LOST AND FOUND - PART 6

LILLY'S SON

Chapter 52

Thea and Marie were in Adam's tower office one sunny afternoon in June, talking quietly as they discussed what needed to be done to give the entire tower a complete cleaning. Adam was in the sitting room next door teaching Annalise a new song on the piano while Ben, Joe, and Alexander were keeping the babies occupied. Hoss and Dora, the newlyweds, had chosen to stay at the ranch to no doubt take advantage of the opportunity to have some time alone.

Everyone paused in what they were doing when a firm knock sounded on the front door. Thea called, "I'll get it," and her husband turned back to his daughter, but still listened with one ear to his wife's quick footsteps coming down the iron spiral staircase. He heard her move through his office, then the hallway to the front door. Pulling it open she spoke to someone and a smooth, pleasant male voice answered her. She must have invited him in because the screen door opened with a faint squeak of the hinges. He had just made a mental note to himself to oil them when he heard his wife scream.

Almost before he was even aware of it, he was over the gate in the sitting room doorway with Minnie right beside him. He skidded to a halt in front of his wife while the dog forced a tall man with curly blond hair up against the front wall with her growling and snapping.

The man looked down at the dog who was still fiercely growling, at Adam who was eyeing him furiously, and then at Ben and Joe who had come running to stand next to Thea on either side. Incredibly, he smiled a wide, pleased smile. Adam blinked at that then narrowed his eyes as he stared at the man's face intently - something about it seemed vaguely familiar.

"Minnie down," he said and the dog instantly lay down, but continued to watch the stranger suspiciously. He tried to take a step forward, but something was holding him back - Thea was hanging onto the back of his shirt with both hands as she trembled up against him.

"Thea, let go" he ordered as he tried to move forward again, but she seemed unable to loosen her grip. He glanced over his shoulder at his father, "Pa?"

Ben had to gently pry her fingers open and when he had, she turned to clutch at the front of HIS shirt as she huddled in his arms, still shaking.

Adam went to stand right behind Minnie, his eyes never leaving the man's face. "What the hell did you do?" he said to the stranger, his expression becoming more angry with each passing second that his wife continued to shake with what looked like terror.

The man's leaf-green eyes met his stare calmly. "I swear to you sir, I did nothin'. But since I assume that she is Theadora I believe it is my face that frightened her so badly."

Taking a step closer, Adam's gaze sharpened and suddenly the connection to a memory in the back of his mind snapped together. "Dear God, you're her father come back in the flesh," he said deeply annoyed.

The stranger rolled his eyes and nodded. "Unfortunately sir, that happens to be almost true. I have cursed the fates every day of my life for bein' sentenced to wear HIS face."

"Who ARE you?" Adam demanded.

"My name is Allain Theadore Champlain Westwood. Sir Richard Westwood was also MY father," the stranger said quietly with the faint echo of some sort of accent coloring his voice. "Although I use the term 'father' as a biological term only."

"So you claim to be Thea's half-brother. What proof do you have?"

The man reached into an inside pocket of his suit coat and pulled out a sealed envelope. He held it out to Adam who took it and quickly tore it open. Adam's eyes quickly scanned down the page, and he started to smile. When he reached the end he laughed then said, "Pinkerton actually made you wait a month to tell you where Thea was while he investigated you?"

The stranger smiled a charming smile, "Yes sir, but somehow payin' to have MYSELF investigated just didn't seem quite right."

Adam laughed again and held out his right hand, "If Pinkerton says you're telling the truth, then you must be." The two men shook hands. "So what name do you go by?" he asked the younger man who was smiling in relief.

"Ted," he said simply and finally allowed himself to glance at Thea who had stopped shaking and was now facing them, still standing in Ben's arms.

Looking down at the dog who had never stopped eyeing the man suspiciously, Adam said, "Minnie, at ease." She immediately stood, trotted over to Thea and nudged the woman's leg with her nose. When she looked down into the dog's worried face she smiled then crouched down to give Minnie a tight hug.

"Why don't we go into my office and you can tell us about yourself," Adam said as he walked over to Thea and held out his hand to help her up. When she stood he slipped an arm around her shoulders and started guiding her toward his office door.

"This way," he said and the man followed, never taking his eyes off Thea.

Adam opened the office door and motioned for Ted to enter first. Ben and Joe had stayed back to give them some privacy, but Thea turned back at the door to look at them questioningly and motioned for them to follow.

Their new family member chose to sit in the wingback chair that faced the sofa where Thea was now sitting in between her husband and father-in-law. Joe stood directly behind her and was leaning on the back. Ted found himself smiling at this display of protective support from the men in his half-sister's life. He couldn't have been more pleased.

"Go ahead," Adam said quietly. Ted took a deep breath, looked directly at Thea, and began to tell her his story.

"Richard Westwood came to New Orleans and met my mother when you were three years old, Theadora. They were married only a few months later." His eyes narrowed and his lips tightened as he continued. "You were four years old, soon to be five, when he left."

"He just...left?" Thea echoed softly and her brow furrowed when Ted nodded. Her own lips tightened. "That sounds like him."

"Yes, that cold-hearted bastard just walked out on her. No explanations, no reason given, just one day told her he was leavin' and was gone before sundown. He broke her heart and nearly destroyed her."

"She loved him that much?" Thea asked dubiously.

"On no, she loved YOU that much," he closed his eyes for a second and tried to swallow the lump in his throat. "My mother, the Queen of New Orleans society, the bluest of the blue bloods, got down on her knees and begged that man to leave you with her. He laughed, picked up your rag doll, threw it in her face and said, 'This should be just as good.'"

He closed his eyes again and the muscles in his jaw shook, he was clenching his teeth so hard. When he looked at her again his eyes were blazing with green fire. He leaned forward, "I don't know how you feel about him, but I hate that man with every fiber of my bein'. And if he wasn't already dead he would be receivin' an extremely painful visit from me."

Thea had let go of the hands she had been clutching and was perched on the very edge of the seat, leaning toward Ted. Now she stood and moved to sit on his side of the low table in between the sofa and his chair. She reached out and took his hands in hers. "I understand how you feel," she said softly.

Ted looked away from her for a moment and when he turned back she saw the sheen of tears in his eyes. He quickly blinked them away. "Thea, I did not even know you existed until I was twenty-one. I came home from college unexpectedly one day and found my mother curled up on her bed and cryin' her heart out over that rag doll. I've been lookin' for you ever since," his voice broke on the last word and he cleared his throat.

"I didn't mean to frighten you and please try to understand why I'm here. I am not tryin' to push myself into your life. But you ARE my sister and I had to know what that monster had done with you." He put his head down. "I had to know, Theadora," he finished softly. "I just had to know, and you'll forgive me I hope for thinkin' the worst."

She leaned forward and put her arms around his shoulders, pulling him into a hug. He put a hand over his eyes saying, "God Thea, you even wear the same perfume Momma did."

"Lilly of the Valley?" she said in surprise then leaned back to look him in the eye. "Lilly!" He nodded.

"That's right, Lilly was her name. Lillian De Marigny Champlain," he said as she let go of him and leaned back.

"Dear Lord, I remember her. She was very tall wasn't she? And had the most beautiful, deep red hair, almost black." He nodded again. "I remembered her, but didn't know who she was. Does that make any sense?"

"Yes, it does. You weren't quite five when he took you away so that's understandable. I would also think at some point you started to wonder if maybe she was your mother."

That startled her and she looked at him wide-eyed. "How did you know that?"

"Sorry, practicin' my profession again. Anythin' to do with the mind and the brain is my area of interest."

She stared at him intently then she smiled. "I can't believe this, you're A.T. Westwood."

He shook his head and smiled back at her, "You've actually read my articles?" At her nod, he started to laugh. "Well, at least that means three people have - you, me, and my editor."

Adam broke in, "What articles?"

Thea stood and moved to perch on the arm of Ted's chair as he answered her husband. "The articles I've written for the medical journals."

"So you're a physician too."

Ted nodded, "I have to say the only good thing Thea and I ever got from that monster was the call to heal." He glanced up at Joe for a second and his eyes narrowed and he looked puzzled. Then he lowered his gaze back to Adam.

"Were you born in New Orleans, then?"

"Yes sir, I was. But when I was thirteen my mother had had enough of being shunned by New Orleans society and we moved." He shook his head and laughed ruefully, "But why she chose to move to Pennsylvania, I'll never understand."

Adam looked at him puzzled for a second, then his expression cleared as he understood. "Had a little trouble, did you?"

Ted laughed again, "Oh yes. All the local boys had to hear was that New Orleans patois and I might as well have slapped them in the face and said, 'Please beat the stuffin' out of me.'"

All four men laughed, but Thea was appalled. "That's terrible!"

"No, that's just the way boys are." Ted looked at her over his shoulder, giving her a quirky grin. "And that's not the worst of it, when I'd get home Momma would cane me for fightin'!"

The men all laughed harder, but Thea just shook her head. "I swear, if I live to be a hundred years old, I will never understand you men." Her half- brother gave her an incredulous stare.

"Well now, Momma told me a story about a certain little girl who knocked Willy Thornton into the creek then sat on him until he almost drowned."

"I didn't!"

"You did."

"Dear Lord, why?"

"He was tryin' to do the same thing to a bag of kittens and that just did not sit well with you, no pun intended. It's a good thing Momma came lookin' for you. You were sittin' on his back with your arms folded and yellin' 'Let's see how YOU like it!'"

Thea turned bright red.

"Oh, and he still remembers you too. I ran into him when I stopped in New Orleans on my way here. He seemed to be unduly concerned that you might be movin' back to town."

He smiled at her obvious embarrassment and glanced at Joe again. "Now, why do you look so familiar?"

Ben answered him, "Did I hear you say Lillian De Marigny Champlain?"

"Yes sir."

"Marie De Marigny was my third wife and Joseph's mother."

"Ah! Now I remember. My mother's mother had a portrait hangin' in her house of a De Marigny ancestor and he had almost the exact same face as you, Joe." He chuckled, "I guess that also means I'm your cousin. Distantly, but still your cousin." He winked at Joe and gave him that one-sided quirky grin before turning his head to look at Thea again. "If you don't mind, Thea, I'd like to go get the bag I left on your front porch. I have somethin' for you."

Thea nodded so he stood and quickly left the room. He was back in less than a minute.

Ted carefully set the open bag down on the low table, reached in, and pulled what at first looked like a bundle of cloth out. When he held it out to her Thea's eyes opened wide, "Susan! Her name is Susan," she said as she took the old rag doll from him. He smiled as he watched her smoothing down the dolls curly yarn hair. "I can't believe you kept this."

"My mother's last thoughts were of you Thea. I promised her I would find you, put that doll in your hands, and make sure that you were all right. I've kept my promise and now I know she's restin' easy, because you could not possibly be any more 'all right.'" He turned his head to look at Adam, Ben, and Joe in turn then sighed as he turned back to his sister.

Thea was still looking down at the old doll and when she raised her eyes to Ted's he could see they had darkened. "He did that on purpose, didn't he? He left the only thing that mattered to me behind on purpose." He nodded reluctantly.

"He had to punish you, punish you both because you two had the nerve to love each other and not him. That's the reason why he left and took you away. He was a sick man, Thea. Somethin' was deeply, and terribly wrong with him. In my profession we would call someone like that 'atavistic,' a person without a conscience. Nothing and no one mattered to that man but himself. Everythin' he ever did that someone would see as either kind or noble was just for show. His protective coloration so no one would know that he wasn't normal." He paused and narrowed his eyes as he stared intently at her bowed head.

"Theadora, look at me," he continued. She raised her head to meet his eyes with her own. "I know you have carried a deep, dark secret of guilt all your life, believin' that somehow you were responsible for the way he treated you. You thought you had failed to measure up, to be worthy of him. But that's not true. Think about it, did my mother deserve what he did to her? No. And I can't include myself because that man never even knew I existed. But if he had I have no doubt whatsoever that I would have received the exact same lack of feelin' from him. Theadora, you weren't unworthy of him...he was unworthy of you."

She was staring at him and he could almost see her taking in his words and examining them, looking for false logic. But she could find none.

"Now, since you have read all of my writin' on the human brain and are no doubt aware of how brilliant I am, I expect you to bow to my superior knowledge and accept my diagnosis." He held his breath, waiting for her reaction.

Thea was still staring at him almost blankly, but when he raised his eyebrows and gave her his quirky grin, her lips started to twitch and then she chuckled. Pleased, he laughed saying, "Thata girl!" and then staggered back when she stood to throw her arms around him. She seemed to be laughing and crying at the same time as he hugged her tightly.

"I am so sorry for what he did to you darlin', and I wish I had been there to protect you."

Adam stood and motioned for Ben and Joe to follow him from the room. The last thing they heard before leaving the brother and sister alone was Ted's pleasant laugh as he said, "Dear Lord woman was your mother a midget? You are SO short!"