and Miguel spent a sleepless night pacing up and down the hospital corridor. Several times Kate broke down in tears and Miguel had to comfort her. Finally at dawn, the surgeon informed them that he had extracted the bullet from Louis’s body, and that Louis was not in any danger. Kate and Miguel shared a celebratory hug. The wound had been quite close to the heart. Louis was still unconscious, but the nurse assured them that this was normal, and advised them to get some rest as Louis would take several days to wake. Miguel went to see his sister. He reported that Maria was unrepentant about Isabel’s murder, but horrified at having shot Louis. David confessed to kidnapping Kate, but was willing to testify against Maria to get a lighter sentence. He hadn’t known about Maria’s role in Isabel’s death, and had been coaxed into kidnapping Kate to hurt Louis. Maria also admitted to vandalising the tombstone in a bid to bring Louis to Mexico to see her. Miguel’s parents were upset and shocked. They hadn’t realised they had been feeding a murderer under their roof. Kate stayed with Louis. She had been unharmed throughout the episode. Sometimes Miguel came and chatted with her. Sometimes he came with his girlfriend and parents, but usually Kate was alone with her fear that Louis would not wake. Or that when he did, he would no longer want to be with her. Louis awoke after seven days. His wound still hurt, his head felt like lead, and he was a mite disappointed to see Miguel sitting patiently by his bedside. He had thought Kate would be there. “She wanted me to be here when you woke,” Miguel said, smiling with relief. “She’s left?” “Tried to stop her. You two need a good talk.” Louis tried to get up, but Miguel restrained him. Louis looked into his friend’s warm brown eyes, a million questions burning on the tip of his tongue, but he didn’t say anything. Miguel didn’t volunteer any more information either. He was impatient to be up. Miguel came by almost everyday to make sure he didn’t sneak off elsewhere in search of Kate. When the doctor finally pronounced Louis fully recovered, the two friends went to pay a visit to Isabel’s grave. Louis broke down and sobbed. In front of Isabel, he never tried to hide his feelings. She would know how much he loved her, missed her, how he longed to have her back, how wretched he felt at not being able to prevent the tragedy from happening. Miguel was silent. He was always struck by the intense love that Isabel and Louis had shared. He didn’t feel very optimistic for Kate now. On the way home, Miguel asked Louis how he really felt about Kate. Louis sighed. He didn’t know how to answer a question like that. Three years hadn’t dimmed his love for Isabel, yet he knew he felt something special for Kate too. “Perhaps it’s not the right time for us to be together.” Miguel was thoughtful. “Well if you do get together, please tell her my sister wasn’t as perfect and incomparable as Kate thought she was. Isabel was human and had her flaws.” He tucked his hands into his jeans pockets. “You should know that very well.” Louis stared pensively into the fading sunset. “I never knew Kate felt that way.” “Well, she does. And I can assure you, it’s a deep-seated feeling nobody likes to have.” Louis mustered up a smile. “I’ll see what I can do.” They didn’t see each other for six months. Kate found a job which kept her busy, and Louis stayed in Tijuana for a while. He visited Maria once, assuring her he was fine and didn’t blame her for accidentally shooting him, but otherwise refused to concern himself with her trial anymore. As part of his escapism plan, he backpacked to South America for three months, then went to Mediterranean Europe for another three. Kate received assurances from Miguel that Louis was fine, and was glad in a way for the separation from Louis. She also felt the need to do some proper thinking about their relationship. A tired Louis turned up at Kate’s house at midnight, determined to thrash things out with her. Kate’s father, who was still up, was very surprised to see him. “It’s fantastically late, are you so eager to see my daughter?” he asked, amused. Louis smiled and apologised, but said he really must see Kate. Her father laughed, invited him in, and insisted he have a drink before going upstairs. Kate was already asleep when Louis silently opened the door to her bedroom. Gingerly he sat down on her bed and smoothed her long, dark hair. He watched her as she slowly awoke, then smiled and greeted her with a kiss on her lips. Kate bolted upright. “Louis!” He laughed. She hugged him hard and kissed him back. Then she sat back, a frown on her face. “If it’s bad news, I don’t want to know.” Louis ignored her, proceeded to tell her all about his trip. He described the beauty of the various South American countries, and how he sampled the different types of food in the countries he’d visited. He showed her the souvenirs he’d bought, and put around her neck a beautiful silver necklace he’d bought in Rome. She especially liked the silver pendant in the shape of the letter “K”. As he continued, she got nervous and fidgety, wanting to stop him yet restrained herself with great effort. If this was a prelude to breaking up, she didn’t want to know. Louis noticed her expression and couldn’t help a silent laugh. As he continued on the sights of Greece, he had to visibly refrain from bursting into laughter. He couldn’t help thinking how adorable she looked, with her lips puckered up in anxiety, her fists clenching and unclenching, and right now all he wanted to do was to give her a long and reassuring hug. He finally stopped and Kate let out a huge sigh of relief. Annoyed at his insensitivity, she got off the bed and stood at the door, arms folded. “I want to sleep.” Louis raised his eyebrows politely. “Oh?” he asked, a hint of amusement in his voice. “Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer me to make love to you?” Kate’s jaw dropped. Then she leaped into his arms and Louis had a bit of trouble steadying himself as he held her tightly, his face buried in her hair. “What does this mean?” she whispered. “This means I love you and I want to be with you, and if you don’t…” he pretended to shudder, and she hit him. “Jerk! You knew it all along!” He put her down and regarded her seriously. “Frankly, I don’t. I don’t know if you still want to be with me after all that’s happened, and Miguel tells me you feel insecure about my feelings for Isabel…” Kate fell silent for a while. “I would like to hear how you feel about this,” she said, a tad too formal for Louis’s liking. “I will be honest,” he replied. “I still love Isabel, and I can’t forget her. She and I shared too much during our four years together for me to discard her that easily from my memory. Neither do I want to forget her. “But, my feelings for her are different from how I feel about you, simply because you and her are two different people. Right now, my feelings for you are very strong, and I’m certain I love you. I came too close to losing you, and I don’t want to go through that again. Kate, I love you and I want to be with you. I make no promises about forever, that’s bullshit, but I can do all in my power to make sure you don’t have to feel insecure about my feelings for Isabel…” She cut him off. “It’s very hard for me to stand here listening to you speak of your love for Isabel.” “It’s equally difficult for me knowing how much you love Raul and Alex Del Piero,” he countered softly. She protested. “They’re different!” He was sarcastic. “They’re alive, Isabel is dead. We happen to consider them paragons of virtue. How different can that be?” “You had a lot of memories with Isabel,” she said hotly. “I don’t believe the depth of love you feel for someone is dependent on the amount of memories created,” he replied calmly. “Moreover, this is no mere infatuation with a famous football player, is it?” She folded her arms and looked stubborn. “I’m not sure you can do what you’ve said,” she muttered, feeling depressed. A hint of a smile touched Louis’s lips. “Underestimating me or yourself?” Kate raised her head, her eyes bleak, not at all hopeful. “Can we really do it?” Louis closed the distance between them, gathered her in his arms and held her tight. “I know we can.” ”It will be difficult,” Kate murmured. “Yes, but with mutual effort, it’ll be less painful.” She raised her head, a tentative smile on her lips, her eyes lighting up for the first time since he entered her room. He kissed her deeply, and she felt the first stirrings of hope for the continuation of their relationship. Surely they couldn’t be faulted for trying to move on with their lives, could they? After a long while, they broke apart and there was a mischievous glint in Louis’s eyes. “Shall we go downstairs and tell your father the good news? I’m sure he’s quite worried about my turning up on your doorstep at midnight.” Kate laughed. “I can think of better things to do. Didn’t you say you wanted to make love to me?” “Ah, making love,” Louis savoured the feel of the phrase. “Are you sure we needn’t inform your father that I’ll be staying overnight?” Kate hit him, laughing. “Shut up and begin.” Louis didn’t move, but folded his arms and regarded her curiously. “Before I begin, can you finally tell me now that you’re ‘El Zorro’?” Kate rolled her eyes. “You already know, so why bother?’ “I want to be sure. I want to know for certain that you’re the one who drove me nuts every week with all those intelligent, and sometimes sarcastic, commentaries of the games.” She laughed. “It’s me, and I didn’t tell you because I was certain you wouldn’t have accepted it.” ”I did dismiss the possibility that it was you,” he admitted, blushing. “But I realised there wasn’t anyone other than you who can drive me nuts over both football and our relationship.” “Isabel didn’t like football?” she asked softly. He smiled. “She preferred tennis and hiking.” It was a small sign that they could discuss touchy issues without flinching. She smiled brilliantly at him. “Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, can you begin?” He laughed and kissed her. “With pleasure.”
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Copyright © 2001 Roxanne Kendrick |