Dance with the Devil: Chapter 42

It had taken a lot of convincing on Clint and Viki’s part to get Danie to go back to her mother in Llanview, but she had finally agreed.  They had put her on a flight and gotten in touch with Jessica, who assured her parents she would pick the girl up from the airport.  Viki also informed her daughter of what had happened to send Danie to Llanfair and out of town.  Jessie felt terrible, having been a similar situation as the other girl.  She felt that maybe she could talk to her and offer solace. 

As they got back to their apartment,  Viki received a call from Dr. Ewen Keenan, the staff psychiatrist at General Hospital.  He wanted to speak with her about her brother Todd and she agreed to come in and meet with him.  She arrived over there a short time later and was ushered into the doctor’s office.


  “Thank you for meeting with me.  I am sure you are aware of your brother has become a patient of mine?” he asked conversationally.

Viki nodded.  “Yes, Blair told me they have both spoken to you a few times.”

Ewen nodded.  “I was hoping to get a perspective on him from his family.  He has you and another sister, is that correct?”

“Yes, our sister Tina.  They are full siblings, while all three of us share the same father,” she confirmed.

“Todd didn’t learn about his father until he was twenty-five?  What where the circumstances surrounding that revelation and how did Todd handle it when the truth came out?” came the next few questions.

Viki shifted in her seat, remembering the difficulties of the time.  “Yes, Todd learned a few months after his twenty-fifth birthday.  As to the circumstances, the year previous, a man came to town claiming to be my father’s son and, for a time, we believed him.  At the same time, he had been talking to Todd to get information for his con.  Eventually, it fell through,” she said.  “Doctor, I am sure you are aware of my condition, so what I am about to tell you, I only know through my own alters.”  She let out a breath to begin.  “Pieces of the puzzle about the true heir began to emerge, to my self, through my alter Jean Randolph, to my step-son Cord Roberts, through his investigation of the con artist and finally to Blair Cramer.  She was the one who finally put all the pieces together, connecting Todd Manning and Irene Manning.”
         

“Blair told him?” Dr. Keenan question. 

“No, she married him knowing the truth.  He finally found out himself when Tina encountered him in the park.  Words were exchanged and in the heat of the moment, she told him.”  She closed her eyes as she relived the scene from that night in Llanfair’s study.  “He came to me a short time later for confirmation, but I was unable to give it to him.  My Jean personality had taken over and attempted to dismiss it.  Finally, he did passed a series of test, as it were, that proved he was indeed the heir.  Afterwards, he was handed the trust fund.  As to handling the news, he took it surprisingly well.  I do know he and Blair went on a toy shopping spree, but as he looked over the holdings of the trust, he dealt with it in a rational, mature manner.  He decided to turn a tabloid into what has become the Sun, he set up a trust fund for a child he and Blair were expecting.  He even left money for Tina’s children, because they had befriended him when no one else in town would.”

Ewen nodded as he made some notes.  He then looked back up at Viki as he continued with, “Your brother was away for eight years.  What was he like when he returned?”

Viki took another deep breath.  “When I saw him for the first time in eight years, I could not believe what he was saying.  He insisted that he was really Todd.  He remembered facts about the two of us I had never shared with anyone else, he told me what he had been through for all those years and…he broke down telling me that if I believed him, everything else would be alright.”  She smiled sadly, adding,
 “He showed me his vulnerability, something he rarely showed anyone else.”

“Did you believe him, believe his story?” he asked.

“Not at first, not even at second.  My heart was saying yes, but the whole situation was so…surreal, it took until his mother to returned to confirm the story that I finally believed.  And when it was over, he asked me for a hug,”  Viki replied.

“I take it he’s not physical in showing his emotions,” Ewen said.

Viki laughed.  “Not with me.  He’s always been very closed off with almost everyone, save for Blair and his children.”

“In the months after his return, did you notice any changes in him and did he talk about what he had gone through in the time he had been away?”

“Not really and not until after his brother’s shooting,” Viki told him.  “After that, he would seem to be lost in thought.  We have since learned that was when he was remembering shooting Victor.”

“Yes, he was probably have a PTSD episode,” Ewen explained.  “Ms. Lord, besides the shooting of his brother, do you know of any other traumas he went through when he returned?”

“Let me think,” she paused, replaying the memories in  her head.  “Yes, after his mother returned and told us what was going on, as little as it made sense, we learned that she received my brother Victor’s entire estate.”

“Wait, your brother left his estate to his mother?  He had, or believed he had, four children, correct?” Dr. Keenan questioned, looking at his notes.

“Yes, and right after Irene left the reading of the will, Todd showed up having broken out of jail for killing Victor.  He remembered finally what it was the people, especially his mother, who were holding him wanted.  He took it to his mother at the docks but in the exchange, she shot him and he eventually killed her while wrestling the gun away from her.  Then he made his way up to the family cabin.  Blair found him there and, because he was so stubborn and afraid of being re-arrested for breaking out, nursed him back to health,  She managed to removed the bullet from his shoulder and treat him for an infection.”  Viki fingered her chin, as she remembered.  “He later said it was there that the ghost of his mother made him remember killing Victor.”

Ewen took more notes.  “Thank you, Ms. Lord.  I think I have the information I was looking for,” he said.  “Will you being staying around for any more time?”

“Well, Todd has an appointment for the exam for his surgery.  I’ll be stay until at least then and I will be here when he does have the surgery,”  Viki said as she was escorted out of the office.  “Tell me, do you have an idea at least as to my brother’s condition?”

Ewen nodded.  “I do, but I don’t want to say anything until I speak with Mr. Manning again.”  He waited with her for the elevator.  “Can you answer me one last question.  Your sister Tina, and your brothers Victor and another one, Anthony, all took the Lord name eventually.  Why has Todd never?”

Viki smiled sadly.  “You would have to ask Todd, but if I were to guess, I’d say he never expected to become such an integral part of the family.  He was more than happy to take the inheritance but he never believed and, still doesn’t, that he truly was part of the family.”  When the elevator doors opened, she stepped inside, leaving Dr. Keenan with that thought.

Across town, Todd stared at his daughter.  “You found out something about Irene?”

“We actually found out a lot, including the dispersal of the trust fund,” Sarah chimed in.

Starr gave her father a quick rundown of what Edward Quartermaine had informed them of a short time ago  She showed her father the letter and then handed the pictures to her aunt.  As Tina looked at them, she sat down on the couch.  “That’s me!” she said in amazement.  “But I don’t remember it.  At least, I don’t think I do.” 

“This is the missing page from the diary,” Todd said quietly as he read over it.  He read and reread the letter and then took one of the pictures Tina had.  There was his mother, holding her newborn sons.  Even at that age, he could see how much alike they looked.

Sarah sat next to her mother.  “Mom, are you sure you don’t remember anything?” she asked cautiously.

Tina closed her eyes.  She was hold her Auntie’s hand as she led her down the halls.  “Are you excited to be a big sister, Tina?” Auntie asked with her lilting British cadence.

“Oh, yes.  I can’t wait to see the baby.  I hope it’s a boy!  I want a baby brother to boss around.  Because, that’s what big sisters do, right?” young Tina asked.

Auntie laughed.  “I guess so, though my daughter Tracy has always tried to boss her big brother around.”  The finally came to the room and Auntie knelt to look at Tina.  “Well, I am happy to say, your mother did have a boy.  But here’s the surprise.  You have two baby brothers!”

“Mother had two babies!  That means two brothers to boss around!” Tina shouted, unable to contain her excitement.

The door opened and in they walked.  Sitting up in the bed was Mother.  She was holding one of the boys, while Uncle was sitting next to her, holding the other.

“There’s my precious girl!  Come sit right here,” Mother pointed to the space between her and Uncle.  “I want you to meet your brothers.  This is Victor,” she said, laying her hand on the head of the baby she was holding, “and that is Todd,” she continued, pointing to the baby in Uncle’s arms.

“Mother, they look so much alike, how will I tell them apart?” Tina asked, he face scrunched up with worry.

“Don’t you worry about that.  They are already showing that they have very different personalities.  Victor seems to be more guarded and quieter.  Todd needs attention and more loving.  And Todd cries much louder,” her mother said with a laugh.

“Can I hold them?  Please, Mother, I’ll be really careful with them,” she pleaded.

Mother looked from Auntie to Uncle.  Uncle got up from his chair.  “I don’t see why not.”  Tina climbed up into his seat.  He placed Todd in her right arm and then took Victor from Mother and placed him in Tina’s left arm.  “Lila dear, why don’t you just help the girl support the baby’s head.”  Lila obliged and kept her hand near Todd.

“Edward, I brought my camera for just such an occasion.  If you wouldn’t mind?” Mother said.

Edward found the camera and took a few shots, Tina with her brothers, Mother and the babies and all four of them together.  The little girl had never felt so happy before in her life.

“Tina,” she heard her name called.  “Hey, Tina, you there?  Earth to Tina!”

The woman in question heard Todd’s voice and turned to look at him.  “Mother told me to call them Auntie and Uncle,” she said finally.

“Call who?” her daughter asked.  “Edward and Lila Quartermaine?”

“Yes.  Auntie was so sweet.  She got me a baby doll for Christmas one year and told me I needed to practice taking care of it so I could help Mother,” Tina explained.  “And Mother went into labor just before midnight on New Year’s Eve and their son got excited about maybe delivering the first baby of the decade.  Of course, you two were stubborn right out of the gate and Mother was in labor until three am on the second.”  Tina gasped.  “Why am I just remembering this now?”

“Could Victor have had you brainwashed as a child to make you forget?” Sarah asked before adding, “Like he did with Aunt Viki and her daughter Megan?”

“With Victor, anything was possible,” Todd commented.  “Not that it would have been that hard.”  Starr rolled her eyes at her father’s snark.  “Now what was it he said about the trust fund?”

She took a deep breath.  “According to Mr. Quartermaine, whichever of you got to it first got it all.  He also said he would sign a letter attesting to that fact.”

It was then that the door opened and in walked Blair and Addie.  Starr got up and greeted them as Sarah followed.  She filled her mother in on what she had learned.  Tina looked at Todd and laid her hand on his cheek.  “I was very excited about getting two baby brothers,” she said sadly.  “Mother wanted you, she really did.  And so did I.  I remember now, their son Alan was smitten with Mother and even spoiled me a bit.  I think he wanted to marry her and raise us.”  A tear slipped down her cheek.

“Then why didn’t she take his offer?  No, she got rid of me, sent me off to that monster, God knows what she did to Victor that turned him into…whatever he was,” he voiced coldly.  He wheeled away from her and threw the envelop and it’s contents onto the desk.  Then he wheeled himself out of the room right past Blair and her mother.

Blair walked in and saw the Tina looking at the pictures on the desk.  Blair looked over her shoulder and smiled at a young Tina and the twins.  “If I had seen these when Jack was a baby, I would have known sooner,” she said.  Blair took the shot out of Tina’s fingers and turned back to the mantle.  On it was the picture Viki had given them a her and Merrie.  She stuck the picture in the frame and walked back out to the foyer.  “Starr, why don’t you get Momma settled.  I need to talk to your Daddy.”  With that, she walked to their room, where she found Todd staring out the glass sliding door that led to the back patio.

Todd turned away from it when she entered.  “Every time I think I have my past figured out, something comes up that turns it upside down,” he said in a mournful tone.  “When will I ever find peace?”

She came up behind him and wrapped her arms around him.  He leaned back into her embrace.  “I don’t know, Todd, but you will find it someday.”  The stayed there,  absorbing the latest change to his life as they always had, together.                     

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