The Florencia Lozano Homepage - Fan Fiction
LIES FEARS & LOVE
BY TROG |
CHAPTER
41 |
chapter 41
THE PENTHOUSE
Todd poured himself a scotch and sat down on the sofa. The telephone beckoned to him with an overwhelming desire to call Starr and see if she was okay, but Blair’s threats had amputated his resolve. Once, he had hurt Tea physically and the memory of it still repelled him. It made him feel ashamed that he had almost choked Blair to death, that he had lost control that way again. He couldn’t believe he had been so blindsighted by her anger, never expecting her to use Starr to hurt him. Starr was sacrosanct--he thought that was understood between them. But he had been so wrong.
He had found happiness with Tea, a love he never thought possible, but the reality of Blair’s threats had made him realize how precarious and fragile his happiness was. When he was with Tea he could forget his past and what he had done to innocent women with his rage, and she was still able to love him knowing all this, but someday he would have to tell his children and he wondered if they could ever love him after that.
When the door suddenly opened, Todd looked up to see Tea standing in the doorway.
“Hey, Delgado,” he said getting up, “where did you go?”
Starr suddenly peaked out from behind Tea and came running into her father’s arms.
“Surprise, daddy!” screamed Starr.
Todd held his daughter and looked up at Tea in confusion.
“Starr, how did you get here?”
“Tea kidnapped me from Aunt Dorian’s. We snuck out in the dark, just like two spies, and nobody saw us.”
“Your mother doesn’t know you’re here?”
Starr shook her head and smiled
Lourdes came out from the kitchen and Tea walked over.
“Starr, this is Lourdes. She takes care of us and the penthouse.”
Lourdes walked over and shook Starr’s hand.
“Well hello, Miss Starr, I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Hi, Lou..., I can’t say your name.”
“Call her, Lulu, that’s what I call her,” said Todd.
Starr smiled up at Lourdes.
“I have a doll named Lulu. Can you make cookies, Lulu? I‘m hungry from spying.”
“As a matter of fact I made some chocolate chip cookies for your homecoming. Come on, they’re in the kitchen and there still warm.”
Starr took Lourdes hand and disappeared into the kitchen with her.
Todd approached Tea.
“What the hell did you do?’
“I snuck into Dorian’s and got your daughter. You have legal custody of her, Todd, and this is where she belongs. Look, I know you‘re afraid of Blair‘s threats, but I’m not...and I think she‘s bluffing. And if Starr’s here Blair can‘t have access to her unless you let her.”
Todd stared at her, then hurried over to the telephone dialing quickly.
“Yeah, this is Todd Manning. I want maintenance up her ASAP and I want my locks changed within the hour. Yes, I do know what time it is and I said I want my locks changed....NOW!.”
Todd hung up and Tea walked over to him.
“Querido, you need to call Blair. When we left she was asleep in her room, but when she wakes up she‘s going to know.”
Todd looked at her and then pulled her into his arms.
“You blow my mind, Delgado...you‘re the best damned thing that ever happened in my miserable life,” he said, planting small, slow kisses all over her face as she laughed.
As they continued kissing Lourdes and Starr came out of the kitchen. They watched Todd and Tea as they continued to kiss, oblivious to their presence, and smiled at each other. When Todd heard Starr giggling he pulled away from Tea with embarrassment, but he was glad to see Starr laughing as she munched on a cookie.
Todd walked over to his daughter and crouched down beside her.
“Listen, Starr, Tea and me, we have a surprise for you...upstairs,” he said getting up and turning to Tea.
Todd took Starr’s hand and then reached out to Tea and they all walked upstairs together. As they approached the top, Starr noticed a plastic gate at the top of the staircase.
“Daddy, what’s that,” she asked pointing to the gate as Todd removed it to let them by.
“You’ll see,” he said, looking nervously at Tea.
Tea broke away from them and walked ahead, entering Leo’s room before them. Leo was sitting up in his crib wearing mint green, footed pajamas, probably awakened by their voices, and Tea walked over and removed him from his crib to his delight.
As Starr walked in holding her father’s hand she noticed Tea standing there holding Leo. Starr smiled walking over to her.
“A baby!”, she said, looking up as Todd leaned against the doorway watching them.
“Starr this is Thomas Leon`, we call him Leo,” she said , as she kneeled down before Starr holding Leo who clung to his mother’s neck as he stared at Starr.
“He’s so pretty, Tee, he looks like a girl,” she said, reaching out and touching his long hair.
Todd came walking over and sat on the floor beside him.
“That’s it Delgado, tomorrow this kid gets a haircut...and Starr he’s not pretty...he’s a boy...he’s handsome.”
Starr smiled and continued to look at Leo, noticing his eyes...her father’s eyes.
“Daddy, Leo has eyes just like you.”
Todd pulled Starr down beside him and stroked her pretty blond hair.
“There’s a reason for that, Starr. I’m... I’m Leo’s daddy...just like I‘m your daddy.”
Starr’s eyes widened as she looked from Leo to her father.
“And Tee is his mother. Leo’s your brother Starr...do you understand.”
“He is?” shouted Starr!
“Yeah, Sweetie. Leo’s your little brother,” said Tea.
“That means he came from you and daddy, right?”
“Yeah, Starr...but we don’t want to get into that birds-bees stuff right now.”
“But daddy, why didn’t you tell me before?”
Todd sighed and looked up at Tea, who looked away from him.
“Well Starr, you remember when I came back for Tee, right? When you delivered that note for me?” he said as Starr nodded. “Well, when we went away we made a Leo, but I didn’t know. See Tee and I, we had a misunderstanding and it was all my fault mostly, but I left and later Leo was born, but I didn’t know cause I was here with you and your mother. When Tea told me about Leo, we decided that we still loved each other and we all wanted to live together as a family and that includes you. Am I making any sense, Starr?”
“Yeah,” said Starr, “But what about mommy? She’s having my brother too?”
Todd looked at Tea.
“He’s our family too, Starr,” said Tea. “We’re all family.”
“Mommy too?”
Todd looked away.
“Yes, Starr, you’re mommy too,” said Tea.
Starr got up and touched Leo’s hand.
“Can I hold him, Tee?”
“Sure you can. Why don’t you sit on the floor and I’ll hand him to you.”
Starr sat on the floor as Tea placed a reluctant Leo in her lap. He squirmed around a bit but didn’t cry.
“Hi, Leo...I’m your big sister, Starr.” she said sweetly. They eyed each other when Starr suddenly planted a sweet little kiss on his cheek and Leo smiled at her.
“Look, daddy, he smiled at me...he likes me, ha? Can he walk...or talk?”
Tea smiled at her through misty eyes.
“No, Starr...not yet. He’s too little. But he crawls around a lot and pretty soon he’ll be walking...that’s why we have the gate at the top of the stairs.”
Starr nuzzled his face as he giggled.
“He’s so little and soft...I better watch him so he doesn’t bump into stuff, ha?”
Todd nodded as his eyes filled with tears.
“Yeah, Starr...you have to look out for him cause your bigger,” said Todd, touching his sweet daughter’s face. With him and Blair for parents she still managed to have such benevolent instincts that it overwhelmed him with love for her.
Leo wriggled out of Starr’s grasp and began crawling around the room, looking for something to destroy. He saw some stuffed animals on a low shelf and began knocking them down. Starr crawled over and started to put them back, but every time she did, Leo would knock them down again, giggling happily. Starr was laughing as she continued playing with him in this way.
Todd watched them silently as he reached across and took Tea’s hand, kissing it softly and holding it against his heart. They sat quietly watching their children at play and experiencing that intangible, silent joy that only parents can know.
Suddenly, Todd stood up.
“I’m going to call Blair,” he said, helping Tea up and leaving the room quickly.
He ran downstairs where Lourdes was waiting.
“Is everything okay, Mr. Manning?”
“Yeah, it’s good. Listen, Lulu, I have custody of Starr and if my ex-wife shows up here without us being around, I don’t want you to let her in, you got that? If she does, you call the police.”
“Yes, Sir! That’s no problem. And now if you‘ll excuse me, I‘ll go up and check on the children and then I’ll be in my room if you need me.”
“Thanks, Lulu.”
As Lourdes went upstairs, Todd headed for his desk and picked up the phone, dialing Blair’s number.
“Hello,” said a groggy Blair.
“It’s me. Starr is with me at the penthouse. I just wanted to let you know.”
“What? You came and took her...you bastard!” she shouted. Todd could hear her moving around on the other end, probably checking Starr’s room. “I’m coming to get her...”
“Don’t Blair! If you show up here tonight, I’ll call the police and get a restraining order to keep you away from her permanently. With you’re recent stint at St. Anne’s that won’t be too hard too get.”
“How dare you use that against me...”
“You mean, just like you used my past against me, Blair? I don’t think you’ll tell Starr about my past...I going to believe that you love her too much no matter what else you may feel. Tomorrow we’ll set up some sort of visitation schedule, but if you come storming in here tonight...I won’t let you see her...ever.”
There was a long pause on her end.
“This isn’t over Todd!”
“It is for me, Blair...we‘re over,” he said hanging up.
Todd looked down at the phone for a long time as if it were some dark place, a black abyss that he had just climbed out of , and then he looked upward toward the light at the top of the stairs. He listened to the soft commotion, the voices of his children and his love, and smiling suddenly hurried up there to spend the evening with his family.
2001 Copyright by Trog
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