Chapter 27: About Katy

January 29, 1989, Chicago, Illinois

"Katy O'Connor? I mean Taylor?" I asked.

Elyse nodded, "She left him. She's in tears in the Indian room."

Shit. I could guess what that was about. I walked to the Indian room and looked in the door. Katy was sitting in one of the basket chairs, her knees pulled up to her chest, her dark brown hair unkempt, and tears running down her face.

"Katy?"

"Hi," she sniffed. "I need to talk to you."

"Mind if I shower first? I just came from the dojo."

"Go on. I'm not going anywhere."

I went back to where Elyse was waiting at the base of the stairs and asked her to come upstairs with me. Kara was in our room with Birgit, and after Elyse followed me in, I shut the door.

"Anyone know exactly what's going on?" I asked.

"No," Kara said. "She showed up about twenty-five minutes ago with a bag. I needed to feed our daughter, so Elyse stayed with her."

"No idea," Elyse said. "Except that she said she left her husband."

"Wonderful," I said, stripping off my gi and putting it in a laundry basket to take downstairs to wash.

I walked into the bathroom and both girls followed me.

"Do you have any idea what might have happened?" I asked.

"No," Elyse said. "She didn't say. But it seems like you might from the way you're reacting."

I sighed as I stood under the hot water of the shower, "I can make a guess. But I need to talk to her first."

"Something you can't share?" Kara asked.

"Not at this point," I said.

"Why would she come to you and not someone else?" Kara asked.

"It's a long story, but let's just say that she and I had a couple of very long conversations that give me a clue as to what the problem is."

"You slept with her, right?"

"Right before you walked back into my life, yes. After a LONG dance that began almost right after I arrived in Chicago."

"Those two were this close," Elyse said, holding her thumb and forefinger about half-an-inch apart, "from running off together. The only thing that stopped her was that she couldn't share."

"The story of Steve's life," Kara giggled. "Girls who wanted him but couldn't share him long term like you, Jessica, and me."

Elyse looked me directly in the eyes, "The jury is still out on Jessica. We have to help her through this."

"Jesus, Elyse," I growled. "Why not just turn the tap to ice cold while I'm standing in a hot shower!"

"You know it's true. So do I. So does Kara. So does your friend Doctor Barton. And so does Jessica."

"Fuck," I sighed. "OK. Forget that problem for a moment. We'll deal with that in just under two weeks. I have another problem to deal with today."

"She's not here to try to claim you, is she?" Kara asked.

"No. That's one thing I'm sure of. But it's the only thing I'm sure of. As I said, I can guess WHY she's here, at least the root cause. What she wants from me is another question altogether. I'd bet just an ear to bend and a shoulder to cry on. And someone to give her advice. I'll have to talk with her alone, Honey. Though I might bring in someone else or two someones, if I think it'll help. I'll tell you what I can when I can."

"What do I tell Jess if she calls while you're talking with Katy?" Kara asked.

"Come find me. As much as I want to help Katy, Jess takes priority. Most likely Katy and I will sit in my study, and I can answer the phone. But we'll see."

I got out of the shower and Elyse handed me a towel.

"What about lunch, Snuggle Bear?" Kara asked.

"Would you mind making soup and sandwiches and bringing them to my study? I don't know if she'll eat, but I'll try to get her to. Tea also, if you don't mind."

"I'll take care of it," Kara said with a smile.

"God, watching him shower and walk around naked makes me horny!" Elyse whispered.

"I heard that!" I chuckled. "Now you know how I feel when all of YOU walk around naked! Especially with those baby bellies!"

"Donna W really did a number on you that way, didn't she?" Kara asked.

I nodded, "She did. I just wish I knew how to get in touch with her and Marcus to see how they're doing."

I dressed in sweat pants, a T-shirt, and a Penguins jersey that I'd bought from an ad in The Hockey News. I pulled on ankle socks and then went back down to the Indian room.

"Hey, Katy," I said. "OK to go to my study?"

She nodded and got up. I took her hand and led her to my study. I shut the door behind us, we sat in the side-by-side wingback chairs, and I reached over and took her hand.

"Kara's going to bring tea and some food. Want to tell me what's going on?"

"I left Kenneth," she said.

"So I gathered from the bag on the floor in the Indian room. Do you need a place to stay?"

She nodded, "Yes. Will you let me stay here?"

"You know you're always welcome. I'll have Kara take your bag to one of the guest rooms."

"The left-hand one, if I could," she said.

That was the one where she and I had made love. I wondered what THAT meant, but I wasn't going to ask just yet.

"Sure. I'll tell Kara when she brings our food and the tea. Are you ready to talk, or do you want to eat something first?"

"I'm ready, I guess," she sighed.

"Does this have to do with the conversations we had about four years ago?"

She sighed, "Yes."

"Why don't you start at the beginning?" I suggested. "Then we'll figure out how I can help you. Or if we need someone else to help."

"You can," Katy said. "I trust you. Just you, right now."

"OK."

She took a deep breath.

"You know my struggle that started about four years ago? And what I started to figure out?"

"Yes, of course. It's kind of hard to forget everything that happened between us!"

"True. Oh, before I forget, how are Stephie and Jason?" she asked.

My face fell, and a tear formed in my eye. Katy didn't know!

"Katy, she died from her ovarian cancer a little over a year ago."

"Holy shit!" Katy gasped in shock. "I'm so sorry! I just totally lost touch with you guys and I didn't know! The last I heard was she had surgery and chemo and was fine!"

"So we thought, but it spread and there weren't any good treatment options. She died October 2, 1987."

"I'm sorry," she said again.

"It's OK, Katy. You didn't know. And there's nothing anyone can do now. Let's discuss your problem."

There was a soft knock at the door and Kara came in with a tray that had two bowls of soup, four half-sandwiches of different sorts, and a pot of tea with two mugs.

"Thanks," I said. "Would you put Katy's bag in the left-hand guest room, please?"

"Sure," Kara said. "Anything else?"

"No, that's all for right now, Honey. Thanks."

She smiled, then left, closing the door behind her.

"How many kids do you have now?"

"Three, plus two on the way. Jesse, of course, Matthew by Elyse, and Birgit by Kara. Elyse is pregnant again, and so is Jessica."

"Is Jessica at work?" Katy asked.

I sighed, "No. She's at a facility in Maine recovering from what amounts to a stress-related nervous breakdown."

"Sorry," Katy said. "I am really out of touch. Is she OK?"

"She seems to be. She'll be home in about two weeks. She left me back in October. We reconciled in December, but then she had to go away so she can be reinstated at the hospital."

"What the hell?" Katy sighed. "My problems are nothing compared to Stephie's and Jessica's."

"Sure they are, or you wouldn't be here, eating lunch with me, telling me why you left your husband."

She took a bite of a sandwich and ate a spoonful of soup.

"At first, things were OK. In fact, they were really good. But then that problem we talked about started really nagging me."

"That something was missing from your sex life? Emotional fulfillment?"

I started eating while she talked.

"Yes," she replied. "I tried. I really did. But nothing I did could fix it. I felt empty. Then I met Margaret. To make a long story short, we hit it off, and I had an affair with her. At first, living the double-life seemed OK. But the fact that I was hiding something from Kenneth kept gnawing at me. I became, well, aloof, I guess. He noticed and tried to talk to me about it. I rebuffed him.

"I guess it was about five months after the affair started, a friend of his saw Margaret and me together, and saw us exchange a kiss that couldn't be mistaken for friendship. His friend told him and he confronted me about it. I denied it up and down, but I don't think he believed me. I was so confused, which caused problems with Margaret. We broke up, and I did my best to be a good partner for Kenneth.

"I managed a few months before I met a girl named Lauren with whom I really hit it off. To me, it seemed like it was just a friendship, but things quickly spiraled out of control. I guess I was sending off signals, because she knew I was bi or lesbian, which is why she befriended me. We saw each other a lot, and I quit having sex with Kenneth. I made all manner of excuses, and then on Friday, he said he wanted to have a baby.

"That set off crazy alarm bells in my head. I couldn't deal with that idea. The thought of having his baby made me physically ill. I told him I wasn't feeling good to avoid sex Friday night, and yesterday, he insisted that I needed to see a doctor because I was feeling so poorly. He thought I was really sick. Last night I started drinking wine and didn't stop until I finally lay down on the couch and instantly fell asleep.

"This morning, when I woke up, Kenneth and I had an argument. I went to our room, packed a few things, told him I was leaving, and got in my car. I wasn't sure where to go or what to do. I drove around for a bit and found myself on LSD. I saw the museum and remembered you lived here and knew you would help me. So I came here."

I sipped some tea to wash down the last of my sandwich. I'd nearly choked on the 'on LSD' reference to driving on Lake Shore Drive, which I always found amusing. I was glad to see that she'd more or less stopped crying, though she still looked very sad.

"We knew this was where this was headed," I said gently. "We even talked about it. You found your emotional fulfillment with Margaret and Lauren, didn't you?"

Katy nodded, "Yes."

"So you're lesbian," I said matter-of-factly.

"No, I don't think so. I'm pretty sure I like sex with guys, but I need a relationship with a woman."

"That sounds like Josie," I said.

"But she's truly 50-50, if I remember right," Katy said. "She could go either way and be happy. I think I'm 90-10 or something."

"And Kenneth can't deal with that?" I asked.

"No. He's super-conservative. When he thought I was with Margaret, he nearly lost his mind. I couldn't do what you do — have a spouse and a lover, or however you want to define things with Kara."

"You were at the wedding! Jessica, Kara, and I are married, and a trio. Elyse is a long-term lover. And there are others who are, well, transient, I guess."

"Sorry. I haven't talked to you hardly at all since before you got married, and I didn't really understand what went on at your wedding, or even after. I guess I was preoccupied. The last time I saw you was at my wedding."

"I've mentioned that to people recently," I said. "You just stopped coming here."

"Kenneth doesn't appreciate your lifestyle choices," she said. "It wasn't worth the fight."

"He seemed like he was dealing OK with it," I said.

"He tried, but once you married two women, that was the beginning of the end. We were here a few times, like for the Super Bowl, and he came to hang out with the guys a few times. But then he just dropped out. He did let me invite you to the wedding, but after that, he wasn't interested in having anything to do with you."

"It's happened before. If people can't deal with it, they can't deal with it. So long as they don't try to interfere, I don't care what they think."

"That was always your issue with your mom," she said.

"Pretty much. What are you going to do?"

"I don't know yet. Will Kara be upset if I monopolize your time today to catch up and keep talking?"

"No, not at all," I said.

"And I want to see your kids, of course."

I smiled, "Of course."

"What happened with your friend Tatyana? The Russian girl?"

"She's married to a Colonel in the 1st Guards Tank Army in the USSR. They have a daughter named Lara. Jesse and I were at the wedding with my wives."

"Does Cindi have any kids yet?"

"No. Dave and Julia have a boy and are trying for another. Kathy and Kurt have a baby girl and they'll have another in the next year or two. Bethany married Nick Evans, but no kids yet, though it wouldn't surprise me if they were working on it. Jamie and Jackie don't have any yet."

"Have you heard from George at all?"

"Not since she went back to the Philippines. Charlie is working for me, but she's still playing the field."

"I saw your black belt, so I guess karate is going well."

"Yes. I'll be running the dojo for about six months while my instructor is training in Japan."

"Do you still skydive?"

"No. The owner of the old drop zone is in 'Club Fed' on drug and money laundering charges and they seized the old drop zone. The alternative is an additional forty-five minutes away, which really is too far at this point. Not to mention I'm so busy with the company and karate and family that I just don't have time. Do you want to go see the kids? We can keep talking afterwards," I said.

"Sure," she said.

We walked out of my study and found Kara and Elyse in the sunroom with Veronica and my three kids.

"Katy, this is Veronica, our nanny. Veronica, this is our friend, Katy."

They nodded to each other.

"Jesse you know, but he's grown a bit," I said, then pointed to the other two in turn. "This is Matthew, and that's Birgit."

"Wow! Jesse is HUGE!" she observed.

Jesse got up and walked over to where Katy and I were standing.

"Hi!" he said. "I'm Jesse!"

"Hi, Jesse. I'm Katy. I met you when you were a baby."

"I'm a big boy now! You are pretty!"

Kara, Elyse, and Veronica all laughed hard.

"He's your son!" Katy said with a grin.

"Dada kiss Katy?" he giggled.

All the adults laughed, including Katy.

"He's also obviously a major troublemaker!" I added.

"How old are you now, Jesse?" Katy asked.

"Two! I'm three soon! Will you come to my party?"

Katy smiled, "If I'm here, yes."

"Good!" Jesse said and went back to play with his trains.

"Why is Birgit in your lap, Veronica?" Katy inquired.

She smiled, "Her idea of playing trains is to take apart the tracks as fast as Jesse and Matthew can put them together."

"Another troublemaker?" Katy laughed. "I suspect strongly it runs in the family!"

"Don't I know it!" Veronica said.

She'd felt comfortable joking around since dinner earlier in the week, and that made me happy. We were learning from Veronica the things we'd have to explain directly to a new nanny when Veronica decided to leave us. I knew that would be a bad day for the kids, but I didn't see much chance of Veronica not getting married in the not-too-distant future.

"Should we go back to the study and talk?" I asked.

Katy nodded, so I kissed my wife, Elyse, and my kids, and winked at Veronica, who laughed and winked back. Katy followed me back to my study, and we sat down.

"So, Katy Taylor, what's your plan?" I asked.

"O'Connor," she said. "I don't want his name anymore."

"Well, that's pretty clear, then. Work? Living arrangements? That kind of thing."

"Well, first, that lawyer you used to set things up for Jennifer and Josie, and for your marriage, does she do divorces?"