Through the Darkness, Chapter Three

CHAPTER 3     

August, 2013

Jack had a hard time getting to sleep that night.  He hadn’t realized how much his life had changed since he’s woken up this morning.  He learned that his mother had gotten remarried, in secret, to his father and that this entire family was in danger from some mysterious organization.  He’d also been reminded that his Aunt Dorian had, at one time, been married to his reviled grandfather, and that his Aunt Viki still looked for ways to get to his Aunt Dorian (although, in truth, he was sure Aunt Dorian tried to get back at Aunt Viki too).

He paused for a minute on his grandfather.  Victor Lord, Sr., one of the most revered men in Llanview, had become, for as long as Jack had been alive, a figure of such disgust that his name was hardly mentioned.  Few dared to talk about him in Aunt Viki’s presence.  It was in the minute that, beyond his crimes, Jack realized he knew very little about the man.

Since he wasn’t getting any sleep, he got out of bed, fired up his computer and ran a search on LlanNet.  The first thing that popped up, ironically, was his obituary.  Jack decided that it would paint the most objective picture of the man.  He clicked on it and noticed it was from the 1970’s.  Of course, that was when he originally died.  (Somewhere, he’d known that Todd had met his father, which had to have happened after his twenty-fifth birthday, and that was obviously after the 1970’s.)

The obit had standard stuff.  Husband of Dr. Dorian Cramer Lord, father of Victoria, Anthony and the late Meredith, grandfather of Daniel Wolek, publisher of The Banner and owner of the grand estate, Llanfair.  But reading further, Jack hadn’t known that Victor’s own grandfather had emigrated from the coal fields of Wales or that he had self-taught himself the newspaper business.  Like father, like son, Jack thought, remembering the stories about how Todd had single-handedly turned a supermarket rag into the biggest tabloid outside of Philadelphia.  Maybe Todd had picked up a good trait of his father’s.

Jack was even further surprised to learn that Senior had been a World War Two vet and a member of the OSS.  Jack filed that away in his own memory banks. 

Eventually, there was nothing else new to be learned from the obituary and anything else to come to light about the subject wouldn’t for nearly two more decades.  Yet, he did find himself wanting to learn more.  He knew anything else would disgust him.  This was a man who had a whole other family with a woman his daughter’s age, one he’d promptly ignored.  Not to mention what he’d done to his own daughter.

The only people he could think of to talk about Victor to would be Aunt Viki and Aunt Dorian.  But Dorian, he had been able to tell earlier, didn’t want to relive that period of her life and talking about him to Aunt Viki was a dicey proposition, if history was any indication.  Jack looked at the obit again and noticed the last name Wolek.  Hadn’t there been a doctor by that last name in town for a long time?  It was something he’d have to ask his mother in the morning.

Jack turn off the computer and flopped back into the bed.  It seemed the little bit of research had paid off, as he was soon asleep.

The next morning, Jack was the last person in for breakfast.  When he turned the corner to the table, his mother gave him a smile.  “Someone must have been exhausted.  Hope all that studying is helping out.”

Jack nodded.  “Yeah, I had a productive evening, I guess you could say.”  He made it sound like he had actually been studying his summer school English.  “Is is alright if I swing by your work after class today?”  He gave his mother a knowing look.

Blair picked up on it, over the head of Dorian.  “Sure, you are always welcome to hang out with me there.”

Jack nodded and grabbed a bagel as he headed out the door. 

Dorian looked at the retreating figure.  “‘Hang out’ at the club?  Oh, darling, he should have a quiet place to study.”

“At that hour of the day, it is quiet,” Blair commented, know she wasn’t talking about Shelter.  She looked at her watch.  “I gotta go.  Jimmy’s mom will be here in a bit to pick up Sam.”  She kissed her youngest son and made her way out of LaBoulaie. 

She pointed her car in the direction of the Manning Building, ironically, in the opposite direction of the club.  When she entered, the girl at the front desk was surprised to see her.  “Ms. Cramer, what are you doing here?” she asked in a mix of confusion and rudeness.

“I need to see the editorial staff in Mr. Manning’s office as soon as possible.  Just tell them, all will be explained when we’re together,” Blair replied.

A few minutes later, she entered Todd’s office a looked around.  It still looked the same as it had under Victor and Blair was surprised by that.  She was sure he had loathed anything that showed Victor’s tastes.  But then again, she realized how little time he’d actually spent here, between the arrest and trial and the move to Port Charles. 

Wanting to not dwell on any of that, she sat down and began going through papers as the staff filed into the office.  The last one in was the Managing Editor, Charlie Briggs.  Blair smiled.  It was comforting seeing the old newsman’s face still here after nearly two decades.  When Briggs saw her, he returned the bright smile and said, “Ms. Cramer, what are you doing here?”

Blair pulled out the legal document Todd had sent the day before.  “With Todd out of town for an extended period of time and, quite frankly, with Victor also out with the authorities looking for him, “ Blair said, “Todd left me in charge of The Sun.”

A murmur ran through the room and, for a brief moment, Blair was unsure of herself.  She had taken over the paper a few times when Todd was unable to run it, but that had been years ago.  She couldn’t remember the last time she had been put in this position.  She also realized that, to a majority of the people in the room, she was sure to be seen as an interloper. 

“Look, I know a lot of you don’t know much about me.  But, to reassure everyone, I have taken the reins when needed.  I don’t claim to know everything about this business, but I am hoping that you all can help me for as long as I need to be here,” she announced.  “Also, my son Jack will be helping out as well, as an intern.  He’s tried his hand in this business and actually done quite well.”  She heard more hushed tones and held her breath, waiting for a reaction.

She shouldn’t have been surprised that it was Briggs that spoke up.  “Ms. Cramer, when you ran this place, it was at its best, save for Todd’s running it.  I have no doubt it will again.  Any help you need, you have it, from all of us.  Right, people?”

Blair let out a breath as the contingent of editors nodded in agreement.  Blair dismissed them after a word of thanks but asked Briggs to stay behind.  When the room cleared, she said, “Thank you for your support.  You have no idea what it means to me.”

“If Todd left you in charge, he knew what he was doing.  Don’t worry, whatever help you need, you have it Mrs. Man—I mean, Ms. Cramer,” Briggs corrected him.  He offered his hand and she shook it before he, too left for the newsroom.

Blair sat back down and smiled.  Old Charlie Briggs didn’t know how right he had almost been there.  She sat down and began looking over files and copy.  She hadn’t realized how long she’d been working when Jack came in.  “Oh, hey, class is done already?”

“Yeah, we had a sub in today.  He wanted to be there as much as the rest of us, so we got through the lesson quickly.  I wanted to come and see if I could help with anything,” Jack replied.

“Well, I had a staff meeting first thing this morning.  I think they were unsure of me, but Briggs instilled confidence in them,” she said.  “He almost called me Mrs. Manning.”

Jack couldn’t help but roll his eyes, but offered no verbal comment.  “Anything I can get you?”

Blair kind of expected that reaction from her son.  “Well, since you’re merely an intern here, why not go get me some coffee.  I think I’m in for a long night.”

Jack obliged and headed to the coffee shop.  As he turned to head back, he noticed Matthew Buchanan come in.  “Hey there,” he said.

He received what he assumed was the typical greeting a Buchanan not related to him gave a Manning.    Matthew’s eyes narrowed in suspicion for a brief moment.  Then, as if remembering any politeness he had, he responded, “Hi Jack.”

As Matthew moved to the counter, Jack said, “My mom and I stopped in to see Aunt Viki yesterday.  She said there’s still the seventy-two hour hold on your uncle, so Natalie wasn’t able to see him.”  Jack waited for a response, but it seemed none would come.  Then, just as he opened the door, Matthew said, “What?  No, before I left the hospital, Natalie basically ordered the guy to let her see Uncle Clint.”

Jack stopped in his track.  “That’s not what Aunt Viki told us.  And when Natalie got there, she said the same thing.”

“Well, when I left, Natalie was about to rip the hospital apart to go find him,” Matthew repeated.  “So administrator led her to the psych ward.”

That wasn’t making any sense to Jack, but he let it drop and left.  When he got back the The Sun, he found his mother still at the desk.  “Thought you got lost there,” Blair said cheerfully.

Jack put the coffee down and tried to figure out how to proceed.  He went back to the office door and locked it, before turning to Blair and saying, “Natalie’s name was on the list, right?”

Blair looked up at him immediately.  A rush of fear ran down her spine.  “Yes, her name was there.”

Jack sat down, trying to reason something in his head.  “Todd’s never liked Natalie, right?  Why would he care if she were in danger?”

Blair sat back, bringing her full attention to her son.  “I wouldn’t think it’s a matter of Todd protecting only those family members he liked.  If that were true, I’d think that list would be very short.  Like, it’d only have our names, Starr’s, Dani’s, Sam’s and Viki’s.  But whoever is after us probably knows that, even if Todd doesn’t like Natalie, she’s still Viki’s daughter.  And Todd loves his sister, if not all her children.”

“But why doesn’t Todd like Natalie?”

Blair took a deep breath, bringing those memories to the forefront.  “Todd saved Jessica’s life, even before he knew she was his niece.  Because of that, they’ve always had a unique bond.  Jessica was old enough to know Todd for what he did to Marty, but also what he did for her.  And Tina’s son, CJ, too.”

“What did Todd do?”

“There was an accident.  Marty, ironically, was behind the wheel and it nearly went over the edge.  Todd saved Jessica, CJ and Marty.  That led CJ to ask the Governor for a pardon for Todd, which was eventually granted.  And, it was several months later that CJ found out the man who saved him was his uncle,” Blair explained.  “It took Jessica a little while longer to warm up to Todd, but once they did, they had a solid relationship.  Todd helped Jessica out of a few problems over the years.”  At that, she smiled at the memory of seeing Todd outside the bar in Cincinnati.  Then her eyes went back to her son.  “But when Natalie announced that she was Clint and Viki’s daughter, Todd didn’t handle it well.  He’s always thought of her as an interloper.”

“Well, he seemed to care enough about her to let her know about McPain’s new girl,” Jack said.

Blair stood up and went to another table.  “Don’t think that was for Natalie’s benefit.  He did that to go after John, for arresting him when we were…together.”

“For a murder that didn’t actually happen,” Jack mumbled under his breath.  But before Blair could comment, Jack said, “I saw Matthew when I went to get coffee.  He told me something that doesn’t make sense.  Now, Aunt Viki and Natalie both said she wasn’t allowed to see her father, right?”  Blair nodded to that.  “But when I mentioned that to Matthew, he said that Natalie insisted on seeing him and was taken down to do that.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Blair said.  “And Matthew was sure Natalie was taken to see him?”  Jack nodded as Blair went to her office phone.  “Briggs, do we have anyone on the Clint Buchanan breakdown story?”

The fluttered voice came over the intercom.  “Yeah, but I’d think we’d take a measure of discretion with it.  I mean, he’s supposed to marry Ms. Lord, right?”

A wicked smile flashed on Blair’s face, unseen by the editor, but noticed by her son.  “When has Todd ever given discretion to the Buchanans, even to those that are related to him?”

A loud sigh could be heard.  “That’s true,” Briggs admitted sadly.  “I’ll have our guy look into it further.  See if he can dig up any sources at the hospital.”  With that, the connection ended.

Blair’s eyes beamed at Jack.  “You may have broken a big story…and taken a step to help the family.”

“Should we let Aunt Viki know about this…discrepancy?  Maybe, as the mother of his kids, she can get more information,” Jack suggested. 

Blair understood the sentiment, but she wanted to involve Viki as little as possible.  “Why don’t we wait to see what turns up.”

Jack wasn’t sure that was the right idea, but reluctantly agreed.  He had a bad feeling Natalie and Matthew’s contradictory stories spelled bad news for everyone else.  Then, he remembered something.  “Does the name Daniel Wolek ring a bell with you?”

Blair thought about it for a moment.  “Not a Daniel, but Larry Wolek was the chief of staff at Llanview Hospital for a lot of years.”  Then, as if a lightbulb went off, she added, “I think Daniel may be his son.  Why?”

Jack let out a breath.  “Last night, I couldn’t sleep, so I looked up Victor Lord’s obituary.  It mentioned a grandson, Daniel Wolek.”

Blair nodded, remembering more.  “He was.  Daniel’s mother was your aunt, Meredith.  But she died, I think before Dorian was even married to the old man.”

“Is Dr. Wolek still around?” Jack asked.  “It’s just, I have questions…about…”  Jack looked unsure of what to say.  “I don’t want to ask Aunt Dorian or Aunt Viki.  Those memories are too painful and I just…”

Blair understood.  “Even though he retired as chief of staff, I think he still has an office at the hospital.”

Jack nodded and got up.  “If you don’t need me, I think I’ll go see if he’s there.  See if he has any answers.”  When his mother acknowledged his departure, he left.  He hoped Larry Wolek would have answers to the questions he really didn’t want to ask anyone else.