Charlie IV

Chapter 22

One month later

As was his habit Rick stopped at the mailbox after he got home. His new truck was working out great and even some of the people at work knew he had a new truck.

"Black Pawn?" Rick tucked that one away for later and looked over the rest of the mail. Naturally most of it was either for Jim or Johanna or Current Resident. He would let them throw that stuff in the trash where it belonged.

"Stanford. Uh-oh. This is either really good news or very bad news." Fall classes didn't start for over a month or maybe closer to two months so what did this thing say?

Rick headed to the kitchen to find something to drink and caught a flash of Charlie racing in the backyard. Moving to the breakfast room, he watched Kate throwing the ball for Charlie to fetch or play keep away with, whichever suited his fancy at the time. So he sat down to watch.

Granted Charlie was doing all the running and Kate was mostly just standing there till Charlie chose keep away, then she had to run a little. That was one thing about this last month. Kate was getting stronger and stronger.

Kate still got left at home when everyone left for work. They had found out from her that she was using that time to get stronger. She had taken to walking Charlie around their neighborhood. She was up to several blocks two or three times around. Never really going all that far out, just basically going in a big circle.

Rick could tell Kate was done even if maybe Charlie wasn't and she came in through the doors leading into the breakfast room.

"Hi, Babe." Kate walked right over and bent down to kiss him. Then went to the refrigerator to get her own drink while Charlie worked at emptying his water bowl.

"I found this in the mailbox." Rick handed over her letter.

"Stanford!" Kate ripped it open using her finger and pulled out the piece of paper to read it. Katherine Beckett, blah, blah, blah. We regret to inform you... Kate felt her heart crash to the floor, taking the rest of her soul with it.

"I didn't get in." Kate looked at Rick with this blank face, a face he had never seen before. Seeing that had him carefully reaching out to take it from her as she just sat there.

Sure enough it was a rejection letter. It didn't say why, only that her application had been rejected. It didn't say anything about her not being able to reapply for the following semester though so perhaps there was some hope.

"Now what am I supposed to do?" Kate managed to wipe away a tear that had escaped.

Actually Rick had an idea about that but he was going to have to take this slowly or stubborn Kate would raise her ugly head and reject it in a heartbeat. And he didn't think it was that bad of an idea. He was betting out-of-state tuition was really expensive and he was reasonably certain Jim and Johanna had already spent untold thousands.

Rick handed his letter to her. "Here, you can read mine for me."

Kate managed to take it. "Black Pawn again, huh?" She ripped it open since he had asked her to just with a lot less gusto she'd had for the one from Stanford.

When she unfolded the letter to read it a check fell out so she grabbed it. "BABE!" Her eyes wide, she gave it to Rick to look at while she read.

Mr. Richard Rodgers,

It is with great pleasure that we forward you this check. Over the last two months your book has made the

New York Times Best Sellers list twice. This necessitates that we place your book in our queue to print additional copies to meet sales demands.

Also per our contract we look forward to receiving your next book for review and editing. At that time we will determine if it is suitable for printing. We will also forward an advance to you, an amount yet to be determined, for your future third and final book of your contract.

We look forward to reviewing any book you forward to us for possible publishing.

Sincerely,

Henry Wallace
Black Pawn Publishing

"BABE!" Kate got out of her chair to kiss him soundly. "You're a success! We need to celebrate. I'll call Mom, she's cooking." Kate got up to go to the phone only to turn around and come back to kiss him again.

Her rejection from Stanford was at least temporarily forgotten.

Kate was back and snatched the check from him to look at it again. "It's as big as the last one and you bought a truck with that one. OH, and Mom said to go out shopping and see if we could find a prime rib roast and the ingredients for whatever side dishes you want to go with it. She'll get Dad to bring her home early so she can start cooking while he goes back to the office in case a new client shows up. ...We need to take this to the bank, too." Kate was up to kiss him again.

[:] o-0-O-0-o [:]

Johanna was busy with dinner while watching Katie and Rick, with Charlie at their feet, sitting in the breakfast table holding hands and talking. She just knew those two were involved with each other and it was looking like very deeply as well. She also trusted her daughter to get a prescription for birth control pills. She didn't need to know just how sexually active they were but she was betting they were.

Johanna was also stealing glances at his Black Pawn letter. It told her that he was becoming a writer and a successful one at that. "In a Hail of Bullets, huh?" Jo queried while she cooked.

"I'm almost done, too. Just a few more chapters to go. I might even manage to finish this weekend," Rick answered. It was what he had already told Kate.

"Even more good news." Johanna was happy till suddenly the look on her daughter's face fell. Kate picked up her letter from the table, walked it over to her, and handed it to her.

"Stanford!" Johanna was ready for more good news. "We regret... OH, SWEETIE!" While still holding it Johanna wrapped her arms around her daughter just as Charlie took off running and barking toward the front door, signaling that Jim was home again.

Soon Jim had both good news and bad news to read. "What am I going to do now? Stanford was my dream. What changed?" Kate was behind schedule by almost one entire year at the moment. Had admission standards changed so much in a year?

"We'll think of something, Katie. We're Becketts, we don't give up so easily." Jim hugged her again and moved to Rick. "Your news is good news, son, very good news." Since Rick was standing Jim hugged him and patted him on the back. "So what are you going to do with your money this time?" Jim asked him. "You only need one truck."

"Save it so I can afford my own place somewhere is the plan."

"BABE! We talked about that." Kate didn't want him moving out. He needed to stay right here with her. She didn't even notice that she had called him BABE in front of her parents for the very first time. She had gotten so used to calling him that that she didn't realize she had.

Jim and Johanna, though, noticed immediately and just looked at each other.

"I'm not living here with your parents forever, Kate. Even you're going to want your own place eventually."

"I know." Kate got it, she really did. But she put her foot down. "You're not moving and that's final. You could buy that Fifth Wheel to tow behind your new truck." It was a suggestion that she had made in the first place.

"That's not a bad idea, Rick. Buy an RV and take a vacation. When was the last time you actually went on vacation?" Johanna asked him.

"Um..." Rick had to think about that.

"See, far too long. You can take Katie with you. Just do it before school starts, which ever school that is. Stanford can't be the only place that teaches pre-law." Johanna wasn't willing to give up just yet.

"Yeah, you can take me with you." Kate was so involved in what was happening that she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him right in front of her parents which told Jim and Johanna all they needed to know.

[:] o-0-O-0-o [:]

"We'll be back," Rick told Jim and Johanna as he and Kate left. Actually Kate was being pulled along behind him since this was a surprise to her.

"Where are we going?" She didn't know of any place either of them needed to be.

"It's a surprise and yes, I know you hate surprises. You're just going to have to live with this one." Rick opened the truck door for her and closed it behind her.

"Cameron Center. What are we doing here?" Kate watched as Rick parked but still wasn't talking. But she trusted him so she followed him inside.

"Hi, I called earlier. We're the Rodgers." That was how Rick had made the reservation. Kate's eyes opened wide at being referred to as being a Rodgers. Not that she was overly opposed to being Mrs. Rodgers, but Rick hadn't proposed and she didn't even know what her answer would be if he suddenly did.

OH GOD! WAS THAT WHY THEY WERE HERE? SO HE COULD PROPOSE?

As if her heart could beat any faster.

"Class starts at 7:00 and lasts till 8:00. The cost is $30 each per month. Classes for beginner adults are weekly at 7:00 to 8:00. Uniforms to change into are in the locker rooms. Choose one that's your size and put your clothes in a locker of your choice and leave the uniforms behind when you exit. Enjoy. Lockers are that way," she pointed.

"What are we doing?" Kate was following Rick toward the locker rooms, not really sure what was going on. Change clothes into what?

"We're taking Shotokan Karate classes together."

"KARATE!" Kate was shocked. Why would she want to take Karate classes?

Kate found herself all alone in the locker room and saw white Karate uniforms along with white belts to tie it all into place on a table so she selected a size that would fit her and sat down to begin taking her clothes off.

She kept her panties and bra on and tried to figure out how to put this thing on when it suddenly hit her. Rick had said something months ago. Something about taking teaching classes and then teaching her third grade girls how to do Karate.

Kate clenched her jaw. Rick was definitely going to get a piece of her mind over this.

[:] o-0-O-0-o [:]

Kate soon learned that the start of class was all about being warmed up first so they did exercises to achieve this. The entire class was all about repeating moves over, and over, and over again. They didn't actually hit anything or anyone or even try. She was also the only woman in the class that was actually a little on the small side.

However, Rick was right next to her the entire time doing exactly what she was doing.

[:] o-0-O-0-o [:]

"Karate classes?" He had paid for an entire month for both of them in cash, no less.

"You're walking really well now and learning Karate will help you build up more strength," Rick argued.

Fine, he had her there. "Does this have anything to do with your idea of me being a third grade teacher and teaching the girls in my class how to do Karate?"

"Jones County College. Technically it's a community college located in Elisville which is a little south of Laurel but close enough for you to attend classes. We can think of a way to get you there and back again.

"They have classes for a lot of things. Criminal Justice if you prefer, Elementary Education, Child Development, Veterinary Technology, and yes, even Law. Though there are no actually pre-law studies at this place. It's more Social Studies than actually Law, but you can ask.

"Personally I'm thinking Elementary Education or Veterinary Technology. Community college won't make you a teacher or a vet but it will get you into a bigger university like MSU for example. In-state tuition is a lot less expensive. You love Charlie, so when he gets sick or hurt you can fix him.

"Or be a teacher and teach the girls Karate to fight off bullies. There are always bullies in school. You're strong-willed and stubborn so teach the girls to be just like you."

That had Kate sitting there and thinking. Right up to the point where he had said she was stubborn. "I'm not stubborn! Mom is stubborn but not me," Kate insisted vehemently.

"Like mother like daughter," Rick told her and listened to Kate growl at him followed by her sitting there and not saying another word all the way home.

[:] o-0-O-0-o [:]

"So where did you two go?" Jo asked them as they both came in the front door. She and Jim were sitting at the dining room table working on something. They had brought work home with them was what they had done.

"He took me to a Karate class." Kate pointed at Rick and she was still put off by being called stubborn. "And he called me stubborn."

"Well, you are, Katie," Jim agreed.

"WHAT!" Even her own father now.

"Your mother has taught you well," Jim asserted.

"JAMES LLOYD BECKETT!" Jo knew she was stubborn but she hadn't intentionally taught Katie to be stubborn.

"Not like real classes but she has." Jim stuck with it even if his wife was going to bend his ear later.

Rick then told them what he'd said to Kate in the truck. "I said that she could take elementary education classes at a local community college followed by more formal classes at say MSU. Or veterinary classes at the same community college and then become a veterinarian by attending MSU. They do have law classes but not pre-law classes so maybe being a lawyer will be a little harder."

"Being a veterinarian sounds good. You love Charlie," Jo mentioned since the second the door had opened Charlie went nuts and presently Kate was petting him like always.

"Yeah, but being a vet means working on cats, parrots, guinea pigs, horses, cows, and whatever anyone else has," Kate said. She couldn't do just dogs. That wasn't how it worked.

"So what's your point?" Jo didn't see the problem about being a vet. "And your father and I need to talk to you anyway, Katie. We have something to discuss." She had bad news.

"I think I'll go get something to drink and go to my room and type. I have a book to finish." Rick knew he wasn't needed for this family talk.

[:] o-0-O-0-o [:]

Rick was madly typing away till he realized it wasn't going where he wanted it to go so he yanked the page out of the typewriter, put a blank sheet of paper in and started over again. At least until Kate walked into his room and sat down on his bed without saying a word.

"Uh-oh!" He had seen that look on her face before.

"I can't go to Stanford anyway. Mom and Dad can't afford it any longer and I don't even have a job to try and help pay for it." Rick had money but she wasn't going to ask him to help her afford Stanford. Besides they had said no.

Kate was about as dejected as she had ever been.

"Your hospital stay didn't come cheap," Rick said.

"It wasn't my idea to be in that accident or go into a coma!" Not that she really knew just what the accident was in any great detail. Truthfully it didn't matter what it was. She had been in a coma and couldn't even walk when she woke up. What did it matter how she had gotten there?

"In-state colleges are a lot less costly. Community colleges cost even less."

Kate sighed. "That's what Mom and Dad said."

"Unfortunately what I've thought up isn't your dream. Sorry to say, Babe." Rick used her pet name for him against her. "But that dream died when you were in a coma. You're only just now learning this fact. Or maybe more accurately you already suspected that, but now it's real."

"Yeah." She had kind of suspected but it was her dream and it wasn't her fault her dream was dead.

"So, you love Charlie here." Rick reached out to pet him since he had followed Kate up here and into his room where he only slept some of the time. The other times he slept in Kate's room. "Could you love all the other animals too? You'll maybe get to deliver puppies. Give them their first puppy shots."

"I don't know." She was still in the dejected phase and didn't know what to do now. Everything had changed. One day her dream was alive and the next she woke up in a hospital.

"I'll still be here for you, Kate, whatever you choose. However, we are still going to finish our month of Karate classes. Perhaps followed by another month and a month after that. Then maybe we can start breaking boards with our bare hands. KARATE CHOP!" Rick simulated a Karate chop with his hand.

Kate smiled a little. Somehow he always found a way to brighten her dark world. It was one more reason to love him. She was even beginning to wonder when he was going to propose to her. She knew now that she would say yes.

"I need to get a Fifth Wheel bed mounted hitch in my truck and then you can help me go Fifth Wheel shopping. After that we can plan a vacation together, one we can take before you start classes at the community college."

That finally made Kate truly smile. She liked spending other people's money, especially his money, when it would benefit her in some way. Truck, RV, or whatever. It also had her off his bed so she could kiss him.

"You can make love to me to cheer me up," Kate suggested and kissed him again.