A/N: Thanks allylc! You are totally fabulous!

Love,

Lizzie

A/N: I have a lot of semi-pop culture references in this story, so I'll put what they are incase some people are like, "WHAT?" lol

John Macenroe: famous/professional tennis player, meaning her father is a fabulous tennis player to beat John M.!

Almost Paradise love, 'almost paradise' is a really romantic love song sung by 'Loverboy' from the movie, "Footloose".

I immediately go upstairs to call the airlines, but stop mid-way, I'll just make them at the counter like last time. So I go back downstairs and sit on the counter in the kitchen. Mrs. Raimi is basting the turkey we're eating for dinner, and surprisingly, Dad's chopping carrots. Now, I have never in my life seen my dad chop anything but a tennis ball, and that was against John Macenroe and he won, but anyway, it was also bizarre, 'cause Dad never leaves his office.

"Dad…you're chopping carrots…" I say.

"Yes…"

"Wow…the only thing I've ever seen you chop— "

"Is a tennis ball against John Macenroe, yeah I know." he finishes for me.

Mrs. Raimi chuckles from the sink, "Man, Mr. Waldemar, you don't cook often, do you?" she puts the turkey back in the oven and comes over to the island where Dad and I are and whispers to me, "I had to show him how to hold the knife…"

I stifle a laugh, but to be truthful, I expected that!

"Hey, it's a complex knife, it doesn't have a designated top or bottom!" Dad says in his defense.

"Sure, Dad." I say sarcastically

"So…we all eatin' together tonight I assume…" Mrs. Raimi says.

"Yeah, I think so." Dad says, "If Rosie's joining us,"

"Heck yeah!" I say.

After dinner's ready, we all gather in the dining room, I can honestly not remember us all sitting in here on a day when the bank's were open. It's only for Dad's fancy smancy Christmas/society parties where everyone sees me, finds out I play the violin and the piano, and talk about how cultured and intelligent I am, blah-blah-blah. I hate them, and all of that. If we just lived normal lives with no one knowing who I am everywhere I go, especially when it's to find my mom on a flight to another country.

"So…Miss Rosalin…what was Denmark like?" Mrs. Raimi asks passing me the potatoes.

"Uh…it was…nice." I answer.

"Good. So, Mr. Waldemar, did you and Miss Rosalin have a nice walk earlier?"

"Why yes we did," Dad says.

"What did you talk about?"
"Mom." I interject

"Really!" Mrs. Raimi says excitedly,

"Yes, we discussed Damara,"

"That's such a lovely name, Damara…Damara…" she repeats

"I know! And combine it with Swane…it's like music." I say
"Don't I know it! I wish you woulda married her! Man, what's wrong with you!" she says as she playfully hits Dad.

"Ow…I didn't marry her, because I didn't get the chance. Besides, we were too young anyway."
"Uh…excuse me. You two had a child you weren't too young to do that, but you were to get married…?"

"We didn't know she would be conceived, thank-you."
"Yes, but she was. Then what? You two were just not gonna get married, and she'd be Rosalin Waldemar-Swane…"

"No…"

There's a bit of a pause, so I tend to the turkey situation, I cut a piece of it, and put it with potatoes, and peas, I separate them perfectly on my fork, while thinking about Mom, when Mrs. Raimi says, "Mr. Waldemar…if she were to come back, what would you do…?"

I snap my head up and look at Dad.

"Well I'd— " he pauses, "Other than that, I don't know…ask her why she was gone so long, what kept her, I don't know, things like that."

"Huh…so…you still love her…?"

"Yes."

"Like…really love her? Like 'Almost Paradise' love?"

"What…?"
"Come on Dad…almost paradise…'we're knockin' on heaven's door'…'Footloose'…duh, Dad." I say

"Ohhh…yes, I guess."

"This is such good news!" Mrs. Raimi says.

Dad rolls his eyes, and I laugh. I couldn't believe how much I missed this.

After dinner, I'm sitting in my room fixing a sketch of Mom, working on it meticulously, of course, and since Mrs. Raimi was talking about it, I had to listen to 'Almost Paradise' .

I'm re-doing her eyebrows for about the fifth time when there's a knock on my door.

"Come in," I say, and pick up the remote and turn my sterio off.

"Hey," Dad says.

"Dad, hi."

"I finished a few things I was working on in my office, so I thought I'd come by and check on you."

"Aw, that's really nice." I say, "Sit down,"

"Okay…" he says, and sits down on the edge of my bed, he sees my 'Footloose' soundtrack open near him, and he picks it up.

"Sorry, I had to listen to it after Mrs. Raimi was talking about it."

"Your Mom always liked that song, I think Safara knew, or she wouldn't've brought it up."

"Yeah. She did? What about the movie?"
"Yes…" he shakes his head, "Made me watch it with her about…a thousand times."

"Wow! I've only seen it about a hundred,"

"You've seen it?"
"Yeah…it's one of my favorites…"

"Really?"

"Yeah." I say laughing, a little surprised he didn't know that.

He notices my autographed Paula Abdul portrait on the wall, and says, "When did you get this?"

"Oh, about three months ago, Mrs. Raimi and I drove to NYC 'cause American Idol was going to be there, and we tracked her down, and she signed it."

"You drove to New York?"

"Well, not me drivingbut yeah."

"And I didn't know you liked Paula…"

"Oh yeah, she's like my second favorite singer. The first time I saw the video of 'Straight Up' on an MTV flash back I had to learn the dance. Mrs. Raimi found one of New York's top choreographers to teach me, and she learned too,"

"I can't believe I never knew that."

"You never asked."

"Miss Rosalin!" Mrs. Raimi calls from downstairs.

"Yeah?" I answer.

"You have a phone call."

"Who is it…?"
"A friend of yours."

I roll my eyes, "Yes…but who?"
"A Pauline Abuline," she says.

"Ah…Pauline…okay." I say, "Sorry, Dad, I gotta get that,"

"It's okay, I'll go back to my office."

I smile and dash down the stairs, "Good cover," I say sarcastically.

"Well it was all I could think of! Plus, I heard you two talkin' 'bout her."

"All the more reason why you don't use a variation of 'Paula Abdul,'" I say and take the phone, "Hello?" I say into it.

"Rosalin! Oh my GOD, this is terrible! They've boarded up my tower!"

"Huh? They boarded it up? Why!"

"Because…apparently they think I'm going to escape…and they're right. That is, if you have good news…" Mom says.
"Yeah, I have good news, I was planning on flying back tomorrow, and was going to tell you then…"
"It may be a little hard for you to get in here…and ever harder to get out."

"It's okay, I'm up for the challenge."

"Are you sure…"

"Yeah."

"Alright then, when should I be expecting you back?"
"Soon, like…tomorrow."

"Early? Late?"
"As soon as I can get over the ocean, I'm thinkin' maybe a little late…"

"Alright, are you sure about this?"
"Yeah, don't worry, I'm a Waldemar, and we can handle anything."

She laughs and says, "You certainly are Baird's daughter,"

"Ain't it the truth," I say and laugh, " 'Kay, talk to ya later, love ya."

"I love you too, goodbye."

My formal mother.

I smile as I hang up, I turn and see Mrs. Raimi looking like she's going to cry, she's so happy.

"What?" I ask.

"OhmyLORD it's finally happened!" she yells happily.

"What has?"

"Mr. Waldemar will finally be happy, I can not tell you how long I've waited for this!"

"I can, eleven and a half years!"

"Those two…you should see them together. Ah! It's the picture of true love Miss Rosalin,"

"Really?"

"Oh yes, they're just…I don't know how they've lived without each other all these years…"

"They barely have! Dad just started leaving his office and that's only 'cause I fled the country! And my mom…she's a Queen, but…she isn't happy. She misses Dad,"

"When I first met Miss Damara, your father was seventeen, and your mother had just turned fifteen, otherwise there's three years between them, and anyway, those two were inseparable even back then…they decided almost right away that they would eventually get married…but not that soon. I know when you were created we were all on a vacation, and…when your father first found out about you, he was so happy, your mother was happy and scared, but when she was called off to Denmark…they were both just devastated. I felt so bad, I couldn't believe that she had to just leave but your father did his best with

you— "

"No he didn't!" I interrupt, "He went crying to Grandmother and Grandfather and begged them to let them use your services and handed me off to you!"

"Miss Rosalin, he had a business empire he was trying to construct, know he's almost as well known as Mr. Gates!"

"Aren't I more important?"

"You're just, so much like her…it hurts him, he sees you and thinks of her, and what she's done to him."

"What she's done to him! Look what he did to her! He got her pregnant at sixteen! Then she has to take care of her family and she can't exactly say, 'Oh sorry, I can't take care of my dying aunt, I have a freaking baby!'"

"Look, Miss Rosalin— "

"No! Dad is huge jerk for acting like he had the hard job! All he had to do was hand me off and make it seem all okay, 'cause he couldn't think about his precious beloved who left him to go to Denmark 'cause her aunt was dying!"

"Hey! Child, I hate to speak ill of Miss Damara but she is the jerk. She left, and had no intentions of tellin' anyone when she'd come back or even if she'd come back, and you're gonna stand there and justify what she did?"

"She's tried to get back, she wanted to be here with us! Dad's here with me, and he never sees me or talks to me! It's insane! I might as well not have any parents at all!"
I'm so mad all I want to do is scream, scream or throw something. I hate Mrs. Raimi, and I hate my Dad. The only person I like is my mom. And she's all the way across the country.

Well, I'm sure as heck not staying with these lying, backstabbing, child handoverers tonight, so my best bet is to try and get a flight out of Hartford tonight and be there by morning.

I'm tossing around this idea while throwing three Abercrombie tees and jeans into my suitcase, I'm also roughly wiping tears off my face. This whole situation is unfair. My Dad hates me and hides in his office to avoid me and says he does it 'cause I remind him of my mom? What a liar. He does it because he knows he and my mom were too young to have a baby, and he thinks she knew it too, and just took off. Mom didn't just take off, she didn't want to escape the responsibility. I zip my suitcase up, and head down the stairs and out the door, I sit down on the steps and call a cab, while sniffling away.

The cab pulls up and I jump in. I take a last look at my house before we disappear around the corner, and pray Mrs. Raimi doesn't spill about Mom. Or there are going to be two dead bodies when I get back home. Hers, and mine.

A/N: This was long and a little sad, but the next one'll be GREAT.

Tell me what ya think!

LOVVVVE,

Lizzie