Kit and Ivy: A Red Team Wedding Novella by Elaine Levine

long, tense wait for Ivy’s parents to come down from their room. Casey, Fee, and Eden got involved in a game of Apples to Apples. Ivy couldn’t sit still. She paced back and forth from the hall to the patio doors until Kit came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.  
    “I got you. Lean on me.”
    She drew a deep breath, then tried to relax back against him, her hand gripping his wrist. A commotion on the bridge upstairs caught their attention. She and Kit turned to see her parents midway on the steps, at the landing that overlooked the living room. Her mom gasped when she saw them, pausing to hold the banister in a white-knuckled grip. Her dad stood next to her. Looking over the room, he nodded at her and Kit.

Chapter Nine

    A strange flood of emotion overtook Ivy. Joy, fear, guilt, sorrow. And hope. She looked up at Kit, who met her glance with his own troubled gaze. He took her hand and led her to the foyer. She didn’t know what to do. Greet them like any other unknown visitor? Hug them? Shake hands with them?
    Her mom, it seemed, was having the same quandary. She stood before Ivy with a hand over her mouth, her eyes filling with tears. “Mom…” Ivy choked out before opening her arms to hug her. Ivy felt as if she’d jumped back in time to her younger self. She was zinged with sharp flashes of all the memories that floated like razorblades in her heart. The fear, the hurt, the humiliation. Put it away, Kit had said. How? How was she to do that when it was still so raw?
    Her mom pulled free and leaned back to look at her. “Oh, Ivy. You are such a beautiful sight for my eyes.”
    “You too, Mom.”
    Her mom turned to Kit, who just finished shaking hands with her father. She took hold of his hand in both of hers. “Thank you. Thank you for being brave enough to invite us. I know we have a great deal to discuss. It’s a short weekend, and a hectic one, too, but I hope we’ll have a chance to talk a bit.”
    Kit smiled at her, then pulled her into his arms. “We’ll make time.”
    Ivy looked around them at her father. “Dad.”
    “Mom’s right. You sure are beautiful.”
    “Thank you. I’m glad you came.”
    “Kit made it easy for us.”
    “Was the trip difficult?” she asked them, grateful for a neutral subject.
    “Not at all, dear,” her mom answered. She leaned close to Ivy and whispered, “He flew us out on a private jet. And the SUV that drove us up here was comfy, although the men who drove it were not very talkative.” She looked back at Kit. “It was thoughtful of you. But you needn’t have gone to such trouble. We would have come on our own.”
    “I know you would have.” He smiled at her. “You know why I know?” She shook her head. “Because it was time for this.”
    “It’s past time. Where’s my granddaughter?”
    “Casey,” Kit called. She got up from her seat on the floor by the coffee table.  
    “Grandma, Grandpa,” she greeted them tentatively.
    “Look at her, Adam. She’s all grown up. And so pretty.” At twelve, Casey was nearly as tall as her grandmother. She gave her elders a cautious smile. Ivy wrapped an arm around her. Helen looked between Ivy and Kit, then back at Casey. “She’s a perfect mix of both of you. Her mom’s features and her dad’s coloring.”
    “Are you hungry?” Ivy asked her parents.
    “Starving. Your father wouldn’t eat the airport food. And you know he doesn’t like fast food, so we didn’t stop on the way up here. I packed us a lunch, but we ate that on the plane.”  
    Ivy led them into the living room. “Well, good. We have a big dinner planned in honor of your visit.”
    “This is a nice house. It’s been expanded since we lived in town. Didn’t it used to belong to the Bladens?” Adam asked.  
    “It still belongs to Ty.”
    “Huh. So you live here, off his dime?”
    Kit stopped. Took a breath. Then faced his soon-to-be father-in-law. “You’re outta line, Adam,” he said quietly. Ivy had never heard