Chapter 3

"I feel bad for him but he wasn't right to say that to me." Emma was finished relaying her story about Spencer's outburst following his accident here at Wyndamere. "I'm glad he's not here Mommy."

Robin and Emma were sitting on the bed in her room catching up. Robin gently pushed a lock of hair behind the little girl's ear. "Me too. I have missed you so much."

Emma got quiet and then looked at her mom with tears in her eyes. "Then why did you stay away? Why didn't you call me?"

Robin's heart broke. This was the last thing she wanted to do and yet she had done it - she had hurt her little girl. "It had nothing to do with you – you are amazing and wonderful and I love you so much. I need you to understand that."

Robin took Emma's hands in hers. "Emma, I was sick."

"Like with the flu?"

"Kind of," Robin took a breath, "what I am trying to say is that I needed to get well so I went away to do that and while I was away my doctor told me that, in order to come back and be your mommy forever, I needed to stay away from you for a little bit. I didn't want to but if it meant being with you for the rest of my life, I had to do it."

Emma thought about what her mom was saying. "Are you all better now?"

"Yes baby, I am all better and I am not going anywhere without you ever again. Can you forgive me for being gone so long?" Robin prayed that her daughter would understand what she was saying.

"Then I forgive you. I love you Mommy." Emma jumped into her mom's lap and held her close.

"I love you too." Robin squeezed her daughter tight. No one would ever separate them again.

_

Patrick slammed the door and sat down in the living room on the couch, tugging the tie from his neck and throwing it down on the table. Sam sat down next to him and rubbed his neck. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Talk about what?" Patrick stood up and walked over to the kitchen door. "I'm going to get a drink, you want something?"

"Yes – I want you to talk to me." Sam stood up and walked over to him. "Your ex-wife showed up tonight, out of the blue, to give a speech about her first love. She came with another man and didn't even give you the courtesy of an explanation. I'd say we have a few things to talk about."

Patrick ran his hands through his hair. As sad as it was, Patrick didn't think he could talk about this with Sam. "Come on Sam, you don't want to hear about this."

"Yes I do." She held out her hand. "Come on."

Patrick took her hand and let her lead him to the couch. They sat back down and Patrick sighed. "He said she had PTSD – that's why she disappeared on Emma and me."

Sam shook her head. "Who did?"

"That new friend of hers – Dr. Marcus Banks. He said that Robin went to Paris and met up with her old mentor, Dr. LeGrasse, and LeGrasse called him in to help Robin." Patrick leaned over and put his elbows on his knees and leaned over. "How could I not see it? She was begging for help that night and I just ignored it."

Sam rubbed his back, trying to comfort him. "She didn't tell you Patrick. Were you supposed to read her mind?"

"Yes!" Patrick stood up again and began pacing the room. "I should have read her mind because I know that woman better than anyone. I should have known something was wrong but I didn't want to see it. I should have been on the next plane to Paris and tracked her down. I abandoned her and nothing will ever fix that."

"So what good will beating yourself up do?" Sam stood up and tried to calm Patrick down. "Patrick, you were in so much pain after Gabriel died that you weren't thinking clearly."

"And we know now that Victor did that to keep Robin in line, that he wouldn't let her come home to me." Patrick took a deep breath and stared across the room at a photo of Emma and Robin sitting on a shelf. "Don't you see Sam, I should have seen it but I was so concentrated on my pain I couldn't see hers. That day at Chriton Clark, she was so nervous, she could barely even look me in the eyes and what did I do? I told her that at least I knew where to send the divorce papers. What kind of man, what kind of husband does that?'

Patrick walked over to the picture, picked it up and then set it back down. He looked back at Sam. "I need some air – I'll be back in a little bit."

Patrick grabbed his coat and walked out the door.