The Lottery (24 page)

“Well, that too. But, I was talking about my granddaughter. She
was smart, beautiful, and had a promising future. What she had ever done to
deserve this kind of end I will never know.” Evangeline’s eyes misted over, the
first true sign Karlyn had ever seen that the woman felt true emotion. “The
funeral is this afternoon. You
are
planning on attending?”

“I doubt Ethan will want me there. I don’t want to cause more trouble
for him.”

“Ethan doesn’t know what he wants right now. Are you going to let
him treat you like that and get away with it? If so, I will seriously have to
reconsider my opinion of you.”

“You saw how he responded to me. I don’t want to make Bailey’s funeral
into a mockery. In time, he will see that I did not try to hurt him
intentionally. But on the other hand, there is the media…I thought I was
supposed to be in hiding?”

“Bailey enjoyed the time you spent with her. I could see it in
her eyes when she mentioned you and her brother together. And you should be
there, as she was your friend too. Don’t let that man chase you off. You will
regret not paying your respects later. And let me worry about the media. They
will be kept at bay. I can promise you that.”

Karlyn looked over the screens again, at all the conspiracy
theories broadcast on most of the pages. Her heart sank, wishing in a way she
had never won, but knowing that her life would be nothing without having known
Ethan.

A slamming door roused Karlyn from her thoughts and she watched
Ethan stalk into the breakfast room. He grasped a plate, threw some food from
the sideboard on it with vigor. Slamming the plate on the table, he scattered
the vid screens, anger etched into every line of his face. He looked up at each
woman, his expression harsh and unforgiving.

Karlyn’s heart stopped.

“Good morning, ladies. A fine day for a funeral, if I don’t say
so myself.”

Karlyn gasped, her eyes rounding, as she turned to see
Evangeline’s response. Cool as a cucumber, as always, the elder woman looked
like nothing could pierce her armor.

“Ethan, you don’t wear anger very well. Your sister would not
want you to make light of this day. Respect her a little more than that.”

“Respect her? That’s a lot coming from you,
Grandmother
.”

“
Grandson
, you think
you know everything; that I am the evil queen. But just so you know, I loved Bailey,
even though you think the exact opposite and I will
not
allow you to treat her memorial as such. Go spread your venom
elsewhere if you cannot contain yourself to act like a man.”

Ethan furiously stared at her for a moment, before turning to
Karlyn. “I thought you may be interested to know that I met with the lottery
committee yesterday afternoon. It seems I will be auctioned off again, and
start off another whole year of slavery thanks to you.”

“Ethan, I never meant for any of this to happen. I just accepted
a gift I never expected to win, one I was honest about with you weeks ago. How
was I to know it would go so very, very wrong?”

Anger filled his eyes with a strange light. “I will let you two
friends continue your breakfast. I’ve suddenly lost my appetite.”

Karlyn watched him go, wondering if he would ever let go of his
anger towards her.

****

The casket slowly lowered into the Earth as the pastor murmured a
few more words of sympathy to the family. Fresh smells of dirt and grass
assailed Karlyn’s lungs as she stood squarely beside Evangeline.

For whatever reason, she had leaned on the woman, absorbing some
of her strength. Looking over at her, Karlyn realized she had no right to lean
on her now. Evangeline had opened herself up in the ride to her estate two days
before, and had shown she did have a heart, and that she had cared, in her own
odd way, for her grandchildren.

Looking across the freshly cut grave, she watched Ethan, who’s
dark sunglasses masked his eyes. His features were hard, as if he were cut from
stone. She knew he was the exact opposite inside, and craved to comfort him, to
hold him, to be there to love him.
If he’d
only let me.

As the casket dropped the final inches, Ethan walked up, grasping
a handful of dirt. He kneeled as he sprinkled the earth on top of the beautiful
lilies adorning the casket. Ethan then stood, seeming to glance in her
direction but with the sunglasses, she could not be sure, and he then turned to
leave.

Propelled by some inner force, she followed him. Her heels caught
in the soft grass, and he pulled further ahead. She called to him, pleading
with him to stop and talk to her.

Turning to face her, he halted. The sunglasses still hid his
emotions from her, and she carefully made her way closer.

“I know you don’t believe me, but your sister was special to me. As
are you. I want to be there for you, if you would only let me.”

Stone silent, he just looked in her direction for several
moments. “My sister and I had a conversation just after you won me. During that
conversation, I said that money couldn’t buy intimacy, but Bailey protested,
saying I needed to open up to you. You may not have officially been the one to
buy me, but ultimately you are the one who profited from the deal. You almost
had me, you were so close, but I was right, you can’t buy intimacy. You might
have had my body but you didn’t have my soul. I owe you nothing, so please, do
yourself a favor and stop embarrassing yourself.”

“Ethan…”

“There was nothing between us. Let it go. I am moving on to the
next cash cow, so I can repay my debt to the lottery. Maybe after that, I will
do the lottery again, or find a rich old whore with one foot in the grave who
might leave me trillions in her will. And none of you will get inside my head
ever again.”

“Ethan. I love you. I am
in
love with you.”

Pausing for a moment, he turned from her. Watching his shoulders
sag, she wondered if her words impacted him in some small way. She would repeat
them over and over again as many times as he needed to hear them.

“Your loss.” With that he walked away from her.

****

Karlyn looked into the black vid screen, almost hoping Sam
wouldn’t answer. She wasn’t up to Sam’s special brand of sarcasm.

“Where the hell have you been? I have been searching for you,
even went to
Lydia
’s
house looking for you, which was a joke and a half, considering I got to see
firsthand how horrible your mother is.”

“Like you didn’t already know that?”

“Yeah, yeah. But where are you? Do you have any idea how much I
have been worrying? Not cool, Bowman, not cool at all.”

“I’m sorry, Sam. I’ve sort of had my hands full.”

“Yeah, once you start riding the baloney pony, you forgot all
about Sam. I have barely seen you in a couple of months.”

“It wasn’t all Ethan. There were the commissions and his sister.”
Tears came to her eyes. “Oh, Sam, everything is just a complete mess. I’ve
really screwed this one up.”

Complete silence filled the screen. Karlyn turned, not used to a
lack of communication from her best friend.

“Sam?”

“Karlyn, I don’t know what to say. This is my fault and I never
imagined all of this happening when I bought that ticket. I just hated seeing
you so lonely, and I wanted to give you a little happiness.”

“There was no way you could have known this would happen.”

Sam shrugged, and Karlyn noted a slight sheen of dampness come to
her eyes. Never once had she seen Sam cry in all the time she had known her.
“Sam, you’re not…?”

Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, she shrugged again.
“Well, what was I supposed to think? You disappear without a word because you
are in trouble that I caused. I thought you weren’t speaking to me.”

“Sam.”

“Yeah, leave me alone. You are my best friend and the thought of
you not being in my life freaked me out a little.”

“You bought that ticket out of love, and we both know it. Yes, it
was a misguided attempt, but ultimately I’d do it all over again.”

“What? So, the sex was that good?”

A blush warmed Karlyn’s cheeks as she looked away briefly.

“Ahh…so you
did
finally
ride the pony.”

“Yes, I did. But Sam, it was more to it than that. I fell for
him. Hard. And now he won’t speak to me.”

“First point – why the hell did you fall for him? Second point –
does he see this as your fault? I’ll straighten him out and let him know I
bought the ticket. He needs to be mad at me.”

“It’s a long story, but ultimately, he thinks the ticket business
was a set-up, and it was some grand scheme by his grandmother to ruin his life.”

“Well, kiddo, I hate to tell you this, but he was only going to
be with you a short time. Ultimately he would have walked away.”

“I know. But there was this little part of me that sensed that he
might stay. We became good friends and even better lovers, and there were
moments where it felt so real. I can’t imagine a future without him.”

“You need to. Use this, and work through it, like you have time
and time before with the emotions you have dealt with over your mother and
father. Do what you do best.”

****

Traveling back to the estate with Evangeline, she broached the
subject of going back to her studio.

“I don’t think it is a good idea. The media is still circling
this story.”

“I need to get back to my life, my painting. See if there is
something I can salvage from this fiasco. And what better thing to do with the
pain of this whole tragedy, but to throw myself into my work? I need to be
creative, and release this and move on. I can’t do that here.”

“What about me?”

Karlyn looked at the old woman. Stunned into really looking at
her for the first time, seeing the weathered lines around her brow and eyes,
seeing the pain she wore that somehow had been overlooked when looking at the
woman before. For the first time, she saw weakness in Evangeline. And it was
one of the most beautiful and scary things she had ever seen.

“What are you asking?”

“I just lost my granddaughter. My grandson, who had already cast
me out of his life, has pushed me even further. He packed his bags before the
funeral, and will be gone to whatever harlot wins him. You gave me a little
hope I could find some opening with him, and now you want to leave.”

Stunned into silence, she looked out the window. “You are welcome
to my studio whenever you want. I am sorry for calling you a heartless bitch. I
see now that you care for them in your own way. But I am sorry I will not be
able to help you with Ethan. He made it absolutely clear he was walking away
from me.”

“Have I rubbed off on you? He just walked away, and I haven’t
seen a tear yet.”

“Don’t ask me that or you will see one. Later, when I am home, I
am sure they will come. For now, I just want to go back home.”

“Once we arrive back to the estate, collect your few items and I
will ship you on your way back to the studio. Please allow me to send a couple
of my guards, so they can assist you in getting in if there are any obstacles,
and make sure the apartment is clear.”

Knowing the older woman needed to help in some small way, she
agreed, and hours later she was firmly ensconced into her studio, alone for the
first time in days.

And the tears did come.

Chapter Twenty

Two months later, the scandal had passed, for the most part, and
Karlyn was able to lead her relatively normal life. She had thrown herself into
her work, painting an unprecedented amount of paintings, most of them featuring
one particular person somewhere within the scene. She had worked through her
love, her pain, her loss, and the entire story was laid bare on those canvases.

She had even included a couple where Bailey was the focus, and
gifted one to Evangeline, who had become a regular visitor to the studio. Her
own grandmother had been there for her as well, offering her succor that her
own mother would never give. During the storm of reporters, her mother had been
quoted as saying that her daughter had been a failure up to this point anyway,
so more failure would not have been a surprise.

Fortunately for Karlyn, the media had made her famous, or rather
infamous, and offers for her work as well as commissioned paintings had
exploded. Everyone who was anyone had to have one of her works in their home. She
needed the income, as her court case was closely approaching. The connections
she had made the night of the gala cared less about the media frenzy, as it
only made her value skyrocket. She was booked for months into the future, which
all hinged on the court ruling. If she wasn’t incarcerated, she would have one
hell of a career.

Once and for all, she could face the world, tell them her story,
and hope to put the whole mess behind her. Evangeline had made good on getting
her the best attorney, but Karlyn knew that the best came with a price tag.

Over dinner the night before the proceedings, Sam took Karlyn
out, in hopes of getting her mind off of the potentially impending doom. Drinks
abounded and rich food ingested, hoping they could celebrate the following
night as well. Lifting her wine goblet, Sam offered a toast.

“To the most incredible woman I know who will absolutely get off
on these ridiculous charges tomorrow.”

“Here, here!” Pressing her glass to Sam’s, Karlyn hoped to Sam’s
toast would prove accurate. “Tomorrow, I will be able to put this bullshit in
the past and move on.”

Before she knew it, tears sprung from her eyes and she sobbed,
not caring who was watching. Sam jumped up from her seat in the cushioned booth
across from her and sat beside her, consoling her.

“I love him, Sam, and it is all your damned fault.”