Chapter 19 - Shattered Lives

at #1 Heritage Trail - home of Kester Genester (gen 3 heir, knowledge, age 30)
and wife Kaylynn (former maid, family, age 48)

Following little Cassia's birth, Kaylynn's behavior became increasingly erratic. She did not resume her long walks, instead spending hours lying on the ground in the yard, just staring at the clouds. Sometimes until long after dark. She did on occasion make an effort to care for Cassia and once in a while even went into work at her job at the newspaper. Just often enough to keep from being fired. She finally quit that though just before being canned.

Most of Cassia's care, however, was done by Prester. He felt so sorry for this baby sister, although he could not forgive his mother for the baby's birth. Kester even pitched in now and then on his days off, if Prester were in school and Kaylynn could not be roused to care for the baby. He found it extremely distasteful but better than hearing the baby cry for hours. It wasn't that he actually had hostile feelings toward the baby herself but he could not avoid thinking of everything she represented for his family when he looked at her. But there were still the hours when both he and Prester were gone. Kester feared that Social Services would hear of a baby being neglected in his household and would come for her. And take HIS children also. And of course, his daughter, Celestial, was still a toddler and needed care during the day. So he hired a nanny for the hours he was at work.
As Kaylynn sank deeper and deeper into apathy, Kester found himself becoming depressed also. Without his grandmother to vent to of his despair he had to keep his feelings bottled up all the time, for the sake of his children. They were too young to deal with his feelings as well as their own and he had no one else that he felt free to talk to. Finally he turned to Bertillis. Since the birth of their daughter, Cosetta, fourteen years before, he had seen Bertillis only at family gatherings. And any talk between them had been strictly circumspect and formal. Yet he still felt that she was his soulmate and best friend, just as he had when they were kids. So at last, when he could stand the burden of his feelings no longer he called her and asked to talk. She immediately told him to come to her home where he could talk freely. Besides his emotional torment he was also physically ill with food poisoning. He was often called away from his meals at the hospital and this one day his food had spoiled when he finally got back to it. The effects of that were just beginning when he arrived at Bertillis's home. She welcomed him with a warm hug.


And he felt the dam around his heart begin to crack. All his feelings of despair and loss poured forth into her sympathetic ears. When he finally broke down completely and let his tears flow, she cradled him in her arms, murmuring soothing sounds, as though he were a child, until the storm was over. Then the poison hit. Over the next hours, Kester was alternately trying to turn himself inside out in the bathroom or passed out exhausted in Bertillis's bed. When the spasms of vomiting would come, Bertillis would assist him as much as she could and when they were over and he slept, she would watch over him until the next time he woke. She felt herself in heaven, despite the grim reasons. She had never stopped loving Kester and now found her love to have acquired a new dimension. She felt almost maternal toward Kester at the moment and joyed in her ability to give him some kind of comfort now. When morning finally dawned, Kester had recovered enough that he was able to go home. No one there had realized that he had been gone all night.
Over the next months, whenever Kester felt the emotional pressure building up, he would call Bertillis and sometimes go by her home. And she was always ready to offer what consolation she could


On one such occasion, the increasing warmth between them finally exploded into flame.


Bertillis was overcome with joy. She felt his need of her and welcomed it. She had not initiated this as she had when they were teens, but she wasn't about to stop it.


Suddenly Kester released her and backed off. He told her there was no future for the two of them and to continue would be unfair to her.


She told him what she thought of that idea with a minimum of words. Joy, wonder, gratitude and profound love all showed in Kester's face as he again found himself in her bed.


He spent the whole night again and this time he wasn't sick. They slept very little.

Kester's visits to Bertillis became more frequent and always ended the same way, although he usually didn't stay all night. He still had his children to consider and still spent most of his free time with them. But he ceased worrying about Kaylynn. She had chosen her course, he would let her follow it as she pleased. He no longer felt she had any claim on him. Kaylynn didn't even notice.

Finally it was time for transitions again. Celestial was approaching childhood. The thick black hair that she had when she first became a toddler had quickly fallen out, long before Hester's death. When Kester had expressed alarm, Hester told him that it was not uncommon among her people for that to happen. Sometimes it grew back, sometimes not, only time would tell. So as Celestial approached transition she was bald as an egg.


On the big day she was attended by Prester. Kaylynn was there too as she had just put Cassia to bed. She didn't notice though when Celestial transitioned. Or more accurately she just ignored her. Prester couldn't help but remember when he had helped Celestial with her last transition. He felt somewhat like a parent does when they watch their children grow up. Proud but at the same time kind of wishing she were still little. (And note who baby Cassia is thinking of while being tended by her mother.)

And Celestial did have hair again. And a lot of it.

A few hours later when baby Cassia awoke and began crying, Prester was the one who responded to her need. After Celestial's celebratory supper, Kester had gotten busy with his medical studies. He tried to keep up with all the latest advances. And Kaylynn was as usual, outside on the ground. In the misty mazes of her mind, was she hoping to be impregnated by aliens as Kester had been? Or was she hoping that the sky would fall on her? No one will ever know.
Anyway, Prester got the thrill of assisting his second little sister into toddlerhood.


And again he felt that special bond, just as he had with Celestial. Only this time it was even more intense, because of all the care and protection he had already given Cassia. Prester was only 15 but he felt an almost fatherly bond with this baby. No one else wanted her so he would claim her as his own.


Some time later two events happened that would change the course of many lives. First, Bertillis discovered that she was pregnant. Even though Bertillis had not been able to completely give up the other man in her life, neither Kester nor Chandler visited so often that she was in any doubt as to who the father of this baby was. It was Kester. But she put off telling him as long as she could. Nor did she tell Chandler.


Finally, after the doctor told her she was going to have twins, she knew she had to tell Kester.


With trepidation she called him and asked him to come over. When he arrived she greeted him nervously.


His grin when he saw her condition reassured her.


Again he spent the night


He was thrilled that he would be able to share at least part of this pregnancy with her, as he could not when she carried Cosetta.

He only wished that she had told him sooner and that he could be with her more often. But at least he could ensure that she did not want. He arranged for regular deposits into her bank account.

The second life-changing event was the disappearance of Kaylynn. She had seemed for a brief period to be coming out of her fog again. She began spending time with Cassia, snuggling and talking to her.


She spent time talking to Prester and Brewster and stopped skywatching quite as much. She even paid attention to Celestial though that little girl didn't appreciate the attention as it involved being made fun of for her alien heritage and appearance. Kaylynn seemed to take malicious delight in needling the child. She never did this in front of anyone else and Celestial was too proud to tell but she grew to hate Kaylynn.


Then one morning, Kaylynn spent nearly an hour just holding Cassia.


Then she got in a cab and left. Without a word to anyone or even a note. It was the eve of her 50th birthday.


In the afternoon when the kids got home from school, they didn't see Kaylynn but they were used to that. When Kester got home she still had not shown up but when no one had seen her by bedtime, Prester got worried and went looking for her. She was nowhere to be found in the house or anywhere outside. No worries about a pool since they still didn't have one. He was agitated enough that he got Kester to call the nanny and ask about Kaylynn. Kendal told Kester that "the Mrs." had spent a lot of time hugging and talking to Cassia in the morning then left the house shortly before 11. She had said nothing to Kendal about where she was going or when she would be back. Kester and Prester both spent several hours searching the house for a note, even checking the computers, but found nothing. Neither slept well in what was left of the night but managed to go to work and school the next day anyway. When they got home that evening, there was still no word. Kester then called the police and was told that since Kaylynn had obviously left under her own steam , there was nothing they could do, since she was not a minor. No one felt like cooking so Prester ordered a pizza for himself and the kids. Kester put on his thinking cap and poured himself into his studies, after having a drink or three. Prester finally heard little Cassia screaming in the nursery and found that Nanny Kendal had left the little tyke trapped in her high chair. Cassia was worn out from crying, so Prester put her to bed. The kids ate their pizza, did their homework and the younger two went to bed. Prester heard Cassia crying again and got her up, then spent quite a bit of time snuggling and kissing her before going back to finish his homework. Cassia spent the next hour or so crawling from Prester to Kester to the foot of the stairs wanting someone to pay a little attention to her. Finally she gave it up. It was her birthday and everyone had forgotten so she had to do her transition with no one watching. She wasn't very high on the aspiration bar either but at least was not in the red.

She became a very lovely little girl, who looked very much like the father that she was named after. Of course, no one but Kaylynn knew who he was, since no one else in the family had ever met him. But if they ever did, they would sure see the resemblance.


What has happened to Kaylynn? Has she run off with Cassius? Will she ever be heard from again? How will Bertillis's pregnancy complicate matters? What does life hold in store for the unfortunate Cassia?

To find out stay tuned to All My SimChildren.

next episode. A New Patriarch and a Reconciliation