Chapter 2. The girl didn't fare much better.

Sarah opened her eyes on what she hoped to be the first day of her new life. But the first thing that greeted her was her stepmother in the hall with an accusatory look. "What?" Sarah asked quickly.

"Did you put this thing in bed with Toby?" Karen was holding Lancelot out like he was diseased.

Sarah was on the verge of accusing her stepmother of having taken the toy in the first place, but drew back. "Toby loves that old bear."

Karen shoved the thread bear toy back into the hands of the girl. "Well keep it out of Toby's bed. It's got lose buttons and threads and it's not clean!"

Knowing that the woman was not rational at the moment, Sarah nodded. "Ok, I'm sorry…I was just trying to be nice."

"Oh sure you were;" Accused the woman. "You were hoping your little brother would swallow a button, choke and die." She stepped past the girl and walked away.

Sarah bit her tongue and counted to ten, then counted to ten again.

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Robert watched as his wife fumed for what he thought was no reason. Never being one who liked to rock the boat, he ignored the tantrum. He was much too busy with his beautiful baby boy to be bothered with the problems of women.

On the Monday following the big storm he offered to drive Sarah over to the High School to get her books for the beginning of the school year, Sarah's junior year. "Sarah, could you do your old dad a big favor?" he asked as he drove the family car.

"Sure." Sarah turned to look at him.

"Try to give Karen some slack, would you?" He asked.

"I am." Sarah said a little too sharply, and then caught herself. "I mean I'm going to Daddy."

"That's my girl." Her father said. "Just try to keep things calm." He smiled at her but Sarah was sure he didn't even really see her.

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Sarah tried, she did; not that it did much good. Karen would find fault with her not matter what. And Sarah shouldered her portion of the blame for that; after all she'd started the stupid war with the older woman. It was a great relief to Sarah when she received the invitation from her mother to spend the Winter Break with her in New York.

Linda was at the airport to greet her on her arrival. "Hey kid, give mommy a hug." She said.

Sarah hugged Linda and looked at her mother. "You look good." She said lightly.

"Diet and exercise," Linda confided. "And a work schedule that's a killer. But you know me, I love it."

Sarah laughed. "Mom, I want to thank you for the invite."

Linda's face turned slightly guilty. "Well, if I'd know how bad things were between you and Karen, I'd have offered sooner…"

"Who told you things were bad between me and Karen?" Sarah asked as they got into the limo that was being held for them.

"Your dad," Linda got a soft look that was reserved for Robert alone. "He came to see me last month when he was in town on a case."

Sarah gave her mother a look of mock shock, then softened. "I'll never understand why you two divorced…. It's so clear that you still care about each other."

"I love your Dad," Linda said proudly. "He's the love of my life…all others are just lust, baby. But love was not enough to keep things together when I started getting the big breaks." Linda looked up at the driver. "Hal, you ever repeat a word of this and I'll cut your balls off."

Hal, her regular driver laughed uneasily, he was sure she would. "Not a word."

Linda sighed, "Your dad was a bit worried about you and Karen."

"I'm trying." Sarah placed a hand to her forehead, as if it ached. "But nothing I do is right. "

"Well, things may be better after this visit…" Linda suggested lightly. "Your dad told me they are trying for another baby… and Karen's having problems conceiving."

"EWWWWW" Sarah groaned. "Too much information."

Linda laughed. "Hey kid, your dad is still a stud muffin!"

"EWWWWWWWWW." Sarah groaned again.

Hal looked into the rear view mirror and caught Linda's eye. He knew she was speaking from experience as he'd witnessed a passionate bit of foreplay while he drove them to the apartment of the Actress. He'd not seen them again until morning and both were wearing shit eating grins. Linda was now giving her driver the not a word look.

"What would you like for Christmas?" Linda asked.

"A camera." Sarah said firmly. "A really good professional camera."

"Done!" Linda said just as firmly. "In fact, I know of a good camera shop where the big time news boys go to buy their equipment."

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The two weeks of Winter Break went by much too quickly. Sarah returned home to find Karen in a somber mood. Her father told her when they were alone that the doctors held out little hope of Karen ever being able to have another child. Sarah tried to keep that in mind when her stepmother was sharp-tongued with her.

Sarah offered to sit with Toby more willingly, and was taken up on the offer. During the evenings that she sat with the boy, Sarah used him as a model when she'd do assignments for the photography class she was taking. Toby was not only a good subject; he was a natural ham and was enjoying the attention. The days that followed that fateful night of the big storm had cemented the bond between brother and sister.

By the end of the school year, Sarah had become a very good student of photography. She was offered and accepted a position on the local paper. The owner of which was a client of Robert's firm. Karen accused Robert of unfairly getting his daughter a job that someone else needed more. Robert was spending more and more time at his office, not wanting to hear his wife go on and on.

Sarah's two weeks in New York with her mother that summer got postponed as Linda had to go to Spain on a bit part in a movie of the week. Sarah spent the two weeks taking Toby out and keeping out of Karen's sight.

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Senior year Sarah should have been having the time of her life. But the friction between her and Karen had reached new heights, with her stepmother accusing the girl of stealing form her when a necklace went missing. Even though it was found, having been mysteriously misplaced, she believed it was Sarah who had moved the precious necklace. A book Karen had been reading went MIA… then the spool of thread she was using to sew…All were found, not in the places they belonged, but they were found. Robert teased that perhaps Karen needed to start writing things down.

Karen also complained about Sarah playing pranks on her, and making noises all over the house. Robert hired an exterminator fearing the house had mice. Even old Merlin started acting strange, and Karen's solution to that was to have the old dog put down before he went totally nuts. The loss of her old friend upset Sarah, but she kept her tongue civil because it did pay to go against Karen.

Sarah balanced her school work with her part time job at the paper, and her babysitting. It left her with little or no time for dating. Which was just as well seeing as no one was pounding a fist on her door to get a date. She spent Christmas Eve babysitting Toby while Karen and her Father were at the Christmas gathering at the Senior Partner's home. She received her annual Christmas call from her mother, who was out of the country again on a movie shoot. And her grandmother called to invite the girl up to the cabin for skiing. Which she never was able to do as her plate was beyond full.

Spring came, with it came the promise of excitement with prom…for once she'd been asked to something. She had bought the dress with money she'd saved from her job, and she looked beautiful in the blue gown. Karen had even been almost nice to her, telling her to go and have a good time.

The young man who'd asked Sarah to the prom was a friend of hers from the photo club at school a quiet, shy young man whose manners were parent-perfect. He could hold a conversation without it dissolving into a tug of war in the back seat of a convertible. He danced well and kept good company. It should have been a wonderful evening. But Sarah's run of bad luck since winning the race against time was playing true to form. Sarah and her date had been at the prom less than an hour when an emergency call came for Sarah. Her father had collapsed and was being taking to the hospital. Her date, being the sweet young man he was ushered Sarah out of the dance and drove her to the hospital where he sat in the waiting room with her and Toby while Karen spoke with the doctors who were with Robert. It was a heart attack, and Karen was sure it was all Sarah's fault.

Three weeks later the only people in Sarha's family attending the graduation were her maiden Great Aunt , Toby and her Grandmother. Her mother was on the other side of the country doing a pilot, and her father was at home being guarded by Karen like a Doberman. Karen had allowed Sarah's Maternal Grandmother to take Toby along only because it made it easier for her to take care of Robert.

Robert recovered, or so everyone thought, and they credited Karen with his recovery. After all she'd given up everything to nurse him back to health. The duty of looking after Toby that summer fell to Sarah, who began to make a photo album of Toby as part of keeping her skills up. She had been accepted at the college of her choice, and was looking forward to living away from home for the first time in her life. The only thing that bothered her was the thought of being two hours from Toby. He was now talking like a magpie and would parrot her when she sang in the car.

Karen was turning colder and colder.

Sarah had started her freshman year of college and prayed that things with her and Karen would settle down to being quiet for the sake of all the family.

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Toby spent more and more time alone, playing in his room. He began to sing strange songs and play silly games and draw strange shaped things with giant eyes and wicked smiles. Karen would have blamed that on Sarah too, but as the girl was two hours away at school, she didn't.

At night Toby would hear voices in the walls, laughing and telling stories and singing to him.

Karen called the college and told Sarah not to come home for Winter break as they would not be there and she didn't trust her alone in her house. Sarah could not call on Linda as she was filming in Peru. Sarah stated on campus.

Karen looked for but could not find an excuse to force Sarah to stay at school for the summer. She pouted nearly the entire time and was rejoicing when it was time to pack Sarah off to the college for the second year. The year was beginning to look like something of a good year for Sarah. Again the ill winds blew for Sarah. She was called into the deans office on the morning of all hallows even…Robert was in the hospital, having suffered a massive heart attack and was not expected to live.