Kate waited to leave the office until 5:30. She hated fighting with the rush hour traffic and preferred a calm ride home to her home in the nearby village of Gabane, soothing jazz in her CD, and her mind allowed to slowly let go of the stresses of the day. Though not quite a stress, at least not yet, her new partner, Motswagole Ntoko, was a character of a different sort. She’d got him set up in his office and he quickly went out to retrieve a box from the car. The next time she looked in on him he had put up a small shrine to the presidents of Botswana- Sir Seretse Khama, Sir Keitumile Masire, President Festus Mogae and President Ian Khama- complete with a ceramic coat of arms over their heads and two flags standing on poles stuck in heavy bases on the floor. It was quite impressive. Kate was a little disappointed that there hadn’t been any fireworks.

She pulled into the driveway of her modest house and was happy to see John’s 4 x 4 in the driveway. Katsinyana came running up to the car, purred once, and then pretended that she had no interest in Kate at all. “You, you’re such a flirt,” Kate said bending down to pet her.

“I hope you’re talking about me,” John said coming out of the house wiping his hands on a dish towel.

Kate kissed him on the cheek. “For your information, no, I’m not talking about you. Not everything, Mr. Mogami, is about you.” Smiling, she walked into the house and sniffed the air. “Something smells heavenly.”

Throwing her handbag on the sofa she headed for the kitchen, but John stood in her way. “Uh uh. You go and sit down. Dinner’s a surprise. Maybe you should go and freshen up a bit. We’re having dinner guests.”

“Dinner guests on a Monday? Who comes to dinner on a Monday?” Kate asked, wondering what John was up to.

“You’ll see soon enough. Now go take a quick bath, change out of your work clothes and I’ll pour you a nice glass of wine.” John smiled in the way Kate loved most, where his eyes glistened, but his lips just had a hint of a smirk. She kissed him on the nose.

“Okay Bosso.”

In the shower, Kate thought about how nice things were going with John. They didn’t necessarily live together, but they went freely between each others houses. John often had to stay out at his farm in Lobatse, so Kate still had her much valued nights on her own. Nights spent curled up in bed reading. She liked how their life was turning out though she knew John was still waiting for her to say the date when they would get married. She also knew that she wasn’t quite ready for that yet.

Kate finished showering, dressed and then went searching for John in the kitchen. “So what are you being so secretive about?” she said grabbing him around the waist.

“I thought I told you to stay out of the kitchen.” Just then they heard a car pulling up outside. “Ahha! There are our guests now!” John gave his pots one last stir, wiped his hands on the tea towel and headed out of the kitchen with Kate following behind him.

“Hello? Anybody home?”

Kate could hear her son’s voice at the front door. “It’s Gomolemo, ” she said giving John a slap on the shoulder. “How can you hide my own son from me?”

“Hi? John? Mom?” Gomolemo shouted from the sitting room. Kate and John came into the sitting room just as Rachel, Gomolemo’s American wife, came in the front door with Katsinyana in her arms.

“Hi Kate,” she said smiling, though Kate could see some tiredness around her eyes. She and Gomolemo were doctors at Princess Marina, Gaborone’s big government hospital, which meant long hours, short staffing, and constant stress. She put the cat down and leaned forward to give Kate a kiss on the cheek and then another one for John.

“I’m surprised to see both of you here, neither of you are on call tonight?” Kate asked.

“No, not tonight. We asked to have tonight off.” Gomolemo smiled at John.

Kate looked from John to her son and knew something was up. “What are you two smiling about? I don’t think I like what’s going on here. You people are all in on a secret and you’re leaving me out,” Kate said. “I want to know and I want to know now.”

John rolled his eyes. “This is not the station, Detective Gomolemo, where you can shout orders at your minions. We’ll tell you when we want to tell you and not a minute before- no matter how much you scream and shout. Right now, if everyone is ready, my dinner is ready to be served.”

Gomolemo rubbed his stomach. “I’m definitely ready. It smells great!”

They sat down in the dining room. John made lasagne and spinach salad. The food was so delicious that no one spoke for some time; they were all too busy eating. Kate ate a forkful of lasagne and washed it down with some wine.

“Okay, enough is enough. You know I love both of you, but I know having you all the way out to Gabane on a Monday night there has got to be a reason and I want to hear it, and I want to hear it now.”

John looked at Gomolemo. John said, “I’ve never seen such a bossy grandmother-to-be in my life. What about you? ”

Rachel, Gomolemo and John smiled at each other waiting to see when Kate would figure it out.

“What did you say?” Kate asked putting her wine glass back on the table afraid that she might drop it.

Gomolemo smiled at his mother. “He said grandmother-to-be. Rachel’s pregnant, Mom! We’re going to have a baby!”

Kate jumped from her seat and ran to her son and daughter-in-law. She hugged and kissed them both, running from one to the other. “This is wonderful! When?”

“I’m already four months pregnant. The baby’s due the second week of September.”

Kate sat back in her chair finding it difficult to not smile. “So…I’m going to be a grandmother. I certainly like the sound of that. Quite a bit actually.”

Everybody laughed. Kate couldn’t believe how quickly life was changing. It was only seven years ago when she thought her life had ended with the death of her husband in a car accident. She doubted that she would ever recover from it completely, but the resilience of the human spirit is astounding. A corruption case brought John into her life. She never thought she’d be able to love another man after her husband and was surprised that, in fact, she could. Gomolemo and Rachel were in med school together, fell in love and got married, and her family grew a bit more. And now they were all going to welcome a new baby into their lives. She sat back chewing a bite of lasagne and thought how happy she was to be right in that very moment and no where else.

***

Tell us what you think: What do you think of Kate’s new partner? Do you think he is a good detective? Why/Why not?