Banshee Song
Book One
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Early the next morning,
Abraham Carver adjusted his tie one last time and headed down the grand curving staircase of his grand house. Oh, how he hated this house. Because it was HIS house. Stefano Dimera's.
He had very reluctantly agreed to move here to ease his wife Lexie's fears for their son's safety. There, in the protection of her father's house, under the watchful eye of her father's servants, would her son be safe, she had argued. And against all better judgment, he had consented.
Many, many months later, he was still no more comfortable in this house than he was the day they moved into the palatial mansion. As a result, he used any excuse he could find to stay away from the house. He worked six days a week, leaving early each morning and arriving home late each night.
But as bad as it had been before, it was worse now. The king had returned home to his castle. Stefano Dimera. The most hated name Abe had ever heard. And he just happened to be his beloved wife's much-adored father.
For that reason alone, he tolerated Stefano, tolerated his presence, tolerated this house. But as he reached the last step of the winding mahogany staircase, he wondered just how much longer would he be able to do so.
He stopped dead at the entrance to the informal dining room where his wife was breakfasting with her father. Abe hid a grimace at the sight of the harried servant who waited on them. {Can they not eat one meal without a servant in attendance?} He shook his head and once again wondered about the many changes in his wife of late.
Gradually over the course of the last few years, Lexie had been changing, becoming a different person. Abe looked at the polished, immaculately dressed woman before him and realized that he did not even recognize his own wife anymore. Once she had been a kind, loving woman with a large generous heart. Now she was cold, calculating, and perfectly willing to do anything and everything to get what she wanted.
In short, just like her father.
Abe had ignored it for so long. The whispered conversations with Stefano's henchmen, her sudden, bizarre friendship with Barb and Glen Reiber, her open hostility toward Hope Brady, a woman who had once been her dearest friend. Lexie had once been the picture of peace and tranquility, now she radiated nervous anxiety. Lexie had also once been humble, down to earth. Now Abe watched his wife drink fine imported tea from antique china with the proud, regal air of a queen as servants ran to and fro to carry out her orders.
Yes, many changes had taken place in his lovely wife. But the most disturbing of all was her attitude toward her son. For many years, Abe and Lexie were childless. And it had absolutely devastated her. There was nothing on earth that she wanted more than a child of her own. But that wasn't possible.
Then suddenly, miraculously, they had been gifted with the opportunity to adopt the child of a poor alcoholic woman and all of Lexie's dreams were finally coming true. The day that they took little Isaac home was the happiest, most joyous day of their lives. No one doted on that child more than Lexie. He was her world, her everything.
Now, however, servants tended to the child more than Lexie did. She always seemed to be too busy with secret schemes and suspicious meetings to spend time with the young boy. Like everything else though, Abe dismissed it. Isaac was now firmly in his 'terrible twos', and certainly a handful. Of course she needed help in dealing with him.
But the final straw had been yesterday when Abe overheard Isaac call Ilyanna "mommy". {Lexie, what is happening to you?} He questioned in his soul. He shook aside his inner doubts and prepared himself to greet his 'family'.
He pasted an insincere smile on his face and greeted them cheerfully. "Good morning, sweetie. Stefano." He leaned down to give his wife a quick kiss on the cheek that Lexie regally offered him.
"Good morning, Abe. Will you be joining us for breakfast this morning?" she inquired with saccharine sweetness.
"Not today. I'm afraid I have to get an early start at the office." Abe grimaced at his wife's childlike pout.
"Abe, you're always working! Surely it is not THAT important for you to go in so early. I mean what are all your subordinates for but to ease your workload? Don't you think he's working too hard, Father?" Lexie turned to Stefano.
Stefano gifted his son-in-law with a gracious smile. "On the contrary, Alexandra, I admire Commander Carver's work ethic. Would that everyone worked as hard. The world would be a better place." He finished his speech with a small smirk.
Abe simply ignored his father-in-law. He neither needed nor wanted Stefano's good opinion. He was about to bid his wife goodbye when the doorbell rang.
"Ilyanna!!" Lexie's screeching voice roared through the house.
"I'LL get it." Abe grimaced through clenched teeth.
He opened the heavy oak door and was surprised to see his good friend and coworker Roman Brady on his front porch.
"Roman!" he greeted him cheerfully. "What brings you by here, so early in the morning?"
Roman shifted uneasily on his feet. "Good morning, Abe. I really don't want to be here right now, but I thought it would be better if it came from a friend."
"What are you talking about Roman?" Abe asked as a curious Lexie sidled up beside him.
Roman set his jaw and with a heavy sigh, reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a manila envelope. "I'm so sorry to have to do this to you Abe, but it's my duty. This is a court order demanding that Isaac Carver be tested to see if he is Hope Brady's child."
"WHAT?!" Abe yelled in confusion. What does Hope have to do with their son? Neither Abe nor Roman noticed the sudden shocked rigidity in Lexie's posture.
Roman sympathized with his friend and attempted to explain the situation, as he knew it. He himself was still reeling in shock from the news his brother Bo had given him this morning. "Apparently Abe, John Thomas was not Hope's son. It is possible that two babies were switched at the hospital the night that J.T. and Isaac were born. Now, we're not saying that Isaac is Hope's, we're just checking out all possible avenues."
Abe barely registered what Roman was saying. A baby switch? How unbelievably absurd!
"NO!" Lexie screamed, throwing Abe out of his shock. "She can't have him! She's always been jealous of my healthy son! And now that her son is dead, she wants to take Isaac away from me!"
"Calm down, Lexie." Roman turned to the hysterical woman. "No one is trying to take your son from you. But if in fact Isaac is Hope's baby, then she has a right to her son."
"NEVER!" She hurled, crazed anger clearly portrayed in her wild eyes. "She will NEVER get my son!"
"Lexie." Abe began, shocked at his wife's insane behavior. He turned to Roman with a heavy sigh, knowing what he had to do. His honest, ethical nature left him with no choice but to obey the law. "I'll go get Isaac." He turned and entered the house.
"What?!" Lexie screamed as she barred his entrance into Isaac's room. "I can't believe that you are siding with them, AGAINST ME to take my baby away from me!"
"I'm not siding with anyone, and I certainly don't want to lose Isaac. But I have no choice."
"Yes you do. We can leave the country with Isaac. No one would ever find us." She pleaded.
"Lexie, we haven't even taken the test yet. You're acting like you know what the results will be." He looked at her suspiciously.
"I don't know anymore than you do!" she defended hotly. "It's just, what if? Hope and Bo raised J.T. all this time thinking that he was theirs and he wasn't. What if there was a mistake that night? What if we brought home the wrong little boy? Hope could take our son away from us. The boy that we have loved and adored for the past TWO years. Isaac! I can't lose him, Abe. We don't have to." She added softly, her chocolate brown eyes shining with cold determination.
Abe considered his wife's words for many long minutes. He too was terrified of losing his son. He loved Isaac so much; he couldn't imagine life without him. They could leave the country. Stefano would certainly help them. Just as he was about to agree to her plans, the early morning sun flashed on the brooch that Lexie always at her neck. The jewel glinted and Abe clearly saw the emblem of the phoenix emblazed in fire. {No.} he thought to himself, the momentary temptation quickly fleeing. He would rather lose his son to good honest people then let him be raised in a house of Dimeras.
He stepped around his wife and entered his son's room. "This is a court order, Lexie. It's the law." He said simply.
"And you always obey the law, don't you Abe?" she sneered derisively.
He looked at his cold vicious wife. "You used to love that about me." He said softly.
"That was before you put the law above your own family. Above your wife and son!"
Lexie tried one last desperate gambit to keep Abe from having their son tested. She knew that everything would be all over for her once the results of the test were in. She would lose her son.
She turned to her husband. "Right now Abraham, you are making a choice. If you go through with this test, if you choose the law over your own family, then we are over. I will never forgive you Abe." She added, her voice cracking on her last words. "You might as well find somewhere else to stay tonight, because you won't be welcome here."
Abe looked at the stranger who was his wife. "I don't want to be welcome here."
Abe gently picked up his sleeping son from the wooden crib. Isaac gurgled happily in his sleep at his father's touch. His son's sleepy smile tore at Abe's heart. Without any further words the husband and wife followed Roman to the testing lab. Minutes later the technician handed the boy back into Abe's arms after taking a sample. Lexie promptly snatched her son from Abe's arms.
Abe simply gave their names to the technician. "Abraham Carver. And this is Lexie Carver."
"No." Lexie spoke up, her voice ringing with steel. "My name is Alexandra Dimera."
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Early the next morning,
Abraham Carver adjusted his tie one last time and headed down the grand curving staircase of his grand house. Oh, how he hated this house. Because it was HIS house. Stefano Dimera's.
He had very reluctantly agreed to move here to ease his wife Lexie's fears for their son's safety. There, in the protection of her father's house, under the watchful eye of her father's servants, would her son be safe, she had argued. And against all better judgment, he had consented.
Many, many months later, he was still no more comfortable in this house than he was the day they moved into the palatial mansion. As a result, he used any excuse he could find to stay away from the house. He worked six days a week, leaving early each morning and arriving home late each night.
But as bad as it had been before, it was worse now. The king had returned home to his castle. Stefano Dimera. The most hated name Abe had ever heard. And he just happened to be his beloved wife's much-adored father.
For that reason alone, he tolerated Stefano, tolerated his presence, tolerated this house. But as he reached the last step of the winding mahogany staircase, he wondered just how much longer would he be able to do so.
He stopped dead at the entrance to the informal dining room where his wife was breakfasting with her father. Abe hid a grimace at the sight of the harried servant who waited on them. {Can they not eat one meal without a servant in attendance?} He shook his head and once again wondered about the many changes in his wife of late.
Gradually over the course of the last few years, Lexie had been changing, becoming a different person. Abe looked at the polished, immaculately dressed woman before him and realized that he did not even recognize his own wife anymore. Once she had been a kind, loving woman with a large generous heart. Now she was cold, calculating, and perfectly willing to do anything and everything to get what she wanted.
In short, just like her father.
Abe had ignored it for so long. The whispered conversations with Stefano's henchmen, her sudden, bizarre friendship with Barb and Glen Reiber, her open hostility toward Hope Brady, a woman who had once been her dearest friend. Lexie had once been the picture of peace and tranquility, now she radiated nervous anxiety. Lexie had also once been humble, down to earth. Now Abe watched his wife drink fine imported tea from antique china with the proud, regal air of a queen as servants ran to and fro to carry out her orders.
Yes, many changes had taken place in his lovely wife. But the most disturbing of all was her attitude toward her son. For many years, Abe and Lexie were childless. And it had absolutely devastated her. There was nothing on earth that she wanted more than a child of her own. But that wasn't possible.
Then suddenly, miraculously, they had been gifted with the opportunity to adopt the child of a poor alcoholic woman and all of Lexie's dreams were finally coming true. The day that they took little Isaac home was the happiest, most joyous day of their lives. No one doted on that child more than Lexie. He was her world, her everything.
Now, however, servants tended to the child more than Lexie did. She always seemed to be too busy with secret schemes and suspicious meetings to spend time with the young boy. Like everything else though, Abe dismissed it. Isaac was now firmly in his 'terrible twos', and certainly a handful. Of course she needed help in dealing with him.
But the final straw had been yesterday when Abe overheard Isaac call Ilyanna "mommy". {Lexie, what is happening to you?} He questioned in his soul. He shook aside his inner doubts and prepared himself to greet his 'family'.
He pasted an insincere smile on his face and greeted them cheerfully. "Good morning, sweetie. Stefano." He leaned down to give his wife a quick kiss on the cheek that Lexie regally offered him.
"Good morning, Abe. Will you be joining us for breakfast this morning?" she inquired with saccharine sweetness.
"Not today. I'm afraid I have to get an early start at the office." Abe grimaced at his wife's childlike pout.
"Abe, you're always working! Surely it is not THAT important for you to go in so early. I mean what are all your subordinates for but to ease your workload? Don't you think he's working too hard, Father?" Lexie turned to Stefano.
Stefano gifted his son-in-law with a gracious smile. "On the contrary, Alexandra, I admire Commander Carver's work ethic. Would that everyone worked as hard. The world would be a better place." He finished his speech with a small smirk.
Abe simply ignored his father-in-law. He neither needed nor wanted Stefano's good opinion. He was about to bid his wife goodbye when the doorbell rang.
"Ilyanna!!" Lexie's screeching voice roared through the house.
"I'LL get it." Abe grimaced through clenched teeth.
He opened the heavy oak door and was surprised to see his good friend and coworker Roman Brady on his front porch.
"Roman!" he greeted him cheerfully. "What brings you by here, so early in the morning?"
Roman shifted uneasily on his feet. "Good morning, Abe. I really don't want to be here right now, but I thought it would be better if it came from a friend."
"What are you talking about Roman?" Abe asked as a curious Lexie sidled up beside him.
Roman set his jaw and with a heavy sigh, reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a manila envelope. "I'm so sorry to have to do this to you Abe, but it's my duty. This is a court order demanding that Isaac Carver be tested to see if he is Hope Brady's child."
"WHAT?!" Abe yelled in confusion. What does Hope have to do with their son? Neither Abe nor Roman noticed the sudden shocked rigidity in Lexie's posture.
Roman sympathized with his friend and attempted to explain the situation, as he knew it. He himself was still reeling in shock from the news his brother Bo had given him this morning. "Apparently Abe, John Thomas was not Hope's son. It is possible that two babies were switched at the hospital the night that J.T. and Isaac were born. Now, we're not saying that Isaac is Hope's, we're just checking out all possible avenues."
Abe barely registered what Roman was saying. A baby switch? How unbelievably absurd!
"NO!" Lexie screamed, throwing Abe out of his shock. "She can't have him! She's always been jealous of my healthy son! And now that her son is dead, she wants to take Isaac away from me!"
"Calm down, Lexie." Roman turned to the hysterical woman. "No one is trying to take your son from you. But if in fact Isaac is Hope's baby, then she has a right to her son."
"NEVER!" She hurled, crazed anger clearly portrayed in her wild eyes. "She will NEVER get my son!"
"Lexie." Abe began, shocked at his wife's insane behavior. He turned to Roman with a heavy sigh, knowing what he had to do. His honest, ethical nature left him with no choice but to obey the law. "I'll go get Isaac." He turned and entered the house.
"What?!" Lexie screamed as she barred his entrance into Isaac's room. "I can't believe that you are siding with them, AGAINST ME to take my baby away from me!"
"I'm not siding with anyone, and I certainly don't want to lose Isaac. But I have no choice."
"Yes you do. We can leave the country with Isaac. No one would ever find us." She pleaded.
"Lexie, we haven't even taken the test yet. You're acting like you know what the results will be." He looked at her suspiciously.
"I don't know anymore than you do!" she defended hotly. "It's just, what if? Hope and Bo raised J.T. all this time thinking that he was theirs and he wasn't. What if there was a mistake that night? What if we brought home the wrong little boy? Hope could take our son away from us. The boy that we have loved and adored for the past TWO years. Isaac! I can't lose him, Abe. We don't have to." She added softly, her chocolate brown eyes shining with cold determination.
Abe considered his wife's words for many long minutes. He too was terrified of losing his son. He loved Isaac so much; he couldn't imagine life without him. They could leave the country. Stefano would certainly help them. Just as he was about to agree to her plans, the early morning sun flashed on the brooch that Lexie always at her neck. The jewel glinted and Abe clearly saw the emblem of the phoenix emblazed in fire. {No.} he thought to himself, the momentary temptation quickly fleeing. He would rather lose his son to good honest people then let him be raised in a house of Dimeras.
He stepped around his wife and entered his son's room. "This is a court order, Lexie. It's the law." He said simply.
"And you always obey the law, don't you Abe?" she sneered derisively.
He looked at his cold vicious wife. "You used to love that about me." He said softly.
"That was before you put the law above your own family. Above your wife and son!"
Lexie tried one last desperate gambit to keep Abe from having their son tested. She knew that everything would be all over for her once the results of the test were in. She would lose her son.
She turned to her husband. "Right now Abraham, you are making a choice. If you go through with this test, if you choose the law over your own family, then we are over. I will never forgive you Abe." She added, her voice cracking on her last words. "You might as well find somewhere else to stay tonight, because you won't be welcome here."
Abe looked at the stranger who was his wife. "I don't want to be welcome here."
Abe gently picked up his sleeping son from the wooden crib. Isaac gurgled happily in his sleep at his father's touch. His son's sleepy smile tore at Abe's heart. Without any further words the husband and wife followed Roman to the testing lab. Minutes later the technician handed the boy back into Abe's arms after taking a sample. Lexie promptly snatched her son from Abe's arms.
Abe simply gave their names to the technician. "Abraham Carver. And this is Lexie Carver."
"No." Lexie spoke up, her voice ringing with steel. "My name is Alexandra Dimera."
