He walked into the penthouse and started up the long staircase. He turned left and went down a hall until he came face to face with 2 large doors; her bedroom. He didn't know what to expect when he walked inside. So, he held his breath, knocked, and slowly opened the doors.
She was lying on her bed in a black nightgown with a martini in her hand, as usual. There were pictures laid out all around the floor and bed, but he didn't notice them. He only noticed her distraught, tear stained face.
"Karen?" He asked.
She turned her head towards him and gave him a soft smile.
"Come here," She instructed, "Have a seat."
He moved towards the bed and tip-toed past the pictures. Once he was next to her, he took her warm hand in his.
"Why'd you call me over here?" He said after a long silence.
"I want to tell you a story. And it's a long story so here," she handed him a bottle of champagne, "drink up."
He took the bottle and drank from it, knowing she probably didn't have wine glasses.
"What's the story about?"
"It's about a little girl who has suffered the punches that life has thrown at her."
She paused for a few minutes and then started, "I was only 7 years old when my father died…"
Las Angeles, California
January 11th, 1965
Delaney Household
"Karen Ava Delaney! Wake up your father! I will not ask you again! Breakfast is ready!" Lois yelled up the steps.
"Ok, Mommy!" She said and ran from her bedroom to her parent's room. "Daddy! Daddy! Breakfast is ready!" She said excitedly. They were going to the zoo today and Ginny and Karen had been bragging on about it for weeks.
When her father didn't even stir, Karen frowned.
"Come on, Kare! I wanna eat so we can go to da zoo!" Ginny complained from her spot in the doorway. Virginia Anne was only 2 years younger than her sister and quite frankly was a brat. Karen was known for being the "pleasant" or "good child" to her family and Ginny was just spoiled.
"Daddy?" She started shaking him. "Ginny! Go get Mommy! Something's wrong!"
Gin ran from the room and down the steps."Momma! Something's wrong with Daddy! He won't wake up!" She cried.
Lois put down her coffee and followed her youngest up to her bedroom.
"Riley?" She asked, cautiously. She noticed Karen was quietly crying as she sat next to him on the bed.
"Karen, take Virginia and go to your room and lock the door. You may not come out until I tell you. Understand?"
Karen nodded and hopped from the bed. She grabbed her little sister's hand and led her to her bedroom.
It was about 45 minutes later when Lois knocked on Karen's door. She leapt from her spot on the floor where she was coloring and unlocked the door.
"Mommy?" She asked. Lois had tears streaming down her face and she was visibly shaking.
"Umm, girls. Come here."She instructed.
They walked up to their mother as she crouched down to their eye level.
"Daddy has passed away."
"What you mean, Mommy?" Virginia asked.
"Remember that place that the Pastor talks about at church?"
"You mean Heaven?" Karen frowned. She didn't like where this was going.
"Yes. Well, Daddy has gone to Heaven." She said as she chocked on a sob.
"When will he be coming back?"Virginia was too young to understand and wasn't getting it. This made Karen mad.
"You idiot! He's dead! He's never coming back!"She screamed and slammed her door in their faces.
Karen jumped on her bed and cried, ignoring her mother's calls on the other side. She heard her sister crying, but didn't care. She just wanted her dad back.
"Wow." Was all he could say. "You found him?"
"Yup." She drowned the memory down with a gulp of her martini.
"Is that when your mom became a con-artist?"
"Not exactly." She sighed. "We weren't poor, but we didn't have a whole lot of money, either. My mom had sold our house and moved us here to New York. I was about 9 years old…"
Brooklyn, New York
August 26, 1967
Woodridge Apartments
Karen walked into her new house and cringed. It was a small apartment on the 6th floor of a 10 storey building.
"We have to live here?"She asked in disgust.
"It's all we can afford now come on, help me bring all this crap inside." Lois demanded, bitterly and pushed Karen back out the door.
For the next 4 hours, they unpacked. They only had one box left and it was all Riley's things.
"Karen, go put this in the closet." Lois said and shoved the box towards her.
Karen picked the box up and walked to the closet. She looked back over to where her mother was making dinner and to where her sister was playing with her dolls. Karen looked into the box and found her favorite picture of her dad. It was when she was only about 3 years old and he was bouncing her on his lap. She hid the picture under her shirt, put the box away and walked to her room. She closed the door and stared at the picture for hours, just remembering her late father.
5 days later, Karen and Ginny started school. Karen was now in 4th grade and hated it. Everyone thought she was a geek because her hand was always in the air, ready to answer questions and she had straight A's. School was always a breeze for her.
A few years had passed and Karen was now 14 and starting high school. She still didn't have any friends, but when she walked through the threshold of that school, she was a goddess. All of the boys were drooling over her. She was an early bloomer and had the body of a model, despite her height. Around the end of her sophomore year, she met a boy named Aiden Sulleman. He was sweet and gorgeous and liked her for her. Or, so she thought. When she trusted him enough, they had sex. She had told him to be gentle, but he wouldn't listen. He kept moving in and out of her fast, not giving her any pleaser, but a lot of pain. She left his house that night and returned home around 2:30, covered in blood. Her mom was out again and Gin was most likely sleeping already. When she walked to her bedroom, Virginia came out of the bathroom and saw her.
"Karen?" She asked.
"Umm, Ginny, I'm gonna take a bath. When I call you, can you take my clothes and wash them before Mom sees?" Her voice was shaking she was pale.
Gin nodded and followed her to the bathroom. Karen tried to get out of her clothes, but her legs were weak and she was too distraught. So, Gin helped her undress and get into the tub. She rushed to the laundry room that was on the bottom floor and got Karen's clothes into the wash. Lois didn't return home until about 4 AM. When she went to check on Virginia, she noticed that she wasn't in her bedroom. She started to slightly panic and went to Karen's room. When she opened the door she sighed with relief and smiled. Karen and Virginia were cuddled up on Karen's bed, fast asleep. Lois didn't question this. They often would sleep in each other's bed when they had a bad night. She brushed it off and went to bed.
3 weeks later…
"Fuck. Fuckity fuck fuck!" Karen muttered as she paced her bedroom.
"Why the language?" Gin asked when she walked into Karen's room.
"Gin, I fucked up. Why did I trust him? Why did I let him fuck me?!"
"Umm, because you love him, and he loves you," She asked?
"No. No. He doesn't love me. That's where it all went wrong. After he had his way with me, the bastard dumped me and now I might be fucking pregnant!"
"WOAH!" Gin yelled.
"Ssh! Mom's sleeping!"
"Karen!" She said more quietly. "What the hell! Mom's gonna kill you!"
"I know! What am I going to do, Virginia?!"
Gin walked up to her and hugged her tightly. "We'll get through this together. I promise. Now come on. We have to get you tested."
"Oh, my God, were you pregnant?" He asked her.
"Don't interrupt!" She smacked his arm and continued on.
"Dammit!" Lois yelled into the house.
"What's wrong, mom?" Gin asked, looking up from her book.
"The bastard figured me out and now we're broke!"
"What?! Mom! Now we can't afford anything for Karen's baby!"
Lois stopped her pacing and turned to Gin who had clamped her hand over her mouth.
"Baby?" Lois asked. "Karen's pregnant?"
"Umm…umm…" Gin stuttered.
Just then Karen walked into the apartment with her hand on her small bump.
"What's going on? What's happening? What's with the faces?"
She studied Gin who had a look of fear and regret on her face and her mom who looked pissed.
"Gin, you didn't…" She started to say, but her mother's screaming cut her off.
"How dare you! How could you go and get yourself pregnant?! After everything I've done for you!"
"Everything you've done for us?" She yelled back, "Coming home drunk at 3 in the morning and sleeping all day? Working at a bar? Having sex with any guy that has money and working your way into their will? Why don't you get a real job? Gin is in 9th grade with straight A's and you don't even care! Where were you when she "became a woman"? Huh? Oh yeah, that's right, fucking some married guy for cash! You've done nothing for this family except care for yourself ever since Dad died! When was the last time you cooked for us? Come to a school function? You didn't even show up for Virginia's graduation! So, fuck you! I'm outta here!"
She gathered her things quickly (she didn't have a lot, she had to sell for money), and opened the front door.
"And by the way, I didn't have sex…I was raped."
With that she slammed the door and never looked back.
"Wow, Kare. I had no idea."
"Yeah, but hang on to your briefs. There's more." She opened another bottle of wine and took a gulp, handing him the bottle.
"Aislin Riley Delaney was born April 16th, 1975…"
"Come on, Karen! Push! You're almost there!" Virginia urged her on.
Karen pushed one last time and the cries of a baby sounded the room.
"Congratulations, it's a beautiful girl."
Once they cleaned the baby off, they handed her to Karen. Karen looked down at the bundle in her arms and let the tears fall.
"What are you going to name her?" Gin asked.
"Aislin…Aislin Riley Delaney."
"That's beautiful, Kare."
Karen smiled at her sister, truly happy.
"Wait,"
She sighed; annoyed that he interrupted her again.
"If you had a baby, where is she now?"
"If you quit interrupting me, I'd let you know!"
"Sorry, sorry, continue."
"Thank you. Where was I? Ahh, yes, Aislin. She was gorgeous…"
"Come on, Aislin! Walk to mommy! There you go! Good job!" Karen cheered as she sat on her living room floor, playing with Aislin.
"I can't believe she's walking already!" Lucas St. Croix – Popeil was Karen's boyfriend. She was 18, out of a job, and in need of a place to stay. That's when Lucas showed up. They met at a grocery store and it just so happened that he needed a roommate. Despite the fact that she couldn't pay rent, he let her stay with him until she got a steady job.
"I know! She's only 7 months!" She exclaimed out of pure joy.
"Karen," Lucas said as he sat beside her.
"What, honey."
"Will you marry me?"
Karen looked up at him, eyes wide, and jaw dropped.
"What?!" She asked in a whisper.
"Will you marry me?" He asked again, more confident.
"I…I don't know what to say…"
"Say yes, please." He pleaded. "We love each other; we've been living together for 6 months…please, marry me."
She beamed at him and said, "Yes… Yes! I'll marry you!"
5 years later…
"I can't believe you cheated on me!" She screamed at him.
"Really? You can't believe it? Well, start believing it, baby, because I did. I don't love you anymore, Karen. There's no spark in our relationship. I've wanted a divorce for a while now. Don't act so surprised. Besides, I have to marry Anna."
"Oh, my God." Karen said as the realization hit her. "You knocked her up?! You bastard!"
"Here are the damn papers. Just sign them and this will all go over smoothly."
But it didn't go over smoothly. Ever since she found out about Lucas and his mistress, she began drinking…a lot. So much that they took Aislin away from her. Her own fucking daughter! Karen then devoted herself to more drinking and some drugs for 3 more years. That's when Stanley Walker found her, passed out on his doorstep.
"That's how you and Stanley met? You were sleeping on his doorstep?"
"I didn't have anywhere to go. I was devastated over my ex – husband cheating on me and then taking my little girl away from me. He was on a business trip and came back early and found me. He helped me get my life back in order. He was so kind to me. And then we got married 6 years later…"
"Here Comes the Bride" played softly as the two doors in back opened and Karen Delaney St. Croix – Popeil soon to be Walker, walked down the aisle of the gorgeous St. Patrick's Church. After exchanging vows, they put the rings on each other's fingers, said "I do" and shared a kiss as everyone clapped.
"I love you, Mrs. Walker." He whispered in her ear as they walked down the aisle together as man and wife.
"I love you, too, Mr. Walker." She smiled back at him.
3 years later…
"Stan," Karen said as she walked into his office.
"Yes, sweetheart?" He asked, not looking up from his paperwork.
"I found a job."
He looked up at her and took the glasses off his nose.
"Well, that's wonderful, sweetheart, but I've told you before, you don't need a job."
"I know." She said quietly, looking to the ground and shuffling her feet. "I'm just bored here. I wanna do something more than shop and go to functions with you."
"I understand. Where is it you will be working?"
"Grace Adler Designs. It's not too far from here. I can take a cab-"
"Karen, we're rich. We don't need cabs. We have limos."
She nodded and said, "So, this is ok with you?"
"As long as you're happy, I'm happy."
"Oh, thank you, Stanley!" She exclaimed and hugged him tightly.
"You're welcome, Karen."
Grace Adler Designs
January 11th, 1997
"Morning, Karen." Grace smiled as she walked through the door.
"Morning, honey." She said not looking up from her magazine.
Grace noticed the radio was on and said, "What are you listening to?"
"Oh, just some random station. It was too quiet. I can turn if off…"
"No. It's ok. Maybe the music will make me relax a little."She said and then walked into the backroom.
"Breaking news: A 16 year old girl named Aislin Riley Delaney St. Croix – Popeil was found dead today in a hotel parking lot. It is said that she was raped and murdered by her biological father whom she has never met. Aislin was taken away from her mother, Karen Delaney St. Croix – Popeil Walker, when she devoted her life to drugs and alcohol. There is no news on where her real father, Aiden Sulleman is. If you have information on this man, please contact 911 immediately."
Karen stared at the radio.
"Karen?" Grace asked, noticing her pale, blank face. She must not have heard the radio while she was in the back. "Karen, what's wrong?"
"I…I have to go, Grace. I'm sorry. I won't be back for a little while. I hope you don't mind."
"No. No. It's ok. Take the time you need. Call me if you need anything."
"Thanks a lot, honey."
With that she was gone.
Karen attended the funeral of her only daughter and surprisingly made it through the whole ceremony without crying. Virginia didn't understand how she could be so calm. Karen always was weird with dealing with her emotions though.
2 weeks later, she returned to work. She wasn't herself though. She always seemed to be drunk or high. Grace didn't understand. The first week she worked there, Karen was wonderful, but now, she was awful. Making jokes about Grace's clothes, hair, and what not. Showing up late; leaving during the day to go shopping and then not coming back. She changed and Grace was sure it wasn't for the better. But Grace kept her. Karen had a lot of ties to people and Grace needed her. No matter what she said or did, Grace held on…and so did Karen.
"I can't believe it." He said, after she finished.
"I know. Wonderful, aint it?" She downed the last of the wine.
"I'm so sorry you had to go through with that."
He took her hand and squeezed tightly. "Why didn't you try to get Aislin back when you had the chance?"
"They had fled the country once I was back to myself. And when she was murdered, I found out that they only lived an hour away. They had covered their tracks to make my life a living hell. But Aislin left me a picture and a letter."
She grabbed the picture that was next to her and a hand written letter off the bed.
"Dear mom,
I'll probably be out of the country already by the time you see this. I know I haven't known you a lot; I was only three when they took me away. I found out that my dad really isn't my dad. I really wish I could see you. I found this picture of you and me in a box full of your things that Daddy kept. I want you to have it. To always remember me. I love you, mommy. I miss you.
Love,
Aislin Riley
After Karen finished reading the letter, she showed him the picture. It was of her and Aislin when she was only 2. They looked so happy and cheerful together.
"What did she look like when she was older?"
Karen smiled and got another picture out. It was Aislin's high school year book picture.
"Oh, my God, Kare." He said. "She looked exactly like you. She was beautiful."
"She really was." Karen agreed and ran her fingers over the picture.
"Why did you tell me all of this?" He asked.
"Because I trust you. You're one of my best friends. Today's the anniversary of her and my father's death. I wanted to share with someone what I have been bottling up inside for a long time. And I wanted that person to be you."
He smiled at her and said, "You can be a real softy sometimes, Karen."
"Oh, hush." She said with a grin. She then leaned over and hugged him.
"Thanks for listening, Wilma."
"No problem, Karen. No problem at all."
The End