Chapter Thirty-Seven

(Back in Salem - 4 Days after they've returned from Venice)

Chloe sat in the passenger seat of Brady's jeep looking towards the house that she used to call home. They were sitting in the driveway of her parents house, and Brady was waiting patiently for her to make a move. Chloe's stomach was churning, and this time it had nothing to do with her pregnancy.

Brady sighed softly and gently stroked the strands of hair that had fallen over her shoulder. "Chloe... You're going to have to get out of the jeep eventually."

Chloe shook her head slightly, and kept her gaze fixed on the house. "I can't. I just... I can't, Brady."

"Do you want me to take you home? I can tell them you're tired and you want to rest. Your parents will understand."

"I... I don't know what I want to do." Chloe turned to face him, her fear written all over her face. "What should I do?"

Brady moved forward and kissed her on the forehead. "I can't answer that for you. Only you can decide what's right. We could just go in and talk like nothing's wrong, and not turn this into an interrogation. Just a nice peaceful evening with your parents."

"No, no, no. They would know that something else is going on. I have to do this. I just need the courage to get up to that door, and then I'll be fine. Once I ring the doorbell, I can get through it."

"Of course you can. You know that no matter what happens tonight, your mother loves you... And maybe she'll freak out, but she'll still love you."

Chloe nodded in agreement, but still wore a frown on her face. "But... What if she refuses to tell me anything? Like she always has before..."

Brady smiled at her reassuringly. "Then I'll find out myself. I'll talk to every person that Nancy has ever met, hire a private investigator, call my Uncle Bo at the Salem P.D. -- no matter what it takes, we'll find the answers you're looking for."

"Brady... Sometimes I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Hmmm... Take the bus?"

Chloe's frown faded as she laughed at him. "You know, you're right. I really do need to get a car of my own before the baby's born."

Brady nodded in agreement. "Yes, you do. And we will do something about that very soon. But, for right now... Are you ready to go in?

"Yeah, I think I am."

Chloe took a deep breath and opened the door to the jeep, quickly stepping out and closing the door. Brady met her at the front of the car and held her hand in his. He leaned over and kissed her on the lips.

"You can do this. You can do anything..."

Chloe smiled at him in reply and they headed to the door together. She rang the doorbell and bit her lip nervously as she waited for an answer. The door opened and Nancy greeted her with a hug.

"Chloe, sweetie... I'm so glad the two of you wanted to come over. How are you feeling?"

Chloe let go of her and smiled nervously. "I feel pretty good, actually."

"Good... follow me, Craig's in the living room."

Nancy gave Brady a hug first, and then they headed into the living room. Craig was seated on the couch reading the newspaper, which he set down at their entrance. He stood and quickly hugged his daughter before sitting back down. Nancy took the seat next to her husband, and Brady and Chloe sat in the chairs on either side of the couch.

Nancy looked at her daughter curiously as Chloe fidgeted nervously in her chair. "Chloe... Is there something going on? When you called, you said you needed to talk to us about something... What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, for the most part... But, I do need to talk to you. And, if you want to do this in private, we can. But, I think as a married woman, everything you have is for Craig to share, and the same goes for me and Brady. That's why they're here."

"I'm pretty sure that I know what you want to talk about."

Chloe nodded and interrupted her with a wave of her hand. "And you're probably right. But, please let me say what I have to say. Then you can argue with me, or refuse to answer my questions all you want. Just let me finish, please."

Chloe caught Brady's gaze from the corner of her eye, he wasn't smiling, but he was looking at her intently. She felt a lot better about what she was doing just knowing that he was nearby to support her.

Nancy nodded and grabbed Craig's hand for support. "Okay, go ahead..."

Craig squeezed her hand, he must have also realized where this was all heading and he was trying to lend his wife some support. Chloe ran a hand through her hair and tried to figure out where to begin.

"These past months have been... well, eventful to say the least. So much has happened and so much has changed. I'm not the same girl I used to be. I'm not even a girl anymore, really. I'm 18 now, and I'm married and about to have a baby. I'm definitely a woman. And, the funny thing is... I used to think I was so grown up, so mature, ready to handle anything. But, now that I actually am a grown up... I realize how foolish all of that sounds. When you're a kid, you think you know everything. And, when you grow up, you realize you actually knew nothing."

She sighed heavily and took a moment's pause, closing her eyes for just a second as she gathered her thoughts. Her eyes opened and she continued, looking into Nancy's fearful eyes as she spoke. "It seems like all of the pieces of my life have somehow fallen into place finally. I have a mother and father who I love, the greatest friends in the world, the perfect husband, a baby... Everything is coming together. Everything but one important thing."

Nancy was nodding as she listened, the tears welling up in her eyes. Chloe bit her lip nervously and finally got down to brass tacks. "I need... No, I *have* to know who my father is. I know that you have so many reasons not to tell me. But, I have to know. I understand why you didn't tell me before... I probably wasn't ready for it, even though I thought I was. But, now I am ready. I'm not asking because I want to have a relationship with this man, whoever he is. I don't need a father, I have a great father already. I'm asking because I want to know where I come from. Good or bad, I want to know. I want to know if I have brothers or sisters, my family history... I want to know so someday I can tell my baby about their family. Please... you have to tell me. You owe me the truth, once and for all."

Nancy's tears were now flowing at a steady pace and she looked downward, sniffling and trying to find the words to reply to her daughters passionate plea. "Chloe... I... I don't know..."

"Please, Mom... Please. I know that you're afraid that I'm going to look down on you because of a mistake that happened over eighteen years ago, or that I'm going to stop loving you all of a sudden. That's not going to happen. I love you, and I forgive you for whatever happened in the past. You're my mother, and I will always love you no matter what happens. I'm begging you, mom, please tell me the truth so we can both finally let go of this one last thing. Then we can leave it in the past, and move on. Please tell me."

Chloe was crying as well, but her tears were out of desperation. Praying that her words were enough to persuade Nancy to finally come out with the truth she had been keeping inside for far too long.

Nancy looked into Craig's eyes, trying to speak through her tears. "Craig... I..."

Craig wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead gently. "Nancy, honey... Our daughter is right. You've been living with this secret for far too long. It's time to come clean."

Nancy nodded slightly and then looked back at Chloe. She sniffled and tried to regain her composure before she began speaking. Nancy breathed in deeply, and held on tightly to Craig as she prepared to finally spill the secret she had been holding on to for over eighteen years.

"I... I guess you're both right. But, it's so hard to talk about it. And, I've tried not to even think about it over these years. I guess, more than anything, I'm ashamed of what I let happen to me."

Craig stroked her hair to calm her and smiled. "Nancy, you have no reason to be ashamed... I'm sure of that. None of us are going to judge you for what happened."

"Okay... I guess I should start from the beginning. Do you remember when we broke up in college? You were away at medical school, and we fought because my father didn't approve of our relationship, and you were sick and tired of the way he acted towards you... towards us. So, we broke up for awhile. And, I was so broken hearted without you."

"I remember... I was lost without you, Nancy. That was the worst year of my life."

"Mine too." Nancy paused and addressed the rest of her words towards Chloe. "And not just because of the breakup, although that was a big part of it. About a month after Craig and I broke up, my parents were going to some big alumni dinner at Harvard, where my dad went to college. My mother was worried about how depressed I seemed, and she didn't want me left home alone. So, they made me come with them to Boston. There was this big cocktail party that weekend, and that's when I met him."

Chloe was staring into her mother's eyes, amazed that the story was finally going to unfold in front of her. "My... father?"

"Yes, Chloe, your father. He was a doctor, a surgeon, who graduated from Harvard years before that. He seemed nice at first, but I was so naive that I didn't know what he was really trying to do. He kept telling me that a girl as pretty as me should never be that sad. We talked a lot, about all kinds of subjects, and I was drinking... At the time, I had never really drank much before, so just a little bit went to my head pretty quickly. I started feeling really out of it, and he suggested that we go somewhere more private to talk."

Chloe sighed heavily and frowned, knowing exactly where this story was leading. "Where did you go? Where did he take you?"

"He had a hotel room... close to the campus. God, I can't believe that I was so stupid. I should have never followed him there. But, the alcohol had gone to my head, and I was... confused... and lost. So, I went. I thought we would talk some more, but he just poured me another drink."

"He... He took advantage of you?"

Nancy nodded sadly, more tears beginning to fall from her eyes. "The worst part is I didn't try hard enough to stop it. I should have tried harder, but I didn't. I just let it happen. I was crying the entire time, but he acted like it was no big deal. He treated me like I wanted it the whole time. He even had the nerve to thank me for a wonderful night when he dropped me back off at the party."

There was a long silence as everyone dealt with the impact of what had happened to Nancy on that night, and what she had been quietly dealing with for many years. Brady was the first to break the silence, sitting back in his seat and shaking his head with sympathy, speaking mostly to himself.

"Jesus... That sick bastard."

Craig hugged his wife tightly, kissing her tears away. "Brady's right... He's a sick man, and there's no reason to blame yourself for what happened. Anybody who forces himself upon a naive, helpless young woman is completely at fault. You should have told me when it happened, I would have done anything to help you through this... I would have killed that son of a bitch if I had gotten my hands on him."

Nancy's words came shakily, cutting through the quite sobs erupting from her throat. "I... I wanted to. I wanted to tell you. But, I thought that being a rape victim was like having a scarlet letter sewn to my chest. That it was something to be ashamed of."

Chloe's face was contorted with emotion, mixed with sadness for what happened to her mother, and anger at the man who did it. She stood from her chair and sat on Nancy's other side. Craig let go of his wife so that Chloe could hug her tightly.

"Mom... I am so sorry that this happened to you. I know that you must have been through hell in the years since. I don't blame you, and you shouldn't blame yourself. The only person to blame is the man who did this."

Nancy lifted her head, her tears starting to slow down. "I'm sorry that I had to give you up, Chloe. I tried to tell my parents what happened, but they didn't believe me. Even after I found out I was pregnant... My dad called me a whore. He thought that I seduced him. He made me give you up, so that I wouldn't bring shame to his family. So, I did... I didn't know what else to do."

Chloe sighed and smiled weakly at her mother. "It's okay. I understand. I really do. None of that matters now. We're together. We're a family. We don't have to regret the past anymore."

Brady broke in with a question of his own. "Nancy... What's the name of the man that did this to you?"

Nancy's eyes widened and she leaned away from Chloe. "Why do you need to know?"

Chloe sighed and held on to Nancy's hand, as Craig grabbed the other one. "Because, no matter how much what he did disgusts me, he's still related to me... biologically. I want to know... I could have brothers, sisters... family that I might want to meet someday. I have to satisfy a lifelong curiosity."

Brady nodded and motioned towards Craig. "Plus... As a doctor, Craig, wouldn't you agree that it's best if Chloe knows her family history? Not that I expect her or our baby to have any health problems... but just in case, it's good to know what might be passed down through family lines."

Craig nodded in agreement and Nancy looked at him expectantly. "They're right, sweetheart. Chloe deserves to know exactly where she came from, for personal reasons and for medical reasons."

Nancy sighed and turned back to her daughter. "Okay... All I know is that he's a doctor, a surgeon of some kind... And, his name was Rob. Rob Hillton."

Brady grabbed his cell phone and began dialing. "Is that Hilton? Like the hotels?"

"No. He said it was with two 'L's - H-I-L-L-T-O-N." Nancy paused and looked at him in confusion. "Brady, who are you calling?"

"My Uncle Bo... We're going to find this Hillton guy, and I need one of Salem's finest to do it."

Chloe smiled at Nancy in appreciation. "Thank you, Nancy. Thank you for telling me the truth. I promise this will all be over soon. I just want to find out what I can, and then put it behind me."

They all turned to listen to Brady as he chatted with Bo Brady over his cell phone. Brady hung up the phone and looked back at them. "This isn't exactly Salem PD's kind of thing, tracking down people... I told him money was no object, and he's going to call a private investigator friend of his, and Bo's going to help too, in any way he can. He's on his way over right now, he wants to talk to Nancy, ask her everything she knows about this guy."

Nancy shrugged slightly. "I wish I knew more. I never saw him again after that night. I tried to find him when I found out I was pregnant, but I couldn't. It's almost like he disappeared off the face of the earth."

"Well, we'll find him. And, that's a Brady Black guarantee."

Chloe turned to her husband and smiled sweetly at him. "That's my favorite kind of guarantee."

She rested her head on her mother's shoulder, holding on to her to give Nancy the comfort that she needed. Chloe didn't know whether to be happy or afraid of what was to come. Sometimes the truth could you set free, but sometimes it could make everything spiral out of control

***