Phew, just on to the homeward stretch (one more chapter after this one). Thanks so much for the continuing reviews. I've said it before but I'll say it again, they are great to receive and spur me on. If you want a response to your feedback I have an account at under mel39 and each chapter of Exile can be found there in my memories. I am technically challenged and don't know how to create a link, sorry.
Chapter Fourteen
"Rachel, Sandy Cohen here!"
"Sandy Cohen? Well, this is a surprise. Partridge, Savage and Kahn hasn't been the same place without you. I had no idea you'd be back in the country so soon."
"You heard about the accident then?"
"Yes. How are you? How's Kirsten?"
"She's moving forward slowly. She's in a worse state than me and I'm bad enough," he joked. "Actually Rachel, I'm not in Newport. I'm speaking to you from my hospital bed in Italy"
"Ah, and you want some hot shot lawyer to sue the pants off the guy that did this to you right?"
Sandy laughed and then regretted it when his stomach gave a twinge.
"Ouch!"
"Are you OK?" Rachel's concern traveled through the airwaves.
"Yes, I'm fine. Just get the odd pain now and then from the bruising. No, that's not what I wanted although that would be a good idea at some point in the future. No, this is something much more important. I need to ask you to do something for me."
Rachel's curiosity was tangible. She hadn't spoken to Sandy since he had left the company under a cloud when he had taken on Caleb Nichol as his client and the partners had voiced their disapproval very clearly by firing him.
"Ask away..."
"Remember Ryan, the kid that came to live with us?"
"Vaguely," she acknowledged.
"Well, I don't know quite what's happened because nobody has seen fit to inform us even though we are his legal guardians. But somehow, since we had the accident, he's ended up living back with his mother."
"And you want me to find out the legal ramifications right?"
"Well, yes that too but there's something else. Ryan's social worker will have done everything by the book I know. I trust her completely, but somehow she's been duped into sending Ryan back to his mother."
"I'm not sure I understand Sandy…"
Sandy hesitated. "Dawn, Ryan's mother and his father who's in prison, were all set to sign the papers giving up their parental rights to him. That would have led the way to us adopting him. It was supposedly all sorted just before we left for Italy and then all of a sudden Dawn apparently changed her mind. Now I have no idea why but between you and me Rachel, I think my father in law has something to do with it." Sandy could sense Rachel's reaction at the other end of the line. If there was one thing she would love to do, it would be to bring Caleb Nichol down. Sandy knew she'd always regretted not getting her day in court with him.
"So you want me to do some digging around, see what I can find out?"
"Hire a private detective. Tell them they need to work quickly. Ryan told Seth that his mother would soon be granted full custody. We haven't got a lot of time on this. Once he's back with her permanently it'll be virtually impossible to undo what's done."
"I'm onto it Sandy. Do you have a number I can contact you on?"
"I'm not allowed to use a cell phone in here but if you call the hospital, they'll let me know and I'll call you back. I have to hide this from Kirsten. She's in too bad a shape still to have to deal with all this."
"OK. Leave it to me. I'll see what I can find out. Give me a few days."
"Thanks Rachel. I owe you one."
"Are you kidding? Get one over Caleb Nichol? I can't wait!"
Seth dropped Ryan outside his house. They eyed each other awkwardly.
"So, I'll see you then."
"Yeah definitely," Seth nodded, his deep brown eyes troubled. "We could all meet up next time, me, you, Summer, Marissa…"
Ryan looked doubtfully at him. He knew Seth was trying desperately to keep the tenuous link between them going but Ryan's heart wasn't really in it. Things could never be the same. Living in Chino, going to school in Chino, he had to move on. He didn't want to. Inside he was fighting against it. But if he admitted it to Seth, it would be twice as hard. Seth would get all riled up and insist that they do something to fight the injustice of it all. But Ryan knew it would be hopeless. Seth would get all excited and hopeful and then that would get Ryan hopeful and that would just set them both up for a fall. It was better this way. This way they could both restart their lives and stop living in the past.
He slapped hands with Seth, slammed the passenger side door and stood back from the car. He was grateful to his friend. He hadn't pestered once about telling his parents. He'd avoided the subject and so had Ryan. And they'd had a fun day. The shark movie was no longer showing and they were there at the wrong time to see "Adventures in Animation", a film Seth insisted was a "must see", so in the end they'd been to see a show called "Bugs" which had shown the fascinating life cycle of the Praying Mantis. Then they had walked along the pier and gone to their favorite diner to eat cheeseburgers and chili fries. It had felt weird to Ryan, to be back in Newport but not really back. It was as though the whole of the past two years had happened to someone else and he was looking back at it like someone does an old-fashioned movie reel. He waved goodbye to Seth and ran lightly up the steps to the screen door.
He entered the living room to find it empty but the TV turned on full blast showing a rerun of the Lucille Ball show. Ryan smiled ruefully. His mom loved all that Nineteen Fifties crap. He picked up the remote and muted the sound.
"Mom?"
Silence.
"Mom are you there?" he yelled up the staircase. Hearing no answer, he turned towards the kitchen and opened the door tentatively. His heart plummeted as he saw the open bottle of vodka on the table and his mother apparently passed out beside it. He picked up the bottle. Only a third gone. He glanced around the room. He checked the garbage can. Unless his mom had worked her way through something else first, it was unlikely to have made her pass out. Maybe she was just asleep.
He moved over to her and shook her shoulder gently.
"Mom? Mom wake up…" Dawn groaned and squirmed away from the unwelcome attention.
"Let me sleep..."
Ryan shook her again, more vigorously this time.
"Come on Mom wake up. I'll make you some coffee…"
She lifted her head up from the table. Her hair was disheveled and her make up streaked and wet where she'd been crying.
"What happened Mom?" Ryan knelt down beside his mother and brushed the hair out of her eyes. "Are you OK?"
Dawn sniffed and dug into her pocket for a handkerchief.
"I'm fine Ry. Don't take any notice of me."
Ryan scowled in frustration. He picked up the bottle and waved it under her nose, beginning to lose patience, the anger he felt at his mother rising. He struggled to keep his temper in check.
"Clearly you're not fine Mom," he replied tightly. "Did something happen while I was out?"
Dawn shook her head. Ryan took a deep breath, drew up a chair and put one arm around her. He reached for her hand and held it gently.
Dawn forced a smile onto her face.
"Did you have a nice time out with your friends honey?" she asked, attempting to divert his attention. Ryan nodded briefly. "Yeah it was fun. But I want to know what this is all about." He fixed his eyes on his mother, demanding an answer.
"Come on Mom, you were doing so well." He couldn't hide the disappointment in his voice.
Dawn swallowed and attempted to pull herself together.
"I was just feeling kinda down Ry. I kept thinking about how happy you looked that time in Newport when you first went to live with the Cohens." Ryan watched his mother's face steadily as she continued. "I know you're not happy here. I can see it written all over your face. You keep looking at me with those goddamn sorrowful blue eyes of yours." She caught his chin and stroked it affectionately. "I know I'm not a great mom but I'm trying to do my best." She hiccupped as tears began to trickle down her face again.
Ryan pulled his mother closer and she rested her head on his shoulder. He stroked her matt of tangled hair absently.
"Mom, can I ask you something?"
"Sure sweetie…" She lifted her head and tried to remain composed.
"Why did you change your mind about signing those papers? I know Kirsten and Sandy's accident happened but that wasn't the real reason you suddenly wanted me back was it?"
Dawn extricated herself from her son's hold and got up and went to the sink, splashing cold water over her face. She patted her face dry and returned to the table. Rummaging in her bag, she drew out a squashed pack of cigarettes. Pulling one out for herself she offered the pack to her son. He shook his head impatiently. She lit up and inhaled deeply. She looked at her son's drawn, anxious face and realized he wouldn't be fobbed off as easily as Marlene Johnson was. But still she was hesitant. If he knew the truth he was liable to go off in a half-cocked rage and make everything worse. He looked at her slightly forlornly, his eyes pleading.
"Mom? Is somebody threatening you?"
She laughed apprehensively and instinctively reached for her glass. Ryan moved forward and closed his fingers over hers. Picking up the glass and the bottle he walked over to the sink and poured the liquid rapidly into the sink. Dawn winced as she watched the liquor disappear. Disposing of the bottle in the trash, he turned back to face her.
"I won't let you do this to yourself Mom. Not tonight. Not because of me. Now are you going to tell me what's going on?" Wordlessly he placed a steaming cup of coffee in her hands and stood over her, his arms folded resolutely.
His mother wrapped her hands around the coffee cup and stared down into the muddy liquid, avoiding the glare emanating from her younger son.
"There were these two guys…..thugs," she hesitated. "They turned up at my old place just a couple a days after I met you and the Cohens at that Social Services place…"
Ryan rolled his eyes.
"And?"
"And they said if I did as they asked I'd get $2000 cash every month until you turned eighteen." She stopped and cast a surreptitious glance in Ryan's direction.
"And what did they ask?" Ryan's voice was low and dangerously quiet.
"That I refuse to sign those papers. That I demand you come back and live with me…"
"And that's how you paid for all this?" Ryan gestured.
Dawn bowed her head as she continued.
"They said if you were still living with me on your eighteenth birthday, then me and your dad would each get a…a bonus. A lump sum of $25000."
Disappointment and hurt clouded Ryan's eyes. His voice was choked.
"So it wasn't that you actually wanted me back…you were bribed."
Dawn took another shaky puff at her cigarette and shook her head.
"No Ryan. It wasn't like that. There's more. They got…really nasty. Said if I didn't do this there'd be…consequences. For you and Trey, for me and your dad." She swallowed as she struggled to continue. Ryan felt like he'd been kicked in the stomach. He'd suspected his mother had been bought off. He hadn't expected Caleb Nichol, if indeed it was him, to sink so low as to actually threaten his family. Ryan felt months of suppressed anger at Kirsten's father rumble to the surface.
"You could have told me mom. We could have gone to the police…. I never thought he'd threaten you…" he muttered to himself, guilt enveloping him.
Dawn looked up sharply.
"You didn't see these guys Ryan. You thought AJ was bad? He had nothing on these guys. They sure shook up your dad. I went to visit him in prison right after. I guess they were right when they said they had "friends" who could make things unpleasant for him and your brother."
"So they paid you another visit today huh?" Dawn shook her head.
"No, I haven't seen them since. No …… today it just all got on top of me. Let's face it Ryan, we hardly speak to each other. We're like strangers. This isn't what it's supposed to belike. " She paused briefly before continuing. "I saw Ms Johnson and your principal in the week. They made it clear how unhappy you are and Ms Johnson said that if things didn't improve she wouldn't be able to grant me custody and…" Dawn's hands shook as she struggled to light another cigarette. Ryan took it from her and lit it himself, handing it back wordlessly.
"And if they take you away I…I don't know what these guys are capable of doing…"
Tears began to well up again in Dawn's eyes, her throat aching as she tried to keep them in check.
Ryan moved towards his mother and pulled her into his body, holding her tightly as the wetness of her tears soaked into his t-shirt.
"It'll be OK Mom, I promise I'll try harder. I was pissed off with you. I thought…I thought the only reason you wanted me back was because of the money…"
Dawn wiped her eyes and blew her nose hard.
"You knew about the money?"
Ryan shrugged. "Mom, come on…"
Dawn nodded wearily.
"But I don't get it Ryan. Who hates you so much that they would go to all these lengths to stop the Cohens adopting you?"
"Not everybody in Newport is as welcoming as the Cohens Mom…"
Dawn regarded her son seriously.
"Ryan I'm sorry. I never wanted to do this. I love you. This isn't what I wanted for you, not after you were getting on so well at the Cohens'. You deserve the best kiddo. See? Even with money, I'm still a crap mom."
"You're not a crap mom," he answered gently. "If you were, you'd never have agreed to sign those papers. I get it Mom, I do. And we'll sort this out OK?" he spoke softly; hugging her close to him again, while his eyes stared unseeing over her shoulder.
Sandy clicked on his seatbelt as the warning light flashed up. He let the words of the air stewardess wash over him and stared out of the airplane window. The normally welcoming lights of Los Angeles flickered like a million tiny candle flames beneath him. His body slunk heavily into the seat. Right about now, in any other circumstance, he'd be feeling the first twinges of excitement at being reunited with his family after a trip to the Nana or a weekend away in Hawaii with Jimmy. But all he felt now was overwhelming nausea in the pit of his stomach and it was nothing to do with the thirteen-hour flight he'd just endured. His family was fractured and Sandy knew that it was going to be a lot harder to fix than broken bones.
Rachel had been as good as her word. By the end of the third day, after Sandy had driven the nurses to distraction asking if he had had any calls, she had called him back and spelt out to him exactly how his father in law had orchestrated Ryan Atwood's return to his mother. If Sandy had wanted to give Caleb Nichol the benefit of the doubt before, there was now no escaping the fact that Kirsten's father had been completely instrumental in ripping his foster son from the only decent family life he had ever known. Rachel and the private detective she had hired had done an entirely thorough job.
"I'm sorry Sandy," she'd said. "I know how much this will hurt you and Kirsten."
"I had one tiny glimmer of hope that he might not have been involved, that somehow this had all been one huge misunderstanding. I guess I should have known better…"
By the end of the fourth day, she'd organized his flights to and from the airports in wheel chair accessible taxi cabs and two burly nursing orderlies from a private nursing firm to escort him the whole way. All he'd had to do was persuade his Italian doctors that he was fit enough to travel and play it cool with Kirsten as to the reason he wanted to go home so suddenly. Fortunately for him, Kirsten was just beginning to get edgy about the amount of time the boys had been without either parent and she was only too grateful to let him go. The doctors were happy with his progress and the arrangements for his repatriation and so he'd been free to go.
"Mr. Cohen, we've landed!" Sandy turned round startled as one of his escorts stood over him, ready to help him into the waiting wheelchair.
Caleb was working late in his home office when the doorbell rang sharply. It rang for a second time. He got up irritated. Couldn't anyone else in this house get the door? Where the hell were Marissa and Seth? Where was his wife for that matter? Was she even here? He saw so little of her these days it was sometimes hard to tell. Caleb had been vaguely irritated to see the transformation in her behavior from doting and attentive to distant and disinterested just as soon as he'd rid them both of Ryan. He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised. He knew so much more about Julie than she realized. That she was a gold digger was just one of her many charming attributes.
He pulled open the door just in time to see a taxi disappear down the driveway and his son in law sitting looking up at him expectantly from a wheel chair.
"Sanford! We had no idea you were coming home. You should have called and we'd have met you from the airport."
Sandy eyed Caleb coldly.
"We Cal? Tell me, by that do you mean you, Seth and Ryan?"
At least Caleb had the grace to look marginally uncomfortable.
"You'd better come in," he responded curtly as he walked round to push the wheelchair through to the hall.
"Sandy!" Julie glided down the stairs, her face plastered in a transparent vision of greeting.
She kissed Sandy lightly on both cheeks.
" This is such a surprise, a very welcome one." she added hurriedly, "How's Kirsten? Is she still not well enough to travel?" Her voice oozed with pity.
Sandy looked her straight in the eye.
"Cut the crap Julie, we all know why I've had to suddenly rush home. Now if you'll excuse us, Cal and I have something important to discuss that won't wait."
Julie swallowed nervously and glanced at her husband. In twenty years of knowing him, she'd never seen Sandy Cohen so livid.
Caleb shut the door to his office firmly behind him as Sandy positioned himself in front of his father in laws intimidatingly large desk. How typical of Cal to have even a desk that could bully people.
They sat opposite each other like two soccer players about to engage in a penalty shoot out. Sandy was the first to break the brittle silence.
"So Cal, proud of yourself?"
"I don't know what you mean Sanford…"
"Oh come on now, I hear you've managed to keep those two overgrown sleaze balls gainfully employed while we've been away."
Caleb looked rattled.
"The boy burnt down one of my houses…"
"That was an accident…"
"Julie was not happy at his presence in this house…"
Sandy almost choked.
"Oh, blame your wife! That's classy!"
Caleb shook his head.
"Whatever you think of my action I did it to protect this family…"
Sandy's eyebrows shot upwards.
"Which part of your family are you referring to exactly? Your grandson who's lost the only friend he has? Your eldest daughter who loves him like he's her own flesh and blood? Maybe your youngest daughter who felt she had to leave her boyfriend to be with her mother because YOU fucked up her life?"
Caleb got up and poured himself a large scotch. Wordlessly he handed another to his son in law.
"I don't know what you want me to say to you," he shrugged helplessly.
"Say? There's nothing you can say to me that will make this right Cal." Sandy's voice was chill. "Do you have any idea what you'll have done to that kid? Two years he's been with us. Two years where he's worked his ass off to put his shitty childhood behind him and move on. Two years where he's learnt what it's like to be a kid, to be part of a loving stable family. And you've undone that in two days…"
"He's a gold digger…"
Sandy smirked.
"I think you have Ryan confused with someone else," he answered pointedly.
Caleb flushed. He picked up his glass and downed his scotch in one. He reached for the bottle and refilled it. Sandy leant back in his chair and observed.
"You know Cal? When Ryan first moved in with us, I was always telling him to talk and not try to fix things with his fists. But you know what? I'm beginning to think he had it right all along…"
"You want to punch me Sanford?" Caleb asked wearily.
"I would but I don't want to have to explain your black eyes and broken ribs to Kirsten when she gets back."
Caleb eyed him sharply.
"Are you telling me she doesn't know? You surprise me. I would have thought you'd have done anything to show her what a callous bastard you think I am. "
Sandy scowled at him.
"Don't lie to me Cal. You know I'll do anything to protect Kirsten and I'm willing to bet you gambled on that fact, knowing that if I found out, I wouldn't tell her…."
Caleb drained his whisky glass for a second time. Sandy continued his diatribe.
" Maybe I'm just stupid but I don't want to hurt my wife. Kirsten loves you. God knows why but she does. I couldn't do that to her. I think it would break her. And God knows she's been through enough this year don't you think? Ryan apparently agrees. You know he sent her a card a couple of weeks ago? He must have been back in Chino by then. But he didn't say a thing, not a word. That's how much he cares about her. He's a clever kid. He'll have put two and two together and figured you were behind this."
"Hmmph. Are you expecting me to start feeling sorry for the boy?"
"A little compassion wouldn't go amiss..."
"How do you know he's not after our money?"
Sandy could sense that Caleb was beginning to cave.
"Do you know what Cal? I don't know, not for sure. But then there are lots of things in life I'm not sure about, like how did Kirsten end up with you as a father? Maybe he's been scamming us right from the start. But do you know what? I don't care. Kirsten loves him. I love him. Seth loves him. That's all that matters to me right now. And I want him back with my family where he belongs."
Caleb sat down disgruntled. He knew when he was beaten.
"What do you want me to do?" he muttered.
Sandy spun himself round in his wheelchair and headed for the door.
"Make sure you're free tomorrow morning. You're taking me to Chino."
tbc
