Memories Unlocked #5

Sam made their two passengers comfortable and then thought it was time to ask some questions   “You said Todd left on a homemade raft over two months ago.  Was that the last you saw of him?”

Tea nodded, “We tried to talk him out of leaving but he refused to stay any longer.  He was determined to get home to his family.   Like I told you earlier, we thought you were sent by him.”

“I’m really sorry to hear all that.   We’ll have to keep searching.  We’re headed to the Marianas to get fuel and spend the night.  I’m sure we can get you a connection from there, home.”  Sam got up and headed to the back of the plane where James had a cooler stashed.  She pulled a couple of iced drinks out and some fruit and walked back, giving some to Tea and Ross, then taking the rest up to the cockpit for her and James.

Tea immediately moved to sit beside Ross.  They had had long discussions on the island about what they would do if they were rescued.  “So, as soon as we get down, I’ll make a call to my banker and get us funds.  If we pay the right people we should be on our way to Tahiti in no time.”

Ross was a little surprised.  “I thought you would want to get back to the States and help look for Todd?”

“There’s nothing I can do to help.  If he hasn’t surfaced by now, I fear he didn’t make it.  Todd’s resilient, but even you said he was facing insurmountable odds.   Todd made his choice and I made mine.  Besides, I’m in love with you.“ Tea said the words and realized how true they were.  Ross was the man who had kept them alive.  He had made her feel safe and wanted, something Todd had never been able to do. “If you can’t return to the States, then I go where you go.”

“You’re sure, Tea?”

“Absolutely.”  To prove she meant every word she kissed him.  His arms enfolded her and she sighed. “This is where I belong.”  As she made herself comfortable in his embrace, she couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for Blair.  

A short time later, the plane landed in Saipan.  Sawyer had radioed ahead and informed the authorities that they were bringing in some shipwrecked survivors who had just been found on a deserted island.  The authorities were highly accommodating and before the night was out, Tea and Ross had two temporary visas and were allowed to leave the airport with Sam and James.  After getting rooms, Tea and Ross disappeared.  Sam turned to James.  “I don’t know about you, but I could use a drink.  Care to meet me in the bar in an hour.  I need to inform our employer about this latest development.”

Judging by her tone, Sawyer had a good idea that Sam Vance was in the mood for more than just a drink.  “Sure, you’re paying the tab for this trip.  I’ll meet you in an hour,”  he watched her as she made her way to her room.   He had heard the disappointment in her voice when the woman she called Delgado had given them the information about Todd Manning.   It appeared Vance felt something for the missing millionaire, too.

****  

Another whole day had gone by and still no word from Sam Vance. Blair was doing everything in her power to keep her hopes up. She walked to her son’s room and looked in on him.  He was sound asleep.  He was such a beautiful baby boy.  He had a mop of golden hair, straight like his father, and eyes that matched hers.  She had fallen in love with him at first sight but then tried to send him away because he reminded her so much of the baby she thought she had lost.  Todd had been desperate for her to accept him and now she understood why.  She had been so angry when she found out what he did.  How could you do that, Todd?  Did you hate Max that much?  Their happy little family had fallen apart when she realized he had given their child away when he thought the baby was Max’s.  But now, months had passed.  The hurt, while still there, had dulled, and in its place was a strange longing to get her husband back home.   All she could do was wonder where Todd had gone.  

Once before he had disappeared from her life, and when he returned, their attraction had started up all over again.  As hard as she tried, she couldn’t get him out of her system.  She sat down in the rocker and watched Jack breathe, his little mouth slightly opened and sucking on his fist, even in sleep.  His first molars were starting to come in and he was constantly chewing on anything he could put in his mouth.  She reached through the slats in his crib and moved his hair gently off his face.  Unlike his father, Jack was a heavy sleeper and not much woke him once he was down.

“My sweet baby, this is just between us, but I miss your father.  Troy says that he’s afraid of prison and that’s why he’s stayed away all this time.  I can’t help thinking there is more to it.  He loves you and your sister so much, that he was going to kidnap you.  It was wrong, but I know how your father gets when he’s desperate.   He didn’t know I had already decided to let him see you guys.”

Blair leaned back into the rocker, picked up her son’s favorite stuffed bunny and hugged it close.  Her thoughts wandered as she remembered walking into the penthouse the first morning they had felt their first baby kick.  Todd had gone and bought just about every stuffed animal and baby toy he could find.  He had had such high hopes for that first child before they lost him.   A tear dropped on her cheek, they had worked hard to overcome that loss and then Todd had told her he loved her.  That was the night they made Starr.  She brushed the tear away.  A small hand touched her arm.

“Mommy, why are you crying? Is something the matter with Jack?” Starr stood there in her pink pajamas, her hair tied up in pigtails on both sides of her frowning little face.

Blair reached and pulled her daughter onto her lap. “My sweet baby girl.” She hugged her. “No, there’s nothing wrong with Jack.   He’s perfect.”

“Well if Jack isn’t the reason you’re crying, then it has to be Daddy.  Did you talk to him? Is he coming home?  I miss him.  Where is he?  He said he loved us.”  She snuggled into her mother’s arms.

“So many questions.” Blair kissed the top of her head.   ‘Oh Starr, you’re right, I was crying because of Daddy.  I miss him, too.”

“If you miss him and I miss him, how come he isn’t home?  You’re not mad at him anymore.  He should come home.”

“I agree, but I think something is stopping him.  I just don’t know what.”

“I heard Uncle Ben tell Aunt Viki, that Daddy could go to jail if he came back.  Why Mommy?”

“Honey, Daddy tried to take you and Jack from me without telling me.  It was wrong.  Still, if he would just call,  I think we could work something out.”  She sat there, deep in thought, and smoothed her daughter’s pigtail.  Damn it, Todd, do you realize how upset your daughter is?  Where the hell are you?

Starr sat up and looked her in the eyes.  “Mommy, do you still love Daddy?”

Blair paused, taken aback by Starr’s stare.  “Yes Starr, I still love your daddy.”

“Then all you have to do is tell him.  He’d be home real fast if he knew you weren’t mad and still loved him.”

“Sweetie, I don’t know where he is or how to let him know.”

“Just use the paper Mommy, Daddy will read it.  Then he’ll know.”

Blair sat there not saying anything.  Could it work?  What if it was as simple as that?  You can’t think that way. There’s no way to know where Todd is.  Don’t get her hopes up.  “Starr, I just don’t think that will help.  Daddy’s paper is just a small state-wide paper.  Your dad could be anywhere. He probably wouldn’t even see it.  Now, it’s time for you to be in bed.  Come on. Off you go.”

Starr got off her mom’s lap.  “Okay, Mommy.  Will you tuck me in?”  Blair nodded and walked her daughter to her room.  Starr turned over after her mother left and looked at Fred the Magic Frog.  “I’m going to find you, Daddy.   I know you want to come home.  I’ll get Heddy to help and Mr. Briggs, too.  Goodnight, Daddy.”

****

Todd was standing at the bottom of some stairs. Staring up at an old man.

“Get out of My House! I have nothing to say to you.  Get out of my house, you are not welcome here. Stay away!”

The voice was so cold, Todd shuddered.   Then a shadowy figure at the bottom of the stairs spoke “He abused me.  Sexually.  He raped me. Starting when I was a little girl.  He raped me for years.”  

The walls in the room began to distort. He reached for the banister struggling as his stomach lurched. Those words had meaning to him.  He suddenly felt dirty.  An anguished cry escaped him. “Oh God.  Like Father Like Son!”    The next thing he knew he was sitting on the floor of a tomb staring at a crypt.               

The words reverberated around him bouncing off the walls   “He abused me. He raped me.”

With each statement, Todd felt like his insides were being slashed by a knife. A figure appeared in the doorway.  

Todd awoke in a panic.  His heart was pounding .  It was just a dream   It has to be.  Even as he tried to dismiss it, he knew it was so much more.  It was a truth about him he wished had stayed buried in his mind.  Tears rolled down his cheeks.  He was a rapist.   At some time in his past, he had hurt someone just as deeply as the old man had hurt her.  He tried to recall her. She was important to him, he knew it.

Words are long forgotten flooded his head.  “He’s gone.  Leave this place.  Leave him behind you.  Go get married. Believe in yourself.” Todd gulped as a picture formed in his head of an older graceful woman, with fair hair and a beautiful warm smile.  More tears flowed, as Todd realized who the woman was.  “Viki.”

****

Blair was getting ready to go to sleep when her phone rang.  She looked at the screen to see who was calling her.  It was Sam Vance.  She shivered for a moment, afraid to take the call.  She didn’t understand why, but it scared her. “Hello.  What is it?  What have you found? Oh God, please don’t tell me he’s dead!”

Sam Vance kicked herself as she realized the lateness of the hour in Llanview.  She could hear the panic in Blair’s voice.  “Easy Blair.  The news isn’t that bad.  I don’t know where he is, but I do know where he was two months ago.”

Blair felt an overwhelming sense of relief.  She remembered all too well the call she had received when Todd had disappeared in Ireland. Suddenly her anger came back.  He was alive and he still hadn’t tried to contact Starr.  She was disappointed, she had been so convinced he really did care for Starr and Jack, but now she was having second thoughts. “Well tell me, where was the son of a bitch two months ago.”

Sam sighed.  “I can tell you he wasn’t living the high life. The authorities were right, Todd’s boat went down in that storm, just not where they thought.   He was on a deserted island with two other people.”

Blair sat down abruptly on her bed stunned.  “I don’t understand.  How do you know this?”

“We found the two he was stranded with, earlier today, a man and a woman. They’ve been living on the island for the last four months.”

“If Todd was on the island two months ago, why wasn’t he there when you found them.”

Sam paused, she knew the story of Todd’s second wife and the bad blood between her and Blair. She made the decision to avoid naming Tea Delgado if possible. “I hope you’re sitting down.  According to the woman, he left the island two months ago on a homemade raft.  She stayed with the guy, Rayburn  ”

“Wait a minute.  Did you say, Rayburn?”

“Yes, Ross Rayburn.”

“That was the man I hired to protect the children.  He was working for Todd.   Who’s the woman?  No, wait, let me guess.  The woman is Tea Delgado isn’t she?”

The cat was out of the bag, Blair was still sharp as a nail. “Yes.”

“I knew it,”  Blair recalled Tea warning them about Todd’s plans. I knew she couldn’t be trusted.  She probably warned him just so she could get him back. “Something doesn’t make sense.  Why did he leave without them?”

“According to Ms.Delgado, he refused to stay any longer.  They tried to talk him out of it.    Rayburn told him it was too dangerous, that the weather was changing, but he was intent on getting home to you and the kids.”

Blair was dazed. She pictured Todd alone on a raft in the middle of the ocean.  My God, what was he thinking? “He was intent on getting home to you and the kids.”  The statement reverberated through her head.  Wait, that was two months ago.  If Ross was right.  He would have been out there in storms.  She clutched the phone.  What if? No, she couldn’t think like that.  He couldn’t be dead.  You would know it, Blair.

“Blair, are you there?’  Sam had a good idea of what was going through Blair’s mind at that moment.  “Blair, listen to me.  I know what you’re thinking.  Don’t.  You know Todd better than anyone.  The man has nine lives.  I just haven’t found him yet.  At least we now know he’s probably somewhere here in the South Pacific.  Maybe he just ended up on another deserted island.  I intend to keep looking if you want me to.”

She listened to Sam and flicked away the tears that had started when her thoughts had drifted toward never seeing Todd again. She straightened her shoulders. “You’re right.  Todd’s a survivor.  I want you to keep going.  Find him for me, please.”

“I will.” Sam hung up.

Blair set the phone down on her lap. She pictured Todd fighting the ocean and never giving in.  You are a survivor.  If something or someone is keeping you from returning.  I’ll come to you.  I promise. She looked down at the ring still on her finger.  Bringing it to her heart, she touched it with her other fingers. “You were trying to get home to us.  You still love us.  She’just has to find you.”  She laid back on her pillow, her left hand tucked under her cheek and drifted off to sleep.

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