Keeping Katie Ch 9
Don pulled the blanket over them in the cooling air. He used a his clothes for a pillow and she used his arm. "So was it worth the wait?"
"Mmm Hmmm." she smiled at him contented.
He touched her face and her hair. "I like your hair down."
"You're lucky. You don't have to mess with it. Long hair is great, but it can be a pain to take care of. You men don't have that to worry about."
"So cut it all off." he suggested.
"Are you serious? You just said you like it down."
"I'd like you without any if that's how you want it."
"Don't worry. I like it long. You could always grow yours out."
He laughed at her."I don't think so. Can you imagine me with a ponytail? Not ever." he smiled at her then he sobered. "Charlene said you had something you wanted to talk to me about?"
"Yeah. A couple of things. I'm not even sure which is most important."
"Start anywhere you want to."
"I don't want to break the mood."
"My darling, there's no way you could. Tell me all of it. We're here together for good and bad. Let me in."
"Okay, what I consider the worst first." Karen sat up and searched for her clothes. She pulled on her shirt without the underwear and then her jeans though she left her feet bare. Don sat up too and put his clothes back on. This was bad enough to need clothes? "I spoke to Joseph, he was confused about his place here. Apparently he's stacked wood before. Where he was at used to hire him out for day labor and get paid for it, then if he did a good job he was apparently rewarded with sex with girls. I'm guessing it was for money as well."
"They hired him out for stud service? That's abuse. Did it never get reported?"
"I don't know, Don. I didn't know what questions to ask him, I'm not sure how much he knows about the transactions, so I didn't want to ask him questions that might confuse his talking to you. I do know he viewed the sex as a reward. I can't blame him there. I put in a call to Tolna. I want to find out more about him. I'm wondering what you think of the idea of him staying here instead of leaving again. I know he's older than the rest, but he's also younger than them mentally. "
"He got to you, didn't he?"
"Oh, Don, he's so eager to please and even a little affection means so much to him. How could I possibly send him back out to the rest of the world to get used like that again?"
"In the first place, that should be a rare instance. In the second place, I want to find out more about his background before we make a committment. And then we have to figure out what you have to do because he is legally over the age limit you set. It wouldn't be fair of you to get his hopes up of staying here and then lose him because of a legality."
Karen nodded miserably. "I know. I knew you'd know what to do."
"We'll do what we can, Karen. Don't give up hope. What else? You said that was the worst."
"I have some good and bad news mixed. Charlene's wedding is off, permanently. She caught him doing another woman in their bed and they were laughing at her. She wants to move here as her home and go to college."
"That's good news. I'm sorry about her wedding, but is she sure it's over?"
"She says yes. I was thinking that maybe we could put a small house out behind the big one and you and I and Katie, could maybe make it our home. Charlene would be the house mother in the big house and she'd have our quarters. I asked her if she'd be interested and that's when she told me she wants to go to college for social work."
"That's an excellent idea. I know you told her we'd help her."
"Absolutely. Things are changing so fast. There was something else I wanted to talk to you about, but you've put it right out of my head. I'm really worried about Joseph."
"I'll talk to him and if I have to I'll take it to the local police myself. You said you haven't heard from Tolna?"
"No, and that worries me too. I guess I'm just worried about everything tonight. I should just be enjoying you here. In fact, I'm going to start doing that right now. All my worries are gone because you're home."
"That's right. Put it all away for tonight. Come here." He pulled her against him again. He put his lips on hers and did his best to help her forget her troubles.
They walked into the house at 10:30. Charlene had put the kids to bed and was sitting at the kitchen table reading a college catalog. She looked at them holding hands and smiled. "I see you had a nice long conversation." she teased.
"I'm sorry. I know I left you to put them to bed all by yourself. I should have been here to help." Karen said.
"Don't be silly. It's no problem. You had to have time alone together. I, um, have a date tomorrow night though so..."
"That's great. It's not with Chuck is it?"
"Hell, no, pardon my language. It's with John."
"John? Do I know him?" Karen was confused.
"John? Munch? You are going out with John Munch?" Dan asked, surprised.
"Yes." Charlene said defensively.
"That's wonderful. So that's where you were last night. Did you have a good time?" Karen asked while Don was getting over the shock.
"Yeah, we had a good time. Is that going to cause a problem?" Charlene asked Don timidly.
"No, I was just surprised. What John does on his own time is his business." he hastily assured her.
"Do you need anything, Charlene? Do you want to go to bed? We can keep an eye on everything tonight." Karen offered.
"No, I'm fine. I'm going to turn in soon and I'll keep an ear open. You guys can go to bed."
"If you're sure. I'll leave the door cracked in case you need help with Joseph, though I think we have that thing under control. Good night."
"Sleep well." Charlene smiled at them and sent Don a wink.
Don crawled into the bed in their quarters and pulled the covers back for Karen. "I didn't get much sleep last night. I wanted to be with you here." he said.
She crawled into bed and curled up against him. "I'm sorry. Next time, tell me and I'll pick the whole place up and we'll come to you." she said sleepily.
"I think you might try. Don't worry, love, I don't intend this to happen more than once or twice a year."
"Good. I'm too tired to do it tonight."
"Go to sleep." he said with a smile.
She rolled over on her side and he snuggled up to her with an arm around her waist and fell into a restful sleep himself.
TBC
