A Place In the Sun
29
"Maria?" Julia repeated.
"Julia," Maria replied as the sisters embraced.
"Maria, oh thank God, you're alive, after all this time…"
"It has been a long time," she said as they stepped apart. She noticed Tyler right behind Julia. "Tyler Barrows?"
"You're the woman from the Valley Inn that night," he said, recognizing her. "You said your name was Carmen."
"I didn't remember my own name, and that's what I had been called since the crash. But then Julia, she walked in and she said 'Maria' right before she fainted…"
"See, Edmund, I wasn't going crazy. I really did see Maria," Julia said, laughing. "If only you hadn't have ran out you could have been with us all months ago!"
"But I didn't know any better; frankly I was a bit scared after what happened that night."
"I'm sure you were. But, well, I guess if that wouldn't have happened, then Tyler and I might have never met."
"What's going on between the two of you?" she asked.
"We're engaged!" she said smiling. There were shocked congratulations from all the people around them. "We know it's a little soon, but it feels so right."
"Well I'm glad for you," Maria said, giving Julia another hug.
"So, well, what have you been doing since that night?"
"I stayed there at the hotel for a few more days, before I moved into an apartment. That's where I got lucky because I just happened to have moved in across from Kelsey-"
"Kelsey?" Julia asked.
"The landlord told Maria that I used to live here and might be able to help her out," Kelsey explained. "And then when she showed up at my door, well, I was just as shocked as the rest of you. And I tried to convince her to go home-"
"But I wouldn't listen," Maria said.
Noticing that Anita was starting to look steamed, Bobby took her hand and led her away from the group.
"Anita, don't cause a scene, okay?" he warned.
"But she knew? She knew! She knew all this time!" Anita exclaimed.
"It's really unbelievable, that Maria's here."
"No, what's really unbelievable is that anyone, especially my sister, would confide in Kelsey."
"Baby, I'm as shocked as anyone," Bobby said.
She studied his face. "No…no, you're not," she said quietly, realizing he had just lied to her. "You knew all along."
"Anita..."
"No, you spend so much time with Kelsey. You've been keeping secrets with her."
"Maria didn't want anyone to know."
"But you kept it a secret, and it wasn't some little, insignificant secret. And you couldn't even tell her sister, your own wife! My sister is alive and you kept that from me. You know how much I have missed her and you kept that from me…"
"I wanted to tell you, believe me, I did."
She shook her head, "I don't believe you."
She turned away from him.
He placed a hand on her shoulder but she wouldn't turn around. She pushed his hand away. Shaking his head in resignation, he left the hallway. Kelsey, seeing him leave, followed.
Ryan carried Katalin into his apartment; she was still sound asleep. He took her into the bedroom and gently laid her down and pulled the covers up.
He knelt beside the bed as she stirred.
"Daddy?" she asked, her eyes adjusting to the room.
"Hey, baby, I'm right here," he said.
"Where are we?"
"This is where I live. I hope it's okay with you for tonight."
"Where's Mommy?" she asked.
"Sweetie, she's at the hospital. But she's doing good."
"Doctor will make her all better," she said with a yawn.
"Right, right," he said. "Now, you can sleep in here, okay? And if you need anything, I'll be right outside the door, on the couch."
"Okay," she replied, closing her eyes.
"Goodnight."
Ryan went back out to the living room and lay down on the couch, pulling a blanket up. He lay there in the dark, completely unable to make himself fall asleep.
"Bobby, Bobby wait," Kelsey said, finally catching up to him several floors up.
"Kels, go back downstairs with everyone else," he told her.
"No, we need to talk." She opened the door to a conference room and pulled him in.
"Kelsey, really, you need to just leave me alone."
"Bobby, I'm sorry."
"For what? You're always sorry. This is just like high school, all over again."
"I shouldn't have told you about Maria; she didn't want me to tell anyone and that included you."
"No, you shouldn't have told me."
"From the very beginning of when you came back to Pine Valley, I shouldn't have tried to share time with Sam with you, there was no reason for the two of us to have to spend time together."
"There wasn't."
"And when I knew that being friends with you was hurting your marriage, I should have completely stepped back, because I never meant to hurt your relationship with Anita."
"Well, you did, Kelsey. And what do you have to say?"
"I'm sorry, Bobby, that's all I can say."
"Does a whole lot of good now. I don't think Anita is going to just forgive me that easily for not telling her that her sister was alive!"
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
Anita walked in the hall outside of the room they were in.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he said loudly; Anita heard him and stopped to listen. "You know, you're not the only one who's sorry about something here. What I'm sorry for is that all these months, I have had to force myself to do what I thought was the right thing, and not do what I know is wrong."
"Bobby, what are you talking about?" she asked him. "This," he said, pulling her close to him and kissing her.
"Bobby, I've been looking all over--," Anita said, walking in to see the two of them.
"Anita," Kelsey said, trying to catch her breath from surprise.
"No…" Anita said, backing away. "That's it, that's it. Goodbye, Bobby." She left the room.
"Bobby, go after her," Kelsey said.
"No, I'm tired of explaining myself to her. I've never had to explain myself to you."
"Bobby, this is so wrong," she told him. "You know that I've wanted to be with you for so long, you know all the stunts I pulled, but you're married to Anita now, go find her."
"No," he said, kissing her again.
From the bedroom, Ryan heard light footsteps headed towards the door. Katalin opened it and looked to see where he was and then came over to him.
"Can't sleep either, huh?" he asked.
Kata shook her head.
"Are you hungry? Thirsty?" he asked.
She shook her head again. Without a word, she climbed up onto the couch and laid down on his chest.
At first he didn't know what to do, but taking cues from his daughter, he pulled the blanket up and put his arms around her.
"Were you lonely in there?" he asked.
She didn't answer. He looked down at her face; her head was snuggled up under his chin. Kata's eyes were closed and he could tell her breathing was even. She had already fallen asleep.
What he was feeling was unlike anything he'd ever felt or imagined before. This beautiful little girl lying with him was his daughter. He was a father.
"I'm a father," he said softly to himself as a tear rolled down his cheek. "I'm her Daddy."