Sam ran up and wrapped himself around his father’s leg. “You’re home. I’m so happy, Dad!” he exclaimed.
“It’s good to be back,” he said as he bent down to hug his son. He saw Danie hanging back and moved to her. “How are you hanging in there?”
Danie gave him a gentle hug. “I’m happy your back, but I’m worried about Mom,” she said. Looking over his shoulder, she caught Todd’s eye. He made the barest shake of his head, and she understood, then tightened her embrace of her ‘father’.
When she was finished, Victor moved over to Tina and her family. Ignoring Tina and Cord, he turned his attentions to Sarah. “What’s brought you to town? I thought you were a band manager or something,” he asked.
Sarah smiled. “Well, I heard about this club here that booked an up and coming talent named Starr Manning. Since that’s not the most common of names, I thought I’d check it out and got myself hired as the club’s promoter,” she explained. “Then when Uncle Todd was shot, I also wanted to around, since I hadn’t seen him since I was a little girl.”
“Well, it is nice to see you,” he said as he moved off. He saw Natalie approaching and turned around to come face-to-face with Clint. “Hey, last time I checked, you were under house arrest. What, they let you out for good behavior?”
“As a matter of fact, I was, for good behavior, with a little help from Dorian,” Clint admitted.
“Dorian? Oh, don’t tell me that more than fifty percent of the people of Pennsylvania voted her into office!” he said with disgust.
“As a matter of fact, she was,” Viki piped in, accompanied by the unfamiliar face. “Victor, I’d like to introduce you to a member of the family who has serendipitously returned, our nephew, Dr. Daniel Wolek. Danny, my brother Victor.”
Danny extended his hand and Victor shook it rather limply. “And how is he our nephew?” Victor asked.
By way of an answer, Todd proffered up the picture of Viki and Merrie that his sister had given to him as a house warming gift. “Our sister Merrie was his mother,” he said.
Danny eyed his uncle warily. At first impression, Victor seemed more like what he had heard about Todd then Todd was himself. He wasn’t even sure how to treat the guy. Then he looked at the picture. He had very few memories of his mother and was heartened to see her in the home of someone that, while was her brother, was basically a stranger to him. He handed the picture to Victor and moved away.
Victor looked at it and then handed it back to Todd. With little regard for family bonding, he wanted to move onto business. “Well, since you all are up here, who’s been minding the stores?” he asked.
Viki let out a sigh. “At this point, the Banner can run itself without me,” she said.
“And Jessica’s pretty much taken over the Llanview edition of the Sun, while I’ve gotten Manning Enterprises up and running,” Todd added.
“And what it ‘Manning Enterprises’?” Victor asked.
“Well, when I decided to move up here to get out of Llanview after my acquittal, I bought Luxe Corp and it’s holdings which included the Port Charles Press and Crimson Magazine,” Todd explained.
“So, you’re, like what, abandoning Llanview for upstate New York?” Victor asked.
Todd threw him a look. He didn’t think he’d be discussing business so soon with his brother and even he knew this was neither the time nor the place for any of it. “You know what, tomorrow, come into the office with me and we can talk about all of this then and there. Right now, bask in the warm welcome of your family. I had to after I was released from the hospital, now, it’s your turn.” He noticed Natalie over in the corner. In a rather loud voice he called out, “Natalie, you haven’t welcomed your Uncle Victor back. Why don’t you come over here and give him a big kiss,” before wheeling himself away from his brother.
Natalie smirked at Todd’s display, but asked Starr to keep an eye out for Liam so she could go talk with her uncle. She made a big show of giving him a hug as she said, “It’s been so long. I’ve really missed you, especially at my almost wedding to Brody Lovett. You know, the guy who turned out to not be my son’s father.” Then quieter, in his ear, she said, “Later on, you and I are going to have a little talk. I know John’s already discussed this with you, but I’m not through with it, not by a long shot.” She then moved back to her son.
The doorbell rang and Starr went to answer it. Standing outside was Michael. “Hey, I’m just coming back from visiting Edward and I stopped by the gatehouse, but there was no answer. I see that you have company but I just wanted to come by,” he said, giving her a quick kiss.
Starr returned it and pulled him inside. “Actually, now’s a good time. You can meet my Uncle Victor.” Michael looked very reluctant, remembering her stories about him from when she was a teenager. Starr read his expression. “If he says anything, I defend you. Hell, my dad will defend you, at the rate Victor’s going. “ Starr led him into the study. “Uncle Victor, I’d like to introduce you to my boyfriend, Michael Corinthos III. Michael, my uncle, Victor Lord, Jr.”
Michael held out his hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you. It’s nice to meet you.”
Victor looked him up and down. “Corinthos? What was the name of Kate Howard’s boyfriend, Sonny Corinthos? You any relation?”
“He’s my father, Mr. Lord,” Michael replied.
Victor shifted his gaze to Starr and was about to open his mouth when she started before him. “I will not rehash any discussion I had with you when I was in high school. My father and I have already been through this and although he had concerns at the beginning, he knows that Michael makes me happy and that’s all he wants for me.”
Victor looked towards Todd. When he saw that his brother was nodding in agreement with his daughter, he waved off any comment he was going to make. He took Michael’s hand and shook it. “Well, you’d better keep her happy.” He moved off towards the door that led outside and to the pool.
Todd followed him. When they were both away from the gathering he said, “Not tonight, because I’m attempting to be a gracious host and act like I’m thrilled your back. But very soon, we’re going to have a discussion about the hell you put Starr and Cole through when they were in high school and that includes what happened when she was pregnant.”
“You want to get into it, now’s a great time,” Victor retorted. Todd turned to face him. “You know what, I would really like to hear how you would have dealt with the situation of her and Marty Saybrooke’s son being together.”
“You want to know how I dealt with it? There was a prison break, New Year’s Eve. Cole showed up at La Boulaie and took a bullet meant for Starr. He was rushed to the hospital and it was touch and go for awhile there, but he pulled through. They were going to send him back to Statesville, but my little girl begged and pleaded for me to do something so the father of her daughter won’t have to go back. I paid off an orderly and a doctor to fake his death and then sent him off to Patrick and Marty. Then, a few days later when she announced she was going to LA to work on her album, I got in contact with him and gave him the choice of staying with his parent or reuniting with her and their child. He was in Los Angeles to meet her and they were happy together, for at least a few weeks.” Todd shouted.
“He was Marty’s kid and you were okay with that?” Victor yelled back.
“He was Hope’s father, more than he was my victim’s son,” came Todd’s answer. Todd shook his head and looked heavenward, as if to beseech some higher power. “I have spent over twenty years under the shadow of that night at the KAD house. Viki’s tried to help me see past it, Blair has, but I never have gotten away from it. Even when I returned after eight years and I thought I could finally move on after seeing her get on the plane with Patrick, it was thrown back in my face by you. Then, that night at the hospital, for one instant, I saw a way to give Marty something back that I had taken from her. Yeah, Cole eventually chose to leave his parents, but Marty got something back, because of me.”
The two men stared at each other in silence. Finally, Victor spoke up. “I wanted to protect her…protect her from that night. I was afraid of what she would think of m…of her father is she got involved with Cole. I was alright with it for a time, because I thought she’d eventually move on. But when she got pregnant, it was too permanent a tie. And then, I thought of what that child would think of me and her grandmother. We were never going to have to cozy family get-togethers, the happy holidays. When Marty came back, when she and Cole were reunited, and we were in each others presence, there was still that undercurrent, that wariness.”
“It would have been there moreso with me. Remember, I was the one that raped her,” Todd said, his voice quiet and calm. He looked off to the side and swallowed. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what?” Victor asked, genuinely curious.
“I’m sorry you have been tormented for my crimes. I’m sorry that you live with my memories of that night,” his brother said. Todd looked back inside. “We’d better get back before Viki and everyone else wonders if I shot you again.”
They returned to party and Blair went over to Todd as Victor milled around. “What happened?” she asked, seeing his flushed expression.
“We brought up Cole and Marty and I apologized to him, basically for what our mother did to him, make him remember everything I did,” Todd said. Then, thinking about it for a moment, he said, “I think it may even have been cathartic for me.”
Blair kissed him on the lips. “Todd, you have to get past it at some point. You are nothing like the man you were that night.”
“No, I’m never going to get past it, nor should I. But I think, for the first time since then, I can live with it. For good or bad, it made me the man I am. I learned from the experience of it.” He looked over as Victor was talking with Jack and Danie. “Him? He just had the raw memories and memories were not all what it was about.”
Eventually the evening ended and those that didn’t live on the estate left. Blair showed Victor to his room, right next to Sam’s. As he was about to close the door, he turned back to Blair. “I know I may not sound grateful, but thank you for letting me stay here.”
“Don’t thank me, thank Todd.” He nodded at that statement. Blair saw an opening and continued. “I know all of this is confusing, but the both of you are going to have to learn to deal with each other.”
“Oh, I know we’ll have to deal with each other. Doesn’t mean either of us are going to like it,” Victor replied.
Blair shook her head. She remembered how much fun it was to deal with him for eight years. She gave him the leeway then because she had thought he was Todd. But now, with Todd facing a risky surgery, dealing with his attitude was something she had little patience for. “Will you do a favor for me, as the mother of your son and the mother of his children?” She waited than said, “Todd is scheduled for surgery to remove the bullet from his back this weekend. Will you at least hold off on the war you, and I’m sure he, are arming yourselves for? At least until he’s on the road to recovery?”
Victor nodded. “Fine. I’ll hold off until after that.”
“Thank you. One last thing. Can you keep Sam occupied during the surgery? I’m gonna be a wreck and I don’t want him to see me like that. I also don’t think he should have to hang around the hospital. We were told it would be a while, so he can come to see Todd beforehand and we’ll call when Todd’s in recovery,” she said.
Victor nodded again. “They’ve gotten really close, Sam and Todd?”
“Well, you know Todd’s always been great with kids, and Sam just fell under that spell.” With that, she left to go downstairs.
Victor closed the door and collapsed on the bed. He made a promise to lay off his brother for now. But he was damn well going to go for the jugular when he was healed.
Blair helped get Todd into bed as she explained what she had gotten Victor to agree to. “Now, you’re going to make the same promise to me. I just would like you two to coexist until you’re healed. I’m not expecting any miracles of you two bonding over beers or anything, but just don’t antagonize each other more than you need to.”
Todd smiled. “So I have permission to antagonize a little,” he said, holding his finger a half-inch apart. He laughed at the glare she threw him. “Okay, alright I promise. I’ll even pinkie swear to it.” Blair hooked her pinkie with his when he added, “I’ll even allow him to run the Sun here while I’m recuperating. He’s not going to have much to do, so him in charge may calm him for the time being.”
Blair got into bed and wrapped her arms around Todd. “Have you thought about what you’re going to do with that letter Edward Quartermaine signed about the trust fund?”
“Not yet. I figure I’ll see how well we ‘coexist’ before I make my final decision,” he said. “But tomorrow, I’ll take him to the Sun and maybe try to set up a conference call with Llanview, get an update. I really haven’t been paying much attention down there as I should have.”
“Well, we’ll deal with tomorrow…tomorrow,” Blair said as she fell asleep in his arms. But Todd was still awake, thinking about how he was going to handle his newly-returned brother.
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oh this reminded me how much I hated Victor Jr.
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