CHAPTER FIVE: A POIGNANT REUNION
In the two years since his wife disappeared, Luke Spencer had been a man without direction, without peace. At first he was unable to accept the evidence that Laura was dead—he insisted she was alive to anyone who would listen—but finally practicality forced him to believe. After all, the captain of that tanker had fished Laura's belongings from the sea, had seen the little dingy sink into the deep. Laura was dead, drowned. The dream was over. Restless, too numb to face his grief or deal with this own pain, Luke packed up a knap sack and headed for the mountains to be alone. As he hiked he took on a mind-emptying state of euphoria, enjoying the exercise and the natural beauty around him. And then one morning he awoke to the sound of splashing and discovered a dark-eyed English nymph skinny-dipping in a nearby pool. Fate had handed him a distraction, a focus, and he went full speed into a disasterous affair that soon left him without his home or a means by which to make a living. Holly Sutton turned out to be a con-woman who involved him in an oil scam that cleaned out half the town and had Luke and Robert mortgaging their business in order to finance a phony oil field development. Eventually Luke and Robert learned the truth and recovered the town's money, but though lovely Holly professed to love Luke, she could not seem to stop telling lies, and one last lie sent Luke stalking off to the mountains once more to clear his thoughts. This time, however, it was winter and Luke ran into a mugger who stole his food and identification. In the chase that followed, both mugger and Luke were buried in an avalance. Luke awoke in a mountain hospital and, overhearing a doctor say he would never walk again, made up his mind to pretend a loss of memory so as to spare his loved ones the burden of a cripple. When the mugger, carrying Luke's ID, was found dead, friends and family were notified that Luke Spencer had been killed. They grieved while Luke struggled to live with his paralysis, but a fiesty lady therapist named Natalie bullied him onto his feet and got him walking. He returned to Pt. Charles—only to find that Robert married Holly to save her from deportation and had fallen in love with her. A new tycoon in town, D.L. Brock offered Luke a profitable job managing a gambling casino called Luke's Place. Brock also talked him into running for mayor of Pt. Charles. Luke had small hope of winning and didn't take it too seriously, but he finally got caught up In the campaigning. Privately he opinioned that Lee Baldwin, his opponent, was the better man for the job. A close election made Luke a surprise winner and his first act was to appoint Lee Deputy Mayor. The city's problems seemed to come at him from everywhere but something else was bothering Luke as well. He had been having chill-like preomonitions and in quiet moments the old memories of Laura which he had suppressed for so long, began to surface. He was drawn to that run-down waterfront tentement where they had both lived, he on the third floor, she on the second. As the landlady ushered him into Laura's old flat, he was overwhelmed with a sense of Laura's presence. Swallowing to keep tears at bay, he hurried out. His duties as mayor-elect crowded in on him and suddenly the big day arrived when he would be sworn in and, after an afternoon reception, take up residence in the mayoral mansion. He dreaded being alone in that big house, the same house where he and Laura had been married. He tried to play the charming host, but as the party went on, he became more depressed. When the guests had gone, he dismissed the staff and retired upstairs with a bottle of chilled champagne. Standing on the balcony outside the bedroom, Luke sipped his champagne and surveyed the garden. There by the gazebo, they had exchanged their vows, here, on the stone patio, they had danced the first dance to the Fascination Waltz. Eyes damp with memories, he turned and looked out over the lawn and, to his shock, saw a figure there, a familiar figure. He swung around and rushed inside to run downstairs and out the terrace doors. Stunned, he stopped at the edge of the lawn, unable to believe his eyes. It was Laura, his Laura! He screamed her name and she whirled about, running toward him. With a cry he gathered her into his arms, scarcely daring to believe what was happening. She was real, she was here! Laura was alive! She was clinging to him and sobbing just as he was sobbing, with shock and happiness. Only something was wrong. She drew back and seemed dazed, and stammered something about not being able to stay, about someone following her who would kill them both. . . When he had taken her inside and calmed her, Luke tried to get the whole story from her. Her joy in being with him was tempered by fear and he had to reassure her. "If there's danger, Baby, we'll handle it. Look at all we've been through! We can take care of it." She clung to him, telling him how, the night she disappeared, she had wandered on the dock in the fog, frightened because she was being followed, and the next thing she knew she was in a small boat which was later intercepted by a Cassadine ship. They rigged it to look as if she had drowned, then carried her to their compound on an island in the Aegean Sea, a prisoner of Helena Cassadine’s’ revenge. Luke was outraged. To think Helena had kept his beloved on that island for two years! Quietly Laura broke into his ravings. “It wasn’t only Helena, Luke. There was Stavros. If it hadn’t been for him, Helena would have had me killed long ago.” When he prodded, she went silent, unable to look at him directly. Obviously this Stavros was the key to her fear and shame. Luke watched her, loving her and being very patient, very gentle, but as always hold her in his arms aroused him and he knew she had to open up, tell him all of it before they could make love; be together intimately. She told him how she had escaped; how, after having been told months before that Luke was killed in an avalanche, she had found a newspaper one day that said he had been elected mayor of Port Charles. Miraculously, a pile of money had been left in her room and she took it and fled to the dock which, for once, was not guarded. She untied a small boat and rowed out away from the island and was picked up by a cruise ship which soon docked. From there she had used the money to fly home. Obviously someone help her get away -- probably Helena who was angry with Stavros over Laura. And she had been back a week, afraid to approach Luke for fear Stavros would carry out his threats. “He told me over and over, if I ever tried to contact anyone back home, he would have them killed. Luke, we are in such danger. . . .” Luke did his best to comfort her, tucking her into bed to sleep away her weariness, but when she awoke, the fear was still in her eyes. Little by little, the whole story came out. Believing Luke to be dead and having nothing to live for, she had agreed to marry Stavros Cassadine in order to have some freedom and protection from Helena. New she hated herself for betraying her husband with the cold, evil Stavros, even though it was a decision which probably saved her life. Naturally since Luke was alive, the Greek marriage was invalid, but she knew Stavros was an obsessive maniac who would never let go. Stavros arrived in Pt. Charles and wanted a meeting with Luke. Laura was apprehensive for him, but saw Luke off with a brave smile and a fervent kiss. The encounter between the two men was civilized—except for certain undertones. Luke looked cold and skeptical as Stavros mouthed all the most reassuring phrases about giving Laura up and wishing her well. Luke had just one chilling warning: "Touch my wife again and I'll kill you." The handsome, oily Greek just shrugged. Luke and Laura held a vigil by the phone until they heard from Robert and Stavros had indeed boarded the plane for Greece. Then they broke loose, called all their friends and had a welcome home party to celebrate. That week there was a reception held at the mayor's mansion to introduce Luke's new government staff to the press. The party was a success and Laura had gone upstairs to bed while Luke was downstairs locking up. Suddenly all lights in the house went out and in the chaos that followed both Luke and Laura were overpowered and dragged upstairs in to the master bedroom. It seemed Stavros had had his men planted among the caterers, ready to do his bidding, and now he would deal with the wife who had betrayed him. Stavros ordered Luke tied to the posts at the foot of the bed, then he dismissed his men and turned his attention on Laura. Before Luke's horrified eyes, Stavros threw her across the bed and tore her robe, taunting Luke that he intended to reclaim her while Luke watched. Feverishly Luke worked to unscrew the top of one of the posts. When it came loose, he swung it with all his force, knocking Stavros unconscious. Too shaken to think clearly, the lovers huddled at the foot of the stairs. Finally Luke got their coats, telling Laura they must get out of the house and call Robert. Before they could reach the door, a shot rang out—Stavros stood at the top of the stairs with a gun. Instantly, Luke got in front of Laura and his sudden move caused the dazed Stavros to start forward and with a cry, fall to the bottom of the stairs. Robert managed to come up with a public statement about Stavros visiting the mayor that would explain his being in the house. As accident on the stairs explained his death. At last Luke and Laura could settle down together in a peaceful married life. The problem was, neither was cut out for the roles of mayor and first lady. Luke discovered it took more than just telling the city council what he wanted done. He was, in fact, little more than a referee for that body, and not a very patient one. Every program he had hoped to implement was stymied by budget restrictions and over and over he was having to call in Lee Baldwin to take care of matters he felt unequipped to deal with on his own. He knew he was not doing a good job and worse, the job bored him. Laura, sitting over the endless chicken salad lunches with various ladie's committees, was equally bored, but determined to be the good little politician's wife for Luke's sake. Their hours together were too few and tended to get intense. They acted out the irony of their situation by dressing for dinner, then making a parody of their own formality by getting into a food fight and collapsing in giggles. They chased up the stairs and devised excuses to be alone together in the bedroom, but their duties as public figures continued to intrude. When they were told they couldn't decorate their own Christmas tree—union rules—it was the last straw. The mansion was too big and formal, the life too restrictive and harried. On Laura's birthday, Luke proposed they go to Beechers Corners to spend Christmas and Laura was delighted. "We have to talk," Luke said, "and we have some thinking to do where we won't be constantly interrupted." Alone together in the cozy Whittaker bedroom, they lay on the big bed where they had first made love and Luke told her of his plan. "Baby, I ain't cut out to be no town's mayor. What do you say to this idea—I resign as mayor and you and I just go follow our dream. Travel, see the world, be together. . ." Laura was estatic. "Oh, Luke, could we?" I'd love that." She was concerned with telling her parents goodbye, but they managed that by having the Webbers join them at the farm for the holiday. The day after Christmas, Luke returned alone to Pt. Charles to handle the farewells. First he told Lee of his decision and Lee became mayor as he should have done in the election. Luke then visited old haunts and familiar faces, saying, "I'll be back one day." Free spirits, both of them, Luke and Laura had been too restricted by the life in Pt. Charles and they needed each other too much be able to share their lives with the whole town. With no real destination planned other than, as Luke put it, "To follow our noses from day to day," they set out on their journey into the future. *
