CHAPTER 1
August, 2013
The envelope was marked “MS. BLAIR CRAMER AND MR. JOHN CRAMER
MANNING”. It was large and fat and was
delivered by courier service. No return
address was evident. When Blair took it
from the deliveryman, a chill ran down her spine. She took it into her room and opened it.
Inside the one large, legal-sized envelope were four smaller
ones. Two were addressed to Blair, the
large one and a smaller one.
Surprisingly, a smaller one was marked for Viki Lord and the remaining
two were addressed to Jack, one marked confidential. Blair opened the letter-sized one for her and
read it in silence.
Not surprising to her, it was from Todd.
Dear Mrs. Manning,
I’m sending you some
papers I should have had prepared before I left town, but as it was a rush job
and I had other things I needed to do that were more important, I had them done
now and sent to you. The large envelope
contains papers I had drawn up for the running of The Sun in my absence. I know you took it as an insult, but I really
think the club is a stupid idea. You
shouldn’t be tending to a small corner of Llanview, populated by kids, some
younger than our daughter. You should be
commanding an empire, one we dreamed of ruling together years ago. As such, the paper is yours while I’m
away. Then, when I do return (and I will
be, when I figure out who’s behind this mess) you and I will rule it together,
the rest of the town be damned.
I’m also sending a note
to Viki, but only give it to her if you think she should know what’s been
happening. She knows something is up and
that the excuse I gave her for leaving was bullshit. I’m sure she’ll be haranguing you for
information, if she hasn’t already. But
I also know that she’s kept secrets about me from you and you have every right
not to tell her anything. I trust you in
all things.
I have two notes for
Jack. One I’d like for you to be there
for him to read, the other is strictly confidential. If he’s open to the first one, give him the
second. If not, hold it until he is open
to it. Viki said I was getting through
to him and I hope I finally have, although I doubt it, with my sudden
exit. (What can I say? He’s definitely a chip off the old
blockhead.)
I know our marriage was
supposed to be a secret, but I get the feeling that won’t be for long. Just don’t tell Delgado. Or Dorian, for that matter. With her husband’s MIA, and her suspicious of
every breath I take, I doubt she’ll be very supportive of anything related to
you and I. And Dorian would prefer you
kill me and dump the body in the Llantano River. If you give Jack and Viki the notes, they’ll
know too, but Jack should and Viki will be there for you, more than Tea or the
Head Witch.
And burn this note when
you’ve finished reading it. I addressed
it to Mrs. Manning and I don’t want certain people under your roof to know
anything. And Dorian is liable to snoop
around and find it.
I miss you every day.
I love you,
Todd
Blair had a hard time reading the last line. The ink was getting smudged by the tear
running down her cheek and hitting the paper.
She reached for the large envelope and, as promised, it had the legal
paperwork that gave her control of The
Sun. She looked at the clock. It was too late in the day to go there and
make the announcement, so she decided to wait till the next day to take
charge. She picked up Todd’s note and
laughed a bit. He specifically told her
not to tell Tea about their marriage and her sister-in-law had been the first
person she had run to. Not that she had
actually said the words, “Todd and I got married”. Tea had deduced the sex and Blair’s silent
confession just followed, almost naturally.
And Todd had been right. Tea
hadn’t been supportive…at first. But she
replayed the memory of Tea reaching out to her at the Man of the Year dinner
after Carl Peterson’s speech about sacrifice and reassuring her that Todd would
come back. She knew Tea wasn’t even sure
if Victor would return home to her.
Blair held the other three envelopes, to Viki and her son,
when she heard Jack come into the house.
He called to her and she asked him to come into her room. When he appeared in the door, she told him to
close the door.
“I received a package today,” she informed him, holding up
the envelope. “It’s from…it’s from your
father.” She saw Jack’s intake of breath
and braced herself for his normal protestation of Victor as his father. Surprisingly, none came. She took that as a good sign. “There were a number of letters in it, as
well as legal papers giving me control of The
Sun.”
“You, running The Sun?”
came Jack’s incredulous response. He
sounded so much like Todd in that tone of voice, it made her miss her husband
even more.
“I will have you know, I’ve run it a number of times over the
years. And while pregnant, mind you,”
she retorted, making Jack break into a smile.
“There’s two notes here for you.
Todd asked that you read this one,” she handed him the small envelope,
“with me here.”
Jack looked at her hand and took it from her. He opened the envelope, took out the note
card and took a deep breath as he began to read. After a few minutes, he looked back up at his
mother. Blair grew so anxious she asked,
“What does it say?”
Jack handed the letter to his mother.
Jack,
I know you still can’t
stand me, but let me get this out first.
I love you. I haven’t said it enough to you from the
minute your mom found out she was pregnant with you. And, I’ll admit, Viki was right. I’d have loved you even if you were Holden’s
kid.
Too much time
lost. And now, so much more. But in my absence, I’m leaving you an
important job. You need to look out for
our family. Your mother, your brother,
Dani, Tea, Viki, hell, even any of your cousin who are around (okay, maybe not
Kevin). We’re all in danger. I’m trying to figure a way out of it, but
there are people that are pulling my strings and using the people that I love
to get me to do it. Your mother will
fill you in when you’re done with this.
But keep an eye out. Be wary of
anyone who comes into your orbit. Do I
sound paranoid? Good, it’s not such a
bad thing.
Also, I’ve given over
control of The Sun, in my absence, to my wife.
If this is being read with who I am hoping there, you know who I’m
talking about. And don’t get mad at
me. She insisted we get married. I was afraid, I still am afraid, of her being
in more danger because of this. Protect
her above everyone. I know she can live
without me, I just can’t live without her.
Since I’m leaving her
in control of the paper, I would love it if you would work beside her. You were
doing some great stuff, even if it was aimed at me and I want to see it
nurtured more. If you do decide to do
that, read the other note I sent you. If
not, she’s gonna hold onto it if you change your mind, she’ll give it to you.
I love you, Jack. Take care.
Your Father.
Blair looked up at her son, who was leaning against the
dresser in silence. He looked back at
her. “When was the wedding?” Jack asked
at last.
“We went down to City Hall after you and Sam left that last
day,” she answered him.
He nodded once. “Why
were you crying that night?”
“The keynote speaker was talking about the sacrifices
soldiers make, being away from their family, to protect them. Now, Todd’s about the furthest thing from a
soldier, but the analogy fit and his absences was still fresh that it upset
me.”
“Is that what you meant by secrets? That you and he got married?” Blair only nodded. Jack shook his head. “You two…you can’t stay apart from one
another, even though it always ends in disaster. Why do you keep doing that to yourselves?”
“Because we love each other.
Despite what your father said, I can’t live without him.” She patted a spot next to her on the bed and
Jack sat there. “If I hadn’t been
pregnant with your sister when we thought Todd had died in Ireland, I would
have flung myself into the ocean to be with him. Just because I have lived without him doesn’t
mean I actually can,” Blair explained.
When Jack gave her an incredulous look, she went on. “That was what I meant that night you came
home to find me in tears. That kind of
love, it’s all consuming. I hope you do
find love, maybe even that kind, but it comes with great pain too.”
Jack decided to let it drop as he took the note from her
again. “What kind of danger is he
talking about?”
That was explained over the next hour and Jack’s mind was
reeling. It sounded crazy, but then
Blair showed him copies of the notes Todd had received over the past few
months. When Blair had explained
everything, she told him about Todd’s note for Viki. “He’s left it up to me to decide if Viki
should be let in. What do you think?”
Jack was a bit stunned that he was being asked a question
like that. He’d never been let in on
secrets, much less big ones like this. A
petty part of him wanted it to remain such between him and his mother. But then he thought about the talk he’d had
with his aunt about Todd and Victor. He
knew how much she loved them both and how much she worried about them. Jack had never really noticed that closeness
between Viki and Victor, but it was very clear with Todd. “Does Aunt Viki love Todd more?”
Blair was a little surprised by the question. Her first instinct was to say no, but she
shifted through the memories of the three Lord siblings and she realized that
Todd and Victor’s relationships with Viki were very different, mostly because
they were very different. “I don’t think
it’s a matter of loving one more than the other. Todd came into Viki’s life at a time she was
going through a breakdown. When she came
out of it, Todd was there to try and help her and in helping her, she helped
him.” Blair paused for a minute to
collect her thoughts. “The night before
we got married for the second time, Todd learned what had been done to Viki
when she was a child.”
“Victor Lord molested her, right?” Jack asked.
She nodded. “Just
before we separated for the night, we had a doctor’s appointment and after
that, I told Todd I thought I was having a girl. He then dropped me off here and went on to
Llanfair to tell the family about the wedding.
He also asked Viki about his father…and Viki told him what he had done
to her.” Jack could see her mother lost
in thought. “He was horrified by it and
coupled with what he had done to Marty…He also believed that it was in him to
do the same thing to his own daughter.
He took off and no one knew where he had gone. But Viki eventually did and talked him off
the proverbial ledge. Since then, they
had a connection.”
“But Victor had his memories, right? Wouldn’t he have felt that connection too?”
Jack asked, trying to sort things out.
Blair sighed. She
could see her son trying to understand the odd family dynamics but the Lord
tree was so twisted, even she had a hard time with it. “It’s just a different relationship. I think, in her heart, Viki sensed the
differences in them and that’s why she reacts differently to them.”
Jack nodded at that.
“She’s worried about Todd more though.”
It was a statement and one that Blair couldn’t deny. As she nodded, Jack stood up. “Then I think Aunt Viki should know. I mean, I’d want Starr to know if I were in
danger, even if after she got me out of it, she never let me live it down.”
Blair stood up and hugged Jack. “I agree with that.” Then she held up the
second note for Jack. “Do you want
this?”
Jack looked at the envelope in his mother’s hand but shook
his head. “Not right now, but soon. I need…I need to think some things over.”
She understood what he
was saying and nodded to the door. “Come
on, let’s see your aunt.” With that,
they left.
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