The upside of the situation was that Daddy didn't seem as quick to blame Olivia for the missing sweater as Karen was; while he was disappointed that a sweater so costly had disappeared, he agreed that his daughter had done her best by putting it away while she went outside and that it wasn't ultimately her fault that it couldn't be found now. He simply warned her to be more careful of her belongings in the future and to keep an eye out for the sweater. It was obvious, to Olivia if not to Daddy, how stewed Karen was over Daddy's liberal dealing with his daughter, but she chose not to comment on it and Olivia was glad. In her opinion, Karen had done enough in one punishment for a lifetime of them.

The days prior to the wedding were zipping by, much faster than Olivia would have liked, and nothing was changing. Karen had her good moments, and mostly her bad moments, and Olivia continued to have countless cuts and bruises to remind her of those bad moments. She had begun to accept them as something inevitable as church on Sundays, and was slowly growing numb to her beatings. She hungered for Karen's love, dreamed of it, drew of it in pictures, wrote it in silly little stories and poetry. But she never truly believed it would come her way. Karen soon to be Walker didn't seem to love anything or anybody. Except herself and Daddy's money. She even treated Daddy's liquor cabinet better than she did Olivia.

Olivia was literally counting the minutes to the day when her mother would come and pick her and Mason up, a day that never did end up coming. Cathy had called and let her ex-husband know that she and her boyfriend, almost fiancee, were spending an extra couple of weeks in Europe, and then she would be booked with business trips for another month or so, so could he possibly keep the children until things started settling down? Olivia's heart sank at this, she loved her father dearly, but being with him meant being with Karen and there was nothing she could do about it.

By the time the halfway point to the wedding had hit, with a month to go, Olivia seemed to have been granted a reprieve. Karen was much too busy with wedding plans to pay any attention to Olivia, save for anything that had to do with the wedding itself. Olivia was dreading the day Daddy expected her to spend alone with Karen, finding a dress and shoes, which in truth turned out to be fun. Olivia giggled helplessly at the high jinks Karen would pull on store clerks, which encouraged her all the more and put her in an unusually good mood. They spent the morning driving the employees at various stores crazy by trying on dresses they had no intention of buying and after a break for lunch where Karen drank more than she actually spoke, though Olivia enjoyed it nonetheless, they got down to business. They laughed their way through the afternoon, particularly when Olivia somehow got herself stuck in a dress that tied in a variety of places, which she was able to get into just fine, but then couldn't figure out how to get out of it. Karen was laughing almost too hard to help her out of it, but they managed in the end. And at the end of the day, Olivia was able to fall into her first peaceful sleep in weeks, with not a worry in the world, as most children her age should.

Olivia was able to break free from all the wedding hoopla the following day when Grace invited her to accompany her back out to Woodland for one last time to put the finishing touches on the cabin. The painters had come and gone, as had the company Grace had called to lay the floors down, and she and Olivia put out the rugs they had chosen and did one final once over before the owner met them there, very pleased with the work that had been done. Olivia walked around outside while Grace and the owner went over some final paperwork, kicking at the leaves, savoring the breeze and wishing Daddy had a place out in the country like this. They lived much too close to the city for Olivia to often enjoy such a scene as the one before her now.

"Okay, kid," Grace sang out happily as she came through the door. "Let's roll."

"Thank you for helping out, Olivia," the owner called to her. "Here's a little something for you." He held out a ten dollar bill for her.

"That's okay," Olivia called back, waving him off.

"No, no, I insist you take it," he said, not wavering, and she finally did and thanked him.

"I hope you're hungry because we're heading for the dinner of our lives," Grace told her as she shifted the car into gear. She flashed her latest check in front of Olivia. "All thanks to this sucker right here. You in?"

"Sure." She loved being with Grace, wondered why Grace couldn't be her stepmother instead, wondered how Grace would react if she knew what Karen did to Olivia.

"What's the matter?" Grace asked her, and Olivia blushed, not meaning to have stared at her so strangely.

She shook her head. "Nothing is."

"How's everything with the wedding coming along?"

Olivia hesitated; as much fun as she had had with Karen the day before, somewhere inside her she knew it was only a temporary peace and was not looking forward to the day when Karen would officially be with them forever.

"Everything's okay," she said. "Doesn't Karen talk about the wedding?"

"Sweetie, Karen talks a lot. But not necessarily to me. Half the time I don't know who or what she's talking to."

Olivia wrinkled her nose. "But there's only you and her at the office."

"Try telling her that." Grace paused. "But are you finding it's going to be okay having her around after all?"

Olivia's eyes instantly welled up and she lowered them to keep Grace from seeing. It wasn't okay that Karen was going to be around her, not okay at all. And she didn't dare hope that it ever would be.

"Oh, Olivia," Grace said sympathetically, pulling the small girl from the passenger seat into her own lap, "it's really okay…it's going to be okay--"

"No, it isn't," Olivia wept, unable to keep her tears in check any longer.

"I know it seems that way now, but…"

"It's always going to be that way, Grace, you don't know what--" She stopped short, stopped her tears, feeling her heart leap into her throat. She abruptly removed herself from Grace's lap and turned her gaze toward the window, unable to believe what she had almost done.

"What don't I know?" Grace pressed softly.

Olivia didn't respond.

"Do you need help, Olivia?"

She did, but she couldn't ask for it.

"Can we just go home?" she whispered, not looking at Grace.

"No dinner?"

"If you want, but I'm not very hungry."

"Well, that's okay," Grace said as they began driving the quiet streets, heading for the interstate that would take them back into the city. "We can save it for another time."

"You don't have to," Olivia said quietly. "Go with Will."

"If I recall correctly, Will didn't contribute a thing to this project other than trying to pay me off to get him a date with the writer who owns the cabin," Grace said. "He ain't getting a thing out of it, not even a date."

Olivia laughed a bit. "Will's funny."

"Yeah, he can be." They drove the rest of the way making small talk, but both their minds troubled. There was something more going on than met the eye, Grace surmised, and she wasn't against finding out what, which is exactly what Olivia was afraid of at the moment. And she was certain that if Karen knew what had just gone on, a couple of bruises and a destroyed doll would surely be the least of Olivia's worries.

"Okay, kid," Grace said as she slowed to a stop in front of the Walker manse. "I'm going to hold you to that dinner, you know."

"I'm going to hold me to it too," Olivia assured her. "Just not tonight." She hopped out and scuttled up the driveway with one last wave in Grace's direction, heading immediately to her room once inside. She couldn't take the chance that she would run into Karen, she had a feeling her face would give away that she had just about cracked.

She flew past her father's office, he who was in there, and seemed to be getting ready for something.

"Whoa, whoa, Liv!" he called out to her and she obediently stopped in her tracks, although that was the last thing she felt like doing. "Where's the fire?"

Olivia shrugged.

"Well, listen, honey, I wanted to have dinner with you and Mason tonight but I'm afraid I have to catch an early flight out--"

"Tonight? Where are you going?"

"I have some negotiations to take care of in Chicago, but I should be back by Tuesday."

Olivia frowned. "Is Mom going to come get me and Mason?"

Daddy chuckled. "No, she's in Chicago too right now, but Karen's going to be here. That's okay with you, right?" His tone indicated that it didn't really matter at that point whether it was okay or not.

"Yeah, it's okay." She could only hope Karen would maintain the fun, playful mood she had had for the last few days, but wasn't at all sure she could count on it.

"Great. It'll be fun, I promise. You be good for her, okay?" He gave her a quick kiss and hurried off to say goodbye to Mason.

Olivia continued to her room, wondering if it was at all possible to get away with staying there until Daddy returned. She didn't see what Karen could get so angry about with her if she only just stayed out of her way, but her strategy proved fruitless when Karen burst into her room not even ten minutes following Daddy's departure.

"Would you care to explain to me the very interesting phone call I just received?" she demanded.

"Phone call?" Olivia repeated with a halfhearted attempt to play dumb, but knowing it wouldn't work on Karen.

"Phone call, you idiot," Karen confirmed. "From your best friend Grace…she seems to think there's something about you to be worried about. Could you possibly tell me whatever gave her that idea?"

Olivia dodged her question. "What else did she say?"

Karen snorted derisively. "Something inane about keeping an eye on you…what a delicate time it is for you and Mason…making myself available to you when you needed it…really, that Grace Ackler should have a front row seat at the American Comedy Awards, that's how funny she is. Now you tell me, you little bitch." Karen hardened suddenly, as Olivia knew she would. "What did you do? What did you tell her?"

"I swear I didn't do or say anything," Olivia told her solemnly, "and her last name is Adler."

"Like I give a damn what her last name is when you've obviously done something to arouse her suspicions, and you're going to tell me what!"

"I didn't! She was asking me about the wedding and I wasn't really saying anything and…I don't know! But I didn't do anything that should make her worried about me!"

"You're lying," Karen said abruptly. "Something happened that you're not telling me about."

Olivia paused, which was possibly her own undoing; after all, something had happened that she wasn't telling Karen, and Karen saw it. She came at Olivia faster than Olivia could react and hit her with a force that knocked her to the floor.

"Tell me what you said!" Karen roared at her.

"I didn't say anything!"

Olivia braced herself for the strike that was coming, and she instantly knew how the cartoon characters who saw stars after being bashed over the head must have felt.

"What the hell is the matter with you, so selfish and stupid…don't give a damn if you screw the whole goddamn world over if it isn't about you, you're going to ruin everything…" Karen spat out her hatred between blows.

"That's not true!" Olivia managed to defend herself through the blood trickling from her mouth, and paid for her response by just barely dodging the snow globe Karen snatched up from Olivia's dresser and hurled at her. Furious, Karen caught Olivia roughly by the arm and shoved her against the wall, but for the first time, not being aware of her own strength, she twisted too forcefully and they both heard the snap in Olivia's arm that followed. Karen immediately released her and Olivia was immobile with shock. The snap caused a brief numbness that turned into an awful tingling sensation. It didn't exactly hurt, but Olivia knew something was very wrong, and a quick glance at her arm to see the unnaturally twisted way it jutted out proved it.