A Place In the Sun
39
The distance between Cortlandt Manor and the Martin house was not more than a few miles, but as the sun rose that morning, Bobby felt as if he would never find Kelsey. Shortly after leaving, his car had skidded into a snow bank and would not budge. Instead of heading back, Bobby decided to find Kelsey on foot.
He stopped to rest and pulled out his cell phone to try and reach her again. He left a message at her apartment.
"This is Bobby," he said to the machine. "I'm just calling to make sure you made it home safe. I know you're upset, but if you get this message before I see you, please, just call me so that I know you're safe, okay? Bye."
Bobby put his phone back in his pocket and went on. The sky was clear and the reflection of the sun on the snow nearly blinded him.
As he came around a corner, he stopped dead in his tracks. He saw a car stuck in the ditch, nearly buried in the snow. The plates were still visible and he recognized them as Kelsey's.
Bobby ran to the car and began pushing the snow off it, trying to see inside.
"Kelsey!" he yelled. "Kels, are you in there?"
...
Julia looked over at Tyler as he drove back towards Pine Valley.
"I'm glad that your truck can handle all this snow," she said, trying to make conversation.
He nodded and kept staring at the road.
"So am I going to get the silent treatment all the way home?" she asked.
"I was just thinking, sorry," he said.
"Thinking about what?"
"What you said earlier."
"Ty, I told you I was sorry, I was feeling impulsive. You are right, we should wait."
"I think we should set a date."
"Really?" she asked, surprised.
"Yeah, we should."
"I was so sure earlier that I had ruined everything."
"No, never," he told her, running his hand through her hair.
"So?" she prodded.
"What?" he asked.
"When?"
"Do I think we should get married?"
"Yes, what else do you think?"
"You're right, we should get married sooner rather than later."
"Tyler, if you think we should wait, we should."
"No, I told you, you are right. There's no doubt in my mind that I want to spend the rest of my life with you and there is no sense in waiting. But we should do this right, not run off and get married."
Julia smiled, "I love you."
"I love you, too," he said.
...
"Why would Ray want Katalin?" Ryan asked Maria.
"Ray doesn't want just Kata," she told him. "He wants Gillian."
"It makes sense," Edmund said.
"No, no, there is no way," Ryan said. "He's not going to get her."
"But whether or not he 'gets' her, it still may be what he wants," Maria said.
"Anything, anything but that," he told them. "I mean, any amount of money, anything else he could want, I could come up with somehow."
"If it's money he wants, you know that we'll help you out," Edmund assured him.
"But it is not just money he wants," Gillian said, joining them in the hall. "Maria is right. Ray will not be happy until I leave Pine Valley and go away with him."
...
"Come on," Ray said to Kata, taking her hand and leading her outside.
"Where are we going?" she asked as he pulled her through the snow.
"Just a little errand," he told her as he lifted her into the back seat.
Quickly she fastened her seat belt and leaned her head against the window as Ray drove towards the main road. Within minutes she was asleep.
When Katalin woke up, the car was stopped. She sat up and looked out to see Ray hand a white envelope to a young man. The men shook hands and then Ray returned to his car.
"Who was that?" Kata asked him once they were back on the road.
"He's just going to get a message to your mommy," he told her. "That's all."