At another session, the doctor casually mentioned Karen had told him her father, as the doctor put it, had substantial financial means, most of which I eschewed when we married.
"If you mean was, and is Paul North, filthy rich beyond even the imagination of this poor peasant girl and did I, in fact tell my husband I wanted none of it and told him I wished to live in the squalor of Summerside, Massachusetts instead of his castle which lacked only a moat, which by the way, he would have gladly dug for me, and tended to by a bevy of comatose servants, who apparently all lie like a second language, than, yes, that's an accurate statement. Do you have a problem with my decision?"
"Ah," he said, not surprisingly. "It does demonstrate a certain tendency for you to control the situation."
"Control how I chose to live? I guess you're right."
"Yes, but your decisions force others to adopt your choices."
"Bull shit!" I said to him, for, unfortunately only the first time of many. "Ask any one of them from Timmy on up. This was no strong-arm ultimatum by me; I was perfectly willing to delay marriage, years if I had to, and let them live their cloistered lives until the children were on their own. They made their choice."
"Ah," he said again. "I can understand Timmy, the young boy, he's very malleable but Karen is a different story. How did you convince her to give up what most would call the life of a princess, far above the . . . common people?"
Was this bastard calling me a commoner? "Look," I said. "Ask Karen. She jumped on a chance to get out of Rapunzel's castle. By all accounts, she's tickled pink with her new life. If the jury is still out on her feelings for her new mother, so be it, but all in all, she's embracing the changes just fine, thank you." You jerk, I added mentally.
"So she says," he responded slowly. When he saw the fire in my eye, he added, "and I quite agree. The change was, although bizarre in some respects, fortunately rescued the child from an unhealthy and restrictive environment." I wasn't sure how to answer so, for once, I didn't. I didn't have to; he wasn't finished.
"I'm curious about your motives, Sarah Jeanne. You must admit most women of your limited means and prospects would have jumped at the prospect of, how shall I say, becoming an instant millionairess. Think of how many people play the lottery each day, hoping for just that result?"
"Call me stupid, if it suits you, but one look at how they lived told me I wanted nothing to do with it. Maybe I am simple, but I had a great childhood and we didn't have a pot to plant peas. There was no way I was programmed to play 'let's pretend' and live the life of the rich and famous."