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The Tessarae Inn |
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The Son Also Rises CHAPTER 18 “What in THE hell is going on here?” Blair jumped but Ethan barely moved a muscle. “Spending time with your splendid wife, who graciously offered to let me stay the night.” Rage danced across Todd’s face. “Oh, hell, no.” Blair calmed her breathing. “He’s Sean’s uncle, Todd.” He glared at her. “I know who he is and more than that as well. Go upstairs, Blair.” What! “I’m not Starr. You don’t get to give me orders.” “The hell I don’t. Go upstairs. Now.” Ethan stood up slowly yet Blair noticed once again that it was not as if he was drunk. He just moved with deliberate speed and precision as if a big cat readying himself for battle. “Mrs. Manning….Blair, it were nice making you acquaintance but I would appreciate the chance to speak to Todd alone. I would consider it a favor.” “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. There is something going on that involves my husband and, therefore, my children.” “Although I understand you concerns, this is between me and Todd. I think you know by now that I would never do anything to hurt those children.” Blair stared at Ethan. She could tell that he was honestly trying to reassure her but waves of anxiety were surging forward anyway. He said he would never hurt the children but he didn’t say anything about Todd. “I didn’t get to tell you that I died when he did. Do you understand?” Ethan dropped his head slightly then nodded at her. “Understand what?” Todd yelled. “I want you upstairs now, Blair. She rocked back on her heels and stared at Todd. “Nope. I don’t think so.” Ethan stepped toward her. “You are as stubborn as you are beautiful. Unfortunately, things seem set to take an ugly turn. Maybe it is best I take my leave. Thank you for a lovely evening.” Blair studied Ethan for a few seconds. His whole demeanor had changed. There was an edge she had not noticed before. She glanced at Todd and his face was hard and closed tight. If what was between them was not ironed out here and now, it would surface later, probably in a more hazardous place. “It’s business.” Todd said evenly. She nodded. “Why are you still here, Blair?” “You and Ethan talk, Todd. Then you and I will talk. It looks like we have some things to get straight.” Todd sucked his teeth and narrowed his eyes. Blair looked him in the eye then shifted her gaze to Ethan. “I hope Sean will get a chance to see you again.” “If hopes were horses, Blair,” hissed Todd. “Damn horses.” Blair exhaled and walked into the living room then upstairs to the bedroom. It took every fiber in her body to keep from eavesdropping but what was the point? Trust had to start somewhere. =============== “That is quite some life you have here. I understand now more than before why you came back for her.” “I paid you to take your ass out of my life. Why are you still here, Ethan?” “I wanted to see my nephew. I wanted to reassure myself that he will have a good life. And I am more convinced than ever but not because of you. She is what will save him from the effects of our careless self-interest.” “Don’t get all noble on me, Ethan. It doesn’t suit you.” “It may be a cloak of ill-fit but I wear it nevertheless. I never spent much time thinking of what he was missing. Why should I? He had more than either of us but to see the change in him is to know the difference.” “Okay, you’ve seen him. Time for you to go.” “Family is a funny thing is it not? How much would you do to protect them?” “Are you threatening me?” Ethan flopped down on the chaise lounge. “What happened to us, Manning? Given all that has gone before, why would you think I’d ever try to hurt you or your family?” “I don’t want to talk about Ireland anymore. I don’t want to think about it again. Blair knows about Sean and has accepted him. I have a chance to get my life back that’s all I want.” “What about Katherine?” Todd balled his hands into fists. “I don’t give a damn about your sister. I never did. Your whole freaking family screwed up my life. She’s dead. Let the devil deal with her.” “There are things to be considered.” “There is nothing left to be considered. Sean is here. You have your money. There has not been a peep or a hair out of Sean-Ryan. It’s over Ethan.” “Maybe not.” “The hell. You come up in my house, get drunk then get ideas about my wife. You think you can worm your way in here and cozy up to what is mine? Will not happen.” “Things are not always as they seem.” “Don’t forget that I know you Ethan. I know what you are capable of.” “And I you. It weren’t your sister that ended up pregnant.” “Don’t make me tell you what I really think of your sister. Don’t make me remind you what this is really all about. I don’t want you near my family.” “What you want is not always possible. Sometimes things…” “Get the hell out of my house, now. And don’t come back. Ever.” Ethan’s face darkened. He jumped to his feet and moved close to Todd. “Is that what you want?” “Damn straight it is.” Ethan tossed the bottle on the chaise lounge then walked toward the patio door. “It is done,” he yelled over his shoulder. ================ Todd watched Ethan walk through the living room and out the front door. He followed him and made sure Ethan left then he sat outside for a while. Finally, he checked every door and window in the house. By the time he got to the bedroom he was beyond irritated. He made long strides into the room undressing as he went and throwing his clothes in random directions. Blair was nowhere in sight. Good. He was going to bed. He’d deal with her tomorrow. Just as he reached the bed, he looked up and saw her walking into the room from the bathroom. She was rubbing her hands as if she just put lotion or something on them and she was dressed in some short, light colored silky thing—it was short and silky and… She glanced at him. “Is Ethan gone?” “For good.” “I had no idea there was bad blood between you.” “You shouldn’t mess in things you know nothing about.” She cocked her head to the right and crossed her arms over her chest. “Do you want to press this? Do I get to remind you that I would know if you would tell me everything?” He tightened his mouth then looked away. He heard her sigh but he ignored her. He got into bed and pulled the covers over him and leaned back against the headboard then looked at her. She was dressed in this silky thing…it was white ….it was short… Blair walked over to the dresser and picked up her hairbrush. She brushed her hair for a few strokes then turned around. “Sean was asking for you. Maybe you can peek in on him.” “I’m tired, Blair. I’ll do that tomorrow maybe.” Blair locked her gaze on his for a moment then turned around again and continued brushing her hair. He watched her although he wanted to turn away. He didn’t want to want her so much right now. She climbed on the bed but instead of getting under the covers she sat on top of the comforter then crossed her legs Indian style. He didn’t like the implication. She was too damn far away from him. “I’ve realized some things tonight.” Oh shit. “And now you want to talk about them. It’s almost two o’clock in the morning, Blair, and you made me have dinner with Dorian. Then I come home and find you all up on Ethan Dawes. Haven’t I been through enough for one day?” Her eyes flashed and he saw that look of disappointment and anger that he always hated to see but just couldn’t seem to help generating. “All Ethan and I did was talk.” “If you say so. Guess it’s good I didn’t stay out all night.” “Yes, it is.” He sat up straight. “You can’t trust me as far as you can throw your Ferrari. I mean as soon as you leave the house I’m praying for another man to show up so I can get my hormones running and…” “Enough. I get it.” “Do you?” “Yeah. How about I’m sorry.” She stared at him for a moment then nodded. “But I didn’t like the look in his eyes, Blair. Didn’t like what he was thinking.” Blair sighed. “There’re some things I want to talk about and I want to do it tonight.” “I’m tired. You can yell at me tomorrow.” "This is not about you. It’s about me. And all of this tonight reminded me about the foolishness of counting on tomorrow.” He exhaled loudly. “What do you want to say?” “Did you look around the table tonight?” “How could I help it?” “My family. Your family. Our family. Including Sean. He’s here and part of our family. There are no seams.” “What’s your point?” “Ethan told me about Katherine.” Todd frowned but then dropped his head and said softly, “Whatever he told you was a pack of lies. She was his sister, remember?” “I don’t think he was lying.” Todd jerked his head up and looked at her. “We have trust issues, Blair, but some damn time you need to just trust me when I tell you to stay the hell out of something. I’m not going to let anyone hurt my family. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you. Maybe I don’t deserve it but some the hell time you’ve just got to trust me.” She took a deep breath and rolled her head first to the left and then to the right. She straightened her back and leveled her gaze on his face. “You can relax, Todd. You can allow yourself to love him.” “What are you talking about, Blair? Are you supposed to be making any sense?” She brushed her hair behind her ears then studied her hands for a minute. Finally, she looked at him and there was the hint of tears in her eyes. His body tensed up. He didn’t like how this was starting out. “There was always something missing when you came back. I always thought it was because of the shooting and the rest of it. How could you go through something like that and not lose something? But now I know it was more than that.” “If you say so.” “I never understood the level of the rage…the pain…the craziness after Ireland that continued right up until that last lie. So much of it was so ugly, humiliating and brutally painful that I don’t allow myself to think about it a lot.” “The brown penny poet…” “The night I sat on the patio--that night after I found out about Sean I filtered everything through what I knew then and finally some things seemed to make sense to me. Ethan helped me with the rest.” “Am I supposed to suddenly have some major revelation because you spent a few hours communing with Mother Nature?” “You weren’t really punishing me for Patrick. You couldn’t allow us to be happy after what happened in Ireland.” “So I tore your soul out?” “Yep. That’s just about right. You tore my soul out because nothing in this world could have hurt you more.” “Well, then it looks like you just messed up all the way around by loving me.” “You mean by you loving me. And in case you’re asking, I never want to nor will I ever be willing to go through that kind of pain again but if it’s the price I paid for you loving me then I accept it. But this needs to be over now.” Todd slipped under the comforter and rolled to his side so his back was to her. “I hate this discount mart psychobabble shit.” “Me too. But this isn’t about you. It’s about me. I had to find someway to understand what happened. I adored you back then. God help me I still do. And I knew you loved me. That’s the part I didn’t get. Now, I think I do. Why else would you have hurt me like that, Todd?” “I got shot, Blair, then I came home and found …” “You left Sean behind and part of you stayed with him.” He exhaled. Is that all this was about? He turned around and sat up. “No, I didn’t. Is that what you think? Look, Blair, I never thought about him. I put him out of my mind. It’s not like I was lying to you. Not consciously. It’s like he didn’t exist to me.” “Except you thought about him every minute.” “That’s not true.” “Maybe not consciously but he was there. Always.” He shook his head then rubbed his forehead with his fist. He looked at Blair then slipped back under the covers and turned over on his side so his back was to her again. Blair slipped under the covers. She moved next to him and laid her head on his shoulder and aligned her body with his. After all of this time the simple touch of her body still mesmerized him. “You can leave Ireland behind, Todd,” she said softly. “You can finally come all the way home.” He lay motionless for what felt like a long time. How did she always to do this? Open the door even a crack and she somehow managed to touch the part of him that he kept hidden even from himself —to pull it into her and give it life. Was she right? Had he hurt her because of Sean? He knew even then that he couldn’t expect her to raise his child by another woman just like she never should have expected him to raise Max’s child. Max’s child? Jack. Just like Jack. Just like Jack. He gave Jack away because he was angry with her. But why? Could any level of anger justify what he did to her? He believed that Max’s baby would have always been between them because Max would have stayed in their lives. But in the bright light of day he had to admit that Max was a terrible father who dumped the children he had by the supposed love of his life and never looked back. Why would he have treated Blair’s child any differently? So what drove him to give Jack away? Was Blair right? Had it been about Sean? On some level, had he believed that since he made the sacrifice for “her” by leaving Sean behind that she should have sensed what he’d given up and should have been willing to do the same for him? The utter irrationality and selfishness of that thought astonished him but it didn’t feel alien to him. Had it all been about Sean? Even the times he took Starr away? Had he unconsciously been trying to make her understand and share his invisible loss—his unacknowledged grief? What would have happened if he’d just brought Sean back with him and told her the truth? Blair loved Sean now and she probably would have loved him just as much then. Not that it would have been easy but he had underestimated her. And he was doing it again. Ethan was right before when he said Blair was the one who would save Sean. Why had she insisted on opening this wound tonight? Why had she insisted on reminding them of so much pain? Despite what she said this wasn’t really about her. She was trying to make him see something more important than her pain. She wanted him to understand that it was not too late to connect to his son. And she wanted him to understand that before it really was too late. Slowly a smiled crept across his face. Almost imperceptibly he felt the weight that had been crushing his chest for years begin to lift. He felt her move then roll over on her side and away from him and curl her body the way she did when she was about to drift into deep sleep. “I love you,” she whispered in a sleep infused voice. He turned over and moved next to her. He framed his body around hers and held her tightly because for the moment he couldn’t find a way to voice how much he loved her and always had and always would.
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The Son Also Rises FAN FICTION SLIDESHOWS
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