A Place In the Sun
19
"Tell Ryan what?" Ryan asked as he walked up to their table.
Gillian gasped and turned to face him, realizing he'd heard what she said. "How long have you been standing there?"
"Just a few seconds. Princess, what's wrong, what can't you tell me?"
Gillian looked at Dimitri, flustered, and then turned back to Ryan, "Well, it was going to be a surprise, but I guess I just messed that up."
"You can still surprise me," he told her with a grin.
"Um, okay, can you come to Myrtle's tomorrow, about seven-thirty?"
"I'll see you then. I've got to meet a client, so I'd better go. Nice seeing you both, bye."
"Goodbye, Ryan."
"I don't think he suspects a thing," Dimitri told her once Ryan had left.
"I hate this. Now I am obligated to plan something for tomorrow evening, I mean, not that I mind spending the time with him, of course, but I really hate this lying to him!"
"Then don't."
"What?"
"Lie to him."
Gillian paused. "Maybe I will tell him tomorrow night."
"Good idea."
"Will you watch Katalin for me then?"
"Don't' you think he'll want to meet her when you tell him?"
Gillian shook her head, "No, I do not want her there. If he gets mad at me, I do not want her to be there. I know that Ryan is a reasonable man most of the time, but he does have a temper some times, and if he gets mad at me and he yells, I don't want her to hear. She has listened to Ray yell for nearly four years and she has learned to be very afraid of him and the very last thing that I want is for my daughter to be afraid of her father. I cannot risk that."
...
There was a knock on Kelsey's door. She looked over at Maddie, who was happily coloring, and then went to answer it. She peeked through the curtains and saw that it was Bobby and Sam.
"Sammy! Hey! How was practice?" she asked after opening the door.
"Great!" he smiled.
"Your sister is in there coloring, why don't you go join her."
Once Sam had left, Kelsey turned to Bobby.
"Bobby, thank goodness you're here," she said, hugging him.
"Kels, what's wrong?"
"Nothing, oh God, really. It's just wonderful."
"What is it?"
"Can we go outside and play?" Maddie asked.
"Sure, just stay where we can see you," Kelsey told them.
They watched the kids go out to the courtyard.
"Kelsey?"
"What? Oh! Gosh, I'm sure she'll have my head for this, but I just have to tell someone. Bobby, you know how a couple of weeks ago at BJs, I said I thought I saw someone who looked like Maria?"
"Yeah, I guess I remember."
"Well, I did, I did see someone who looked like Maria, only it wasn't just someone who looked like her."
"What are you trying to say?"
"Bobby, she's alive. Maria is alive. And here in Pine Valley. Right here, in fact, in that apartment across from mine."
...
Julia and Tyler walked through the park early that afternoon, his arm around her waist.
"How'd you sleep last night?" he asked her.
"Better after I'd talked to you," she said, resting her head on his shoulder and snuggling a little.
"Same here," he smiled.
"When's your next performance?"
"Friday."
"Where?"
"Hal's, he just keeps asking me back! He said he never turns a profit like he does when I'm up on that stage. I told him I was flattered; as long as he wants me to be there I'll take the job."
"Hal's is a good crowd."
"Any crowd is good as long as you're in it."
Julia blushed a little as they sat down on a park bench.
"Are you going to come?" he asked.
"Would I miss it for the world?"
"I'll take that as a yes," he said. "Hey, you want to do something else tomorrow?"
"Sure, what'd you have in mind?"
"I heard about this great karaoke bar downtown."
"Can't get away from singing, can you?"
"Thought this would give you a chance to sing something."
"Ha, you don't want to hear me sing."
"No, I'm sure you're wonderful."
Julia looked at her watch, "Oh, I've got to be at the hospital in an hour, we better get going."
"Okay, so tomorrow night?"
"Sure, pick me up at seven?" she said as they took each other's hand.
"Julia," he said, holding up her left hand. "You took off your wedding ring."
She nodded, "Last night after you called."
"Are you sure you're ready?"
"Yes, yes, it's been three years and I don't think it's right to be building a relationship and still wear the rings."
"It's a big step."
"I-I know. But I'm ready, ready to move on. With you."
Tyler was caught a little off guard by that, but took a deep breath as he processed that what she just said was exactly what he wanted.
"I'm so proud of you, Julia," he said, kissing the top of her head.
...
"What? Kelsey, are you sure?" Bobby asked.
"Positive. She came over here last night asking about the plane crash. Bobby, she has amnesia, that's why she didn't come back sooner. The landlord told her I used to live here back when the crash occurred, so that's why she came to me. She's gotten a little of her memory back; that's how she found her way back to Pine Valley. She asked me questions and I filled her in on some things, including Sammy, which she of course wasn't happy with me about. And then this morning, she came knocking on my door furious with me. She had a dream last night where she remembered when I took Sammy away from her, you know, when Edmund found her at the airport trying to take Sam to Budapest? I tried to convince her to go to Edmund and her family, but she refused."
Bobby didn't say anything, but he went outside and sat on a bench.
"What, Bobby?" Kelsey asked, sitting next to him.
He put his head in his hands for a moment and then sat up. "It's just all so hard to believe."
"Well, believe it."
"Which apartment is her's?"
"Right across, 6C."
Inside her apartment, Maria looks out the window and watches her children playing.
"When her family finds out…"
"Bobby, you can't tell Anita."
"What? Are you trying to get me to put the final nail in my marriage's coffin?"
Kelsey looks shocked. "Are things really that bad?"
"Just about. The excitement is gone, ever since we've been back in Pine Valley. I've felt so distant and out of touch with Anita. We've been here, what, about two months? I know all relationships get their rough spots, but it just doesn't seem like there's a light at the end of the tunnel, right now."
"We were all rough spots."
"We were young and stupid."
"That's for sure," Kelsey laughed. "Do you ever think about what if we'd met later?"
Bobby thought for a moment, "Sammy wouldn't be here."
"Guess you're right. But what about us? Do you think our relationship would have been different?"
Bobby laughed, "I don't know—or rather, don't want to know—what you're getting at, but I'll answer anyway. If the two of us wouldn't have met when we were teenagers and didn't have Sam and didn't get married and annulled and all of that mess, we'd both be very different people."
"Oh, gosh, I'd still be that petty, spoiled little brat."
"Hey, who's to say you aren't still?" he teased.
"Hey!" she said, hitting his arm. "Anyway…I'm glad that we can still be friends after everything that's happened."
"Me, too."
"Uh-oh, don't look now," Kelsey said, seeing Anita walking toward them.
"Guess that's my cue that it's time to leave," he said. "Hey Sammy, come here."
Sam came over and Bobby bent down to his height.
"I've got to go with your Aunt Anita now. You have fun with Kelsey and your sister, okay?"
Sam nodded.
"You ready?" Anita asked Bobby when she reached him.