Patrick Ch. 09

"No.... but I want to try to explain the whys and how's." Patrick replied.

"I know you do but she isn't ready." Martin said, "This is one of the hard parts, you have to wait for her to be ready and you have to resist the temptation to push."

*******

Patrick and Martin were surprised to find Maryanne and George at Ethan and Katrina's when they got back. Maryanne greeted Martin and then Patrick with a hug.

"Are you alright?" she asked kissing his cheek.

"I've been better but I'll be alright thanks to all of you." Patrick replied.

"How'd she take it?" Ethan asked.

"Hard but she did tell me that she loves me, I guess I just have to try to be patient and while I wait try to figure out what Melissa's mother is up to."

"You don't have to worry about that anymore." Maryanne said.

"Why?" Patrick asked. As far as he knew no one had told Maryanne about the almost rape.

"Katrina and I handled it; she won't be a problem anymore."

"Who told you about her?" Patrick asked.

"Rachel but only because she thought that I already knew so don't be angry with her but I do wish that it had come from you." Maryanne said.

"I know but I didn't want to burden you with this and I had plenty of help." Patrick said.

"Burden? Patrick Sinclaire you are my child and not a burden!" Maryanne exclaimed, "That applies to all of you, grandchildren and mates included! Don't ever keep anything like that from me again, is that understood?"

"Yes ma'am." They all said.

********

Kevyn got through her days by studying and talking to her family on the phone. The news about her mother was encouraging; she was doing much better and was actually eating without being prompted. As she had requested, Patrick hadn't called her or even emailed her although she hadn't said that he couldn't. When she wasn't busy studying she spent her time trying to wrap her head around the fact that the man that she had fallen in love with was a rapist. She didn't think that she cried even this much when things were at their worst with Lonnie. Part of it was that she still loved Patrick even though she didn't understand how; she decided that she needed more time.

********

Patrick missed talking to Kevyn and resisted the urge to call her. He looked at his laptop and decided to send her an email; if she didn't want to read it she could delete it.

"Kevyn,

I know that you don't want to hear from me but I just wanted to let you k now that I am so sorry for everything and that I love you. Whenever you're ready to talk I'll be here.

Patrick"

He hit the send button and began to fine tune the online class that he would be teaching.

*********

Kevyn read the email and almost didn't respond but decided to.

"Patrick,

I'm alright. I'm still trying to make sense of things and I know that in order to do that we need to talk. I'm not quite ready to do that but I'll let you know when I am. I love you too and that's one of the things that I'm trying to understand.

Kevyn."

*******

Patrick was reading the syllabus for what had to be the twentieth time when he heard the soft ding that he had gotten an email. His mouth went dry when he saw that it was Kevyn and wondered if she was going to tell him to go to hell.

He read and then reread her response, "Thank you god!" he said as he read the email for the fourth time.

*******

Tuesday evening came and as usual Kevyn got to class early. As she read through her notes, she kept looking at the door waiting for Patrick to come in, sit next to her and tease her about her nonexistent dog spunky. She missed him she realized and wanted to talk to him to just say hello, it didn't mean that she was ready to go running to him but she just missed him. She pulled out her phone and was about to dial his number when she heard a vaguely familiar voice.

"Well if it isn't the pretty lady from the park."

Kevyn looked up in shock.

"Hi." she said not knowing what else to say.

"Hello." Stu replied, "I guess I get to find out your name anyway." he added with a smile.

"I.... I guess so." Kevyn replied flustered.

"How's the fiancé?" he asked.

Kevyn didn't know what to say, if she said that she didn't have a fiancé' he wouldn't leave her alone and then she remembered that he didn't believe her and thought that she wasn't interested in him because he was white. She wondered if Patrick would mind if she claimed him as her boyfriend and then decided that he wouldn't since they did love each other but hadn't worked through their issues.

"You know that there's no fiancé but I have started seeing someone since I last saw you." she replied.

"Is that a fact?" Stu asked, "Well I still think that you're a very pretty lady and a little competition never hurt anyone."

Kevyn was speechless; he had just told her that he wasn't going to leave her alone.

"Look, I'm flattered, I really am but I'm taken."

"You aren't married or engaged so that makes you fair game, may the best man win."

"I don't date my instructors" she tried again,

"First time for everything." Stu replied.

Kevyn was about to reply when another student walked in and greeted Stu. As Stu talked with the student, he glanced up at Kevyn and winked.

"Fuck!" she murmured as she looked away.

Her options were very limited; she couldn't change to the Thursday class..... Well she could but the problem was that she worked Wednesday night and she would have to sleep on Thursday losing a study day unless she did all of her studying on Tuesday and Wednesday during the day. The new schedule started in two weeks and maybe she could get her nights off changed but if she couldn't she'd be screwed for the rest of the semester.

If she stayed in this class, Stu would be able to contact her by email which he could anyway no matter which class she was in but she would have see him once a week. She wondered how she went from no man to two in three short weeks, except that she didn't have two men she only wanted one and it wasn't Stu.

Kevyn felt a blast of heat at the admission that she wanted Patrick and along with that came an intense missing him. She got up, rushed out of the room heading for the nearest water fountain and then the restroom. When she walked back into the classroom she felt Stu's eyes on her, she kept walking to her seat without looking at him.

The last student dashed in right when class was going to start.

"Evening folks, my name is Stu Brinkman and you can call me Stu. I'm well aware that my predecessor preferred to be called Dr. Sinclaire but I'm not that pretentious. I'm also aware that he had certain office hours and that you had to make an appointment to see him but you could email to your heart's content. Again I'm not that pretentious, I have an open door policy so feel free to drop in. I'm going to call roll just so I can put faces with names. When I call your name stand up and tell me a little about yourself."

Kevyn fumed, the need to protect and defend Patrick rose, just who did this man think he was? When he finally got to her name she stood up.

"So Kevyn, tell me about yourself." Stu said.

"Well, first of all I prefer to be called Miss. Morris and I prefer to call you Dr. Brinkman, it keeps things professional." and then she sat down fully aware that she was being stared at.

"As you wish Miss Morris." Stu replied, "I really do enjoy challenges." He added with a smile and a wink as he turned to the rest of the class.