The Ballad of Katie: Somewhere Under Heaven Series

The Aftermath

Casey's POV

It's another school year and Ashton can't seem to get away from Cassidy. Katie and Ashton both graduated high school with honors and are about to start classes at Rider. Katie opted to live off-campus since she didn't want to play sports but Ashton is on campus playing soccer. 

He's also member of Sigma Phi Epsilon and Alpha Phi Omega and of course then there's Cassidy who tried to pledge Zeta Tau Alpha but after realizing I was on the advisory board, she ended up pledging Alpha Xi Delta. He hates it because she's always around but maybe one day he can get Cassidy out of his life for good but for now, he's keeping busy and even found time to date. He told me it's no one in particular but I know when the time is right, he'll have that someone over at the house.

Katie's been doing a little better between the eating disorder and her own anxiety. When she passed her driving test, she decided she would take her dad's car instead of us helping her get one which has helped with her anxiety. She's also been spending a lot of time with her friends Byron and Jaxon as well as the lacrosse team. Ms. Sanchez and Coach McPherson also check in on her constantly and I even invite them all to come by the house since they've become a part of the family in a way.  She's back to doing karate and I'm still doing taekwondo and karate. Katie's going for her black belt and I know she'll get it. She's a fighter just like her mama so she can do anything. She's so much of a survivor that Rob has a new nickname for her on top of calling her his princess: Mighty Katie.  It's kind of cute and it almost reminds me of how my dad always called me "Mighty Casey." 

And of course there's how Katie is with us the entire family. Her and Ashton talk constantly and he's also stood up for Katie when the bullies got to be too much. Since he's so well liked at school, no one messes with him when he tells them to back off. I discovered this one afternoon on campus when I heard one of Lina Mendoza's friends who was dating a kid on the soccer team ridiculing Katie. Her boyfriend heard it and said, "Hey, you leave Linus' little sister alone!" He looked over to see me and gave me a wave shouting, "Hey, Dr. Pattinson!" I approached him later and he said, "Doc, we got Katie's back on this." 

Katie and I have gotten closer too. There are a lot of times we'll go to Target or the mall and have a "Girls' day" and then there's how she's approached me while I'm in the garden and asked me if she could help. I let her and she admits aside from the time she spends with her dad on Sundays, it's her favorite thing to do.

This is Katie's weekends when she doesn't have soccer, lacrosse, or Girl Scouts going on. She'll spend Saturday in the garden with me or we'll head over to Quaker Bridge Mall. She also got this self-proclaimed tomboy from south Jersey to finally admit that she likes the occasional mani/pedi and there will be a lot of times we'll go to our favorite salon in Princeton and get not only that but a facial. It's nice, I won't lie.

As for me, there are only two things that matter in my life right now: My family and work.Since I'm working a lot at the university and involved with the NJ General Assembly, Rory is now working with Rob and me on a lot with the studio which keeps it going but of course these days, my biggest passion is my job at Rider. I'm so loved among the university that they started calling me Doc Pattinson and of course there's how the ZTA girls are always hanging around me to the point where they took a liking to my husband and call him their "Chapter Dad." 

I also became a writer with my first book on how women are redefining the media landscape. It was something I always knew about since one of my heroes growing up was Lucille Ball who as we know was the first woman to be an executive of a studio when she and Desi Arnaz started Desilu. I ended up dedicating the book to Katie since I knew that one day, she will be one of those women who redefines the world.

To Katherine,

May you continue the legacy of the women who come before you. 

Love, Mom

Also, I was toying with the idea for an autobiography for years and I had tons of notes and chapters written which were saved in cloud storage. Months after telling Rob what happened to me at 14, I started putting it all together and I wrote what my publisher said was one amazing autobiography. Three months after my book, From Lucy to Rachel: The Evolution and Redesign of Women, Media, and Society, another book I wrote came out titled Casey At The Camera: The Semi-Charmed Life of a Trailblazer. Of course many people just shortened it to Casey At The Camera but I was okay with that since to me, it didn't matter what they called it, just as long as they acknowledged its existence and read it.

When it came time to dedicate the book, there was only one person I thought who was worthy of this honor. The night I got my hands on the first author copies of the book was our 18th wedding anniversary so after dinner, I approach my husband, hand him a bag and sure enough he opened it to discover that there was a copy of my autobiography. Needless to say the dedication was one that touched him greatly.

To Rob, 

My best friend and soulmate.

You made me the woman I am today and I can't thank you enough.

Love, Casey

We went through a lot with both our marriage and with the kids. I also kept thinking if it weren't for him, I wouldn't have the life I did today. I might have found a way to get my Ph.D but I wouldn't have been the one that proved that women can indeed have it all. I wouldn't have became a filmmaker and I wouldn't have parlayed it into a successful career as a university professor and now an author. I wouldn't have the home I do in Princeton and I wouldn't have the family I do. To say I'm lucky and this is the winner's circle for me is an understatement.

I only hope that one day, Katie will have that. I hope that one day she will find someone who loves her without limits and she has the kind of relationship her dad and I have had for close to two decades. When I stepped onto that photoshoot, I never in a million years envisioned a life like this. We had a few bumps but in the end, our love survived.

And like I tell Katie all the time, if you have that, you have the greatest treasure in the world.

I hope we can get past all this pain with the Malones. We're trying. I know Ashton tries not to talk much to Stephan and Tiffany and the only time he'll even speak to Cassidy is if she keeps annoying him. He's tried to dump her and date someone else but it's not working. 

And her parents don't help matters because they are so ungrateful and I'll give you an example: Their youngest, Trevor was diagnosed with leukemia and needed a bone marrow transplant. They didn't have the miracle that Katie did but Ashton was about an 80% match which the doctor said is better than nothing. What does my oldest do? He donated bone marrow to Trevor and while he was thankful for Ashton's selfless donation, Stephen and Tiffany once again used it as justification for Cassidy to have him around. UGH! Maybe one day we'll get rid of her and her parents and be able to move on.

 In the meantime, we keep ourselves busy with all these little things and we always find time in the midst of the insanity to spend time together. When Ashton turned 13, I was fearing that we were not going to find time to be around each other so I instituted a family night and while some thought I was nuts for it, in the end we fell in love with it. Every Friday night, we have dinner whether at home or going out and they we'll do something fun like go to the movies, go bowling, or even the occasional Uno game. 

And then there's Jaxon who has really made me the happiest. He's starting tenth grade and he just made the basketball team so I guess when we're not at Rider basketball or soccer games, we're at Notre Dame cheering on our superstar. It got so much to the point where one afternoon, Rob came up with a new nickname for him, Action Jaxon.

But every now and again, a little rain will fall. Shane and Nina are on the rocks and it's really affected Dion. He spends a lot of time with us since Nina's in and out of treatment for mental health issues but what I wouldn't know is that we would end up with Dion in our lives a hell of a lot more and when we did, it would be because of something that forever changes our world. 

I only hope we can get through this one...