A Fresh Start
Chapter One Hundred Twenty Eight
Billy walks in to Sam's house and finds the whole lower floor completely finished and the crew upstairs working on the residence. After checking in with the foreman, he leaves the site headed for Cedars. He walks into Rick's office as he's wrapping up with a patient. "Billy." He says, turning from the receptionist desk.
"Hi, Rick."
"What are you doing here? Are you okay?"
"Oh, I'm fine. I need a favor."
"Okay, come back to my office. I've got a few minutes between patients." They walk through the reception area and down a short hallway to an office area. Rick opens the door, holding it for Billy before he follows him inside. "So, what do you need?"
"You know that Jeffrey bought Sam the house a few blocks over from the hospital."
"Yes." Rick says, walking over to his desk and indicating for Billy to have a seat across from him.
"He hired Lewis to do the remodeling and we're about finished with it."
"That whole house, it was falling apart."
"I know, but me and my crew has been working twelve and fourteen hour days to get it finished before they come back from their honeymoon. And we're close in fact we've finished the first floor. I believe Sam is going to use that first floor as her office for her practice."
"Okay."
"I want to have it completely finished for her, everything she'll need to open up her practice, but I have no idea what she'll need, that's why I need your help."
"Me, I don't understand."
"You're a doctor. You will know what she'll need for her practice and you'll know who to contact to have it delivered as soon as possible, like today."
"You want me to outfit her office. I have no idea what she would like."
"Not with the furniture and stuff, but you know what she'll need to begin a medical practice. You'll know who to call to set her up with all the stuff she'll need to get started."
"I know some of those guys, but when do you want this done?"
"Today."
"Today! Billy it takes time to get that kind of equipment here. We have some medical suppliers in the area, but I don't know that they'll have the stuff she'll need. I'm not even sure I know what she'll need."
"So maybe not today, but they'll be home tomorrow. Can you have the stuff she needs by Monday at the latest?"
"Most of the generic stuff, but I'm not sure what kind of practice she'll be opening."
"I know her specialty is internal medicine. I'm not exactly sure what that means."
"Why are you so intent on this being finished by the time she and Jeffrey get back? Are they asking you to finish this quickly?"
"No, it's a wedding gift to them."
"They're paying you to do the work."
"Yes, but have you ever been in the middle of a major reconstruction. It can be quite annoying after a while, besides… It's just something I want to do." Billy says, stopping himself from admitting that the real reason he want to get finished is because Jeffrey is his brother.
"Alright, I'll make some calls and see what I can do. I won't promise that we'll have everything in place by the time they get back but I'll at least have some contacts for her to work with."
"I guess that's all I can hope for."
"I'll do everything I can."
"Thank you." Billy says, standing up.
"You're welcome." Rick says, getting up with him.
Ava is walking down the hall when Billy comes back from Cedars. "Ava, wait for me." He calls
She stops, waiting for him to reach her. "What did you need Mr. Lewis?" She asks.
"Call me Billy and I need your help with a very important project that I'm working on."
"What project?"
"The house your dad bought Sam."
"What about it?"
"We're doing the remodel and we're about finished with it. In fact we've finished the first floor, which I believe that Sam is going to use as her office for her practice."
"That's right."
"I know nothing about decorating."
"I don't either."
"I think you do. You know Sam and your Olivia's daughter and if there is one thing I can say that's good about your mother. She's got style and taste."
"What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to take over and decorate her office and the rest of the house."
"You want me to decorate the whole house. I have no idea what she'll need for the office area."
"I don't know that we'll have the whole house finished but we do have the office finished. I've asked Rick to handle the medical part of it, but I think you should be able to handle the actual decorating."
"I have been at the loft when she's been looking at different things and I think I can replicate the feel she was trying to convey. She wants the office area to be warm but clean, but not sterile. She wants comfortable furniture for the waiting area and a large reception area for her patients as well as work space for the nurses and other staff. I know that she wants to make a play area for the kids. I can go to that store that's just opened on Main Street to get ideas for the kid's area and I'm sure the furniture store down there would have the kind of furniture that she would want for the waiting area."
"Good, so you can start now?"
"I've got work that I have to finish…."
"I'll handle that. I want you to work solely on this."
"Yes Sir."
"You'll need to contact Rick, so that you can coordinate with him."
"Okay."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome." Ava says, watching him walk away before continuing back to her office.
A few minutes after Ava gets back to her office, a woman walks in. "Mr. Lewis asked me to come and cover for you." She says, walking in.
"Okay." Ava says, getting up. "I've got these letters to type up before the mail runs this afternoon, and then I need those files, filed for Mr. Billings before his phone conference at three with the crew foreman in Tulsa and then he has a meeting in the conference room at four thirty. You need to have refreshments set up by four fifteen." Ava says, as Jake walks in.
"What's gong on?"
"Oh, Mr. Billings, this is…." Ava looks at the woman.
"Alice." She says.
"Alice, she's going to cover for me..."
'Why do you need someone to cover for you?"
"I've been assigned a project by Billy."
"You were assigned a project. I don't know anything about this."
"It just happened a few minutes ago. Billy…."
"You mean, Mr. Lewis."
"Yes, he asked me to call him Billy. He stopped me when I was coming in and assigned this project for me to work on."
"And what is this project?" Jake asks, his tone saying that he didn't quite believe her."
"He's asked me to take over and decorate the house over by Cedars that we're remodeling."
"You mean the house your father bought for his new wife."
"Yes." Ava says. "Billy stopped me in the hall and asked me to decorate the house and the office, since I'm personally acquainted with the client." Ava says, as the door to the office opens and William walks in. She stares at him for a few seconds before she walks over to him smiling. "What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to see you." He says, pulling her to him.
He's about to hug her when Jake says. "Ms. Peralta, this isn't your social hour. You've just…."
Ava looks at Jake before she starts to reply. "I didn't know he was coming."
"That doesn't matter. Your…."
"William Winslow." William says, holding out his hand.
"Hello." Jake says, stiffly shaking his hand.
"I do apologize for interrupting Ava while she's at work. I know she's quite busy but I wanted to surprise her so I didn't tell her I was coming. I'm sure you can excuse this minor interruption…."
"This isn't minor. She's already trying to skip out on the work that I assigned her for a project that she says Mr. Lewis asked her to do." Jake says looking at her.
"William, can you wait for me in the hallway."
"Of course."
"I'll be right there." Ava says, leaving the office but not before he takes a look at the man.
"Mr. Billings, I don't know what you're implying but Billy asked me personally to take this project. If you don't believe me then ask Billy." Ava says, reaching for her purse. "I've given Alice instructions about everything that you asked me to do. And as soon as I finish this project then I will back." She says, before she turns and walks out with him watching her.
When she leaves, he turns to Alice and she looks down, working on the letter that she was typing up. "I don't want to be disturbed." He says, walking past her into his office. Closing the door, he goes over to his desk and picks up the phone, dialing the extension for Billy's office. Wanda answers immediately. "Lewis Construction, you've reach Billy and Josh Lewis's office."
"Wanda, it's Jake, I need to speak to Mr. Lewis."
"Josh is…."
"Not Josh, I need to speak to Billy."
"I'm sorry, but he's not in his office. He's out at the job site over by Company and Cedars."
"How long is he going to be there?"
"Most of the day, he's trying to get the project finished before the client gets back into town. Would you like his voicemail or to leave a message?"
"No, I'll call him on his cell phone."
"Okay."
Jake hangs up, picking up the phone, he calls Billy's cell and leaves a message before he hangs up.
William is in the hall when Ava walks out of the office. "What was gong on in there?"
"I don't know. He came in when I was giving Alice instructions for what he'd asked me to do. Billy asked me to completely decorate Sam's house and I was in the middle of telling him that when you came in. What are you doing here? What about the elections?"
"The Parliament is handling all of that so there's nothing for me to do but wait for the election. I wanted to see you." He says, pulling into his arms and hugging her. "I missed you."
"You saw me two weeks ago." Ava says, releasing him as they turn to leave.
"I still missed you."
"I missed you too. Where are you staying?"
"I've got a room at Towers.
"No, if you want to you can stay with me at Company."
"What about your mom and Jeffrey?"
"I haven't seen my mother and Dad's going to have to get used to you and I being together." Ava says, as they walk outside.
"Alright, if you want me to stay at Company, I can stay there."
"Good, I've got to go. Billy wanted to get this started immediately."
"Okay, go. I'll see you later. I'm going to go City Hall to see Richard." William says, holding the door for her car.
"I'll see you later." She says, leaning in to kiss him before she slips behind the wheel.
He closes the door as she starts the car and rolls the window down. "We'll have dinner."
"Sure, I'll call you when I'm leaving the site."
"Okay." He says, as he steps back and she puts the car in gear and backs out of her parking place. Waving, he watches her leave before he walks over to the car he rented at the airport.
Cassie walks into the Beacon the morning after her dinner with Reva and the family. Everyone seemed to accept James, everyone but Rusty. She's walking into her office when James walks up. "Cassie."
She turns. "Hi." She says, turning back to the door.
"How are you doing?"
"I'm fine." Cassie says, opening the door.
"Did you talk to your family?"
"Yes."
"How did it go?"
"Everyone took it as I thought they would."
"What about Sarah's husband?"
"He was surprised. They all were, but Hawk is very understanding and loving man."
"You respect him a lot."
"Yes, I do. He accepted me when he didn't have too. He treated me like one of his family."
"I'm glad he was there. I'm sorry I wasn't but I'm glad he was." James says, as Hawk walks up.
"Cassie." He says, noticing the man beside her.
"Hawk, hi." She says, smiling as she hugs him. "What are you doing here?"
"I thought maybe we could have lunch." Hawk says, looking at the man beside Cassie and realizing that she favored him.
"Hawk, I want you to meet my father James Marshall. James, this is Hawk Shayne."
"Hello." James says formally.
"Hello." Hawk replies, holding out his hand. James takes it and they shake hands.
"Lunch, umm, okay. I've got some calls to make before I can leave." Cassie says, taking Hawk's attention away from James.
"That's fine, would an hour be okay?"
"That's fine."
"Okay, do you mind if I walk around the grounds. I've always like this hotel. You did a wonderful job remodeling and restoring the character of this place."
"Thank you, but Olivia helped and no I don't mind if you walk around the grounds."
"I'll see you in an hour." Hawk turns to go.
"Mr. Shayne, could I speak with you a moment?" James says, as Cassie turns to them.
"Okay, I don't see what we have to talk about." Hawk says, as James leaves Cassie's side to follow Hawk out of the hotel.
"Do you want me to go with you?"
"No." Both men say.
"We'll be fine." Hawk says, putting his arm across Cassie's shoulders. "Don't worry about us."
"Are you sure?" Cassie asks, looking up.
"Yes, go finish your work and then we'll have lunch."
"Okay." Cassie says, releasing him.
They walk away with Cassie watching them. When they reach the corner and walk into the lobby she goes into her office.
Hawk stops just as the walk into the lobby and turns to James. "What did you want to say?"
"I would rather go outside to have this conversation." James says, turning towards the garden and walking away forcing Hawk to follow.
When the reach the garden, Hawk stops. "Alright, we're in the garden, what did you want to say?"
James turns to him and clearly sees that he's not going to wait till they are further into the garden so he stops. "I wanted to offer my apology for stealing Sarah's affections all those years ago. I knew she was married. She was always honest with me but I did love her and I wanted her, so I ignored what was honorable and right and I pursued her. I made sure that she wouldn't say no."
"You forced her." Hawk asks, feeling his temper rise.
"No, but I played on her loneliness until I wore her down. I know this apology is too late and I know I don't have the right to ask this but I hope that you can forgive me."
Hawk looks away for a few moments before he turns back to James. "You know, you were right Sarah was lonely but doesn't make it right what you both did, but I'm to blame as well. I left Sarah week after week, pretending it was to support my family, but apart of me wanted to be free. In the month after I came back for good. I knew something had happened and when Sarah asked me for a separation, I didn't fight her for it. I only asked to keep Rusty and Reva. I asked partly because I didn't want to see her go and didn't want to lose my children. I didn't know until she was dying why she had truly asked for the separation. She knew she was pregnant with Cassie. She knew it wasn't mine because we hadn't been together in several weeks. I appreciate the apology. It takes a man to stand up and admit when he's wrong and I recognize that in you."
"I appreciate that. Can I ask you something?"
"What?"
"Was she happy through the years?"
"Yes, I believe she was. We had our fights and moments where we didn't want to be together for one reason or another, but we always worked our problems out."
"I'm glad she was happy. I also wanted to say thank you for taking Cassie into your family and for not making her feel like an outsider."
"She was a part of Sarah and I loved Sarah." Hawk says, as James nods.
"That's all I wanted to say." James says, as Hawk nods. "I'll see you at the wedding."
"Yes." Hawk replies, as James nods. He turns to leave while Hawk watches him.
An hour later, Cassie has just finished her last phone call when Hawk walks into her office. "Are you ready?"
"Yes." She says, shutting off her computer and reaching for her purse. She gets up and walks around her desk as Hawk holds the door for her. "Where do you want to go for lunch?"
"I'm buying so you get the pick the place."
"Umm, do you mind going to Company? I'm craving a Buzz burger and French fries."
"No, that's fine." Hawk says. "Do you want to leave your car here?"
"No, can we drop it at the farm."
"That's fine, I'll follow you then."
"Okay." Cassie gets in her car, starting it, she back out and Hawk follows her to the farm. Parking it, Cassie gets into Reva's car and they head for Company.
When they get to Company, Buzz greets Hawk with a handshake while Cassie finds them a table, with Buzz following them. "What would you like to drink?"
"I'll have a Sprite." Cassie says.
"I'll have coffee." Hawk replies.
"Sprite and coffee, coming right up."
"If you want, we can order." Cassie says, looking at Hawk.
"That's fine with me. I'll have the house steak, rare, bake potato and a salad." Hawk says, as Buzz pulls out his pad and scribbles Hawk's order before he turns to Cassie.
"I want a Buzz burger, small salad and French fries." Cassie says.
"Alright, I've got a House steak, rare, bake potato and a salad, a Buzz burger, fries and a small salad, with a Sprite and coffee." Buzz says, looking at them.
"That's right, thanks Buzz." Cassie says, as Buzz takes the menus.
"You're welcome. We'll have the drinks and salad's out in few moments."
Buzz turns away as Cassie turns to Hawk. "Go ahead and ask, because I know you're dying too." Hawk says, sitting back.
"What did James want?"
"He wanted to apologize for Sarah. I sort of like the man. It took guts to speak to the husband of the woman you had an affair with and give and apology, I admire that. And like I told him, I'm not completely innocent with what happened with Sarah. I left Sarah alone a lot during those first years of our marriage. She had Rusty and Reva to take care of by herself as well as keep the house and work for Lewis's household. I pretended that the reason I left her alone was because I was working to support my family but some of the reason is I wanted freedom."
"Sarah loved you. I wasn't there but I know she did."
"Yes, she loved me. But I held her away from me for a long time after we were first married." Hawk says, as Buzz brings their drinks and salads.
"Thanks, Buzz." Cassie says, looking up.
"You're welcome." He leaves and they start to eat.
"I wanted to talk to you about everything that's going on with you." Hawk says.
"What about it?"
"You've made a lot of changes in your life."
"My life is like it should have been all along?"
"You know I never approved of your relationships with Edmund and Josh. I wasn't happy about Jeffrey either but I could understand why you were with him."
"Of everything that's happened since Richard's accident, Jeffrey is the one thing that makes sense to me. Josh and Edmund were… I don't know what they were. I know I hurt Reva deeply when Josh and I got together. And like I said, I deeply regret that."
"It's seems that Reva has forgiven you, so I can forgive you."
"But Rusty can't."
"Rusty is a different matter. He's fiercely loyal to Reva."
"And he doesn't completely accept me."
"He's was just as fiercely loyal to Sarah. And he thought she did nothing wrong and to find out that she did this it's made him realize that she wasn't perfect like he thought and even though Sarah wanted you to be apart of this family, he feels like he's betraying her by making you apart of the family. He will come around."
"Hawk, you've been saying that for years and he hasn't yet and I don't believe he ever will."
"You have to give him time."
"Time, how much time, it's been over five years. I understand that what Sarah did was wrong, but I had no knowledge of that. And this thing with James, I didn't go looking for him, he came to me."
"I know and I don't want you to ever feel threatened or ashamed of him being your father. James is a good man and if Sarah would have gone with him then I'm sure she would have been happy and she would have been well taken care of." Hawk says, reaching for Cassie's hand.
"I want you to give me away at the wedding." Cassie says, looking at him.
"Are you sure?" Hawk asks, as Buzz brings their food.
"Yes, I've talked to James about it and he understands why I'm not ready for him to do that. You opened your heart, your family and your home to me, simply because I was Sarah's daughter when you could have just as easily turned away from me."
"No one should feel like they're not wanted Cassie. I would be honored to give you away. I would have done it the first time."
"I know. You know, I can't believe this is happening again. You're lucky to find the love of your life once in you life but I get to find, love and marry him again."
"You are happy. I can tell it. The light is back in your eyes."
"I was so lost after Richard's accident. I guess that's why I was with Edmund and then Josh."
"I know what you mean about feeling lost. I feel it everyday without Sarah."
"That's why you won't date anyone. I should have done the same thing when I thought Richard died, maybe if I had done that I would have known that he wasn't gone and I wouldn't have hurt him." Cassie says, picking at her French fries.
"What's wrong?"
"It's nothing. Richard doesn't say anything about it, but I know that it hurt him when he learned about Josh, Jeffrey and Edmund, especially Edmund, after everything that man did to us. I know it hurt him to know that I turned to him to replace what I had lost with Richard."
"Are you guys okay?"
"We're fine, but I feel guilty about what I did after the accident. This may not be about Richard, it's more about me. How could I not know he was alive? He's my soul mate. I know he is and why would I go to some one else to replace that?"
"Our heart does things when it's broken, things we would never do unless we were hurt. Why do you think there are so many marriages broken apart by one night's mistake? Couples loose faith in one another and they have to face the fact that the person you love isn't the perfect individual you thought they were."
"Richard is perfect. I'm the one that's not."
"Don't do that Cassie. Don't put him on a pedestal. Richard isn't perfect. He's going to make mistakes."
"He never seems to. But I do."
"Cass, Richard loves you and in his eyes you are perfect. Just like you think he is, but you're both going to make mistakes. You're both going to do things that will hurt each other you can't avoid that, but key is being able to forgive the mistakes you each make and being able to forgive yourself. You've got everything you wanted back. You have Richard, you have your son and you're about to have another baby with the man you love. You have to forgive yourself and allow yourself to be happy and believe that you have the right to be happy."
"I'll try." Cassie says, looking at him and smiling.
"Good, have you talked to Reva?"
"Not since the dinner, why?"
"You know that Jeffrey…."
"Yes, she told me. He's HB's son. And I know that Josh doesn't what to tell him."
"He's afraid of loosing Reva to Jeffrey."
"She told me that but I don't understand why would he ever think that? Reva has always and will always be in love with him."
"He's afraid of Reva's past history?"
Because she has been with every Lewis man so Josh is afraid that if Jeffrey is told he's Lewis. Reva will leave him for Jeffrey simply because he's a Lewis."
"Yes."
"Jeffrey's married to Sam. They're about to have a baby together."
"And we both know that, that will not matter in Josh's mind."
"You haven't seen Jeffrey and Sam together. They belong together, just like Reva and Josh belongs together, like Richard and I belong together. There is absolutely no way that Reva could, even if she wanted to and she doesn't, there is no way that Reva would ever be able to take Jeffrey from Sam."
"How do you know this?" Josh asks, walking up behind them. Hawk looks up as Cassie turns around. "You took me away from Reva."
"And it shouldn't've happened. But I know Jeffrey and he's a lot of things and he's done a lot of things, and he's been with a lot of women, but he's like Richard, when he's with a woman, he's with that woman exclusively. He loves Sam and there would be absolutely no way Reva could ever take him away from her. And if it did happen there would have to be extenuating circumstances, something beyond their control."
"We're still not telling him."
"Josh, you have…."
"We're not telling him. I won't risk Reva for him."
"Josh, I always thought you were a smart man." Hawk says.
"I am a smart man. I'm protecting my family from a man that will take what he wants and leave us all to repair the damage."
"Jeffrey is a lot of things Josh and he's made a lot of mistakes but he admits to them and there's one thing I know for certain about him. He is faithful to any woman he is with for however long that maybe. Another thing I know for certain, he's totally and absolutely in love with Sam, there will be no other woman for him."
"Then he has you fooled Cassie." Josh says, his tone holding pity.
"And you're being a stubborn jackass, Joshua Lewis. And I'll be right there behind Billy and Reva when they tell Jeffrey the truth. I'll welcome him into this family with open arms."
"So will I." Hawk says.
Josh looks at them and then turns away. "I'll never understand him." Cassie says, watching him.
"He thinks he's holding onto his family but he's not. Reva won't be controlled you and I both know that." Hawk says, as Buzz brings the check and Hawk gives him his credit card. After Buzz bring him the receipt and he signs it. They leave Company and Hawk takes Cassie home.