Love on Ice

Chapter 32

Lanie arrived on December 10th and saw an excited and waving Kate waiting for her just past the security line. The second they could, they hugged.

"How was your flight?" Kate inquired.

"I could learn to love first class. I don't know how I'm going to thank that husband of yours for that. Husband." Lanie beamed at her and Kate smiled at her best friend. "You got married! I need to see your dress." Lanie had only heard everything and hadn't seen anything but pictures.

"I'll get it and put it on for you."

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Kate pulled into the garage and helped Lanie with her bags. "Mommy!" Alexis had heard her come home and rushed to her.

"Hi, pumpkin." Kate reintroduced her to Lanie. "Alexis, this is my best friend, Lanie. She lives in New York City where we used to live."

Lanie bent down. "Hi, sweetie. How old are you now?"

Alexis held up four fingers. "I'm four. I'm a big girl."

"Actually she's almost five," Kate said. "Only a couple more months to go."

Just then Snow caught up and found someone new in the house so Lanie got sniffed over really well. Lanie leaned down to pet Snow. "She doesn't look so big."

"Oh, trust me, she's grown. She's up to 50 pounds already. It takes almost no time to go through a 20 pound bag of puppy food." Snow was fast going from cute puppy to full grown dog.

"Rick's at the arena. He should be home soon. Let me show you your room and you can unpack, then have a tour." Kate led Lanie to her assigned room followed by Alexis and Snow.

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Lanie had seen a few places and was passing through the kitchen to reach one of the decks to see the back yard. "Oh, my God!" Lanie stopped at the two full 177 bottle wine coolers.

Kate just smiled since she had gotten used to them. "There's a little one in the kitchen and some bottles are still in boxes. We didn't have enough space for all of them."

Once outside Lanie looked it all over. There was more than one deck and each had a seating area with an umbrella. There was a play set out in the yard for Alexis and just over the hedges she could see the beach and water.

"The beach is yours, too?" Lanie inquired.

"Yes, Rick was talking about installing a dock and getting a boat. I talked him into getting an RV instead. So far the RV has been a lot of fun. We saw a lot on our first trip." Kate let her look but it was cold outside so they didn't stay long.

Back inside Maria was in the kitchen where she spent most of her time. "Maria, this is Lanie. We've been friends for years."

"Miss Lanie. It's a pleasure to meet you. You were the one that screamed at Mrs. Kate's wedding." Maria needed to make sure.

"My best friend was getting married!" Screaming was all Lanie could do. If she'd been there in person she would have done a lot more. "And it's just Lanie."

"She does that. I've learned to just live with it," Kate shrugged. Then Snow barked and took off into the house. "That will be Rick." Snow might be young and a family dog but she was a great alarm.

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Maria was done for the day and had excused herself. It left Rick and Lanie sitting at the dining room table, drinking wine. Kate was putting Alexis to bed.

"I would never have believed it if I hadn't seen it for myself." Lanie was still amazed.

Rick didn't understand. "Seen what for yourself?"

"That anyone could reach Kate and show her that life was worth living. She was so dedicated to finding out who killed her mother that she had stopped living. I don't know how I can ever thank you."

"She's still dedicated." Rick saw the question on her face. "Once she gets her job she plans to continue her search for who killed her mother. I'm not really sure how she's going to do that living in Vancouver when the murder happened in New York City, but I've learned never to underestimate her. She's smart and determined."

Lanie sighed. "That's Kate. …Don't give up on her, Rick. If she gets a lead on her mother's case she can be single-minded. Be ready to give her a reason to see the life that she has now."

"That's what her dad told me. I'm not really sure I see what you two see, but I plan to be ready." Rick so far had only seen this Kate and not the Kate that would dive into her rabbit hole and become dedicated to her mother's case.

"So what are you two talking about?" Kate had gotten Alexis asleep. Kissed her and tucked her in and made sure Snow could get out of her bedroom and to her puppy pee pads that she sometimes used with success.

"You, just you." Lanie burst out laughing at the look Kate gave her.

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"I have a game tomorrow so I need some sleep. I'm glad you could come." Rick patted Lanie's shoulder and headed for their bedroom.

"He's good for you, Kate. He and Alexis, both." Lanie looked at her sternly. "You do something stupid and lose either of them and I'll find you and hurt you."

"I'm trying, Lanie, I really am." Kate knew that she could still screw this up. "What did you tell him?" Kate knew that Lanie knew a lot of her secrets.

"As much as I dared. He loves you, you know. Maybe more than his own life. You told me once that you wished you could find someone that you could dive into life with and love and know that you were loved back. Well, you found him. He's worth living your life for, Kate." Lanie tried to get her to give up her mother's murder without actually asking her.

"Rick has a secret." Kate was willing to share since it wasn't really that big a secret.

"He's an alien from outer space?" Lanie chuckled since she wasn't serious.

Kate glared at her since she was being serious. "He has a plan for when he retires from playing hockey. He's already written three books. The next one will be out the first of the year."

"He's a writer? Anything I would know about?" Lanie was going to try and find them to read them now.

"Have you heard of the Derek Storm series?"

Lanie thought about it. "I've read one of those." Lanie tilted her head to release a memory. "But I don't remember that being a Richard Rodgers book."

"His pen name is Richard Castle. He wants to remain anonymous until after his hockey career is over. Please don't tell anyone." It needed to stay a secret for now.

"My lips are sealed." Lanie zipped her lips. "Richard Castle, huh? Does that mean you'll change your name again?"

"Kate Castle? I don't think so. I kinda like Kate Rodgers." Kate really did like her new name.

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Lanie had never in her life been to a hockey game. She was a little confused at first but amused that Kate was wearing a New York Islanders jersey until she saw the name RODGERS on the back.

She also got to see a side of Kate she had never in her life seen before. She stood up and booed loudly when something went wrong for the Canucks. Conversely she was up and whistling loudly when something went right.

The entire game had been a struggle against the Colorado Avalanche. It was 0-0 at the end of the first period.

Lanie also noticed that every time Rick was on the ice and he hit someone Kate would punch the open air in front of her. The Kate she knew was very conservative and tried to be in total control. This Kate, at least at the hockey game, was the opposite of that.

It was 1-0 at the end of the second period with the Canucks out in front. But just like that, at the start of the third period it was 1-1. Then just as fast there was a turnover and it was only Rick and the goalie to defend the net.

"Please, babe, please," Kate prayed. She leapt up out of her seat, screamed, and whistled when Rick blocked the shot. "OH GOD!" She watched as Rick was working his way over to the bench all bent over. That was when the game was stopped. She and everyone else saw blood. "Oh My God!"

What she wanted to do was go down to the bench and find out what had happened. Or even get into the locker room to find out if he was all right. But she knew she couldn't do either. Instead she sat down and clenched and unclenched her hands.

"He'll be fine, Kate. Rick's a big boy and can take care of himself." Lanie tried to reassure her. "I'm certain they have a doctor already looking him over."

They had both watched as he'd left the bench and went into the locker room.

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It wasn't until she saw his number out on the ice which told her that Rick was all right that she started breathing again. But try as they might the game ended in a 1-1 tie.

Kate, along with Lanie, was just outside the locker room door waiting for Rick to come out so they could all go home. Kate was all over him the second he was.

"Babe! Does it hurt?" He had a cut that had stitches a little under his left eye that had opened up his left cheek. It was already black and blue and looked ugly.

Rick nodded. "Just not as much after the pain pills. Stupid puck got in under my mask." He gently put a finger on his stitches and winced. "At least I got to keep all of my teeth." He smiled wide for a moment, except that doing that hurt so he stopped.

That was one thing about hockey that Kate had noticed: players tended to loose teeth playing this game. "Let's go home." Kate put an arm around him like she was going to help him walk home. It was his face that was injured and not his legs but that didn't stop her.

For the very first time they didn't have sex that night. Kate simply wanted to cuddle. This was after making sure that Alexis understood that Daddy was just fine. It was just a little cut. Still she had run a finger over his stitches and asked him if it hurt. It sure looked like it should hurt.

Rick and the team had the next day off before another home game. It allowed Lanie to see the dynamic of the family that Kate was now a part of. This really was a different Kate than the one she was used to.

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Rick was gone for an away game and Kate was watching her friend make her way through security at the airport. She watched until she could no longer see her. Having Lanie come for a visit had been great. She'd gotten to reconnect with her old friend and show her where she lived now.

Alexis met Kate as she entered the house from the garage. "Lanie's gone?"

"Yes, Lanie's flying home. She's a very good friend and I'm going to miss her." Kate kind of already did. "So what should we do?" With Rick gone it was up to her to keep Alexis entertained and happy.

It turned out keeping Alexis entertained and happy just happened to involve playing with Snow and keeping her entertained and happy as well. Even as big as she already was, her paws were still far too big for her. It meant Snow was only going to get bigger.

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The home stand was over and most of their games were away games with one single home game in-between. December had been most a good month for them. They were 21-9-6-2 at the end and still in first place. However, it was their first Christmas with Rick on the road and not at home.

Kate was still adjusting to celebrating Christmas. And this Christmas it was just her and Alexis. Maria was in Connecticut celebrating it with her family.

As weird as it felt, she was sitting on the floor surrounded by destroyed Christmas paper with Alexis in her lap in front of their Christmas tree, singing Christmas songs that played on the radio. Between songs they would laugh as Snow was trying to figure out what all this paper was and where it had all come from.

Kate killed the radio which left them sitting on the floor in silence. "I miss my daddy." Alexis had Kate but it wasn't the same. She had grown up with just her dad and Maria and both of them were gone.

"I know, Alexis, I miss him, too. But he has a hockey game to play. He's in Calgary playing against the Flames." It also meant it was going to be a tough game. All their games against other Canadian teams were. "He'll be back. …So what did you get for Christmas? What did Santa leave for you?" Kate knew full well what Santa had left in her stocking. She was the one that had stuffed it this year.

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January was doing fine until they hit a rough spot and lost three straight. The bright side was that during this time they had five straight home games only to be followed by five straight away games.

February was a disaster, though. They weren't even halfway through and they had lost seven games. It was ugly. By the end of February they were 35-19-7-4. Luckily they were still in first place in their division.

Alexis was in bed asleep and Kate met Rick at the airport. "How do you feel?" They had at least won the last three games of the month.

"Tired." Rick was beat. Actually most of the team was beat. The silver lining was that it was February 28th and the next game was March 3rd in Colorado followed by games in Detroit, then Columbus, before being home again. It was going to be good to have an extra day off.

"Come on, babe, let's get you home." Kate wrapped an arm around him, and helped him to her car, then drove home. She didn't even try to make love to him. Just cuddled and held him close to her.

She ran a finger over his bare skin, kissed parts of him softly, and realized that she liked doing this. She loved him and she felt like she was helping.

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Maria was serving breakfast the next morning. "Still nothing?" Rick questioned her.

Kate shook her head. "I passed my exam but they do have a reason. I haven't lived here an entire year as a Canadian citizen yet. So I have to wait." It was getting to her, though. She wanted a job. She wanted something to do. Being a stay-at-home Mom just wasn't her.

"We wait, then. Knowing Roy, he gave you the best recommendation he could give. If they don't hire you then it's them that are stupid." Kate would get her job, he was sure of it. They just needed to wait.

Then Snow barked. "I'll take her." Kate got up and grabbed a coat off the coat rack that they had bought just for this at the back door. She took her outside and down the stairs so the rapidly growing pup could do her business.

Snow was turning into a really good dog. She would inform them when she had to go outside and didn't need puppy pee pads any longer. They just had to be ready to let her out immediately.

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March turned out to be worse than February. Out of fifteen games they lost six of them. It left them with a record of 41-24-10-5. They were still in first place in their division so they were in the playoffs, but they hadn't been playing all that well lately.

April 2nd and 3rd were their final two games: an away game at San Jose and a home game against Edmonton.

Kate, Maria, and a sleeping Alexis were glued to their TV as they watched Rick play his last regular season game at home. They won it 5-2 and looked to be playing better finally.

Alexis was in bed asleep and even Maria had gone to bed. Kate had driven to the arena and was waiting for Rick to come out of his locker room so she could drive him home.

"You won!" Kate wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him soundly. "We can celebrate by letting you tie me to the bed," Kate whispered into his lips.

"I think I would rather wait until after the playoffs against Calgary first," Rick responded. He was absolutely beat. Playoffs started with a home game on April 7th.

Kate didn't mind, she was still going to make love to him tonight.

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It was the day before April 7th and Kate raced into the living room where everyone was sitting. Maria was reading a book to herself while Rick had Alexis almost in his lap and was reading a book to her.

"I GOT AN INTERVIEW!" Kate stopped in front of Rick and Alexis. "I got an interview." Kate was bouncing. She was convinced that she was more than good enough to get the job.

"Mommy got a job!" Rick told Alexis.

"I'll start cooking to celebrate." Maria was up and headed for the kitchen to look at what she needed so she could make something really special.

"I don't have the job yet," Kate cautioned, countering his claim.

"Mommy got a job," Rick repeated to Alexis. He was sure she would get it. They would be stupid if they didn't hire her. "So when is your interview?"

"Tomorrow at 2 o'clock. I have the address and who to ask for. Now I need to figure out what to wear." What did she have that said she was an inspector?

"I'll be gone by then for my game," Rick lamented since it meant he wouldn't know if they offered her a job until his game was over and he was home again.

"We can celebrate when you get home," Kate cooed at him which was her subtle way of telling him she was willing to be tied to the bed since they hadn't done it for at least a month.

"We win our game and we'll definitely be celebrating," Rick said and watched Kate grin.