Commitment: The Beauty in Between (A Beautiful Series Novella) by Lilliana Anderson

that you’re welcome to come. When I invited everyone,
we didn’t really know each other, but we’ve spent a bit of time together and
we’d really like for you two to attend,” I tell him, talking rather rushed. I
kind of feel nervous all of a sudden. “And of course, Grace is welcome too,” I
add as she lets out a little squeal and babbles at a set of baby keys she’s
playing with.
    “Um… yeah, that’d actually be really nice. I’m sure Paige
will be fine with it – she really likes Katrina, so I can’t see why not. I’ll
check with her though,” he says, spinning his beer bottle around in his hands.
    “What do you have to check?” Paige asks as she appears in
the archway with Katrina beside her.
    “Ah,” Elliot says glancing quickly at me. He’s obviously worried
about saying something he shouldn’t.
    “It’s cool” I say to him. “She knows I’m asking you.”
    “Asking what?” Paige asks looking between us.
    “We want to know if you two will come to the wedding,”
Katrina tells her. “When it is, I have no idea so you’ll have to get the
details off David. But we would love it if you could come.”
    “Of course, we’d love to be there. Although, we do know when
it is,” she smiles.
    “Of course you do! Everyone knows except for me,” Katrina
whines.
    “Come on David. You have to tell her the date at least.  A
girl needs to prepare,” Paige puts in.
    “I can’t. I’m sorry, it will ruin everything. She’s just
going to have to wait.”
    Katrina looks over at Paige and gives her a smile that says
‘thanks for trying’. They do a silent communication thing for a couple of
seconds before Grace crawls over to Paige’s feet, and starts to pull at the
bottom of her capris.
    Leaning down to pick her up Paige says, “I think I should
probably put this one to bed. I won’t be long if you want to serve dinner,” she
directs toward Elliot as she moves closer to him so he can say goodnight to his
little girl.
    “Sure thing,” he says, kissing Grace’s head before getting
up from his seat and heading toward the kitchen.
    “Do you want any help?” Katrina and I both ask.
    “Yeah why not, we can all huddle in there. Paige has cooked
this great paella and there’s some bread in the basket over there if you want
to carry that through.”
    We all move around their kitchen and carry the food to the
table while we make general small talk about how nice everything looks and
smells. My stomach rumbles audibly and I blame the great smells that have been
teasing my nose since we entered the flat.
    By the time we have everything on the table, Paige has
returned from the nursery and tells us that Grace is already asleep.
    “That’s amazing,” Katrina comments. “You must be such a good
mum.”
    “Grace is such a good baby,” she replies, taking a seat next
to Elliot.
    “Don’t sell yourself short babe, you’re amazing with her,”
Elliot says as he drops a kiss on her shoulder.
    Over dinner we chat about our plans for Christmas and what
we’re going to do for New Years, as well as a whole host of other things. The
conversation flows freely and we don’t end up leaving until a little after twelve.
     

Katrina
    “Isn’t it funny how things change?” I say as we’re driving
home. I’m running my fingers through my hair in search for any remaining pins
from my semi up-do.
    “Like what?” David asks, glancing at me briefly. I let my
eyes rest on him for a moment before I answer. I enjoy looking at his profile
as it’s illuminated by the lights on the dash. I reach my hand toward him and
run the back of my fingers down the side of his face and over his shoulders. I
can’t help it, I just want to touch him.
    He flashes a grin, and tilts his body towards me slightly,
but keeps his focus ahead. “Are you going to tell me?”
    “Well, I was just thinking that a few years ago, we’d spend
our Saturday nights out getting drunk and dancing all night. But now we’re
having