Author's Notes: Reviews are very much appreciated and inspire me to update faster.
Part 22
Age: 13 Years 3 Months
Samantha sat uneasily in her seat on the airplane and looked over at Jack's parents who sat away from her on their private plane. She'd only approached Jack's Mother as a last resort and had hoped she would lend her some money for a room until the baby was born. Her Father remained unaware of her marriage and her Aunt was deeply religious and would have taken offense at her pregnancy coupled with her questionable marital status. When she arrived in Memphis and discovered Konstantine and Sofia were out of the country, Jack's Mother seemed to be her last hope. Although Samantha had assumed Miriam would take an interest in the last tie to her Son, she'd acted strangely.
Something simply didn't feel right. Maybe it was merely the flight, nerves coupled with her age made pregnancy difficult. When Jack's Mother saw her, she had Samantha wait and disappeared for nearly an hour. Upon returning, Miriam declared that Samantha would stay for a couple days and then they would escort her to a place they were arranging for her in Cincinnati. Although Samantha had wished to return to Memphis or Atlanta, she rather liked the idea of being near Jack's grave. She was determined their baby would grow up loving Jack as though he'd been part of their life.
When the plane landed in Cincinnati, Samantha was slightly thrown when the Newquays informed her they would all be staying for a couple days in a hotel suite. Samantha was a little worried, but she visited Jack's grave and spent a great deal of time sleeping, a day shy of 7 months, she was exhausted. One evening while Samantha was resting, she was unaware of the visitors in the suite's living room.
"So you'll donate two million dollars for my research" Walter Anderson asked the couple and looked at Dr. McClintock.
"That's right, but you have to promise that you'll see to it that you make her forget the whole business. My committee approved the money that's financing that project in Otis California of yours, so I know you can drug her or do whatever you do" the Senator informed him. "You will see to it that the matter never comes up again."
"I don't feel right about this" Dr. McClintock interjected.
"Too bad" Miriam snapped. "Either you help with this or we'll see that you're ruined. You're already involved. Now, get in there and get the girl ready. Walter, drive ahead to the facility and we'll be along with your daughter in a little bit."
As the two men did as ordered, the Senator told his wife"If I'd known how much trouble our son was going to be, I think I would have let you kill him. Bad enough that he married the twit, but knocking her up? Christ, if my parents' lawyer found out that Albert had married and produced an heir it would fuck up our money entirely."
"It's your fault. If you hadn't invested all your money in that stupid investment scheme and refused to get that environment emission bill your Father wanted passed, we wouldn't be in this mess. And you wouldn't be stuck embezzling money from your son's trust fund. But what in God's name was Albert thinking! I'm too young to be a Grandmother."
A little while later, Samantha was carried out of the bedroom by Dr. McClintock. The Newquay's accompanied him to their limo and they drove off into the night...
At a state of the art hospital, hidden near Siberia in communist Russia, Jack's casts were removed. His muscles were incredibly weak from lack of use, he could barely lift his arm a couple inches, let alone stand. The doctors spoke around him in Russian and he couldn't understand what they were saying. Although he was slowly picking the language up, there were sometimes whole weeks when he wouldn't hear a single word in English.
The doctor who had first examined him at the hospital spoke to Jack in his broken English"Bed you stays. Walk, nyet. Soon we are startings treatment and if you breaks we back at begins."
Disappointed, but relieved to at least know what was going on, Jack remained silent as he was wheeled back to his room and placed in his bed by a couple orderlies. When he was alone, Jack moved slowly and tenuously to turn slightly and he began to extend his arm towards the side table. His weak arm quivered from the strain as he managed to grab Samantha's letter and he felt very tired as he brought his arm back against him. Despite being fatigued, Jack moved until he could read the letter which haunted him.
Word for word, Jack read through over and over. Each time he read the letter, he hoped the wording would change and each time it remained the same. Even reading the painful words, there was a vague comfort to be derived from seeing her handwriting. Looking at her last name, his face registered disgust. She was Samantha Newquay, not Samantha Anderson, damn it! Despite the fact they had been underraged, he suspected that with the right lawyer their marriage would be deemed valid by a court. He toyed with the idea of trying to have it validated.
Why? So she can divorce you? So you can give her money and grovel as she tells you how much she hates you? You've never been anything but Prince Albert the Prick. Samantha may have given you another name and pretended to care, but it was nothing but a game. She was above you and maybe she felt sorry for you, she never loved you. Your Father was right, you're a worthless pansy. After all, in only one month of marriage you made Samantha hate you so much she couldn't stand the sight of you. She told you she hated you on your wedding night. Samantha never wanted a loser like you, Jack thought.
Opening his mouth and speaking for the first time in months, Jack sighed"Oh Samantha."
Bringing the hateful letter up to his lips, Jack kissed the last physical tie to his wife besides his wedding ring. Closing his eyes, Jack began to weep...
Age: 17 Years
"Sam" Angel exclaimed looking at her friend. "What's this I hear about you refusing to go to the prom with Tom Waters? He's a college sophomore and he's handsome and he's crazy about you"
Looking at Angel, Sam felt the strange feeling that sometimes pulled at the edge of her consciousness. Sometimes she felt like her life was a lie, she felt like her life was wrong somehow. At night, she often dreamed the strangest dreams. In her dreams she was always Samantha, never Sam and she often danced with a nameless boy that had dark soulful eyes. Although she'd been dating Tom Waters on and off for a couple months, every time he kissed her, she felt like she was betraying someone, but who?
"Angel, I" Samantha trailed off.
"You are going to tell him you'll go! This is prom"
After Angel hounded her for a while, Sam relented and called up Tom. Angel had to drag Sam to shop for a dress. After several days of searching the mall in vain, Angel suggested they scope out the local bridal shop for formals. When they went into the store, Sam felt a strange sense of deja vu, but said nothing and followed Angel around. Although they were searching for prom dresses, their eyes strayed to the bridal gowns and playfully Angel placed a veil over Sam's head.
Samantha staggered slightly as she was struck with an image of the dark eyes boy through her veil and saying, I love you Samantha.
Pretending that nothing was wrong, Sam tried on dresses and selected one that Angel liked on her. That night as she lay in bed, Samantha began crying. What's wrong with you? Are you going crazy? Why doesn't your life feel right? Why do you feel like kissing Tom Waters is wrong? Tom is handsome and he loves you, why can' you love him back?
On prom night, Tom brought her a corsage of red roses and again Sam got that strange feeling. When he put the corsage on her dress, she saw a beautiful pond and rose petals floating down from the sky like rain. Closing her eyes, trying to shut the image out of her mind, she could almost feel it as she saw herself naked and the dark eyed boy from her dreams smiling at her dragging a rose across her breasts.
"Sam, is something wrong"
"No, nothing is wrong" Sam lied and let Tom lead her off.
When they arrived at the prom, everything started smoothly, Sam banished the strange visions from her mind. Sam and Tom sat at a table with Angel and her date and proceeded with their evening. Several times Tom lead her onto the dance floor and he danced the way the other boys were and Samantha felt slightly annoyed, he didn't dance gracefully like- like- Her head was swimming and the sensation of wrongness was stronger than ever. Once she'd told her father when he was home for Christmas that she felt like she'd been kidnapped and was living someone else's life.
Sitting at the table, Tom took Sam's left hand in his and asked her what her ring was for.
Looking at her ring, Samantha, replied"It's my last initial, A for Anderson."
"Just wondered kind of looks like a Greek letter. Sometimes the way you act I get the feeling like there's someone else."
"Don't be ridiculous" she snapped. Then forced a smile and kissed him. Relieved when the kiss was over, she inquired"What do you mean that my ring looks like a Greek letter"
"It just reminds me a little of some of the fraternity rings on campus."
"But which letter"
"A as in alpha" Tom replied.
Looking at her ring, Samantha a flood of images and thoughts assailed her. Brown eyes looking at her, With this ring I thee wed. Alpha and Omega, beginning and end. Love you Samantha.
Standing up awkwardly, Samantha started to stumble towards the doors.
Behind her, Tom called out"Wait you need your jacket"
Jacket? Jack? Jack? Jack! Jack! Jack!
Her head swimming, Samantha stood outside and gasped"Jack"
Tom and Angel ran outside, just as Sam collapsed...
