Dance with the Devil: Chapter 26

Nobody had ever really ever described Tina Lord Roberts as the maternal type. But over last year or so, with her fourth marriage to Cord, she had grown closer with her children, CJ and Sarah. After they had left Llanview, the children had joined them in London for a short time before going on with their lives. When Tina and Cord had gotten back to home a few months ago, the children had met them there to visit with the family but then left again.


It was when Tina was in Llanview that she had gotten to know Victor’s little boy, Sam and, if Tina was honest, her nephew had stolen her heart. What had surprised her the most, though, was how much he seemed to love his Uncle Todd, despite everything. Even though Todd had made himself persona non grata since his murder trial, Sam couldn’t stop talking about him. It reminded Tina very much of the affect escaped convict Todd Manning had had on her own young children nearly twenty years ago.


She sat on a park bench, watching Sarah playing in a sandbox with Sam when she saw a dark haired woman with a baby walk down a path. Tina didn’t pay her much attention until Sam saw the woman and made a beeline for her. Sarah ran after him and Tina thought it best to see why Sam had gone up to the mother and child. It became plainly obvious when she saw the baby in its mother’s arms and heard what Sam was saying.


“But why does she have my little brother, Sarah? That’s Victor in her arms,” he cried.


Sarah looked heartbroken by her little cousin’s words. “That’s not baby Victor,” she finally said as Tina approached. Sarah looked at the woman, Samantha Morgan if Tina recalled correctly. “I’m sorry. It’s a very confusing situation for him.”


Ms. Morgan gave a slight smile. “I understand,” she said.


As Sarah led Sam away, Tina stepped forward, looking at the baby. “I guess that explains it, then,” she said.


“What explains what?” the other woman asked.


“Why none of us could explain figure out who the baby looked like,” Tina said. “My sister and I were debating it back and forth. For a while, we thought he looked like our father, since we didn’t have any baby pictures of our brother Victor. And Tea swore he didn’t look like anyone in her family.” Tina stepped back. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude or disruptive. I’m Tina Lord Roberts, Todd Manning’s sister.”


“Yeah, he mentioned you once, I think,” Ms. Morgan said. “I worked with him at the Sun, Sam Morgan.”


“He did mention me? That’s a surprise,” Tina said. “We don’t really have the best relationship.”


“Well, it was an offhanded remark after which he added you to his list of calls he wouldn’t accept,” Sam sheepishly explained.


“Typical,” was Tina reply. “Wait, he gave you a job? Why would he do that? That’s so…not like Todd.”


“To be honest, I was kind of investigating his connection to Heather Webber. I didn’t even think it had anything to do with my son,” Sam said. “I sort of just fell into it and he sort of offered it to me and then…”


Tina nodded her head. She didn’t know what to say next to this woman whom her brother had caused so much pain to. “I want to apologize for what my brother did, since he may not have--” Tina began, but was interrupted by the other woman.


“He has apologized, profusely. It wasn’t entirely his fault,” Sam explained. Tina looked at her curiously. “He was told by this woman that I didn’t want my baby and then seemingly pushed him into the switch.”


“And that woman is Heather Webber, right?” Tina asked.


Sam nodded. “Yes. She had a vendetta against me and because of the set of circumstance that occurred by coincidence that night, the baby switch was pulled off.”


Tina sighed, “The police think she shot my brother in the back,” she said. “The night your son was returned to you, he was found in his hotel room. That’s why the whole family came up here.”


Sam nodded. “I read it in the paper. Is he going to be okay?” she asked.


“Right now, he’s fine but there’s still a bullet in his back that’s making him unable to walk,” Tina said. She saw Sarah bringing her cousin back towards them. “I know I have no right to ask, but can Sam hold your son? It may make him feel a bit better.”


Sam saw the little boy and nodded to Tina. Tina got up, walked over and took Sam’s hand. She brought him back to the bench where he climb up to sit on it. “Hi there, Sam. Your uncle has told me so much about you,” Sam Morgan said.


“You know my Uncle Todd?” he asked with wide-eyed awe.


Sam Morgan nodded. “Yeah, he said he was good friends with someone named Sam when I told him that was my name.”


Sarah knelt down in front of her cousin. “Now, we talked about this. Do you have anything to say to Ms. Morgan?”


Sam looked embarrassed as he said, “I’m sorry for saying that was my baby brother. But he just looked so much like him.”


“That’s okay,” the young mother said. “Actually, I was wondering if you’d like to hold him.”


“Really? Can I really?” he asked, getting excited.


“Yes, I think we can let you do that.” With that, Sam Morgan place her son in the arms of Sam Manning and the three women watched with both heartbreak and joy as the two children interacted.


At the hospital, Ewen Keenan looked from Todd to Blair. “When did your mother tell you that you killed your brother?” the psychiatrist asked.


Todd, realizing how crazy he sounded to his own ears a minute ago, grew quiet and embarrassed, so Blair spoke up. “It a long story, Dr. Keenan, but the short version is, last year, after Todd was shot and feverish, he began ‘seeing’ his dead mother. He said that she told him he shot and killed his brother.”


“However, new evidence has come to light that shows his brother isn’t really dead,” Starr added.


Blair saw Todd’s face and pulled the doctor to the side as Starr and Jack stayed with theor father. “It’s a crazy story, but eight years ago, Todd was kidnapped and for those eight years, he was tortured for information. At the same time, he was replaced with a twin brother who we never knew he had and had plastic surgery to alter his appearance. Shortly after Todd came back last year, his brother was murdered and Todd subsequently stood trial for the murder, but was acquitted on grounds of temporary insanity, which we all thought at the time was a hoax. He had expert witnesses testify that he had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder due to his eight years in captivity, which we also learned was engineered by his mother, who we all believed had died thirty years earlier.” Blair let out a breath. “And if you can follow all that, your better at this then any of us.”


Ewen let out a chuckle. “I think I actually was able to understand all of that.” He looked back at Todd. “If I’m going to treat him, I’m going to need his medical record. I am aware of the paralysis due to the shooting, so I believe that there is a degree of stress due to that.”


“Actually, Doctor Keenan, that seems to be the least stressful thing in his life right now. I will, though, get those medical records to you.” She looked at Todd, who seemed to be back to a semblance of normalcy. “He seems better than he did before, so you want to talk to him now?”


“Let me review his records, then I’ll have him come back and we can chat,” the doctor said. “May I ask, what made you bring him in now?”


Another sigh came out of the blonde. “We think now that the brother who was murdered may in fact be alive. However, Todd still has a distinct memory of shooting and killing him,” Blair explained.


Dr, Keenan nodded and moved to back to Todd. “Mr. Manning, I’m going to want to see you in a day or two. I need to go over your medical records, but that won’t take long. If you need me for some emergency, please call me.”


“Thank you, Doctor. I’m not normally like this, but my life has just gotten so weird over the last year,” Todd said as he left the office with his family.


As they headed for lunch at Kelly’s, Viki was sitting down to her lunch with Kate Howard. “Thank you for meeting with me, Ms. Lord,” Kate said.


“Please, it’s Viki.” After a pause, the older woman continued. “I think I know what this is about.”


Kate’s eyes widened. “You do?” she asked hesitantly.


Viki nodded. “I’ve read in the papers about your case. And if I know my brother, he knew or suspected there was something wrong with you the night of the accident. That was how he was able to get the attempted murder charges dropped against his daughter by Mr. Corinthos.”


Kate was stunned. “How did you know about the charges?” she asked.


Viki merely smiled. “I have no illusions about my brother. If he can take advantage of a situation in order to help himself or those he loves, he will, everyone else be damned. And this case hit him very close to home.” Viki took a sip of her water. “He’s seen me in that state and he knows what I’ve done when I’m…not me,” she said delicately. She placed her hand on the other woman’s. “How can I help you?”


Kate didn’t know what to say. Sonny had told her that Todd had described his sister as gracious, even as she suffered from DID. Kate had know of Victoria Lord by reputation, but reading the case study of her and he daughter and now, meeting her in person and having her offer her help went beyond anything Kate had expected. She let out a breath as she began to talk about all that had happened to her. Viki sat and listened, offering quiet solace as needed.




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