What They Don't See

Chapter 25 - stronger than a sword

 Words are stronger than a double-edged sword.

Later that day, as the family was finishing up an early dinner, Kate's phone rang for the hundredth, or maybe just the third, time that day.

"Bonjour? Est-ce que tout est réglé ? Bien. Il sera là dans deux jours," (Hello? Is everything set? Good. He'll be there in two days.) Kate spoke into the phone, ignoring the odd look Logan shot her. It always startled her when she remembered he spoke french.

"Who's going where?" Logan asked once she put her phone down.

"Max. He's going over to Paris to start his new job," Kate replied, loud enough for the whole table to hear.

"So everything's set then?" Max asked from across the table. 

Kate nodded.

"Your ticket and visa have been sorted, and you're expected over there in two days," Kate told him.

"You gave- got my brother a job?" Logan asked, the grip on his fork tightening. 

Kate nodded.

"Sara, Tom I hope you don't mind. I saw his work on those bikes and just knew his skills were needed all over the world," Kate spoke, looking over at both parents.

"Oh, it's no problem at all. Max is a grown man, he can make his own choices," Tom replied, clearly thrilled at this opportunity.

Yes, it's great. But may I ask, how did you get a visa in the span of a few hours?" Sara asked curiously. She had been asking difficult questions all day, but at least this one was one Kate could answer honestly, if not a bit vague like the others. 

"My family has some connections in the emigration and tourist department of the government. It's how they solved my visa problem so quickly. They deal with incoming and talk to other governments about outgoing."

Logan, on the other hand, seemed less excited about this. But he kept quiet as his parents congratulated Max and thanked Kate. In fact, after mumbling a brief congratulations to his brother, Logan didn't say anything for the rest of the meal.

Sara tutted at him for behaving like a jealous twat, but said nothing further. 

As soon as dinner was over and the rest of the family gathered in the living room, Logan dragged Kate out of the house, mumbling something about showing her the stables.

"What exactly did you do?" he asked as they walked into the burn. It looked just like the movies, Kate noted, with the read boards of wood on the outside, with a white cross sitting on the door. Inside, the floor was covered in hay, and the horses stood in their individual stalls, many with their heads sticking out and watching the couple with one eye. Outside a few of the stalls, stood a pile of tack that had not been put away. 

"I gave him a job. He's going to be our new mechanic," Kate replied as she glanced around the building. She could sense the anger Logan was trying to contain.

"Why would you do that?" Logan yelled.

"Because he asked me for the job," Kate calmly replied. She knew how to handle an angry man; she had years of practice after all. The fastest way to make the whole conversation explode would be to yell back. For now, she would assess the issue from a safe distance. 

"And you just gave it to him? Without asking me?" he shouted, her calm tone somehow making him angrier.

"Yes! He has the qualifications, and his background means he's perfect. He'll fit right in! I don't need to consult you!" Kate yelled back, her restraint finally breaking. She didn't like being questioned. If there was one thing that hit a nerve for her, it was someone questioning her authority in any given situation. 

"And what if he gets hurt? You know that would be on your head right?" he shouted turning to look at her from the other side of the stable he had been pacing around in.

"Are you kidding? I know it would be on my head! Logan, do you know how many men I have working under me? Each and every one of them is my responsibility! If any one of them gets hurt it's on me! Just like it always is! Don't talk to me like I don't know the consequences of my actions! I am very much aware! Trust me," she shouted back, for once not caring who could hear her. Tears threatened to fall as Kate pictured Luc's face in that moment. No one could ever say that she didn't take the consequences of her actions. That was something she had been doing all her life, whether she liked it or not. 

"But that's the thing! I can't trust you can I?" Logan replied.

"What?" she asked, her voice a whisper that echoed around the room and then came back to her. Kate felt like she had been stabbed.

"If you can go and do this behind my back, go and recruit my brother of all people behind my back, what wouldn't you do? I clearly don't know anymore!" If Logan had stopped pacing for a moment and looked at Kate, really looked at her at that moment, he would have seen how those words affected her.

In Kate's life, trust was everything. Without trust, people died. To hear that this man that she was beginning to think she loved, say that he didn't trust her, chilled her to the bone. It terrified her because she had seen the consequences of not trusting. She had seen men die because their partners did not trust them. And she knew, even in that moment, that that would never be her. She would rather die. 

"You're right. Maybe I can't be trusted. Maybe all those people that have entrusted me with their lives are wrong, and at any moment I could decide to throw all their lives away. Either way, I guess I'm wasting my time here. I should probably go squander more lives," Kate finally spoke, her words finally getting Logan's attention, cutting through his anger-induced haze. 

But it was too late. 

He paused in his pacing just in time to see that she was gone. She had stepped into the darkness just outside the barn.

A moment later Logan heard the car they came with start from somewhere in the darkness. Her words finally sunk in as it drove off, and Logan's heart stopped.

What did I just do? He thought to himself as he stared out into the darkness.