The Florencia Lozano Homepage - Fan Fiction
Chapter 3
Tea awakened alone. Looking at the clock on her nightstand she noticed it was after ten.
“Oh, no…it’s so late.”
Jumping up quickly she ran around the room slipping into a pair of blue jeans and a creamy, cabled sweater that belonged to Todd, pulling it over her head and burying her face in his delicious scent. Walking over to the dresser she ran a brush haphazardly through her long brown mane and examined the dark hollows beneath her eyes.
“Too much sex and not enough sleep,” she concluded, smiling at the memories of nocturnal debauchery with her ravenous husband that went on into the light of day. But…her smile faded quickly when she remembered their dark intruder of last night. Blair.
Heading down the stairway she made her way to Alma’s nursery as she did every morning…but she wasn’t there.
“Hedda,” she called out as she entered Starr’s room, but it was empty as well. Finally she ran downstairs to the first level running from room to room. “Todd?”
“In here,” Todd called out, his voice trailing up the long hallway that lead to his study, Dr Woolf’s old office.
She entered the study with its beautiful mahogany desk and wine leather chair and noticed Todd leaning against the wall and staring out the window, his back to her. He was in a black sweater and pants and his hair shimmered like dark gold in the mid-morning light. As she approached she noticed him watching their gardener, Magnus, as he raked and sacked the broken heads of dozens of roses and their petals which had been destroyed by the furious storm from the previous evening--the grass speckled with dots of pink and red and peach.
“My rose garden,” whispered Tea, tears welling in her sad eyes as Todd took her hand. “Yesterday it was perfect…alive and beautiful…and today it’s wrecked…dead. My beautiful garden… I can’t recall any other storm causing this kind of damage.” Tea looked up at Todd. “ It was her...Blair…she killed my garden. She’s like some evil blight, infecting everything.”
Todd looked at her dejected face.
“It was just the storm. Magnus will clean it up and then…you can go out there and do whatever it is you do to them…prod…prune…preen. It’ll be fine,” he said quietly, touching her sad face. “You’re magic…you can make anything grow.”
Tea looked up at him, trying his best to be husbandly, to be strong and comforting…but she could tell from the deep furrows in his brow that he was as troubled as she was.
“Where are the kids?”
“It’s Saturday. Starr has soccer practice…Hedda took her. And she took Alma…I thought we needed to…discuss…Blair. Come on,” he said pulling her by the hand toward the kitchen.
The kitchen was large with floor-to-ceiling, mahogany cabinets and gray-marbled counters and floor. The red, brick walls were softened by two arched windows with ivy borders of thick, leaded glass across their tops. Dozens of copper pots hung from the walls and along a rack that hung down from the high ceiling, the light from the windows shimmering along their shiny metal surfaces. Todd sat Tea at the large, square island in the center of the room and poured them both some fresh brewed coffee from the pot that Hedda had left for them. Tea watched him pouring cream in hers…a drop and a half, just the way she liked it…before he walked over and sat beside her, handing her the steaming fluted, glass mug.
“What are we going to do, Todd?”
“I hired a guard this morning. Blair is not to come on this property…I don’t care what the courts say.”
“Well…that’s fine. This is still private property…and we can do that…but…what about Starr? Todd…I hate to suggest this, but…I think you need to make arrangements to let Blair see Starr.”
“LIKE HELL!”
Tea reached out a hand to calm him though Todd was already on his feet.
“Listen to me. Please, amor…listen to me before you explode. At least if you can monitor Blair’s visitations with Starr…schedule the visits, limit Blair’s time with her…you’ll have some control. If you give Blair some reasonable time with her daughter, she’ll have no reason to show up unannounced on our doorstep in the middle of the night…or have any reason to retaliate. And…most important of all it will be good for Starr…it will make her happy.”
“I don’t get it, Tea. Last night you were warning me that you thought Blair had gone over the deep end, and this morning you were accusing her of destroying your garden with her evil intent…now…what…you’re her great defender?”
“No…I’m not defending Blair? But…what about Starr? Todd there is no way you can keep Starr from seeing Blair. And it will be worse if you forbid Starr from seeing her…you’ll be encouraging Starr to sneak around and lie behind our backs because you and I both know we can’t keep her from seeing her mother.”
Todd walked over to the window and took a long gulp of coffee.
“Why couldn’t she have died in that fucking prison,” he spat.
“Todd!”
Todd turned sharply and walked toward Tea.
“What? Shocked? Why, Tea…after what she did to you with that psycho Aaron Blackmoor…to me…to us? There is nothing I’d like better than watching her noxious, putrid body buried and rotting in some deep dark hole. I hate that depraved, lying bitch…I hate that…I once loved her…slept with her…hate that her blood runs in my daughter’s veins. She makes my skin crawl.”
“Well…she will always be Starr’s mother. Please, amor…let’s try reasoning with her before we start battling in court and putting Starr in the position of choosing between her parents. Think of Starr.”
Todd sighed heavily and threw his head back, looking up at the vaulted, white plaster ceiling.
“I don’t know, Tea. You don’t know her like I do…you don’t know how full of venom she is…how vengeful. She LOVES revenge…it turns her on. She doesn’t bleed like other people…blood doesn’t run in her veins, Tea, bile does…thick, green bile…like her eyes. She’s like some ugly demon…ever see The Exorcist?”
“Well…perhaps you’re exaggerating just a little,” laughed Tea, “but…I’m not as naïve as you think. I know she wants revenge, but what if you don’t give her any reason for it. You’ll let her see Starr, after all, that’s all that she’s after, isn’t it?”
Walking slowly toward her he instinctively reached out and fingered her brown hair, streaked with flashes of gold, his fingertips caressing her flawless skin, unadorned and natural in the honest light of morning as he stared into her shiny, chocolate eyes, eyes so full of compassion and love. After all Blair had done to them Tea could still amaze him…she could still show her mercy.
“Tea…she doesn’t want Starr…she wants what Starr represents. Part of some warped fairytale family life, the same shit she tried to make me swallow for years. What she wants is what we have…that’s what she wants. And if she can’t have it…she’ll destroy it…even if she has to use Starr to accomplish that end. I know…because…I’m guilty of it myself. I used Starr to hurt her…now, she’ll use Starr to hurt me.”
“Todd…she’s also a mother and those instincts override all others. She paid for her crime…maybe we should give her the benefit of the doubt…at least, until she proves us wrong. Then…if she betrays our trust…we can go to court.”
Todd buried his face in his hands and raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. He hated Tea’s proposal…but…he also knew she was right. Starr would never stop wanting to see her mother and if he prevented it…eventually, she’d grow to hate him.
“Alright…I’ll go and see her. But…I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.”
Tea’s face broke into a dazzling smile and she jumped off the stool and into his arms.
“Thank you, amor. Thank you for trying,” she said, kissing his hair and biting his massive ear. “You know something, Todd Manning…you’re very sexy when your…reasonable,” she said, nestling her face in his neck and nibbling at his warm, spicy flesh.
Todd smiled and lifted her up, placing her on the island behind them. His muscles were tight and weary from last night’s escapades…but his flesh was always willing, too weak to resist her.
“Thank me properly, woman.”
* * * *
Sam Rappaport sat on his sofa, typing a summation into his laptop and looking at his watch periodically. Blair had borrowed his car and been gone most of the night and he was worried about her, wondering if something had happened in the midst of that rainstorm in the early hours. Getting up he’d finally decided to call the police when his door suddenly opened. Blair came hurrying in.
“Hi, Sam,” she said, a large grin on her face.
“Blair…where have you been? I was so worried about you I was ready to call Bo…thought you’d been in an accident or something.”
Blair looking tired and disheveled, her hair short and spiky, fashioned by a fellow inmate, her arms loaded with shopping bags and packages. Placing them on a near-by table she walked over and put her arms around him.
“Oh, Sam…you’re so sweet to worry about little ole me…my only true friend in all this. But…as you can see I’m just fine. In fact, I’m better than fine. I just got an apartment in this building…a large place with 3 bedrooms, one for me, one for Starr and one for Jack. And it has a terrace…and a fireplace…”
Sam pulled away from her and looked into her glassy, bloodshot eyes.
“Blair…I think you’re moving a little too quickly here.”
“No, Sam…I’m fine. In fact…I was out buying furniture and all new things for me and my babies. Thank goodness I hoarded a few bucks from the Lord millions before Todd threw me to the curb. I’ll be out of your hair by tomorrow and then I can start getting my life back.”
“But…what about Max…what about Todd?”
“I saw Max yesterday when I went to see my precious baby Jack. And he was fine. He’d love for me to spend time with Jack…in fact…I think Jack is cramping his flim-flamming life a bit…and that Roxy woman has no time for a baby. Max has no problem dumping his kids on other people….just look at his other children. No…Max is not a problem.”
Sam sat down and stared up at her towering figure…tall and lean…her body tight and muscular, almost masculine, from working out constantly in prison.
“And Todd?”
Blair’s smile faded and her face become pensive and serious.
“I went by their…home…early this morning. Actually…you might say…I stormed in,” she said, smiling proudly.
“You what?” asked Sam, rising quickly to his feet.
“I knew he’d never let me see Starr if I called…so…I just showed up. And you should have seen the looks on their faces…they were so pissed off…a little scared, I think,” she laughed.
Sam was a little concerned by her reckless behavior. There was something different about her…a rough edginess, a cocky brazenness that frightened him a little. It seemed as if all the vulnerability she possessed had been eradicated in prison and replaced with something else.
“Blair…I don’t have to remind you that you’re on parole, do I? Don’t do anything stupid…anything to jeopardize your chances of visiting your children. You need to be cooperative with Todd and Tea…not belligerent or threatening.”
“VISITING MY OWN CHILDREN? DO YOU THINK I’D BE SATISFIED WITH THAT? THEY ARE MINE! MINE! MY FLESH…MY BLOOD! THEY WILL LIVE WITH ME!” she shrieked.
Sam was stunned by her outburst and she stopped yelling when she realized her loss of control. Fingering the spiky hair on her forehead she took a deep breath and mustered up all the softness that she once remembered having…all the false femininity she’d used to manipulate men throughout her life…and walked over to Sam…her voice a delicate drawl.
“Oh, Sam,” she said, taking his hand. “I’m sorry about that…but…I’m a mother Sam. And children belong with their mother…you know that.”
Sam squeezed her hand.
“I know. And I know what a good mother you are. But…the fact is you just got out of prison…and Todd has full custody of Starr. Now…visitation should be no problem as long you provide a safe environment for them and you see your parole officer once a week. A year will go by in no time.”
Blair looked at him, her feminine façade slipping a little.
“I can’t wait a year, Sam,” she said, emphatically, looking into his eyes.
“You have no choice, Blair.”
Blair looked at him, her eyes narrowing to thin, green slits, then, just as quickly softening as she smiled sweetly at him.
“You’re right, Sam…I’m just being a silly, impatient ninny. A year will just fly by…and I’ll prove myself to everyone…Max, Todd…even Tea. You’ll see Sam…I’ll be the perfect mother.”
A loud pounding interrupted them. Sam walked to the door and opened it. Todd was standing there.
2002 Copyright by Trog
FanFiction Home
Home
