Through the Darkness, Chapter Twenty Six

CHAPTER 26

August, 2013

Blair could not believe what she was reading.  Could Dorian have known that Pellegrino was a fraud and set up Viki for a fall?  It seemed too over the top, even for Dorian.  She was ready to go to La Boualie and confront her aunt then and there.  But Todd’s words shocked her.  “We have more important things to deal with besides Dorian’s unending vendetta.”

Jack eyes widened at his father’s words.  “I thought you’d be the first in line to tear Dorian a new one.”

“And I would be,” Todd assured him, “if some mysterious organization wasn’t gunning for my family.”  He looked from Blair to Jack and back.  “But right now, all of our safety is my main concern.  The Banner is at least on some steady footing.  I think I will have a talk with Cord, though and see if I need to funnel money into if it gets destabilized again.”  He remembered very clearly how Viki had reminded him The Banner was also his legacy as well.  He had actually thought about giving her the monetary support at the time, but his unplanned stop at the hospital, courtesy of Victor, knocked it out of his mind.  “This stays between the three of us,” he added.

“I think we should at least tell Starr,” Blair responded.  She knew Starr was still the intuitive girl who wouldn’t let anything go until she figured it out.  Blair caught Todd’s look and he nodded in agreement.

A knock at the door sounded and in walked their daughter with Sam and a bed tray.  “Sam made a bowl of soup for you, Dad,” Starr called in.

Todd had been on the bed, his knee propped on a pillow and Starr gently put the tray on the bed.  Blair watched at Todd took a whiff of the food.  “Yum, smells great.  Thanks, Sam,” he said.

“It’s what Mom always gives me when I’m not feeling so good,” her son told his uncle.

Between mouthfuls of the soup, Todd caught up with his kids.  He inquired more about how they had been doing in his absence.  Then Todd turned to Jack.  “How in the world did Nick Jobek even get mixed up in all this?”

Jack smiled as he explained the trip to Chicago and meeting the cop.  He told him how the other man recognized Todd’s name immediately and confirmed it when he saw Todd’s picture.  “It was kind of weird.  Your past, before you came to Llanview, it’s never really talked about.”

“That’s because I don’t…I don’t like to remember it,” Todd said honestly.

“Why not?” Sam asked innocently.

Todd turned to the little boy.  “I didn’t have a very happy childhood.  I didn’t know I was adopted, that I had sisters or even a twin brother.  The man who raised me…he wasn’t very nice to me.”  Todd didn’t want to use Peter Manning as an excuse for his bad years, but at the same time, he also came to believe that Peter’s skewed views put Todd on the dark path he was on in his early twenties. 

“Do you think you’d have liked to have had a brother or sister to play with?” Sam asked him.  “I know I do, even if they older than me.”

Todd thought about that question.  He’d often wondered what his life would have been like had he (and Victor, to be honest) been raised in the house they were all now in.  Sure, Victor Lord at times made Peter Manning look like a saint, but he also felt that he may not have had many years with Victor anyway.  And Viki had kids his age, so he would have grown up with them, as well as with Viki’s love.  But he’d also have, in theory, grown up with Tina and Kevin and Joey.  Thinking it through, he came to see the tradeoff may have been worth it.  “Yeah, Sam, I think I would have liked to have had my brother and sisters around when I was your age.”

“Even Tina?” Blair asked, reading his mind.

Todd gave her a scowl, but chose not to answer her in any way verbal.  He then went back to Jack point.  “But I am glad to see Nick anyway.”

“And you have more time to catch up with him tomorrow,” Blair said, “when he comes to talk to you about the case.” 

Todd actually thought he might enjoy talking to a cop for once.

The family talked some more and then Sam ran off to find Bree.  Starr was about to leave when Blair stopped her.  “We need to talk about something and we can now that Sam’s not here.”

She could see Starr get nervous.  “What’s wrong?”

Todd pulled out the Pellegrino file and explained what it looked like to him.  Starr was just as shocked as the rest of them, but swore herself to silence about it.  She and Jack also left the bedroom, but passed Viki, who was look for Todd. 

Blair smiled as she saw Todd’s sister poke her head in.  “Is it okay to come and see you?”

“Your house, Viki.  I’m not stopping you,” Todd answered in his typical sardonic tone.

Viki, as usual, let it roll off her back.  “But your room and I do believe in the right of privacy,” she replied.  She looked at Blair and Blair detected the meaning of the look.  She excused herself and left the room.

Todd got the feeling he was in for a long talk.  “What’s up, sis?” he asked.

“I just wanted to come and check on you,” she answered.

“I’m fine, just happy to be home, in one piece, and see that everyone here still is, more or less,” Todd said.  “How’s everything going with The Banner?”

Viki’s eyebrows shot up.  “I’m surprised to hear your concern,” she said.

“Well, I know how worried you’ve been about it.  Has the situation changed since I’ve been gone?”

“No, but it’s not as dire as it was before.  Clint gave me the $5 million and I’ve decided to keep it.  But it’s merely a band-aid on a gunshot wound,” was her replied, patting his injured leg.  “I just wish I’d looked at Pellegrino more carefully.  It made a bad situation worse on all sides.”

Todd grimaced but she didn’t seem to notice.  “Well, look, if it gets any worse, let me know,” he told her.

“Oh, no, Todd.  I only took Clint’s money because it was already there.  I will not--” she began.

He pointed his finger at her.  “You’re the one who told me The Banner was my legacy as well.  If you need help, I want to know.”

She gave him a loving smile.  “Well, for now, the Buchanan money is helping.  And, the digital edition is alleviating some of the pressure on the print side.  Jeffrey King has been a wonder with the new technology.  I really feel so blessed to have his help.”  It was then that Viki noticed Todd’s look.  “You don’t like Jeffrey?”

“Well, the way you go on about how wonderful he is and how proud you are about him…I feel…feel like that was how you used to talk about me,” Todd said, playing up the puppy look that always seemed to turn her to mush.

Viki came over to the side of the bed and kiss the top of his head.  “Jeffrey is a wonderful addition to The Banner.  But he’s no replacement for my brothers, either of them.” 

“You ever wonder,” Todd began, “what life would have been like if you’d known about Irene’s kids?  If, in some way, we’d been raised here all along?”

A shadow fell across Viki’s face.  “What brought that up?” she asked.

“Something Sam asked me about, if I’d have wanted brothers and sisters when I was a kid,” Todd told her.  “It’s just something that’s always played in the back of my mind.”

“Well, if you had been raised here, you’d probably been better friends with Kevin,” Viki reminded him, then chuckled at his typical reaction to her son.  “But, at the same time, I don’t want to think of the damage Father would have done to you or Victor or Tina.”

Todd was still amazed at the strength Viki had always shown when confronted with their father’s crimes against her.  He knew how shattering it had been to her but, through it all, she still felt some obligation to rise above it and carry on those good aspects of the Lord legacy.

Without another word, she stood up again.  “Now, I have to get dinner on the table for everyone else.  I’ll check in on you later.”  She left the room and was a bit startled to see Jack in the hallway.  “Jack, I didn’t see you there.”

“Sorry to scare you, but I heard you mention Jeffrey King.  Where did you meet him?” her nephew asked.

“Well, he was the one who gave me the story on Dorian.  He also knew Dani and Matthew from when they were in school in London,” Viki answered.    

    

“So, that was the connection?  It just seems kind of weird that he just showed up with this story and handed it to you,” Jack said, his mind factoring in the new information.

Viki smiled at him the way she often smiled when Todd was getting worked up about something.  “My my, you are sounding more and more like your father.”

Jack smiled back.  “Thank you,” he said accepting the compliment as he went in to see his father.  He closed the door behind him.

“Hey, Jack, has anyone been checking in on The Sun?” Todd asked when he came in.

“We’ve all been a bit preoccupied,” Jack admitted, “but from what I saw before the last few days, Mom had everything under control over there.  I think Briggs was happy to have her back, even.”

Todd smiled at that.  “Briggs always did like your mother.  God knows she kept the paper going through a lot of my issues.”

“Dad,” Jack began as he saw the grin on his father’s face.  His train of thought forgotten momentarily, he asked, “Why are you looking at me that way?”

Todd shook his head.  “I just, I never thought I’d hear you call me that,” he answered. 

Jack didn’t know how to respond to that, but he continued with what he had been asking.  “You know anything about this Jeffrey King?”

Todd looked a Jack closely.  “Why do you ask that?”

He shrugged.  “I don’t know, it’s just sort of weird.  He hands her this big story and it’s saving the paper.  I mean, it’s not like The Banner is The Washington Post or anything.”

Todd smiled at Jack again, one bursting with pride.  “You know, if you were any other kid, I’d be worried about your paranoia,” Todd said to him.  “But, you’re a Manning.  We tend to err on the side of paranoia.  You want to look into this guy, be my guest.  I find something off about him myself.”

Jack returned the conspiratorial smile.