Part 14: Incest
Chapter 33: Incest - Clarice and Darryl visit the Morgans.
Clarice's train was arriving at 3:45 and Darryl's was arriving a half hour later. Karen and I went to pick them up in her car since it's bigger than mine.
When Clarice arrived, Karen let me kiss her, but then she orchestrated things so that the two of them could talk while I collected Clarice's bags and took them to the car. By the time Darryl's train arrived, the two of them were getting along like old friends while they told each other stories calculated to embarrass me.
Darryl was only planning to stay one night, so he just had a small carry-on bag. Karen gave him a hug and kiss as he stepped off the platform and we headed right to the car.
When we got home, Darryl said hi to Mom and I introduced Clarice. Karen, Mom and Clarice went into the house while Darryl and I were left with the bags.
When Darryl and I walked into the kitchen, Mom was just telling the girls about her dinner plans. Darryl interrupted her and said, "I was planning on taking Karen out to dinner. We have some important things to discuss."
A look crossed Karen's face like she'd just got a chill. Mom looked a little annoyed, probably because that was our one night to have dinner all together. Clarice looked like she didn't want to be there.
We all sat and talked for a while. We moved to the kitchen when Mom said it was time to start getting dinner ready. Mom and I did most of the cooking with some help from Clarice. When the food was almost done Karen suggested a local restaurant where she and Darryl could have some privacy to talk. The two of them left just as Clarice, Mom and I were putting the food on the table. As we sat down to eat, we were a subdued group.
We were halfway through our meal when the front door slammed open. We caught a glimpse of Karen running up the stairs, then we saw her run back down with Darryl's suitcase before she disappeared out the door.
A couple of seconds later, she stormed back in yelling over her shoulder, "I'll be by tomorrow to get my stuff." Then she broke down in tears.
The three of us around the table stared at each other for a second, then Mom went to Karen. As she hugged her and stroked her hair, Karen was sobbing. Mom led her to the sofa where they sat down together.
Gradually Karen's sobbing stopped, and the story came out. Darryl's family had spent Christmas criticizing Karen and telling Darryl she had to repent, or he had to give her up. Darryl knew we'd been a church going family, so he thought that if he confronted Karen here, she'd go right to church and repent of her wicked ways.
Karen told him she still didn't think she had anything to be repentant about. That led to a shouting match before she stormed out of the restaurant with Darryl following her and trying to reason with her. On the drive home she told Darryl that he had to accept her as she was or go find someone else. Darryl said he couldn't be with someone who was going to hell.
We spent the evening listening to Karen tell us more about Darryl and his family. Mostly she was just venting her frustration. Eventually she realized she needed a new place to stay, so she excused herself to make some calls to her friends.
On the second call, a friend told her that a mutual acquaintance of theirs was looking for someone to split the rent on a two-bedroom apartment. Karen called the girl, and she was happy to have Karen come live with her.
Mom had to work the next day, so Clarice and I volunteered to drive Karen back and help her get her stuff. Most of the furniture in their apartment was Darryl's, so we called ahead and reserved a small moving truck that would fit her bedroom set and a few boxes.
When Karen sat down again, Clarice asked her, "How did you and Darryl meet?"
Karen told us about meeting him the first week of her junior year at a party that Darryl's roommates had thrown. Darryl was hiding in his room and Karen ran into him while she was looking for the bathroom. She thought he was cute, so they started talking and she managed to get him to join the party.
Clarice kept asking questions about why Karen was attracted to Darryl, what she liked about him, and how they related to each other. As I listened to Karen tell their story, I learned a lot about them that I hadn't heard before.
Karen liked Darryl because he listened and tried to be helpful. When they first met, Karen's schedule was completely messed up and her advisor told her it couldn't be fixed. Darryl helped her work through the bureaucracy, so she ended up with exactly the schedule she wanted. She said he was her rock and her compass when things were tough.
Karen talked about his family and his religion, saying she admired his faith and loyalty. I got the sense Karen knew all along Darryl was a mama's boy, but she tried to put a positive spin on it.
"We had a few dates, and I let him know I was also seeing other people. After a few weeks he asked me to see him exclusively, and he wanted to know who else I was seeing and how serious it was. When I told him I was seeing a girl I had met just before summer break, he told me about his religious beliefs."
"He didn't say anything about repentance, but he told me he wouldn't feel comfortable dating me while I was seeing other people or sleeping with other women. By then I'd decided I really liked him, so I said that was fine with me."
As she told us more, I got the impression Darryl was trying to subtly pressure Karen into renouncing her beliefs about sexuality and adopting his. Karen said that when the subject came up, Darryl would listen to her and then ask for time to think and pray about it before he responded.
It sounded to me like Darryl was trying to make sure he was the one framing the discussion instead of addressing the issue on Karen's terms. When she recounted some of those discussions, I could tell Darryl's attitude was, "We'll forgive the past if you repent and do better in the future." It sounded like he never really acknowledged that any of Karen's beliefs were valid. I could see a lot of signs that he was trying to control Karen.
As Karen talked, I could see she was starting to realize those signs had been there. It hit me that both Karen and Clarice are studying to be therapists, so it was like sitting in on a therapy session. Somehow Clarice managed to get Karen to think about Darryl as a potential abuser without falling into self-recrimination for not having seen it earlier.
Since we had an eight-hour drive ahead of us, we turned in early. As we got ready for bed, Clarice was standing in my room in just her panties, and I was about to take off my underwear. Clarice asked me, "Do you have a T-shirt I can wear?"
Stopping with my hand on the waistband of my boxer briefs, I realized what she was suggesting. I reached into my dresser and pulled out an old T-shirt that was too small for me but would fit Clarice like a tent and handed it to her. As she started to pull it on, there was a knock on the door and Karen walked in without waiting for an answer.
