The Way Back: Chapter 23

The next day, the sun woke them early.  She was splayed across him, diagonally, and the sheets were all over the room.  He stirred first, and stroked her hair as she came around.  Realizing how she was posed, she started to laugh.  "No nightmares, eh, Mr. Manning?"

He joined in.  "Look at the mess we made."  The sheets were strewn in disarray in various parts of the room, two pillows were discarded from the bed, the other two at the foot, the comforter was balled up at the end of the bed on the floor, and contents of a side table were on the floor, one of which was a glass bud vase that was now shattered.

"A nice mess," she said, kissing his chest.  "Are you well, Mr. Manning?"

"I'll be better when one thing is fixed."

"What one thing?  That little vase is a goner."

"When you are Mrs. Manning."  He touched her chin, and traced a line around to her cheek.

"I'm always her, you know that.  No matter what, I am her."  She thought about it.  "I guess it always was that way."

"I mean it, I want that to change.  No more Blair Craimler.  Or Damer."

"Todd!  Stop!  Ok, I get the point.  But you do realize you have to be Todd Manning first?"

He thought about what she said, as she made her way to the shower.  "I'm not him?"

"Legally, no,"  she called from the bathroom.  "We have to get to work on that soon."

"Okay."  He lay against the cool, slippery black sheets and put both hands behind his head.   He had a strange calm inside him, one he was not used to.  He identified it as similar to how he felt when he and Blair were first married.  He smiled.  He'd marry her, that was his next plan.  Mind-bending sex, and then marriage.  That was their "thing."

"Todd?  I need some help washing my back!"  she called out.  Never one to shirk his responsibilities, he raced to the shower.

After spending time loving each other again, Blair, lifted her head from his chest and said, "I have something to show you."

She went to the wall safe, and opened it.  Inside was a box, not very large, but wooden and carefully carved into the top were the images of Beauty and the Beast.

"I remember that box," he said, "I bought it for Starr when she was little."

"Yes, this is the one.  Do you remember what else you did with it?"

His heart melted, "Yes."

She sat it on the bed and opened it.  "Until I found this, Mr. Manning, I never realized just how much of a sentimental fool you were."

Inside the box were a few carefully placed items.  The ring Blair had made for him when they first were married.  A silver key on a chain.  A pair of hand cuffs.  An empty bottle of 'love potion.'  A party favor; the kind you blow into and it makes a noise as it uncurls.  A plane ticket stub from Mexico.  A silver lighter.  Under the items were two paper things; the first dollar he made selling The Sun, and a letter from Bitsy, his adoptive mother.  He was overwhelmed, but remembered placing all of them in the box years back.  He fingered the lighter, and Blair saw him begin to tremble.

"Todd, leave that be.  Leave it and what it means behind."  He looked at her, imploring with his eyes.  She continued, "That's gone.  It's over with now." 

***

"Did you know it is a day after it is at home right now?"  he said, and Dani, eating pineapple ice, looked puzzled.

"How can that be, Dad?"

"It's just the way it is.  It's about time zones.  Don't they teach you that in school?  Crap teachers."

She frowned.  "Not Mrs. Brown, Daddy, she's a good teacher."

"Yes, Dani, she is," he corrected himself.  He smoothed her hair on one side and tucked it behind her ear.

"Do they have schools here?"

"Yes hon, they do.  Didn't Mommy tell you that yesterday?"

Tea walked up to them, handing him a glass of rum punch.  "Drink this, it will stop your crabbiness."

"Who's crabby?"

"You have an affinity for crabs, remember?"  She laughed and poked at him, reminding herself and him of the time on the deserted island in 2002.

"I hate crabs," he said, blankly.

She paused, and just reached out to touch his hand. "Well, okay then.  Drink up."

He sipped his drink.  Over the last few months, she had seen him unravelling, and was unnerving.  Since they left Llanview, he seemed much more calm and pleasant.  But at times during the previous months, he had frightened her.  She sometimes wondered if he were headed for a breakdown.  But now, she watched as he soaked in the morning sun, drinking rum punch for breakfast, and spending time with his two favorite girls.  When Dani ran off to the pool to take a dip, she touched his face, and tilted her head.  "Are we going to be all right?"

"Yeah, of course we are.  It's all going to be great."

"What about that other thing at home, the issue of the other Todd?"

"There is no other Todd, all right?"  he said slamming his drink down.

Not one to remain quiet when having her teeth into something, she raised her voice, "We have to talk about it, sometime.  We have to."

"No, we don't."  He violently grabbed her wrist.  "Do you love me?"

She winced a bit, as he roughly held her arm, but another part of her was becoming excited by him.  "Yes, you know I do."

"Then that is what we have to talk about, and nothing else, got it?"  He stormed off toward the beach, and she finished her punch.  Dani was fortunately out of earshot, and once again Tea returned to her fears.   What if...Several incidents over time that struck her with inconsistencies came to mind.  "But I do love him," she said aloud, "I love him so much," and she closed her eyes.

***

After breakfast, Blair drove them to Nora's office.  She was not sure about legalities and such, but she did know one thing; he was going to have to take the name back, and there was someone running around with the legal name, who was not even in town.  She was puzzled but certain the lawyer would help work it out.

Todd was like a kid, putting his head out the window as they rode through the park area, breathing the air.  She teased, "You look like a dog with your head out the window that way."

"I don't care, Blair, I'm free.  I'm not confined, I can see the world again.  Besides, you know I am your wolf," he said, leaning back in the car long enough to kiss her neck.

"Stop, I'm driving!"

"Then pull over."

She laughed, and turned into the driveway of the Nora's office.  "We're here."

"Blair, I think this might be a mistake, Nora hates me."

"She'll talk to me, though."

"Great," he said, unenthusiastically.

Inside the office, Todd remained mostly silent as Blair explained what had happened to him, what he experienced and what they believed to be the truth about Tea's current husband.  Nora listened, and though she felt some empathy for the man, she hated Todd Manning with a passion.

"Well, Blair, I'm sorry for what Todd's been through," she turned toward him, "yes, I have the emotional capacity to even feel somewhat sorry for you, before you chime in with some kind of snide remark."

"Thank you," he uttered in a sincere tone.  She was stunned and stared at him for a moment.

"Maybe you have changed, a little," she squinted.

"You'd be surprised what some day-in and day-out torture can do to a person.  You start to appreciate everything, even the smallest things."  She saw him take Blair's pinky with his.  In doing so, his cuff moved and revealed grisly burns on his wrists.

She eyed the marks, and continued, "Nevertheless, the biggest problem you have is proving who you are.  We still have prints and DNA on file from the rape case.  You do remember that, Mr. Manning?"

He swallowed.  "I do.  But I remember other things as well, Mrs. Buchanan.  And I've already been in your office apologizing for my ways, years back."

"Yes, well, anyway, you will have to take a DNA test and have the results compared to those from the rape case to reestablish yourself as...as the gang rapist Todd Manning."

Blair spoke up, "Nora, please, that was 20 years ago.  Marty's made peace with that."

"She has?  Yeah, I guess all thirty-two shards of her have made peace with it."

"Why, what's the matter with Marty?" he asked, sincerely unaware.

"She's in a mental institution, that's all.  Thanks to what you and other men in this town did to her.  But let's not dwell on that, of course."  She got up from her desk and walked around to the front.  She had a pile of mail in one hand, and a unique letter opener, shaped rather like a modernized awl.  She began tearing the envelopes open, and talking over the legalities of the name change and reclaiming his life, when Todd, sitting opposite her in the chair, began visibly shaking.  Blair turned to him, moments too late, as he fixated on the shining metallic opener.

"No, stop, get away from me!  Get away!  Not again, not again!"  Blair noticed he was acting as if his arms were strapped to the chair as if he could not move them, even though they were unencumbered.

"Oh my God," she immediately squatted in front of him, attempting to get his eyes to focus on her.  "Todd, Todd, it's Blair.  Todd, you're in Nora's office.  You're all right."

He rocked.  "I have a daughter, her name is Starr.  I have a wife, her name is Blair.  I have a son, his name is Jack.  I have a sister, her name is Viki.  Trust her above all," he repeated in whispers.

"My God, I have to call Ray, he'll know what to do."  Just as she moved to go to the phone, Bo walked in.

"What's going on?"  Bo said.

Todd was reciting his family list, panicked, breathing heavily.  Blair was attempting to get her cell phone out, and fumbling terribly, and Nora was standing, with the letter opener in hand, mouth open in horror and shock at what she was seeing.

One look at the scene and Bo put together a previous discussion he had a few nights back with Clint.  He knelt before Todd in the chair.   "Todd?  It's Bo.  It's Bo, Blair, and Nora.  You're in her office in Llanview.  You're all right."

"Get away from me, don't touch me.  Just don't touch me, not that, not that again.  No," and started to yell at the top of his lungs, "Get me out of here!  Leave me alone!"

Blair who was shaking beyond control, began crying while trying to search Ray's number on the cell phone.  Bo, however, decided to take drastic action.  He took his two hands and clapped them as loudly as possible together, and shouted, "Todd, you're safe!"

As suddenly as it started, Todd shut his eyes tightly, and all that was heard in the office was his labored and panicked breathing.  Then, he collapsed onto his elbow, resting his forehead in his hand.  Bo went to Nora, who was still in the same position she had been when it started.  "Red, It's PTSD, I had it when I got back from Vietnam.  It's like you get lost in your memories.  He was really stuck...in something horrible." Bo looked sick, trying to comfort Nora.

"I pushed him too hard, Bo,"  she said, suddenly crying.

"You know what," Blair suddenly spoke up, "you are a real bitch."

"Blair."  Todd spoke through tears, "it's not her fault.  She was being a what-you-said, but it's not what set me off.  It was the letter opener.  It looked...well it looked like something," his voice broke.

Bo went back to the chair and squatted again in front of it.  "You're here now, you're all right.  I've been there, I know what it's like.  Maybe not as badly as you, but I know how it is to experience something terrorizing over again.  Take deep breaths."

Blair was beside herself.  She wrung her hands, and sniffled, then walked over to Nora, and said in a very quiet voice that escalated as she spoke: "I rue the day I brought him here for help, you self-righteous witch.  You had no right preying on him that way.  And I stand by what I said, you're a bitch!  And you just started a holy war with me, lady!"  she poked her finger into Nora's shoulder, so unintentionally hard that she ended up making her stumble back a few steps.

She turned back to Todd and Bo.  "Bo, thank you for helping Todd.  We're going to see John McBain.  He seems to be one of the few people in this town who can show compassion to someone," she spat out, and pulled herself together, calmly saying, "Todd, are you all right?"  She put her hand on his shoulder.   "Are you up to this?"

"Yeah, I'm okay Blair."  He got up.  Weakly trying to gain composure, he said snidely,  "Thank you, Bo, and Mrs. Buchanan for the advice.  Bill me.  We're off to give spit," and they left.

Bo hugged Nora.  "It's okay, Red, you didn't know."

"I think Blair was right, Bo," Nora said through tears.  "My God, what did they do to him?"

"I don't know, but we can assume it wasn't pretty.  Seems he wants his life back."

"As much as I can't stand him, he's paid for what he's done, and then some.  At least that's what it seems like."

"I was thinking the same thing.  He owed eight years for the rape, got a pardon, and then lost eight years of his life anyway.  Possibly that means this town needs to forgive, even if we can't forget."

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