Chapter 52- The Unlikely Ally

Rae sat on the bench outside of the morgue at Pine Valley hospital for nearly thirty minutes just staring at the sign: Restricted Area. Authorized Personnel Only. When she finally started to stand up and make her way to the door, someone reached for her arm.

"Rae," it was Alan. "Please don't do this. Skye wouldn't want you to do this."

Rae yanked her arm away from him. "What do you know about what Skye would want? As her father you should know that we are obligated to do right by her! I failed her with that when she was born, I'm not going to do that again. I don't believe for one second that my little girl is in there."

Alan sighed. "The police are still investigating this. Let them do their job—"

"What about our job? I'm not just giving up on her!"

"You're not giving up on her. Maybe they will figure out that Skye wasn't in the car, I don't know. But if you go in there, the last image you will have of Skye will be a burnt-up body. They said the bodies were burnt beyond recognition… You won't be able to identify her one way or the other. So, please don't go in there. Let me take you home—"

"Home?" Rae laughed. "I can't go home. Not without my daughter."

"This was a great shock to all of us," Alan said. "We need time to process it. Go home. Shower. Then call the police and ask if they found out more."

Rae laughed as her eyes sprung with tears. "I'm not just going to sit by the phone and do nothing. I have to go in there and prove to all of you that John is lying."

"You won't be able to recognize her one way or the other," Alan repeated.

"How are you falling for this, Alan? Out of everyone, you should be the one standing by me. No, not standing by me. Standing by Skye."

"I am on your side and Skye's side. I'm just in shock… I don't even know how to process this or if I even believe it. But if you go in there, either way… you won't be able to identify her and all that will be going on in your mind is what if that is her. Let the police confirm or deny it. Don't put that image in your head. Please. Skye was too beautiful to even think of that image."

"IS. She IS beautiful."

He nodded. "You're right. She is beautiful. And we don't know for sure. It's all circumstantial evidence pointing to Skye and JR being in your car when it exploded. We could find out tomorrow that they're both alive. But if you go in there, even just one night of wondering whether that is Skye or not will be the worst pain you can ever imagine. Even more than what you're feeling right now."

"Losing Skye was the worst pain I ever went through in my entire life. But finding her and breaking through her walls, no matter how challenging it's been, has been my greatest joy."

"Then hold onto that. Hold onto that joy, not what's inside that room."

Rae crossed her arms. "She's not dead. John is lying."

"Then if he's lying, don't entertain that lie. Let me take you home."

She shook her head. "I can't see Myrtle right now. Not when she's believing this lie about her own granddaughter!"

"Rae…" Alan said softly. "Don't push away the people that you love. You need each other. If Myrtle believes this, then she's in a lot of pain too. Don't leave her alone right now. She needs you."

Rae took a deep breath and exhaled. "Okay. I'll go home."

FargateFargateFargate

Skye and Kendall were the only ones who didn't sleep the night before, but neither spoke much. JR was quiet most of the morning and didn't even mention what Luis said about Skye being adopted/stolen. Axel turned out to be very eccentric and would break out in song every once in a while, then he'd leave to have a smoke.

Colby would have random spouts of hyperness and would jump up and down on the bed and pinch everyone's noses. Skye almost lost her patience many times, but then Colby would curl up on her lap and tell her big sister that she loves her.

Their breakfast consisted of stale bread and water. Luckily, Axel would take them individually to have bathroom breaks, but he'd handcuff them each time, including JR and Jamie. He'd try to peek in on Skye and Kendall but each of them would scream at him when he did so.

By afternoon, Luis returned, fuming.

"What's going on now, boss?" Axel asked.

"My daughter and my nephew were killed, that's what!"

"How? By who?"

"The Ruiz family set a bomb in that car Skye stole from her mother. Everyone believes that Skye and JR were killed instead."

Skye and JR exchanged a look.

"Everyone thinks we're dead?" Skye asked.

"Yes, and they're going to continue to believe so!" Luis said. "Your parents are going to feel the pain that I feel right now if it's the last thing I do."

"But they didn't kill them!" Skye said. "Don't make them pay for it."

Luis gritted his teeth. "They will suffer like I have." He whipped around and stormed out.

JR moved to Skye's side. "Is he really going to hurt our parents? We can't let him!"

Skye swallowed hard. "I don't know."

FargateFargateFargate

"Thank you for coming home with me," Myrtle said through her tears as she and Stuart sat on Rae's couch. "I just couldn't be alone right now, but I want to be here when Rae comes home. I'm worried about her."

Stuart reached for her hand and gave it a soft squeeze as tears streamed down his cheeks. "I just can't believe she's gone… so young."

She shook her head. "I just wish I knew sooner that she was my granddaughter. So much time wasted… and she was always in so much pain."

"But I never saw her as happy as she was with you and Rae. She really blossomed here."

"But she still had so much of her life ahead of her! I should've gone long before her. The grandmother shouldn't bury the granddaughter. She was really starting to grow, and we saw a breakthrough with her."

Stuart frowned. "Like I always used to tell Skye, there are many stars in the sky. But sometimes there's that one star that takes a long time to shine. But once it does, it makes the sky more beautiful than it ever was before. And that one day she would really light up the sky, and she did. She always loved it when I told her that. That's why I gave her her nickname Skye."

"That's how Skye got her nickname?" Alan walked in with Rae.

"Oh, darling…" Myrtle walked over to Rae with tears in her eyes. "I was so worried about you." She reached for Rae's hands, but Rae darted up the stairs.

Alan sighed. "I convinced her not to go in to see the body and to come home. But she's mad at the world right now. I don't blame her. But I don't know how I feel… just numb I guess."

Rae went to her room first and opened her top dresser drawer. She lifted the picture of six-year-old Skye in her choir gown and hugged it to her chest. She made her way to Skye's bedroom and broke down in tears as she looked at the blotchy-painted walls that Skye was so proud of. She dropped onto the bed and sobbed.

"Rae, darling…" Myrtle appeared in the doorway, then sat beside her on the bed and pulled her into her arms.

Rae cried into her shoulder for about a second, then pulled away. She sniffled back her tears, then held up Skye's choir picture to Myrtle. "What happened in this picture?"

Myrtle sighed. "Rae…"

"I need to know! Why did she want to burn it?"

"Rae, we shouldn't get into this right now."

"Tell me."

Myrtle nodded. "She invited Adam and Althea to the church service to hear her sing and she was very excited about it. But only Stuart came. He took the picture while they waited. But when it was time for the children to go up and sing, Adam and Althea didn't show. She fled the sanctuary to find them herself. That was when she saw Althea run over her nanny while drinking a bottle of booze. After that, Althea was institutionalized, and Skye never bonded with another nanny again. That was a turning point for Skye. She started bullying girls at school so Adam would come and punish her. Otherwise, she rarely saw him. She was determined to be the nastiest little girl she could so that Adam would come and scold her because scolding was better than nothing. When Althea was released, Adam left them. Stuart tried to talk him out of it, but Adam took him with him. Althea moved her around with another new nanny and the money Adam sent them and Althea was still drinking and in and out of institutions. Skye waited and waited for Adam to come and rescue her, but he never did, even when she was bad."

Rae ran her finger over the picture. "All the walls she built up were for survival… she just wanted to be loved."

"But she had another turning point… this year… her walls were really coming down and we saw that little girl come out. We need to hold onto that."

"Before I found out she was my daughter, I hated her… I hated her… And once I did know, I was conflicted between that hate and the unconditional love I had for the baby that was stolen from me. As time passed on, my love for her overpowered the hate. And the more I got to know her and understand her, it wasn't just about my love for that baby. She was my baby. She is my baby. And there is no conflict in that anymore. And the real breakthrough we had in our relationship was when I got to help her with her interview. She opened up to me in a whole new way. And I don't just mean the cuddling, though that was a huge and surprising expression of it, but she really genuinely wanted me as her mother. But I made a huge mistake… she didn't want to go to the Yacht Club last night. She wanted to stay home and watch a movie and cuddle instead. But no, I insisted we go to your party which turned into a disaster in more ways than one. If we just stayed home, then she'd be here right now!"

"Darling, it's not your fault. Cuddles and movies are fine in moderation and I believe she needed that, but you girls couldn't just give up other things. Yes, the party was a disaster. But it wouldn't have been healthy not to go to things like that. Plus, she had a lot of fun with her father last night before everything went downhill. You can't blame yourself for her death, it's not your fault."

Rae clenched her jaw and furrowed her eyebrows. "She is not dead, Myrtle. She's missing, she's in danger, and she needs me, but she is not dead. And I won't surround myself with negative people right now. So, if you are going to spread this malicious lie of John's then I need you to leave."

"Rae…" Myrtle frowned.

"Myrtle…" Erica appeared in the doorway. "If Rae wants space, then give her space. Go downstairs and entertain those men because I need to talk to Rae."

Myrtle touched Rae's cheek. "I am on your side. Please don't push me away." She kissed her forehead, then headed downstairs.

"What do you want, Erica?" Rae asked. "I'm not in the mood. If you want Myrtle's attention, then go get it because I don't want it right now."

"I am not here as Myrtle's jealous surrogate daughter." She sat down beside Rae. "I am here as Kendall's mother."

Rae rolled her eyes. "I thought you only had two babies. Bianca and Enchantment."

Erica lowered her gaze. "That was a huge mistake. I shouldn't have hurt Kendall like that. Our relationship hasn't been easy… when I first found out she was my daughter, I really wanted to be a mother to her. I did. But then she brought Richard Fields to town and he tried to attack Bianca… yet I get where she was coming from. She just wanted to know her father. But sometimes when she acts out, I think of him and it brings all of that pain back."

"I don't know Kendall very well, but everything you and Myrtle have said about her, she sounds just like you. And she looks like you too. I'm not pretending to know what it's like to be raped, but maybe you need to start looking at her as your daughter and not her father."

Erica nodded. "I know. And when I first heard that she was kidnapped, Richard Fields disappeared from my mind. All I could think about was Kendall hurt and scared and there was nothing I could do."

"I can understand that."

"Everything about last night was wrong, but that's not important right now. Right now, I need to focus on Kendall."

"What does that have to do with me?" Rae asked.

"I know no one will believe you when you say that Skye isn't dead," Erica said. "So, I'm here to tell you to forget all of them and work with me. No one will listen to me either when I say they need to be doing more to find Kendall. Not even Jackson."

"Work with you, how?"

"To find our daughters. Forget the cops. Forget Myrtle. Forget our men. Forget everyone who won't listen. If no one will step up and help, then we need to get our girls back ourselves."

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Rae asked.

"Well, isn't it obvious? You and Myrtle kept talking about how Skye was being threatened and how all these kidnappings are connected. We need to go back and trace all of Skye's steps since the beginning of these threats. We need to figure out who has been threatening her and why. We find this person, and he has no chance in hell against two scorned mothers. So, are you in?" She extended her hand to Rae.

Rae shook her hand. "I'm in."