Happy Holiday's! I hope you guys have enjoyed Thanksgiving and Black Friday. I know you guys love this story and I am sad to say its winding down. But never fear I have an idea for another story plus I will try to work on the one's who stalled. Enjoy and review and stay blessed.

Mercedes almost slapped the taste out of Holly's mouth, when they arrived back at Sam's and she was there. If it wasn't because of Savannah, she would have. But the little girl smiled softly at her grandmother and Holly broke down in tears. "I can't believe my son-" She stopped talking and shook her head. "I am really glad you are safe baby. And I am really sorry." She said before she turned busting out in tears and walking away and out the door.

Savannah wanted both Mercedes and Sam to bath her and put her to bed. Mercedes had to stop herself from crying when she told them how she had been left alone for hours with Mrs. Thornton who wouldn't speak to her. And how she fed herself from the thankfully well stocked refrigerator.

Mercedes carried a towel wrapped Savannah into her room and dressed her in her nightgown then she and Sam tucked her in. She asked them both to stay with her til she fell asleep and they had no problem doing so. Both singing soft tunes until Savannah fell into a peaceful sleep. Sam was dozing off, and Mercedes told her that she would stay a little longer with Savannah and he should get to bed. By the time Mercedes crawled in beside him, she laid her head on his shoulder. "Sam, Savannah is home now, you have got to go to the doctors."

"I will make an appointment Monday." Sam said. "I was told if I pressed charges against Teddy for this, the scandal will look bad, my attorney suggest I get a restraining order."

Mercedes sighed angrily. "And what do you think?"

"I think this man took my daughter. Mrs. Thornton is in serious condition. She had a massive stroke and apparently Teddy left her lying where he found her in bed. The police say she is desperately trying to tell them something, but with the speechlessness she suffered from the stroke they can't make it out. I know that woman was a part of this but leaving her alone? With Savannah? After what she told me I have no doubt in my mind he needs to be in jail."

Mercedes sat up. "Sam, you knew about Teddy and Marley didn't you?"

"I suspected the affair for a while." Sam said in a hushed tone. "I guess I didn't care at all that much. Any pretense of love that was there or that we thought was there between Marley and I had long died. I was busy with work and Dad was sick."

Sam closed his eyes to the painful memories.

"I hadn't touched Marley for months before she became pregnant. I had always known Savannah was Teddy's child. But she's Marley's child too. In a short time I grew to love Savannah as my own."

Sam turned his painful emerald green eyes to her.

"I owe Marley, because if it wasn't for me she wouldn't have died."

A flash of her conversation with Teddy played in her mind. "Sam killed Marley." echoed in her head but her heart refused to believe. In the thickening silence, Sam began to speak again.

"Marley begged me for a second chance a few months after she had the baby and I refused her. I told her it was over and I wanted a divorce. She begged and pleaded with me. She said she would do anything to prove her love, but I was cold and harsh with her. I told her I had lost all respect for her, and she had no hope to regain my affections. Then she ran off into the night. And I… I hesitated for a moment, then I followed her. She was headed toward the highway. I saw the flowing trails of her nightgown. I had almost caught up with her when she reached the highway. She looked behind her and saw me, then she mouthed the words "Goodbye Sam" and stepped into traffic. She didn't have a chance the truck hit her immediately.

Mercedes wiped a tear that fell from Sam's eyes.

"I could have given her that one more chance she begged for, I could have let her stay." He whispered.

Mercedes pulled him to her and held him close as they lay there in silence. She rocked Sam back and forth, saying a silent prayer that Sam's confession would finally lay the restless ghost of Marley to rest.

Now wasn't the time to point out the cold reality to Sam, it wasn't the time to say that he was more understanding than most men would have been. It was time for soothing and peace. It was time to help Sam, finally and officially move on.

In the few days that Mercedes had been gone from the office, endless minor decisions and busywork had piled up She delegated what she could and started working on the rest, barely making a dent in it after working all day.

The week had been emotional, with Savannah's disappearance and rescue, and the ugly confrontation with Teddy. She and Sam had talked far into the night about everything and anything and Mercedes believed they had made a lot of progress together regarding Sam's guilt about Marley's death.

Sam was coming over to her place after spending the last two days with Savannah, she wanted to take his mind off of everything and spend some quality time with him as they looked at a few homes online. For a young girl who was kidnapped, Savannah didn't seem to be affected by it. Mercedes told Sam to come over after Savannah bathed and ready for bed, that would give her a chance to finish a few more things at work. Mercedes had prepared a light meal of roasted chicken and rice. When she answered the door Sam's appearance shocked her. He was leaning against the door frame and gasping for breath. Mercedes helped him into the apartment full of concern.

"Sam please tell me you called a doctor."

"I have an appointment tomorrow, I can't imagine whats wrong. I feel really bad." he said. Then his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he collapsed to the floor.

Mercedes sat in the ER waiting room, activity swirled around her. Children were crying and fighting. People ate and watched the blaring TV. Despite all the commotion, Mercedes felt at if she was waiting for the curtain to rise, and the star to get on with the show. She was waiting on news about Sam.

The doctors she spoke to were uniformly from and non-communicative. She wanted to take them by their scruffy collars of their lab coats and shake them. "Tell me how he is, it is serious? Will he live?" She screamed at them finally and she was told they would let her know as soon as they do.

Mercedes observed a plainclothes policeman, accompanied by two uniformed policemen go through the swinging doors that separated the emergency room from the waiting room. Through the small glass window, she saw the plainclothes cop argue with the resident. Then to her surprise the cop pushed through the doors and headed for her.

"Excuse me, ma'am, would you come with me?" he asked. "I've got a few questions I want to ask you."

Mercedes had finished with the policeman and returned to the waiting room when Holly burst through the doors.

"What is wrong with everyone here?" she yelled. "They won't let me in to see my son, they won't tell me what's wrong with him."

Then she spied Mercedes and fell on her as if she were a long lost daughter.

"Mercedes, my love, please tell me what is going on. I called Sam's house and Willie Mae said he was in the hospital-, but no one will tell me what's police searched Teddy's home, I can't find my son, he's gone!"

Mercedes pushed the older woman off of her and looked at her, swollen eye's with tears. She had nothing to say to the woman. Nothing at all.

Sam thought with relief that is was nice to finally be in a hospital room. Those narrow stretchers in the emergency were uncomfortable. Mercedes had just left. His beautiful, amazing and sweet Mercedes. Sam smiled to himself as he gazed at the difference varieties that filled the room. She was everything to him and Savannah.

He couldn't imagine living without her. She was one of the most important part of his life, with Savannah being the other one. He hadn't realized that Mercedes had become the family he had always wanted and needed. And he wanted a life with her, he wanted everything with her.

He knew that this was how things would always be between them, this warmth, this caring and sharing and always loving part, the way they seemed to mesh their lives together. The way they loved each other and Savannah. For so long he was scared to label what he felt. He was afraid to label it love. Love always hurt in the end. The people he tried to forge the closest bond with- the people eh called family had wounded him.

He started to think about his father, Holly, Teddy, and Helen and how they had all betrayed him and left him in such a way that he was scared to love Mercedes. But that beautiful smile and smart amazing woman changed him. They had their issues but if they kept talking through their issues, they could go all the way. Him and her and their daughter Savannah, their daughter. Maybe his near death experience made him soft, but he knew now what he wanted.

Sam could feel himself getting stronger, gaining back his old strength. Apparently he was poisoned but the great thing is that the antidote the doctors gave him was working rapidly. Soon he would go home to the people who really mattered to him. Mercedes and Savannah.

Sam was about to sit up from his lying position when Teddy walked into the room. Sam observed the barrel of a small caliber revolver staring back at him. Teddy smiled brightly.

"Hello big brother, i think its time for a little chat."