Alistair sat in silence as Katherine cried on his shoulder. Her sobs had turned to a gentle weeping, and still, Alistair said nothing. When the weeping turned to sniffles, he handed her a handkerchief and waited while she mopped her face. He watched her carefully when she stood and walked toward the mirror to fix her makeup.

Katherine studied her reflection. Her face was familiar, but who was looking back at her? She had always assumed it was pieces of her mother and George, but now it was a stranger. Someone she had never met was her father. Did she look like him? Was he even alive?

"You don't have to figure it out today or even tomorrow, Katherine," Alistair's voice was gentle.

Katherine nodded as she started cleaning her eye makeup off her cheeks.

"I love you, Katherine," Alistair reassured her.

"I know," she replied, her voice soft. At least somebody did.

Katherine finished her makeup and then turned to face Alistair. She had to ask, but she was sure she already knew the answer. He wasn't asking questions, which meant he knew more than she did.

"You met and talked with my mother before she died?" Katherine tried to clear the lump from her throat.

"I did. My last night at the house, after you fell asleep, she and I had a nice visit." Alistair stood and walked toward her, towering over her so that she was forced to tilt her head up to look at him.

He was so close. She could feel his heat and smell him. She had missed him.

"You recommended your father to draw up a new will?"

He nodded. "Dora told me a story and shared a few of her fears. She knew George would do his best to keep anyone outside the family from meeting with her, and she needed help. She knew what she wanted and only needed help to make it happen."

"And you helped her?" Katherine's voice broke. She was pleased that Alistair had helped, but she was also hurt that her mother hadn't let her help.

"She didn't want you involved. She wanted you to be just as surprised as everyone else so your father couldn't use it against you," Alistair explained, reading her thoughts. "Dora was a smart woman."

"She told you about George, didn't she?" Katherine looked at Alistair's shirt buttons, unable to meet his eyes. "Was that the story she told you?"

He lifted her chin, forcing her to look at him. "She did. She admitted to being too scared to tell you. I don't believe that she knew how bad it was between you and your father, and she hoped up until the time of her death that you would never find out the truth. I think that was why she left you everything, hoping he would keep playing the doting father."

Katherine snorted. "He was never that!"

"No, but you never told her that, and neither did your father. The story she told me about your and his relationship was very different from reality. You ended up hurting only yourself in your attempt to spare her feelings." Alistair's words were harsh, even if softly spoken, and Katherine jerked her head away from his grasp.

"So, it was my fault!" She closed her eyes at the pain of it. "Where you ever going to tell me?"

"It wasn't your fault, but a little honesty would have changed events dramatically. She hadn't been happy in her marriage for a very long time, but she stayed because she thought you and your sisters were secure." His words were like knives. "She told me to tell you if I ever thought the time was right."

"She knew I wasn't happy. She knew I wanted out, and she helped me escape!" Katherine denied that her mother thought she was completely happy. "You should have told me!"

"Dora believed that George was overprotective, which was why he wouldn't let you go. She had no idea that he was keeping you close through manipulation and guilt because of the money, and up until recently, maybe even today, I don't even think you truly believed it." Alistair followed a pacing Katherine with his eyes. "I didn't tell you because I didn't think I should be the one to do her or George's dirty work."

"She must have known why he was keeping me close to some extent because she left me everything." Katherine shook her head.

"Perhaps, but we'll never really know, will we? Maybe she's the master manipulator and smarter than the rest of us. Her sad story got me to do what she wanted." He shrugged at the thought, not particularity bothered by the fact that he may have been used.

"That doesn't bother you!" Katherine spun to look at him.

"No, because it helped you. Sure, today hurts, and it will hurt for a while, but your mother made you a powerful woman and handed you all you will ever need in one fell swoop while ensuring that you sisters will stay in your life." Alistair reached for her and pulled her against him so forcefully that all the air was pushed from her lungs.

"I know you have a lot of questions, but now we need to put this aside, and you need to join us for lunch. You need to go out there as if nothing happened." Alistair pushed her hair off her shoulder and placed his hand on her neck, feeling her pulse speeding up significantly at his touch.

"How do you propose that I do that!" she insisted, looking into his sky-blue eyes.

"By looking like you've just been kissed," he whispered against her lips before he kissed her. It was a kiss of desperation, as if he feared it would be the last.

When he broke it, Katherine looked at him with wide bewildered eyes.

"I can see you're still thinking," he said before he took her lips one more time.

This kiss did make Katherine stop thinking. It made her stop breathing as she wound her arms around his neck, pushed her hands through his hair, and started to kiss him back, pushing him up against the wall while trying to get as close to him as possible. It was the first time she had ever taken control of a kiss.

This time when they came up for air, Alistair was the one who looked at her with wide bewildered eyes. Then it was as if the clouds parted and the sun came out as he grinned down at her.

The sight made her breath hitch. "You're right. We don't have to figure this out today," she agreed as she went in for another kiss, and Alistair was all about it as he let her take charge.

However, the time came when they had to join the others, and he broke the kiss. When Katherine went to fix her makeup, he wouldn't let her as he pulled her out of the restroom and across the crowded restaurant toward a table that was already the center of attention.

"Nice," Cassie giggled as she straightened Alistair's tie when he sat next to her.

"Here, you have a little lipstick..." Laura passed him his napkin.

If Alistair looked that askew, she must look the same.

"Don't do a thing, dear. You look charming, and wear that just been kissed look better that Alistair does," Mason said as he reached over and patted her hand.

"So, Mason, how did the three of you get here so quickly?" Davis asked as the server took Alistair and Katherine's drink order.

"The restaurant rule," Mason said.

"The restaurant rule?" Wyatt asked. "I don't think that I've heard of this one." He leaned back in his chair, creating a relaxing vibe for the others to follow. He was a master at body language.

"Yes, it was created by...." Mason searched his memory for the origin.

"Bryce," Cassie provided.

Mason shrugged. "If you say so. Someone had a business meeting-"

"Bryce," Cassie said again, and Mason shot her a haughty look for interrupting.

"Fine! Bryce!" he said through clenched teeth, and the others tried to hide their smiles. He wasn't really upset, but he was playing it well.

"Bryceeeee," he drew it out, "had a business meeting, but too many of us tagged along, and no business was conducted. This frustrated my dear brother, so a rule was created that no more than four Stevens could attend any business meeting together. We knew-"

"We knew that Laura and Beth were meeting with Katherine, but we also knew that Trisha would be here with her new toy boy-" Cassie cut Mason off, eager to tell the story herself.

Katherine started choking on her drink that had been served moments earlier at hearing George described as a toy boy. "Sorry," she said between coughs.

"Which meant that something was going to go down, so we were at the restaurant two doors down just in case." Cassie finished in a rush as Beth patted Katherine on the back.

"So you already knew about my – about George?" Katherine looked at Alistair with an accusing glance.

"No, dear, we had no clue, but Trisha tends to create drama wherever she goes, and one of her favorite people to create it around is Laura." Mason waved the server over. "I'm starving."

"Why only Laura?" Katherine asked.

"Oh, it's not just me," Laura appeared to be unfazed by Trisha's trouble-making, "she's even worse when Bryce is around. She thinks we're too stodgy-"

"She thinks you were both born with sticks up your asses," Davis grinned, and Laura shot him a look that would kill a lesser man.

"She enjoys trying to embarrass them whenever possible. It's great fun." Beth giggled.

"It's only because you're not on the receiving end of it," Laura sipped her drink.

"So, you mean it works despite how cool you play it!" Alistair hooted, and the entire table erupted in laughter.

"The only one it doesn't work on is your father!" Laura shook her head with a smile, taking the teasing in stride.

"The one that got away!" Mason lifted his glass to Trisha across the restaurant, and she blew him a kiss which only made them more noticeable.

"You mean Trisha and your father were together?" Katherine asked Alistair with a frown.

"Good lord, no!" Cassie laughed. "Bryce knows Trisha too well to ever take her seriously, and she was madly in love with her husband, but she likes to tease Bryce every chance she gets that if she had ever decided to win him, he would have been hers."

Katherine snuck a look over at the table where Trisha was holding court, entertaining George and her sisters, all of whom kept sneaking glances at Katherine.

"So, going back to this restaurant rule. I'm guessing there will be no business discussed today?" Wyatt asked.

"Not with Mason around," Laura said drily as the server arrived and took their order.

The rest of the meal was spent talking about the current goings on with the family, and it was an eye-opener for Katherine. The Stevens tried to arrange their schedules so that they could spend equal time with each other whenever possible. She had known that they were close, but not that close.

Toward the end of the meal, Trisha glided over all smiles with George and Katherine's sisters in tow.

"I am assuming that a good portion of your conversation revolved around me?" she asked, eyeing everyone with her charming smile.

"You know what they say about assumptions, Trisha," Mason winked. He was talking about the saying that 'assumptions make an ass out of you and me'. It was a play on words that Katherine had only heard a few times.

"It doesn't take much to make you an ass, Mason." Trisha smiled sweetly.

"Ouch!" Mason clutched his heart.

"I came over to ensure you all will be at my barbecue and rodeo fundraiser in Virginia next month. It's for a good cause, and I need your names and your money to support the Livingston Scholarship fund." Trisha patted Davis on the shoulder. "It'll give you all a chance to rodeo. I know how much you all love that."

Katherine refused to look at George, but she smiled at her sisters, who gave her hesitant smiles in return.

"Trisha, why don't you introduce everyone?" Alistair suggested as he leaned back and placed his arm possessively across the back of Katherine's chair.

Trisha looked at the girls, eyeing Cassie and Mason eagerly, then at George, who looked like he had just sucked a lemon.

"George, Jessie, Jillian, and Jackie, this is everyone. Everyone, this is George, Jessie, Jillian, and Jackie." Trisha turned to Alistair. "How was that?"

"It was one hundred percent you, Trisha." Laura smiled.

"I have somewhere I need to be." She nodded at the table and then turned to leave, her little party following her like ducklings out of the restaurant.

"Trisha!" Mason lifted his glass, and the others followed his lead.

"I wasn't going to go to the fundraiser." Beth sighed in resignation.

"Then don't go," Katherine responded with a frown.

They all stared at her as if she had grown a second head.

"You have much to learn, my child," Mason sighed, then he clapped his hands. "Who wants dessert? Laura's buying."

It was another hour before Alistair put Katherine in a taxi with a kiss on her cheek and sent her home.