Hey guys again, welcome to yet another chapter. I really want to thank you guys for reviewing:
DoubleKK: I'd be really interested to know what you think will happen next, but i guess if i told you it wouldn't be a surprise if you're wrong. But I'm thinking of adding a tiny bit of KarenxGray in here... really tiny though.
Kumiko Katawa/ Lexy499: Yeah, i have no idea who would want to marry Rick... crazy chicken lady perhaps? Well i'm trying to make him at least decent for now, but even if i made him nice and charming... well he'd still look like Rick, and be a chicken farmer. Sorry about any grammar mistakes, i'm english so... blame our schools...
Orochi Chris CYS: Well Popuri can be... unpredictable... and a little ditzy.
So yeah, thanks again for reviewing big cheesy grin.
13. Wish upon a star
The summer had passed quickly, far too quickly in Karen's opinion. Nothing seemed to have happened, the festivals had gone back to normal and everything was as it had been before Jack had come. Karen was drooped over a deckchair on the beach, soaking up the final rays of sun before the cold winter came. She heard footsteps coming towards her and she opened one eye lazily. She saw Popuri and Ann running towards her excitedly. They stopped suddenly right in front of the chair, accidentally kicking some sand into Karen's eye. She blinked violently, forcing the pain out of her eyes.
"Do you mind?" She asked irritably. "You're blocking my sun."
"Karen!" Ann exclaimed angrily, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her to her feet. Popuri and Ann then began hastily dragging her away from the beach.
"What's up guys?" Karen asked trying her hardest to resist Ann's scarily man-like strength.
"Great news, come on!" Popuri squealed, forcing sandals onto Karen's feet.
"What is it?" Karen asked allowing herself to be dragged along the streets of mineral town.
"Hurry up!" Ann said angrily, shoving Karen forward.
"Well it might help if I knew where we were going... and since when did you get hulk-like strength?" She demanded rubbing her arm where Ann had grabbed her.
"To the hospital!" Ann shouted running ahead. Karen furrowed her brow and shrugged, following Ann quickly.
When she arrived at the hospital she found Elli lying in the tranquillity of the hospital ward, carrying a tiny bundle in her arms. She looked down lovingly into the bundle, her brown eyes seemed to promise a lifetime of safety and happiness. Karen cocked her head and watched as Popuri squealed with delight.
"You guys are the last." Elli said softy, although she sounded quite relieved. Karen stepped cautiously closer to look at the tiny thing Elli had in her arms.
"Do you want to say hello?" Elli asked, pulling the blue cloth from around the bundles face and revealing a beautiful, healthy baby. The baby looked at her with giant blue eyes, in them were innocence, kindness and purity that came only from not having seen all the horrible things in life. It looked innocently around, eager to absorb all the knowledge of the world around it that it could.
"Oh Elli she's beautiful." Ann said, sounding like a true girl for once. Popuri nodded in agreement and tenderly stroked the baby's cheek.
"I want one!" Popuri whined, gazing longingly at the baby.
"What are you going to name her... it is a girl right?" Karen asked looking at the baby.
"Yes she is a girl." Elli said, thinking hard. "And I think I'm going to call her Elody." She said smiling. The girls exchanged glances and all seemed to decide they liked the name as they nodded.
"Great, Elody. My beautiful little Elody." Elli said lovingly. The baby looked around the room and then looked at Karen inquiringly. She smiled and stroked the baby's soft cheek.
"There are a lot of harsh things in this world. But your Mom is such a great mother, that I'm sure she'll protect you from all of them. Though there are some things no one can protect you from, we can just be there to help guide you." Karen told the baby. The others exchanged worried glances, they knew Karen was talking about Jack's death.
"Wow, haven't we grown up!" Ann said hastily, trying to change the subject. They all nodded in agreement.
"We have... I mean, Popuri's married, Elli's married and with a baby, Mary and Gray are finally a couple..." Karen said counting off the changes on her hand.
"Rick and Karen are going to get engaged..." Popuri said, Ann's eyes widened suddenly and she hissed at Popuri to be quiet. Popuri realised what she had said and clapped her hand to her mouth suddenly.
"What?" Karen demanded. Popuri and Ann looked fearfully at each other as each thought of a cunning plan.
"Well I think you are gonna get engaged. It's just what I think..." Popuri said trying to sound innocent. Ann nodded and tried to look nonchalant.
"Okay..." Karen said eyeing them suspiciously. The baby began to cry and Ann and Popuri breathed a sigh of relief. Elli rocked the baby gently in her arms and hummed a soothing lullaby, while the baby continued to cry.
"Oh, I think she's hungry." Elli said.
"I made some cookies earlier... I could go get those." Popuri suggested kindly. Elli laughed and shook her head.
"No, babies at this age don't eat solids they drink milk!" Elli said laughing.
"Yeah... sure... I knew that." Popuri said trying to sound casual. "Cookies go great with milk."
The others sighed and the baby continued to cry.
"You guys wanna watch me feed her?" Elli asked, laughing when she saw the others cringe.
"Sorry, I can't... I have... umm... yeh..." Karen said dashing out the door.
"Well, business calls, you know how busy we get..." Ann said following Karen quickly.
"I don't know what the big deal is..." Popuri said shrugging, but she followed them anyway.
After Popuri was told exactly what "feeding the baby" would include, she sat staring wide eyed at the wall.
"Well I still want one." She said after a while.
"Me too." Ann said in agreement. Karen thought of having a baby with Rick and cringed. A baby might not be so bad, but a Rick baby...
"I'm not so sure, first I'll get married, then I'll think about babies." She said with a shrug.
"Yeah, well I'm getting no closer to being married. Cliff says he isn't really thinking about it and he's happy with the way things are now." Ann said sadly.
"Well you know there's nothing wrong with proposing yourself in this day and age." Karen suggested. Ann considered it but watched as Popuri wrinkled her nose.
"I wouldn't have liked to propose myself, I'd always dreamt of being proposed to,and I couldn't have settled for anything else." Popuri said dreamily as though re-enacting being proposed to in her head.
"Well if I reach eighty and Cliff still hasn't proposed, then I'll ask him." Ann said laughing.
"Well, I'm not sure if I'm ready to get married..." Karen said causing Ann and Popuri to gasp. She looked at them questioning and they pretended nothing was wrong.
"So if Rick proposed, would you say yes?" Popuri asked, trying her hardest to sound out-of-interest.
"Meh." Karen said with a shrug. Ann and Popuri exchanged worried glances and Popuri nodded in Karen's direction, hinting that Ann should do something.
"Well I think you should say yes, I mean if you say no now, who knows if he'll propose again!" Ann said. Karen considered it and shrugged again, what did she care about getting married? The one person who she'd ever truly wanted to marry was dead.
"Well thankfully he shouldn't propose for a long time, so I've got ages to figure things out." Karen said calmly, leaning back on her chair.
"Don't be so sure..." Ann muttered under her breath. Karen looked at her curiously and then yawned.
"Well anyway, I've got to go, I promised Zack I'd help ship in some fireworks from Forget-me-not valley, this guy Casey is selling them cheap." Karen said standing up. She then strode out of the room and skipped away, leaving Ann and Popuri panicking.
The night of the fireworks arrived and Karen prepared to meet Rick at the dock in an hour's time. She was ready early and so decided to visit Carter, as she seemed to end up doing every fireworks festival. She spotted Carter standing outside and watching the stars in the sky peacefully.
"Heya Carter!" Karen said, happily walking over.
"Hello Karen." Carter said tearing his eyes away from the stars to look at her. He examined her outfit and nodded approvingly. "You look lovely."
Karen smiled and looked into the churchyard. It was filled with the gravestones of departed mineral town residents, including Jack's, but with no body buried beneath. Karen shivered seeing his name carved into the cold, grey stone. Next to it she saw Ellen's gravestone, another recent burial.
The graves stood, like thick knives sticking out of the ground, ready to slice the livings hearts with painful memories. Near to that she spotted her own grandmother's tombstone, it read Eve Bordeaux carved in ghostly letters on her slab. Karen shuddered again, the thought of her cold grandmother laying beneath still scared her. When she was little she had had a huge fear of death and every time she went to church the tombstones scared her, the thought that one day, she too would lie cold beneath the ground.
"It's a beautiful evening." Carter said, pulling Karen from her thoughts. She nodded passively. Carter looked at the grave and frowned.
"It's not healthy to dwell in the past Karen." He said worriedly. Karen looked at him blankly and stared.
"How come you do then?" Karen asked coolly. Carter looked at her shocked, he ran his hands nervously through his hair.
"What do you mean?" He asked nervously. Karen shrugged and looked calmly at the grave.
"I know that your favourite sermon is more than just a story. The one in particular is the one about that boy. You know... the one where he sees his mother in the morning and finds her dead, when he asks his father he says she is just sleeping. Should the father have told the boy the truth? Well? Do you have any particular views on that?" Karen demanded. Carter looked at her so surprised he didn't know what to say.
"Karen... how did you know that?" He asked wide eyed.
"Ever since I was young, you used to tell that sermon so often and you always seemed to have particular feelings." She said with a shrug. Carter nodded quietly and looked back up at the stars. Immediately she wished she hadn't said anything, but she had held it in for twelve years. Carter seemed to shine like an angel in the moonlight, the saviour of mineral town. Yet for some reason, he seemed more human to her then, less perfect and more like everybody else. Just like them he had suffered and yet, he never showed it.
"My Mom died when I was young and my dad told me she was asleep." He said after a while. "It was only a few days later, when I walked into her room and she was still lying there, in the exact same position on the bed that I realised, she was gone. My dad had been sleeping next to her for those days, pretending she was alive. I called my Grandma and told her that I didn't think Mom was waking up, so she came over and then called an ambulance. It wasn't until after the funeral... I found out that my dad had murdered her, he'd wanted to keep her the same way forever. Maybe if I'd... it doesn't matter."
Karen stared at him, shocked. She had never known that the story was so... twisted. She breathed in deeply, allowing the cool air to revive her.
"Oh Carter I'm sorry, I didn't realise." Karen said, shocked. Carter sighed glumly and then forced himself to smile again.
"We all lose people Karen, because everyone dies someday. After that my grandma took me in and I was fine, it was only when she died things went wrong. I was raised by a priest for a few years and I learnt the ways of the church and then when I was a young man I found mineral town."
"Just after our old pastor died." Karen said smiling. Carter nodded and looked back at Karen's grandmother's gravestone. She remembered her grandmother, a barmaid and wine enthusiast who had been a beauty during her youth. She had beautiful platinum blonde hair which, Karen was told, was where she got her two blonde streaks. Carter gestured up to the sky and she looked up, seeing the beautiful pinprick small stars that shone... like diamonds in the sky.
"My grandmother once told me the stars are our departed family members' souls shining as tiny stars in the sky and they watch us from those stars." Carter said smiling.
"Isn't that from the lion king?" Karen asked suspiciously. Suddenly they heard a bang and fireworks lit up the sky, allowing Carter to escape her accusation.
"God comes through for you at exactly the right times, doesn't he?" Karen laughed hurrying down the path.
"He sure does." He shouted after her, watching as she ran to the beach.
She arrived at the dock a little late and found Rick waiting impatiently for her.
"Sorry I'm late, I was talking to Carter." Karen said apologetically.
"No problem." Rick replied forgivingly. The fireworks banged in the sky, Catherine wheels and others whizzed into the air, forming a bang of light and colour. Some squealed as they rose into the sky, sounding like scared pigs, while others shot up with all the majesty of a dragon. Rick looked at Karen, his eyes filled with mystery, he then looked up to the sky, where the fountain of tiny stars were littered across the sky, beaming down at them.
"Karen, aren't the stars beautiful?" He asked, sounding effeminate. She thought about shrugging but instead settled with a nod.
"When I was younger I used to wish upon them. Some of the wishes came true and some didn't, but I still believed that every wish no matter how farfetched would be granted, I even wished that my dad would come home." He said dreamily. He chuckled and Karen nodded intently.
"Wish upon a star Karen and even the most unlikely things can happen, make a wish!" He said, sounding annoyingly like the fairy godmother from Cinderella. He looked at her expectantly and she sighed. She looked up to the sky and picked the brightest star she could find. She then closed her eyes and whispered "I wish Jack were alive."
Rick didn't hear her, he smiled, his romantic plan was going perfectly. She had just made her wish, which he was sure was about wanting to marry him. Wouldn't she be happy when he proposed to her only minutes later. He reached into his pocket and stroked the feather, trying to build up his confidence. He took a deep breath, he was almost ready to do what he had wanted to for eight years. He looked at Karen, she looked peaceful and happy, he couldn't wait to hear her excitement when he asked.
Finally Rick turned to Karen, the blue feather clutched tightly in his hand. Karen spotted it and immediately her green eyes widened, she gaped at him with her jaw dropped for a moment.
"Karen..." Rick said, bending down on one knee. Karen's heart did a somersault and she sat silently staring at him. She had no idea what to think, or what to do. She looked hastily over to the beach, wondering if she could make a run for it and decide another time.
"Will you marry me?" He asked, smiling stupidly. Those four words hit Karen like a tonne of bricks. Married? To Rick? She had had plenty of time to think about it since her friends had been dropping hints all week, but hadn't she said just a few days ago that she would say no?
After about ten minutes of silence and Rick staring at her with that stupid smile plastered on his face she realised she hadn't said anything in ages. Rick's smile was beginning to fade and as far as she could tell there was no escape.
"Please say something..." Rick pleaded after a while. Karen gulped and tried to speak.
"I... I... I'm surprised... I... erm..." She said panicking. What should she say? How could she break his heart? She did after all love him, right? She took one look at his face and felt pity and sadness. She could tell he was holding back tears, this was not how he had planned it. She just couldn't say no, that would ruin everything, but would it be betraying her heart to say yes?
"Sure." She said indifferently after a while. Rick dived into the air and cheered screaming "YES". He hugged her tightly in his arms and kissed her.
"Thank you Karen, I love you so much! You'll see, I'll be the best husband ever!" He exclaimed happily.
"I don't doubt that..." Karen said softly. Rick then ran off into the night screaming "SHE SAID YES". Soon the whole town was aware that they were to be married soon.
Rick had already run off into the night to tell his Mom as Karen sighed. She shoved her hands into her pockets and headed home wondering if she'd made the right decision. Outside she spotted Carter again, ready to offer his guidance as usual. She could tell he had been waiting for her and the anticipation still lingered in his eyes.
"Congratulations." He said, managing to sound completely happy for her and half-hearted at the same time.
"For what?" Karen asked coolly, taking a seat on the bench outside the church.
"Why for your engagement of course, to Rick. By now the whole town knows, maybe even China knows the racket he was making. So how is it you don't know?" Carter asked, one eyebrow raised.
"Yes, fine. Congratulations to me. Come on Carter we both know this wasn't my decision." She said cutting to the chase.
"You know me too well. Apparently I know you too well too." He said chuckling. She feigned a smile and looked at him, waiting for the advice.
"Did you want to say yes?" He asked. She shrugged, she really had no idea.
"I don't know. I'm not sure if I'm ready to marry him. But I don't want to break his heart either. So did I make the wrong decision?" She asked. He made a thinking face and imitated her shrug.
"Let's put it this way. Had you said no, you would still have been unhappy, still have wondered if you made the right decision and still feel as awful as you do now. However Rick would be even unhappier and would be crying his eyes out. As it is now, you are unhappy but Rick is over the moon. So is it better to upset two people or just the one?" Carter asked wisely.
"I guess I did make the right decision then." She said, smiling with relief.
"No you didn't." He said seriously. She looked at him in confusion, but he continued to stare blankly at her.
"To be honest Karen, there was no right decision, you just picked the path of least resistance. Because unless you decide whether you want to marry Rick or not you're always going to be unhappy. So think about it. Don't marry him if you don't love him." Carter said. Karen felt a chill wind blow past, she had never had such confusing advice from Carter, but it wasn't an easy situation. Carter was right, she had to figure out how she felt, or else she could make the biggest mistake of her life.
The next morning her mother greeted her with a huge mug of hot chocolate covered with marshmallows and whipped cream and a huge smile on her face. Karen gratefully accepted it and licked off some of the cream. This was the nicest her mother had been in months which made her suspicious.
"What's this for?" She asked distrustfully. She sniffed the drink and decided it was probably not poisoned. So she took a long swig of hot chocolate, just in case Sasha decided to take it away again.
"What? Can't a mother treat her beautiful daughter to a mug of hot chocolate without being questioned?" Sasha asked, sounding almost hurt.
"Yes a mother can. But with you it's suspicious..." She said sipping the hot chocolate again. "What's this about?"
"As if you didn't know! You're engagement to Rick silly! I've been wanting this for so long and finally my little daughters getting married!" She squealed, sounding like an overexcited teen. Karen opened her mouth wide, making a mouth of hot chocolate fall back into the cup, she'd almost forgotten. She took another sip and swallowed it back down again.
"Oh right that." She said casually.
"We must start organising it!" Sasha exclaimed, clapping her hands together.
"I haven't even organised the date with Rick yet... so let's not rush it." She said hastily, standing up. She brushed her hair and then shoved her Mom out of the room while she changed.
"Well make a date!" Sasha said sounding annoyed. Karen emerged from the room and slammed the door.
"How about no." She said rudely and dashed down the stairs and out the door.
She hurried to the chicken farm and found Rick feeding the chickens and humming an annoying tune, namely "chick, chick, chick, chick chicken, lay a little egg for me". Rick heard her coming and stopped humming abruptly, he then stood smiling goofily at her.
"Hey wife-to-be." He said grinning gaily. She forced a weak smile onto her face and nodded.
"Hey... erm... we need to talk." She said, trying to make the words not sound like a death sentence.
"Sure about the wedding, right? Come on in sweetie." He said leading her indoors. They sat down by the fire and she smiled nervously.
"Well, I'm just going to be honest with you Rick. Because that's what couples do right?" She asked, Rick nodded, his smile fading. "I'm having doubts, do you think it's too soon?"
Rick took a deep breath and shook his head.
"No. I mean I had doubts too, but then I thought, we've pretty much had since childhood and besides what does time matter if we love each other?" He said reassuringly. Karen considered it, he was right about all those things. He had confirmed it, the only question she really needed to ask herself was "do I love him?"
"I guess your right. Thanks honey." She said affectionately.
"So about the date for the wedding. When do you think. I think sooner rather than later, is that okay?" He asked. She thought for a moment, maybe if they waited longer she could figure out her feelings, but maybe after the wedding she would like him more.
"Yes, that sounds fine. So when?" She agreed.
"How about a fall wedding?" Rick offered.
"Nah... too close to my birthday and not enough time to plan." She said.
"Winter?"
"Nah too cold."
"Spring?"
"Sure, why not!"
"It's so far away." He whined. Karen smiled and nodded.
"It's perfect." She said. Rick sighed and nodded.
"How about the first, it's like a new start together in the new year." He suggested, sounding like a schoolgirl dreaming of her marriage. She laughed, he was a romantic, more so than she had ever been. Sure, she'd always had romantic ideas in her head, but she'd never thought them through quite as much as Rick.
"Sounds great." She said, sounding a bit half-hearted. Rick smiled and leaned up close to her pulling her into a hug. He kissed her head gently, and she smiled. Maybe marrying Rick was what she wanted, after all, no one could ever love her more... except maybe Jack. She flinched at the memory, was she letting him down? Well he'd let her down first, he'd gone and died on her. But could Rick ever replace him?
"Let's start organising the wedding now." Rick said excitedly. "So outside or inside?"
"Inside... no wait...outside, I can't decide." She said, picturing a church wedding then one on Mother's hill.
"I think in the church would be better, it's hard for my Mom to hike up the hill." He said. Karen frowned, she'd really prefer one on Mother's hill.
"Okay, so the cake, chocolate or vanilla?" She asked picturing herself biting into a delicious slice of chocolate fudge cake, she drooled.
"Vanilla of course. A wedding has to have a white cake." He said, shifting his glasses. She made a face, she wanted chocolate.
"Fine. So who are you gonna pick to be your best man?" She asked curiously. She then began to wonder, did Rick have any close male friends? He hated Kai, so that wouldn't work. He barely knew Gray, even though he worked opposite. The doctor and he were strictly on a doctor-client relationship. But he and Cliff seemed on okay terms.
"Cliff, he's my closest guy mate. I suppose Popuri will be your maid of honour." He said with a shrug. Karen gulped, who would she pick as her maid of honour?
Well there's another minature decision for Karen to make, less big than "do i marry the creepy chicken jerk" anyway.
