"Nothing mom," Sam said quickly, "Kristy is just being stupid."
"I am not!" Kristy shouted, pulling herself to her feet to defend herself.
Elizabeth slumped against the door frame. "Either way, this behavior is unacceptable. I need to rest right now, and I would appreciate it if the two of you could act like adults. Is that too much to ask?"
"No mom, sorry," Sam said sheepishly. "I was just about to leave, anyway. I'm going to hang out with Stacey tonight. Sorry Kristy."
With that, Sam left the room, leaving Elizabeth and Kristy alone. Kristy was very wary of everything that her mother was saying and doing, and was standing on guard herself, not knowing what was going to happen next.
"Honestly Kristy, I expected more out of you."
Kristy had thought herself prepared for anything, but she found herself shocked at what had just come out of her mother's mouth.
"You've always been mature and responsible," Elizabeth continued. "And you knew how hard I worked your whole life to give you everything that you needed. Why must you now attack me by throwing my past in my face?
"You lied to me! You lied to me, and Sam, and David Michael all of our lives! You're still lying to us!"
Elizabeth's eyes narrowed as she folded her arms across her chest. "You don't know the first thing about what you are talking about, young lady."
"That's because you never told me!" Kristy screamed, her voice heavy with tears.
"Do you want to know the truth?" Elizabeth demanded, "Is that what you want?"
"Yes!" Kristy shouted.
"Your father was a good for nothing low life- I never lied to you about that! Do you think he could have supported us like Watson has on a sports writer's salary? I met Watson at a baseball game. It was your fifth birthday, actually," Elizabeth said, her voice softening slightly."Patrick stayed in the bleachers with you kids while I went to get nachos and hot dogs. Watson was getting a diet soda for Lisa. We bumped into each other, and he almost spilled it on me. I never would have imagined how my life would change from that moment on."
"We started meeting shortly after that," Elizabeth continued. "Patrick was always away covering some sort of sporting event for often days at a time. I was all alone with three small children. You've got to understand that that wasn't easy."
Kristy nodded almost imperceptibly, though of course she didn't understand at all. As much as it hurt, she needed her mother go on.
"A few months later, a realized that I was pregnant. I knew that it couldn't have been your father's…we were having problems long before I met Watson, and the nights he was home he slept on the sofa."
Hearing her mother admit to cheating on father made Kristy wince. She leaned back against the wall, not trusting her ability to hold herself up.
"I see that look you're giving me. Before you judge me know that your father had someone else, too. He wasn't exactly spending those business trips alone. Kristy, we both failed," Elizabeth said, her voice stammering.
Kristy brushed a tear back as she listened to her mother continue.
"Watson, of course promised to support me. He knew that we were destined to be together. But the timing wasn't exactly right. Lisa had just discovered that she was pregnant, and Watson couldn't leave her like that- what kind of man would that make him? So we continued our secret."
"Patrick found out, eventually," Elizabeth continued "He left for good shortly after David Michael was born, which you know. Just when Watson was set to leave Lisa for good, she became pregnant again, with Andrew, and he was stuck for a little while longer. We waited until Karen was five and Andrew was three, and then he and Lisa were over, officially. We started dating, if you could call it that, and it was the next year we were married. You know the rest."
"When did Charlie find out?" Kristy asked meekly.
"He was old enough to know from almost the beginning. We tried to hide it from him, and failed. But he was happy enough to support me if it was in the best interest of the family. Are you happy now?" Elizabeth asked bitterly.
"I don't think I can ever think of Watson the same way," Kristy said softly.
"You ungrateful little witch," Elizabeth hissed. "Don't you realize everything that Watson has done for you? You live in a mansion! My indiscretions aside, your father left us, and didn't contact you or your brothers for years. I never saw a dime of child support from him! Do you really think that I was supporting for children on what I was being paid? I couldn't have fed the four of you on my salary! Watson paid for everything, from the roof over your head to your precious softball lessons. He didn't even want me to work, but we both knew that we had to keep up the façade. So maybe you should think about that when you think about your stepfather."
Kristy swallowed hard, not really knowing what to say. None of her parents were who she thought them to be.
Downstairs the door slammed, and the voices of David Michael, Karen, Andrew, and Emily Michelle rang in the entryway.
Elizabeth closed her eyes and put her hand on her forehead. "I can't handle this- I need to rest. Don't even think of breathing a word of this to your siblings."
With that Elizabeth walked to her room and closed the door. Kristy was about to do the same when Emily Michelle ran up to her and tugged on her shirt.
"Will you color with me?" She asked sweetly.
Kristy wiped away the last of her tears with her sleeve. She bent down and enveloped her littlest sister in a hug. "Of course I'll color with you, Emily."
Emily Michelle took Kristy's hand and led to the upstairs playroom. Together they sat down on the miniature chairs and colored in Emily's Mickey Mouse coloring book. Emily Michelle chattered happily about getting ice cream with Watson and the other kids.
Kristy smiled watching her little sister gleefully color. Her whole family was such a confusing mess, and she didn't even know it. All she knew is that she had so many people to love her, and that was enough. Kristy wished that that could be enough for her. Was it even possible to forgive her mom, Watson, and Patrick for that matter? And if she could, would that make a difference?
"I'm done!" Emily Michelle proclaimed. "Do you like my picture?"
"It's beautiful, Emily," Kristy replied, smiling at Emily Michelle's futile attempts to stay in the lines. "You should go show that to Nannie."
"Okay," said Emily Michelle, running out of the room.
Kristy looked down at her half colored page that she head listlessly been working on. She then looked up, and thought about the very playroom that she was sitting in, along with the numerous other bedrooms on this floor, and the mansion in general. Her mom was right about one thing: Watson certainly had provided for their family. But did that make up for all the lies? Could anything?
Kristy looked at her watch. It was just after 7:30, and had certainly been a long day. It seemed like ages since she had been at Abby's house this morning. Speaking of which, Abby was probably waiting on an update. And to be honest, Kristy knew that she could use a comforting talk with her best friend.
Seconds after deciding to talk to Abby, Kristy was up and running. She stopped by her room to grab a jacket, flew down the stairs and out the door, ignoring Nannie, who was attempting to get the kids upstairs to get ready for bed. She didn't tell anyone where she was going, but figured that no one would notice her absence. Besides, she always went to Abby's- or she used to, anyway.
Kristy ran across the lawns, up the steps, and attempted to open to the door. It was locked; so she retrieved the spare key that was hidden under the welcome mat. The first floor was dark, as usual, and she ran upstairs to Abby's room. Without knocking she opened the door and gasped.
Abby was on her bed, making out with Bart Taylor, her twin sister's boyfriend.