A Place In the Sun
46
Julia awoke to hear Tyler rustling through a box on the floor.
"Ty?" she mumbled sleepily, rolling over to face him.
"Just go back to sleep, Jule," he told her.
"What are you looking at?" she asked, propping herself up on her elbows.
"Just some old things of my mother's," he said, flipping through pictures quickly.
"Any reason for doing that at 8:30 on a Saturday morning when neither of us has to be at work?" she asked as she gave a glance at the clock.
"There's got to be something I can do." He flipped through some more pictures.
Julia scooted across be bed so that her chin rested on Tyler's shoulder. "Your brother?"
"Here, look at this," he said, holding up a picture of two young boys on a short dock, each holding up a fish. "Look how happy he was." He shrugged and added, "Things change."
"You really looked up to him," Julia said, looking at the pictures. "How he's changed, that can't take away your memories."
Tyler let the photos fall back into the box as he leaned his head back against Julia. "There's got to be something I can do to help fix what he's done."
Julia rolled herself out of bed and pulled on a pair of jeans. "Any ideas?" she asked as she reached for an old sweatshirt.
Tyler shook his head, "I mean, we did grow up sort of in this area. We lived on the other side of the city. The old house we lived in was bulldozed years ago to put up a new shopping center; not many of his old haunts still exist over there. But R.J.'s obviously hiding out somewhere in the area."
"You know what? You need some thinking food," Julia said, grabbing her keys. "I'm going to go get us some donuts and some good coffee, the kind with that hazelnut cream in it that you like."
"Sounds great," he smiled as she leaned in for a kiss.
"This will work out," she assured him before turning toward the door.
Bobby was waiting at BJ's when Kelsey walked through the door. He quickly got her attention and she hurried over the table. Bobby stood up to greet her and gave her a kiss on the cheek as he helped her out of her coat. He pulled a chair out for her and they both sat down.
"How was your shift?" he asked.
"Long," she said, sounding tired.
"When do you have to be back to the hospital?"
"Not until tomorrow morning," Kelsey said, looking relieved.
A waitress came over then to take their orders. They quickly ordered and she walked away.
"You know, I was thinking last night. How are we going to explain this to Sam?" Kelsey asked.
Bobby raised his eyebrows.
"You know, us," she clarified.
"No, I know what you mean," he said. "I guess I just hadn't thought that far."
"I mean, I don't know even how much he knows about the whole situation," she said, shaking her head.
"Sam doesn't know the details about the time he spent living with us," Bobby told her. "He does know that he lived with us for a few months when he was a baby. Edmund has all the pictures that we took of him then. But it wouldn't help Sam to know about the legal issues."
"Backing out of the adoption was the stupidest thing I ever did."
"Everyone involved knows you regret doing that," Bobby said, rubbing her hand. "And they've forgiven you for it."
"There are so many things I did that I regret. Sometimes I wonder why I even decided to move back to Pine Valley."
"Does all that really matter now? Edmund and Maria, they forgave you a long time ago. I even got Opal to see that you've changed. Kelsey, I know that you're a different person now than you were when you were sixteen. And you know what? I think…" he stopped himself before telling her that he thought he was falling in love with her. He motioned for her to lean closer and he gently kissed her lips. "It's time you forgave yourself."
"July 7, 1976, Silver Lake," Tyler read off the back of a picture of him and his brother from when they were young. The picture was from when they used to spend a few weeks each summer with their grandparents, always at the same house on the lake.
He went over to the computer and quickly typed in "Silver Lake" and waited for the search results to come up. Tyler found a map of the houses for rent and hit the print button. Even though it had been many years since he had vacationed there with his grandparents, he remembered that their house had been the closest one to the small general store on the lake. Tyler remembered going there to buy penny candy and cans of worms for bait with his brother. He took the paper from the printer and scanned the map and soon found the little store. He grabbed a marker, circled the house, and looked back up at the computer screen. Tyler clicked on the house on the screen and it gave him the address of the house. He wrote this down on the printed map and went to a website to get directions. As soon as they were printed, he grabbed them, his coat, and his keys and was out the door.
Bobby paid their bill at BJs as Kelsey protested. He helped her into her coat and they walked toward the door.
"Are you going home?" he asked her.
She nodded, "I need to get some sleep after working all night."
"But you don't have to be back at the hospital until tomorrow?" he asked.
"Not until tomorrow morning," she told him, smiling. "Do you want to come over to my apartment for a little while?"
He accepted her invitation and took her hand as they walked out the door.
Julia arrived back at the apartment within an hour of leaving. She sat the donuts and the coffee on the table as she called Tyler's name.
"Tyler, come get this coffee before it gets cold," she said when he did not appear.
When he still did not come into the kitchen, she walked quickly into the bedroom. There she saw the computer still showing the directions to Silver Lake and the map with the house circled sitting on the desk. She picked up the map and grabbed the phone, her hand shaking as she dialed Tyler's cell phone number.
As soon as he answered, before he could even say a word, she demanded, "What do you think you're doing?"
"Sorry for leaving like that," he said.
"No, Tyler, what are you doing?" she asked again.
"I'm going to find my brother," he said like it shouldn't bother her.
"If you know where he is, let the police take care of it," she pleaded. "It's not safe for you to go out there."
"Why would my brother hurt me?"
"Tyler, he has been terrorizing Gillian for weeks and he kidnapped her daughter. Your brother is not the same person that you idolized when you were a child. You don't know what he might do," she said, tears streaming down her face.
"I don't know what he might do. You're right. But I might be able to reason with him. If I don't call by 3:00, take that address to Ryan. Give me that long. I've got to pay attention to where I'm going, okay? Give me until 3:00," he told her.
"Be careful," she said, reluctant to let him go ahead with his plan. "I love you."
"I love you, too," he said, hanging up his phone.
Julia slammed the phone down on the receiver and looked around the room. She grabbed the box of Tyler's photos and flung it against the wall. Julia sat on the edge of the bed, slid down to the floor and angrily wiped the tears from her face.
……….
The dinner rush at SOS had just begun when the phone rang. Tracy quickly picked it up on her way back to the kitchen.
"SOS, how can I help you?" she asked, somewhat out of breath.
Tracy could hear heavy breathing on the other end.
"Hello?" she asked impatiently. Then she realized who it was.
"Don't ever call me here again," she said, her eyes narrowing.
"You won't hang up," he finally spoke.
"Ray, I don't want anything to do with you or what you are doing to Ryan's family."
"Way too late," Ray said with a laugh. "I have a message for you to deliver."
"I'm not doing any more of your dirty work," Tracy insisted.
Ray laughed again, "You really don't have a choice. Just give Gillian this message."
Tracy's hand holding the phone trembled, but she did not protest again.
"Tell them that I got the money this afternoon. There's a lot I can do with five million dollars," Ray gloated. "Next, tell Gillian that in two days she is to be at the corner of 7th Street and Federal Avenue downtown at 11:15 in the morning. A black car is going to pick her up there at 11:20. Gillian will recognize the car. She is not to be followed. She is to bring only a small suitcase with some clothes for her and the child. She shouldn't expect to ever return to Pine Valley. Tell her it's the only way she's ever going to see her child again."
Ray's last sentence echoed in Tracy's mind. His tone of voice sounded so cold and calculated.
Tracy could hear Ray clear his throat.
"I'll do it," she said quietly, regretting the words the moment they left her mouth.