"You're her mother. She wants to emulate you."
"I'm not her mother, at least in her eyes. She's emphatic on that point, and not saying she loves me. Doesn't she admit that to you? Sometimes, I'm not even sure she likes me very much." God, Sarah; you're fishing for compliments! You're pathetic.
"Sarah Jeanne, don't you understand? The girl worships you. She idolizes everything about you. She wants to be exactly like you when she grows up. That's why she obsesses on how you were developed." I sat there drinking it in as he continued.
"Karen had practically no life before you came on the scene. What little of it crashed in a burning blaze when her mother killed herself and her father, in her mind at least temporarily abandoned her by his lying. Enter Sarah Jeanne Blanding on a white horse to the rescue." I began to protest but he held up a hand.
"Let me finish. I'm giving you some answers; theories at least. You presented Karen the opportunity for a whole new life. No, correct that; a whole new environment. Karen is creating her new life, in this wonderful new environment you've given her." My mind was trying to catch up.
"Consider this. Karen's old life was a lie. Adults lied to her so she lied in return; trying to make her father, and others I suppose, see her as she wanted them to, not what she felt was the true Karen North. The true Karen is a person she doesn't like very much."
"I blasted all that fibbing and lying away."
"Yes, you did. You were able to give her the option of being truthful. You presented yourself as someone sworn to be truthful to her and allowed her to be truthful in return."
"So she bought into what I promised?"
"Tentatively. A step at a time. She is still considering if she totally trusts you. You're the most important person in her life, bar none. But believe me, if you damage that trust or go out of her life, there will be severe consequences."
"I asked questions, Doctor. You gave answers. I'm just not quite sure how to deal with your responses. Their scaring me to death."
"Keep doing what you're doing, and don't put too much emphasis on Karen refusing to tell you she loves you. The key goes back to her mother and the love she felt for her. It defines how she thinks of love. To her it is critically important and permanent. Once she commits to love it's forever. Her mother died. Your mother, to whom she felt very early affection if not love, also died. She hasn't had much love in her short life that stuck around."