The Devil You Know: Chapter 30

Blair was only home a few minutes when the doorbell rang.  She was wrangling Sam to get started on his homework so she called to Jack to get it, since Reginald was running an errand.  Jack opened the door to find his Aunt Tina there.  “What are you doing here?” he asked.

“My goodness, you sound just like your father when you ask that,” Tina said as she walked in.  “I need to speak to your mother.”   

Blair came into the foyer at the sound of the voices.  “Tina, what do you want?” she asked snippily.

Tina looked at Jack and pulled Blair towards the family room.  When they went in, Tina closed the door and turned to Blair.  Taking a deep breath, she asked,  “What’s wrong with my brother?”

Blair gave her the side eye.  “What’s wrong with…?  What do you mean?” she replied, attempting to evade the question.

“Something is wrong with Todd, I know it.  And don’t try to tell me differently!”  Tina walked past her long-time nemesis and sat down.  “If it wasn’t the fact that he was agitated when I came in earlier today, maybe it was the hug that he gave me that clued me it.”

“So, Todd gave you a hug.  I don’t see--”  Blair began, still trying to dodge the nosy redhead.

“Todd has never willingly given me a hug.  Not in all the years I’ve known he’s my brother,”  she insisted.  “And then there was the thing about getting into an argument with you.  What was that about?”  When no answer was still forthcoming, Tina added, “Also, I know he hasn’t spoken to Viki since you got back and she told him to call her because she was worried.  Blair, something it up.  Tell me, or I’m not moving from this seat.”

Blair wanted to simultaneously roll her eyes and cry a multitude of tears.  And sadly, it was the tears that came first.  But Tina did an unexpected thing.  She stood up and embraced the other woman.  Blair returned the embrace and as quickly as possible, dried her eyes. 

“It’s that bad, huh?” Tina asked.  She offered her an impish smile, understanding that for Blair to have that reaction, it was serious.

“That’s just it.  I don’t really know how bad it situation is. Because Todd is…being Todd.  Stubborn, closed up, unwilling to let me in, even on his pain,” Blair said, calming herself. 

“What happened in Chicago that made it that bad?”

Blair stood up and walked over to a shelf.  There, the bag of pictures Harry Redding have given them had been left, untouched since they’d gotten home.  She brought the bag over to the couch and they sat back down.  “We met up with Barbara Manning’s widower, a man named Harry.  He was her divorce lawyer who, we found out, tried to get Todd’s mother some kind of custody arrangement after the divorce, but Peter Manning never allowed in and won all the court battles until Barbara got too sick to keep up the fight,” Blair explained.

“Barbara, as in Bitsy?” Tina asked.

“Harry said that the Bitsy nickname was something that she felt was demeaning to her and Harry never called her that the whole time we where there,” Blair said.  “Anyway, after the divorce, all Barbara was allowed to have were pictures of Todd,”  She then pulled out a large framed photo of Todd for Tina to see.  “He gave us many of them.”

The image before Tina was one she had never thought she’d see of Todd, at any age; a smiling, laughing little boy.  Blair began showing her other pictures, all that seemed to be to the age of eight or nine.  All of them captured the sullen, angry man she knew now in a light, glowing atmosphere.  A number of them had a woman with him, presumably the woman who raised him.  His mother, truly, more than Irene Manning ever would be,  especially now. 

“My goodness!  I always think that if Todd ever smiled this much, his face would crack,” she tried to joke.  Staring off, she asked, to no one in particular, “What could have possibly caused this sweet little boy to turn into the man we…?”

“We all love?” Blair finished the question.  A smile quirked her face.  “Todd isn’t always miserable, you know.  But he’s been through so much since he got to Llanview.  Much of it his own making, but still other things…”  She went over to the desk and pulled out the hard copy file of the information Spinelli got her.  “The day of Viki and Clint’s wedding, I came into some information about Todd’s childhood.” 

Tina read over the article about the piano recital and wanted to laugh.  It sounded far too dainty for her brother.  “Todd Manning, piano virtuoso?  Really?”

“Yes, really.  When we were having lunch at Harry’s, Todd got up and started playing the piano he had, like he hadn’t been away for a day.”  Blair shook her head.  “I have never seen anything like it.”  Then she pulled out the police report.  “But then we learned this.”

Tina read over the police report and her heart broke for Barbara.  During her childhood, before the age of eight, she could remember one time meeting Peter Manning and it wasn’t a pleasant memory.  He had been cold and aloof, whereas his wife had been warm and loving to the little girl she had been.  When she finished, Tina asked Blair, “Did Todd witness this?”

“We really can’t be sure, but he probably did.  He ran away and Harry found him a day later, hiding in a shed.  That was when Harry tried to get Barbara away from Peter, but it took a few more years,” Blair supposed for Tina.  “That’s part of the problem.  I’m not sure what Todd even remembers and he doesn’t want to talk.  That’s really the reason I’m having Lucy Coe over for dinner tomorrow.   Her husband is a psychiatrist and we’re hoping to get Todd to speak with him.”

Tina took a deep breath before she asked, “What do you want me to do to help?”  When Blair gave her a look,     she spread her hands in askance.  “What?  He’s my brother.  Look, I should have been there for him for all those years, but because of our father and my own…self-interest, I wasn’t.  Now, I want to help him…and you.  You have so much to deal with and you need help.  And, as Viki is six hours away, I don’t want to burden her with this either.  So, please, let me help.”

Blair was, quite frankly, shocked.  This was a totally different Tina then she had ever experienced and she wasn’t sure how to handle it.  But after a moment, Blair nodded.  “Okay, if your serious, then, yes, any help would be appreciated.” 

“So what’s the plan then?”

“Come over with Cord for dinner tomorrow.  We are going to have to be sneaky about all this with Todd, but maybe we can, I don’t know, set up a situation where he’s talking with  Lucy’s husband?”  Blair was flummoxed as to handle all this.  Todd had been so resistant to the very idea of  talking to anyone from the start, she didn’t want him to fly off the handle if he did suspect anything.

“Okay, and I am going to call Viki also.  She worries about him, more than her own kids at times,” Tina told Blair. 

As she went to the doors to the study, Reginald came in.  He eyed his boss’ sister and then saw that Blair’s face was red.  “Is everything okay in here?  You didn’t upset her, Mrs. Roberts, did you?” the butler asked.

“No, actually, Tina was helping me out.  Thank you again and I’ll see you tomorrow,” Blair replied and Tina left.

Reginald looked at Tina’s retreating form than back at Blair.  After she left the house, he turned back to Blair.  “She was helping you out?  Is that even possible?”

Blair cocked her head then shook it.  “You have been spending too much time around Todd.”  Blair stood up and walked over to the butler.  “Now, I need help.  We are having a dinner party tomorrow.  It’ll be Todd and I, the Roberts and Lucy Coe and her husband, Kevin Collins.”

“Lucy’s coming here?  With Tina?”  A panicked expression crossed his face.  “Can I have the night off?”


*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
Your comments are 'payment' for the work of the authors. Our writers like to hear your feedback. Please leave a comment when you read.