by H. Mattern
Blake started to tickle Micah; she giggled, rolling over on her side, laughing and squirming.
“Hmmm, lets see if Mommy is ticklish.” Blake said, as he turned with his hands, ready and waiting to meet her sides.
“Oh no you don’t,” Katie said, and she jumped off of the bed and ran into the kitchen. “Remember, you promised when I agreed to marry you that you wouldn’t tickle me. You know how much I hate it.”
This didn’t stop Blake from running after her.
“You know you’re not going to get away from me,” he said with a flirty grin on his face.
They blocked one another. Katie would start to go to the left and Blake would follow. Eventually, she gave in and he caught her, tickling her as he had just tickled Micah. Katie laughed hard. She couldn’t stop. Blake wasn’t even tickling her anymore, and she was still laughing.
“I love to see you smile and to hear you laugh.” Blake said as he looked at his love, who was now lying on the floor.
“And I love you,” Katie responded.
Blake sighed, “I’ll never get tired of hearing that.”
“I’m glad,” said Katie.
Micah came running towards them with her hands in front of her in the shape of claws.
“The tickle monster is coming,” Blake yelled out and jumped up as if running for his life. Micah took off chasing him. She pretended to tickle him once he allowed himself to be captured, and the laughter erupted again.
The phone rang in the kitchen, interrupting the tickle war. Katie ran to get it. “Hello,”
“Hi girl, it’s Jill. So, tell me everything. I here that married sex is even better than dating sex,” she said.
Katie just laughed. “Oh, if only you knew. Listen, I need to go, my family is having a tickle competition. It’s very serious. Can I call ya back?”
“Do I have an option?” Jill asked, sarcastically.
“Nope. Love you.” Katie hung up and lay with her husband and daughter, both of whom had collapsed on the living room floor, exhausted from all the tickling. They just lay there, all three of them staring up towards the ceiling.
“I like our new family,” Katie said. She looked over at Blake and Micah and felt thankful for this moment. Everything in her story had been written even better than she could ever anticipate. She wished in this moment that they could linger here, on the floor, together forever. Katie wanted to always remember this moment—her first morning as Mrs. Katie Quinn.
Blake agreed, “Me too. Our family is awesome.”
“Me too,” said Micah.
Katie thought of her life, of all the messy chapters that had been in her past, all the heartbreaks and thunderstorms. All the houses broken down and rebuilt. She no longer felt as though she were a broken Humpty Dumpty. Somehow along the way, someone did come back and begin ever so slowly to put her heart back together again. She wasn’t sure how it had happened, but it had.
Katie stared up at the ceiling and said a quiet thank you to the universe. Her problems with faith weren’t solved, her problems with motorcycles were definitely not solved, and there were still many questions that lingered. But lying here on the floor with her new husband and her little girl, Katie felt loved.
Not just by Blake and Micah, she felt loved by something even greater. Loved by Someone who wasn’t playing a game of chess, but rather carefully and tenderly helping her pick up her tattered, broken pieces.
EXTRAS JUST FOR YOU:
Saving Katie Baker Playlist
H. Mattern’s Reading List
Six Interesting Facts about H. Mattern
SAVING KATIE BAKER PLAYLIST
I am a lover of music and wanted to share with you, my sweet readers the songs that were played during the writing of this novel. Sometimes, I would sit with one song set on repeat yet other times I relied on variety.
For those that are interested, here’s the list:
Colbie Caillat- “One Fine Wire”
Priscilla Ahn- “Dream”
Sara Bairilles- “Brave”
Bridgit Mendler- “Hurricane”
P!nk- “Just Give Me A Reason”
Maroon 5- “She Will Be Loved”
Norah Jones- “Come Away With Me”
Metric- “Help I’m Alive”
Katy Perry- “Wide Awake”
Adele- “Set Fire To The Rain”
First Aid Kit- “Ghost Town”
Ani DiFranco- “Grey”
Priscilla Ahn- “Wallflower”
Norah Jones- “Don’t Know Why”
Christina Perri- “A Thousand Years”
Avril Lavigne- “Wish You Were Here”
Maroon 5- “Love Somebody”
Adele- “Someone Like You”
Demi Lovato- “Catch Me/Don’t Forget”
P!nk- “Perfect”
Rihanna- “Stay/We Found Love”
Alicia Keys- “Girl On Fire”
Christina Perri- “Arms”
Demi Lovato- “Skyscraper”
Priscilla Ahn- “Torch Song”
Sara Bareilles- “Love Song”
Colbie Caillat- “Brighter Than The Sun”
One Republic- “Good Life”
Fun- “Carry On”
The Lumineers- “Stubborn Love”
Mumford & Sons- “I Will Wait”
Sarah Mclachlan- “I Will Remember You”
Bryan Adams- “Please Forgive Me”
HEATHER MATTERN’S READING LIST
These are just a few of the books that have inspired my writing over the years and keep me coming back to the written word for more adventures:
My Favorite Author:
Ray Bradbury- His novel Fahrenheit 451 is my favorite but all of his books inspire me. His short story collection, The Illustrated Man is amazing.
A Few Of My Favorite Classics:
Silas Marner- George Eliot
Persuasion- Jane Austen
Emily Of New Moon Series- L.M. Montgomery
A Christmas Carol- Charles Dickens
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn- Betty Smith
A Few Of My Favorite Poets:
Mary Oliver
Pablo Neruda
Adrienne Rich
Books That Empowered Me As A Woman:
Women Who Run With The Wolves- Clarissa Pinkola Estes
When Women Were Birds- Terry Tempest Williams
The Dance Of The Dissident Daughter- Sue Monk Kidd
The Fire Starter Sessions- Danielle LaPorte
Other Books I Really Enjoyed:
Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants Series- Ann Brashares
The Hunger Games- Suzanne Collins
The Notebook- Nicholas Sparks
Dreamland- Sarah Dessen
PS, I Love You- Cecelia Ahern
My Favorite Books On Writing:
Bird By Bird- Anne Lamott
Writing Down The Bones- Natalie Goldberg
Zen In The Art Of Writing- Ray Bradbury
SIX INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT H. MATTERN
I hate unloading the dishwasher. I know it’s silly but I’d rather wash each dish by hand than have to unload them.
I have an obsession with tattoos. I have five and am always pondering what the next one will be. I was warned they are addicting but didn’t listen when I went to get my first one. I feel each tattoo on a person’s skin tells a story, and I love asking about them.
I met my husband when I was fourteen years old. He taught me how to drive and still to this day has been my one and only date. I’m a little bit obsessed with him.
I homeschool my ki
ds. I know, yikes. I love it. It’s one great big adventure after another. We love to travel and not be tied down to a schedule. (The N.C. Mountains are my favorite).
I don’t like icecream but adore dark chocolate with sea salt.
The first story I ever wrote was about two fighting elephants. I buried it after writing it so that when the Indians came back they’d find it and I’d be famous. :)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
H. MATTERN, who also goes by Heather :) was born in Alabama, raised in Florida and bloomed in North Carolina. She lives with her high school sweetheart and three children in Raleigh, NC. When she’s not writing, she’s riding motorcycles with her husband, traveling with her kids and dabbling in art.
You can read her rambles about the life of a writer at:
www.hmattern.com
Twitter:
@Heathermattern
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/officialheathermattern
