She Never Knew

by CJ Simpson

  As they approached the front door, Kat could hear loud voices from inside. The door swung open and Kat looked down to see an adorable little girl beaming up at her. “Happy Fourth of July!” she piped.

  Assuming the little girl was one of Sarah’s twins, Kat laughed and introduced herself. “I’m Kat, and this is Tyler.” She put her hand on Tyler’s back to reassure him.

  “Hi.” He said shyly, looking at his feet.

  “Hi!” the little girl said in return. “I’m Kaylee.” Out from behind the front door stepped Sarah.

  “Hi, you two!” She spread her arms wide, motioning for them to enter the house. “Come in! Come in! I’m so glad you came!”

  “Thanks for having us.” Kat said warmly. “What a beautiful home you have!”

  “Thank you!” Sarah bubbled. “I’ll give you the grand tour later. Come on, everybody’s out back.” She took the cheesecake from Kat’s hands and directed Kaylee to get her sister.

  Kat took Tyler’s hand into her own and led him through the foyer. As she followed Sarah, Kat admired the layout of the house. To her left was a grand staircase leading up to the second floor landing. At quick glance, Kat could see there were at least four bedrooms.

  On her right was a large living room with a baby grand piano nestled in the corner. An oriental rug rested over the hardwood floor in the middle of the room. A set of leather couches was arranged in a horseshoe fashion facing the fireplace. On either side of the fireplace were cupboards with bookshelves above them.

  Kat heard the sound of laughter as she approached the kitchen. The tile floor complemented the ivory marbled countertops and the kitchen cabinets were made of solid oak. All of the appliances were stainless steel, giving the kitchen a cozy feel.

  Several women stood around the island in the center of the kitchen. They smiled when they saw Kat and Tyler. Sarah quickly made introductions before removing the foil cover of Kat’s cheesecake.

  “Oh my!” one of the ladies gasped. Kat had decorated the cheesecake so that the blueberries represented the stars on the American flag and the strawberries were laid out horizontally to represent the stripes.

  “How clever!” said another woman. “How did you do that?”

  “I love your outfit,” admired a third. Kat wore a blue tee shirt with red and white striped shorts.

  Kat blushed at the compliments and began conversing with the women around her. She was beginning to feel more at ease, unlike Tyler, who continued to hide behind her.

  A peal of giggles could be heard from the family room. Everyone turned as the sound of little feet came stomping into the kitchen. Two identical little girls came to a screeching halt when they saw Tyler’s face peering out from behind his mother.

  “This is Tyler.” Kaylee said, matter-of-factly.

  “Hi Tyler.” The other little girl said. “I’m Kelsey.”

  Tyler stood there, shyly, unsure of what to do, when Kelsey grabbed his hand and said, “Come on, let’s go play!”

  Kat bent down to hug Tyler and kissed his cheek. “It’s okay, sweetie. You go play with them. Mommy will be right here, okay?”

  Tyler nodded, wide-eyed. Before he went off with the sisters, he whispered in a loud voice, “Mommy, they look the same!”

  Everyone laughed. Kat said, “That’s right, because they’re twins.”

  Tyler grinned and both girls performed a curtsey. Kelsey took Tyler’s hand again and started pulling. “Come on, let’s go play.” Within seconds, the children were off in another room.

  Sarah had asked the women to help her bring appetizers and drinks to the outside deck. Grateful for something to do, Kat picked up a large plastic pitcher of lemonade and balanced a stack of paper cups in the crook of her arm.

  As she stepped onto the deck, she saw out of the corner of her eye someone walking very fast in her direction. Before she had a chance to step out of the way, he crashed into her.

  “Oh!” Kat gasped. The lemonade aimed for her shirt, narrowly missing her face. She struggled to keep hold of the pitcher as she examined herself, leaning forward to minimize the liquid from dripping on her legs.

  “I am so sorry, Miss….” A man stood before her, his hand wet from the splash of the lemonade. He was a tall man, athletic, with warm brown eyes and light brown hair. Kat thought he was going to have a heart attack, he looked so worried.

  She started laughing. At first, the man looked at her incredulously. After a brief moment, he started laughing too. “I—I really am sorry. I can’t I believe I did that.” He wiped his hand on his shorts, shaking his head as he examined the mess on the deck.

  By this time, the guests had surrounded them to see what the commotion was all about. A couple of people went inside the house to retrieve towels.

  “It’s okay.” Kat said. “I seem to have a knack for not paying attention to where I’m going.” As she set the pitcher on a nearby table, she recalled a fleeting moment from when she and Daniel had collided. For some reason, Kat didn’t feel afraid. She didn’t run away and hide this time. She didn’t let the fact that she would have to change her shirt ruin everything. Instead, she was determined to make the best of her situation.

  “I’m William, by the way.” He stuck out a hand. “William DeKlutz,” he added.

  Kat laughed, shaking his hand. “I’m Kat Brennan.” Both she and William bent down at the same time to pick up the paper cups that were scattered about. For a moment, their fingers met and Kat felt a jolt of electricity surge through her. She looked at William in the eye and saw him smiling at her.

  Upstairs in the house, Sarah loaned Kat one of her shirts that was similar in color and put Kat’s shirt in the washing machine. Everyone was so nice to her and despite the small incident, she was actually enjoying herself. She told Sarah once again how glad she was to be here. Sarah hugged her and told Kat she knew exactly how she felt.

  Kat briefly told Sarah about her discussion with Pastor Cullen and that she was going to initiate contact with her sister.

  I think that’s a terrific idea, Kat.” Sarah praised. “As you know, I lost my sister to cancer so a part of me will always feel empty, but Tom has been so supportive. He helped me realize that reaching out to others is all part of the healing process.” Sarah’s husband was a psychiatrist.

  “Well, after hearing you share your experience with us in class, I felt inspired and freer, if that makes any sense.”

  “It sure does.” Sarah nodded. “After all, we’re only human. We have real feelings just like anyone else. Just follow your gut. You might be pleasantly surprised.”

  After Kat had freshened up, she went to check on Tyler. She found him in the playroom with the twins. When Tyler saw her, he ran up to greet her. He was so excited about his new friends that he didn’t realize Kat was wearing a different shirt.

  “Mommy, I keep messing up their names,” he grumbled.

  Kat laughed. “That usually happens when you meet twins. I bet once you get to know them really well, you’ll be able to tell who’s who.”

  Satisfied with her answer, Tyler went back to the girls and Kat returned downstairs to the kitchen where she saw William standing in front of the sink wiping his shirt with a damp washcloth.

  “You okay?” William grinned.

  “Oh, I’m fine. Sarah let me borrow a shirt so at least one of us can be dry.”

  “Very funny. I was just about to make a fresh batch of lemonade.”

  “Maybe I should make it,” Kat offered, “and you can carry it outside this time.”

  “Now that sounds like a fine idea!”

  Throughout the evening, Kat mingled with many of Sarah and Tom’s friends but found herself drawn to William. He was so easy to talk to and she genuinely liked him. To him, the feeling was mutual. They talked about their jobs, their likes, dislikes, and what they liked to do for fun. They discovered that both of them loved to ride bikes.

  “If I’m not overstepping my bounds—okay, I already did that—would you and Tyler like to
go for a bike ride with me sometime?” William asked.

  Is he asking me out on a date? Kat thought. The fact that he included Tyler impressed her. Before she had a chance to talk herself out of it, she found herself responding favorably.

  “We would love to.”

  “How about tomorrow?” he asked. “There’s a bike path not far from here, in Harbour Sound.”

  “I know exactly where that is! Tyler and I occasionally ride out there.” The bike path led through the town where there were cute little shops, ice cream parlors, a playground, and parks in which people could feed ducks.

  After they swapped phone numbers with promises to meet the following afternoon, Kat went to look for Tyler. Before they left, she said goodbye to everyone and hugged Sarah.

  “Thank you for having us, Sarah. Both of us really had a great time.” Kat looked at Tyler, who was beginning to yawn.

  “Thank you for coming! It’s always nice to make new friends, isn’t it?” At first Kat thought Sarah was referring to the ladies, but the glint in her eye implied she was talking about William.

  Kat blushed. “Yes, we made plans to ride bikes on the Isle tomorrow.”

  “Good for you! I think you’ll have a terrific time. William’s a good guy. We’ve only known him for a few months, but we like him.”

  After they bid farewell, Sarah and Tyler went home.

  When Tyler went to bed that night, Kat wrote a heart-felt letter to her sister. She described to Mary the pain of losing their parents, her fiancé, and most of all the pain of losing their relationship with each other as sisters. Kat mentioned the rape but did not go in detail except to say that Tyler was her nephew. She described Tyler and included a picture of him in her letter. She didn’t mention Daniel or William as she didn’t feel it was appropriate to discuss them. Besides, it’s not like she was in a relationship with either of them.

  She would put the letter in the mailbox the following morning. She didn’t know if she would ever hear back from her sister, but she went to sleep feeling freer than she ever had before in her life.

  Chapter 19

  Groaning in agony, Darryl awoke to the sound of pouring rain beating down on the top of the double-wide trailer he lived in. He had slept in his clothes again and his bladder felt as though it would explode at any moment. As he rolled himself to a sitting position and looked around his bedroom, his head instantly began to throb with pain. He slid from the bed and staggered his way into the bathroom. As he relieved himself, the chain of events from the day before came flooding back.

  After he was fired from his job, Darryl drove directly to the bar he’d frequented the past several weeks. While there, he had gotten into a verbal altercation with the bartender, who refused to serve him after Darryl consumed a number of alcoholic beverages. In anger, Darryl had attempted to strike the bartender, but missed. Instead, he had lost his footing, hit his head against the counter, and fell flat on his face.

  Not bothering to flush the toilet, Darryl studied himself in the mirror. He hadn’t shaved in days but he didn’t care. He picked off what appeared to be food crumbs embedded in his beard and ran a hand through his hair, which was matted and greasy. In efforts to focus, he blinked several times and saw that his black eye was turning into several shades of purple. With his fingernails, he scraped off the dried blood stains under his nostrils. He held up a hand to his nose as if to remind himself that he was lucky he didn’t break it.

  Shuffling his feet, Darryl headed for the kitchen. His throat was parched and he was desperate for something to drink. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the light on his answering machine blink furiously. He pushed the button and listened.

  The message was from Michelle and from the tone of her voice, she was angry. She told Darryl how disappointed she was in him for the way he conducted himself on the phone the night before with their son. Apparently, Darryl had slurred his speech to the point where his son couldn’t understand him. Worried, Jared had gotten his mother on the phone and that’s how she discovered Darryl had gotten himself fired.

  Darryl didn’t remember much of the night before, let alone calling anybody on the phone. He did remember his boss expressing his regret for what he was forced to do.

  Darryl helped himself to a beer from the fridge and settled himself on the couch in his small living room. He turned on the television and flipped through the channels. When he saw nothing of interest, he turned it off and reflected on the conversation he had had with his boss.

  An hour before closing time at work, Darryl was summoned to the Human Resources Department. At first he thought it had to do with reimbursing the company for his tuition checks, but once he arrived, he knew he was doomed.

  His boss was there, along with the director of Human Resources and a security officer. Matthew had explained to Darryl that there had been several complaints against him during the week, one of which stemmed from the fact that Darryl smelled like a brewery in recent days. Not only did his sales plummet, he had been extremely rude to a multi-million dollar customer. All telemarketing sales calls were taped and Matthew had played back the recording in question. To everyone in the room, there was no disputing the fact that Darryl had used foul language and made inappropriate suggestions to the customer. To complicate matters even further, the customer had terminated its account with the company.

  As a result, Darryl was fired and escorted out of the building. He remembered the look of disappointment on Matthew’s face as he pulled away from the parking lot for the last time. If only you had come to me, Matthew had said. I could have helped you.

  Depressed with the direction in which his life was headed, he drove to the nearest bar where the rest of his evening went downhill. How he managed to get himself home was beyond the scope of his comprehension.

  His facial expression became sinister when thoughts of Katherine Richards crept into his mind. She was entirely to blame for all of his problems. It was her fault all of this happened. She was the one who got him expelled. If she had shown just a little bit of compassion, Darryl would be graduating in a couple of months. Then it would’ve only been a matter of time before he was promoted and earning almost double his salary. Further, his son would have been proud of him. Maybe Michelle, too.

  But no, none of those wonderful things would ever happen because of her. It was time to put an end to his misery. Darryl wasn’t about to let Katherine Richards take whatever ounce of dignity he had left away from him. He had to stop her once and for all.

  Tossing the empty bottle at the growing pile of fetid garbage on the floor in the corner, Darryl went to the fridge to get a refill. Ignoring the cockroach that scurried across the floor, he went inside his bedroom and sat down in front of his computer. It was time to search for her whereabouts again. He couldn’t move on with his life until he found what he was looking for.

  Chapter 20

  Kat woke up feeling better than she had in a long time. She felt relaxed and happy. As she lay there, she thought about Sarah’s party and the people she’d met. It all seemed so normal. One woman wanted to begin a scrapbook club and invited Sarah to join. Tyler had a great time playing with the twins, and Kat had a date to go bike riding. She was stunned as to why it had taken her so long to get back into friendly circles but she felt good about her choices.

  Tyler came into her room to see if she was awake. When he saw that she was, he jumped on her bed and slid under the covers so he could snuggle with his mother.

  “Mommy?”

  “Yes, sweetie?”

  “I really like the twins. I kept getting Kaylee and Kelsey mixed up but they thought it was funny.”

  “I think that happens to a lot of twins. Did you have a good time?”

  “Oh yes. Maybe we can call them and go to the park together.”

  “How about if we do that another time?” Kat suggested. “Do you remember meeting William?”

  “The one who spilled lemonade on you?”

  Kat laughed. “Yes. I thought
we would go on a bike ride with him today.”

  “I guess so.”

  “What do you mean, I guess so?” Kat looked at him. “You love bike rides!”

  “I know, but when we ride bikes, it’s just you and me, Mommy.”

  Kat felt her heart melt as she stroked Tyler’s hair. Was it possible her little boy resented sharing their special time with someone else, especially when that someone else was a man?

  “You know, we’re only friends.” Kat explained. “Don’t you think Mommy needs new friends in her life? Just like you made new friends with Kaylee and Kelsey?”

  Tyler thought about this for a moment, then brightened. “Oh yeah!”

  “Yeah!” Kat tickled Tyler and he squealed. “Okay, let’s get up and get some breakfast.”

  “Mommy?”

  “Hmm?”

  “I love you.”

  Kat wrapped her arms around her son and hugged him tightly. “I love you too, little boy.”

  A little later that morning, William called Kat to arrange a time and place to meet. He suggested having lunch at Fourth Street Fountain, a place known for its 1950s atmosphere that served hamburgers and hotdogs. Afterwards, they could ride their bikes along the waterfront.

  After Kat and Tyler were dressed and ready to go, she attached their bikes to the back of her sports utility vehicle. She strapped Tyler in his child seat then buckled herself in. While she felt slightly apprehensive, she was looking forward to her date with William.

  It was late in the afternoon at the waterfront district. The area was known for its quaint shops, walking trails, bike paths, and picnicking amenities. The sun was shining, the air was fresh, and the birds were chirping. Families could be seen everywhere, on boat launches, observation decks, and picnic tables. William, Kat, and Tyler were sitting on a blanket under an enormous oak tree eagerly lapping up their ice cream cones. They had ridden their bikes for a solid two hours.