Chapter Twenty-Nine

Life is Unfair

Don't own Desperate Housewives.

Wow, I got done with this chapter quicker than I thought that I would. Enjoy!

Melissa had gotten a call from Kate Sunday night. Jack had just gotten to sleep – which was already pretty late. Melissa herself was getting ready to go to sleep.

"Kate?" Melissa asked softly. "What's up?"

"I can't watch Jack this week."

Something about Kate was lackluster. She said it blankly, almost as if she could really care less about being with Jack.

"Why not?" she asked, crawling under her sheets, keeping her cell phone between her ear and shoulder.

"I'm busy with work."

Melissa now understood why she was a little lackluster: she was stressed. Kate had always gotten a little stressed out right before a photo shoot, and she couldn't imagine what she felt like having to do five of them in a week.

"But, um, I do have some news," Kate said, her voice perking up. "I sent my uncle an e-mail yesterday just to say hello, and he's going away on Thursday to visit family in Illinois and won't return until Monday evening. He offered the cabin to me for the weekend."

"This weekend?"

"Yeah. I'd really like it if you and Jack could come with me. Will's going to come, too. No parents...just a weekend for us four."

"Wait, is this the crazy, alcoholic uncle or the rich, retired uncle."

"Rich and retired one. It's going to be a lot of fun. We're going to have a campfire and go fishing...Do you think you'll be able to make it?"

"Are you kidding? Of course!" Melissa smiled.

"Cool." Melissa could hear the smile in her voice. "We're leaving Friday evening at my house. I figure we leave at 5:00? We'll probably return late Sunday evening, maybe 9:00 or 10:00."

"Yeah, that sounds fine," Melissa said.

"And I'll drive, since I'm the only one who knows where it is. So...be all packed by Friday and be at my house at 5:00?"

"Yeah," Melissa said. "I'll talk to you more tomorrow. I need to get some sleep. Night, Kate."

"Night, Mel."

Kate found that on Sunday evening, she was unable to sleep. Will had gone to bed, and slowly the hours had passed. It was nearly 11:30. For the past two hours, she had watched disc two of her Desperate Housewives DVD collection curled up on the sofa in her pajamas.

The truth was, Kate only had to work tomorrow, not the rest of the week. She just couldn't watch Jack. She did not need to be tempted anymore than she had been. Even though she had occasionally forgotten about him, Jack was still on her mind.

Kate was exhausted: exhausted from stress, exhausted from worrying about her future, exhausted from her sudden case of insomnia that had reared it's ugly head yesterday night.

Will started work tomorrow. She was excited to see how he was going to like it. That's about the only thing that she was looking forward to in life now; he kept her going.

It was only a week ago that they met. How could she feel so warm towards him already? How could she even realize that she loved him already? She had too many questions about her life right now, and she was waiting for the answers.

Kate gasped in surprise as she saw her dad come up the stairs. She could have sworn that her dad went to bed hours ago.

"What are you doing up?" she asked, turning the volume down.

"Same reason you're up," he said, sitting next to her on the couch.

Silence. Her eyes felt heavy, but she refused to close them. She wouldn't fall asleep, anyways.

"Has your mother told you about Daniel?" her dad asked.

"Dan?" Kate asked. "Who's Dan?"

"He's an intern at her work," he said. "He's about to be a sophomore in college. Dan's studying to be a lawyer. Katherine, I think you'd really like him."

Kate felt the rage bubbling inside her. Here her dad was: trying to control her life again. If there was such a thing as an arranged marriage in twenty-first century America, her dad would find a way to make it be so.

"No, I don't think I would," she said.

"Nonsense! You know nothing of him, don't prejudge him."

"You prejudged Will yesterday, I think I'm allowed to do the same to you."

"But this is Daniel! He's a fine man, Kate. He comes from a wealthy family. Your mother showed him a picture of you a few weeks ago and has been very fond of you ever since."

Kate knew she was going to let it all out soon. She wasn't sure if it would come out in tears or screaming, and she was a little scared herself to found out.

"He's ranked second in his class," he continued. "I think very highly of him."

"Of course you do," she said. "The only people you think of highly is someone you want me married off to. He could be the richest or most handsome man on this planet, and I will not go out to dinner with him or marry him. This is not the 1700s, and I am most certainly not the dutiful daughter that you always wanted."

Silence ringed through the air. Her father stood up. "I will not force you. You just deserve to be with someone better than Will."

She stood up and looked him in the eye. "How dare you say that!"

Shit! she thought. He knows!

"How far would he go for you? If the time really came...If he found out you had gotten pregnant, would he stay by you and support the child? Would he risk his life for you? Would he go to the end of the world for you?"

"What kind of questions are these?" she asked. "Why would you doubt him if it's so obvious that he loves me?"

Her father lowered his voice to a whisper. "I don't approve of him, Katherine."

He left her with that wound to heal while he went off to bed. Kate slowly went back to the couch, crawled into a ball, and shut her eyes.

Another question she wanted an answer to: Why was life so unfair?

Melissa's Blog Entry

I just got off the phone with Kate and she invited me to her uncle's cabin for next weekend...or would it be this weekend? I don't know, I'm never good with that. This coming weekend. There. So...yeah, I'm really excited! It's going to be so much fun! I really need to get to sleep.

Love,

Melissa Rose

Kate's Blog Entry

Life is so unfair. I hate it. I hate everything right now. I hate how my dad hates Will. I hate life. I'm not going to kill myself, though. I just hate how my dad is so controlling over everything. I just feel numb right now. How could he not approve of Will? Isn't he what every dad dreams of marrying his daughter off to? But no, my dad wants me married off to a guy named Dan who is probably actually very handsome (but not as handsome as Will) and too smart for his own good. I could never win an argument against him, but I'm sure he'd love to see me try. I don't care what anyone says or does: I am sticking with Will!

XOXO,
Kate