Post by CarpentersFan2003 on Jan 31, 2004 20:45:49 GMT -5
Chapter Nineteen
Karen and Richard had taken few weeks more off to get things back in order after Christopher’s funeral. Karen had been reluctant to leave Nathan, as he was still in pain but he’d told her to go. After a tearful farewell Karen flew back to Europe to continue the tour they’d started. First stop was Paris and Nice France for two sold out concerts. The Carpenter’s band crossed over the continent. There where stops in Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, and finally Portugal. It was both an exhausting and exhilarating time for Karen. She relished the fast pace. After six weeks, Karen was ready to fly home for two weeks and see her husband and family. After that she and Richard left for the tour of Japan and Australia.
*** *** ***
Karen sat in the rocking chair in the newly decorated nursery. In her arms was Jocelyn. Karen took great pleasure in feeding her when the time permitted.
There was a knock the door.
“ Come in.” Karen called out gently so to not wake her slumbering daughter.
Karen was expecting to see Andrea. She was mildly surprised when Nathan stepped into the room.
Karen smiled brightly. In the weeks after Chris’s death he’d not wanted to be around the baby unless it was absolutely necessary.
Now, Nathan came in and pulled over a chair from the sitting area and sat down beside his wife. Taking her free hand in his own. He looked up at her.
“ Karen I want to say that I’m sorry for acting the way I have been in the past few weeks…”
Karen put a finger up to her husband’s lips to quite him and said.
“ Nathan, love its okay. I understand. I know that you have been hurting. You don’t have to apologize to me.”
Nathan took his wife’s hand in his own and kissed the back of it. Then forced himself to be more cheery.
“ I wanted to ask you something, and maybe, now is not the best time. However, I have been thinking that it might be time to move out of the condo and into a house of our own. I know that you love living here and I do to, but Karen we have to think of Jocelyn. Is it really fair to her?”
Karen looked at her husband for a moment totally taken aback by his sudgestion. It was not that she didn’t want to move. Truth was the condo was rather cramped with a live-in nanny and herself and Nathan and of course the baby. It was the fact that this was the first time that Nathan had started a conversation in weeks. Karen thought for a moment before answering her husband.
“ I have been thinking about that to for awhile also. I didn’t want to bring it up because you where still grieving. I really do think that we need to make a fresh start somewhere else, away from the memories that this place holds.”
Nathan smiled brightly. Actual happiness was lighting up his eyes.
“ Yeah… Great, We’ll call a real estate agent when you get back from Japan in April.”
Karen nodded.
Just then Jocelyn woke up looked at her parents.
“ Can I hold her?” Nathan asked.
Karen nodded, passed their daughter to her father and then smiled and thought. Nathan is coming around. He’s starting to let go of his son.
*** *** ***
That April turned out to be one of the busiest months of Karen’s life. She had turned thirty-six in March and was into her second year of marriage, and she had just finished a major tour. She never thought that there would come a time in her life that she didn’t love the tour grind. This time she couldn’t get off the plane fast enough, when it landed in Downey.
The trip to Japan was just as Karen and Richard had come to expect. The fans that gathered at the Tokyo airport to welcome them numbered in the thousands.
Japan and the Carpenter’s had had a love affair going on since the early seventies, and it was still growing. The recent release of the “Voice of the Heart ” album had served to bolster their popularity. When the first single “ Now ” was released a week after the album it had debuted at number one and had stayed there for an unbelievable six weeks.
In Japan Karen’s aborted Solo Album titled simply “Karen Carpenter” had also been released much to the delight of her fans. All three of the singles culled off the album, “ Still In Love With You ”, “ If We Try ” and “ Making Love In The Afternoon ”, had all broken into the top five on the country’s pop charts. The Album had gone multi-platinum and the singles all had gone platinum. It was also nominated for awards in the categories of “ Best Performance by a Female Artist ” and “ Album of the Year”, in the Japanese version of the Grammies to be held that summer in Nagasaki.
A&M had released “ My Body Keeps Changing My Mind” as a single in States as well. The US fan base met it with lukewarm success, peaking at # 28 on Billboards Pop Charts. It had been Herb Alpert that had convinced Jerry Moss to set a release date for the entire album. When it was put on the market “ Karen Carpenter” has sold slowly but after four months had managed to go gold.
While on tour in Japan, Karen had been overwhelmed when she received flowers and the warm wishes of the Japanese Royal Family on the birth of Jocelyn.
*** *** ***
It was mid-May when Karen and Nathan found the house of their dreams in Beverly Hills. It was a three-floor mansion with a total of 35 rooms, on fifteen aches of land that was surrounded by a security wall. The only way in was to pass by a guardhouse at the rod iron gates near the base of the long private driveway. It was the master bedroom suite that had captured Karen’s heart. It was as big as her condo. It had it’s own sitting and living rooms, a huge master bathroom that was complete with his and hers sinks and showers. There was also a Jacuzzi style tub that was big enough for Karen and Nathan to bathe in together.
On the main floor was the kitchen that required both a full-time chef and butler to run correctly. The two main sitting rooms, one in the west wing the other in the east, a massive library with room for over two thousand books on its mahogany shelves. It would also double as a study for Nathan. The formal dining room had hardwood flooring and could easily seat twenty-five guests. The house’s crown and glory was front foyer it had a gorgeous duel winding staircase and the floor was tiled with French Marble. There were also three guesthouses on the lot, one of which Rosie and her two children moved in to at Karen’s behest the gardens had been done to like the grounds of a Japanese Palace.
The house had cost close to seven million dollars, but to Karen and Nathan it was worth every penny.
The house was a far cry from the small six-room ranch style house in Downey, which Karen had always envisioned as her marital home. To her, as long as Nathan and Jocelyn were with her that was all that mattered.
Karen and Richard had taken few weeks more off to get things back in order after Christopher’s funeral. Karen had been reluctant to leave Nathan, as he was still in pain but he’d told her to go. After a tearful farewell Karen flew back to Europe to continue the tour they’d started. First stop was Paris and Nice France for two sold out concerts. The Carpenter’s band crossed over the continent. There where stops in Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, and finally Portugal. It was both an exhausting and exhilarating time for Karen. She relished the fast pace. After six weeks, Karen was ready to fly home for two weeks and see her husband and family. After that she and Richard left for the tour of Japan and Australia.
*** *** ***
Karen sat in the rocking chair in the newly decorated nursery. In her arms was Jocelyn. Karen took great pleasure in feeding her when the time permitted.
There was a knock the door.
“ Come in.” Karen called out gently so to not wake her slumbering daughter.
Karen was expecting to see Andrea. She was mildly surprised when Nathan stepped into the room.
Karen smiled brightly. In the weeks after Chris’s death he’d not wanted to be around the baby unless it was absolutely necessary.
Now, Nathan came in and pulled over a chair from the sitting area and sat down beside his wife. Taking her free hand in his own. He looked up at her.
“ Karen I want to say that I’m sorry for acting the way I have been in the past few weeks…”
Karen put a finger up to her husband’s lips to quite him and said.
“ Nathan, love its okay. I understand. I know that you have been hurting. You don’t have to apologize to me.”
Nathan took his wife’s hand in his own and kissed the back of it. Then forced himself to be more cheery.
“ I wanted to ask you something, and maybe, now is not the best time. However, I have been thinking that it might be time to move out of the condo and into a house of our own. I know that you love living here and I do to, but Karen we have to think of Jocelyn. Is it really fair to her?”
Karen looked at her husband for a moment totally taken aback by his sudgestion. It was not that she didn’t want to move. Truth was the condo was rather cramped with a live-in nanny and herself and Nathan and of course the baby. It was the fact that this was the first time that Nathan had started a conversation in weeks. Karen thought for a moment before answering her husband.
“ I have been thinking about that to for awhile also. I didn’t want to bring it up because you where still grieving. I really do think that we need to make a fresh start somewhere else, away from the memories that this place holds.”
Nathan smiled brightly. Actual happiness was lighting up his eyes.
“ Yeah… Great, We’ll call a real estate agent when you get back from Japan in April.”
Karen nodded.
Just then Jocelyn woke up looked at her parents.
“ Can I hold her?” Nathan asked.
Karen nodded, passed their daughter to her father and then smiled and thought. Nathan is coming around. He’s starting to let go of his son.
*** *** ***
That April turned out to be one of the busiest months of Karen’s life. She had turned thirty-six in March and was into her second year of marriage, and she had just finished a major tour. She never thought that there would come a time in her life that she didn’t love the tour grind. This time she couldn’t get off the plane fast enough, when it landed in Downey.
The trip to Japan was just as Karen and Richard had come to expect. The fans that gathered at the Tokyo airport to welcome them numbered in the thousands.
Japan and the Carpenter’s had had a love affair going on since the early seventies, and it was still growing. The recent release of the “Voice of the Heart ” album had served to bolster their popularity. When the first single “ Now ” was released a week after the album it had debuted at number one and had stayed there for an unbelievable six weeks.
In Japan Karen’s aborted Solo Album titled simply “Karen Carpenter” had also been released much to the delight of her fans. All three of the singles culled off the album, “ Still In Love With You ”, “ If We Try ” and “ Making Love In The Afternoon ”, had all broken into the top five on the country’s pop charts. The Album had gone multi-platinum and the singles all had gone platinum. It was also nominated for awards in the categories of “ Best Performance by a Female Artist ” and “ Album of the Year”, in the Japanese version of the Grammies to be held that summer in Nagasaki.
A&M had released “ My Body Keeps Changing My Mind” as a single in States as well. The US fan base met it with lukewarm success, peaking at # 28 on Billboards Pop Charts. It had been Herb Alpert that had convinced Jerry Moss to set a release date for the entire album. When it was put on the market “ Karen Carpenter” has sold slowly but after four months had managed to go gold.
While on tour in Japan, Karen had been overwhelmed when she received flowers and the warm wishes of the Japanese Royal Family on the birth of Jocelyn.
*** *** ***
It was mid-May when Karen and Nathan found the house of their dreams in Beverly Hills. It was a three-floor mansion with a total of 35 rooms, on fifteen aches of land that was surrounded by a security wall. The only way in was to pass by a guardhouse at the rod iron gates near the base of the long private driveway. It was the master bedroom suite that had captured Karen’s heart. It was as big as her condo. It had it’s own sitting and living rooms, a huge master bathroom that was complete with his and hers sinks and showers. There was also a Jacuzzi style tub that was big enough for Karen and Nathan to bathe in together.
On the main floor was the kitchen that required both a full-time chef and butler to run correctly. The two main sitting rooms, one in the west wing the other in the east, a massive library with room for over two thousand books on its mahogany shelves. It would also double as a study for Nathan. The formal dining room had hardwood flooring and could easily seat twenty-five guests. The house’s crown and glory was front foyer it had a gorgeous duel winding staircase and the floor was tiled with French Marble. There were also three guesthouses on the lot, one of which Rosie and her two children moved in to at Karen’s behest the gardens had been done to like the grounds of a Japanese Palace.
The house had cost close to seven million dollars, but to Karen and Nathan it was worth every penny.
The house was a far cry from the small six-room ranch style house in Downey, which Karen had always envisioned as her marital home. To her, as long as Nathan and Jocelyn were with her that was all that mattered.
