Stella Stetner

Stella's situation

It wasn't like Leda and David were untidy or took a look of work to housekeep after. Leda would often discuss her activities with Stella and the two would sometimes just chat all afternoon. The Garner's were generous with money and anything that made life in the house easier was made available (extra people for parties etc). Stella just felt part of the household in a way she couldn't really describe.

Stella liked working at the Garner's (or working with Leda is probably the more honest statement) and when Leda became pregnant, she would talk for ages with Stella about her experiences giving birth to her boy (DMS). It came as such a shock when her Leda died in childbirth. She didn't know quite how to deal with it. She grieved for a while and sorely missed her friend, and she kept working at the house, but it seemed so very different now.

It took Stella a time to work out exactly what it was, but finally she realized that the house now seemed empty without Leda. There were always people in the house, David would still keep the same hours, but now he would work in his study, rather than living life as he used to do with Leda. The twins had nannys and everything, but things just seemed somehow hollow.

She tried to speak with David about it, but she could see he was totally heart broken and unable to deal with his loss. She tried to comfort him, but he seemed to just want to have everything as normal as it was and to try and block it out. David just disappeared into his work and the house was just empty. The conditions hadn't changed, in that Stella got anything she asked for or said the house needed, but the life was gone.

A few years later, one of Stella's friends got in trouble on a drugs possession charge and she asked David about it. He immediately took the case and aggressively defended her friend. Stella saw a glimpse of Leda's ideals in David's eyes as he worked obsessively on that case and she had this weird feeling that somewhere, somehow, some of Leda was still in the house. So, she stayed, despite the emptiness.

Stella tried to talk to David a number of times in the next few years as he started partying hard and harder and working more and more. She appealed to him about for the twins and for Leda, but mention of Leda just made him angry.

With the accident, Stella realized the twins needed someone they could rely on in their lives. She brought her son DMS to live in the house with Gemma and Jayde, and moved him to their school. She hoped the better environment and school would do DMS some good as he had been having problems at school with falling in with the wrong crowd.

After the accident, David was a changed man. It became obvious to her that he had been trying to forget Leda, but had been unable to. Now, he was totally changed. He focussed on the twins and, while he still worked long hours, when he was with the twins, Stella felt some of the same life she had when Leda was in the house.

DMS rebelled at being in such a 'white bread' environment though. He got in more trouble at school and often had long arguments with David at night. Stella tried to talk to him, but he didn't seem to want to discuss it. Stella pulled him out of school and he studied at home with Gemma who was too sick to go to school. The two got on really well and for a while Stella's hopes rose that DMS might calm down, but alas, he ran away a few weeks later.

Stella blamed herself for DMS leaving. She had tried to be a good mother for him, but it was hard to run two households. She heard that DMS was running with some south LA gang and although she was worried, DMS had always fit in well with the gangs. It was better than drugs at least.

Stella started going home less and less and soon David offered her some rooms in the house full time and she moved in. Things were different now, the house was more alive. Still, she worried about DMS and how her son had left her.

When David decided to move to SF, Stella thought long and hard about it. It felt wrong leaving LA and DMS, but he seemed to be cemented with the gang now. She had even heard that he was now in charge. She hadn't seen him for ages and the Garners were reasonably nice. She was still inclined to say no, until David offered her a separate part of the new house and really generous pay.

Stella realized that the twins would be leaving home in the next few years and with the generous pay, Stella could retire when they did. Somehow that felt right. She said yes.

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