Chapter 17: The Past Revisited

Recap: Natalie found out that she'd had twins, and one of them was stillborn. She and Amber named their babies together, Emily and Elizabeth after twins Natalie used to care for. Matthew Brown went home and we learn that he has a grandson whose mother (Matthew's daughter) is no longer around because of something Natalie did. Three weeks later Natalie was looking in Liz's baby book when a piece of paper fell out. Natalie told John that she might be responsible for their son's death after reading it; then suddenly realized that her baby might not have died. She told John the story behind what she had done to Michael (the doctor, who had changed his name), and her theory that Emily might be their daughter. He had a DNA test done and they just got the results that Emily is Natalie's child. He called Bo to get an arrest warrant. Matthew was arrested and found to have a 3-week old little boy in his care that he and the nanny claimed he had adopted. Nat and John told Amber the truth and that

Natalie listened to the voice on the other end for a moment before thanking them, hanging up and returning to her seat beside Amber. "Who was on the phone?" Natalie smiled wryly. "It was Asa, begging me to give him the location where Matthew's being held so he can give his rifle some exercise." John shook his head and grinned. "So the story's hit the papers." Natalie nodded. "It would appear so."

Amber stood up, wiping her tears away. "Look, I—I think I need to go home and just by myself for a while. Call me at the first sign of news, okay?" She hugged Natalie, who whispered something in her ear. She shook her head as she broke the embrace, smiling painfully at her. "No, I'll be fine." She bit her lip and looked down at Emily. "I'll get her things together and bring them over in a little bit," she said softly. "There's really no rush—" "I think it will help me accept the reality faster. I need to do it."

Natalie wrapped her arms around John, laying her head on his chest as the younger woman left. "She took that better than I'd expected," John said. Natalie shook her head, tightening her grip on his neck as she lifted her head to look into his eyes. "It hit her hard—she just didn't want to fall apart in front of us."

Amber had run the entire way home, not wanting to be enclosed in the small space of her car just yet. Now she walked inside of the house, shutting the door and collapsing against it. She slowly sank to the ground as she caught sight of the bottles on the drain board. There was an air or normalcy as her eyes roamed over the house that clashed relentlessly with her inner turmoil. She still couldn't bring herself to cry, not even when she stood up and made her way into the nursery.

The walls were a soft blue and noticeably lacking was the normal nursery fare of cartoon animals. It looked like a normal room, just with a crib and stuffed animals. There was also a rocking chair in the corner where she had given Emily so many of her feedings and then rocked her to sleep. Her eyes filled with tears as she picked up the tiny teddy bear whom had taken up a permanent residence in the corner of the crib and moved to sit in the chair. They finally spilled down her cheeks as she began to rock, humming softly as she finally began to accept that Emily wasn't her child.

The next night, Natalie and John were sitting on the couch watching television when there was a knock on the door. Nat frowned and extracted herself from John's arms with a little trouble, as he was asleep with his head on her shoulder. She walked quietly to open the door, wondering who on earth could be visiting them this late at night. She frowned at the young woman standing there. The young woman gasped in recognition at Natalie. "Natalie Balsom?"

Natalie's hand flew to her mouth as she realized who the woman on her doorstep was, and she stepped back. "Come in, please. What brings you here, Katalina?" "Well, I heard that a Natalie McBain was involved with my employer's case and came here to plead with her, but unless you've changed drastically in the years since I've seen you then I know there's got to be some truth behind these accusations. I had hoped—" Natalie frowned and held a hand up as they both sat at the kitchen table. "Wait. Backtrack. Your employer?"

"I'm Matthew Brown—Salazar, whoever's—nanny. I've taken care of Eric for about a year and a half now, and I've cared for little Nathaniel since he brought him home." She blinked back tears, and Natalie frowned. "Eric?" She nodded. "Eric is his grandson." "He has a grandson?" She nodded. "You know about Michelle?" "Yes," Natalie replied, not caring to elaborate further. "Well, a few months before she died she had Eric and the men who held her captive complied with her request to send him to Matthew to raise."

A wave of nausea swept over Natalie as all of the pieces fell into place. The man might have been able to live with his daughter dying, but her little boy had been left motherless. Before she could feel sympathetic, she reminded herself that Matthew had had similar plans for Amber's son. "How old is he?" "He's six. This is going to hurt him so badly," Katalina said softly. "Matthew may have done some wrong things, but he and Eric are so close…" Her voice trailed off.

"I can't feel sorry for him, Katalina. I'm sorry, but he took my little girl and told me that my baby was dead. Now the woman who has had my child for the last three weeks is in her home alone, wondering if her child is dead or alive. I can't have any sympathy for the man who has put us through all this pain. I just can't." Katalina shook her head. "I didn't expect you to. When I came here, I was convinced of his innocence. I told myself that nobody could be as loving as he is to Eric and then do something like this."

"So what changed your mind?" Natalie asked. "You did. The second I saw you, I remembered how you were with Emily and Elizabeth. We were friends then, and hopefully you still consider me your friend." "Of course I do. You were the only person I could really talk to about Roxy, and I was always grateful for that." "You know, I explained to my mom about why you quit. She told me I should have told her before so she could've offered you a place to live. You were like a fourth daughter to her."

"Was?" Katalina nodded, wiping the stray tears that had escaped away. "She had cancer. She died about two years ago. Emily, Elizabeth and I all live with our grandparents right now. Matthew knew, and he'd give me bonuses when he could tell we were struggling." Natalie's eyes filled with tears as she remembered the woman who been so motherly towards her, and her hand moved to gently touch Katalina's. "I'm sorry."

Suddenly John's cell phone rang, and Natalie quickly answered it. "McBain." She listened for a moment, then laughed. "It's the female McBain, Jenkins. What's up?" She listened and her eyes grew wide with shock. "Are—are you sure? All right. I'll tell him. Thank you." She hung up the phone and looked at Katalina. "I hate to do this, but I just got some major news about Nathaniel." "What is it?" She shook her head. "I need to tell John first. Look, why don't you come back over here around ten in the morning and have breakfast with us? Then I'll tell you everything."

Katalina nodded and embraced her. "I hope the news was good, whatever it was," she said as she walked to the front door and let herself out. Natalie watched her go and then went to the couch, gently shaking John until he awoke. "I just got the call about the baby."

TO BE CONTINUED