The Fourth Life: Chapter 10

Sunday morning, Todd was up early, trying to get out of the house to make more arrangements, when he heard Little Ray start to cry.  Before he had time to wake his mother, Todd got him out of the crib and brought him downstairs to feed him a bottle.  It was 6:30 a.m., and on their wedding anniversary, he wanted Blair to at least be able to sleep in a bit, even if he was bent on keeping her out of his way for the finishing touches on the big gift.  She had been feeling under the weather all week, and had not gone to The Sun in days.


"Paper," Viki had told him.  What does that mean?  He had to give her something made of paper, and somehow, what he had really done, and had been working on for months, was going to be ready just in time.  It was paper, magically.  He stumbled into Jack's room and got him up.  "Get up.  As punishment for your ridiculous behavior earlier this week, you have to care for Little Ray and keep him quiet so Mom can sleep.  I have to go out and finish the preparations for the gift."


***


Blair was already up, but pretending to be asleep.  She waited until she heard the door close, then got up, and went under the bed to grab her gift to him.  It was an entire scrapbook of everything positive he had ever done, including all of their weddings, the birth of the children, and all of his somewhat heroic moments.  The book also included some of his best stories, and a page written by each of the children were at the back.  The final page was a picture of them, from 1995, at their Gold Balloon Wedding, he called it, and below it, was a handwritten page she had done herself.  Under her words, was a small hand print that she made of baby Ray.  She was excited as she thumbed through it.  It had taken a lot of hours of gathering clippings and photos.  


***


Todd was on his way.  It was a long drive up, but he would make it there to check all of the arrangements, and then make it back in time to whisk her away.  First, he would hand her the paper, rolled as a scroll and tied with gold and red ribbon.  Then, he would drive her there and watch her face unfurl into misty joy.  He loved her so much; the one thing he was always sure of had not changed for years and years.  She was his constant.  That phrase had replayed itself many times in his mind and heart, and today, he was just as sure as he was when he first made love to her in Dorian's penthouse years back.


***


Back at the penthouse, Blair called Jack, who brought Little Ray to her.  "Oh he's awake."


"Yeah, Dad fed him."


"He snuck out, I'll bet.  Trying to work on something.  He's always surprised me, as long as I can remember," she kissed the top of Ray's head.


"What was the first surprise he gave you?"


"I think it might have been when he bought me the building across the way.  Look out this window," she pointed out the window above the bed.  "That building over there, used to be The Omega Building, and now has a giant M..."


"I know, the Manning building.  I think you told this one before."


"Well, that was his first surprise for me.  He always does things like that."


"Mom, is he okay?"


She smiled at Jack, "He's doing better.  He only had two nightmares this week, and one incident in The Sun office with memories."


"What is it, Mom?  He was better before, when he first came back.  Now he seems, I don't know, like he'll break."


She assured her son, "He won't.  He's just...well the truth is, he has remembered more and it's too much for him.  He now remembers everything that happened to him."


"And before he didn't?"


"No, being catatonic before protected him.  He knows the truth now.  It's very hard for him, Jack.  But he won't crack, he won't give up.  He's just not that way.  Your father is a fighter, a survivor, like the rest of us."


"But it kinda looks like he needs you to do it,"  her son said, and her face must have shown her amazement.  "That's what I think, from listening to him talk, and watching him.  When he's around you, his whole face is different.  He seems like something missing is put back.  That's the only way I can explain it.  Grandma says that you're Beauty to his Beast."


Blair blinked back tears.  "I need him, too.  I never had a family or someone who loved me enough to protect me and put me first.  Your father has always done that, when he was emotionally able.  In recent times, he's put this family ahead of himself over and over."


"I just want him to be okay.  I want him to be my Dad, really, and be there for me and do things with me.  I want him to be all right, Mom.  I don't want him to be hospitalized."


She was surprised to hear his eloquence, but realized he was growing up.  "Well, we will try and keep that from happening, honey."


"His sadness and stuff scares me."


"I know it does, it scares me, too.  But he loves us, Jack.  He loves us so much."


***


Todd parked the car at his destination, and looked up from the front seat of the SUV and admired his creation.  

She was standing by him, beautiful, and he could only remember being cold.  They were outside Viki's cabin, he was bitter, angry, holding himself back from grabbing her and making love to her right there.  She said, "If you think for one minute that I ever stopped loving you, then you are very, very wrong, and I can prove it...You see that mountain peak right over there?  Do you remember last year right before we got married, you flew me over Llantano Mountain and you pointed out and said that that was our future and you promised that someday we would own that land and that we would build a dream house there....Todd, when I thought that you had died and the idea of someone else owning that land...I didn't like it, so I bought it....Todd, why can't you see how much you mean to me, how much you've always, always meant to me. And I swear to you, Todd, that no one...that nothing could ever change that, not even your death..."


It was everything he had seen in his mind.  The home was creamy white, with a terracotta clay roof, and loomed  over the car in great majesty.  The 20,000 square foot mansion had eight bedrooms, six baths, and plenty of space for the whole family.  He had designed it, along with a major local architect firm, to mimic a villa he once saw in New York.  It was large enough to allow a live-in security person and live-in cleaning staff, as well as a nanny if Blair wanted one.  And, the thing he knew she would love most; it was built on her land on Llantano Mountain that she had bought when she had thought he had died in Ireland more than fifteen years ago.  


His heart jumped a bit as he surveyed it: graceful archways, balconies outside the second level windows, stained glass arches above each doorway, and it spoke the word elegance when glanced.  The grounds were perfectly coiffed.  It was just as he had asked and dreamed.  He held the papers in his hand as he disembarked the vehicle.  After touring the inside one final time, he climbed back into the SUV.  In a few hours, a crew would appear to set up the welcome.  He hoped she would love it as much as he guessed she would.  


They would not be leaving the penthouse totally behind.  He had foyer staircase modeled precisely after it.   Facing the sprawling back yard was a wall of windows to look over their new kingdom, which included a sculpted pool, two large hot tubs flanking it, a stone patio with a barbecue area, and a gazebo in the near distance.  He also had decided to keep the penthouse for a while; he wasn't sure he could totally let go.  He pictured his son moving in there when he was ready to leave home.  Whatever the case was, the penthouse was staying under the name Manning until he decided differently.


The house was perfect; a combination of her original gift to him and his new one to her. He hoped his instincts were correct as he sped back to her and the kids.  He placed the deed to the home on the seat next to him; he had named it Unforgettable.


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