Chapter Five

Charlene called her father, Nick Carpenter, that next morning and waited to be connected. He call went to his secretary first, as always.

Charlene’s mind wandered as she waited for her father to come on the line.

She saw long lines of trees on a distant horizon and elephants marching across a flat, green, plane, to a muddy watering hole in her “mind’s eye.”

Further of out in the distance, large mountains sat as they had for millennia in a haze of early morning mist and dust kicked up by soft swirling breezes and thousands of wildebeests, heading in the same direction toward the river.

A river ran down from the mountains to near where she was standing in the warm sun. Hippos stood in the water eating and frolicking lazily. Charlene could almost feel the warm breeze on her face. Then she remembered that she was on the phone waiting to speak to her father.

She wanted to go on this trip with Joe, badly. This could be the chance she had been waiting for all these long and hard months.

The snow had come and melted and then spring came again as she watched Joe get abused by Suzan. Charlene hated that woman more than she thought possible. She had to go on this trip with Joe. It was meant to be, or so the idea swam in her head.

Charlene’s parents had been divorced for years. Her father’s infidelities were said to be the reason for the end of the marriage by her mother, but surely there was more to that story, of course.

Her mother’s story was one sided but Charlene had no reason to believe otherwise until years later. She was just a young girl at the time of the divorce, and had no reason not to believe her mother when her father disappeared.

Charlene had learned over many years from her mother, how to use those sins against him over and over again. But Charlene had heard the whispers and innuendos as well.

Nick had cheated on his wife, Charlene’s mother, more than once. He had disappeared from Charlene’s life for all intents and purposes at the moment that his wife had discovered this latest “act of treachery,” as she had called it for so many years now. There were reasons and truths unknown to Charlene of course.

As Charlene grew older she understood that her mother, Sally, was not an innocent in the failure of their marriage. Charlene’s mother had also played a part in this failed marriage to Nick. She had played her part all too well in this family drama.

He drinking was a large part of the downfall of their formerly happy and fulfilling relationship. Sadly, she loved her wine and spirits and had no desire to curb her intake, as far as Nick could see.

She paid a large price over time for her habits and had lost a good deal of her intellectual curiosity and charm to them. These first two traits that drew Nick to her when they first met were long gone, soon enough.

Nick had loved those qualities in his wife. They were all part of what drew him into her orbit. Eventually they were wiped out forever, or so he thought. He then sought the company of other women, still fresh and sober, at least.

The divorce was a long and drown out affair over the usual things that a wealthy couple will fight about. Who will gain access to the summer cottage on the lake and how will the stocks and bonds be split between them.

The large mansion would remain in the control of Suzan’s mother though the deed was in both of their names and the house would be sold at some unknown time in the future when Suzan was out and on her own. The care and custody of Charlene then nine, their only child and her living situation, was Nick’s primary concern.

It took a good deal of time and money on Nick’s part to settle all of the issues to both parties satisfaction. Nick had to give in often to move the divorce forward, but he thought it well worth it to get all of this behind him. Several lawyers were made more wealthy as the divorce dragged on for what seemed like years to Nick.

Nick was often denied visitation with Charlene by Sally, on a whim. They fought about that and many more other issues until they came to a final, mutual agreement.

Sally didn’t like her daughter to be living with an adulterous father and his wayward woman of the moment, while Nick didn’t want his daughter living under the same roof with a drunken mess of a woman who might burn the house down and kill both of them without a thought.

After a few years of fighting to a stalemate, a truce of sorts, was agreed upon and Sally let Nick start seeing Charlene again. But much time had passed and their relationship had to be rebuilt from scratch.

Sally, never let Nick forget that he had cheated on her. He decided not to mention his feelings about he drinking and lack of attention to him during their marriage. It had done little good in the past while they were married and would just lead to more trouble and money being spent on lawyers.

Yes, he had cheated and left what was remaining of their marriage, but sally had been far from perfect. Nick felt that he had tried as long as he could for a very long time but he could not save the marriage alone. He had finally chosen another woman and a new life over Sally. But by then Sally was less than the perfect partner as far as Nick was concerned.

“Somewhere deep down she must have known that herself,” Nick often thought, as he lay in bed wondering what might have been.

She often tried to make Nick’s life a misery, even after all of the troubles and the legal battles were left far behind them. She did it in subtle ways and not so subtle ways.

She often used Nick’s enormous guilt to her personal advantage but even that gave her little satisfaction as the years passed. Charlene’s mother was now a depressed wreck and ghost of her former self.

Her drinking had increased and she was miserable. Her heavy drinking had led her to make making many bad decisions when it came to men and money. She had gone through a good portion of her divorce settlement with Nick, who was a very successful attorney from a wealthy and influential family.

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Yes, I have been busy.

More to come later.

We have a lot to tell you.