Pieces of Dreams (sequel to TWST)

Chapter 17

"And here I thought I was going to be able to hide this belly a little longer." Katia smiled.

"Sorry...I...wow...you look gorgeous." Paul finally managed to say.

"Thanks." She laughed.

"Will you excuse me for a minute?" Paul said to the men he had been talking to.

"Kat...I didn't expect to see you here...especially not with a baby on the way. Congratulations!" He said hugging her.

"It's been a long time." Katia said as they broke the embrace.

Early on, there had been a few occasions where Katia and Paul had seen each other at the NEMS office, but she had always avoided spending any time alone with him.  After their 1965 tour to promote their movie, she had kept her distance when he did visit NEMS and had managed to steer clear of any personal contact with him since then.  Ringo and George were the two Beatles that she had managed to stay more in contact with, but even so, her interaction with them had been scarce after they stopped touring.

"You look wonderful." Paul said as he took both of Katia's hands and looked at her. "Motherhood looks great on you." He smiled.

"Thanks Paul..." She said noticing he looked exactly as she remembered, maybe a bit slimmer than before. "And you guys haven't done too badly for yourselves either...Rubber Soul and Revolver are great albums! I can't wait to hear this new one!"

"Kat, this album is so different from the rest. We've been working on it since December. I am so happy it's finally getting released."  He replied enthusiastically.

"The suspense is killing me."  She laughed.

"So tell me...who's the lucky guy that finally got you to settle down?" Paul asked as he admired the ring that was on her finger.

Katia slipped her hands out of Paul's and motioned to where she had last seen Andrew talking.

"Mick?" Paul asked surprised.

"No!" Katia laughed turning around, noticing he was no longer there. "Now where did he go...?" She said looking around for Andrew. "Oh..there he is..." she said as she spotted him coming towards them.

"Andrew??" Paul asked even more surprised than when he had thought it was Mick Jagger.

"Well, I know he's no Rolling Stone, but I'm a pretty lucky girl." Katia smiled.

"No...it's not that...it's just that...he...uh...never mentioned anything." he stumbled on his words.

"There you are..." Andrew said as he slipped his arm around Katia's waist and drew her close to him. Katia smiled and relaxed into his embrace.

Paul cleared his throat. "Andrew..." he nodded towards him.

"How are you, Paul?" Andrew smiled.

"Good..a bit surprised." he laughed uneasily. "Congratulations seem to be in order not only for landing such a great girl...but for the new baby."

"Thanks...we're very excited." Andrew replied.

"How long has this been going on?" Paul asked pointing to both of them.

"We got married December of last year." Katia smiled.

"Well you sure kept this under wraps." Paul said to Andrew. 

"I had my reasons..."

Paul nodded knowingly. "Well I'm glad you were finally able to get Kat to come to one of these events."

"Where is everyone else?" Katia asked looking around.

"John and George should be here soon...and Ringo is here somewhere." Paul responded looking over his shoulder.