A Fresh Start
Chapter One Hundred Twenty
"First, I want to say, I'm sorry I wasn't there when you were growing up." He says, handing the results back to Cassie.
"You didn't know." Cassie says, putting the results away.
"Would you tell me what happened? How did you end up in foster care?"
"I was given up for adoption after I was born by Sarah and a couple from Chicago adopted me. When I was seven, they were flying back from a trip east and the plane crashed. There were no survivors. My adoptive parents had no other family, so I was placed in foster care." Cassie says, as Travis comes back with James's drink.
He puts it down and then asks. "Would like to order now?"
"Yes." Cassie says, as Travis takes out his pad. "I'll have a salad, the grilled chicken and fresh vegetables and a bake potato."
"I'll have the sirloin steak, bake potato and a salad." Richard says.
"How do you want that steak cooked?"
"Medium rare."
"Yes sir." Travis says, making notes on his pad before he turns to James.
"I'll have the same thing he's having, but I don't want a salad and I'll have my steak rare." James says.
"Yes sir." Travis says, turning away and Cassie continues.
"There was no one that would take you?" James asks.
"No, my parents had no family or close friends that could take me."
"I'm sorry. I would have…."
"I know, you don't have to keep apologizing. Sarah didn't tell you that she was pregnant. She didn't tell anyone until she was on her deathbed. And I survived my childhood. Everything that happened then made me the person I am today."
"How did you meet?" James asks, looking at her and then Richard.
"It's a long story. But it started when Reva was in San Cristobel…."
"Who is Reva?'
"She's my sister. You probably met her when she was a little girl."
"I remember Sarah, having two children, a boy and girl."
"That's right, Rusty and Reva."
"So Reva was in San Cristobel?"
"Yes, she was in San Cristobel with Richard, searching for their son Jon. Josh and I went to San Cristobel to rescue her…"
"Why did she need to be rescued and how did they have a child together?" James asks, looking at Richard.
"For a while, Reva was thought to be dead. During that time, she was in San Cristobel and she was married to me. She became pregnant and shortly after Jon was born she began to sense that he was in danger. So, she left him with Olivia and she left San Cristobel. She came back to Springfield. Eventually, she and Josh reconciled and they got remarried. By that time she was beginning to have flashes of memories from her life in San Cristobel and Jon. So when she and Josh remarried they took their honeymoon on San Cristobel. While they were there, Edmund had Reva arrested and Josh was deported." Richard says.
"You arrested your own wife?" James asks, looking at Richard in shock.
"Yes, I didn't know about Edmund or the threats to Jon's life from him. I thought she had kidnapped him."
"And you went down there to rescue her. So what happened?" James says, looking at Cassie.
"On the night of Richard and Catherine, Reva's wedding anniversary, we staged an explosion designed to give Josh time to get Reva out of the palace and not to hurt anyone. But Reva and Olivia had come together and they set a trap for Edmund. But he found out, and he kidnapped her. Taking her hostage and chaining her up in the caves below the palace. Edmund then came to the palace, demanding that Richard abdicate and give him the throne.
Richard refused and tried to arrest him. Edmund took me as hostage long enough to get out of the palace. Once he was out of the palace, he released me and Josh and Richard went after him. Richard and Edmund fought at the cliffs. Before Edmund could tell them where Reva was, he and Richard went over the edge of the cliffs. Josh tried to pull them up, but Edmund fell and we all thought he was dead. So Josh and Richard went to search for Reva, going to all of the places that Edmund went to growing up.
They finally ended up at the caves, where they found Reva chained in a hole full of water from the rising tide. She was already under water by the time the got there. But Josh and Richard were able to free her and she survived." Cassie says, as Travis brings their food.
Sitting the food before them, he asks. "Is there anything else you will need?"
"No, thank you Travis." Cassie says.
"You're welcome, ma'am." He says, and then leaves
They begin to eat as James asks. "So, how did you two become a couple?"
"Richard insisted the Reva still had feelings for him. So after they rescued her from the caves, Olivia and her sister brought Jon to the palace to meet them. I actually stopped them from leaving the island and brought Jon to the palace myself. While Richard and Reva were trying to decide what to do, Edmund reappeared and tried to kidnap Jon. Reva panicked and she sent Jon away with his adoptive parents, leaving a note explaining what she had done and then she left San Cristobel.
When we all got back to Springfield, Reva went back to Oklahoma. Richard followed us. Richard and I had sort of connected on San Cristobel and he showed up at the farm wanting to know where Reva was. I wouldn't tell him. There was a bad storm that night, and when I wouldn't tell him where Reva was, he had his men block the road. He couldn't get back to town, so I let him sleep in the barn."
"Which was rather chilly." Richard says, smiling at Cassie.
"Neither one of us was very comfortable that night." Cassie replies, looking at him.
"Umm, can we get back to the story?" James says, reminding them that he was there and not really interested in hearing about the pent up frustrations of the two of them.
"Yes, Richard was prepared to leave the next morning until I let it slip that Reva was at Cross Creek."
"What is Cross Creek?"
"It was the Lewis cabin. It's really important to Josh and Reva. Anyway, once I let it slip where Reva was, Richard was determined to see her and get her to tell him where Jon was and to admit that she still had feelings for him, so he went to Cross Creek. But before I told Richard where Reva was, I had go upstairs to get RJ's blanket and when I came back down, he was gone. I thought Richard had taken him to make me tell him where Reva was so I called Josh.
After Richard left, Josh showed up at the farm and that's when we, well I realized that I had told Richard exactly where Reva was. So Josh and I went after them. There was a terrible storm that night and Cross Creek was in a very secluded area. Josh and I ended up having to walk to the house because the car got stuck in the mud. By the time we got there, a lot had happened between the two of them, and I believe that if we hadn't've showed up they would have slept together." Cassie says, as James looks at Richard.
"Because of the weather we had to spend the night at Cross Creek, which made for a very tense evening. By the next morning we were all ready to leave. And when Richard left that time, we all thought he was going back to San Cristobel, but he didn't. He went to Springfield instead. While Richard was in Springfield, there were several confrontations between me and Reva about the way she was acting and the messages she kept sending to Richard and Josh and Richard was there for some of them. But it all came to a head when Reva showed up at a party Richard threw for the Spaulding's.
At the party, she basically told him that she felt sorry for him and that she didn't love him and to go back to San Cristobel, and then she burned all of Richard's love letters to her in front of him. But a few days before that all happened, Richard happen to be waiting outside while I finished a meeting with my banker. Things were really tough and I fell behind on some bills, including the mortgage on the farm. The bank was demanding payment and Richard overheard that and that if I didn't come up with some of the payments they were going to foreclose on the farm." Cassie says, looking at Richard.
"I offered to help her but she's proud and she declined the offer. So I asked to meet with the bank president and I made arrangements to pay off her mortgage, without the bank telling her. However, Reva found out and she confronted Cassie about the money. Cassie didn't know anything about it, they had a fight. In the mean time, I was in a meeting with Josh and Billy about a deal I had made with Spaulding to build a factory on San Cristobel. Josh and Billy refused to build the factory and they pulled out of Lewis Oil. Reva left to meet with Billy and Josh and Cassie came to confront me as I was leaving for San Cristobel. The plane took off with her still on board." Richard says.
"So I made an unexpected trip to San Cristobel, which did not cement my relationship with Reva. By the time we reached San Cristobel, Edmund had seized control of the radio waves and was inciting the people and they began to protest Richard's rule. So by the time we landed, it was a very dangerous situation. We had to be taken to the palace under an escort of the palace guard. After a while Richard ordered that some of the protesters be brought up to the palace to meet with him." Cassie says.
"I started to talk to them, trying to reassure them but they wouldn't listen to me. That's when Cassie stepped in. She began to talk to them. And at one point she took one of the tiara's that we had on display in the throne room and she gave it to them, telling them to take it and sell it to buy food and pay their bills. And by the time she finished talking to them, she had diffused the whole situation." Richard says.
"I still don't understand how you got together?" James says, as Travis walks up.
"Will you need anything else?" He asks.
"I'm good." Cassie says.
"Could I have some more bourbon?" James asks.
"Yes sir."
"And I would like some more tea." Richard says.
"Yes sir, would you like dessert?"
"No, we're fine." Cassie says, looking around the table.
"Yes ma'am, I'll be back with those drinks." Travis says, turning to leave, taking their plates with him. He returns a few moments later with their drinks and then leaves.
"We're getting to me and Richard." Cassie says. "It's a long story. After the protesters left and they told everyone what happened, the protests began to break up. He tried to get me to take his money again, which I refused again. I came back to Springfield. Reva had taken the kids to her house while I was gone, which I knew about after I called home and Amy told me. I confronted Reva, and we had another fight. I went home alone because it was too late to wake the kids up to bring them home with me. When we first got back to Springfield, a guy showed up at the farm claiming to be Hart's…."
"Who's Hart?"
"He's my son RJ's father. We were engaged to be married but he was killed after being shot defending me. That's another story, but it all happened just before we went to San Cristobel to save Reva. Anyway this guy showed up saying he was a friend of Hart's and the Hart owed him a favor and that he needed work. Blake, who is Hart sister's, wanted me to throw him off the property, but Blake's mom convinced me to hire him.
When I got back from San Cristobel, I found Blake's mom at the farm. I asked her about Sam and she said she thought he was in the barn. I had stopped there before I came to the house and all of his stuff was gone. That's when I noticed that all of my stuff was gone too. Sam had taken everything, including the engagement ring that Hart gave me, the same engagement ring that I had planned to sell when I got back to cover the money that I had returned to Richard. That left me with a problem. I didn't have a job anymore because Josh had relinquished control of Lewis Oil to Phillip and the bank showed up that night to say if I didn't cover the money they would be foreclosing on the farm at the end of the week. I had to get a job and fast so I went to work at club downtown." Cassie says.
"In the meantime, I was in San Cristobel, trying to rebuild after years of searching for Jon and Reva, after Edmund's attempted coup and having meeting after meeting with my advisors, all of which were telling me that the country wanted me to remarry. I resisted the idea, I didn't want to let anyone in again but I had to do something. Colonel Dax finally convinced me to approach Cassie about an arrangement. I was a little worried about the fact that Cassie was Reva's sister, it seemed a bit incestuous to me, but Dax convinced me to ask. He had been pushing me to ask her after she took care of the protestors when she was at the palace before. We flew to Springfield and went to the farm. Cassie was on her way to work and she wouldn't talk to me."
"I had just had a really bad fight with Reva and I wasn't in the mood to hear about him wanting her and trying to get her back, so I shut him down and left. He didn't give up. He found out where I was working and he showed up at the club. Earlier in the day, I had called in, but after the fight with Reva. I called back and said I would come in. When I got to the club, I started to get ready but the closer it got for me to start my shift the less I felt right. I finally told my boss that I quit and that I wouldn't be working that night. We were in a middle of a fight when Richard showed up and broke it up. I left the club because I was embarrassed. I had made this big speech about taking care of everything myself and he finds me like that. Richard followed me and found me in the alley behind the club. I thanked him for stepping in, but asked him to leave. He wouldn't, instead he proposed to me in the alley. I started to leave but I nearly collapsed. He picked me up, carried to his car and brought be back to the farm.
When we got back to the farm, I sent the babysitter home and he explained what was going on. Why he had proposed to me and that he wanted an arranged marriage. He would marry me, taking care of my financial problems and I would be the princess for San Cristobel. He gave this big long speech and after he finished I took his head off, but he wouldn't give up and he asked me to think about it. In the end, I agreed to the arrangement, but not because I wanted him to take care of the mortgage, I was already in love with him. Reva found out, and she came to the farm to talk me out of it and we got into another fight."
"I'm not sure I like her."
"No, Reva is good. She was confused and mixed up at the time, but I don't think she was out to hurt me, not intentionally. Anyway, that's how we got together." Cassie says, taking a drink of water.
"So, this started out as a business arrangement. It obviously isn't that anymore, so what happened?"
"After Richard proposed the arrangement, I went to San Cristobel. That was over Thanksgiving. My best friend Harley came down with us. Edmund was still trying to get control of the country and one of his men, sabotaged a plane that was meant to take Richard and I up to look at the island, but I was already dressed for the formal announcement of our engagement so we decided not to go. Phillip, Jim, and Beth went up instead to look over the Spaulding construction site. The plane crashed in the mountains on the way back.
During this time, Reva and Josh split up. Reva called Richard to tell him and ask him to come back to Springfield so they could work out their relationship. By that time, we had found Beth, Jim and Phillip so we came back to Springfield. Richard and Reva talked and then Reva and I talked. She wanted us to call off the engagement and let her and Richard explore their feelings for each other. I finally admitted to her that I was in love with Richard.
This was all over the Christmas holidays. Reva wanted us also to put everything aside and pretend to be a happy family for the holidays. I told her we couldn't and then I went to meet Richard. We spent Christmas eve at Towers and Richard realized that I was miserable, so he took me to Reva's and we spent Christmas together. Two days passed before I forced the issue of Reva. Richard told me that he didn't feel any of the old feelings about her. That they would always be connected because of Jon but that he didn't love her. Before we left, Richard had one more meeting with Reva and she told him that I was in love with him. He came to the farm and confronted me and I admitted to telling Reva that but said that I was only telling her that to get her back off. I told him that I had never loved him and that I was still in love with Hart."
"Why, why didn't you tell him the truth?"
"Because I was convinced that he wouldn't marry me if he thought I was in love with him and he didn't love me back. He'd turned Olivia down because she was in love with him…."
"How many women were you involved with?"
"Olivia and I were engaged to be married before Reva came back to San Cristobel. When I found out that she knew where Jon was the whole time Reva was gone, I broke off the engagement. After we announced that I would be marrying again, Dax told Olivia to come back to the island and offer to be my wife. He knew that I wouldn't go along with it. It was one of his ways to make me pick Cassie."
"So, this Dax manipulated you into asking my daughter to marry you?"
"Yes and no. I liked Cassie. There was something there when I first met her on the beach in San Cristobel, but I was focused on Reva and getting my wife back. I didn't realize that I was holding on to something that wasn't real. Reva was Catherine, but she wasn't my wife. I didn't realize that until Reva came to San Cristobel and told me where Jon was. We went to see him. And once and for all, decided together what was best for him. I didn't tell Cassie what was going on. I told her I was going to be on a neighboring island doing business for the country, which wasn't entirely the truth or a lie. What I didn't tell her I was that going with Reva. In the time that we had been back in San Cristobel after the holiday's I had come to know Cassie well and I knew that she didn't trust easily and so I thought if I told her that I was going away with Reva she would think it was because I wanted to be with her and she would walk away."
"Which is exactly what I thought, and I almost did leave. But in the end I couldn't take the opportunities that Richard could give my kids away from them, so I stayed in San Cristobel, but I refused to believe that Richard was in love with me. Although there were several indications that he was. I was determined to fulfill my commitment to my kids and San Cristobel."
"When did it change?"
"Shortly after Richard returned from his trip with Reva, I got the measles and he insisted on taking care of me himself. I tried to leave the palace because he was getting to me and I was clinging to the belief that he was in love with Reva. He found me passed out in the garden outside the palace. He brought me back inside and called the doctor, ordering him to thoroughly examine me.
During those test, there were indications that I wouldn't be able to have children, which was one of the main reasons for the arrangement, for us to produce an heir to the throne. Richard ordered the doctor not to tell anyone, not even me about it. I wouldn't have known except that when I woke up from trying to leave, I told Richard that I loved him. When I was completely awake he asked me if I meant what I had said and he told me that I told him that I loved him. I panicked and I told him again that I thought I was talking to Hart. After that he began to pull away again.
During all this, he had called Buzz and flew him to San Cristobel to make me chili. He thought he was making me happy, but I wasn't happy because I refused to believe he was in love with me. Anyway, I overheard him talking to my doctor and that's how I found out about the possibility that I couldn't have anymore kids. I confronted him about it and offered to leave the island, to allow him the chance to find someone that could give him an heir. That was the first time that he admitted that he was in love with me, but I still didn't believe him. It was also the first time we kissed. And then the crane accident happened."
"The crane accident?"
"Someone sabotaged one of the cranes on the Spaulding construction site and it had crashed into one of the buildings, collapsing the building and hurting a lot of the crew. To the point that the hospital was already full and once again Cassie saved the day. She ordered that the rest of the injured workers be brought to the palace. I think that was the first and only time that every room in that palace has been used.
When we began to investigate, we traced the crane back to a crew from Galveston Texas. Harley and Phillip had come down to help us sort everything out and Harley had the idea that Cassie and I go undercover to try and see if we could find out who gave the order. She found the bar where the crew and crew boss hung out. Cassie and I went undercover at the bar. Cassie was the bartender and I was a dishwasher." Richard says, as James smiles.
"A fitting position for a prince." He says.
"Yes, well I didn't like it too much because it left Cassie unprotected even if I was in the kitchen and she was at the bar. I didn't like how the crew boss was acting towards her. To make an even longer story short, I was hired onto the crew and I started talking to the guys about the accident on San Cristobel and why the boss wouldn't tell us who we were working for. I had a few confrontations with the boss too. It all ended up, with Cassie being held hostage after she went down to the dock to met the main boss and Gil showed up.
The other waitress at the bar told me that Gil had sent Cassie to meet the main boss. Noah and I went after them, and we confronted Gil in a warehouse. We fought and Gil fell on the knife that he was holding. In the meantime, someone called the cops and while we were trying to get Gil to talk the sheriff showed up. They got Gil to the hospital and they were able to save him, but we were still in serious trouble because we had no proof of who we were and the palace was supporting the story that we told them that we were off the coast of San Cristobel with the royal yacht.
We were trying to convince the sheriff who we were when Edmund showed up. He gave the police the necessary paperwork to prove who we were. After the whole fiasco with the plane, I had Edmund arrested and he was going to be put on trial for treason. The punishment for treason in San Cristobel is death, and it would be my job as prince to decide how the order would be carried out. Cassie knew that it was killing me that I would have to sentence my brother to death, so she came up with a compromise…."
"Phillip came up with the compromise. I only suggested it to you." Cassie corrects.
"Okay, Phillip came up with the suggestion. Anyway, I overheard them discussing it and I realized that it was a way out of a very uncomfortable situation. So, I offered Edmund exile from San Cristobel. He took the offer and he went to Springfield. We thought that was the last of our problems with Edmund. Phillip gave him a job at Spaulding, working as a liaison for the Spaulding project on San Cristobel. It gave him perfect access to the island and to continue to try and undermine me so I removed him from the project."
"While we were in Galveston, things between us had started to shift and I had no idea how I was going to continue to pretend that I didn't love him. When we got back to San Cristobel, immediately the subject of an heir came up, and Richard kept insisting that it didn't matter and that I could come to him whenever I was ready for us to be closer. After a couple days, Richard tried to keep courting me, but he finally gave up and just admitted that he was in love with me. We were both floored when we realized that we were both in love with each other but that we were too scared to admit it to each other." Cassie says, taking Richard's hand.
He squeezes it gently, smiling at her. "I could tell you loved each other when you were in Paris for the state visit but I wish I would have been there for your wedding and everything." James says.
"We're having another wedding." Cassie says.
"You are, why?"
"Richard was declared legally dead about five years ago."
"Yes, the car accident. What happened there?"
"It's another story for another time." Richard says, noticing that Cassie was getting tired.
"You're invited to the wedding." Cassie says.
"I would be honored to be there. When is the wedding?"
"In a few weeks."
"That soon."
"We've been planning it since we got back to Springfield."
"I'll be there." James says, as they stand up and Travis comes over to the table.
"Travis, send the bill to my office and I'll take care of it tomorrow." "Yes ma'am." He says, nodding as they leave the table.
They walk out of the restaurant. "Will I see you tomorrow?" James asks.
"We can have lunch. I've cut my schedule back here at the Beacon. So you'll have to deal with Olivia about the expansion project."
"That's fine. I'll see you tomorrow." He says, reaching to hug her. They hug for several seconds before he releases her. "Take care of her." He says, to Richard.
"I will." Richard replies. James turns to leave as Richard puts his arm across Cassie's shoulders again pulling her too him. "That didn't go so bad."
"No, but I'm glad you were there."
"Let's go home." Richard says, turning them towards the door. "Would you mind if we take a walk first?" Cassie asks.
"No, but you look tired."
"I am, but if I go home now. I won't be able to sleep. I need to get rid of the excess energy."
"Okay." Richard says, turning away from the car and heading towards the lake.