Taken by You by Carlie Sexton Page A

cereal, hoping that she would be done before Aunt Donna arrived. Her aunt was a stickler about being on time. On her last bite, Aunt Donna walked through the door. “Are you ready?” she called.
    “Yes.”
    “Okay, then let’s go.”
    Kate hurried down stairs. After taking care of the final details at the funeral home, they
    met with the minister who was performing the ceremony. He hadn’t met her dad, so he asked questions to prepare his opening comments. The florist was next, to follow up on the casket spray. Kate felt a little overwhelmed. She was relieved that her aunt was a take-charge type of person and had made all of the big decisions already. They only had a few details to handle the day before the funeral.
    “How about some lunch?” Aunt Donna asked when they’d finished their last stop.
    “ Sounds great. ” Kate said.
    Despite the circumstances, it was great to spend time with her aunt; her presence alone offered Kate much-needed solace.
    They pulled into The Red Lobster , which was a favorite place for them. It was a little bit after two o’clock so the parking lot wasn’t very full. Once they were seated, Kate began to relax a little. She had felt so tense all morning.
    “So, are you just upset over your father, or is there something more going on ? You have been awfully quiet,” Aunt Donna stated.
    “Of course , I’m sad about dad passing away, but there is something else too. Actually, I have a couple of things on my mind.”
    The waitress brought a basket of warm biscuits to the table. “Are you ladies ready or do you need another minute ?”
    “I’m ready. How about you , dear?” Kate nodded at her aunt’s question.
    “I’ll have the tilapia,” her aunt said , closing the menu and handing it to the waitress.
    “I’ll have the coconut shrimp,” Kate said. The waitress smiled, took Kate’s menu and walked away.
    “So where were we? ” Donna said. “You were telling me that you had a couple of things on your mind. I’m happy to listen if you need to talk.”
    Kate smiled at the woman who she always turned to in difficult times. She removed the album from her purse. “I found this in Neil’s car before I got on the plane. It’s full of pictures of him and his wife.”
    “You’re not upset with him because he kept pictures of her, are you?”
    Kate slid the album over to her aunt. “Just take a look and tell me what you see.”
    Her aunt opened the album and looked carefully. She put her hand to her chest. “Oh, my,” she said in her sweet voice. “Wow, there’s quite a resemblance between you two, my dear.”
    “Yeah, it has me questioning everything about our relationship. I’m not sure that he loves me for me, as opposed to my similarity to his dead wife.”
    “I can understand how you would feel that way. But just because you look alike doesn’t mean that you are anything like her. In fact, identical twins usually don’t have identical personalities. He might have been drawn to you for your looks to begin with, but I can assure you that it’s not why he is with you.”
    “You think so?”
    “Sweetheart, you are a wonderful young woman and I am sure that he can see just how special you are. I guess the question you need to answer is whether or not he is the one for you ? Men are not complicated. Most of them really just need food and sex to be happy.”
    Kate chuckled. “I love how you can always break things down for me to their simplest terms.”
    “I do seem to have a knack for that. Women are the complicated ones in a relationship. Could it be that things are going really well and that scares you? I would hate for you to throw something away that could be wonderful because you’re scared. I’ve learned first-hand that being in love can be overwhelming.”
    “I guess that I am scared of getting hurt. I hadn’t really thought of that until just now.”
    “You went through a lot when David died. But now you have another chance at love. If it’s not