He groaned. "Already? She's only eighteen."
Alice shrugged. "Girls have had babies at twelve, or even eleven years of age. Not that I'm saying Karen might get hooked that way. All I'm saying is someone should talk to her. Find out how much she knows. Explain the facts of life to her."
"How 'bout you talking to her, hon?"
Alice grimaced. "Me? You're out of your mind! Karen hates me! It's all she can do to try and be civil with me. She only speaks to me when absolutely necessary. Or haven't you noticed?" Alice's voice was filled with sadness. She had tried to get through to the young girl but had failed
miserably. Karen deeply resented the woman who had replaced her mother.
He nodded. He, too, had noticed the way Karen treated Alice. It bothered him. Karen was very spiteful toward Alice. There was no love lost between the two girls. He had tried several times to bridge the gap between them, but had finally given up. He had hoped that time would heal the chasm between Karen and Alice.
It hadn't.
He wished that Karen was more like Bob, her older brother. Bob probably resented his marrying Alice, too. But he had managed to cope with the problem. Unlike his sister, he was very friendly toward Alice. He never got around to calling her Mom, or Mother. He simply called her Alice. The two had a good relationship going. At least they weren't at each other's throats, like Karen and Alice.
"What can I say to the kid?" he asked. Karen and he had sort of drifted apart since the marriage to Alice. She had always been Daddy's little girl. Now she was almost a stranger to him. She had withdrawn into her own little world from which he'd been excluded. "Hell, she hardly speaks to me any more. I think she resents me, too."
"She does. She hasn't forgiven you for marrying me. She never will."
"So maybe we ought to just let things ride?"
Alice shrugged. "She's your daughter. You want to let her carry on with
the boys without at least giving her the facts of life, that's your decision."
"I guess I'll try and talk to her-someday."
"I wouldn't wait too long, dear." Alice stared deep into his eyes. "The other day while I was making up the beds when you were at work, and the kids were at school, I found a magazine in her room." She flushed.
"You pried into her things?" He clucked his tongue. Alice had insisted on being a housewife since their marriage. They could have afforded a servant, or a m~iid, but she wanted to be a housewife. Making up beds, cleaning the house, cooking meals and the works.
"I didn't piy! I happened to see this magazine she had hidden on her bureau. I was curious because of the cover." She grimaced. "It was a sex magazine. I left it exactly where I found it, but not until I looked through it." She shuddered. "I think you better have a long talk with your daughter," she announced firmly.
"Hmm. I see what you mean." Glancing at his watch, he mumbled, "It might as well be now. It's early evening. No sense putting it off any longer."
He ambled into the bathroom to refresh himself and take a quick shower. Then he slid into his pajamas before tackling his growing daughter.
His little problem child. Daddy's little girl.
CHAPTER TWO
Squaring his shoulders bravely, Jim tapped on Karen's bedroom door, and then entered the room. The door was partially open. He stepped in. Karen was lying flat on her stomach on her bed. She was peering at a magazine. She was dressed in her baby-doll nightie and was ready for bed.
"Hi, baby," he called out, stepping toward the queen-size bed and smiling fondly at his daughter.
"Oh, it's you!" Karen's face was flushed. She quickly shoved the magazine under her pillow, but not before he got a glimpse of the cover. A picture of a naked girl.
Suppressing a frown and thinking to himself that little girls shouldn't be looking at such magazines, he cut loose with a fatherly smile. Fidgeting a bit uncomfortably in the presence of the girl who was growing up too fast for him to keep up with, he murmured, "Mind if I visit with you awhile, baby?" He'd always called her his baby, or his baby doll. That is, until lately. Lately they hadn't been talking much. A sort of aloof politeness existed between them. Ever since his marriage to Alice.
Karen shrugged. She sat up on the bed. Her pretty round face wore a pout of annoyance. "What do you want?" Her voice was sharp.
He flushed and sat down on the bed beside her. "I just thought maybe you and I should have a talk, baby." He smiled paternalistically.
"Don't call me baby any more!" Her voice was sharp. She thrust out her chest. "I'm not a baby any more, or haven't you noticed?"
The flush deepened. He beat down an urge to flee, to retreat from this losing battle with his daughter. It had been like this all the time lately. Sparks between them. She was no longer the little girl he had held in his arms and cuddled from infancy until she was ten or eleven. He and Karen. used to have so much love together. Father daughter love. Many times he'd cradled her in his arms and whispered words of endearment to her. He had sung to her. He had comforted her during her young tender years.
Theirs had been a wonderful relationship. He recalled the many times she'd nestled in his embrace and had whispered in his ear, "Daddy, I love you best of all."
He gawked at her outthrust chest. A lump came to his throat. She was so right. She was no longer a baby. She was a woman, and indications were she would be quite a beautiful woman. Her breasts were small but solid when she pushed them outward and they strained against the material of her pajamas. She was still a small girl, but the curves were breaking out all over, and she was
shaping up well. In another year or two, she'd be a likely prospect for beauty contests.
"Okay, Karen. I'll not call you baby any more. You are growing up." He took one of her hands in his and pressed it. "That's what I want to talk to you about."
Her eyes widened. "About me growing up?"
"Like you said, you're getting to be a big girl. I thought maybe you and I should have a long talk about-" He broke off.
Her eyes lit up. "About the birds and the bees?" She giggled.
He nodded miserably. "Something like that. Ordinarily it's a mother's job to talk those things over with daughters."
The smile left her face. "But I don't have a mother any more! You've seen to that!"
"Ah, Karen, don't start on that again!"
"And why not!" Rage contorted her face. "Why, Daddy, why!?" Her voice was shrill. She hopped to her feet, placed hands on hips and glared. "Why did you have to marry that woman!" She pointed in the general direction of the master bedroom.
He tried reaching for her. She avoided his hands. His face was flushed. He didn't want to get into a shouting match with her again about Alice. They'd had
too many of them in the past couple of years. He couldn't quite understand Karen's hostility toward her stepmother. He realized the kid should be shook up somewhat over him marrying another woman. He reasoned it was because Alice was to young. At age twenty-two she wasn't much older than his eighteen-year-old daughter.
But should Karen really have such a deep-rooted resentment? Bob didn't have this resentment. Why should she? He sighed. He'd never understand girls. Patting the bed, he said, trying to keep his voice calm, "Sit down, Karen."
"I won't! I don't want to talk any more." Tears misted her eyes. Her hands shook. She didn't enjoy these scenes. She didn't relish the idea of defying her father. But she knew she had to impress on him her deep-rooted feelings about the girl he'd married. The girl she hated. The stepmother she'd never accept.
"I said sit down!" His voice was stem, like it had been many times in the past when he'd had to assert his authority and show her who was boss.
She subsided meekly. The rebellion died. She sat on the bed, away from him. Her eyes were still misted with tears. Her pretty mouth was etched in a pout. She stared at him.