| AGAIN II BY TORRI |
CHAPTER 6 |
Chapter 6
Trust in forever.
Believe Fairy tales.
Understand The seemingly unexplainable.
Bask In the glow of eternal love.
Relax In the warmth of my heart And the depths of my soul.
Accept The absolute certainty of us.
Dorian’s House Friday Evening
“Dorian,” Todd growls. “Where’s Starr?”
“I see you brought the hired help,” pointing toward Tea. “Starr is upstairs.”
“Hello to you too Dorian. I see you’re as evil as ever,” Tea retorts, stepping past Dorian. “Is Blair taking a vacation from parenting again?”
“Very funny. You know this little arrangement isn’t going to last for long. That deranged husband of your will blow it sooner or later.”
“I’m going upstairs to get Shorty. You coming?” He asks Tea, who is having a stare-down with Dorian.
“Hold it right there,” says Dorian, blocking the stairs.
Todd uses his size lightly pushing his way around Dorian. He steps to the side to allow Tea to pass.
*****
Starr’s Room
At first they don’t see Starr, sitting alone in a corner. She sees them first, and tries to brush her tears away before they notice.
Todd approaches her tentatively, unsure of whether or not she was happy to see him. He kneels in front her, wiping her tears away. “Hey, Shorty.”
“Hi,” she responds dryly. Tea stands in the background, letting them have a few moments to themselves.
“You ready?” She shakes her head “no” and turns her back to him.
“You don’t want to stay with me and Tee?” He looks at Tea for help, she shrugs her shoulders. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” She hops up on her bed and starts playing with one of her dolls.
“Sweetie,” Tea says, sitting next to Starr, “are you mad at us for something?” Starr nods her head. “Will you tell us what it is so that we can try to fix it?”
She looks up from her doll, and glances at her father and stepmother. Todd sits next to Tea, putting his arm around her.
“Daddy, you left me and Tee stopped coming around.”
Todd’s heart breaks. He opens his mouth to speak, but nothing happens.
“Sweetie, your daddy was sick,” Tea says, trying to mask her own pain. “And me, I don’t have any excuses. I should have spent time with you Starr. You know that neither of us ever, not for one second, stopped loving you, don’t you?”
“If you loved me, then you wouldn’t have left. And I heard mommy talking to Uncle Max, and she said that daddy was a faker.”
A flash of anger clouds his eyes, unnoticed by Starr. “Shorty, I was sick. I had to go away for a long time so I could get better.”
“But Daddy, you didn’t call. You said I could talk to Fred and he would talk to you. But when I talked to Fred, I said I wanted you to call and you never called.”
“You’re right Shorty. I should have, but I never stopped thinking about you and wanting to be with you. I’m sorry.”
“Starr, you know that if there was any way that your daddy could be with you then he would.”
“Are you still mad at daddy?” She asks Tea.
“No. I was at first, but he tried real hard to make it up to me, and I forgave him. Grownups make mistakes sometimes too, we’re not perfect.”
“But what if he gets sick again and has to leave?”
Todd pulls her into a hug, to which she eagerly responds. “Shorty, I will never, ever leave you or Tee again. I promise. I love you so much.”
“I love you too daddy, but if you leave again, I’m not going to forgave you.”
“Forgive, sweetie,” Tea corrects.
“I’m not going to forgive you,” Starr says. She pulls Tea into a hug, along with Todd.
“A Kodak moment, I think I’m going to be sick,” Blair says, standing in the doorway, leaning against the wall. Neither Todd nor Tea take Blair’s bait.
“Shorty, is this all the stuff you’re taking?” Todd asks.
“Uh, huh.” Todd grabs her bag and slings it over his shoulder. “Bye mommy.”
“Bye honey,” says Blair, picking Starr up and kissing her cheek.
*****
The Manning Estate Evening
Starr runs up the stairs ahead of Todd and Tea, in search of her bedroom. After several tries, she finally comes to the right room. It is decorated in pastels, with a white canopy bed. The bedspread is covered with stuffed animals. She eyes grow wide at the sight of her new toys. “Daddy, is all this mine?”
“Yep.”
“Yes!” She jumps onto the bed and starts playing with the animals. “Wow! Daddy, I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings,” she says sadly. “Yours too Tee.” She gives each of them a hug and kiss and goes back to play with her toys.
“Starr, do you want tacos for dinner?” Tea asks.
“Yeah. Only do I have to help? I wanna play.”
“You can play if that’s what you want. I think you and your daddy could use some time alone.”
“Hey, wait. You didn’t ask if I wanted to help in the kitchen.” He smiles and licks his lips.
“Oh, no, Manning, you are not going anywhere near my kitchen, especially tonight. Maybe we can do something, I mean cook something, next week.”
*****
Starr’s Bedroom One Hour Later
“Daddy?”
“Yeah.” Todd stands in the doorway, watching her proudly.
“Are you and Tee married?”
“Yep.”
“Wow. You guys sure get married a lot.” Starr keeps playing with her dolls.
Todd laughs, knowing that she’s right. “Yeah, well, me and Tee love each other a lot. But this is the last time.”
“Am I going to get a brother or sister?”
He shrugs his shoulder, “I don’t know. You have to ask Tee.”
“Ask Tee what?” Tea says, startling both of them.
“If I’m going to get a brother or sister.” Starr stops playing with her toys and looks over at Tea.
“We’ll just have to wait and see won’t we?” Starr nods her head. “Go wash up, both of you, and get ready for dinner.”
*****
Todd and Tea’s Bedroom Night
Todd lays in the middle of the bed flipping channels. “You’d think with three hundred channels there’d be something to watch.”
“You don’t give anything a chance. You just flick,” Tea responds, not looking up from her book.
“Hey, I give it ten seconds. If I don’t like it, I switch. What’re you reading anyway?” She lifts the book so that he can see the cover. “Come on, Jackie Collins?”
“What? I’m not allowed to read a little smut every now and then?”
“Whatever.” He turns off the television and takes Tea’s book.
“Hey,” she protests, “I was reading that.”
“Why’re you so quiet. Normally, I can’t get you to shut up.”
She playfully punches him in the shoulder. “I do not talk too much. And I have not been quiet.”
He props himself on his elbows and looks into her eyes. “Something’s bothering you.”
“Todd, it’s nothing. Really. I just have a lot of things on my mind.”
“Such as?”
“Such as how we’re going to get The Sun back.”
“You said that it would be easy since the one judge believed us, then the other judge would probably believe us too,” Todd says with alarm creeping into his voice.
“Relax, I still believe that. I just want you to have everything that you want.”
“I already do. The Sun, well, that would just be a bonus,” he says, kissing her softly.
*****
Rachel’s Apartment Morning
Rachel and Nick had been living together since they came back from Hawaii. Nick wanted to buy a bigger place, but Rachel wanted to wait awhile. Their relationship had become the talk of the town, everyone was speculating on how soon they would marry.
Rachel was taking a shower when the phone rang. Nick looked at the caller id, noting the phone number, he lets the machine answer. A couple of minutes later, his pager goes off. The number matches that on the caller id, followed by the numbers 911. He quickly calls back. Someone picks up after two rings.
“Hello?”
“Hello. Someone just paged me,” Nick says.
“Yes, Mr. Bastian, this is detective Ross. I was working on a case-“
“I remember,” Nick interrupts. “What’s going on?”
Rachel comes out of the bathroom, wearing a towel. She approaches Nick, but he holds up a finger, telling her to stop, and walks across the room. She frowns, but takes the hint, and give him some privacy.
“I have been looking for both you and Ms. Delgado.”
“Uh, huh.”
“I thought that you should know that Alfonso Esposito is going to be released next week.”
“What? He served less than half of his sentence.”
“I know. I just thought that you should know. I’ll continue to try to locate Ms. Delgado-“
“Don’t bother, I’ll tell her. Thanks for calling detective.” Nick hangs up the phone, throwing it against the wall. Rachel hears the crashing sound, and rushes from the bedroom.
“What’s going on?” She yells.
“Nothing,” he says, not looking at her.
“Right,” she says, sighing. “By the way, I did not appreciate the way you treated me earlier.”
“I’m sorry. I had to take care of some private business.” He retrieves the telephone, and carefully places it on the table. He walks over to Rachel, and brushes her lips with his own. “It’s not you, Rach.”
“I know. Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not right now,” he says. He kisses her again before leaving the room to take a shower.
*****
The Manning Estate Afternoon
Tea and Starr swing on the front porch, drinking lemonade and eating cookies. Starr had been talking nonstop about Todd, and all of the things she wanted the three of them to do. She began to get tired, so she lay across Tea’s lap and continued to talk.
“And you know what Tee?”
“What?”
“Me and you and daddy are gonna ride horses.”
“Yes we are sweetie.”
“And you know what else?”
“What?”
“Me and you and daddy we’re gonna go swimming in the lake. But first I have to learned how to swim.”
“Learn sweetie.”
“Yeah, I gotta learn. Tee, I’m sleepy,” Starr says between yawns.
“I kinda figured. It’s alright if you fall asleep on my lap.”
“You won’t get lonely out here all by yourself?”
“No, I’ll be fine.”
Todd watches proudly from the doorway, smiling from ear to ear. He opens the door quietly, trying not to disturb either of them. He just wants a closer look. Tea hears the creak of the door, and looks over at Todd, tip-toeing onto the porch.
“Hey,” she whispers.
“Hey.”
“Why are you smiling like that?”
“I like seeing the two of you like that, ya know? You just look so happy.”
“I am happy, Todd.”
Their conversation is interrupted by the telephone. Todd jogs back into the house and picks it up on the forth ring.
“Yeah?”
“Todd, it’s Nick.”
“What’s up?” Todd asks, trying to not let his annoyance at being interrupted creep into his voice.
“Is Tea around?”
“What do you want with my wife?” Todd yells.
Tea hears Todd’s aggravated voice from the porch, picks Starr up, and carries her back into the house. “Todd, who is it?”
“It’s for you,” he spits, shoving the phone at her.
She give Starr to him, “Take her to her room,” she whispers, covering the mouthpiece. Todd takes Starr, but stands at the top of the stairs, unseen, yet still able to hear her end of the conversation. “Hi Nick.”
“Tea, we need to talk.”
“About?”
“Esposito. Can you get away?”
“When and where?” She asks, her hands starting to shake.
“The country club.”
“I’ll be there in an hour.” She hangs up the phone and paces across the floor.
Todd stomps down the stairs, startling Tea who is lost in thought.
“So what the hell did he want?” He asks calmly with anger in his eyes.
“He needs me to meet with him,” she replies just as calmly.
“You’re not going, are you?”
“I have to. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”
“Delgado, don’t go,” he pleads. “I mean, what if Starr wakes up and asks for you?”
“You’ll take care of her. Don’t worry, okay. I’ll be back before you know it.” She sees him trying to control his jealousy. She turns his head, so that his eyes meet hers. “I love you,” she says, kissing him deeply.
2001 COPYRIGHT BY TORRI
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