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| Nik, Aurora & Danielle at Asha’s bedside |
As dusk turned into night, Aurora and Nikolas arrived at Welshport Hospital to take vigil at Dr. Asha Hoffman's bedside. Her coma had not wavered, and she remained in her sleep healing from burn from the fire and trauma of being held hostage in a secret room by the late Gregory Reigns.
Nik hoped she'd wake soon so that they could finally reunite, and Aurora hoped she'd come to and tell her the location of the child she took from her at birth.
But Asha's state was one of mystery. No one knew when -- or if-- she'd finally regain consciousness, but hope was strong.
Danielle Holten, the newest nurse at Hope Hospital, entered Asha's room to tend to Asha. She was a beautiful woman of fair skin and dark brown hair that lit up the room when she entered. She had an ease about her despite her own hardships in her own young life: Her mother's premature death after her father's long disappearance were her main woes of life. She had even just recently filed papers with the state of Maine and her father's home nation of Denmark recording him as dead. He hadn't been seen in almost 4 years and declaring him dead would finally free his estate to her.
It was a devastating end to his disappearance, but it had to be done as her own mother's more recent death of what Danielle called a broken heart, locked her family's funds in her father Viktor's hands. To survive financially on her own, Danielle needed to declare him deceased.
Returning to Welshport to work from Boston was the best thing Danielle could have done for herself and ever the hard worker she sank into her duties like a trooper all the while hurting from her family hardships.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know anyone was here for Dr. Hoffman, I can come back." Danielle said, embarrassed that she entered Asha's room without knocking.
Nik stood up, he hadn't met the new nurse yet. "No, no, its ok, we're just visiting." He said. "Dr. Jordan." He added extending his hand.
"Oh! Dr. Jordan, of course, how do you do?!"
"Fine, thank you...this is my mother, Mrs. Aurora Jordan."
"Pleasure Mrs. Jordan."
Aurora smiled "Likewise."
"I could come back, really, I just needed to quickly make some changes for Dr. Hoffman's bed." Danielle said.
"Go ahead Nurse." Dr. Ward said suddenly from the door. "I'd like to speak to the Jordan's while you do that."
Nik and Aurora shot each other looks and stepped outside of Asha's room allowing Danielle to work and Dr. Ward his time.
"What is it Peter?" Aurora asked, closing the room door behind her.
"I heard what happened in front of Village Square with Evie." Ward replied. "What is going on in this town!?"
"We were there doctor, just before we came up to Hope. We saw it all. It's a very dyer situation but we're working on getting help for Evie -- for all three of them." Nik answered.
"Help?"
"They're going to put them on some kind of kangaroo witch trial for all to see, so we're in need of a lawyer, I have Lear Lockwood in mind." Aurora said.
"Lear? Of all the lawyers around, do you think Evie would trust him?" Ward questioned.
Nik raised an eyebrow, he had had the same worry.
Aurora chuckled, "Seems to be a very common worry about Mr. Lockwood, but as I told Nikolas if anyone knows how to slither out of something and get away with it, it might be him. Evie is still Gabriel's mother, after all, the Lord family should do all they can to protect her. Not to mention Mary...she's Charlotte's mother too."
"Yes, but that family has no love loss for Mary. They've never liked her, her relationship with Jacob was nothing compared to Evie and Sebastian's. I wish you luck on that front."
"Thank you, Peter." Aurora said smiling. "But that's not all."
Nik turned to his mother, unsure of what else she had to say.
"Coraline Tyler was the person feeding Baxter Murphy all of the inside information. She confessed this to me and all this time we had her right under our noses and never even knew it. She's devastated to say the least. She's crushed by what her actions have caused." Aurora explained.
"No!" Nik exclaimed. "So that's what you were talking about when we ran into Baxter."
Aurora nodded.
"Well we can't leave her around Gabriel anymore, can we? If she's betrayed us this much, how can we?"
"I agree with Dr. Jordan, she can certainly do more damage!" Ward added.
"No, no. I don't fear her. She knows her place now, I have a very good feeling she's done helping her brother. He's on his own now, Cora promised me, and I made it very clear that she should not cross us again."
"Mother..." Nik began before his mother stopped him.
"Trust me." She said. "Cora won't betray us again."
"All done." Danielle said exiting Asha's room. "You can go back in."
"Thank you." Nik said, his bright smile warming Danielle's heart.
"Of course, Doctor, I hope Dr. Hoffman is able to help you both as soon as she's awake."
"I hope that's soon." Aurora said turning to Dr. Ward. "Peter, is there anything else we can do to help her? The longer we wait the longer my child is out there without me. I'm desperate."
"I wish there were Aurora. I truly do, but with this kind of ailment, which is so very mysterious to us still, all we can do is keep her healthy, check her vitals every chance we get and hope for her recovery very soon. Her vitals are strong, her heart and lungs are working beautifully even after inhaling all that smoke while she was under the rubble. This is a good sign, but waiting until her brain heals is what we can do now. Patience is key."
"We understand." Nik replied, a doctor himself knowing there was truly not much they could do.
"If there is anything I can do to make Dr. Hoffman more comfortable, Dr. Jordan, please let me know." Danielle said with a sparkle in her eye.
"Call me Nik please. I'm off duty." He smiled back.
She smirked.
"Nurse, we have last minute late check up to get to." Ward reminded her.
"Yes Doctor, with Mr. Casador."
Aurora's ears perked up.
"Caspian is coming?" She asked, remembering how he never arrived when she called to tell him about their child being alive.
"Yes, the mob assaulted him that night and he had a bit dizziness after hit to the head. I wouldn't worry, he's doing quite well."
Nik could tell what his mother really wanted to do: stick around and speak to Caspian about the but it was not the time, he thought.
Nik shot a look to Aurora and shook his head. She sighed, understanding and reentered Asha's room with him while Ward and Danielle carried on with their duties. Danielle quickly rushed over to the Nurse's station to gather the paperwork on Dr. Ward's on Caspian. She read over his medical record to refreshen her memory on his prognosis.
Ward's notes:
"Head trauma after scuffle: Small laceration above eyebrow. No dizziness after six hours. No distinctive attributes to further brain issues or skull fractures. Patient is alert. Memory of recent events, clear. Patient due for check up in a days' time."
As Danielle rushed back from the nurse's station she saw Rebecca by Ward's office door. Ward had his back to Danielle and Caspian was hidden behind Dr. Ward, and as soon as Ward entered his office revealing Caspian, Danielle gasped and dropped the papers all over the hospital's black and white checkered floor in shock.
Rebecca, Caspian and Dr. Ward turned and noticed. Ward quickly came to help her.
"Are you alright Nurse?"
Caspian held out his hand to help Danielle up from the floor after she picked up his records.
"I... I'm... oh... I'm fine. I think. No, I am. I'm sorry. I just ... I'm sorry, Doctor, can I please have a minute for a break. I suddenly feel a bit faint." She said to Ward but never once taking her eyes off of Caspian.
"Yes, of course, should I send someone out with you to be sure you're alright?" Ward asked.
"No! Not at all." Danielle replied finally meeting Ward's eyes. "I'll be very quick and return to help."
Then she again stared at Caspian as if she'd seen a ghost, this fright, this sudden gasp and odd behavior sent chills up Rebecca's spine. Something about it told her Danielle wasn't just feeling overworked, or the strain of her job. It was clearly Caspian's face the sent her into such a state.
Caspian and Ward entered the office, but Rebecca excused herself to the lady's room but instead followed Danielle outside.
Danielle stood in a small courtyard breathing in heavily almost on the verge of tears. Rebecca hid behind a large pillar and listened as Danielle stood on the stone path short of breath.
Two other nurses came walking in from Churchill Green, the asylum on the Hope Hospital campus and noticed Danielle in some distress.
"How can it be? How can it be him????" She whispered to herself pacing in on the stone path of the courtyard between rose bushes and ferns.
"Nurse Holten? Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost." One nurse asked.
"How the devil is he alive!?" Danielle asked, the two nurses look at each other confused.
"Who dear?" The other more heavy-set nurse with beautiful caramel toned skin asked.
"My father. I just saw my father alive." Danielle replied.
In silence behind the pillar, Rebecca gasped and covered her mouth, shocked at Danielle's accusation.
*****
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| Genevieve, Christopher & Morgan |
In the morning, as a sky full of seagulls sweeping across a blue background sang in a late-night fishing fleet returning with their catch, Christopher Wesley and Genevieve Thorne emerged from their room at the Inn for breakfast.
Geneveive, still lost in the fog of what she saw the night they'd returned to the village, had only thoughts of her son Morgan. She worried for him being at Tirymor and involved in so much chaos with the Lord family. Her guilt leaving him for so long along in Welshport to search out David Lord weighed on her heavily. She felt selfish and stupid. How could she had allowed herself to be so consumed by Sabrina's ghostly possession of her mind to the point where she'd leave her only child alone in a strange place only to return and find that place in shambles.
She'd been a terrible mother, and the pain would scar not only Morgan for life, but Genevieve would never forgive herself.
Together at an outside table at Gramercy Cafe, Christopher poured Genevieve a cup of coffee. She looked off into the distance lost i her thoughts.
"You know everything is going to be ok, don't you? We'll be fine. We'll take care of what we came to do and you'll be able to leave Welshport with you son in due time." Christopher reminded her.
"How can you say that?" she replied, stunned.
He passed her the coffee "Genevieve, this was all your idea, coming here to get back at Jacob for what he did, do I need to remind you of that?"
Genevieve snatched the coffee from his hand and lifted a brow "And I told you that after seeing what we saw when we arrived here that that was off the table. Christopher, my son's life may have been in danger the whole time I was in London running around after a ghost. That doesn't sit well with me. I don't know what I was thinking."
"You can't be serious? I came all this way for you, for this idea you had and now you're abandoning it? I came all the way back to this place against my better judgements and now--- "
Genevieve cut him off.
"Your better judgements? Aside from the whole idea of getting back at Jacob why did you come back? You know to be quite honest you with I don't see why you're pushing so hard for us to move on with the plans. They're dead, ok, David and Sabrina are dead and so are the plans. I don't know what I was thinking, there's no revenge on this earth that will bring them back and I'm done with it, Christopher..." she said, pausing before saying "If that is your real name."
"What?"
"Your decision to come back to Welshport felt much more personal that I think you're leading on, I'll just say that. So, what is it? Tell me? What is your real connection to this place-- 'Christopher'"?
Before Christopher could answer, a shadow blocked the sun in front of both Christopher and Genevieve. The arguing pair turned and saw Morgan Thorne standing in front of them.
His eyes wide with shock at seeing his mother sitting there in front of them.
"Mother? Is it really you?"
The young man, now almost 15, had rushed down through the village from Tirymor House to find Fatima Braga. He was desperate for her aide in getting Mary out of jail and had come on his own leaving Charlotte and Caleb at the mansion. He had not expected to see his mother sitting there, in front of his very eyes, fresh from her lengthy trip to London.
"My boy!! My BOY!!" Genevieve exclaimed, jumping up out of her cafe seat. She grabbed his soft, cool face with rosy cheeks and kisses hum all over. She ran her hands through his thick brown hair and pulled him into a hug so tight he could feel hear heart beat next to his. "Look how tall you've gotten!"
"What are you doing here? How long have you been back!?" the boy asked.
"Just the other night, my love, I had planned to go to Tirymor today to see you." She replied.
"How... how could you have not told me you were here? Do you even know what's been happening? Do you even care? Do you know what I have been through since you left me here?" Morgan said, his eyes filling with tears at his seeming abandonment.
"Oh Morgan, my Morgan, my darling Morgan, I know. I know everything, I heard about it all when I first got here. In fact, we saw some of it and its awful. I'm awful. Darling, I will never forgive myself for leaving like that. I'm so sorry. I thought Johnathon would have taken care of you and I see that was a big mistake."
"He didn't. He never did. He ran off and did his own thing, got married. I have barely seen him. Mary and Filipe took me in. They cared for me all this time." Morgan replied, turning to Christopher and somewhat recognizing his face as David's. "Is this? Is that who I think it is?"
"Morgan, good to meet you son. I'm Christopher Wesley."
Morgan turned back to his mother.
"I met him in London." She replied with a hint of embarrassment.
"I have to go." Morgan said, unsure of how he felt about his mother running around with David's look-a-like.
"No, honey, sit with us. Have something to eat, please." She replied in her most motherly tone.
"I ate thanks." the boy shot back. "I have things that I need to do.” He took a breath before starting again. “I wish you had told me mother, I wish you had told me you were here. I wish you had come for me and I wish we could leave this place forever and go back to San Francisco. But now it’s all so different."
"Darling, listen to me! We can do that! We can leave. We can go up to Tirymor right now and get your things and take it all away. We can leave as soon as possible. I want nothing more than do be with you again, my love. I'm sorry for everything. I know what I've done is unforgivable, just leaving you that way and taking off on some ridiculous quest that means truly nothing to me now. I should never have chosen those feelings over you, darling, I regret it all." Geneveive said to Christopher's slight annoyance.
Chris sat back in his chair and swallowed his croissant with a gulp. The feeling of regret now boiling over in his whole body. He'd come back to this place, a place he'd never want to see again after he left and now all that he had been promised was washed away. Geneveive's plan now feeling like it was ashes in the wind blowing away all hope of getting Jacob to suffer justice for what he'd done to Sabrina and David.
"No." Morgan said shocking Geneveive. "It's too late, too much has happened and I need to help my family now."
"Your family?" Geneveive replied in confusion.
"Mary, Filipe, Charlotte, Caleb -- they're my family now. They've helped me took me in and saved me, and with everything that's happened I won't abandon them now. I know what that feels like and I would never do that to people I say I love."
Those words broke Genevieve and in a way Christopher too. They were both running from something and the words from an almost 15 year old boy came like a slap to the face for both of them; right across the face without even touching a single patch of skin.
There was no amount of revenge that they could plot against Jacob that would save them from their own pit of guilt. As much as Christopher wanted to push on with the plan -- he was now seeing it through Morgan’s eyes, a surrogate for his own child he'd left behind in London.
In fact Christopher was now contemplating letting go of it all for the sake of other family members he'd left behind along time ago.
In the end, Christopher and Genevieve had abandoned, deserted, ran from their entire lives for so many years.
They had never faced their demons: Christopher held his past close to the vest and Genevieve’s ugly divorce from her ex husband, the late Steven Thorne, had only forced her into her own bad habits: running from San Francisco, meeting Johnathon in Boston, jumping into an engagement with him and then breaking it off once she became consumed by Sabrina’s spirit.
It had all come to a head now, and Morgan, in a few sentences, stopped them both in their tracks from running away ever again but being the mirror they needed.
"We're not going anywhere." Christopher said. Genevieve turned to him, her eyes narrowing thinking he was still dead-set on the plan for Jacob.
"I told you it's done." She whispered.
"I know." Chris replied. "Its done."
Not understanding their coded talk, Morgan released himself from his mother's hold and stepped back. "I have to go."
"Darling, wait!" Geneieve shouted as he began his way again towards Fatima's house.
He turned back to see his mother and only waved to her. The lack of care for her cut Geneveive deep. In her mind, and in reality, she was a horrible mother for doing what she had done to Morgan. And as the waiter brought out their breakfast Geneveive vowed to herself to make amends with the young man she loved the most, the one who'd grown so much in her absence and had become so handsome and independent without her help.
"I'll never forgive myself." She whispered into her coffee.
"You'll have to. I had to." Christopher said.
Geneveive turned to him, again his mysterious life floating around them like a ghost.
"Were you serious when you said that we'd stay here? Because if we do, I already told you I won't go up against Jacob, I won't do it anymore, too much is at stake with my relationship with Morgan and I can't lose anymore ground than I already have."
"As much as David and Sabrina's story deserves a final end on Jacob, seeing the hurt in your son's eyes means more to me than --- than anything else right now." Christopher said to Geneveive's relief. "I have my own amends to make and maybe it's finally time I do."
Geneveive caressed his Christopher's face. She could see that his past life was haunting him just as much as her own was, but the difference was hers was exposed for all to see in Morgan's anger towards here. Chris' on the other remained locked away in his heart and mind.
"When are you going to tell me everything Chris? When are you going to break free from whatever is holding you back from the truth -- your truth?" She asked him.
The sun light flexed it's warmth over their faces and through the trees that lined the street placing their leafy pattern of shadows over them like a puzzle that had missing pieces.
He looked deep into her blue eyes, so blue they shamed the morning sky, and kissed her on the lips. He tasted the coffee and the sweet thickness of her lipstick.
"Never." He answered.
****
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| The jail cell |
That afternoon, Evie, Matthew and Mary sat inside the makeshift jailcell in Village Town Hall awaiting the next stage of their incarceration. Standing at the front of the cell with arms through the bars, Evie and a drunkard stared at each other from across the room of cells as if they were sending messages back and forth through glares.
His dark eyes and long dirt black beard came from a baroque painting. The shadows of the dimly lit room dipped into the creases of his wrinkly face. He lifted his arm through the bars and pointed a finger at Evie, the nail dingy with grit from his time on a fishing trawler.
"I can smell the witch from here." he said in a husky voice. "She's bewitching me now with her eyes. GET HER AWAY!!! GET HERE OUT OF MY GAZE!!!" The drunk man said.
"Alright, Richard, back away from the cage!" A police officer yelped back, banging his nightstick on the bars as the drunkard quicky shot back to the shadowy corner of his cell.
Evie, startled with the exchange with the mane who had her father's name, gulped.
The police man walked over to her as Matthew came and took her into his arms.
"I don't know if I believe in magic and witches, myself," he said tapping the nightstick on the bars, "but if I were any of you, I'd do my best not to make any more commotion. Especially with the likes of Richard here. The more you all add to the hysteria, the more the villages think its all true. Just my advice, is all."
"We're not witc--" Evie began to say, but Matthew hushed her.
"Thank you, officer." he said
"We have to get out of here." Evie whispered. "If this trial actually happens, they're going to find a way to make it seem like we are what they say we are. Churchill is obsessed with this, I don't know how we can get out of this, Matthew."
"This is all my fault." Mary said, sitting on the bench in the cell. "I've brought all of this on the two of you and...and I think I've made a decision."
Matthew and Evie turned to Mary. "What do you mean?" He asked her, still holing Evie in his arms.
"I'll confess to the charges and say that the two of you had no idea or have no connection to me in that way at all. That you're innocent. They'll have to set you free -- I'll even say that I put spells on both of you and that's how you've been able to survive all those extreme situations." She added.
"Mary, no!" Evie said, shooting out of Matthew's embrace. "You're not responsible for any of this! Jacqueline Gray is! She's the one who started all of this! I know it! I can feel it! She's the reason we're in here. I saw her at Tirymor. She's pretending to be in love with Johnathon DeViana and they're even married now. I don't know how, but I know that she's the reason we're in this place. She'd do anything to make sure Sebastian and I are kept apart."
"But Sebastian is gone." Matthew recalled.
Evie turned to him, sensing a bit of concern in his voice. Although Evie and Matthew had rekindled their love, the ghost of what Sebastian and Evie's once strong connection lingered and the vampire's missing body meant that there was still also a missing piece to Evie's heart.
"It had to be her too." Evie replied.
"Mother." a small voice said outside the bars.
"CHARLOTTE!!!" Mary shouted, rushing to her daughter who was holding baby Caleb in her arms. "What are you both doing here? We're Morgan?"
"Oh Charlotte!!!" Evie said rushing over next to Mary.
The three touched and reconnected through steel bars. The baby cried at the sight of Mary who was unable to hold him. Their connection, mother and adopted son, had strengthen over time but the distance and time apart over the last 4 days had worn on the little Braga child.
"Morgan went to see Fatima, hoping she'd help us get you all out of here." Charlotte explained.
"You shouldn't be here. This is no place for children." Mary responded.
"We had to see you. Are you all alright?" Charlotte asked, one hand buckled under baby Caleb, the other clutching Evie's hand.
"We have our moments." Evie replied.
"I don't want you children crossing that channel alone. It's too dangerous on that little boat." Mary scolded.
"We're not on Goode Island anymore." Charlotte said with slight hesitation.
"You're not staying at the cabin?" Mary asked, Charlotte gulped.
"Father came for us. We're at Tirymor with the family."
Mary stepped back, her heart sank slightly realized her children were back in Jacob's hands. It had been over a decade since she and Jacob had been apart and the memories of the way he spread terrible lies about her all over the island to gain custody of Charlotte when she was little came flooding back. It was as if Jacob had come and done it all over again.
"But its' alright!!" Charlotte added. "We're ok. You don't have to worry about anything. Father is...well, he's different. He's actually being very kind to us. He feels actually truly awful about what's happened to the three of you. He didn't want us to be alone at the cabin. We're safer at Tirymor."
"She's right." Evie said. "The Lords can protect the children. I'm hoping my mother has the same idea to bring Gabriel there. But Jacob having a conscious? Well, I never thought I'd see the day."
"That's because he doesn't have one." Mary noted "Not one that speaks out over his own worst instincts anyway. Just be careful while you're there love."
"It's very different now at Tirymor. Jane told us the villagers had stormed the house the night they took you all into custody and they ravaged the place. Now everyone is clearning up the mess. I've never seen it that way before."
"Everyone?" Evie asked.
"Well, except Johnathon and Jacqueline. They've been spending time away." Charlotte recalled.
"She's probably been at the Thicket." Evie thought to herself.
"Charlotte, tell me about Morgan's visits with Fatima, have they found away to get through to Filipe? Time is of the essence."
"No, not yet. As soon as Morgan gets Fatima's help to find Sebastian then we can make sure it's all done and maybe we can get you our of here.
Evie thought again "Find Sebastian."
"Mother, why don't you..." Charlotte paused and looked around. Then got closer to the bars to whisper "use your powers to free yourselves? Once you're free, once you're all free, we can all search for Sebastian together and help Filipe."
"She can't." Matthew chimed in. "If something should go wrong, and she's discovered using her powers again, it's only certain guilt. We shouldn't risk it. There's too much at stake."
"Sebastian. Jacqueline..... powers." Evie thought to herself. The wheels of her mind turning as the others spoke.
"But what if Mary found away to make everyone forget? Make it all just disappear! YES! Why didn't we think of that before?!" Evie expressed, finally breaking free from her inner thoughts.
"Matthew is right." Mary shot back.
"No!" Disagreed Charlotte.
"He's is. If we are discovered, if I am discovered --again--using sorcery that could spell disaster for anyone connected to me. I can't risk anyone getting hurt. Too much has already happened for us to be that careless."
Outside, in the brush under the small 3 x 3 cell window with it's rusted over bars, Filipe Braga had secretly come to see Mary and just as he was about to reveal himself at the window, the guard came to shoo away Charlotte and the baby.
"OY!" the guard shouted in his cockney accent that Evie quickly recognized. "You've 'ad just about enough time with the mumzie now. On your way!"
Filipe ducked back into the bushes under the window.
"We're not done!" Charlotte said.
"Oh your done you are. Go on now, take the baby home to grandmum or 'hoevers's watching over ya. Go on. GO!" The guard said.
Mary reached for her two children and hugged them through the bars. "I love you. I love you both." she said, tears welling up in her eyes.
"I love you too." Charlotte whispered, her own tears already streaming down her peach face. Mary's gentle hands slowly wiped them away. The two not knowing when they'd ever see each other again. The baby then grabbed Mary's finger ad squeezed. The scene of mother and children saying goodbye possible forever created a painful energy in the room. Evie's heart sank as she thought of her own baby, Gabriel, and how she'd hadn't seen him in so long. The time apart from when he was born to when she was free of the coffin, to when she was taken into custody at the caves. She missed him desperately, just as Mary now missed her own children.
"Ill give you one more minute." The guard said, his heart warmed by the sight of the family.
Evie buried her face in Matthew's chest as her tears stained his shirt and then, like a burst of lightening sparking in her mind, she remembered again. Sebastian. Jacqueline. Powers.
"THE THICKET!!" Evie shouted, startling them all. "Sebastian has to be at the thicket. You'll find him there!"
"What? What are you talking about?" Mary asked.
"Jacqueline must of taken Sebastian from the coffin at the caves and hidden him at Lockwood Thicket. That's the only place she would know Sebastian would want to be to feel safe. She knows this, she has to know this. She could be there with him and not at Tirymor where the family would surly find him. Nothing happens at Tirymor House without Rebecca knowing, and Jacqueline would be quick to realize that. Lockwood Thicket is the only place she'd feel was the right place to keep him." Evie explained.
Outside, Filipe did not hesitate. If anyone knew Sebastian the best it would be Evie. He quickly took off towards the Tirymor Forest to Lockwood Thicket, the small cabin Sebastian held close to her dark heart.
"Charlotte, get to Fatima's. Go now! Tell them What Evie has said, but be careful!"
Charlotte nodded her head and hugged her mother through the steel bars once more and rushed off with her little baby brother in her arms.
"Should we have done that? She's awfully young." Matthew said.
"Charlotte is a very strong-minded girl. She'll be careful." Evie reminded him.
"I just dont have very good memories of that place, I don't know." Matthew said, recalling his sister Alice died at Lockwood Thicket in a fire.
Evie realized this and hugged him.
"Fatima will take care of her." Mary said of Charlotte. "I hope."
****
 |
| Lear, Lucas, Cora & Gabriel |
In a small office in town inside Village Hall, Lear Lockwood and Lucas Mural sat together having a mid-day coffee. There was tension in the room, as the two, in a newly formed relationship, were still at odds over Lear's involvement in the chaos that had happened in town.
As Lear shuffled through some of his legal briefings, Lucas saw a copy of the day's paper folded on the desk. Eager to catch up on the day's news he reached for it but was only met with Lear's arm swatting down the folded newspaper back down to the desk.
"You don't want to read that." Lear warned.
Lucas sat back in his chair. "Not again."
Lear nodded. "Unfortunately."
"When is it going to stop?" Lucas asked. "Hasn't Baxter done enough to this little village?"
"He's set on exposing the Lord's and, well, when Baxter has his mind made up he's very determined."
Lucas took in a deep sigh and realized he'd have to go to a place with Lear that he didn't actually expect would happen so soon in their new relationship. They needed to talk about Lear's involvement in all that had happened. "Lear, I think we should talk about that more. The way all of this happened."
Just before Lear could reply, a silhouette outside the frosted glass of his office door with Lear's name and title painted over it appeared. Them came a soft knock on the glass. Lear went to the door and opened it, standing there was Coraline Tyler with baby Gabriel tightly knit in her arms.
Lear choked up "Cora."
Lucas stood. "Come in!"
Lear turned to Lucas, surprised at his reaction almost as if he knew she would be there.
"What can I do for you?" Lear asked, motioning for her and Garbriel to enter and take a seat.
She never allowed her eyes to meet Lear's. She was stone faced and a bit icy with him. She had not spoken to him since their encounter in the village. It was a contentious conversation where she had confronted him over Baxter's accusations that Lear was her actual brother, not Baxter, and that Lear had helped conceal the truth from her all these years in order for them to use her one day in a wild scheme to destroy the Lord's.
All those years later, the plan went into motion, and Cora played into it as their pawn.
"I'm not here because I want to be. I was asked to be." She said, rocking the close to 2-year-old boy in her arms. "I have to be sure I'm back at Bellmore Beach before Aurora Jordan returns."
"Asked?" Lear questioned.
"By me." Lucas revealed. "I asked her to be here because I think we all need to break free from everything that is holding on to you too. When I was still home, in my country, I did this. I was like you both. I let so many things control me from my past. And it got me nowhere. Holding on to lies hurts us more than we think. They eat us from the inside. We rot. You both have a history. You must respect that and be truthful or no one can move on."
Lear noticed Lucas's emphasis on the words no one. Lucas was including himself and his relationship with Lear.
"I don't know what you want me to do." Lear said softly, his heart sinking in the feeling that he may lose Lucas so soon after they had just gotten to know each other, but the tangled web of betrayal Lucas was lost in was chocking the life out of everything he loved.
"Tell Baxter to stop." Cora said. She reached over and grabbed the newspaper from the desk and revealed her supposed brother's latest scandal filled headline:
SOON: TRIAL OF THE YEAR! MAYOR CONFIRMS: ACTUAL WITCHES AMONG US. Wealthy Heiress, Evie Jordan-Lord, and two others accused in breaking centuries old law. If Found Guilty Sentence is Death!
"This has gone too far." Cora added. "These people are innocent and what he's done is turn the town against them."
Lear looked at little Gabriel as he read the headline about his mother.
"Do you really think your brother will listen to me after all this time? I mean we may have worked together in the past and I've admitted my involvement in this, but I promise you, I promise you both, he's gone much further than we had discussed. I doubt he'll stop or retract anything if I ask him."
Lucas shook his head and exhaled, frustrated with Lear's reluctance. "Lear look at what's happening. My friend is now in jail because of these lies. Matthew is a good man, Evie too. Because of you and Baxter all of this has happened. Can't you see that? Can't you see that you could be the beginning of helping free then? Look at that in the paper!"
"This was a waste of time." Cora said softly as she got up from her chair.
Then to Lear's surprise Lucas got up from his to follow Cora out. Together they had had enough of Lear's inability to see the damage he and Baxter had caused. It was now clear there was more to Lear than Lucas ever saw in the very short time they'd been together. It hurt Lucas, deeply, to feel that had fallen for a person who could see nothing more than ways to lash out at who he deemed deserving of it. Lear's past has never truly been healed, and Lucas saw that perhaps, Lear didn't want to be healed from it.
"Wait! Wait! Please... don't go." Lear said, quickly rushing to the door and blocking the three from exiting.
"Why shouldn't we?" Lucas said, his tone sharpened. "You don't want to make things better, not for Cora, or Gabriel's mother, not even for yourself. This is your sister! You have lied to her for years, you've allowed Murphy to lie too. And for what? What is all for? Lear, I like you... I like you so much and you have done so many good things to help me stay here. For that I am so appreciative, but the rest of it. The two of us, we cannot move on to better things if you keep up with the lies. Do you understand what I am saying?"
Cora looked at Lear than back to Lucas and back to Lear. She had confronted Lear about the story that she was born Maggie Lockwood and that she had been stolen and adopted by the Murphy family as a baby. Lear lied and said she wasn't Maggie, hearing Lucas say she was --again--indeed Lear's baby sister made her stomach knot.
Lear too saw the hurt in her eyes and in Lucas'. He felt so guilty. He felt that all this time he had been blinded by his anger towards Rebecca but perhaps he too had been lied to. Maybe Rebecca had been telling the truth all this time and that maybe, just maybe, Lear's father was the one responsible for it all with his gambling and irresponsibility. But he did not reply.
"Let's go." Lucas said, putting his hand on Cora's shoulder guiding her out the door. "I'm sorry." he whispered.
They were both just feet out of Lear's office when suddenly "OK!"
Lucas and Cora turned.
"Ok, I'll talk to Baxter I'll tell him to retract many of the stories as best he can. I can't promise you anything because, as Cora knows, Baxter is hardheaded and thirsty for this type of attention. But I'll do my best."
Lucas' eyes sparkled "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
"Truthfully?" Lucas asked again.
Lear smirked. "Yes, Lucas, truthfully."
Lucas bounced over and hugged Lear, and in the hallway, just outside of Lear's office he kissed him. Their first real kiss.
Cora smiled feeling a small, tiny ounce of hope return and began walking out with Gabriel.
"Cora!!!" Lear shouted. "WAIT!"
But she did not turn back. She wanted him to know that actions spoke louder than words. For her to turn back to him, she'd have to see his words play out in real life. Cora was done with allowing others to say one thing and do another.
Without facing Lear, Cora shouted from the end of the marble floor hall "Show me your truthful and then we'll talk again!"
Then she and a cooing baby Gabriel disappeared in the labyrinth of corridors that within Village Hall.
****
 |
| Morgan and Charlotte catch up |
Back at Tirymor House, the head maid Jane Donnelly, Charlotte and little Caleb were together in sitting room. Charlotte read from her favorite book, Anne of Green Gables, she saw Morgan pass and walk into the adjoining room. She could sense there was something the matter, something had happened.
Charlotte carefully folded the book and followed Morgan into the other room, nosey Jane moved over to a chair near the exit of the room she was in hoping to hear the two chat.
As Charlotte entered the smaller parlor that was one of the last rooms in Tirymor to get electricity and was decorated with a large medieval tapestry brought over from Bavaria by Albert Lord's grandfather, she noticed the French door that led to a small L shaped veranda was open.
Charlotte stepped on to the veranda and saw Morgan standing in the center of the L shaped porch looking out onto the grounds of Tirymor House.
"Morgan? What is it?" She asked him.
He shook his head. "I have to tell you something, something that happened earlier and I haven't found a way to come clean."
Charlotte gulped. "What happened?"
"I saw my mother in the village Charlotte. She's come home."
"Why, that's wonderful news!! Why are you so sad?" Charlotte asked, her 14-year-old heart lifting back into her chest. "You see! Things are changing Morgan. While you went to Fatima's and saw your mother, I went to see mine. She told me where they could find Sebastian. We have to go back to Fatima's to tell her too."
"I never made it to Fatima's." He said sadly.
"You, you didn't?" She replied disappointed, the slight breeze blowing into her soft blond hair. "Ok, that's ok. But we have more information now anyway, so we should go now and tell her about Sebastian and where we can find him to help Filipe."
"Charlotte, you don't understand. My mother has returned, and I spoke to her and she wants to leave Welshport -- with me! She doesn't want to be here anymore. She, she was with this man, this man that she came home with from London and that's who she wants to be leave with too. At least that's what I gather from our conversation." Morgan explained as he reentered the house -- Charlotte followed.
Morgan and Charlotte went back into the small parlor and into the hall where Jane quickly hid herself from view. The two teenagers began walking towards the large staircase that lead up to their room as they continued to talk.
"She is your mother." Charlotte said. "It wouldn't be so bad being back with her. After all she went all the way to London on some stupid hunch of mine and came back to be with you. You should give her another chance. Think of all the time I lost with my mother."
Morgan turned sharply to face Charlotte at the base of the stairs just before entering the long hallway "Charlotte, my mother left me here. You were taken from yours. There's a difference."
"Some, yes." Charlotte agreed. "But people deserve second chances."
"I don't kn---" before Morgan could answer Charlotte his eyes lifted to two of the butlers rehanging a large painting that was to Charlotte's back. The villagers had torn it down in the lotting of the mansion and the painting of a man dressed in equestrian style clothes next to a dark horse with a white patch of fur between its eyes had been reframed. The man in the painting stood there, clear faced with a smile that seemed to jump out at Morgan. The light from a window across from it made it almost glow.
"That's him." Morgan whispered.
Charlotte turned to see the painting was of her uncle David.
"Uncle David? That's Sebatian's father." She said.
"No, that's the man my mother was with."
Charlotte's eyes widened. "She found him? Your mother actually found Uncle David in London? So... my premonition was right? He was there this whole time?"
"No," Morgan whispered, looking around to see if anyone could hear them "it can't be the same man, you hadn't really gotten into the strength of your powers at the time you told my mother to go to London to find David, there's no way they're the same person. It has to be a coincidence."
Charlotte lifted a brow, "Haven't you learned anything? There are no coincidence in Welshport. There's only one way to find out if that's David or not." She said, also in a whisper.
"What?" He asked.
She pulled Morgan into the next room at the top of the stairs. It was Albert Lord's library. Morgan looked around and saw shelf after shelf, as tall as him or taller, filled with books of all kinds. The room was shadowed by trees blocking the sun from entering the lattice framed windows.
"Here." Charlotte said, grabbing Morgan's hands. "Close your eyes and think of the man you saw with her mother."
Morgan did as he was told.
Once his eyes were close, Charlotte closed hers and went into his mind. She followed the path of his thoughts deep into this subconscious where she began to see his memory of his mother sitting at the Gramercy Cafe with the man. The stranger's face still fuzzy in his head, Geneveive's however was clear as day.
Charlotte moved closer, her telepathic body slowly getting closer and closer to the man sitting with Geneveive.
And just as Charlotte's eyes became clearer and the person's face began to appear a jolt of something powerful yanked into a different realm.
Charlotte released her hands from Morgan's and fell to the floor, eyes still closed.
"Charlotte? CHARLOTTE?" Morgan exclaimed falling to her side.
In her mind, Charlotte was once again in a dark place -- blackness all around her. She could smell the smell of rosewater. There was the sound of wind going through trees.
"Whose there? What is this?" She asked, her voice echoing in the bog.
The sound of wind in the trees continued.
"ANSWER ME! Why have you brought me here?"
A figure began to emerge from the shadows of the place Charlotte could not identify. The shadow was of a man, he started walking closer and closer as the wind in the trees got stronger and stronger whipping Charlotte's dress and hair into a storm.
"WHO ARE YOU?" She shouted over the wind.
And as the wind came across her face in the bog of the black place her name was whispered.
C h a r l o t t e
"Who are you?" She asked again
C h a r l o t t e
Her name was again whispered in the wind like a hiss from a snake.
But then it was clearing, the darkness of the place started to brighten. The shadow of the person began to clear and almost a face was seen. Charlotte stepped closer, and closer seeing a signet ring on the man's finger, the letter S clearly showing.
She gasped "Sebastian!!"
But just before she reached her cousin Sebastian in this world, she was yet again yanked out of it with a forceful joke pulling her out as if she had just broken the surface from under a wild ocean wave.
She awoke in Morgan's arms.
"What happened???" Morgan asked, the two on the floor.
"I don't know. But ... Sebastian. he came to me. Sebastian came to me. He's alive."
Sebastian was alive. And he was trying to get to his little cousin Charlotte for help. He was trapped at Lockwood Thicket with a witch who was keeping him and Johnaton DeViana hostage and in a frozen state.
It was Jacqueline who had yanked Charlotte out of her telepathic connection to Sebastian. It was Jacqueline, who was circling Sebastian like a vulture, who sensed this connection of Charlotte's and Sebastian's and realized she had more trouble than she knew.
"Sneaky Little witch." Jacqueline growled to herself as she caressed Sebatian's beautiful face. "You almost got me." She told him his eyes moving back and forth as Jacqueline encircled him.
But just outside Lockwood Thicket, another threat to her bewitching betrayals.
Filipe Braga had arrived.
