Dance with the Devil: Chapter 36

Todd rubbed his hands over his face. “Okay, look, understand, I had other worries that night,” he began. “When I found Heather Webber at that garden shed, she had Anthony Zacchara in a wheelbarrow and he was dead.” Blair gave him a shocked look. “I don’t know how he got there, I didn’t know if she killed him, honestly, I didn’t care. All I was worried about was Tea’s baby. It was later when I was keeping the secret that I found out Heather had the body because she thought Luke Spencer killed him and she was trying to protect him.”


“Why would Heather want to protect Luke?” Blair asked as she tried to put the pieces together.


“Well, Heather is in love with Luke. Actually, it’s more than that. She’s kind of obsessed with him and not in the cute way I used to be with you. More of the psycho, if-I-do-this-you-will-have to-love-me sort of way. And I sadly learned just how crazy she was before you got here,” Todd said.


“Todd, you need to go to the police with this information. Look, this woman was dangerous to start with. Since the shooting, I’ve been reading up on her. She was released from a institute for the criminally insane. Edward Quartermaine has a restraining order against her. She seems proud that that lunatic artist Franco is a blood relative of her and that was before she shot you,” She bent down and took his face in her hands. “Todd, I’m really getting scared of her coming back and maybe coming after me or the kids. Maybe even come and finish the job she started with you.”


Todd grabbed the sides of Blair’s face and kissed her fiercely. “I will never let anything happen to you or the kids. I swore that to you on New Year’s Eve and I vow to you I will keep that.” He sat back in his chair. “Alright, in the morning, I’ll go to the police.” He got ready for bed and waited for Blair to climb in. Once they were settled, he asked her, “When do you intend to go to Llanview to have your little talk with Delgado?”


“I was going to go down in the morning, but I’ll go with you to the station then I’ll drive down,” she said to him as he held her in his arms. “I am still worried about Danie. You weren’t here to see what she went through with Ross and Victor. There was a time that she really hated her father, meaning you, but then we thought Tea was dying and ‘Todd’ and she became close.”


“Then I came back and Victor ‘died’ and Tea blew up about that and the baby and there we are,” he added.


Blair sighed. “But this whole lie, quite honestly, it’s personal with me. When I lost ‘Todd’ to her, I didn’t handle it well. I drunkenly crashed their date at Viki and Charlie’s wedding, I threw myself at him at every opportunity. I just never thought I really lose to her.”


“You didn’t and you never will,” Todd assured her.


“But I thought I did. I had no way of knowing that he wasn’t you. For the last four years, yeah, he was acting way out of character from even some of your over the top stunts. But that was four years after he first came to town,” Blair said sorrowfully. “Maybe that was when I should have realized something was wrong. And I have lived with that pain since you came back.” She closed her eyes, continuing her explanation. “And then, I found out about her daughter. She set it up that way, to test him. And I went to him and told him, expecting him to blow a gasket over her never revealing it. But he didn’t and he paid more attention to Danie then to Jack, Sam and Starr.”


“Blair, none of this is your fault. Remember, when she first got to town, she tried to hook up with Kevin. I mean really, my nephew Kevin? She wanted the prestige of being in the family, being a Lord. Hell, that’s real social climbing. You never got that desperate,” Told tried to soothe her with.


“Todd, I was married to Asa Buchanan, remember?” Blair said with a laugh. “My motives in that were not exactly pure as the driven snow. And I did try to wrangle Cord at one time.”


“Yeah, but did you continually try to latch on to them, especially after they continued to push you to the side. No, but that was what Tea did,” Todd reasoned.


“Well, by that time, as Tina would say, I found another bank account to raid,” Blair said.


“Yeah, well, my sister has seemingly retracted her claws on the subject of us.” He turn to face Blair, kissing her gently. “And in the end, all that matters is us. You won at last. I am not Victor, I would never choose Tea or Carly or any other woman over you and our kids will always come first.”


In the gatehouse, Starr and Sarah were rehashing the night’s events when Jack came in unannounced. His sister and his cousin gave him gleeful, teasing smiles before Sarah started. “So, how was the kiss? I hear Michael had to wrench you off Molly.”


Jack looked at the two and turned to leave but Starr got up from the couch to stop him. “What, you can’t handle a little teasing?”


Jack stuck his hands in his pockets. He looked almost embarrassed to come and talk to them. “Look, I really don’t know what…I was just coming here for…forget it!” he said.


Starr stood in from of the door, her eyes wide. “You really like Molly, don’t you?” Her eyes glazed over with amazement. “Don’t even try to deny it, Dad has always had the same look on his face when he’s wanted Mom but to stubborn to admit it.”


Jack walked back to the couch and collapsed into it. “Fine! Alright! I’ve got feeling for her.” His face was turning red. “The kiss was nice.”


Sarah and Starr both squealed with delight. “So, what’s your next move?” Sarah asked. “Flowers are nice, simple.”


“The problem is, Molly’s a romantic. She may be looking for grander gestures,” Starr told her cousin. “Plus, Michael said her mother is really overprotective of her.”


Jack looked like he was about to die. He had hoped he could talk to these two, but they didn’t seem to understand what the situation was. “Look, can you two stop plotting or scheming or teasing me!” he finally shouted. When they shut up, he continued. “Yeah, I like her and I think she likes me--”


“From the kiss I saw, I’d say she did,” Starr interrupted.


“--I’m just afraid of doing something stupid and hurting her. Yeah, she’s a romantic and that’s the problem. But at the same time, I like talking to her. She listened to me about Dad and she befriended me when I was a total stranger. And then there…” Jack started.


“There’s what?” Sarah wondered.


Jack heaved a sigh. “Dad and our grandfather,” he said quietly. “Hell, even what I put Shane Morasco through last year doesn’t speak well of me.”


Starr looked up at Sarah and moved next to her brother. “Jack, you learned your lesson with Shane. And regarding Dad, don’t ever even go there. Our grandfather is a nonentity in our lives and Dad’s torn himself up over that and his crimes forever. You saw him last year when Mom mentioned Victor and Marty. He was appalled at the very thought. He’s never really forgiven himself for it.”


“Jack, hey listen to me. I may have been young when everything happened with Marty, but I was there and I saw the change in Todd Manning. And I saw what it did to him when he learned about what happened with Aunt Viki. He almost didn’t remarry Blair,” Sarah told him.


“Yeah, I remember him telling us about it when he was still in the hospital. He was afraid he would hurt his daughter,” Jack replied.


“Uncle Todd is not our grandfather and neither are you,” Sarah smiled at him. “If you like this girl, you should tell her. Maybe talk it out with her about it. Maybe you should also talk to your dad some more.”


Jack nodded and, as he was about to get up, looked at Starr curiously. “By the way, what’s up with Danie? She’s been acting weird since she got here.”


Starr looked to the side. “You’re right, she has been acting weird. I thought she may have wanted to stay with us here, but she didn’t even consider it.”


“Well, you both said she was really close to Victor, maybe she’s just having a rough time adjusting to Todd,” Sarah reasoned.


“Sarah, when has my dad ever had problems getting along with kids? I mean, you yourself have said how great he was CJ and you, even Jessica when she was a young teen. And Dad treats Sam like he was his son, not his nephew,” Starr replied.


“Maybe that’s it. I mean, she and Dad didn’t really connect when he got back into town, but Dad loves Sam just as much as he loves us. Maybe she’s jealous of that?” Jack asked.


“That’s probably it,“ Starr nodded, seeing his point. “I’ll go talk to her tomorrow and see if she will tell me.”


“Okay, well, I’m beat from today. I’ll see you in the morning,” he said as he left.


Starr sat there a few minutes more, contemplating the time since Danie had arrived in Port Charles. Sarah could see the wheels turning in her head. “What do you think is going on?”


Starr shook her head. “There really is a disconnect between my Dad and Danie, but I can’t put my finger on it.”


“Maybe I should talk to her. I don’t know her that well, but maybe she’ll open up more, you know, let her guard down more. With you, she may not want to say anything bad about Uncle Todd because she knows how close you have always been to him,” Sarah offered. “Also, maybe I can help her by coming at it from a different point of view.”


Starr agreed. “That may help. Thanks, cous,’” she said as she gave Sarah a hug before the promoter went to bed. But Starr Manning, ever intuitive, knew there was much more going on. It almost seemed like her younger sister was hiding something. Todd rubbed his hands over his face. “Okay, look, understand, I had other worries that night,” he began. “When I found Heather Webber at that garden shed, she had Anthony Zacchara in a wheelbarrow and he was dead.” Blair gave him a shocked look. “I don’t know how he got there, I didn’t know if she killed him, honestly, I didn’t care. All I was worried about was Tea’s baby. It was later when I was keeping the secret that I found out Heather had the body because she thought Luke Spencer killed him and she was trying to protect him.”


“Why would Heather want to protect Luke?” Blair asked as she tried to put the pieces together.


“Well, Heather is in love with Luke. Actually, it’s more than that. She’s kind of obsessed with him and not in the cute way I used to be with you. More of the psycho, if-I-do-this-you-will-have to-love-me sort of way. And I sadly learned just how crazy she was before you got here,” Todd said.


“Todd, you need to go to the police with this information. Look, this woman was dangerous to start with. Since the shooting, I’ve been reading up on her. She was released from a institute for the criminally insane. Edward Quartermaine has a restraining order against her. She seems proud that that lunatic artist Franco is a blood relative of her and that was before she shot you,” She bent down and took his face in her hands. “Todd, I’m really getting scared of her coming back and maybe coming after me or the kids. Maybe even come and finish the job she started with you.”


Todd grabbed the sides of Blair’s face and kissed her fiercely. “I will never let anything happen to you or the kids. I swore that to you on New Year’s Eve and I vow to you I will keep that.” He sat back in his chair. “Alright, in the morning, I’ll go to the police.” He got ready for bed and waited for Blair to climb in. Once they were settled, he asked her, “When do you intend to go to Llanview to have your little talk with Delgado?”


“I was going to go down in the morning, but I’ll go with you to the station then I’ll drive down,” she said to him as he held her in his arms. “I am still worried about Danie. You weren’t here to see what she went through with Ross and Victor. There was a time that she really hated her father, meaning you, but then we thought Tea was dying and ‘Todd’ and she became close.”


“Then I came back and Victor ‘died’ and Tea blew up about that and the baby and there we are,” he added.


Blair sighed. “But this whole lie, quite honestly, it’s personal with me. When I lost ‘Todd’ to her, I didn’t handle it well. I drunkenly crashed their date at Viki and Charlie’s wedding, I threw myself at him at every opportunity. I just never thought I really lose to her.”


“You didn’t and you never will,” Todd assured her.


“But I thought I did. I had no way of knowing that he wasn’t you. For the last four years, yeah, he was acting way out of character from even some of your over the top stunts. But that was four years after he first came to town,” Blair said sorrowfully. “Maybe that was when I should have realized something was wrong. And I have lived with that pain since you came back.” She closed her eyes, continuing her explanation. “And then, I found out about her daughter. She set it up that way, to test him. And I went to him and told him, expecting him to blow a gasket over her never revealing it. But he didn’t and he paid more attention to Danie then to Jack, Sam and Starr.”


“Blair, none of this is your fault. Remember, when she first got to town, she tried to hook up with Kevin. I mean really, my nephew Kevin? She wanted the prestige of being in the family, being a Lord. Hell, that’s real social climbing. You never got that desperate,” Told tried to soothe her with.


“Todd, I was married to Asa Buchanan, remember?” Blair said with a laugh. “My motives in that were not exactly pure as the driven snow. And I did try to wrangle Cord at one time.”


“Yeah, but did you continually try to latch on to them, especially after they continued to push you to the side. No, but that was what Tea did,” Todd reasoned.


“Well, by that time, as Tina would say, I found another bank account to raid,” Blair said.


“Yeah, well, my sister has seemingly retracted her claws on the subject of us.” He turn to face Blair, kissing her gently. “And in the end, all that matters is us. You won at last. I am not Victor, I would never choose Tea or Carly or any other woman over you and our kids will always come first.”


In the gatehouse, Starr and Sarah were rehashing the night’s events when Jack came in unannounced. His sister and his cousin gave him gleeful, teasing smiles before Sarah started. “So, how was the kiss? I hear Michael had to wrench you off Molly.”


Jack looked at the two and turned to leave but Starr got up from the couch to stop him. “What, you can’t handle a little teasing?”


Jack stuck his hands in his pockets. He looked almost embarrassed to come and talk to them. “Look, I really don’t know what…I was just coming here for…forget it!” he said.


Starr stood in from of the door, her eyes wide. “You really like Molly, don’t you?” Her eyes glazed over with amazement. “Don’t even try to deny it, Dad has always had the same look on his face when he’s wanted Mom but to stubborn to admit it.”


Jack walked back to the couch and collapsed into it. “Fine! Alright! I’ve got feeling for her.” His face was turning red. “The kiss was nice.”


Sarah and Starr both squealed with delight. “So, what’s your next move?” Sarah asked. “Flowers are nice, simple.”


“The problem is, Molly’s a romantic. She may be looking for grander gestures,” Starr told her cousin. “Plus, Michael said her mother is really overprotective of her.”


Jack looked like he was about to die. He had hoped he could talk to these two, but they didn’t seem to understand what the situation was. “Look, can you two stop plotting or scheming or teasing me!” he finally shouted. When they shut up, he continued. “Yeah, I like her and I think she likes me--”


“From the kiss I saw, I’d say she did,” Starr interrupted.


“--I’m just afraid of doing something stupid and hurting her. Yeah, she’s a romantic and that’s the problem. But at the same time, I like talking to her. She listened to me about Dad and she befriended me when I was a total stranger. And then there…” Jack started.


“There’s what?” Sarah wondered.


Jack heaved a sigh. “Dad and our grandfather,” he said quietly. “Hell, even what I put Shane Morasco through last year doesn’t speak well of me.”


Starr looked up at Sarah and moved next to her brother. “Jack, you learned your lesson with Shane. And regarding Dad, don’t ever even go there. Our grandfather is a nonentity in our lives and Dad’s torn himself up over that and his crimes forever. You saw him last year when Mom mentioned Victor and Marty. He was appalled at the very thought. He’s never really forgiven himself for it.”


“Jack, hey listen to me. I may have been young when everything happened with Marty, but I was there and I saw the change in Todd Manning. And I saw what it did to him when he learned about what happened with Aunt Viki. He almost didn’t remarry Blair,” Sarah told him.


“Yeah, I remember him telling us about it when he was still in the hospital. He was afraid he would hurt his daughter,” Jack replied.


“Uncle Todd is not our grandfather and neither are you,” Sarah smiled at him. “If you like this girl, you should tell her. Maybe talk it out with her about it. Maybe you should also talk to your dad some more.”


Jack nodded and, as he was about to get up, looked at Starr curiously. “By the way, what’s up with Danie? She’s been acting weird since she got here.”


Starr looked to the side. “You’re right, she has been acting weird. I thought she may have wanted to stay with us here, but she didn’t even consider it.”


“Well, you both said she was really close to Victor, maybe she’s just having a rough time adjusting to Todd,” Sarah reasoned.


“Sarah, when has my dad ever had problems getting along with kids? I mean, you yourself have said how great he was CJ and you, even Jessica when she was a young teen. And Dad treats Sam like he was his son, not his nephew,” Starr replied.


“Maybe that’s it. I mean, she and Dad didn’t really connect when he got back into town, but Dad loves Sam just as much as he loves us. Maybe she’s jealous of that?” Jack asked.


“That’s probably it,“ Starr nodded, seeing his point. “I’ll go talk to her tomorrow and see if she will tell me.”


“Okay, well, I’m beat from today. I’ll see you in the morning,” he said as he left.


Starr sat there a few minutes more, contemplating the time since Danie had arrived in Port Charles. Sarah could see the wheels turning in her head. “What do you think is going on?”


Starr shook her head. “There really is a disconnect between my Dad and Danie, but I can’t put my finger on it.”


“Maybe I should talk to her. I don’t know her that well, but maybe she’ll open up more, you know, let her guard down more. With you, she may not want to say anything bad about Uncle Todd because she knows how close you have always been to him,” Sarah offered. “Also, maybe I can help her by coming at it from a different point of view.”


Starr agreed. “That may help. Thanks, cous,’” she said as she gave Sarah a hug before the promoter went to bed. But Starr Manning, ever intuitive, knew there was much more going on. It almost seemed like her younger sister was hiding something.


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