Dance With Me - By Hayden Braeburn Page 0,4

I don't think they heard you in China,” Mason remarked.

Camryn's yell brought the elder Everetts downstairs quickly. “What's this about getting married?” Carolyn asked as she bustled into the room.

Kat didn't know what to do. She was used to being the center of attention when she was dancing or teaching, but she felt a little like a butterfly pinned to a board beneath the collective gaze of Mason's family. She clutched his hand a little tighter. “I can't do this,” she whispered.

“Of course you can, they'll love you,” he assured her before turning to his family. “Meet Katerina Nemeck. I just asked her to marry me today,” he met five pairs of eyes before continuing, “and I know you'll love her just as much as I do.”

Carolyn placed a hand on her chest. “Honey, we didn't know you were seeing anyone.”

“We kept it quiet.” He pulled Kat tightly against his side. “Until now.”

“Well, boy, you've sure picked a pretty one,” Charles praised. “Now, let's eat.”

Really? That was all? She'd practically wet herself, and that was all. Mason's family was much more accepting than she'd expected. But they didn't know about her yet. Didn't know about her mother, didn't know about her debt. She prayed they would still be as accepting when they found out. She knew it was just a matter of time before they did.

~*~

Dinner was less formal than she'd expected, with Camryn regaling them with tales from Broadway, Caleb talking animatedly about the ER, and Cassidy telling them what she could about her latest case. Charles had spent much of the week on the golf course, and Carolyn was planning the Thanksgiving parade. They were all integral parts of the community. Wealthy, yet unpretentious. Kat found herself liking Mason's family and hoping that wouldn't change when her past came out.

“You own a dance studio?” Carolyn asked, drawing Kat into the conversation.

“Yes, Dance With Me. We've been open about three years now.” She swallowed the lump in her throat and decided she should lay everything out there. “I have to admit, I've run into some financial troubles in the last year or so.”

That perked Cassidy up. “What kind of troubles?”

“Nothing we can't handle,” Mason answered.

Kat shot him a look before she answered Cassidy herself. “Enrollments are down from previous years. I have to admit I'm behind on the mortgage.” She saw three mouths open to say something, but she forged on, “I love Mason. I'd love him if he had nothing, I–”

She was cut off by Charles' laughter. “Girl, no one here thinks you're after the boy's money.”

The widening of Cassidy's eyes showed that maybe she had, but she didn't say anything. Mason pinned his sister with a glare as he told them all, “Kat broke up with me a little while ago because I offered to pay her debts for her.”

This time it was Carolyn's laughter that bubbled up. She grabbed her husband's arm. “Charlie, tell her the story.”

Charles shook his head. “You tell it much better, buttercup.”

The collective groan of their four children made Kat giggle. “The story?” she asked, leaning toward her soon to be mother-in-law.

“Forty years ago, Charlie and I were high school sweethearts. His father hated me because I was from, well, we Masons weren't from the same “class” as the Everetts,” she began, complete with air-quotes. “Charlie told his father he could either accept that I was going to be his wife or he could stick it in his ear.” She stopped to shoot a smile at her husband, and Kat knew Charles had used much harsher language. “Curtis Everett kicked Charlie out and cut him off.”

The four Everett children, who had grown up with this story and the, 'You are no better than anyone else, and don't you forget it,' lectures looked slightly bored, but Kat gasped. “He kicked him out? What did you do?”

Carolyn flashed an indulgent smile before continuing. “We made do. His father didn't kick Charlie out completely. No, he made him work as a teller, a janitor, and absolutely every other job at the bank. I supported us for a long while, first as a receptionist at Kendrick & Gleason, eventually working my way up to Mr. Kendrick's executive assistant.”

“How many years until you were,” she stopped, searched for a word with no luck, “un-cut off?”

“When Charlie finished his degree in finance, the gift from his parents was to reinstate him in the will. It had taken six years of Charlie taking classes whenever he could to finish,