A Place In the Sun
36
Ray watched through a window as Edmund carried Katalin up the stairs at Wildwind. She was already fast asleep on his shoulder.
He deftly made his way to the back of the estate, careful to avoid being seen on any of the surveillance cameras. Within a few minutes he was able to cut power to all of Wildwind.
Inside, Sam and Maddie yelled for their father.
"Daddy, what happened?" Sam asked as Edmund and Maria joined their children.
"The snow storm must have knocked out the power," he said, lighting a candle.
"I don't mind the dark," Maddie told Maria, who had immediately pulled her into her lap.
"Really, you're not scared?"
Maddie shook her head, "I'm not, but Sammy is," she giggled.
"Aww, come here," Maria said, putting an arm around Sam.
"I'm not that scared," he told her.
"It's okay, I'm sure your Daddy will figure out what's wrong soon."
"Mitch," Edmund said, addressing a guard who had just walked into the room.
"Mr. Grey," he said, motioning for him to come closer.
"Is there something wrong?"
"I called the power company and it seems that no one else in the area has lost power. Only Wildwind has been affected."
……….
"1405, here it is," Tyler said as he opened the door to the hotel room.
"Oh, wow," Julia said as she looked around the room. "Are you sure this isn't too expensive?"
"Don't you worry any about that," he said, pulling her closer to him.
"But look at the bed, and there's fresh flowers on the nightstand."
"I had the flowers sent up special," he said, kissing her.
"You did?"
He nodded.
"How sweet," she said, kissing him.
"So, what do you want to do first? Order some food, find the hot tub?" he asked as he opened up the room service menu.
"No."
"What?"
"None of that."
"Then what?"
"Just this," she said, kissing him and then backing up towards the bed. She pulled the covers back and began slowly unbuttoning her shirt.
"Oh, that."
……….
"So what do you think happened to make us lose power?" Edmund asked the guard.
"All the men are on it, circling the grounds to see if maybe a tree fell on a line that goes from the main lines onto the property, or some other cause. As soon as I know more, I'll report back."
With a nod, he left the room. Edmund turned back to his family. He gathered more candles and lit them.
"Daddy, I think that's enough," Maddie laughed. "It's not this bright when the lights are on!"
"It's a good thing that Kata is sleeping right through this; she hates the dark," Sam said.
"Edmund, why don't you go check on Katalin, just to make sure? I'll stay here with the kids," Maria suggested.
Edmund agreed and was about to leave the room when another guard came in, out of breath.
"Mr. Grey," he said as Edmund stopped.
"Did you find something?"
"Wires, some wires have been cut."
"Cut? You mean the storm didn't knock the power out?"
"Someone deliberately cut the power to Wildwind."
Edmund looked at Maria as they both realized who would want to do that. Edmund grabbed the flashlight that was in the guard's hand as he and Maria, closely followed by Sam and Maddie, took off up the stairs.
Edmund threw open the door to the room he'd left Kata in and looked around. The covers were left crumpled at the foot of the bed, but Katalin was nowhere to be seen. Edmund and Maria looked in the closets and under the bed calling for her; Sam and Maddie joined in.
"Where is she?" Maddie asked, looking up at her parents with wide eyes.
"There's drips on the carpet," Sam said, feeling it with his hand, "like someone was outside and came in with snow dripping off them."
"I'm going to go call the police," Edmund said, leaving.
"Did someone take Kata?" Maddie asked.
"I don't know, baby, I sure hope not," Maria said, kneeling down to hug her children.
……….
"What?" Ryan asked, standing up, shocked at Gillian's news. "Are you serious?"
Gillian nodded with excitement.
"When? I mean, we only…"
"It only takes once, Ryan. That night at Myrtle's, about a month ago."
"Joanna's birthday…"
"I was going to tell you about Katalin that night but you were so upset, and then when we woke up in the morning I felt so guilty."
"It doesn't matter now," he said, giving her a hug and a kiss. "We're going to have another baby."
"I love you."
"I love you, too," he said, kissing her again. "Sit down, sit down," he told her, helping her back to the couch and putting her feet up.
"Ryan, you are not going to baby me like that for the next eight months."
"See, I've already missed a month of treating you like a princess, Princess."
"Ryan…" she laughed.
"So did you find this out earlier today?"
She shook her head, "No, Jake told me before I left the hospital. I wanted to wait to tell you so that I could make sure things were alright, you know, because of what happened."
"But the baby's fine?"
"Dr. Clader said that so far everything looks fine. But he will be monitoring my pregnancy closer than most, especially since Katalin was early."
"She was?"
"Yeah, she was due January 5th, and of course she was born November 28th. It was scary then, but she was fine, just small."
"I wish I could have been there with you."
"I know, me too," she said as they kissed.
"Stay right here, I've got something for you," he said, jumping up and running into the bedroom. She heard him rummaging in a drawer and he quickly joined her again on the couch.
"What is it?" she asked.
"This," he smiled, revealing a small box. He flipped back the lid and took out its contents.
"Ryan, is that-" she stopped as he took her hand.
"You should have this back," he said, putting the ring on her finger.
"Do you mean?"
"You're not going to say no, are you?" he asked.
"Of course not," she said, caressing his face.
"So, Gillian Andrassy, will you marry me? Again?"
She pulled him closer to her and gave him a kiss.
"Is that a yes?" he asked.
She nodded as she wiped away a tear.
……….
On a narrow road on his way out of town, Ray looked in his rearview mirror at the still-sleeping child in his backseat.
"That was almost too easy," he said to himself.