Dance with the Devil: Chapter 35

The door to the Quartermaine’s opened and allowed entry to the family from Llanview.  They were all there except Danie, who begged off to offered to stay with Sam.  Edward, Monica and Tracy greeted them in the foyer.  “Clint, it is so wonderful to see you.  It’s been far too long,” Edward said, shaking his hand.

“Edward, I would like to thank you again for your condolences when Pa died,” Clint replied.

Edward laughed.  “Asa and I went a long ways backs.  He was a good man and fair at business.” 

“Are we talking about the same Asa Buchanan?” Todd asked as Edward extended his hand to the publisher. 

Edward chuckled.  “Mr. Manning, I’ve heard so much about you,” he said in a too charming tone.  Todd smiled, knowing what the older gentleman was trying to do.

With the men greeting each other, Tracy approached Viki.  “Well, if it isn’t Queen Victoria,” she said snidely. 

Viki, having had her back to Tracy when the comment was made, rolled her eyes at Blair before pasting a smile on her face.  “Tracy, it really been far too long.”

“You two know each other?” Blair asked, eyes sliding between the two.  Blair had only seen Viki act like this around Dorian.

“We were sent to the same summer camp when we were ten,” Viki explained.

“Yes, and if memory serves, you were lording over the rest of the girls there,” Tracy retorted.

“What, did she beat you to the punch?” Monica Quartermaine asked as she began shaking hands.  “I would like to welcome you to my home.”

Upon hearing his grandmother‘s tell-tale line about the house, Michael materialized in the entrance.  “Starr, Jack, great to see you.”  He looked around at the group.  “Your sister Danie didn’t come?

“No, she offered to babysit Sam tonight,” Starr told him, as she and Jack were led into the living room.


When the adults followed, all were surprised to see the number of people there.  It seemed that Edward had invited many prominent people from Port Charles to the evening.  Carly Jacks was there as was Sonny Corinthos, Kate Howard and Jason Morgan.  Lulu Spencer-Falconeri and her father, Luke Spencer were floating around.  The mayor, Janice Lomax and Anna Devane were chatting off to the side and a few of the doctors from General Hospital had been invited.

Edward made a number of introductions with Clint and Cord as Anna came over to Todd and Blair.  “How has everything been going?” she asked.

“It’s been fine,” Blair said.  Then in a quiet tone, she asked, “Has there been any movement on the cases?”

Anna shook her head.  “We are still trying to track down Perkins but she has proven very illusive.  As to any word on the baby, that is even more curious.”  A thought came to her.  “Mr. Manning, why were you with Ms. Delgado that night anyway?”

Todd thought for a minute.  “Ah, it was the day of a hearing for Starr and Delgado never showed.  Not that she was needed but I did get annoyed and concerned about her.  I left Starr at the courthouse and was planning on finding her for a celebration.  When I got to her hotel, I called her cell and as I left a message, I found her passed out on the floor of the garage.  I woke her up and wanted to take her to the hospital but she initially refused because she hates me so much.  I finally insisted that she go, put her in the back seat of her car and we were off.”  He paused for a minute.  “On the way to the hospital, she started going into labor and she was screaming so much, I missed a sign about a down tree or tower in the road.  Then the car got stuck and she was going to have the baby them and there.  So I got her to a bus stop and, well…”

“And when the baby was born?” Anna asked.

Todd got very somber.  “When the baby was born, he was barely breathing and he didn’t make a sound.  Delgado…Delgado insisted I take him to find help.  And that’s when I found Heather.”

“And what was Heather doing out in the woods in a storm like that?” Anna continued to probe.

Todd flashed back to the memory of seeing Anthony Zacchara in a wheelbarrow.  He gulp and caught sight of Luke Spencer in the room.  Finally, Todd said, “I really wasn’t questioning what anyone was doing out in that weather.  I…I had the baby and I had promised Tea I would get help for him and when I found Heather and she offered to help, I wasn’t asking any questions.”  He looked down.  “She tried for a few minutes, but said the baby was gone.”

Anna could tell there was more, but decided not to push further.  She moved off and Blair bent down to Todd’s eye level.  “There’s more to that story, isn’t there?” she asked. 

This woman knew him so well, he realized that he wouldn’t be able to keep anything from her.  With a quick nodded he told her, “Not here, but when we get home.”

Viki and Clint had been talking with Edward when their host had handed Viki two pictures.  As she looked at the one of her with the Quartermaine children, she gasped.  “Oh, I remember this.”  She showed it to Clint.  “Father had invited some guests for a weekend, a business associate.  He brought his wife and two children.”  Viki looked to Edward.  “That was you!”

“Yes, I remember you were following my son Alan around so much, I was trying to joke with your father about your dowry.  And Tracy was very cross with you because she thought you’d play with her.”  


Edward handed Viki the picture of her parents with him and Lila.  “I remember Lila and your mother were talking about the baby she was carrying.  They were mentioning what the name would be.” 

Viki looked at her mother in the picture, but couldn’t bring herself to turn her attention to her father.  “Yes, Father wanted to name the baby Victor Junior if it was a boy.  Of course it was Meredith,”  she said as she handed the picture back to Edward.

“And, of course, Victor got his Junior eventually,” Todd piped up as he took the picture from Edward.  He had, of course, seen pictures of his father before, but had never really looked at any pictures of Viki’s mother Eugenia.  Todd smiled at his sister as he said, “You definitely favor her.”  Viki could tell by the look in Todd’s eyes that there was more to that sentiment.  But he and Blair moved off wordless.  

     

Starr and Michael were looking around the party when Alexis Davis walked in with her daughters.  Molly went immediately to Jack, but Kristina hung back.  Alexis noticed where her younger daughter had gone to and grabbed a drink from a passing waiter.  She began her hellos and made her way over to Blair and Todd.  “Mr. Manining, Alexis Davis.  I believe you’ve met my daughter,” she said, nodding her head in the direction of their children. 

“Oh, so you’re Ric Lansing’s ex.  He mentioned you a bit,” Todd said.

“Yes, that’s right, Ric was your lawyer in your brother’s murder trial.  A word to the wise, Mr. Manning.  He may be a great attorney, but I still wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him,” Alexis warned.

“Oh, don’t worry, Ms. Davis.  I don’t trust him.  In fact I know why he wanted my case in the first place,” Todd responded.

Sonny joined the conversation after hearing his brother‘s name mentioned.  “And why did Ric take you on as a client, Manning?”

Todd gave him a bright, false smile.  “Well, you see, I was accused of killing my brother.  Then before I went to trial, you and I had our little ‘discussion’ here in Port Charles, which I’m sure your brother read about.  And, being that you two are as close as Victor and I were, I guess he saw a way to help me and hurt you.”

Starr heard her father from across the room.  “Oh, no,” she said with a sigh.  She was starting to worry that her father’s comments were made with the intent to provoke Sonny. 

Michael looked at his father but didn’t see any of the tell-tale signs of Sonny getting angry. 

Molly also heard Todd and said to Jack, “My dad said that Mr. Manning got in touch with him about the case.”

“Well,  it is Uncle Ric we’re talking about here,” Kristina said snidely.  “He was never a paragon of virtue.”

“Kristina…” came Michael’s warning.

“What, he was screwing Sam on the floor of the lakehouse in order to get back at Mom for making Jason break up with her,” Kristina replied.

Molly shot her sister a horrified expression and ran out to the terrace.  Jack ran after her and Starr and Michael both looked ready to throttle Kristina.  Jack found Molly over by a rose bush.  “Hey, are you alright?” he asked.

Molly felt the tears coming but fought against them.  “Kristina’s right.  My dad never was really faithful to my mom,” she sniffled.  “With parent who are divorced, I guess you know what I mean.”

Jack shook his head.  “Actually, I don’t.  Yeah, when my Uncle Victor was married to my mom, he didn’t stay with her, you know, his eye wandered.  But my dad, Todd.  My sister has always told me how much he loved her.  I think he’s always been faithful to my mom.”  He put his hands in his pockets.  “If anyone was libel to flirt, it was my mom and she knew she it would irk my dad.”

“Like a real fairy-tale romance,” she stated, dreamily.

“Starr says they were like Beauty and the Beast.  My niece Hope even had a play set of those characters and she would call them Grandpa and Grandma,” Jack agreed, as he squeezed her shoulder for comfort.

Molly turned around and was nose to nose to Jack.  He looked into her eyes and softly kissed her lips.  Before the kiss could go any deeper, a throat being cleared interrupted them.  They separated awkwardly and faced whomever joined them on the terrace. 

Michael and Starr stood there, eying the two with smiles on their faces.  However, Michael’s face turned serious.  “I just think you should know, Jack, my dad considers Molly his daughter just as much as Kristina and Alexis is hyper-overprotective of her daughters.”

Jack got the point.  “We should got back in,” he said.

“Yeah, I know my mom will be looking for me,” Molly agreed.  With that, they hustled back in, leaving Michael and Starr alone.

Starr turned to the rose bush Molly had been at moments ago.  “These are so beautiful,” she said.

“They were my great-grandmother’s.  She cultivated award-winners,” he said solemnly.  “When she died, my uncle Jason brought me to the family.  I remember Great-Grandfather was showing me pictures of her and talking to me about her.”

“Is that the Jason who here?” Starr asked.  “He’s married to Sam, right?”

“Yeah, he was the younger of my grandfather’s sons.  He had an accident which caused brain damage and he turned away from the family and went to work for Sonny.  The only ones he remained close to was his grandmother and my Aunt Emily,” Michael explained as they stood there in silence, admiring Lila’s roses.  He reached up and was able to break one off.  He handed it to Starr as he kissed her.  Holding the rose carefully, Starr encircled his neck with her arms and returned the kiss.

Carly found her uncle by the bar staring wistfully at the bottles.  “Hey, I hope your not planning on falling back off the wagon,” she said to him.

“No, Caroline, I don’t intend to.  But I will admit I miss it,” he said.  “So, I hear you’ve gotten real friendly with Todd Manning lately.”

“Yeah, he needed a friend in town.  At the time, he was just kind of running away from his family so I offered him a helping hand,” Carly replied.

“Anything more?” he asked, a hint of mischief in his voice.

Carly pointed to Blair.  “You see that woman next to him.  That’s Blair Cramer, soon-to-be Manning.  If I showed any interest in Todd beyond friendship, I’d have to answer to her.  And believe me, from the first moment I met her, I realized I did not want to even get between those two.”  She tugged Luke over to the Mannings.  “Todd, Blair, I’d like to introduce my uncle, Luke Spencer.  Luke, Todd and Blair Manning.”

“Your daughter owns the Haunted Star, right, with Johnny Zacchara?” Blair asked. 

“Yeah, it was a floating casino when I owned it, but Johnny convinced her that they should make it a nightclub and with a singer named Starr as the headliner, well, it seems to make perfect sense,” Luke said as he saw Tracy walk by.

The even was coming to a close and the guest began to leave.  Todd and Blair got back to their new place to find Sam had already gone to bed.  The rest of the family went on their way and the couple went into their room.  Todd took off his jacket as Blair sat on the bed.  “Now, Todd, tell me what you know about what Heather was doing the night of the storm,” she said to him.

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