§ § § -- September 10, 1994—Fantasy Island

Roarke, having just introduced four young men who wanted to be circus performers for the weekend, shifted his attention to the new party, also numbering four, who came down the plane dock. "Ah…these names may sound familiar to you, Leslie," he said. "Jenny Knight; her daughter, Dania Branham; her sister Tara, and her brother Brian."

Leslie peered at him. "They don't ring a bell."

"Perhaps they will when I remind you that Jenny, Tara and Brian came here with their mother and brother David fifteen years ago, because Mrs. Knight had a fantasy to be poor for one weekend. You played a role in that fantasy, don't you remember?"

Leslie thought back to the summer of 1979, and the memory suddenly popped to life in her head. "Oh, that's right! They went back to visit 1876, didn't they? I remember now. So they're back…to take another time trip, maybe?"

Roarke smiled. "No, not this time. However, Ms. Knight does in fact have a fantasy. On their first visit fifteen years ago, she met a young man named Rodney Stone, whom you might also remember. She would like to find out whatever happened to him."

Leslie nodded; the memories were flooding rapidly back to her. "Rodney's mother's fantasy was to get revenge on the woman who caused the car wreck that killed her daughter Wendy. I got to be friends with Rodney's sister Joanna, now that I recall."

"Indeed so," said Roarke warmly. "Ms. Knight actually won her trip here on the television game show The Price is Right, and thought it was the perfect opportunity to find the answer to her question. She has wondered about Rodney Stone for quite a few years, but particularly since the end of her marriage several years ago."

"And is Rodney Stone on the island?" Leslie inquired.

"He certainly is," Roarke said, his expression going pensive, "but I am afraid Ms. Knight is in for a great disappointment." A native girl brought a tray, and he lifted the glass from it and raised it, calling out the weekly toast while Leslie studied the Knights. It would be very interesting to find out what had happened to them since that long-ago summer.

‡ ‡ ‡

"Gosh, stuff's changed around a lot since the last time we were here," observed Tara with interest as she, her sister, brother and niece entered the main house. She took in the position of Roarke's desk under the tall shuttered windows, the table that bore the tea tray with its delicate porcelain cups and teapot, the computer in the corner and the two understated leather chairs with which Roarke had just that summer replaced the club chairs that had held that spot for so long. "Where's Tattoo?"

"He married and moved away," Roarke said, smiling at her recollections. "Perhaps you remember Leslie Hamilton?"

"I do," said Jenny and grinned at her. "You used to be Mr. Roarke's ward, didn't you?"

Leslie nodded, and Roarke put in, "She is now my daughter, as well as my assistant. Perhaps you would care for refreshment after your flight? We have tea ready." He indicated the tea table; their guests turned and eyed it.

"If you don't mind, Mr. Roarke, I'd rather have another one of those tropical drinks we got coming off the plane," Brian Knight said. He was now thirty-three, a tall, tanned man with windblown light-brown hair and smiling hazel eyes. "Jenny's the one with the fantasy. I'm just here to have a good time, since I was lucky enough to be asked to come with her. I can't get over the good luck she had winning this trip."

"I'll have some tea," Jenny decided, and Tara agreed with her. Dania peered at the teapot, then turned to regard Roarke.

"I think I'd rather have a chocolate milkshake," she said.

Leslie and Roarke both laughed, and Leslie said, "I'll look into it for you. Be right back." She headed for the kitchen while the other adults sat down. Dania drifted over to stand beside her mother, watching Roarke pour tea.

"Mmmm, this is really good!" Tara exclaimed after a sip. "It's got hints of all sorts of fruit in it. Try it, Jenny." While Jenny was taking a sip from her own cup, Tara drained hers and lifted the teapot for a refill.

"I'm glad you enjoy the tea," Roarke said warmly. "If you like, I'll arrange to have another pot waiting for you at your bungalow." Tara nodded eagerly; a few seconds later, Leslie came back from the kitchen, bearing a tray. She handed Brian Knight a squat brandy glass containing a golden decoction that clearly contained pineapple juice, then handed Dania a tall tumbler with her chocolate shake.

"Thanks," Dania said and took a pull on her straw, her eyes widening. "Gosh, who made this? It's the best milkshake I ever tasted!"

"That would be our cook, Mariki," Leslie said. "She'd appreciate the compliment; I'll tell her you said so. Well, Father, I guess we're ready."

Roarke nodded. "Thank you, Leslie. Well, then…I understand that it's you, Ms. Knight, who has the fantasy this time."

Jenny nodded shyly, her hands wrapped around the teacup as if for reassurance. "I guess it seems kind of stupid, but I'd like to know what happened to Rodney Knight. I met him the weekend Mom brought us all here."

"So you didn't stay in touch?" Leslie asked from beside Roarke's chair.

"Well, we did for about a year or so," Jenny said, reddening. "Then I met this guy in school. He was brand-new, just moved from San Diego, and his name was Ray Branham." Both Roarke and Leslie noticed the darkening expressions on Brian's and Tara's faces and looked at each other. "I thought he was the greatest guy I ever met…and he really was a charmer, Mr. Roarke. We got married as soon as I finished high school. The thing is…well, once I met Ray and fell in love with him, I forgot all about Rodney. I stopped writing to him just out of the blue." Her face turned even redder. "He must have thought the worst of me. But Ray…" She swallowed hard and hung her head.

Tara and Brian looked at her, then each other, then at Dania, who was absorbed in her shake but obviously listening. Brian finally took up the story. "Branham really did a number on Jenny, Mr. Roarke. At first he was the politest person on earth. He had the whole family fooled. Mom thought Jenny was too young to get married, because they had the ceremony the week after Ray and Jenny graduated high school. Mom and Dad were married young too, and they'd been divorced about a year before Mom brought us here the first time." Roarke nodded, as if he had already known that. "But Ray put up such a front, promising to take care of Jenny and give her everything she ever wanted, that both our parents were taken in and agreed to the wedding.

"But the problem is…Ray's an abuser, Mr. Roarke. He's the kind of guy who can fool everyone in sight with no effort at all, but behind closed doors, he turns into a monster. We started wondering why Jenny's personality began to change within weeks after the wedding. She kept ducking questions and started wearing a lot of makeup, making excuses for being unable to join family outings, stuff like that. We thought at first she was just pandering to Ray, but then one day our brother David and I went over to their apartment and Jenny answered the door with a shiner that looked like it covered half her face."

"She was pregnant with Dania at the time," Tara put in. "Even after Dania was born, it didn't mellow Ray out at all. He never touched her, but he didn't stop beating Jenny."

"She couldn't have hidden that black eye with pancake makeup," Brian said. "We asked her where she got the thing, and she tried to tell us she'd banged into something, but David in particular didn't buy it. He'd been seeing a girl whose parents abused her and knew all the signs and symptoms. He confronted Jenny about it right there and wouldn't let up, and she finally broke down and admitted that Ray was beating her up."

"But she didn't leave then?" inquired Roarke.

Jenny, face flaming, shook her head but didn't speak, and Tara laid a hand on her sister's shoulder. "She wanted Dania to grow up with two parents in the house, especially after our own parents were divorced. But we kept telling her it was better to be a single mother and safe than a married one who was getting walloped all the time."

"Dania was five before Jenny finally found the guts to leave Ray," said Brian. "They kept moving around the country though, because Ray was constantly finding out where they were and going over to make threats at Jenny. The divorce went through pretty easily, all things considered, because we were there to help Jenny provide evidence that Ray was using her for a punching bag. But they couldn't get away from him. Jenny tried everything to keep him away from her, from unlisted phone numbers and assumed names to getting restraining orders and even moving all the way out to the East Coast. Somehow Ray always tracked them down. Then our dad got hold of her and told her to bring Dania back to McMinnville. He's very wealthy and has a house in a gated community, and he insisted that they come back and live with him. The first time Ray tried to get to Jenny and Dania there, he was turned back at the gate."

Dania said suddenly, "Once he even broke into Grandpa's house, Mr. Roarke. He probably sneaked past the guard and found the house and just broke right in. My dad's a nasty, sneaky guy. All my life I've seen him beating up Mom. That's just plain wrong. Aunt Tara and Uncle Brian and Grandpa said Mom always used to be real popular and had loads of friends and stuff, and then when my dumb dad met her, she got like she is now. She's shy and scared of people now."

"I'd like to see her the way she used to be," Tara said. "When we came here the first time, Mr. Roarke, she wasn't afraid of anything. I mean, we were all a little spoiled, since our parents had a way of fighting over money after their divorce and Dad used to use it to try to win us over. And it did work for awhile." She grinned sheepishly.

"I seem to remember you were convinced you were getting a pony," Leslie teased gently, and everyone laughed, even Jenny.

"Yeah, I remember that too," Tara admitted, red-faced but grinning with good nature. "Never did get the pony either." That got another laugh before she set down her cup and slid an arm around Jenny's shoulders. "Anyway, like I said, Jenny used to be fearless. That weekend, she went right over to Rodney Stone and asked him to take her to the luau. They must've hit it off. Right up till Jenny met that jerk, she and Rodney wrote at least once every couple of weeks. We're in Oregon and they lived in Indiana, so it's not like they could see each other on weekends or whatever, but it looked like a really promising friendship."

"Then Ray ruined it all," Jenny said at last, meeting Roarke's gaze with obvious hesitation. "I can't believe I fell for it. I feel like such an idiot."

"You wouldn't be the first woman to fall for a few smooth lines and a charming manner, Ms. Knight," Roarke said comfortingly. "Abusers tend to be very talented actors; they put up an impeccable façade for the public, and only their victims know the truth. The main thing is that you were able to escape him and get yourself and your daughter to safety. It's my understanding that you won this trip as a prize on a game show."

"It was Aunt Tara's idea," Dania said with a big grin. "She's a super makeup artist, Mr. Roarke, and she's been working on movies ever since she was in college. She did the makeup on this movie called Trouble on Wheels, the one with Toni Karlsen last year. And she just got done with Trouble on Wheels II. She was Toni Karlsen's personal makeup artist, Mr. Roarke! Isn't that cool? She even sent me Toni Karlsen's autograph and everything. We saw Trouble on Wheels seven times!"

"Before Dania gets all carried away again," said Tara with an affectionate grin at her niece, "I guess I've had a great run of luck. In any case, the Trouble on Wheels movies made me solvent enough that I bought a condo in Rancho Palos Verdes last spring. After principal shooting was completed in May, I decided I could use a vacation, and I figured Jenny and Dania could too. Nobody's heard from Ray in months, and I thought they needed to get away for awhile. So I talked Jenny into bringing Dania to L.A. for a visit after school let out for the summer, and I got tickets to The Price is Right."

"She didn't even want to go at first," Dania said. "But then they called her name from the audience, and she just kept winning and winning and winning." She sighed. "But I kinda wish you'd been less than a hundred bucks away from the real price, Mom. It would've been so cool to have that popcorn machine."

Brian rolled his eyes and explained this to Roarke and Leslie before turning to Dania. "Come on, kiddo, your mom won that boat, remember? You'll have a lot more fun sailing on that than you would with any silly popcorn machine."

"Yeah, I guess that's right," Dania agreed and grinned at Roarke and Leslie. "Uncle Brian's a great sailor. He's gonna teach me how to sail our new boat."

"Sounds like fun," said Leslie, grinning back.

"Indeed," Roarke concurred and sat back, taking in the Knight siblings and the girl. "Well, now that I know your background, I can tell you that Rodney Stone is here on the island this weekend…"

Jenny stared at him in amazement; Tara and Brian beamed. "That's great," said Brian.

"…But," Roarke continued, "I am not altogether sure Mr. Stone will want to see you, Ms. Knight. There have been changes in his life too, you see, since you fell out of touch with him, and they are not all positive ones."

Jenny looked distressed. "But…it's my fantasy, Mr. Roarke. I've wondered for years now what happened to him. After I left Ray, I thought about Rodney a lot, and I called myself fifty kinds of moron because I stopped writing to him. If I'd just stayed in touch with him, maybe things would've been different." Her eyes filled with tears. "Please, Mr. Roarke, I really do want to see him again."

"Jenny's finally had some good luck in her life," Tara added with some indignation. "The least you can do is let her find out what happened to Rodney, from the man himself."

"Does he want to see Jenny again, Mr. Roarke?" Brian put in, frowning in his sisters' direction. "I mean…does he even know we're here?"

"No," said Roarke quietly, "he doesn't. However, since you wish to carry on with your fantasy, Ms. Knight, then I shall grant it." He regarded them with a solemn, almost foreboding expression. "I can only hope it doesn't disappoint you."

Silence reigned for about ten seconds before Tara cleared her throat. "Well, I say we keep an optimistic outlook on this. Maybe seeing Jenny again will be a pleasant surprise for Rodney. Where can we find him?"

"Tell you what," said Leslie, "why don't I take you folks over to your bungalow so you can unpack and settle in a little bit. Sooner or later, everyone goes to the pool, so you stand a very good chance of seeing Mr. Stone there. But I'm sure you want to take a break after the flights and have a chance to get yourselves together a little."

"That sounds good to me," Jenny said softly. "Okay, let's go."

Just then Dania slurped up the last of her milkshake through the straw, the noise echoing through the room and making her mother, aunt and uncle wince. "Dania, that's not polite," Jenny scolded.

Dania glanced up and said, "Sorry."

Leslie grinned at her. "Don't be. Mariki'll take that as a compliment too." She joined in the others' chuckles. "Come right this way."