The Original Karen Miller had been the apple of her father's eye. Even in her teenage years, her father had doted upon her. And, because he had, Gus h...d taken his daughter's willful leave-taking pretty hard. He felt betrayed. He felt hurt. And, that hurt manifested itself in a seething though bridled-in anger.When informed by his wife that she had spoken to their daughter on the phone that afternoon and that Karen was pregnant, Gus Miller flippantly replied, "Oh! Well, that figures..." He then. Gone also was the boyish close cropped haircut. In its place he had his hair styled longer, swept back and layered to promote the impression of his being older. Gone also were the heavy rimmed glasses, replaced by tinted contacts which gave his already intense blue eyes a captivating almost luminescent quality. It would be another couple of years before he would begin shaving and his face retained the features of a rather handsome fourteen year old, but when he began to visit some local. Not wanting to be a complete ass, I picked up the recliner, with her still on it, to move her so she was toward the back corner. I folded her clothes nicely, put them on the seat of the recliner, tucked a moving blanket into the shrink wrap around her upper body and then moved to where she could see part of my face in a very dim light back in this corner.“You and your associates won’t need to worry about having failed to follow me so you could attempt to subdue me. I would gladly have let you. “I’ve been telling Ken I’m saving myself for someone special.”“That’s good, sweetie,” he said.“I can’t think of anyone more special than you, Daddy.”Not for that price, I added silently.“What are you saying, Alanna?” he asked, gruffly, playing hard to get.I set my drink down and scooted closer to him, one hand on his knee, face closer to his, looking up slightly.“I can't buy what I want to give you,” I whispered, trying not to smirk at my own joke. He exhaled abruptly. Our eyes were a foot.