In His Corner--Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Blair couldn’t let on that John’s words had hit a cord with her.  So much so, she decided not to go right to the police station.  Instead, she headed back to the hotel.  When she arrived in the room, Viki was finishing up a conversation on the phone.

“Yes, we’ll see you then.  Thank you.”  With that, her call ended.

“Who was that?” Blair asked.

“Todd’s attorney from this spring.  When I saw him this morning, he told me his lawyer here wouldn’t be representing him and I told him I’d contact the one he had for the murder trial,” Viki explained.  “He said he’d be up by tomorrow morning at the latest.”

“How is he?” Blair asked, her voice quiet.

“I can’t really say.  He seemed…drained when I saw him,” Viki said.

“I have to go talk to him,” Blair responded, turning towards the door.

“He doesn’t want to see you,” Viki informed her.  When Blair turned back, she went on.  “I don’t even think he wanted to see me.  He didn’t sound pleased that Starr called me or that I came and he was adamant that you not come.”

Blair’s face fell.  That, coupled with John’s warnings, had her fearing they were all wrong.  “What did he say?”

Viki let out a sigh as she said.  “You should go back to Tomas, even though you still love him.  He doesn’t want to hurt you anymore.”

Blair didn’t know how to respond, because that was just what she had told him in July.  She had to sit down, the emotions she was experiencing were threatening to crash in on her.  Was this the end of them?

Then she remembered the feeling of his lips on hers, the look he gave her just before going in for that kiss.  It was the look of a drowning man being thrown a lifeline.  He had brought up their past, all of it.  He had brought up their children and what goodness they had brought to his life.  Was he really able to throw all that away with one act?

John’s warning faded into the background.  Blair’s memories steeled her.  She looked down at her engagement ring.  She fingered it and then slid it off, putting it down on the desk.  Her decision was made.  Her course was set.  She turned back to Viki, whose eyes were wide.  “Your brother is the most stubborn man I have ever met.  I’m going to go see him, even if he doesn’t want to see me.”  With that, she left the suite.

******

Starr had gotten a cup of coffee at Kelly’s but the stares of the other customers had driven her out of the diner.  Once again, she was the daughter of a notorious rapist.  She had to laugh.  This time, she doubted it was even the truth. 

She took herself to the Spoon Island Pier, wanting someplace quiet.  Unfortunately, she heard voices there.

“You heard Carly the day we went to talk to Mr. Manning about your manuscript.  She was glad they hadn’t slept together.  Maybe he wasn’t and he…” TJ Ashford’s voice carried from the dock.

“But I was there one day with Starr.  She was describing her parent’s wedding and how much he loved her mother.  He was heartbroken at the thought of her marrying someone else.  That doesn’t make sense with what he’s been accused of,” Molly defended.

“Whatever.”  TJ looked at his watch.  “I’ve got to go.  See you later?”

Molly only nodded and her boyfriend left.  After he was gone, Molly sat down on the bench.  Starr came down the landing and approached her.  “I’m sorry that I was eavesdropping, but what you said about my dad…thank you.”

Molly jumped but offered Starr a small smile.  Then she grew serious.  “Sam told me he was convicted of rape years ago.”

Starr grimaced, remembering Marty Saybrooke.  “Yes, he was, in college.  And it’s something that has haunted him since then.”

“I don’t know if I can believe him, but that story about their wedding with the gold balloons, it’s something that makes me think it’s not true,” she offered.  

“Thank you,” Starr said again.  Then she walked back towards the street.

******

John McBain arrived at the PCPD and caught sight of Anna Devane. 

“Anything interesting happen this morning?” he asked.

“Todd Manning’s sister came to see him,” Anna answered.

“Viki’s here?”  That was almost as surprising to him as seeing Blair here.  “Know anything that was said to him by her?”

“No, but I got the impression she’s on his side.  She was asking about an arraignment and about getting him an attorney,” Anna informed him.

“That’s a little surprising considering how he left Llanview this spring.  I wasn’t there but Natalie told me he got out of town immediately after the acquittal,” John said.

     

“What kind of relationship did they have before his brother, Victor’s, death?”

“I really don’t know.”  John scratched his head.  “Understand, the only brother I ever saw Viki with was Victor, who everyone in town thought was Todd.  And with that Todd, she did defend him all the time, through some truly bad stuff.”  John was about to go into detail when he heard a familiar voice.

“I don’t care what he wants; you bring him up to see me!” Blair yelled at the poor desk sergeant.

“What’s the problem here?” John asked, approaching the desk.

“I informed Mr. Manning he had a visitor and he asked me who it was.  When I told him it was this woman, he refused to see her, Detective McBain.”

“John, I don’t care what that jerk wants, I want to see him and if I have to go down there myself, so help me…”

“Okay, Blair, calm down.  Take Ms. Cramer into interrogation, I’ll got get Mr. Manning.”  As Blair was led away, John noticed something missing from her finger.  He had remembered seeing it earlier, but her engagement ring was now no longer where it was.

John came down and saw Todd lying on the bottom bunk in his cell.  He hadn’t seen the other man this calm since the day he had arrested him for Victor’s murder.  “Blair’s here to see you,” he told him.

“And I told your officer I don’t want to see her,” Todd replied. 

John went and unlocked the cell, cuffs in hand.  “I don’t think the city can afford her tearing the place apart to get to you,” John said.  “Come on, Manning, I think you owe her at least an explanation.”

“And have her tell me how terrible I am?  No thanks.”   

“This isn’t a choice.”  With that, he got Todd up and put on the handcuffs.

******

Blair decided to sit and wait for Todd.  That was unusual because she was more likely to pace around a room in anticipation.  She didn’t know what she was going to say even.  Then he walked in.  John stood next to him but Blair shot him a glare and he back out of the room.

For a moment, Todd looked so much younger.  His face was smooth and his scar was much more prominent.  He had a beard and his hair was much longer.  Then she shook her head and realized she was caught up in a memory.  They were back in the interrogation room at the LPD and he had been arrested for the rape of Rebecca Lewis.  That, too, was a crime he was not guilty of.  Just like this one.  But she had to hear him say it.  “Did you do it?”

“Yeah, Blair,” he began, his voice snide.  It was his typical defense mechanism.  “I decided to attack a woman, a friend, even though I knew that you would eventually come around and see that you were living in a Delgado colored fantasy world.  I decided to rape a woman even though the very thought of that disgusts me and make me think I’m really like my old man.”

Blair let out a deep breath.  “Okay then.  I believe you.”

“So now you can go back to your assassin and wait for him, if he ever shows up.  I’m still betting he doesn’t,” Todd told her.

“I’m not going back to Tomas,” she said and reached for his scar with her left hand.

If Todd’s hands still weren’t cuffed, he would have grabbed her hand to stop her, but he couldn’t.  As she traced his scarred cheek, he closed his eyes.  Her touch always did that to him.  Then she ran the front of her fingers over the same spot and his eyes opened.  They were smooth, with nothing on them.  No engagement ring.  Their eyes connected but he blinked.  He was still looking at her when she nodded very subtly. 

“Why?”

“Because I believe in you and you were right about him.  And I was a damn fool.”  She took his head in both her hands.  “You were right, back in July.  I can’t marry one man when I love another.  Even if he can drive me mad, I know that one man better than himself.  Even if he is Tomas Delgado, I never knew him like that.”

“How do you know I won’t pull the rug out from under you again?” Todd asked.

“I don’t.”  Then she closed her eyes and when she opened them, she looked deeply into his hazel ones.  “But I’m willing to take that leap of faith.  Are you willing to do the same?”

Todd merely nodded, fearing he would crack with the emotions he was feeling.  Blair brought his lips to hers and kissed him.

Todd Manning had lied to Blair in the past.  He had lied to her with words, with actions, even sometimes with emotions.  He had never lied with his kiss.  It was always in his kiss that she knew the truth about him. 

When they parted, she saw it play over his face.  He was near tears, fearing that she would leave him, abandon him when it got rough.  She saw that and she shook her head and his in her hands.  “I’m in you corner, Todd.  I am and Starr is and Viki is.  We believe in you and we will get to the bottom of this.  I swear that to you.”  She released him and opened the door.

Before she could walk out, he turned to face her and said, “I love you.”  It was shocking how easily it slipped out of his mouth.  They had been apart for nearly a year and he had said it to her a few times in that span.  But the year previous, he had such a hard time articulating it and he had almost lost her.  Now, he wanted to reassure her as she had just done.

Blair smiled back and in a voice full of emotion, in front of John McBain and the rest of the Port Charles Police Department, she said, “I love you, too.”

John watched her go and turned back to Manning.  He was shocked to see the other man glowing with love.  It was in watching them that John began to have a tiny, nagging doubt.