Chapter 4

September 1994

Karen had been living with Stan in his penthouse for nearly seven months. After resisting their urges as long as they could, they quickly succumbed to the passion they once shared nearly a decade before, and began sharing the same room.

Karen's divorce to Michael Popeil was finalized in mid-August after several months of stressful meetings with their respective attorneys. Stan had been kind enough to introduce Karen to his longtime lawyer, Ben Ducette, who in turn made sure that Karen was awarded everything she was entitled to in the divorce.

Her life was nearly perfect. Karen was finally free of Michael, she was living in a Park Avenue penthouse, had a wonderful boyfriend and was slowly but surely falling in love with him. The only thing that still needed work was her relationship with his children. Olivia and Mason had never quite warmed up to Karen, and she was dead set on making sure they did.

"Stan?" Karen asked as she lay in bed next to him.

"Hmm?" he asked, his voice heavy, the way it always got before he fell into a deep sleep.

She turned on her side to look at him. "Honey, would it be alright with you if the kids and I went out tomorrow?"

"What for?"

"I don't know. I just thought….well, maybe I could take them out shopping or to a movie. Y'know, to get them to like me."

Stan shifted in bed, facing Karen, but still not opening his eyes. He reached out his arm and pulled her closer to him.

"Karen, they like you. You've been living here for over half a year, you don't have to try and butter them up."

Karen frowned. "All the same, honey. I'd really like to spend some time with them alone. Just to try and bond a little."

"If you feel like taking them out for an afternoon, feel free. You can tell them in the morning at breakfast."

"Thanks, honey." Karen whispered as she kissed him then rested her head onto his chest, letting his heartbeat lull her to sleep.

Walking back through the doors of the penthouse the next afternoon, Karen was exhausted. Who knew that taking out a seven year old and a five year old would be so tiring? She had decided that a movie wouldn't be a good way to bond, and if they went shopping they'd be spending Stan's money anyway, so she decided to take them out to have lunch. On her.

Bad idea.

Neither Olivia nor Mason could decide where, or what, they wanted to eat. So Karen was left with the difficult decision of picking their lunch destination. Trying to think like a child, Karen chose McDonalds. What kid doesn't like McDonalds? Apparently, Olivia and Mason Walker.

Nixing the McDonalds idea, they stopped at a streetside café on Hudson and Amsterdam. After lunch, which the children enjoyed and actually carried on a conversation with Karen, they took a walk through Central Park on their way back to the manse. As they passed the zoo, the two of them asked if they could all go inside.

Karen smiled, thinking to herself. 'Finally! They want to do something with me!'

She agreed, and the three of them walked into the gates of the Central Park Zoo. That was the biggest disaster Karen never expected. After walking about fifty feet, Olivia ran one way as Mason ran the other, leaving Karen in the middle of the zoo, panicked about which child to go after first.

After finally catching both of them, they headed back to the penthouse where both Olivia and Mason ran upstairs to the playroom, not to be heard or seen again until dinner. Karen placed her purse down on the table in the foyer, and walked into the living room, utterly tired and exhausted. She sat down on one of the large, overstuffed club chairs, placed her head in her hands and started to cry.

Feeling a gentle hand squeeze her shoulder, she stopped and looked up.

"Rosie, what are you doing here? I thought you had the day off." Karen asked the maid, wiping away her tears and smudging her mascara.

"I heard you were taking Miss Olivia and young Mason out. I figured you'd be spent by the time you got back from the hazing."

"Hazing? What the hell are you talking about? They hate me. The whole idea was stupid in the first place."

Rosario smiled a knowing grin. "They don't hate you, Miss Karen. I know for a fact that they like you better than Cathy already?"

Karen scoffed. "And how do you know that?"

"Because they agreed to go out with you, alone. Trust me, this was just a test to see how you'd stack up in the long run. Don't let today worry you."

Karen took in everything Rosario had just said. Smiling, she turned back to her old friend.

"Rosie, I'm so glad you're here."

"I know, mami."

She stood up to go and change before dinner. Stopping at the bottom of the stairs, she turned back to Rosario with a questioning look on her face.

"Can I just ask one thing? When does the hazing stop?"

Rosario turned to Karen as she cleaned around the living room. "When you gain their trust."

Karen sighed. That could take a while.