Dirty Dealings

Part 7

Lane was about to answer his brother when Leo suddenly pushed him hard into a corner. "What...?" Forcefully Leo's hand was on Lane's mouth. Lane was about to fight back when he noticed Leo nod his head in the direction of the elevator.

Leo made sure Lane stayed in his place behind the big plant. He looked away when Jenny and the girls made their way passed them. They had not been spotted and Leo could only thank God.

As soon as they were out of sight Lane pushed his brother off him. "You didn't have to shove so hard!"

Leo ignored him. "I didn't want them to see you."

Lane eyed him. "And you'd prefer if it stayed that way for good, right?" Leo didn't say anything, but Lane was no fool. "I think I'll stick around."

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"Mom!"

Abbey jerked away from Jed and held her arms open as her two girls ran over to her. She embraced them, never wanting to let go.

Jed smiled as he stepped aside.

Suddenly Abbey realized it had not been long before that Leo had left with Lane. She looked over to Jed and mouthed his name.

Jed wasn't sure what Abbey was trying to say, but when she repeated herself he understood. Lane. He nodded and quickly made his way to the door where Jenny was standing and whispered. "Jenny, Leo is here and so is Lane."

Jenny paled. "We didn't see them."

"I'll go and see if they are still here." Jed patted her shoulder and then closed the door behind him.

Her legs shaking from the realization of how close Lane could be to the girls and from her weakened condition, Abbey moved to the bed and sat, allowing the girls to climb up on either side of her.

"Mom, when can you come home? I got an A on my report about whales and they want me to read it at the school assembly. I hope you'll be able to come." Laurie pulled the note from her teacher out of her pocket and showed it to Abbey.

Abbey kissed her on the head. "I am so proud of you! Of course I'll come."

Leah had news, too. "Mommy, I get to be a flower in the play my day care is doing. Can you make me a costume?"

"Yes, you'll be the prettiest one there. What kind of flower do you want to be?"

"Aunt Jenny said I could be a daisy. She said Uncle Leo could make something to go around my head that we could sew the petals to. Can we do that?"

"Sure we can do that." Abbey smiled and then looked serious. "Girls, there's something we need to talk about. You might not understand at first, but I don't want you to be scared. There's a lot of people who love you that will be right beside you." Abbey looked up momentarily to be reassured that she was doing the right thing. When she got a nod from Jenny she continued. "I want to talk to you about your father."

Abbey looked up again as she heard the door open. It was Jed. He motioned to the hall to indicate Lane and Leo were waiting, then he smiled reassuringly and moved next to Jenny.

Abbey put her arms around the girls. "Remember when I told you what happened to Daddy, that he had been hurt and he had gone to be with God."

Laurie acted grown up. "We know what that means, Mom. We know Dad died."

Leah nodded. "Uncle Leo cried."

"Yes." Abbey nodded. "Uncle Leo cried because Daddy was his brother."

Laurie told Abbey what she remembered. "Cecily's Mom brought us home from the park and we wanted some lemonade, but you wouldn't let us go in the house. Then Aunt Jenny came to pick us up."

"I needed some time to work some things out." Abbey shuddered at how weird it sounded to explain the time she needed to be sure it looked like an intruder had gotten to Lane.

"And then all those reporters stayed in the yard and wanted to ask us questions and take our picture." Laurie decided to say something she had kept inside for the last two years. "Cecily said that someone stabbed Dad with a knife."

Abbey almost gasped. "You never told me that." She hugged Laurie tighter. "We should have been able to talk about it. I didn't want you to ever know that."

Leah started to cry. "Someone did that?"

"Girls...listen to me...I have something to tell you." Abbey almost choked on her next words. "Something that will make you happy." She took a deep breath. "When I told you your Dad died, that was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I thought I was telling you the truth, a terrible truth that you had to know." Tears glistened in Abbey's eyes.

"Mom, don't cry." Laurie rubbed Abbey's back. "Whatever you have to tell us now, we can handle it. You said the people who love us will be right beside us, well, they'll be right beside you, too."

"Girls, I found out something and you both have a right to know, because it involves you." Abbey swallowed to calm herself. "Turns out that when your Dad was hurt, he got some people to help him, people I didn't know about. And they were able to do things for him that Mom and Uncle Leo couldn't. Your Dad was able to get well. Girls, your Dad didn't die."

Laurie stared up at Abbey. "Dad is alive?"

"Yes, sweetheart. Your Dad is alive."

Leah got right to the point. "Why hasn't Daddy been with us?"

"Your Dad needed some time to be by himself and think about a lot of things."

Laurie was concerned. "Why is he here now?"

Abbey wanted to reassure her. "Daddy called Uncle Leo and said he wanted to see his girls. I promise you that's all he wants to do is see how big you guys have gotten and hear about all that you're doing."

"What about you, Mommy?" Leah looked confused. "Does Daddy want to see you and Uncle Leo and Aunt Jenny?"

"Yes, Daddy wants to see us all." Abbey prayed that her daughters would never find out what their father had in store for their mother and his brother.

"Where is Daddy? I want to see him." Leah looked around the room.

"Sweetheart, he's out in the hall with Uncle Leo. You're going to get a chance to see him. In fact you're going to go spend a few more days with Aunt Jenny and Uncle Leo and your Daddy will probably be spending time with you at their house."

"Do we have to?" Laurie asked. "Aunt Jenny and I had planned to go shopping."

Jed listened intently. Even the children knew what kind of man Lane was. He was shaken by the fact that Laurie did not sound happy to find out that her own father was alive. Surely this man was gentle with his children. He couldn't have shown them enough bad times at their young age that they already knew it best to stay away from him.

Abbey smoothed down Laurie's hair. "You don't want to spend time with your Dad?"

Laurie shrugged. "He used to yell at you a lot and once..." She hesitated.

"What, honey?" Abbey put her arm around her daughter.

"I saw him shove you into the car."

Jed felt his stomach lurch. He had witnessed Lane's violent behaviour toward Leo, but up until this point he had shoved it out of his mind that Abbey might have gotten some of the same. He had known it was possible, but he had chosen to allow himself to pretend the possibility didn't exist.

"Laurie, grown ups get angry sometimes and they do things that aren't really nice. Your Daddy and I did used to fight, but that was us. Your Daddy loves you. I want you to visit with him. I want you to look out for Leah. But remember you won't be alone, not for a second. Aunt Jenny and Uncle Leo will be there."

Jed's face tightened. He glanced to his side at Jenny, but she didn't look one bit fazed. How could she not be fazed? This man had smacked her husband around, done who knows what to her sister-in-law and allowed his children to see his monstrous ways. And Jenny stood there calmly. And Abbey, Abbey was relatively calm, too. And Leo, Leo was calm and as usual thinking about everyone else's welfare. How could these people do this? Smile and talk and live and go about their daily lives living with this past and facing this future. Abbey was having to let her children see this man, spend time with him with only Jenny and Leo going to be there to control things no matter what he might decide to do. And what had Abbey told Laurie, 'your Daddy and I did used to fight'. Fight? Fighting between people who love each other was supposed to be arguing and maybe a little yelling with a good door slam. It was never to involve hitting and shoving and intimidation. What was Jed going to do? He couldn't stand here and watch people he loved live like this and accept it simply because they had no way out. If Lane got out of hand, he would step in and stop him. That promise he made to himself at this very moment.

Laurie nodded. "I'll look out for Leah, Mom." She hugged Abbey.

Leo stepped through the door.

Abbey looked up at him. "Is Lane..."

Leo nodded.

"Girls, why don't you go with Uncle Leo to see your Dad. I want to talk to Aunt Jenny for a minute."

"I'll just wait for Aunt Jenny," Laurie said sourly, picking up her coat and moving to the window to look out on the hospital parking lot.

Abbey gave Jenny a worried look, but Jenny just smiled. "It'll be alright, Abbey."

Leah leapt off the bed and went running out the door. She was brave up until the moment Lane turned. Then she smiled shyly, taking Leo's hand and pulling him with her toward her father. "Are you my Daddy?"

Lane knelt down in front of her. "Yes, little princess, I'm your Daddy. Do you remember me? We've both changed a lot. Last time I saw you, you were carrying around a bottle and a stuffed Barney."

"I remember you." Leah took a step toward him, but still didn't let go of Leo. "Why are you here? Mom said you couldn't come back."

Lane glanced up at Leo. "Mom just didn't know. I'm back and I plan on being the best daddy in the world to my girls. Where's your sister?"

"She's with Mom. She doesn't want to see you because she said you yell a lot."

"She doesn't have to worry," Lane said. "I would never yell at my girls." He held open his arms. "Does my little princess have a hug for Daddy?"

"I missed you, Daddy." Leah flew into his arms and gave him a big hug.

"Let's get your sister and go home. We've missed out on so much." Lane picked her up and looked at Leo. "Get your wife and my daughter."

It turned out Leo didn't have to follow orders, as the door opened. Jenny came walking out with her arm around Laurie. Jed and Abbey stood in the door, watching.

"There's my other princess."

"Hi, Dad." Laurie made no motion to leave Jenny's side.

"Don't you have a hug for your Dad? We haven't seen each other in like forever."

Laurie smiled weakly. "Can we just go home? I have a test to study for."

"I guess I'll have to settle for that beautiful smile." Lane glanced back at Abbey. "You get well, Abigail." Then he moved down the hall carrying Leah and followed by Laurie, Leo and Jenny.

"I can't let them go!" Abbey wiped the tears that were spilling from her eyes.

"They'll be fine." Jed put his arm around her and held her close. "Jenny is there and so is Leo."

"And Lane is there. What if he decides to leave with the girls?"

"Leo would never let that happen." Jed knew that to be a fact.

"You don't know what Lane is capable of. He wouldn't have a second thought about hurting Leo to get what he wanted."

Jed felt Abbey shudder. "Perhaps you better tell me all there is to know about Lane."

Abbey nodded and joining hands with Jed led him back inside her room. She sat on the bed and he leaned against the window sill, facing her. "I want to tell you something I wish Leo could have told you a long time ago. But it was just too hard for him."

Jed held his breath, as this couldn't be good.

"Remember when you were Governor and you got that award from the Foundation for the Preservation of Nature?" Abbey began.

Jed nodded. "I did a lot of the work myself. I didn't just delegate it out to the agencies at my disposal."

"I know you did. Leo was so proud of you."

Jed frowned. "Sure didn't seem like it. He was supposed to attend the ceremony, but he got Jenny to call the night before with some lame excuse that he wasn't feeling well. I never understood why he would do that. He knew how important it was to me for him to be there."

Abbey allowed herself to relive what happened. "I'm going to tell you why he wasn't there."

Jed suddenly looked worried at Abbey's tone of voice. "I'm listening."

"I was making cookies the night before he was supposed to leave. They were peanut butter." Abbey paused. "I got distracted and a batch got a little burnt...I mean they weren't inedible, just a little toasty." Abbey swallowed to keep the tears out of her voice. "Lane came into the kitchen wanting a cookie and he just snapped. He picked up my wooden rolling pin, you know the one my mother gave me." She took a deep breath. "And he came at me with it."

Jed reached for Abbey's hand, wrapping it in both of his to give her strength. He needed to hear this, needed to know exactly what she had been through. "Go on."

"He came at me, Jed. He was crazy. And Leo..." A tear rolled down Abbey's cheek. "He got between me and his brother. This made Lane even more furious and he hit him. He smacked him in the face with the rolling pin." Abbey shut her eyes. "I was so scared, Jed. I couldn't breathe. I screamed at Lane to get out! He told me if I ever told him to leave again that he would throw me out and then he stalked off to our bedroom. I just sat with Leo on the floor and held him until he could stand. I got him cleaned up and took him home to Jenny."

"And Jenny called to tell me he was sick," Jed finished.

Abbey needed Jed to visualize the ugly details. "It busted his lip and he had a huge bruise down his cheek. He couldn't come to your ceremony when he looked like that."

"I wish he'd told me." Jed said sadly while holding Abbey's hand.

"He didn't want to ruin your moment." Abbey cupped his face with her hands. "Hey, it's in the past. Yes, it makes me angry and sad, but it's in the past."

"No, it's not. Lane is back so it is in the present and in our future." Jed hated saying it, but it was true.

"Only a part of our future. A very small part." Abbey smiled at him and when that didn't work she snuggled into his arms.

"I hope you're right." Jed wrapped his arms around her, knowing there were more stories about Lane he would have to hear. He was not looking forward to it.

TBC.....