Always A Pleasure || H.S. [COMPLETE]

Forty-Nine

That Friday night, Mr. Bates drove Katherine to the Tribeca apartment he shared with his wife to spend the evening with them. The moment Katherine met Mackenzie Bates, she knew the two of them would be fast friends. She was sweet and inviting, immediately giving Katherine a hug, telling her she had been so excited to meet her for some time.

And Katherine was pleasantly surprised to see that Mrs. Bates was more than a little pregnant. If Katherine had to guess, she would say about seven or eight months along. She was nearly bursting.

"You never told me you two were expecting," Katherine said to Mr. Bates, her eyes wide with an excited smile on her face.

"You didn't?" Mackenzie queried, looking over at her husband.

"I don't usually speak about my personal life at work," he said with a shrug.

"Well, you work with her everyday. I figured you would have told her," his wife pointed out, laughing lightly.

A droll smirk turned up his lips, "I apologize."

"No. It's okay," Katherine chuckled, smiling amusingly at the couple.

"My wife is pregnant," Derek announced a moment later, looking straight at Katherine, causing both women to laugh out loud.

"Congratulations. To both of you. How exciting," Katherine said enthusiastically as they both thanked her, "Do you know what you're having? Or are you waiting to find out?"

Mackenzie looked over at her husband and smiled as he nodded his head.

"We haven't told very many people, but we're having a boy," she disclosed with a wide, energetic smile.

"Oh, that's so amazing. Babies are so much fun," Katherine gushed, doing her very best to shove down her thoughts about her miscarriage and how badly she wished things were different for her.

"They are. We're very excited," Mackenzie told her, "We just finished the nursery."

"Really?"

"Mm-hmm. Derek just put the crib together two nights ago."

"Handyman," Katherine quipped, smiling over at Mr. Bates and he sent her a bashful, sideways smirk.

"Would you like to see it? The nursery is my favorite room in the whole apartment at the moment. My little safe space," Mackenzie said, rubbing a hand over her robust belly, "I can't wait to bring our baby home."

"I would love to," Katherine told her, feeling delighted for the both of them to become parents.

"Mackenzie has been working day and night on it," Derek boasted, smiling at his wife.

"It's been quite the project. But I've been very into it. I'm in the nesting phase right now, you know. Third trimester."

"Why don't you two go to the nursery and I will grab some drinks. Miss Mason, what would you like?"