Does Love Still Exist?

After getting dressed and the boys ready, Katrina packed them into her car along with a few bottles of water for later, the three of them were on their way to a playground. She knew that it would be nice to get out of the house with the boys and it would be a waste to keep them inside all day long. After the twenty minute drive from the house, Katrina pulled into the parking lot and noticed that there weren't too many people around. From where she sat there were about four little girls and one little boy playing. “You boys ready to go and play for awhile?”

Making sure she had everything she needed in her bag, she got Kris out of his carseat and then helped Noah out of the car. Once they were in the park, she put them down and hit the alarm on her keys and nodded to them that they were allowed to run to the playground while she walked over to a bench and sat down. Watching her boys play made her smile, she knew having not having Hank in the house was affecting them. Noah wasn't showing it, no he wouldn't show it on the outside, but he missed having his dad around all the time. And Kris, well Kris was now almost two and he wasn't sure what was truly happening. That was one thing she was thankful for.

“Noah!” Katrina called out to her oldest son. “None of that! Your brother will try it and he's too young.”

Seeing him nod his head in understanding, Katrina looked down at her phone. She stared at the picture with a small smile on her face. Marc had sent it to her phone when she let Hank have the boys while she had doctor appointment after doctor appointment. It was during that time that it was decided that her earliest return date for another soccer game would be next season. It was crushing her knowing that she was sidelined for the rest of the season while her friends were still competing.

Going into her text messages, she found the picture that she missed seeing. A smile on her face along with Hank's while they were holding their son's. Putting her phone back into her purse she saw Kris playing with the little girls. It was cute to see him interact with someone besides his brother.

“They sure do grow up fast,” the voice of the person who sat next to her said. “Don't they?”

Snapping her head to look at the man next to her, she just nodded her head and looked back to where the boys were playing. Noah and Kris were obvious to the fact that their father had unexpectedly showed up at the park.

“I thought you said that you were gonna call.”

“I'm sorry Kitty,” Hank said. “I just thought that this was a conversation that we should have in person.”

“I suppose you're right about that.”

“I'm not sure where to start.”

“Neither do I,” Katrina confessed. “I want my family back, I really do. But every time I trust you it blows up in my face. I can't have another heartache. I refuse.”

“I know I messed up,” Hank said. “And I wish I could take back everything I did. The pain I've put you through, put the boys through.”

“But you can't.”

“Kitty...”

“Growing up in California wasn't a cake walk. I was living with my grandparents who were having troubles keeping up with me and their health was going downhill at a fast rate,” Katrina told him. “That was when I found out about my parents picking themselves over me. I was a second choice, they didn't want me and in a way I was lucky my grandparents did because otherwise those two boys wouldn't be here.”

“What do you mean?” Hank asked. “You don't think you would have met and married me?”

“I wouldn't be alive.” Katrina verified. “My grandmother talked my mom out of getting an abortion.”

“I'm glad she did,” Hank said taking Kitty's hand and lacing their fingers. “Because there are times where I don't know what I would do without you in my life.”

“I'm tired of being the second woman in your life. I love you so much Hank, but I can't do this anymore if I'm the second woman. I might have kids with you, but I deserve someone who won't be having sex with me and thinking of someone else.”

“I never thought of her when I was with you.”

“That isn't the point,” Katrina said. “How do I know that it will be me from now on? Why fight for me? Why not try and go for the one that has had your love longer?”

“I don't know how to convince you of that Kitty, but I can promise that if you give me a chance, I'll spend the rest of my life convincing you.”

Turning her head, she looked into his eyes and knew that she could see that he meant every word that was coming out of his mouth. “It won't be easy, you know that, right?”

“But worth it,” Hank told her. “Every minute that I’m that much closer to gaining your trust back will be worth it.”

“So I guess this would be a good time to tell you that I've told my lawyer that I decided that I'm not going through with the divorce.”

“I'm not going to make you regret this,” Hank told her. “I promise.”

“I hope you are right.”

Looking at where the boys were now playing, Katrina smiled. Maybe things were now starting to look up. Not professionally, but personally. Hank's team was eliminated from the playoffs and she was still sidelined and her contract was coming up in two years. But she wasn't going to think about that at the moment, she would deal with it when it came up.

“Kitty there is something that I wanna talk to you about.”

“What?”

“The boys have lived out here all their lives,” he said. “As they should since this is where our lives are.”

“We've been lucky that neither of us have been traded out of New York.”

“I want the boys to get to know my parents and my family back in Sweden.”

Turning and looking at him with a confused look on her face, Katrina didn't know where to start. “You want me to let you take the boys away? For the whole summer?”

“Not the whole summer,” Hank told her. “Just a few weeks. It will be good for them to get to know their family in Sweden.”

“I can't believe you are asking me to let you take the boys to another country.”

“I'm not,” Hank told her. “I want us to take them. It will be a family vacation.”

“Us?” Katrina asked a bit surprised. “As a family?”

“That's what I mean,” Hank told her with a smile. “You, my wife and mother of my children, my sons, and myself. All four of us go to Sweden for a little while. It doesn't have to be next week or anything, but I think it would be nice to surprise my mother.”

“Does your family know?” Katrina asked, not sure if she wanted to know the answer.

“Do they know that we've been having differences? Or that I cheated on you?” Hank asked back. “Yes, they know we were going through a rough patch, but they don't know the extent of it. I told them it was between us and that was it.”

“And Joel?”

“I just said-”

“I'm not stupid Henrik. I know you talk to your brother. I'm not mad about that, I just want the truth. Please don't start lying to me.”

“Joel knows everything. He knows I'm the one that messed up,” Hank told her. “He wasn't happy at me when he finally got the truth out of me. He wants both of us to be happy, but I told him that I can't be happy without you so his advice was to fight for you and don't ever give up.”

“I wanted to stop loving you,” Katrina confessed. “I wanted you out of my life with no reminders of what you did and of all the pain I felt. But I look at those two boys and I love everything about them and a lot of the time they remind me so much of you. And I truly missed you.”

“Do you still love me?”

“I never stopped,” Katrina said wiping away the tears that fell from her eyes. “I really wanted to, but I couldn't.”

“I won't ever stop loving you. You and the boys are my world.”

“I'm still going to need time to adjust to everything.”

“I understand that,” Hank told her. “Things are moving quickly.”

“Do you think they are happening too fast?”

“I don't,” Hank told her. “I've been waiting a long time for this chance. I'm not letting you go Kitty. I love you too much.”

“How would you like to come to dinner with me and the boys?”