A Fresh Start
Chapter Fifty One
After they finished eating, Sam goes to the bathroom while Jeffrey paid the bill and while he is waiting for her, he remembers that he had something else to ask Ava, pulling out his cell phone he calls her back.
"Hello." Ava answers the call on the second ring.
"Hi, it's your dad."
"What's up." Ava asks, walking into Company.
"I meant to ask if you were at the loft when they unloaded everything."
"Yes, I was there. Everything is at the loft."
"Okay."
"Do you want me to meet you at the loft?"
"You can if you want."
"How is Sam?" Ava asks, as Sam walks out of the bathroom.
"She's fine." Jeffrey says, watching her walk towards him.
Slipping his arm around her waist as Ava says. "Alright, I'll see you both later this evening."
"Okay." Jeffrey replies, as they walk out of the restaurant.
When Ava hangs up, she looks up. Olivia is standing beside her table. "You'll see who later."
"Dad."
"He's coming back."
"Yes, he should be here by this evening."
"Okay, so…."
"So, I'm going over to the loft to meet them."
"Can I go with you?"
"You want to go with me?"
"Yes." Olivia says, sitting down across from her.
"I don't think that's a good idea. Sam will be with him and…."
"Haven't you been saying that I've got to learn to accept that he's with her."
"And you just decided to do this right now."
"No, I've been thinking about it for a while. He seems determined to do this. No matter how wrong I think it is. And we have to get along, we have you."
"So, you're doing this for me."
"Yeah, do you want to be pulled between your parents fighting all the time?"
"No, I don't. But I'm not sure how to take this."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean it's not like you to just give up. When you want something you don't stop till you get it, at any costs."
"Maybe I realized you're right, and he's right. We aren't meant to be together. Maybe our past…."
"Your past…."
"Our past is why we can't be together. He deserves to be happy, and if Sam makes him happy, well then I can't stand in the way of that."
"And you're just going to let him go."
"What is this? You don't believe me."
"I…."
"I'll prove it to you. Take me with you and I swear I won't argue. I won't attack her. I won't mention you or William and the baby. I'll be on my best behavior, I promise." Olivia says, holding up three fingers.
"Let me see the other hand."
"What?"
"Never mind, alright, but if you say or do anything that upsets either one of them we're leaving."
"Alright."
A few hours later, Jeffrey pulls up to the loft and parks beside his truck. Turning to Sam and smiling, he says. "Welcome to Springfield."
"Thank you." She says, leaning over and kissing him.
"Welcome home, Beca." He whispers, laying his forehead against hers.
"Are you ready for this?" She asks, leaning back and looking up at him.
"I was ready for this, twelve years ago, that hasn't changed." Jeffrey says, leaning over and kissing her again.
"Then let's go." Sam says when he releases her.
"Okay." Jeffrey says, reaching for the door handle and opening the car door.
He gets out and then walks around the car as Sam opens her door, holding it for her he helps her out as Ava and Olivia walk up to them. Closing the door, he turns and then spots Olivia.
"What are you doing here?" He asks, looking at Olivia.
"I came with Ava." Olivia replies. "Sam." She says.
"You stay away from her." Jeffrey says, stepping in front of Sam.
"I'm not here to cause trouble Jeffrey."
"Then what are you here for?"
"I'm trying to figure out how all this is going to work. How we're going to co-exist together."
"Well, first of all we'll "co-exist" a lot better if you apologize for slapping our daughter." Jeffrey says, looking at her.
"I told Ava I'm sorry, but I'll say it again. I'm sorry." Olivia says, while Ava looks at her, surprised at what she has just said.
"It's over with." Ava mumbles
"And Sam, I'm sorry I've been so nasty to you." Olivia says, holding out her hand.
Sam shakes her hand and then steps back, putting her arm around Jeffrey's waist.
"So, do we go inside?" Olivia asks.
"Yes." Sam says, releasing Jeffrey so that he can get her suitcase out of the back of the car.
"We'll put the top up later." He says.
"Okay." Sam replies.
They walk into the building while Ralph watches from down the block. When they're inside the building, he picks up the phone and dials Simmons number, after a couple of rings he answers. "What do you got?"
"He's back." Ralph says, watching the building.
"Okay, stay on him." Simmons says, looking out the window at the inn.
"There's something else."
"What?"
"Our boss is with him."
"Are they alone?"
"No, the lady from DC is with him and his daughter."
"We knew that he was going to get her. And I'd expected his daughter to come by when he got back."
"So, why is our boss with him?"
"I don't know."
"Well, you better find out. I'm not going back to the pen because she's had a change of heart."
"I doubt she's done that, but I'll talk to her."
"Okay."
"You stay on them, I'll be in touch."
"Alright." Ralph hangs up.
The silence is unbearable as Jeffrey, Ava, Sam and Olivia stand in the living room. "So Sam, what are you going to do now that you've come to Springfield?" Olivia asks, breaking the silence.
"I guess the first thing I'll do is unpack." She says, looking around at the boxes in Jeffrey's living room.
"So, you're going to be staying at the loft." Olivia asks.
"Mom!"
"It's okay Ava. Yes, I'll be staying at the loft." Sam interrupts.
"Until you find your own place." Olivia asks.
"Why would she bother to unpack if she was looking for her own place? No, Sam and I will be living together until the…."
"Jeffrey." Sam says, looking at him.
"Until, what?" Olivia asks, looking back and forth between them.
"She's living here indefinitely." Jeffrey finishes, squeezing Sam's hand to let her know that he had received the message.
There are several minutes of uncomfortable silence before Ava speaks up. "Well, I think it's time we go."
"Go, we just got here." Olivia says.
"I know, but I have some work I need to do for Alan and I need to get it done before I go in tomorrow." Ava says.
"Alright." Jeffrey says as he releases Sam and walking over to Ava. "Thank you for coming." He says, hugging her.
"You're welcome. I'll see you later."
"Yes." Jeffrey says releasing her.
Turning to Sam, Ava gives her a quick hug as she says. "Take care of him."
"I will." Sam says, with a smile as she looks over at Jeffrey
They follow Jeffrey to the door, opening it. He says. "Good night." As they walk out. Closing the door behind them, he walks back into the living room. Sam is sitting on the couch looking around the loft.
"Are you okay?" He asks, sitting down beside her.
"I'm fine, maybe a little overwhelmed." She says, glancing at him.
"You didn't want me to tell them about the wedding?"
"I'm not sure I want Olivia to know right now about the baby or the wedding."
"Speaking of Olivia, what was that about?"
"I don't know."
"Do you think she's trying to make amends or something?" Jeffrey asks, as Sam moves closer to him.
"I don't know, maybe. It appears to be that way, but why?"
"Why?"
"Yeah, why now? She's been dead set on getting you back for weeks now. But tonight she was actually nice."
"I was expecting her to go off when you mentioned staying here at the loft, but tonight she was calm."
"I know. It's weird."
"What do you mean?"
"I get the feeling that the only reason she came with Ava tonight was to make us think that she's given up, but she's not. She's still trying to get you back."
"You amaze me sometimes." Jeffrey says, leaning over to kiss her.
"Why?" Sam asks, when he sits back.
"The way you're able to read people and their motivations. It's hard to put one over on you."
"It comes from years of practice and many times of having the rug pulled out from under you. You learn not to take things at face value."
"He didn't mean…."
"Why are we talking about this again?"
"Your father…."
"My father was cruel and sadistic."
"Sam."
"She was my mother Jeffrey. We had the right to be a part of each other's lives. But I didn't get to be because she was "lost" according to him." Sam says, getting up and walking to the window. "He manipulated everything he touched, person he knew, even his own self. Because he convinced himself that he was doing "God's" work."
"Sam." Jeffrey says softly, getting up and walking over to her and then putting his arms around her.
"I could have saved her, Jeffrey. Something could have been done, but she turned to them. She turned to that."
"She was dying. She wanted her family around her."
"I was her family."
"Where is this coming from? You've been okay, all day."
"I guess I'm getting better at hiding my feelings, my father would be proud."
"Sam, you never have to hide from me. Tell me, what's wrong?" Jeffrey says, brushing her hair back from her face.
"Today's the anniversary of her death. Twelve years ago today, she died. And talking about the wedding and the baby I suddenly thought she won't be here to see me get married. She won't be here to see her grandchild born."
"Beca, I'm sorry."
"It's okay, you didn't know." She says, turning in his embrace and laying her head on his chest.
"I'm sure that she would be happy for you, just like my mom would be happy for me."
"Would she, would she accept what we became."
"Yes, and I think that they would both be proud of us."
Sighing softly, not quite convinced by Jeffrey's statement, but realizing that it is useless to argue the point. His mother might have been proud of him, but she doubted that her parents would ever be proud of the things she has done, or the woman she has become. After a few moments, he releases her and takes her hand. "Come on, let's go to bed. It's been along day."
"Okay." Sam says, following him upstairs.
The next morning Jeffrey is walking into City Hall, as Frank falls into step beside him. "What's up Frank?" Jeffrey asks.
"Doris wants to make a deal."
"She's doesn't have…."
"She's looking to cut a deal with information that she gave Mallet yesterday."
"I've got no control over that, you know that. This is in the state attorney's hands."
"So, you won't see her."
"What is she offering?"
"More information on Alan, she claims that she's not the only one that Alan had in his back pocket."
"We figured that." Jeffrey replies, walking into City Hall.
"I know, but she claims that Alan keeps a record of all his "payments' and to whom they are made on his computer in San Cristobel."
"San Cristobel."
"Yeah, I guess he thought that it would be prudent not to keep them on any of his computers here in the US, figured we'd never think to look at his computers in San Cristobel, or that his business connections in San Cristobel would protect him."
Jeffrey shakes his head as they walk down the hall to his office. "Okay, I'll speak to her."
"Okay, when?"
"Sometime today, I've got stuff this morning that I need to look at before I do anything else. I've been out of town."
"How is Sam?"
"She was asleep when I left her." Jeffrey says, walking into his office.
"Alright, I'll tell Doris that you'll see her sometime today."
"Oh Frank, does her attorney know she's asking to speak to us?"
"Ah, she said she didn't want to speak to him."
"Make sure he's there this afternoon, whether she wants him there or not."
"I will."
Frank leaves, as Stacey comes in.
"Sir."
"Morning, Stacey." Jeffrey says, sitting down at his desk as she puts his coffee down in front of him.
"How was your trip Sir?"
"Wonderful." Jeffrey says, looking up.
"And Ms. Whitley how is she?"
"She's fine. She was asleep when I left this morning." Jeffrey replies, as Stacey nods. "So what's on the agenda for today?"
"We have meetings with reps from Spaulding at 10. Another meeting with Rev. Rutledge and I believe their combining their program with Father Ray's, so he should be at the meeting too."
"No, Josh."
"Rev. Rutledge didn't say that he would be there."
"Councilmen Adams wants to speak to you about a project he wants to get started. And we have the final budget that needs to be signed so that funding can be released."
"Alright, bring me the budget and I'll sign that and when is the meeting with Rev. Rutledge?"
"It's at 2:00."
"Okay, bring me the budget and we'll go from there."
"Yes Sir." Stacey turns to leave.
"Have you seen your ex?" Jeffrey asks.
"No, he hasn't been around."
"Okay." Stacey turns to leave. "Ah, I'm going home for lunch, but I should be back by 2 and then I have to go over to the police station and speak to Doris sometime today."
"I'll put it down on the calendar."
"Thank you."
"I'll bring the budget in."
"Okay."
Jeffrey begins to flip through his messages. About a minute later, Stacey knocks on his door. And he calls. "Come in."
"Here is the budget." She says, laying the folder on his desk.
"Okay." Jeffrey says, picking it up and opening the folder. Taking out a set of pins, he signs the budget and then hands the folder back to Stacey. "Make sure everyone gets their copy."
"Yes Sir." Stacey leaves and Jeffrey goes back to what he was doing before she came in.
Around eleven, Sam rolls over and reaches for Jeffrey. When she finds the bed empty, she opens her eyes and looks around the room. On his pillow is a note.
"Darlin,
I've gone to City Hall. I'll be home for lunch. Take care of my babies and I'll see you at lunch.
Love you
J
Smiling, Sam lies back down and looks around the room. There really isn't that much to do upstairs, except unpack her clothes. Stretching, she sits up and pushes the covers back. Getting up, she walks downstairs to the kitchen.
Opening the cabinets, she quickly realizes that the first matter to take care of was a trip to the grocery store. Walking back upstairs, she picks up one of her suitcases and opens it. Pulling out a change of clothes, she heads to the bathroom.
An hour later, she is walking downstairs. When she walks out of the building, the first thing she notices is that Jeffrey forgot to come down and raise the top on he car last night after Ava and Olivia left, adding another item to her mental list, getting him a set of keys for the car as she opens the door and gets in.
She is walking into the grocery store when someone calls her name. Turning, she sees Cassie walking towards her. "Hi." Sam says when she reaches her.
"Hi, how are you?"
"Good, how are you? How's Richard?"
"We're great, settling in." Cassie says. "Are you staying at Jeffrey's?"
"Actually I'm living there." Sam says.
"Living there! Wow." Cassie says, as they walk into the store together.
"Yeah." Sam says, taking a buggy.
"So, you're living together." Cassie asks.
"Yeah, does that bother you?"
"No, it's just quick."
"I've learned not to waste time. So, everything's okay with the family?"
"Yes. Richard's at the farm right now with RJ and Will."
"Will?"
"Our sons."
"I didn't realize you and Richard had kids."
"RJ was adopted by Richard when we were in San Cristobel and we adopted Will while Richard was President of San Cristobel."
"So, RJ's your son and Will you adopted."
"Yes."
"And Tammy was your daughter."
"Yes, but Richard adopted her when he adopted RJ."
"And Jon is his son from Reva."
"Yes."
"It's all so complicated."
"It gets more complicated." Cassie says, as they walk down the aisle picking up groceries.
"More complicated!"
"Yes, we learned some interesting information while we were in San Cristobel." Cassie says, as a lady walks up to her.
"Mrs. Winslow, could you comment on your husband's return and finding out that you in fact adopted your own…."
"Thank you, but I've got no comment." Cassie replies, walking around the woman, followed by Sam.
When they were far enough down the aisle, Sam asks. "What was that about?"
"Well, part of it was about Richard and…."
"What was she talking about you adopting your own?"
"She was talking about Will."
"Will, your son."
"Yes, while we were in San Cristobel we were there to take care of Will. He was in hospital."
"Jeffrey told me some of it."
"Jeffrey." Cassie says, looking at her.
"Yes, he told me that Ava had come to see him after William came to see her."
"Yes, well William went to see her after we found out that Will is our son, in fact he's the son that we thought died during childbirth while Edmund was chasing us across island."
"You were chased by Edmund."
"Yes, it's a long complicated story, so to make it short, after Richard found out that he wasn't the rightful heir to the throne and that Edmund was the next in line for the throne. He went before the people and told them the truth, both of his illegitimacy and the fact that he didn't believe that Edmund would be a suitable ruler. He advised that the monarchy be disbanded and democracy be put in place."
"And that's why Edmund was chasing you?"
"Edmund staged a coup, he went on TV announcing that he had uncovered a plot to rig the national vote in his favor and thus suspended the elections and declared martial law."
"Was there a plot?"
"Yes, and Edmund instigated it. However, Phillip overheard the plan and informed us. Unfortunately, he also warned his ex-wife Beth who was involved with Edmund and she told him that we were on to him and he stepped in."
"And stopped the elections."
"Yes, staged the coup and then proceeded to hunt Richard and I across the island, in the process there was a car accident and I went into premature labor. They rushed me into delivery. I was unconscious so I didn't know what was going on, and Richard never made it to the delivery room before I delivered a baby boy. We were told that he was still born. A few days later we were taken to see our son in the morgue."
"So, how did you end up adopting your son?"
"After we tried to escape the island and Edmund took me prisoner to trap Richard. He came back to the island, staged his death and freed me from the tower where Edmund was holding me prisoner. He then took San Cristobel back from Edmund. Afterwards we tried to have another baby, but because of the scar tissue from the accident, I'm not able to conceive. Colonel Dax brought it to Richard's attention about an American woman that had a baby that she wanted to give up, so she could come back to the States.
"Camille."
"Yes, Camille was supposedly Will's biological mother. That's what we thought. Anyway, she brought the baby to the palace and I found him alone in the informal garden. Dax arranged it. And in the end, Richard and I adopted him."
"So, what happened after you adopted him? Because something tells me that the story doesn't end there."
"You're right, it doesn't, the day we were to christen him, William showed up at the palace, we later found out because Dax told him about Will, hoping that William would stop the christening, but he didn't. He let us keep Will. One thing lead to another, and it came out that William was actually Richard's half brother and once again Camille interfered and demanded that William claim his right to the throne. There was another vote and the people chose to reinstate the monarchy. And Richard and I moved to Springfield. Shortly after that was the accident."
"So, how did you find out that Will was actually your son?"
"When he was a baby, he contracted a virus; that virus attacked his liver and it started to deteriorate. To save his life, we did a LDLT. William was the donor.
The night that Richard was released from the hospital, William called me and told me that he had taken Will to the hospital because he was running a high fever and was jaundiced. His doctor ran some tests and he found an infection. After he treated the infection, his liver started to fail again. So as a precaution, Dr. Simon asked that we all be tested to see if any of us could possibly be a match to Will.
During the testing, they noticed that there were similarities between mine and Will's blood that shouldn't be there if I'm only his adopted mother. They ran a DNA test, comparing Will's blood to mine, Richard's and William's blood. The tests showed that Will was actually our son." Cassie says, as they walk up to the counter to check out.
"So, what happened to the baby that you thought died?"
"When we thought that our son had died, we had him buried in the informal gardens at the palace. When the DNA test showed that Will was our son, we exhumed our baby and had DNA test done. The baby that we had buried in the garden turned out to be William's."
"And all of this happened because Edmund wanted to get back at you."
"I guess. William is looking into it." Cassie replies, handing the clerk some money.
Taking the change, she moves out of the way while the clerk begins to check Sam out. While they had been talking, Sam had picked up a book of baby names along with a couple of brides magazines. When the clerk hands them to her, Cassie asks. "So what's with the bride magazines and baby name book?"
"Ah, well, the baby book is for Ava. She might already have one, but I thought I would get her one and the bride's magazines, well I'm curious." Sam says, turning her attention to closing her purse and hoping that Cassie didn't notice the slight hesitation behind that answer.
Cassie did notice, but she didn't comment. When Sam paid for the groceries, they walk out together. "It was good to see you. You and Jeffrey should come out to the farm sometime." Cassie says, stopping at her car.
"It was good to see you and I'll talk to Jeffrey about it." Sam says. She starts towards her car before she remembers the key. Stopping she turns around and calls. "Hey Cassie."
"Yeah."
"Where can I get a key made?"
"Ah, Wilson's Hardware is the closest. It's two streets over."
"Thanks." Sam says, continuing on to her car while Cassie puts her buggy away and gets in her car.
After unloading the buggy, Sam gets in and leaves. Olivia is coming out of one of the shops across the street and notices Sam leaving. Stopping she watches her before she continues to her car.
After signing the budget, and taking care of odds and ends, Jeffrey's in meetings with the reps from Spaulding about the 5th and Main Street developments until lunch. When they leave, Jeffrey walks out of his office.
"Stacey, I'm headed home for lunch."
"Yes Sir."
"I'll be back by two."
"Okay."
Jeffrey leaves. He's pulling up to the loft as Sam comes down for the last of the grocery bags. Getting out of the truck, he walks over to her. "What are you doing?" He asks, taking the bags from her.
"I went to get groceries. Did you realize you had absolutely nothing in your kitchen to cook or eat?"
"Ah, well no. I don't usually eat here." Jeffrey replies, following her upstairs.
"Well, now you have something here to eat." Sam says, walking into the kitchen.
"So, you've been at the grocery store all morning?"
"Well no, but I ran into Cassie while I was at the grocery store and we were talking about Will." Sam says, putting the groceries away while Jeffrey watches her. After a few moments, she notices. "What?" She asks, stopping to look at him.
"Nothing." He says, going to help her.
When they finish unpacking the groceries, Sam turns to him and asks. "What do you want to eat?"
"Ah, I don't care." Jeffrey replies, still watching her.
"Do you feel like a ham sandwich, chips and fruit?"
"That's fine."
Sam fixes them lunch as she asks. "So, what have you been doing today?"
"Well, I signed the budget for the year, had a meeting with reps from Spaulding about the 5th and Main Street developments, most about how Alan's arrest will affect the project and then changes they want to make to the development. And then I came home for lunch." Jeffrey says, following her to the table for lunch. "What did you and Cassie talk about?"
"Will, mostly. She was telling me about how they came to adopt him. A reporter came up to us while we were in the store, but she didn't talk to her."
"They're going to be under a lot of scrutiny, not just because of Richard but Will too."
"It's an amazing, they adopted their own son."
"That's Edmund for you."
"He hated them that much?"
"There really isn't anyway of knowing how much Edmund hated Richard."
"Because Richard was born first."
"Yes, and he got all of their father's attention." Jeffrey says, sitting down beside her and picking up his sandwich.
When she fixed the sandwiches, she went ahead and fixed everything, slicing a tomato, lettuce, cheese. She even put a pickle on the side with the chips and fruit, Jeffrey is full by the time they finished eating. Getting up, she puts everything in the sink before she walks back into the living room. Sitting down next to him, she watches him. After a few seconds, she says. "You didn't just come home for lunch."
"Yes, I did."
"But you had something else on your mind too." Sam says, watching him and knowing she is right.
"Well, maybe." Jeffrey says, turning to her. "I missed you this morning." He says, reaching over and tucking a few strands of hair behind her ear.
"I missed you too. I didn't even know you had left until I woke up and reached for you."
"I had to go in early." Jeffrey says, moving closer to her. Leaning in, he kisses her softly before he sits back and says. "I forgot to do that earlier."
"Umm, but you want more." Sam says, feeling the desire burning inside him.
"Do you want more?"
Reaching for him she pulls him to her, kissing him as she wraps her arms around his neck, lying back, as he follows her lead.
51.12