Chapter 9
For a long time, the greater part of Zach's brain had been occupied with the conclusion that he would never make it out of that prison alive, and therefore never feel the touch of Kendall's lips again. The smaller, inexplicably hopeful part of Zach's brain thought he might eventually escape. But even with such an optimistic outlook, he had been unable to conjure up any expectation that when he got back home, she would welcome him with open arms. All he could think is that by the time he got back to Pine Valley, she would be preoccupied with her pregnancy or, if he took longer, helping Greenlee raise the child. She would have had time to remember all the reasons she hated him, and wonder why she was crazy enough to let him touch her in the first place. He held on to that one perfect night, figuring it would be the only time in his life that he would get to make love to his wife.
Now here she was again, cursing him out (apparently she did remember all the reasons she hated him), and yet kissing him anyway. Wondering why good fortune would smile on him (Kendall's fury notwithstanding), he decided to savor the moment fully before she started cursing him again. He slipped his arms around her waist so that he could pull her closer. A muffled squeak from her had him cursing himself much more effectively than she could possibly do. Her kidney! Damn it! He let her pull away and cursed himself anew at the pained expression on her face. Unable to stop himself, he pulled her shirt up to expose the hideously large and ugly bruise residing on her lower back. "God, Kendall. A blow like that could have killed you."
She jerked away from him, pulling her shirt down. "Well, it didn't. I'm alive and ready to let you have it for what you've done." His face became expressionless. "Is that why you rescued me, Kendall? So you could lecture me about my lies? I think letting me rot would have been a more effective punishment." She stood up. "You think so? You haven't seen me when I'm really angry. But that's beside the point. I only found out about Ryan today." He contemplated her with unreadable eyes. "Then why did you come to Thailand? I can't imagine that the casinos are doing that poorly without me." She stared at him a moment, suddenly unable to tell him about their baby. When she didn't answer him, his gaze lowered to her abdomen. "Odd, but I thought you'd be showing more than that. The doctor told me what day and month it is today. By my calculations, you should have a bigger bump."
She backed away. He was getting too close to the truth. She couldn't face telling him right now. "The baby is fine, its just small. Nothing to worry about." That was about as truthful as she could get at the moment. They needed to talk about other things. "Zach. I need you to tell me what happened with Ryan. I need to know why you felt like you had to lie to me. We have to work through this before we can talk about anything else." He narrowed his eyes, as if he knew she was hiding something, and wanted to pry it out of her. However, he acquiesced and began to tell her all about the night Ryan faked his death.
Ryan took a sip of arguably the worst coffee he had ever tasted. He looked over at Greenlee, who was talking to Bianca. Every so often, Greenlee's eyes would stray towards him, flash in anger, and then dart back to Bianca. He had hurt her so badly, but he held out hope that her love for him would win out in the end. But the worst wasn't over yet. She still didn't know about Jonathan. Ryan's cell phone vibrated. He looked at the screen and answered it. "What is it, Erin?" He heard sniffling. "Oh, Ryan, I've made such a mess of things. I'm so sorry." Ryan glanced over at Greenlee, who was once again glaring daggers at him. He strode out of the waiting area, and made his way outside. "What happened, Erin?" She groaned. "Jonathan gave me the slip. I searched everywhere for him but he was gone. I tried calling you, but there was never a signal. And then…and then…" Ryan sat down on a bench and waited for her to continue. "I got a call from the Pine Valley police department. Ryan, he went to Pine Valley looking for you and Greenlee. The cops found him and arrested him. He's going to be charged with murder, Ryan."
Ryan bent at the waist as if someone had punched him in the stomach. "Oh no, Erin. This is…this is a disaster. I need to…I need to get back to Pine Valley right away. I'm not needed here anyway. I'll call you again when I know when my flight comes in. Meanwhile, get in touch with Livia Frye. F-r-y-e. She's a lawyer in Pine Valley, an excellent lawyer. Tell her everything and ask if she'll represent Jonathan. Okay?" Erin took a shuddering breath. "Okay, Ryan. Livia Frye. I'll do that." He hung up the cell phone.
Ryan went back inside and hunted down Anna. "I need to get back to Pine Valley right away. I have some personal business to take care of." She nodded. "I'll make the arrangements." He smiled and started to turn away. "Ryan…Aidan was telling me about the mission, and how well you did. You kept your head, followed orders, and got the job done. Chris…I know Chris wasn't your father, but…he would have been proud of you today." Ryan winced as he contemplated Chris. "Though probably not so proud of some of my other recent actions, huh?" Anna cocked her head. "No, probably not. But I think if he were here, he'd say that it doesn't matter how many stupid decisions you've made in the past, you have to focus on the smart decisions you are going to make in the future." Ryan smiled. "Or he'd just buy me a beer and tell me to get the fuck over myself." Anna laughed. "Okay, I guess he would take the less eloquent route. I miss him so much." There was a catch in her voice as she said the last sentence. Ryan came closer and hugged her.
Greenlee walked up and saw them hugging. Well, great. Was Anna going to be on the Ryan love train, like Bianca? That wasn't fair. Bianca didn't exactly urge Greenlee to get back together with Ryan, but she had told her to think about it long and hard before coming to any decision – which was just as annoying. Annoying, because now Greenlee was thinking that maybe she should sit down and have a long talk with Ryan. Much as she hated to think about it, he was still her husband. She cleared her throat. Ryan and Anna pulled apart. Anna smiled. "We were reminiscing about Chris Stamp." Greenlee scowled. "Chris was a very nice man, but I really wished he hadn't found out that Ryan wasn't his son, and then put it in his journal. If Ryan hadn't read that journal…." She threw up her hands. "I thought I could do this. I can't do this. The profoundly stupid things you've done since reading that journal…" She couldn't go on.
Anna glanced at Ryan. "Um, I'll go make those travel arrangements for you." Ryan turned to her. "Thanks, Anna." She nodded and walked away. Greenlee stared after her, then back at Ryan. "You're going somewhere?" Ryan nodded. "I have to go back to Pine Valley. Something urgent has come up. I need to talk to you about it, before I go." She held up her hands. "I don't want to know." She turned to stomp off, and Ryan grabbed her arm. "Well, you're going to know, one way or another. I guarantee you that if you don't hear it from me, you'll be hearing it from Jackson soon. I really want, for once, to be able to tell you the truth. Please." She gaped at him, and then realized that whatever he was going to tell her was major. She started to tremble. "Ryan, I can't…I don't know if I can take any more bad news. The past week has been so horrible." Her voice cracked. Ryan indicated a bench. "Sit down, Greenlee."
Kendall walked out of Zach's room in a daze. She had just told Zach that she needed time to think. She didn't know how to take it all in. Zach claimed that he went along with Ryan's plan, and helped him out, because he wanted to keep Greenlee and Kendall safe from Ryan's violent tendencies. Yet, in order to accomplish that goal, he had to lie repeatedly to Kendall and watch her and Greenlee grieve over a man who was really alive. He had argued strenuously against them going along with the surrogacy – for a very good reason – yet didn't tell them about the very good reason why they shouldn't make another child of Ryan. Kendall slumped into a hard plastic waiting room chair, wincing at its effect on her bruises. She remembered that night at BJ's, when she confronted Zach about Lily's claim that she hadn't seen a ghost after all. Zach had turned it around on her and made it seem as if she were making the accusation out of her own insecurity. He had deliberately poked at her sore spot, while she was hopped up on hormones (not that he had known it at the time), in order to deflect her from discovering the truth. What a horrible moment it had seemed at the time – and how much worse now that she knew the truth.
Tears slid down her cheeks as she tried to sort through her emotions. The angry part of her wanted to believe that he was jerking her around, and had been jerking her around since day one – like her mother warned her. Her mother right about something? She shook her head. What would be the point of him jerking her around? What did he have to gain? He played games, that was for sure. The night of the murder game would go down in infamy in Pine Valley. But he had an agenda then – he wanted to find out the truth about his brother. He didn't do it for some sick thrill, though it had seemed that way to her at the time. Zach was a master manipulator, but he always had a motive that wasn't necessarily self-serving. Kendall remembered when she had the whole town thinking that she had married Michael and was carrying his child, all so she could protect Bianca. Kendall put her head in her hands. How would she ever come to terms with this?
Kendall sensed someone sitting down beside her. She looked over and saw Tad. She straightened up and stared at him. "You. You were in on one of the biggest lies that ever rocked Pine Valley. You let JR believe his son was dead because you were afraid he would make his son into the mold of his grandfather. In the name of protecting little Adam, you told one of the most disgusting and horrible lies that anyone can ever tell another person." Tad rubbed his eyes. "I have the feeling this has something to do with Ryan's not-so-miraculous rise from the dead." Kendall looked over at Zach's room. "It has to do with Zach letting everyone think that Ryan was dead." Tad's eyes popped open. "Oh, lord, please don't tell me that Zach and I have something in common. Ugh." Kendall whipped her head around. "No, not that much in common. Your lie involved the supposed death of an innocent child, who wasn't allowed to make the decision for himself. Ryan may act like a child, but he is no innocent. He was the instigator, and Zach was just going along with it. So don't ever think you two have something in common."
Kendall blinked as she realized what she just said. Ryan was the instigator. He wanted it to happen. Kendall remembered that night when Zach came back to the VIP suite and started asking her questions about Ryan and what the future would have held for him and Greenlee if he lived. She also remembered in that horrid argument with Zach at BJ's, when he implied that Ryan claiming to be dead would be a much worse blow to Greenlee than her actually believing he was dead. He really believed he was doing the right thing, no matter how much it had hurt her and Greenlee in the process. Kendall remembered the look on Bianca's face when she announced that she had married Michael. Her sister had married her rapist. Kendall had almost been felled by her expression, but she had stood firm because ultimately, she was protecting her sister.
Kendall stood up and started walking towards Zach's room, barely registering Tad's sarcastic, "Glad I could help!" Before she could reach his room, she was interrrupted by Greenlee. "Kendall! Ryan just told me the most horrible news." Kendall looked at her in exasperation, but paused when she saw the ashen expression on her friend's face. Kendall gripped her arm, and Greenlee took a deep breath. "Apparently Ryan isn't the only one back from the dead. Jonathan escaped the explosion up on the mountain. That psycho is alive, Kendall."