Through the Darkness, Chapter Twenty Nine

CHAPTER 29

August, 2013

Todd had just gotten off the phone with the realtor when it rang again.  He looked at it and took a deep breath as he answered, “Hey sis, what’s up?”

“Todd, I just wanted to see if you were going to be home for dinner tonight, you and your family,” Viki said on the other end.

“Well, I was going to take care of a little business, actually.  Why do you ask?”

“Well, I wanted to have a family dinner tonight.  I spoke to Victor and he and Tea will be coming over.  I was hoping you all could make it,” his sister said.  “I know how you feel about these kinds of things, but we’ve never all sat down together and the next few weeks will be rough on Victor…”

Todd rolled his eyes.  He knew his sister was trying to appeal to what she thought was his better nature.  While his first reaction to such an event was to complain and whine, he figured it would be a good time to tell her about the Manning Family move.  “Sure, we’ll be there,” he said.

He could almost see the smile on her face as she answered, “Oh, that will be lovely.  I’ll see you later.”

As Blair came down the stairs, she said, “I cannot believe how different this place looks.  And yet…”

“And yet, it feels like it once was?” Todd asked her, a smile creeping on his face.

Blair smiled back at him.  “Yeah, it does.  And with a few interior decorating changes, it will be perfect.”  She wrapped her arms around his neck and he pulled her closer to him.  “Know what I feel like?”

“Blair,” he moaned, “the kids are here.”

She leaned in and kissed him.  “Maybe later for that.  Right now, I think we should order Chinese food and camp out here.”

Todd loved the sound of that idea, but winced.  “Viki called while you were all looking around,” he said.  “She wants a ‘family dinner’ with all my big dysfunctional family there.  I kinda said we’d be there.”  Then he stepped back and reached for his phone.  “But if that’s what you want, I can tell her to forget it.”

Blair shook her head.  “No no, it’s fine.  I think having the family around will do her good.  I know she’s still worried about Clint, the paper and now, even that you and Victor are back, she’s still concerned.  We’ll go.”

“And tell her we’re moving out.”

“I think we can stay a little longer.  We haven’t even closed here, we need to get the decorators in and get this place in shape and then, we’ll leave Llanfair,” Blair said to him.

Todd saw the logic in points but hated them anyway, with what she had just suggested.  Turning to the stairs he called the kids down and they headed back to Llanfair, after dropping Blair back for her car.  When they arrived at the Lord estate, Todd noticed Tea’s car was already there.  Upon entering, he saw Victor with Brody and Jessica talking in a corner of the library, while Tea was with Viki.  He walked over to his ex-wife.  “Can we talk for a minute?”

Viki excused herself and Tea turned to Todd as he began, “What’s the story with Dani’s ‘friend’, Arturo Bandini?”

Tea’s eyes grew wide and then shifted over to her husband.  She noticed Blair walk in and tugged Todd into the dining room.  “You saw her with him?”

Todd nodded.  “Yeah, I had lunch with Blair and the kids at the Palace and Renee tipped me off that she was there with him.  He’s kinda…old for her.  I’ve also been informed that he was involved with the woman who gave her the drugs?”

Tea looked to be on the verge of a meltdown.  “I…I don’t know.  He sounded like he was the girl’s sugar daddy.  I tried to talk to her, but she’s…she’s not listening to me.”

“Well, I tried to talk to her and she thinks you sent me,” Todd told her.  “Look, I’m going to have one of my guys look into him.  We may be panicking over nothing.”

Tea glared at him.  “You’re handling this way too well.”

“Yeah, well,” Todd answered with a heaved sigh, “Blair had to talk me down.  Speaking of spouses, have you told Victor?”

Tea shook her head.  “And I don’t think we should.  He’s under a lot of stress lately and I don’t know how he’ll react.”

That peeked Todd’s curiosity.  “How has Victor been reacting to stress?”

Tea seemed to realize she’d said the wrong thing.  “He’s fine, it’s just…look, he didn’t take most of the conversations you had with him well,” she said sharply.  “Let me handle my husband.”  With that, she turned and left.

Todd went back into the library.  He was about to go looking for Blair when he heard Natalie calling his name.  He rolled his eyes as he turned to her.  “What’s your problem?”

“What’s your friend like?” Natalie asked him.

“My friend?” Todd replied, playing dumb.

“Yes, Nick Jobek.  Remember, the high school football buddy.” His redheaded niece rolled her eyes at him When Todd continued with his act, she walked away, leaving Todd smirking.  Blair found him there.  “What’s so funny?”

“Oh, I just realize how much fun I could have with a Nick and Nat relationship,” Todd said.  “Hey, I talked to Tea about Dani and Arturo and we decided to keep it from Victor.  She said that he hasn’t been dealing with stress well lately.  You know anything about that?”

Blair shook her head.  “No, I don’t know what she means,” she said as Viki called the family in to eat.

It was relatively peaceful, much to Todd’s surprise.  He decided that, instead of tormenting his niece on the subject of his high school buddy, he’d just wind up her son and his cousin Ryder.  Jessica noted how Todd still had it with with younger children.  She went on to tell Jack and Sam about her encounters with Todd before and after they all learned he was their uncle.

There’s was a clinking of utensils on glass and everyone’s attention turned to Victor.  “I’m actually glad we’re all here, because Tea and I have an announcement.”  He looked down and took Tea’s hand.  “Tea found out that’s she’s pregnant.”  A flurry of congratulation went around the table and Victor and Tea took them all in. 

Todd leaned into Blair.  “Now I think I know what she meant by stress,” he whispered to Blair’s nod.  Then he turned to his brother.  He stood up and shook his hand.  “I wish you all the best,” Todd told him, but he was unable to look at Tea.

Victor looked to him.  “We…we need to have a talk.  I want to know, from you, what happened.”

Todd was about to argue that when there was a loud crash heard coming from the library.  “What in the world?” Viki asked as she got up from the table, followed by the rest of the family.  They all got to the library and found the French doors wide open.  Cord walked over, followed by Todd, Jack and Victor and they all found Clint passed out on the floor. 

“What in the hell?” Cord  whispered as he bent down. 

Victor looked for a pulse.  “Call 911.”

Viki came in and saw Clint on the floor.  “Oh, my goodness!  Clint!” she cried out.  “Is he conscious?”

Victor looked up to her and nodded.  Just then, Todd called out, “The ambulance is on its way, which means Bo probably is too.”

Natalie spoke up.  “I’ll call Uncle Bo and tell him to meet us at the hospital.”

Viki looked to Jessica.  “You girls go to the hospital with Cord,” she said. 

The EMTs arrived and Cord went with them, with Tina, Jessica and Natalie following behind.  When they all left, Todd and Victor went over to Viki.  “Don’t you want to go?” Victor asked.

“Someone needs to stay here with the children,” Viki replied, indicating to the upstairs where Liam, Ryder and Bree were.

“We can stay here with them,” Blair offered, pointing between herself and Tea.

“He’s not my problem anymore.  His children are there for him, I’m not needed,” Viki said as she sat on the couch.

Todd went and sat by them.  “You don’t believe that,” he told her.  “I know you said to me that you and he were over.  That was BS, you know that?”  Viki looked at him, her face beginning to crumble.  “You’re about as over him as I am over Blair.  Come on, I’ll go to the hospital with you.”

“And I’ll go too.  We still have some mysteries to solve about Clint. I think we should talk to Larry about them,” Victor added.

Todd looked from Victor to Viki and offered her his hand.  Viki sighed as she got up.  “Thank you.  I know both of your opinions about Clint in particular and the Buchanans in general.”

“He makes you happy.  That’s all that should matter,” Victor said, with Todd nodding in agreement.  With that, the siblings left.