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| Coraline, Baxter & a surprise guest |
The smell of fresh cut roses filled the morning air inside a little parlor of a cottage in town where Coraline Taylor carefully fixed up a bouquet for a center table. Her hands were shaking. She felt the nervous tightening of her stomach muscles as she heard an upstairs bedroom door open and her brother, the conniving Welshport Globe reporter Baxter Murphy, came down and into the parlor.
He was hungry, but not for breakfast, but for Coraline's Lord family intel.
He, with the help of a trusted ex-romantic liaison, had purposefully set Cora up as Gabriel's nanny and teacher so that she could secretly gather sensitive information on the most powerful and wealthiest family in northern New England. Baxter's motives were for fame and fortune for writing a future salacious expose on the Lords, the ex-lover too had their own animus in reasoning.
"Hey! You're here!" Baxter noted realizing that if she was home, she must have had something to spill. "What've you got for me?" He added as he sat on the sofa while buttoning one of his cufflinks.
"What do you mean?" She replied coyly as she fiddled with the roses.
He cleared his throat noticing the way she was trying to avert telling him what she knew and saw the night before at Tirymor House, a tactic he recognized from their youth when she was confronted as a child for her bad behavior by their late parents.
"You said you had something for me about the Lords. So? Spill it." He pushed.
"Bax.... listen, I don't know if we should do this after all." Coraline said fluffing the roses with her hands as the guilt of what they were doing filled her body like the water in the vase in front of her.
"What? What do you mean? We agreed that this is what we needed to do to get out of this dump town. With the money I'd make from the article I'd wright or even the blackmail we'd could pull would get us to New York by Christmas. Cora, we agreed."
"I don't know how I'll be able to sleep at night knowing that I'm going over there to help that little boy learn to communicate with his family all the while gathering up what I see and hear there and report it back to you. Gabriel has suffered enough; I can’t be a part of ruining his family for a quick pay day." She replied as she turned from the roses to face her brother.
"Gabriel has suffered. He's not even two years old yet, he doesn't know his nose from a toy ball. He'd never know you had anything to do with this. Actually sis, you’re doing him a favor by exposing his rotten family." Baxter said quickly jumping to his feet.
"I don't know." She replied as he walked over to her and put both hands on her shoulders.
"Look at me," he said. Their eyes meeting in the bright morning sun-lit room. "This is going to happen whether you help me or not. I can find anyone else to do this, I really can. There a hundred people in this town that'd kill to get in on this for a 'quick pay day'. but with you helping me do this, we can control what is said and what is not said about them and we keep the cash in the family. If there's something you don't think I should put in an article when it’s all said and done, I won't. So... go on what’s new at Tirymor."
Coraline took a breath as Baxter picked up an apple to munch on. She wanted to trust her brother. He was her only family left. He was the only family she had really ever known, as their parents both died before she had turned 10.
Their relationship was close, he was 7 years older than her and raised her from the age of 10. Coraline was a child that came to the Baxter family when she was just a small baby; adopted at a few weeks old. She had already had her name; the Murphy's were told she was called Coraline.
Her adopted parents John Murphy and Gina Taylor-Murphy, never looked back, took her in and loved her from day one. The little daughter they had always wanted. Baxter too was incredibly fond of her but had always wanted to know where she came from; his investigative obsessions starting at an early age. In secret, he had searched and discovered her family. Never telling Cora.
The truth, Baxter believed, would be too much for Coraline. It would be too drastic a change to find out where she really came from and how far she had traveled. Instead, Baxter chose to keep it to himself, raise her after their last parent passed away and in time, perhaps, use this knowledge to his advantage.
Like now.
Baxter's eyes softened waiting for his little sister to say what she had learned over night and he bit into the ruby red apple.
"It's about Evie Lord." She began.
"What about her? Let me guess…Did she have some kind of secret debt before she died? A lover? What?" He prodded.
She took a breath before saying it "She's alive Baxter. She is actually alive." Coraline answered to Baxter's gasp. "Something bizarre happened the night she supposedly died. Something was miscalculated with some medication Nikolas gave her or a nurse or something and the medication made her appear dead. They buried her, Bax, they buried her alive and no one knew."
"Oh my god." The reported replied, stunned and gleeful.
"That little boy's mother has was in a grave six feet underground suffering, and when she came back to the house, Gabriel wasn't even hers anymore. Not legally anyway. Jacob and Celeste filed papers with the court to take custody of him."
"Yes, I know." Baxter said again, his mind racing on how he could weave this news into a story. "But how did she get out of the grave? She dug herself out?"
"No, she said Sebastian saved her. How do you know Celeste and Jacob filed those papers?" She asked, circling back to his confirmation.
"Sebastian??? What are you talking about? Sebastian died too!" Baxter shouted. But there was a pause in the Cora's response. "DIDN'T HE????" Baxter shouted gain seeing the story was going into a place he never knew.
She was silent and only stared at him with a look that signaled she was unsure.
Baxter pushed for answers. "Cora...?!?"
"Of course!" She shot back, suddenly coming out of the trans. "Of course he died!" She stammered. "We all know he died in a fire at Rebecca's family's home in the forest. Evie was hallucinating Baxter. She had to have been. She must have dug herself out. She came in covered in dirt. Her fingernails are ripped to nubs. She was scratched and bruised. No one saved her but herself." Cora said, still with a lingering thought that Evie said what she said and seemed very sure of Sebastian saving her.
"Evie doesn't seem the type of woman to make something like that up, if she saw Sebastian, maybe she was telling the truth." Baxter added.
Cora rolled her eyes finally showing some frustration with the whole topic "She hallucinated. Lack of oxygen and all that."
"No. No, no, no. This is it. This is what I've been saying for years now. They're hiding something, sis, they're hiding something about Sebastian that we just don't know. It's always been about him, don't you see? How many times did that man go missing and that family came out with some ridiculous explanation: He was kidnapped, he was sick, he died in a fire... whatever. Now their golden girl Evie gets buried alive and suddenly he comes to save the day? She wouldn't make it up."
"A hallucination is not something made up. She really thought she saw him..." Cora began before Baxter interrupted.
"Maybe she did. Sebatian's life was never the same again after his supposed kidnapping at his wedding three years ago. They're hiding something about him, but what? What could it be? I'm finally going to be the one to expose it once and for all." The reporter replied.
"Listen to me, if you go up against the Lord's you may live to regret it. It's too dangerous." His younger sister added then followed up with something Baxter had mentioned "Wait, how did you know about the court filings for Gabriel's guardianship before I told you?" Coraline asked, her voice growing more and more impatient.
Then, there was a knock at the door. Baxter did not answer her as he quickly left the parlor, Coraline close behind, and opened it to reveal his Baxter ex, and his scheming cohort in the plot to take down the Lords: Lear Lockwood.
"You're just in time." Baxter said to his ex-lover.
Lear did not say a word and entered the house.
"What's Lear doing here?" Coraline asked, knowing he the one who not only got her the job the Lords but was also the lawyer who helped Celeste and Jacob.
Baxter sighed "Cora? Why are you acting like this is all new to you?"
"Morning Cora." Lear said.
"New to me?" She asked confused. "What do you mean?"
"Coraline, think about it." Lear answered her. "We're in this together. Every time you're working at Tirymor, I'm there. Conveniently." He confirmed with a hint of sarcasm as he turned to Baxter. "I was there too--- I heard what Evie said about Sebastian. There's no doubt in my mind -- they're hiding something about my dear cousin."
"Lear has his own reasons for wanting to smear his aunt Rebecca and her family." Baxter revealed. "And together we've been planning something like this for a very long time." Baxter confirmed
It was true, since they day Lear and Baxter met, they had created a very close alliance that would soon build into something more. The two fell in love when Lear was just a young law-student and Baxter studied Journalism at the University of Massachusetts in Salem. Thier's was a secret love that they kept close to their hearts, but Baxter's younger sister Coraline knew. And she only wanted what was best for her brother. Even if to her their love felt dangerous.
Those days were long gone. Lear and Baxter fell out of love years ago but remained very good friends and co-conspirators. Their passion for getting the dirt on the Lord family was much more powerful and was probably the backbone of their relationship to begin with. An unhealthy connection at best.
"Wait...Lear? You've been behind this too? You both planned on having me go there and get information for you together?" She asked.
They both nodded. "We didn't know in what capacity we'd get you in at Tirymor, but Gabriel's hearing loss and your knowledge and singing ability was a most fortunate coincidence. We had to act fast. Listen, I know you must feel used but don't. Once we expose this family for the corrupt and dangerous people they are it'll benefit you too." Lear answered.
"No. I don't want any part in this anymore. I just told Baxter that I think it's wrong. We can't just decide who are the good people and who are the bad people and who's family secrets are up for grabs to publish and use as some kind of ransom. It's wrong!"
"Even when they're your own secrets to tell?" Lear asked as Baxter quickly yanked on Lear's coat sleeve signaling he was saying too much.
"Mine?" She replied.
Baxter nudged Lear to keep quiet and stammered to correct him.
"Umm...Lear only means that you were at the house when Evie came home and said what she said about being buried alive. You experienced it, so you have all the right in the world to talk about what you say and what you heard freely. The Lord's don't own your experiences." Baxter replied.
"But it's wrong. I'm seeing out their personal tragedies."
Lear looked at Baxter a lifted a brow then turned back to Coraline. "You are either in or out, Cora. We can't have any floundering. Like I said, this will eventually affect you too."
"How?" She asked.
"Just that.... because …uh….you and I are a team." He stammered again. "Whatever I make from this deal, you make. I take care of you; you take care of me." Baxter said.
Coraline didn't know what to do. She hated what she was doing. She had grown so fond of little Gabriel that the thought of her being part of something that might blow up his entire family life even more than it already had sickened her, but she knew that she had stepped in too far. No matter what she did, no matter how much she pushed back, Baxter would always convince her that they were doing the best for themselves and that in the end, it would work out better for everyone involved.
Exposing the truth of a family with that much power and that much money as corrupt liars who took advantage of their community with their wealth and influences over judges, political kingpins, royalty, the media in which they controlled would serve everyone for the best -- especially Baxter who'd certainly gain a fortune for his expose, and Lear who had many, many years of hurt and betrayal at the hands of his Lord cousins to contend with.
"I have to get to Tirymor, I'm late." Coraline said, essentially locking herself back into the plot.
"Take good notes sis." Baxter said with a vicious grin.
Coraline narrowed her eyes, grabbed her coat and rushed out of their shared cottage in town.
Lear turned and looked at his Ex and current co-conspirator and took a deep breath.
"How long before we tell her?" Lear asked. "I don't know if I can keep letting her go to Tirymor without her knowing everything. She deserves the truth too."
Baxter scoffed "Don't get soft on me, this was your idea in the first place. We'll tell her everything when the time is right." Baxter answered.
"She'll have to know soon; I can see her cracking already, it's killing me." Lear replied.
"Listen, Cora's in the right place at the right time. Once it's all out in the open and she sees why we did it, it'll be fine. I've known her my whole life, don't worry. Just think of it as an added plus to what we're already doing to the Rebecca's family, this way, she'll know exactly what kind of people they are and what they're capable of."
Lear rolled his eyes "My father told me that Rebecca took everything from my him and left us destitute. Broken. She hoarded all of the Lockwood money and paid people off to make sure he didn't get a cent of this inheritance, inheritance he deserved just as much as she did. My father died incredibly broken-hearted and she didn't even come to his funeral, so yes, I would love to rub salt in that witch's wounds and expose more of my family's monsters. But I'm worried that its at the expense of Cora and what we've learned about her will backfire. I've learned that the hard way -- cross Rebecca's family and she attacks. We have to be strategic, here."
"This is the Lear I fell in love with. Strategic and calculating...always looking out for number one... the problem is, me trying to figure out who in your mind is number one." Baxter joked, as Lear's cold side showed a little more.
Hearing that made Lear feel sick. He wasn't truly a terrible person, not like Baxter. But he wanted to send a message to the Lords once everything came out that his father's death has finally seen some kind of justice once the Lords were put in their place, by him, their own cousin. Having his cruel ex Baxter try and make them look the same, as if they were both doing this for the same reasons made him feel sick to his stomach, but not enough to pull the plug.
"You fell in love with the idea that you could get close to the Lords through me when you found out I was related to them, and of course you were right, but that'll be over soon once it's all done." Lear reminded his ex of their long broken-off relationship.
Baxter shrugged and poured himself a small cup of coffee that Coraline had left in a kettle on the table in the parlor.
"She'll have to know you know about everything soon." Lear repeated about Coraline feeling as if he made a deal with the Devil at Coraline's expense.
"I said be patient." Baxter charged.
"She'll have to know." Lear insisted again as he inched his way to the front door.
Baxter took a sip of his coffee and lifted a brow. "Not until I'm ready. We'll keep what we know about her in our back pockets until the time is right and if it is necessary."
Lear nodded and pulled out a large envelope hidden inside his coat. "Good. So you'll show her these." He added tossing the envelope on the table. "That's why I came. I finally got them."
Lear got up from the sofa with his coffee in hand and walked over to the table in the foyer where Lear was. The envelope Lear had with him, the whole reason for his visit had a label on it marked Coraline T. Murphy.
"Keep it safe." Lear said and left the house.
Baxter took the envelope and held it tightly to his side and realized time was ticking on the truth for Coraline.
****
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| Genevieve & Christopher discuss a plan |
Morning in Maine meant late afternoon in London. Geneveive Thorne did not come back to Chrsitopher's flat that morning. In fact he hadn't heard from her since the night she left promising more was to come with her idea to get justice for both the dead Sabrina and the presumed dead David.
In truth, he'd not slept well. He had horrible dreams again. He tossed and turned and worried all night and that allowing Geneveive into his world might have been a giant mistake and were the cause of his many sleepless night before.
As Christopher packed a sea-bag headed out for an evening trip on the River Thames to catch his dinner and maybe extra fish to sell, there was a knock on his door. Through the frosted glass of the window in the door, he could see the shapely figure of a woman.
He paused unsure of it was Genevieve or someone else. He shook his paranoia off and opened the door to find that it was indeed the beautiful raven-haired Genevieve.
"Good evening." She said as she took a step closer in his doorframe, but he blocked her.
"Hi." Christopher replied.
She looked around confused "May I come in?"
"I don't know." he said with a worried tone in his voice.
"What is it?" She asked. "What's the matter?"
"I can't shake this feeling that's been nagging me all night since you left and all day today. I don't think I want any part in whatever you're planning for this Jacob person." Christopher said.
"But you don't know what I am planning, this partnership could save lives. Please let me in and we can talk about everything." Genevieve said.
Christopher took a breath and stepped aside allowed her to enter his tiny London flat feeling as if he'd just gone against his better judgement.
"So, go on, tell me, what has you spooked?" She asked.
He rolled his eyes. "That's not funny."
She sighed, "Christopher, I'm not making jokes, now, please tell me what's the matter. I want to be able to explain everything to you, but you have to tell me what your apprehensions are. Last night when I left you seemed like you were eager and ready to help us but now something has changed."
She was right something had changed, actually, the change was something that had been happening to Chrisopher every since he came to London: his dreams.
All his time in London, Christopher had dreams of things he did not understand. They were visceral and vivid dreams that showed him in a place he did not recognize. He had these dreams for years since he came to London but had never really thought anything of them until the one had last night after Genevieve had left.
In this dream, Christopher was again in a place he did not recognize, inside a giant stone crafted mansion in a foggy forest. He walked around the lower floor of the mansion and as he walked down the red carpeted hallways he passed several mirrors. He saw his own reflection just like he had in similar dreams.
But this time there was a difference.
In the reflection he saw himself in double form. The double of himself stood off to his side but did not mimic him, in fact his double was not even dressed them same as him. Christopher remembers turning to his own reflection and they faced each other almost nose to nose.
Only two words were exchanged, the double of Christopher said to him in a deep unfamiliar voice that was not his own saying "Help her."
"What's making you like this Christopher? Tell me?" Genevieve asked.
"I'm worried about what you said. The story you told me. I'm worried that it's all true." Christopher confessed.
"Because it is all true. And that's why I need you." Geneveive said as she stepped close to him grabbing his shirt with both hands and pulling him close. "I can't do this without you."
"People can get hurt." He said.
"You're right. But the people who'll get hurt by my plan deserve it." She replied.
"How? How will they get hurt?" Christopher wondered.
"Jacob Lord deserves to feel the pain he caused David and Sabrina. Sabrina's life was snuffed out by that monster's hands and he tried to make David pay for his crime causing David ... well, end things for himself. If you return with me, we can do something that would send Jacob on such a tailspin he'd fall on his own sick sword." Geneveive explained, leaving part of it to Chrsitopher's imagination.
"On his own sword? You mean you intend for him to hurt himself?'
Genevieve's eyes narrowed, she lifted a brow and a coldness fall into the room. She took a breath and when she exhaled a white puff of breath came out of each of her nostrils.
Christopher felt the cold too -- odd because his home was warmed by the fire right next to him.
It was Sabrina's presence showing herself inside of Genevieve. The ghost of the woman who's life had been taken by Jacob and now dwelled inside Genevieve was there and now speaking through her host's body.
"I intend for Jacob to take his own medicine. What he's done can no longer be left to the universe to solve." She said, then she looked deep into Christopher's eyes. "Please. Please help me."
He stood there and saw her face soften from the hardness it showed when she spoke of Jacob. She truly needed him and truly believed that together they could finally make some sense and get some justice over the decades long travesty that was the murder of Sabrina Spencer-Lord.
The air warmed in the room. He could feel the tip of his nose again and the white puffy breaths were now back to their invisible shapes.
"What would we do?" He asked calmly.
"Together we'll return to Welshport. Everyone is expecting me home soon as I have my son there. I miss him and I should get home as fast as possible now that I have found you. And by you, I mean David Lord." Geneveive explained.
"But I'm not him, I don't know how many times I have to tell you that."
She smiled sweetly, "I know you're not really him." She said, still unsure if she truly believed that or not. "But doesn't know that. Jacob won't know what to believe. No one knows what happened to David, not truly, and once they all see your face, David is as good as alive. That's just the beginning of what I plan." She continued.
He furrowed his brow confused. "What else?"
"We are going to make Jacob believe his life has been cursed for all of his wrong doings. He'll see his brother, a man he believes is dead and gone walk the halls of their family home once again. He'll see David as real as flesh and bone but every time he tries to reach for you, you'll vanish because to everyone in the world David is dead. Jacob will think David has returned to take him to hell where he belongs for doing what he did to Sabrina."
"We're going to make hm think he's being haunted?" Christoher asked.
"Exactly. We'll use all the secret passages I discovered when I was at Tirymor to come in and out without being noticed. Jacob will go insane. Jacob's mind will be devoured by the monstrous things he did and his past. We'll make it happen. Together. And then, when he can no longer take the madness festering in his mind we will convince Jacob to move on from this world, however he sees fit." She explained.
Christopher's eyes widened with wonder on how planned and calculated Genevieve was. Or was it Sabrina speaking now?
"And it that works, what then? What do you think Jacob will do?" He asked.
Geneveive slowly turned to the warm fire of the hearth and extended her hands so her palms could feel the heat. "Destroy himself." She said softly to Christopher's shock.
"And if it doesn't work?" He asked her.
She paused and pursed her lips "Then I'll take a shot." She answered.
She opened up a small purse that hung from her shoulder and removed a small revolver she had purchased earlier that day from a small shop in London's Picadilly Circus. It was her own form of insurance policy.
Jacob would die for his crimes one way or another.
"I don't know, I don't know if I can do all of this." He said.
"Imagine if this were you Christopher? Imagine being David and hearing your brother lie to you and tell you that you strangled your beloved wife on the beach and killed her. The mother of your child. The woman you loved more than life itself. Imagine having that heaviness in you to the point where you see the balcony of a lighthouse and jump off in guilt, but in truth, it wasn't you. You never did it. Imagine that... that is what happened to David. That is what Jacob did. That is what Jacob took from David and his son Sebastian."
Christopher gulped, it wasn't hard for him to think of this scenario at all. In fact it felt rather familiar.
He then shook his head in disbelief of what he was about to do but did it anyway: he agreed to help.
"Where did you come up with the idea?" He asked her.
"It was Sabrina." She replied.
Christopher's heart sank in his chest. "Sabrina? David's dead wife?"
Genevieve nodded. "Its a page right out of Jacob's own sick playbook. He did this to Sabrina's daughter-in-law Evie. When she first arrived, he had Sabrina's son Sebastian murdered and then tried to make Evie think his ghost was haunting her. He wanted her to go mad, he wanted her to take her own life so that she wouldn't be haunted by Sebastian's ghost. It was all a farce. It was all made up; a trick so that every drip of inheritance that Sebastian and Evie were worth would fall into his hands. Sabrina showed me."
"My god," Christopher replied. "She showed you this?" Christopher added
Genevieve nodded again but did not reply only expressed the saddest facial expression Christopher had ever seen come from her beautiful face. It was clear that he was not the only one having vivid dreams of a look-a-like. Suddenly, Christopher dropped a shock of his own: "What of their son? How is he? Has it grown up well? Is he kind? He's what... a grown man now, isn't he?" he asked.
Genevieve lifted a brow.
"Their son?" She asked, curious to see how he'd reply. "Why do you want to know?"
"You said something about their son just now, I was curious what became of him, how he has been through all of this that's all." Christopher said oddly.
Genevieve lifted a brow; Christopher was indeed a mysterious figure. If he was Christopher at all. His curiosity over Sebastian was giving her some doubts.
"Unfortunately, Sebastian died. In a fire." She finally answered not wanting to push the topic of what she did or didn't tell him in their first encounter.
Christopher's face turned white as a sheet and after a few seconds of silence his took a breath and let the awful news wash over him like a wave fresh from the ocean floor.
"No." Chritopher said in a hushed sad voice.
"From what I've heard it was very awful, and Sebastian lived a very troubled life in the last few years. As you can see, even David and Sabrina's son has suffered from this."
"Yes." Christopher said solemnly.
"If you're afraid of the ramifications you'll endure, I promise you on everything I hold dear, not a single person will pin you down to anything. Jacob will take his own life and any connections to you will be non-existent. They'll never even know you're there. You'll be just a figment of Jacob's insanity. I promise you." She said.
But of course, it was more than that. Christopher wasn't afraid of any ramifications-- his life was full of those for his own past. It was also the idea of going home to America and facing everything he ran from. But then there was Genevieve's natural allure. Her beauty. A face that seemed like it came from a world away -- a place in Christopher's fondest memories. He felt as if he could stare are her all day all night forever. Her fine blue eyes that sparkled when she smiled cooled his sudden rough exterior.
"Give me one more day. There's a market day tomorrow. Come with me, and we'll make plans to leave soon after that." He said.
Geneveive agreed and again dug into her purse and removed two tightly folded slips of paper, tickets to board the ship called the IBERIA that would soon set sail for America with or without the mystery Christopher Wesley aboard.
"We're booked ... Christopher." She said showing him the tickets and emphasizing his name, a name she was starting to feel did not truly belong to him.
****
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| Peter & Laurel Ward at Welshport Hope Hospital |
Back in Welshport, an afternoon warmth filtered through the high silver clouds. At Welshport Hope Hospital, Dr. Peter Ward carried a thickly packed clipboard of patient files he was going over with the new nurse on staff. He showed Nurse Holten, who had come to Welshport Hope as a personal transfer from Massachusetts, around the grounds of the main hospital and the adjoining mental ward across a large park-like grassy area of the campus. They made small talk, and she thanked him for allowing her to transfer so far out of the local area to the new Hospital to work.
"There's nothing you need to thank me for Danielle," Dr. Ward said using the Nurse Holten’s first name. "You came very highly recommended by your attending doctor in Cambridge. What made you come all the way out to this little place?"
Danielle smiled happily at the news of her recommendation as the two entered back into the main hospital.
“Family obligations.” She replied. “My mother recently passed away and left me her home. Since my father left her she her, that has was all she had.” Danielle explained.
“I’m sorry to hear that. Your father never came back? Even after your mother died?” Dr. Ward asked.
Danielle shook her head. “He never even said goodbye.”
Dr. Ward sighed.
"So! The patient you mentioned, a Mrs. Jordan-Lord. How is she after all?" Danielle wondered quickly changing the subject of her sad past.
"Yes! Evie. She’s doing Surprisingly very well. After the terrible things she endured while being under that medication and—if you can believe — a grave, she is doing very well. She is the sister of our own Dr. Jordan here on staff. He attends patients across the way in the sanitarium. You'll get to know him. He's taken some time for family issues for obvious reasons, but he'll return soon." Dr. Ward explained.
"It's truly a miracle she survived." Danielle added. "To come back to life, in a way, right before a brand new full moon. I'd say is something else!"
Dr. Ward chuckled "A full moon, eh? Do I sense a bit of the superstitious in you Nurse Holten?"
Danielle smiled back. "A bit Doctor. I know we should be more scientific around here, but I can't help it. I take after my father. He was very superstitious when I was growing up."
Dr. Ward assured her there was nothing to be embarrassed about, he reminded himself of all the strange things that happened in Welshport and that perhaps if he were more superstitious himself he wouldn't be as easily caught off guard.
The differences between the two new collogues were stark, he was older, white hair pot belly and she was young, dark hair fair skin and a willingness to seek out things in the world that most people in her position would think were too farfetched and imaginary.
Welshport might be the best place for her.
As Danielle was ushered off by another nurse, Dr. Ward's wife Laurel entered from a side exterior do with a basket of lunch in one hand and their grand-daughter Samanthan in the other .
"My, my, my!! What beautiful faces!" Dr. Ward gleamed.
"Is it too late for lunch?" Laurel wondered.
"Not for me, I started late today. Let's have it in the garden." Peter said walking his two favorite ladies into a brightly lit garden courtyard between the main hospital and Churchill Green Mental ward.
As the threesome sat on a blanket Laurel had carefully quilted together herself, they ate grapes and cheese, a bit of small sandwiches and iced tea to cool from the afternoon. Little Samantha, now 4 years old, played in the grass picking ants from the long blades of green grass that tickled her the bottom of her bare feet.
"Did you have a chance to write Rebecca?" Peter asked Laural as she nibbled on a sandwich.
She shook her head no as she watched Samantha in the grass.
"Laurel...." he began before she interrupted.
"She doesn't want to hear from me, Peter. I've already thought about it and I know she'd rather stick her head in a burning furnace than ever hear from me again."
"Oh, darling, you don't know that at all. She's been through so much over the years and your friendship was such a relief to her that perhaps she'd welcome the reconnection. It's only a letter anyway, the worst that could happen is she never returns the note." Peter answered.
"No, the worst that could happen is that she comes to our house in a rage and slaps me across the face for having the audacity to contact her again after all these years. I know her Peter, she doesn't want to hear from me. It doesn't matter how much has changed because Rebecca Lockwood-Lord-Casador never forgets a grudge.”
“I’m surprised, I’d think she’d let on simple grudge slip through the memory gap with all those last names she has to remember.” Peter giggled.
Laurel lifted a brow “that’s not funny.”
"Look love, the trouble between you too was so many years ago. She's gotten through it by now." Peter said as he touched his wife's hand softly. "You have to believe that."
"She has never forgiven me for what happened, she's never ever forgiven me for introducing her to Eliza Goode and allowing Eliza into her home and then ...." Laurel couldn't go on with her memory of the horrible event that occurred.
"She never blamed you for Vivi's death." Peter said after a beat of silence between them.
"I'm just as culpable because I was the one who thought Eliza could help her and what happened was the worst thing that could ever happen to a young mother." Laurel explained.
"You didn't know Eliza would accidentally make Rebecca barren and not bring Vivi back like you thought she could, but the again, Laurel, all of that is quite a stretch of the imagination. It’s a lot to even take in. Those supernatural games you all believed in back then were quite silly to begin with. I mean the very idea Eliza even had that power in the first place is ..." Peter paused, he couldn’t even muster the word to describe how silly he found it all.
Instead of words, Peter made a silly face towards little Samantha to express himself. She giggled in the background on the grass.
"Ohhh!” Laurel said slapping her husband’s arm. “All of that feels like a century away anyway. Rebecca was my friend and employer. I gave her so many years of my life working at Tirymor and I really wanted to help her. Eliza had this reputation of doing those things: bringing someone back to life. I heard so many stories that she could. I just... I just thought it would work for Rebecca too." Laurel said with tears in her eyes.
"You see now that no one can do that, don't you?" Peter wondered.
Laurel did. She had also lost her own son and daughter-in-law, Samantha's parents, in a horrible accident that left the child an orphan. Laurel never thought once of seeking out supernatural means to bring them back. It was a harsh reminder of Vivi's situation. A situation that turned out much different that everyone truly believed.
"Of course. Of course." Laurel said, the tears now rolling down her pink cheeks slowly.
"You meant well, I know that for sure." Peter said as he scooted over on the blanket and kissed his wife on the cheek. "If you reach out to Rebecca, I know that she'll say the same."
Laurel turned her head slightly out of view from her husband's kind gaze and watched happy little Samantha with her blond hair glowing bright in the afternoon sun as she ran on the grass after a monarch butterfly that fluttered through the air low enough that it seemed to be playing with Samantha too.
"We'll see." Laurel replied.
Lauren only wanted to repair the friendship she held so dear to her heart, but only time would tell, time and truth.
Laurel held much more in her heart that the tragedy of Vivi’s death. Another child from back then too held a special place a guilt in her heart.
****
 |
| Fatima is confronted about Filipe |
As the sun began to set, and the clouds in the sky covered a half moon, fresh and silver in a distant position a purple-toned sky, Fatima Braga ran her finger across the ledge of a middle bookshelf feeling the bumps of the spines of the ancient books.
She worried for her sweet Filipe, the boy she gave up at birth when her scandalous affair with a priest in Lisbon while she was a nun broke her family and her faith. She could not be there for him when he was child due to family shame, but she wanted to be there for him now as the full moon approached.
As her finger ran across the shelf it stopped on a book, a Portuguese language telling of a man whose life was turned upside down by a dark event in his life, a curse. And as she pulled the book to read from it, a knock came at her door startling Fatima in her own home.
She walked slowly to the door, hoping it was a passerby who wanted their fortune told and when she opened the door there stood Mary holding little Caleb, Charlotte and Morgan.
"You should not be here." Fatima grumbled.
"We know he's here Fatima, we know you have Filipe. I want to see him." Mary ordered sternly.
"Impossible."
"We have to know how he is." Charlotte interjected. "We have to be sure he's ok and that he's not sicker than we thought."
"He is sicker than you thought." Fatima said.
"Then we should see him… now!" Mary demanded. "Please."
Fatima looked at the beautiful blonde Mary who had a scarf over her hair as she held the baby in her arms. She almost looked like a renaissance painting of the Madonna and child low in the light of dusk.
"It's cold tonight." Morgan said. "It took us a lot to get here from Goode Island, we just want to see Filipe. He saved me."
Fatima's heart broke with their sad faces. She knew they loved Filipe just as she did. She could not hold them back any more and stepped aside letting them in from the cold sea air.
"I can't promise you that you will see him, but I will promise you answers." Fatima replied.
"That's all we want. We just want to understand what has happened why you've kept him here in hiding." She added as Fatima stepped aside and allowed them in from the cool air coming off the sea.
"There is danger." Fatima begin as she closed the door and locked it.
Morgan's eyes zeroed in on the locked door. He gulped.
"Danger? What kind of danger?" Mary asked, shifting her weight to hold baby Caleb on her other hip.
"Every kind. The kind that wants to destroy. The kind that wants to kill. The kind that wants the world to end in a bloody monstrous heap. What happened to Filipe is something that is dark and evil. I am doing everything I can to protect him and by doing so I am protecting you and the world." Fatima explained.
"We know you know more than you're telling us. We saw it in a vision. We could see you clearly... you're protecting him but why? What is it that happened to him? Maybe I can help!" Mary said.
"No, menina Maria." Fatima replied partly in her native Portuguese. "Only I can help him now because I know what is to come.”
"You're being unreasonable and not making any sense, Fatima. The more help you get for Filipe the better off he'll be. We are his family." Mary said as Caleb squirmed in her arms.
Fatima sighed realizing her vagueness was causing frustration, but she wanted to keep as much to herself as possible, her worry that the more involved others were the more danger would spread to them as well, but it was no use. Mary, Charlotte and even the frightened Morgan required more information, they'd stop at nothing to get it.
"I know he's in danger. I see it, I can feel it." Charlotte confessed as her psychic abilities were stronger and stronger as she got older. “Everything in his body is fighting itself. There is rage and there is anger. I sense it all. It’s … it’s so powerful.”
"Then you know what is to come?" Fatima wondered.
Charlotte did not reply but Mary could her daughter was holding back. Young Charlotte began to wring her hands. She was nervous, she was hiding something she knew, something she feared revealing.
"Charlotte, what is it? What have you not told me?" Mary asked.
Charlotte looked at Morgan for some kind of guidance in his eyes on what she should say. He knew she saw things that scared them both. Her visions were so vivid and real and frightening.
He was her best friend and they’d grown so close in the last few months comparing their young lives like who’d come from the more broken home. Her parents’, Jacob and Mary, were a disaster from the start, and his, Genevieve and Steven, were happy at first but soon crumbled like the city they once lived in, San Francisco, after the 1906 Earthquake.
Charlotte and Morgan had become two little ships lost at sea that found each other in the fog of their broken families. Best friends forever.
Then, shocking them all Charlotte spoke in Portuguese, a language she had never spoken before in her whole 15 years old life. "O LOBO DA LUA."
Mary and Morgan expressed confusion, but Fatima translated: "The Moon Wolf. Filipe, is the moon wolf and if you remove him from here he will kill. He will kill."
