A Place In the Sun
26
The phone rang in Gillian's room.
"Hello?"
"Gillian, how are things?" Dimitri asked.
"Dimitri, I told you we'll be fine while you're away."
"I know, but I worry with Myrtle not there and all."
"Ryan and Jake are just a phone call away if I need anything. And I'm not the only one in this house."
"I just want you and Katalin to be safe."
"I know, I know, and thank you for your concern, but we will be alright."
"I have to go, take care and give Kata my love."
"I will," Gillian said, hanging up the phone.
"Dimi?" Kata asked, climbing onto the bed next to Gillian.
"Yes, and he sends his love to you," she said, giving her a hug.
"When's he going to be back?"
"Two days, two suns," Gillian said.
"Two suns," Kata said, returning to her toys content.
Edmund kissed Maria again.
"I don't even know what to say," he said.
She shook her head, "Me neither."
"Which is the strangest thing because all these years I've thought of so many millions of things I wanted to say to you."
"You don't need to say anything."
Edmund looked around, "Why are we standing out here?"
Maria shook her head. He opened the door for her and they went in and he sat her down on the couch.
"Is there anything I can get you? Something to drink?"
Maria laughed at him.
"What? What's so funny?"
"Just sit down."
He did as she said.
"You don't need to do anything for me," she said.
"But I don't know what to do."
"How about this?" she said, putting his arm around her shoulders and snuggling up against him.
"I wish I could just sit here holding you forever."
"Not so practical, but sounds good to me."
"Everyone is going to be so happy to see you, Maria. Why don't I go wake the kids up?"
"No, let them sleep."
"They'll be so excited—"
"Edmund, they already know."
"What?"
"Sam and Maddie, they already know that I'm back."
"How? And why wouldn't they tell me?"
"I made them promise, don't be mad at them, please. The day that Maddie got hurt at Kelsey's—"
"Does Kelsey know, too?"
"Yes, and she told Bobby, too, but please, they were only doing what I asked. Anyway, I saw Maddie fall and I had to run outside to her to make sure she was alright and the kids of course saw me then; I was the neighbor that Sammy stayed with when Kelsey took Maddie to the hospital."
"Wait, how long? How long have you been back here?" he stood up and backed away from her.
"A couple of months."
"And you are just now coming here? And you wouldn't have stayed if I hadn't seen you and followed you. What's going on, Maria?"
"Edmund, after the plane crash, I guess I ended up on an island near the crash site and a man living there took care of me. I wasn't conscious for a long time and when I did come around, I did not remember anything. It took me until this summer to remember enough to find my way home and even then I didn't remember my own name. Then by some luck, I ended up moving in across from Kelsey and she recognized me and showed me pictures of Sam and Maddie and told me things that triggered memories. I thought that I would wait till I remembered everything, and, well, it made a lot more sense at the time. I didn't want to burden you. I was sure you had enough on your hands to worry about that you didn't have time to deal with fixing me."
"Maria, having you here, whether you remember everything or not, you being alive is all that matters to me," he said, joining her again on the couch. His happiness for having his wife beside him greatly outweighed his frustration.
"Just a minute ago you were getting all mad."
"I do wish you'd have come here before but that is nothing we can change now, right?"
"Right."
"I love you," he said, giving her a kiss.
"I love you, too," she said, putting her arms around his neck.
He kissed her again.
"Upstairs?" she asked, standing up.
"Really?"
She nodded, taking his hand as he followed her toward the stairs.
"How about a dance?" Kelsey asked, standing beside Ryan.
"Kelsey," he said, turning around. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm not in the mood."
"What kind of friend would I be to let you sit here drowning your sorrows? No, you are getting out of that seat."
"You know, maybe I should just leave."
"Stay, stay."
"I came and congratulated Rosa and Tim, haven't I filled my social quota for the night?"
"No, now come on," she said pulling him out onto the dance floor.
"Kels, I gotta—"
"No, shhh," she said as they danced.
"Really—"
"Ryan, you've got to get your mind off her. She'll come around, I promise you. Dwelling on it won't help."
"Or I could—"
"No, see, Ryan, you love Gillian, right?"
"Of course I do."
"And she loves you?"
"I thought so, but…"
"Maybe she has reasons for not being with you now that she's struggling to deal with herself."
"Or maybe it was a mistake to think that after all this time we still had something."
"No, no, no. I promise you, that isn't the problem."
"Do you know something, Kelsey?"
"Ryan…you see, Gillian, she…" Kelsey stopped herself. It was Gillian's business, not her's.
"Kelsey…"
"Sorry, Ryan," she said, pulling away from him and going back to the table where Bobby was sitting.
"Here, Mommy," Katalin said, handing Gillian a picture she had drawn.
"What's this?" she asked, looking it over. "Is that a birthday cake?"
Kata nodded, then pointing to the candles she had drawn, "One, two, three, four."
"Good job! Is this a picture of how you want your birthday?"
"Uh-huh," she nodded.
"I don't see any presents on here, isn't there something you'd like? Like that doll you saw on TV?"
Kata shook her head.
"What about the people in the picture?"
"That's me," she said pointing to one figure. "That's Daddy."
"Oh," she said, studying the picture. "So all you want for your birthday is for your Daddy to be there?"
Kata nodded.
Gillian brushed away a tear. "You know what, sweetie, how about I give him a call right now? See if he can come here."
Katalin handed her the phone just as someone pounded on the door to the bedroom. Gillian quickly stood up and asked who it was.
"It's me, Gill, now open up," Ray said, his voice sending shivers up Gillian's spine.
"Um, just a moment," she said, opening the closet door and taking out a robe. She motioned to Kata to come to her. Gillian pointed to the corner of the closet and Katalin silently climbed in.
Gillian knelt down to be face to face with her daughter. "I'll get rid of him, real fast, I don't want him to hurt you, so just stay here until he's gone, okay?"
Kata nodded, understanding all too well.
Ray pounded on the door again.
"I'm coming," she said, tying the robe and opening the door.
"I've had enough of this," he said, marching into the room.
"What?"
"You're coming with me, we're going home. Now where's the kid?"
"She's at a sleepover."
"Well, we're going to just have to go and get her and then we're out of this town."
"No, I'm not going anywhere with you."
He grabbed her wrist, pulling her towards him.
"Ray, let go of me," Gillian pleaded. Inside the closet, Kata covered her ears.
"Sorry, Gill, but I just won't have you telling me what to do, never have, and I'm not about to start now."
"Why, why, why?" Kelsey asked herself as she sat next to Bobby.
"Why what?" he asked.
"Why does everyone end up telling me their secrets? It's not like they really say "hey, let's give all the secrets to Kelsey" but somehow, somehow, I end up being in the right place at the right time, or rather, the wrong place at the wrong time, and boom! Another secret for Kelsey to keep."
"Other than Maria, what else do you know?"
Kelsey shot him a look, "I already told you that one when I wasn't supposed to."
"Good point. A secret's a secret for a rea son, I guess."
"Ugh!" she said, laying her head on the table. Her beeper started going off.
"Are you on call?" he asked her.
"As far as I know, no," she said, looking at the number. "But that is definitely the hospital."
"Here," he said, tossing her his cell phone.
"Thanks," she said, dialing the number. "Hi, I just got paged…What? Jake, slow down…No, I'll be there as soon as I can…thank you."
"What?"
"Jake," she started, standing up and putting on her coat, "he said he just got a call that they're bringing Gillian into the ER; he doesn't know exactly what happened but he said it's serious."