Marty's Secret

Victor Lord Jr. was heartbroken after the loss of his son with Tea, a little boy she had named Victor Lord the 3rd. Unfortunately the loss of their baby had caused them to drift apart. Victor had no other choice but to leave Tea and take a room at the Palace Hotel. He could no longer take the constant screaming and stress that he endured while married to Tea. He was in the process of filing for a divorce.

One lonely night he was sitting by the fire, holding a glass of wine and lamenting on the sorrows of his life when he got a knock at the door. He hoped it wasn't Tea, coming to yell at him again.

He left his cozy chair next to the fire to answer the door. He pulled it open with a frown upon his face. The look on his face became one of shock when he saw Marty standing in the doorway. She was just as lithe and beautiful as ever.

"Marty? How... why are you here?" he asked in a gasp.

"Victor, we have a lot we need to talk about..." she responded.

He moved aside so she could walk into the room. After she had entered his hotel room, he gently closed the door. "So, I guess you've heard the news. I am not Todd... and I am definitely not dead," he said.

"Yes, I've heard the news. Congratulations on your return from the dead."

"Thanks... I think..."

Victor swiped his fingers through his hair as he regarded Marty, totally in awe that she had come back to Llanview. "Marty, about the past..."

"You didn't know you weren't Todd, but all is forgiven. I know what your evil and crazy mother did to both of you, and I am sorry."

Victor couldn't believe that Marty was actually apologizing to HIM. "I think deep inside, I knew it all along... that you weren't Todd. You and your brother are a great deal alike, but ... there were differences," Marty said.

"What sort of differences?"

Marty looked as if all the breath had been stolen from her longs. "I felt differently with you than I felt when I was with Todd. It's something I can't explain. It's just something that I feel."

"Marty, is that why are you here?"

"There's something you need to know. Can we... sit down?"

"Sure," he said as he gestured over to the two comfy chairs in front of the fire. She sat down with him and he handed her a fresh glass of wine. She handed it right back to him.

"I am a recovering alcoholic, don't you remember?"

"Sorry," he said as he took a sip of her glass of white wine.

"I heard you broke up with Tea," Marty said softly. "I am so sorry about... the baby."

"I'm sorry about that, too. I have Sam... but when I discovered that Tea and I had a child and he died, my heart was broken."

"It must have been a terrible ordeal for the both of you."

"It was...but in the end, we couldn't stay together. There's too much pain and anguish. Besides, I am not the same man."

He showed her the odd tattoo on his wrist. She looked at it, wondering what horrors he may have gone through during the time everyone thought that he was dead.

"Where's Patrick? I sent you to Ireland, so you could be with the love of your life."

"After Cole and Hope died, Patrick and I split up. Things just weren't the same, after his escape..."

"What changed?"

"I wasn't the same... and neither was he. He couldn't deal with the fact that..."

Her voice trailed off. She looked suddenly nervous. There tension on her face was prominent when she tried to explain what had happened after she had left Llanview.

"The fact that what, Marty?"

"He couldn't deal with what I had shared with you..."

"You told him about that?" Victor asked incredulously.

"You hid me in your pool house, you helped me escape to safety... but that's not all that you did," she reminded as she stared into his gorgeous blue eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"The night before I left with Patrick, we made love, Victor. Don't you remember?"

"How could I forget the passion we shared, but why would you tell your love of your life about having sex with me?"

"Because Victor, you sent me off on that plane, pregnant with your child. There was no way I conceal that fact from Patrick."

"WHAT?!" Victor gasped. "You... You gave birth to my child?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you tell me?!" he demanded, visibly upset by her confession.

"Well, you were happily married to Tea, then you were dead, and then all the sudden you weren't dead. My son and granddaughter had just been killed in a terrible accident. Things have been absolutely crazy! Forgive me for not running back here to Llanview where I was wanted by the law just so I could tell you that I had given birth to your child."

"Marty, that's no excuse!"

"You have no idea what I have been through-."

"And you have no idea what I have been through either. Do you think it was all fun and games being kidnapped by Alison Perkins? She was crazy and sadistic... then to come back; to find out my wife had given birth to our child, but our baby was dead? Not to mention that before all that, I found out I wasn't the man I thought I was, but Todd's twin brother!"

"I'm sorry you went through so much. Truly I am."

"And I am sorry about Cole and Hope," Victor stated. "But you should have told me that you were carrying my child. I would have been there for you. I never wanted you to get on that plane, but I thought that was what you wanted. I thought I was reuniting you with the love of your life."

"It was supposed to be like that, but it wasn't. When Patrick found out I was pregnant, it didn't go well."

Victor's blue eyes were piercing when he asked, "Marty, where is our child?"

"I left her with the nanny-."

"Her? We have a daughter?"

"Yes, we do. Her name is Avery. She's three years old."

"When can I meet her? Marty, I want to see our child."

"I'd love for you to meet her, but I can't stay here in Llanview. Victor, would you come with me to Ireland... would you come to be with me and Avery?"

"What... what is it you're asking me?" Victor questioned, hope thudding in his heart. "Marty, do you want us to get back together?"

"Don't push it, Victor. Right now, all I am asking is that you come with me to meet our daughter."

"You know you never got over me," he said with passion. "You know that I was the best you've ever had..."

"Wow, your ego is as big as your..."

He grinned. He knew then that he had her. He'd go with her to Ireland and once he saw how amazing he was with their child, she'd never want him to leave.

He stood up and started packing all his bags. "What are you doing?" she asked with surprise.

"Packing for Ireland. Do you think Blair will let Sam get on a plane and visit me?" he asked as he was throwing his clothes into his suitcases.

"If not, you can come back to visit him."

"I want him to meet his little sister. Avery," he said, saying their child's name with a look of happiness and wonder upon his face.

"I can't wait until you meet her. She's such a perfect blend of the both of us. She has your eyes and your wicked little grin."

He had that smirk on his face as she was saying the words. Marty couldn't help but laugh. "Hurry, Victor. We have to get on the next plane to Ireland."

Victor stopped packing and tossed his suitcase aside. "I will just buy new clothes when we get there. Let's go."

As they left the hotel, he asked, "Do you have any pictures of Avery?"

She nodded as they were flagging down the taxi. In the backseat of the cab, on their way to the airport, Marty pulled up some pictures of their three year old daughter on her cell phone. "She looks just like you," Victor said with a smile.

"Yeah, but that wicked little grin is definitely yours."

"We made a perfect, great-looking little girl on a lawn chair in my pool house."

At those words, Marty couldn't help but blush. "I knew I made the right choice when I got on the plane and came back to Llanview," she said.

"Does this mean you want us to get back together?"

"Maybe," she said.

That smirk came back. "Good," he said. Victor could tell she was caving.

The End