The Florencia Lozano Homepage - Fan Fiction
LIES FEARS & LOVE
BY TROG |
CHAPTER
44 |
THE PENTHOUSE
Todd finished dressing as he slipped on the blazer of his brown suit over a light brown t-shirt and ran his fingers through his long, damp hair. Grabbing a wad of money and his car keys from the dresser, he put them in his pocket and glanced at the rumpled bed, smiling to himself. He walked over and fingered the creamy sheets remembering Tea’s pale, naked body and her wild, brown hair laying against them last night and he wondered when it would stop--when he would stop falling more deeply in love with her. It frightened him a little--this profound level of emotion. Sometimes the power she had over him made him afraid and he knew what he was risking by being vulnerable, by surrendering to her--he knew he was giving her the ammunition to destroy him --but he wanted her too much. Tea had said loving him was worth the risk of being hurt by him, and now he understood what she had meant. Being with Tea was worth risking everything.
When he got to the top of the stairs he heard all sorts of voices coming from downstairs, and he suddenly stopped. Stepping gingerly on the top step he observed what was going on with great amusement.
Tea, Starr and Leo (in a high-chair) were all seated around the table by the window having pancakes. As Tea sipped her coffee, Starr was cutting Leo’s pancakes into tiny pieces and attempting to feed him with a spoon, but Leo kept pushing it away with great annoyance and grabbing the pancakes with his hands and putting them into his mouth. More often than not Leo would miss his mouth and his face was covered with sticky syrup and pancake crumbs as Starr attempted to wipe them off. Tea laughed, quietly watching.
“Leo, you’re so messy...just like daddy when he eats...you need to eat with your spoon,” said Starr as if she were talking to one of her dolls.
“Hey, I may be a sloppy eater, but I think I do better than Leo here,” said Todd coming down the stairs.
“Buenos dias, papa,” said Starr to her father. “That means “good morning, daddy,” in Spanish. Tee taught me.”
“That’s great...soon I won’t be able to understand any of my own children.”
Todd kissed his daughter then walked around the table and kissed the top of Leo‘s head, avoiding his sticky face. He took the chair beside Tea and grabbed her hand under the table.
“Good morning, mi vida,” she said smiling at him as their eyes locked intimately for an instant and memories of last night‘s lovemaking flashed in their minds.
She tried to be non-chalant, knowing how uncomfortable Todd was with all this domesticity, despite his accommodating demeanor. Todd was a lone wolf, use to rambling alone in this empty place and the sudden invasion of a fully-formed family had to be somewhat discombobulating to him.
Lourdes came out of the kitchen with a pot of coffee and proceeded to pour Todd some. She seemed perfectly content with all the extra activity around her.
“Good morning, Mr. Manning, would you like some pancakes.”
“Nah...I need to get to the office,” said Todd.
“Can I have some more pancakes, Lulu,?” asked Starr. “They’re good!”
“Of course you can, honey, let me just go and get you some,” said Lourdes removing her plate and going back into the kitchen.
“Tea, I need to get to The Sun...are you going to be okay?” asked Todd sipping his coffee and looking around somewhat dismayed by his noisy family.
“Yeah. I’m going to take Starr shopping...she starts school this week and she needs some things. A lot of the clothes in her closet upstairs don’t fit anymore. Then I’m going to take Starr and Leo to lunch at Carlotta’s. I think it’s time I told her.”
Todd nodded grimly, looking out the window. He knew how much Carlotta despised him and how much that hurt Tea. His detractors were legion and Tea would have to put up with all of them by loving him.
“Hey why don’t I call Vicki and meet you all there. She’s been bugging me to meet Leo.”
“Okay, how about one o’clock?”
Todd nodded as Lourdes brought out Starr’s pancakes. The doorbell rang and Lourdes ran to answer it.
When Lourdes opened the door, Blair quickly pushed her aside bodily and hurried into the livingroom of the penthouse. All the breakfast commotion suddenly came to an awkward silence as Lourdes closed the door behind her.
Blair just stood there trying to decipher the scene before her. In seconds her mind registered the physical change in the place--the new furnishings, the warm colors--but it was seeing them all together, sitting around the breakfast table, that unbalanced her. She saw her daughter and Todd sitting with that hateful woman who had once again usurped her life. It was then that she noticed the baby sitting in their midst, the beautiful baby that seemed so familiar to her in some way.
“Mommy!,” said Starr, leaving her chair and running into her mother’s arms.
“Good morning, sweetheart,” said Blair, never taking her eyes off the baby.
“Mommy, look at the baby...his name is Leo. He’s my little brother,” Starr blurted out in excitement. “Isn’t he pretty...I mean handsome?”
Blair said nothing as she continued to stare at the baby in shock. His beautiful hazel eyes--Todd’s eyes--were looking back at her. There was no doubt who he belonged to--he was Todd’s. Suddenly she put her hand on her empty belly and felt the ugly vacancy as she caressed the lifeless pillow beneath her blue maternity dress. This should have been her baby, but instead it was Tea’s. Her mind flashed back briefly to Tea’s apartment in New York, remembering that little football on the sofa--suddenly it all made sense. Tea had given Todd a child and this is why he had left her.
Todd stood up and stood protectively in front of Tea and Leo, as if trying to shield them from the venom that he felt coming from Blair’s serpentine eyes.
“Starr I’m here to take you home,” she managed to stammer, her gaze still fixated on Leo.
“This is Starr’s home. Starr is living here from now on...with her brother,” said Todd.
Starr looked from Todd to Blair and than down at her feet, her eyes misting and her lips trembling with sadness, caught in the tangled web of her parents’ anger.
“Lourdes, could you please take Leo upstairs and clean him up,” said Tea breaking the awkward silence. “And Starr why don’t you go and get dressed, okay, sweetie?”
Lourdes walked over quickly and took Starr’s hand, then took Leo from Tea’s arms and headed quickly up the stairs with them. When Todd heard the doors closing upstairs he approached Blair.
“Get the hell out of our house.”
“I’m not leaving without my daughter. And I’m certainly not leaving her here with your whore and that bastard kid of hers!” she shrieked.
Todd wrenched her arm violently and dragged her toward the door. Opening it quickly, he shoved her into the hallway, and closed it behind him.
“If you ever refer to my woman and my son by anything other than their names--you will not see Starr again. Do you hear me? They are my family...and Starr‘s family...and I won‘t have you maligning them in her presence. If you can‘t put Starr‘s needs before your own, you don‘t get to see her. Do you understand me, Blair?”
Hot tears rose in her eyes and fell down her face, but he was unmoved by them--their validity having been compromised so often. He noticed the faint, purple bruise around her neck and tried to restrain his anger, not wanting to risk his child’s safety.
“You can see Starr whenever you wish, as long as you call first, and you see her in this house...in my presence. When you show me that I can trust you with her, we’ll talk about more liberal visitation rights, but right now my first priority is Starr!”
“Oh, bull shit! You’re first priority is her...Tea! She has always been first with you. Remember when you abandoned your daughter to run away with that....Tea? Was Starr your main concern then? I was here for my daughter when you left her, so don’t you tell me about my priorities. I know what they are!” she screamed.
Todd watched her as she ran her fingers nervously through her choppy hair. Her words cut deeply because there was an element of truth to them.
“You’re right, Blair. You were there for Starr when I wasn’t...and...I appreciate that...I really do, but since then you’ve shot your ex-husband in the back and spent time in a mental hospital and unfortunately for you, the courts frown upon that sort of thing. I can give Starr the stability she needs right now, the stability I haven’t been able to give her in the past...and I intend to. I’m trying to do the right thing here and you can be a part of it, Blair...or not! It‘s up to you.”
She walked closer to him, but he backed away from her.
“Todd, what about our baby,” she said, touching her stomach.
“I told you, Blair, I’ll be there for that baby...just like my other children.”
“But I want us to be a family, Todd...you , me, Starr and our new baby,” she pleaded.
Todd shook his head in exasperation.
“That’s never going to happen,” he said, walking up to her, holding her shoulders and looking her in the eye. “I’m not in love you, Blair...and this baby can’t change that. I love Tea...that’s never going to change for me. It was wrong of me to get involved with you...I’m sorry, Blair,” he said quietly.
A look of horror came into her eyes as she backed away from him until she hit the wall, by the elevator.
“You selfish bastard! You came back to Llanview and ruined my marriage to Max and now you don’t want me?”
“Max was cheating on you! And you ruined your marriage to Max, by shooting him!”
“No! No! This is all your doing, Todd! This is all your fault...yours and Tea‘s...and you’re going to pay,” she said, pointing her finger at him.
Todd walked over and pushed the button for the elevator.
“Is that a threat? What are you up to, Blair? What are you hiding about this baby?”
Blair glared at him and then looked down at her fake belly. A twisted smile forming on her face as she rubbed her stomach.
“You know, Todd, I could just disappear. Just me and my baby...and you’d never see us again.”
Todd’s eyes narrowed as he stared at her.
“You won’t do that...you won’t leave Starr.”
The elevator opened suddenly and she walked into it, but Todd stepped up and held the doors open.
“Tell my daughter I’ll call her later,” said Blair.
“Don’t threaten my family, Blair, or you’ll live to regret it,” he warned, letting go of the door and allowing it to close on her hardened face.
Todd walked back into the penthouse as Tea rushed over to him.
“Is everything alright?”
Todd pulled her into his arms.
“Yeah. Everything’s fine. At least all the cards are on the table, right,” said Todd looking down at her in her red, silk nightgown and bathrobe.
“Well, not quite. We still don’t know what she and RJ are up to.”
Todd nodded as Starr came running down the stairs in a pink sweater, blue jeans and pink sneakers. She was carrying pink ribbons in her hands.
“Where’s mommy? I wanted her to braid my hair.”
“Starr your mommy had to leave, but she said she’d call you later, okay” said Todd.
“Sweetie, why don’t you come over here to the sofa...I’ll braid your hair,” said Tea, as Starr walked over and sat with her.
“Tee, do I have to go back to Auntie Dorian’s?”
“Do you want to?” asked Tea as she parted Starr’s hair and began braiding it.
“No! I want to stay here in my real room. And I want to stay with you and daddy and Leo...and Lulu too. But I want to live with mommy too!”
Todd sighed deeply and walked over to the window, his stomach knotted with guilt.
“Starr, you’re daddy has legal custody of you...do you know what that means?” asked Tea.
“Yeah. It means the judge says I have to live with daddy.”
“Yes... you’re so smart! But that doesn’t mean that you don’t get to see your mother too. It’s just that the judge thinks it’s best for you to have a permanent home, with your own room to live in and one parent to make important decisions for you, do you understand, sweetie?” Asked Tea, anchoring her braids with the pink ribbons.
Todd walked over and sat beside Starr.
“Listen, Starr. I want you to live here, but if you aren’t happy here, and you want to live with your mother...I’ll understand...it‘s okay.”
Tea stared at Todd in surprise, flabbergasted by his offer to Starr, and overwhelmed by selflessness of his love and concern for her. Starr stared at her father, weighing his offer in her young mind.
“I wanna live here, daddy. Mommy’s always gone out...and Clair is mean, she doesn‘t like me...that’s my new nanny, Tee. I wanna live here and go to my old school with my friends.”
Todd’s eyes teared up as he hugged his daughter in obvious relief, thrilled that she elected to live with him freely.
“Okay...I gotta get to work,” said Todd standing up. “I’ll see you all at one...at the diner, right?”
Tea nodded and walked him to the door. Starr watched as Tea opened the door and her father leaned down to kiss her softly as Tea pushed his hair behind his ear. “I love you” he whispered to a smiling Tea. It was the first time Starr had ever heard him say those words to anyone other than her and it made her smile to see this side of her father.
2001 Copyright by Trog
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