CHAPTER
FORTY-THREE: WRITTEN FROM THE HEART
Everyone sat around the couch listening to what I had to
say. When I was done they all stared at me in shock.
"Let's go," A.J. said, standing up.
I looked at him curiously.
"Where?"
"We've got work to do. Howie and I will fly down
to Orlando tonight and find out the information you need, we'll
leave Kevin here to keep an eye on Kaylee, meanwhile you guys can
do the rest," him and Howie took off.
Kevin got on his cell phone and left the room, he was going
to make sure everything was secure for our plan.
"We need to talk to you Kate," Felicia approached
me as I scribbled some notes down on a piece of paper.
"What's up?" I asked.
"Listen, Brian went with me tonight to confront Kaylee
and we over heard some pretty bad things," she looked down
at the ground solemnly.
"What's wrong ‘Licia?" I asked.
Nick walked over and listened intently.
"Kaylee said..." She started.
"She said she wanted to kill you," Brian finished.
My mouth gaped as I turned around to look at Nick.
"Kill me?" I stuttered. I thought this
was all some form of a game to her, I didn't think she'd actually
take it that far.
I silently walked over to the chair and sat down.
"Are you sure?" Nick continued to ask Brian
and Felicia, but his words were a lost echo. This was how
she really wanted to play? If it meant getting my life
back, I was willing to do anything.
~ONE DAY LATER~
I sat at my computer typing up what I hope would be the last
touches of our plan. Nick peeked over my shoulder and
smiled. He knew what I was doing was important to not only
me, but the person I was writing it for.
Nick's cell phone rang as he ran to the other room to answer
it. Several minutes later he came jogging into the room.
"We gotta run, A.J. and Howie are back and they got the
info we need," he huffed.
I quickly phoned Felicia and we all found a place to meet.
~ONE HOUR LATER~
Kevin let all of us into his New York townhouse and offered
us a seat. A.J. and Howie came walking out with a bag in
hand.
"So what happened?" I asked nervously.
A.J. cleared his throat and began.
"We flew into Orlando and once we got there we requested
a series of faxes from the tour company, the promotion people and
the management company. It took us until about six in the
morning to shuffle through but we found the sound company and a
list of names and numbers of the people. They usually keep
that sort of thing on file just in case we need them again
later. Anyway, we back tracked everything that happened
that night and what Kaylee did with the recorder. From the
sounds of the tape, it was recorded professionally, there's no
way she could edit that together herself with the limit of
resources she had which was a basic stereo system. So we
rang al the guys who worked on the soundboard that night and
after process of elimination we limited it a man by the same of
Charles Elker. He just got out of prison and is on parole
and so we thought he could be a good lead.
"We went to his house and luckily he admitted everything
to us. Kaylee offered him a shitload of money to edit that
tape and he never told anyone cause he was afraid of losing his
job. Well, no such luck, he lost it two weeks ago, so he
had nothing to lose anymore. Anyway he edited the tape
together and after a ton of searching through his fucked up
garage, he found this," A.J. whipped a small tape out of his
back pocket and held it up. My eyes lit up.
"This is the original conversation that Kaylee taped of
Felicia and Kate speaking about Nick and Brian and it's all
clean, well accept for some stuff," he winked at Felicia who
blushed remembering all that she'd told me that night.
"A.J. I love you!" I shrieked as I toppled
him over on the couch.
Thanks to A.J. I would hopefully get my job back.
Amanda fired me in the first place because she didn't believe
that I had exposed the Boys and treated them disrespectfully when
I had done no such thing.
"Is it my turn yet?" Kevin sighed, wanting to
get in on the action.
"What did you find?" Nick asked.
"Well, our friend Mandy," Kevin started looking
over at Nick. "She works for Kaylee, she wasn't back
in town because she needed money Nick, she's here to help
Kaylee."
His jaw dropped.
"That stupid bitch," he spat.
"I talked to some people and then had some friends of
mine take a look at what they saw and well, what can I say, she
wasn't just a bitch when you two were together, she still
is," Kevin plopped down on a leather loveseat.
"Okay you guys did such an amazing job, how will I ever
thank you?" I smiled.
They all smiled back.
"But now we have some last minute things to take care
of, so listen carefully."
They all gathered around as I told them what I wanted to do.
~TWO DAYS LATER~
"This is priceless," I laughed as I looked at
Kevin's two friends dressed in police uniforms.
They smiled at me, they got a kick out of it.
"You guys have your tape recorders, right?" I
asked.
Just what Kaylee deserved, I was now using the same tape
recorder she tried ruining my life with, to ruin hers.
They nodded.
"Okay, let's go," I said.
~AT THE SAME
TIME~
"Please mom, yes eight tonight, thank you," he hung
up the phone. Everything was falling into place now.
He slammed his phone shut and took off down the hall.
~AT THE SAME
TIME~
Kaylee sat flipping through the channels, it was a typical
Saturday, she'd just gotten back from getting her nails and hair
done and now she was relaxing as they dried.
A loud pounding on her door echoed throughout her apartment.
"Just a second," she sang as she got up and walked
carefully over to the door.
She opened the door to see two huge men wearing NYPD
uniforms.
"Can I help you officers?" She batted her
eyelashes.
"Are you Kaylee Smyth?" The officers asked.
"Yes, why? And you pronounced that wrong,"
she chastised.
They let themselves in.
"We have a warrant here for your arrest for illegal
extortion of Miss Kate McBride, Mr. Nick Carter, an a Ms. Felicia
Ramsey," he replied sternly, his deep brown eyes locking
onto hers.
Her eyes lit up with fear. Extortion? Is that
really what she'd done?
"Yeah funny joke," she laughed as she turned around
to walk away.
"Miss I'm afraid you'll have to come down to the station
with us," he grabbed her by the arm.
"Hey watch my nails!" She yelled.
~AT THE SAME
TIME~
"Yeah eight tonight, thank you so much, I appreciate
it," I said as I hung up. Nick and I had finished the
last of our round of phone calls.
~AT THE SAME
TIME~
Kevin's friend was head of the NYPD and allowed he and his
friends to use an office that was being renovated in the back of
the station.
There is where they took Kaylee.
She waited in a room, a two-way mirror on the left of it as
she sat there waiting to be questioned in the room all alone.
Nick, Brian, Felicia and I all stood on the other side of the
two-way mirror and watched as Kevin's friend came in, tape
recorder in pocket, and began to record everything she said.
I too stood with my notepad in hand, waiting for her
confession.
~AT THE SAME
TIME~
Kaylee sat, tears streaming down her eyes, she was scared to
death.
"So can you tell us about the night that you and this
guy Brandon met outside of the student union when you attended
NYU?" He questioned.
She bobbed her head up and down.
"I just wanted to be with him, but he told me no and it
hurt," she said trying to catch her breath between sobs.
~AT THE SAME
TIME~
I sat for an hour and listened to her whole past come out and
at that, being recorded.
When she was finally asked about me she admitted the whole
thing, the tape recorder, the sneaking around and for the most
part, that she wanted to kill me.
It was now nearly eight and we had somewhere to be, Kaylee
would arrive later, though she didn't know that at the time.
~8PM~
I sat nervously with Nick on a table as we waited for
everyone to arrive.
"Can you believe this is all about to end?"
He asked. The room was huge, one we'd borrowed from Howie's
hotel just for an hour this evening.
"No, I can't," I said as I gazed at his blue eyes.
"So what's next, battling creatures of the black
lagoon?" He joked.
"If only life were that simple," I said as I ran my
fingers through his blonde locks.
"What if it were simple and you had your job back and
everything you wanted?" He questioned.
"I can't keep my hopes up for dreams to come true Nick,
because sometimes when you wish and wish and it doesn't happen,
you're let down even more," I sighed.
"What happens if I want to make your dreams come
true?" He asked.
"You already have," I whispered.
"Not all of them," he hopped down off the table and
stood before me. There, he got down on one knee and pulled
a small box out of his pocket.
My eyes lit up like wildfire as the diamond was exposed to
the light.
"Nick, oh my God," I whispered.
"Kaitlyn, we've been through hell this past year, we've
had a lot of trials and tribulations to test our love for one
another. You've written me the most perfect life I could
have and that life is perfect with you. Because of you I
believe that dreams do come true and with that, I love you with
all my heart. Will you marry me?" A tear nearly
escaped from his eye as I jumped down onto the floor and wrapped
my arms around him.
"Yes, I will!" I yelled as he slid the
diamond on my finger.
There was a thunderous applause coming from the door as we
looked to see all of the guys and Felicia standing there
applauding.
I kissed him gently.
"We've got one more thing to do before we walk off into
the sunset," I teased, mocking all the books I'd read.
"Let's get to it," I pulled him up off the floor as all
of us prepared for what was to come.
~TEN MINUTES
LATER~
There were about fifteen of us in the assembly hall.
The guest of honor wasn't to be there for another few minutes, so
I decided to speak to everyone.
Bob and Jane were the last to arrive, with the children as
Amanda and her significant other stood watching me with wide
eyes.
Along with them was Mandy, who Nick coyly invited and
convinced her it was because he wanted to announce to everyone
how much he loved her and wanted to marry her.
Among that were a few friends that had not spoke to me since
I'd lost my job at the Times.
~AT THE SAME
TIME~
"Where the hell are we?" Kaylee shrieked as
the two "police officers" escorted her into the hall.
She walked in to see a circle of people and in the middle of
it, I stood, smirking.
"Why Kaylee, so nice of you to join us," I replied
as one of the guys tossed me the tape recorder. He had been
instructed to rewind it to the place I wanted it.
I cleared my throat and looked at the circle of people.
"I invited you all here tonight for a reason.
About two months ago I lost my job with the Times and about eight
months ago I lost the respect of quite a few of you. I
don't blame you for how you feel towards me, but I ask you to
give me a chance to explain myself, here...tonight."
Everyone whispered amongst themselves as I looked back at
Nick for reassurance.
I waited and when I heard no one give any objections I began
what I had to say.
"A lot has happened over the course of the past ten
months and most of you are here because we've had a lot of
miscommunication and misunderstandings. First, Jane, Bob, I
want to tell you that I never meant to hurt your son and when he
hear this, I hope you believe me," I hit play on the
recorder. My voice from the night in Orlando filled the
room.
"I'm
not usually that fast of a person. I mean I don't move that
fast. But Nick...he's just an amazing guy. I don't
care that he's famous or that every girl wants him, it doesn't
bother me at all. I respect his job and his fans and what
he does for the fans is amazing. Kaylee keeps ranting on
saying "you're just fucking him for a piece of news,"
but she's so full of shit. There's a connection between him
and I and I'm falling head over heals for him. It's so
surreal sometimes, like almost too good to be true when I wake up
in his arms...
Nick looked over at me as everyone listened. His eyes
showed regret for ever believing the words Kaylee edited
together.
I hit the stop button.
"I wanted you to know that the words on the recorder in
Orlando were false, Kaylee taped this conversation and played it
back to what you heard that night. I never said those
things, I love Nick with all my heart and I hope you can accept
me in his life," I said as I smiled.
Jane ran over and wrapped her arms around me tightly.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered.
After she embraced me I turned to Amanda who stood there in
shock.
"Kaylee, come here," I instructed.
Kevin's friends dragged her to the middle of the circle.
"Please tell Amanda the truth, because if you don't, I
can play the tape where you're sobbing uncontrollably and you
spill absolutely everything," I threatened.
Her face was full of anger, but she opened her mouth and it
all came spilling out. At least she would look stronger
than the sob story from the police station.
Every last thing down to Felicia's hiring and the scheming
she had done to get me fired all came out of her mouth.
"Really?" Amanda said sarcastically.
"Well, you're fired, take her away," Amanda waved her
hand in disgust as they pulled Kaylee out of the middle of the
circle.
"Kate, I'm really sorry and I want to welcome you back
to your job, with a raise," she smiled.
"Do you think I could get a week vacation?" I
asked.
"Why?" She smiled.
"Because I want to marry my man," I said, holding
up my hand so she could see the ring.
"I think that can be arranged dear," she hugged me
tightly.
Jane and Bob looked over at Nick. He and I both smiled
at the acceptance in their eyes as everyone started clapping for
us.
Mandy's mouth hit the floor as she burst into the circle.
"Nick you said you were going to marry me?!"
She shrieked.
I looked at Nick, allowing him to handle her.
"How in the hell did you think I'd marry YOU after all
you put Kate and I through? I know about you working with
Kaylee and if I ever see you near me again, I'm calling the
cops," he threatened. She stormed out and pouted all
the way down the hall.
~AN HOUR LATER~
Everyone had left as Nick and I went back to my
apartment. The first quiet night we'd had together in a
long time.
Kaylee was put under psychiatric evaluation for everything
she had done and was put into a ninety day program. After
that she would be watched closely.
As for me, I still had one more thing up my sleeve and it was
printing as Nick came out of the shower, his hair wet while he
waited for me to come to bed.
I held up the piece of paper that came out of the printer and
smiled.
Written
From The Heart
By Kate McBride
Editor
Some say the past stays in the past, but in this case, it is very
much alive. Brandon Ridgeway passed away when he was only
twenty-one years old. A man with so many dreams died with
lies all around him. Ridgeway was a personal friend of mine
accused of rape when we attended NYU several years ago.
I've learned from doing some research recently that he did not
commit the crime accused. Even though he is gone now, I
feel that his name should be cleared as he roams through the
heavens above. Thank you Brandon for all that you've taught
me and most important, learning how to rid of ghosts that haunted
me. Every day and every hour I put words on paper, but
because of you, they are truly written from the heart.
Amanda agreed to print it even though it was personal because
the rape case was something the New York Times had covered years
ago and my request touched her heart.
I laid the piece of paper down and shut off the
computer. Tomorrow I would go back to work, start making
wedding plans, make myself a new life.
It amazed me at how far I'd come in a year. As I stared
at Nick he smiled at me and I knew that when I'd taken the beat
to cover their concert it was the best decision I'd ever made in
my entire life. Because of him I learned what love and
passion truly were and I knew I'd spend the rest of my days by
his side.
"You ready for bed?" He smirked.
I switched off the light and followed him into what was now
our room.
I laid down next to him and stared into the darkness.
"You're like a dream," I whispered as he covered my
body with his hands.
"I'm like one of those stories you write," he
teased.
"The stories I write are just thoughts on paper and
you're different," I concluded.
"Why is that?" He asked, smiling at me
lovingly.
"Because you are written from the heart."
Thank
You's
chick4nick28@hotmail.com (author)