The Florencia Lozano Homepage - Fan Fiction
LIES FEARS & LOVE
BY TROG |
CHAPTER
30 |
chapter 30
TEA’S APARTMENT, 3:00 A.M.
Todd flew out of the elevator and rushed down the hallway toward Tea’s door. He started to lift the doorknocker but was so agitated he bypassed it and pounded loudly on the door with his fist. After only a few seconds he pounded again, more loudly.
“Tea! Open up this damn door or I’m going to bust it down!” he shouted, pounding his fist on the door again!
A few neighbors opened their doors, but he just threw them a threatening look and they closed them again quickly. Suddenly the door flew open and Tea was standing there in a salmon-colored, satin nightgown , her head cocked and one eyebrow raised up high, followed quickly by Lourdes who was throwing on a dark bathrobe.
Todd stared at Tea angrily, then walked passed them into the apartment.
“Todd, it’s three o’clock in the morning. Do you think you could lower your voice,” Tea said, closing the door behind her.
“Well, gee, Tea, since I left 50 messages on you’re machine which you didn’t answer, and Lulu here has been giving me the run-a-round all day long, I thought I’d try you at this hour and see if you were home,” he shouted.
He took a few deep breaths and calmed down a little--relieved that she was okay and equally angry that she was okay.
“Talk to me, Delgado,” he said in a low, pleading voice. “What the hell is going on here? Why are you avoiding me?”
Tea looked straight into his eyes then looked away.
“Lourdes, would you go check on Leo, please.”
Lourdes, who was still staring at Todd in his frantic state, nodded, and went down the hall.
“Todd...we can’t be together,” she whispered, her eyes watering as she shook her head slowly.
Todd said nothing. He looked at her for a long time and finally approached her.
“Okay, Delgado, you better tell me that you’ve been stricken with some fatal disease, because death is the only thing that’s going to keep me away from you!”
Tea turned her back and started to walk away from him, but his arms came around her and he pulled her to him, burying his face in her hair as she cried softly. He rocked her gently against him, breathing deeply as she leaned back against him, feeling safe and secure in his arms.
“What‘s going on, Tea,” he whispered into her ear.
“Blair came to see me last night,” she said.
Todd pulled away from her and turned her around to face him. Tea shivered in her thin, flimsy nightgown and Todd removed his suit’s jacket and placed it over her bare shoulders. He took her face in his hands and delicately wiped her tears, then lead her onto the sofa, sitting down beside her.
“I’m going to kill that snake if she hurt you, or Leo,” he said, his voice quivering with controlled rage.
“No, Todd, it wasn’t like that. She didn’t see Leo, he was already asleep. She came to talk to me...about your baby.”
“I don’t get it. Why would Blair come to you to talk about her kid...my kid?”
Tea looked at him with some confusion.
“Didn’t Blair talk to you, yesterday?”
“Nah, I haven’t seen her. I told you I try to stay clear of her.”
Tea stood up, pulling his jacket tightly around her for comfort.
“She came to ask me to stay away from you.”
Todd stood up, his anger rising again.
“So, let me get this straight, Delgado. Blair comes here and asks you to dump me and you say , sure, okay?”
“No, querido, it wasn’t like that.”
“Oh, come on, Tea! You’re smarter than this! If Blair came here to see you, you can believe she had some sort of agenda.”
Tea walked up to him.
“Todd, it’s about your baby. You’re baby’s ill.”
“Tea, I talked to Dr. Parker and she and Blair said everything was fine with the baby.”
“That procedure that Blair had last week was an amniocentesis. Todd...your baby has...Down’s syndrome. I’m so sorry, mi amor,” she said, as she slid her arms around him and embraced him.
Todd’s stomach sank at her words and his legs felt weak. He pulled away from her and walking over to the sofa, he sat down looking at the floor, dejectedly, closing his eyes and burying his face in his hand.
“I guess this is the secret she’s been keeping from you. She didn’t know how to tell you.”
Todd looked up at her, his face filled with pain and confusion.
“Are you sure, Tea?”
Tea nodded sadly.
“She’s afraid you’re going to leave her to handle this alone--her and Starr. That’s why she came...and Todd...I can’t blame her for wanting you with them,” said Tea, as tears rolled down her face. “And Todd...querido...I’ll understand if you need to be with her...to marry her.”
Todd looked up at her suddenly and stood up.
“HELL, NO!” he shouted.
“Todd! You need to be with them. To support them. It‘s the right thing.”
He walked over and took her hands.
“I don’t give a damn about the right thing! This doesn’t change anything between us, Tea.”
Tea pulled away from him.
“How can you say that? A child like this will require so much time and commitment--Todd, you barely have time for all of us now. And it really isn’t fair to Blair. ”
“I’ll hire round the clock nursing, and a lot of help. I’ll deal with this, Tea. Nothing has changed.”
Tea hung her head and shook it slowly.
“I don’t know, Todd. It doesn’t seem right . This child is going to need a full-time father. It all seems so hopeless--why can’t things just be easy for us?” she asked looking up at him with a tear-stained face.
Todd walked up to her and took her face in his hands, smiling.
“Hey, what fun would easy be, right?”
Tea smiled and put her arms around his neck. They stood there in the middle of the livingroom, holding each other in peaceful silence, as the chaos of the world hovered around them, like a hungry vulture.
“I’m never letting you go, Tea. Never!” he said quietly, kissing the top of her head.
Lourdes walked quietly into the livingroom and watched them. They looked so dispirited as they clung tightly to each other and she felt a wave of sympathy for them.
“Pardon, me.”
Todd and Tea looked up as Tea wiped her eyes.
“I’m sorry, Lourdes. You go on back to bed,” said Tea.
“I know this is none of my concern, Ms. Delgado, but something has been bothering me about last night, and I need to get it off my chest,” said Lourdes.
“What?” asked Tea.
“Well, you were so upset after Ms. Cramer left....”
“Blair had some bad news about the health of her baby, Lourdes, she was quite devastated We all are,” said Tea.
“Well, you see, that’s just it. She didn’t seem that upset when she left.”
Todd walked over to her.
“What do you mean?” asked Todd.
“Well, she and Ms. Delgado were out on the terrace. When Ms. Cramer came back in and closed the doors behind her, she didn’t see me in the hallway, but she didn’t looked devastated at all, in fact she had a big wolfish, grin on her face.”
Tea came up beside Todd.
“Lourdes, you must be mistaken. She was practically hysterical when she was telling me about her baby.”
“I’m not mistaken. What ever she said to you, she looked quite pleased with herself when she came in, smiling very broadly up at the ceiling before she left.”
Todd turned to Tea suddenly.
“She was lying. She set you up, Tea!”
“Todd, that can’t be. No woman would use her unborn child so cruelly.”
“Blair would. She does whatever she has to. Don’t you see, Tea? I told her I wouldn’t marry her, not even for the baby so she comes up with this. It’s classic Blair. She couldn’t change my mind, so she uses you to dump me thinking I’ll run back and marry her.”
Todd turned around and smiled at Lourdes.
“Good work, Lulu. I‘m impressed. I’m going to like having you around the house.”
Lourdes smiled at Todd.
“Well, Ms. Delgado and Mr. Leo are my responsibility and I look out for them. And now I will most definitely go to bed. Good night,” she said, turning and heading down the hallway.
Tea walked up to Todd.
“Todd do you really think Blair could be lying.”
Todd nodded slowly.
“Yeah, she’s lying. I can feel it. I’ll find out more, tomorrow.”
“Oh, querido, I hope you're right?”
Todd looked at her and smiled.
“I’m Todd Manning. I’m always right.”
Tea smiled up at him, but suddenly anger rose up in her dark eyes.
“I can’t believe I was taken in by that...selfish harpy. Wait till I get my hands on that stringy neck of hers, Todd, I’m going to...”
Todd grabbed her and pulled her into him.
“You’re not going anywhere near her until I find out what she’s up to.”
Tea looked up him, defiantly, with fire in her eyes.
“Don’t tell me what to do, Todd! That woman just made a fool out of me--in my house-- and I’m not going to forget it! I can take care of myself, Todd. I don’t need you to protect me from big, bad, Blair. I‘m not afraid of her!“ she shouted!
Todd put his hands in her hair and brought her close to him.
“Listen to me. I know you can take care of yourself, but I want to do this. Let me do this! In the past you were always there to clean up my messes, Delgado. It’s my turn. Let me be a man, let me be a father, let me be a husband...let me be your man, Tea.”
Tea looked up at him for a long time and then slowly nodded her head, amazed at this new confidence in him-- this masculine strength that he possessed. Finally she sighed deeply and smiled up at him. Pulling away from him, she slipped his jacket off her shoulders, letting it drop carelessly to the floor, and walked slowly away from him toward her bedroom. His eyes followed the outline of her body as it undulated gracefully beneath the thin satin nightgown then disappeared through the doorway. He followed her in and closed the door.
to be continued...
2001 Copyright by Trog
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