A Fresh Start
Chapter One Hundred Twenty Nine
When Cassie and Hawk pull up to the farm, Cassie notices Richard's car along with another car parked by the barn. He puts the car in park and then turns to Cassie. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, although I don't know why he's home."
"Okay." He says, as she leans over to hug him. "I'll see you later."
"Thank you for lunch." She says, reaching for the door.
"You're welcome and think about what I said."
"I will." She says, getting out of the car. Closing the door behind her, she walks towards the house as Hawk turns around and leaves. She's walking up the steps to the porch when Richard opens the door. "Hi, what are you doing home?" She asks, as he holds the screen door for her.
"I came home to have lunch with you but you weren't here."
"Hawk came by the Beacon and asked if we could have lunch, so I went with him." Cassie says, walking in. She puts her purse down on the counter.
"That's fine. I was on my way back to town but we have a visitor." Richard say, leaning in to kiss her.
"A visitor, who?" Cassie asks, as William walks in from the living room.
"Me." He says, as she looks up.
"William!" She says, walking over and hugging him. "How are you?"
"I'm good."
"You look good. You look more relaxed."
"I am more relaxed. I think it's the fact that I don't have too much longer."
"So the elections…."
"They're in the process. I'm ready to move on."
"With Ava?" Cassie asks, walking over to the refrigerator as Richard starts to say something.
"I don't know, maybe. We have plans for me to come here after the election and everything is decided in San Cristobel." William says, as Cassie gets a bottle of water.
"Ava's a great girl."
"I know, she's part of the reason I'm up here now and there's no reason for me to be in the country until everything is decided."
"What do you think will happen?" Richard asks, leaning against one of the counters.
"I don't know. I never wanted us to go back to the monarchy. I wanted democracy, but Camille forced the issue and the people voted to bring the monarchy back so I took the job on."
"I'm sure Lord Silas is working for the monarchy to stay in place."
"Who is Lord Silas?" Cassie asks.
"He's the next in line for the throne."
"I thought Lord Everett is the next in line."
"He is but he's almost eight and San Cristobel law states the once a member of the royal family reaches the age of seventy five he has to step down and allow his heir to take over the crown. And since Lord Everett is already over the age of seventy five, the throne will automatically go to his oldest son, Lord Silas Everett the IV."
"Prince Silas just doesn't have the same ring to it." Cassie says, looking at William and Richard. They both start to laugh as Cassie grins. "It's nice to know that at seventy five we could have retired, that is if William hadn't have come along." Cassie says, with a smile.
"You might retire, but you never stop being a prince." Richard says.
"Do you still feel like you should be prince?" William asks.
"Honestly." Richard asks, looking at William. He nods yes and Richard replies. "Sometimes, but then I think about my life with Cassie and the boys and I wouldn't trade my life now for what I had then."
"So if the country chooses democracy, Lord Everett looses his chance to rule. We've all seen what that can of power can do someone." Cassie says, walking into the living room.
"Edmund was twisted by our father." Richard says, walking into the living room.
"Maybe so, but some of the things he did, he chose to do himself. It was his choice to be the way he is." Cassie says, following Richard into the living room.
"I know I made excuses for Edmund in his behavior when I was Prince. Some of it because I wanted to believe that there was a good man inside him and I felt sorry for him and the life my father forced him to lead."
"Edmund is the main reason I decided to abdicate. I don't want my children being the way he is."
"That will never happen with you William, but I don't want to talk about Edmund." Cassie says, sitting down next to Richard. "Are you staying for the wedding?"
"I don't know. But I think he deserves a bachelor party."
"Oh no, I'm not having a bachelor party. I'm not a bachelor."
"Technically you are. Our marriage was over the moment the death certificate was signed, so right now, you're a bachelor, living with your girlfriend and her two boys, besides it a tradition. You gave one for Jeffrey."
"It's an American tradition, Jeffrey's an American. I'm not, and looked what happened at Jeffrey's party."
"We had a very good time at Jeffrey's party."
"What happened at Jeffrey's party and why were you there."
"Nothing serious happened." Cassie says.
"Nothing serious, he got punched." Richard replies.
"Not because he did anything." Cassie points out.
"Why did he get punched and why were you at Jeffrey's party. From my understanding a man's bachelor party is without women." William asks.
"The guy thought he was defending Sam's honor." Cassie replies.
"Apparently Olivia and Sam got into a fight just after Sam moved from DC, and apparently this gentleman saw Sam right after the fight. He saw the mark on Sam's face and assumed that Jeffrey had given her the mark. Sam told him that it was Olivia, but he didn't believe her and the night of Jeffrey's party he was at the bar and he and Jeffrey got in a fight and he punched Jeffrey before he was arrested and taken out of the bar."
"So, you told her about this right?" William asks, looking at Richard.
"Umm, no Sam was also having her bachelorette party that night and we all ended up at the same bar. So the ladies witnessed the whole thing."
"Nothing is ever dull around here. And I assume that Olivia is still causing problems for them." William says.
"Why do you say that?" Richard asks
"She and Ava got into a fight about them and the wedding and the fact that Ava knew about Sam's pregnancy and didn't tell her about it. Ava then learned that she grounded Emma because she was talking to Jeffrey the morning after the wedding when they were leaving the Beacon."
"She's taking it out on Emma. I guess that's why Will was so unhappy a few days after the wedding." Cassie says.
"Will was upset?" William asks.
"Yes, he and Emma are good friends. In fact he got in trouble the other day, defending her against a bully at school." Richard says.
"What happened?"
"One of the boys at school wouldn't leave Emma alone. He told the boy to stop but he wouldn't listen so he and Will got into a fight." Cassie says.
"I'm proud of him for defending his friend but he can't fight at school."
"We told him that, and he lost his video game privileges for the rest of the week, which as you know clearly broke his heart."
"And mine." Richard says.
"I ran into Reva this morning as I was leaving Lewis."
"You did, why were you at Lewis?"
"I went to see Ava. Reva and I talked for a few moments before I left."
"What did you talk about" Richard asks.
"The wedding, you two, she said you guys are really happy."
"We are." Richard says, taking Cassie's hand.
"We have our lives back and I'm so glad." Cassie says, looking at Richard.
"She also said that you've had a lot going on the last few weeks." William says, looking at Cassie.
Cassie looks at Richard "It's up to you if you want to tell him."
"Tell me what?" William asks.
"We… I've had some changes." Cassie says. "And without drawing out the story, I've found my dad."
"Your dad, I thought Hawk, is that his name?"
"Yes."
"I thought he was your father."
"No, Hawk is Rusty and Reva's father. Our mother, Sarah had an affair. The affair ended before she knew she was pregnant, so my father didn't know about me until a few years ago when Richard and I were in Paris for a state visit."
"And he didn't say anything then?"
"I assume he wasn't sure that I was his daughter. He said that he recognized Sarah in me at that time and that's what prompted him to start investigating my past."
"He was investigating you past. You're sure he's your father?"
"Yes, we had a DNA test done."
"At least you did that."
"He suggested the DNA test." Richard says.
"He suggested it." William says, surprised.
"Yes, he had no real proof that he was my father, except a picture of him and Sarah and his word that he was involved with her."
"You told Reva about this?"
"Yes, in fact we told the whole family."
"Including Hawk and Rusty."
"Yes."
"Are they still coming to the wedding?"
"Of course they're still coming to the wedding in fact they are in town already. Hawk and I went to lunch this afternoon."
"He's okay with this?"
"Hawk has always been supportive of me. Rusty on the other hand is another matter."
"He's doesn't accept…."
"He's not accepting of me, or anything that I do." Cassie says, sighing softly.
"He love you Cassie.' Richard says, as she looks at him.
"I'm sure he feels something, but I'm not sure what it is."
"Is he causing problems?" William asks.
"No, but he's still mad at me because of Josh and now my father has arrived on the scene, so I'm sure he doesn't like being reminded of Sarah's affair."
"It's not your fault." Richard says.
"It may not be my fault but I'm still the daughter Sarah had from an affair." Cassie says, looking at Richard.
Sensing the tension, William says. "Reva hinted that there was something else." William says, drawing their attention away from Cassie and her father.
"She did, I'll have to talk to her about that." Cassie says.
"Why, is there something else?"
"Umm, yes." Cassie says, looking at Richard. "Do you want to tell him?"
"You can tell him."
"I'm pregnant." Cassie says, with a huge smile on her face.
"What! You're serious, you're pregnant."
"Yes."
"How? I didn't think you could get pregnant because of the accident."
"We didn't think we could either, so this is a miracle for us." Richard says.
"And we have to be careful. There are a lot of things that could go wrong." Cassie says.
"How did this happen?"
"We're not sure. Maybe the invitro opened and removed enough scar tissue to allow and egg to get through."
"What are the complications?"
"Several, atopic pregnancy, miscarriage, Dr Sedgwick demanded that I tell her immediately if anything happens."
"Are you still working?"
"Yes. But I've cut my hours back to only a few hours in the morning and I'll continue to do that as long as I can."
"And you agreed to this?" William asks, looking at Richard.
"Yes, I had no choice. Cassie's not going to stay home so I have to let her be herself and still protect her."
"I'm happy you're getting a second chance, but I'm going to worry about you all the time."
"I'll be fine. Richard is here and if I have to I'll stop working but right now I can't do it. I'm taking care of myself. I'm eating healthy."
"How far along are you?"
"About six weeks."
"So, you got pregnant right after you came back from San Cristobel."
"Yes. We weren't thinking this could happen but then I started to have symptoms, dizziness, mood swings, nausea…."
"She almost threw up on me twice." Richard says, as Cassie looks at him. "Well, you did."
"You don't have to tell him that. Anyway, when I went in for the DNA test we asked Rick to run some extra tests. When those results came back, he turned them over to Dr. Sedgwick and she called me in for an exam, verifying the results Rick got and that's how I found out."
"I'm happy for you." William says, looking at the clock. "I'm going to have to go. I've got to meet Ava."
"Alright." Richard says, standing up, followed by William and Cassie.
"Why don't you and Ava come out for dinner? I'm sure Will would love to see you."
"I'll have to talk to Ava, but we'll see."
"William, you can't avoid him forever. You're his uncle." Cassie says.
"Cassie."
"It's okay Richard. I know I can't but I want him to settle in with you. I don't want him to be confused."
"Will is settled and he's happy but I know he would want to see you and for more than a few hours at the wedding."
"I'll see what Ava says."
"Okay." Richard says, taking Cassie's hand and squeezing it when she starts to press him.
"Okay, but let me say this one thing. If you stay away from him you're going to confuse him even more and he's going to think he's done something to make you not want to be around him."
"I'll see." William says, as Cassie nods, backing off.
Richard walks him out and then closing the door behind him, he walks into the living room. Cassie is sitting on the couch when he comes back. "Are you mad at me?"
"No, I'm not mad at you."
"You didn't feel that tension."
"Yes, I felt it."
"He hasn't been around Will when we were around since we left San Cristobel and eventually Will is going to wonder why."
"That maybe true but this is hard for him. We thought Will was his son for a long time and then in a matter of weeks he finds out that he's in fact our son."
"It shocked us all and we've all had to adjust to this, but it's been especially hard on Will. I know he appears fine, but he's affected by this, most especially because Will not only lost his father, but he lost his whole identity. You know something about that."
"Yes I do."
"And didn't you want to hold on to as many things from your former life as you possibly could. William isn't Will's father, but he is Will's uncle and he wants to see his uncle."
"You've got to give it time."
"Alright." She says, sighing softly. "Do you have to go back City Hall?"
"No, I'm through for the weekend. Why don't you go upstairs and rest until the boys come home?"
"I'll go rest, if you'll come with me."
"That's an offer I can't refuse." Richard says, reaching for Cassie's hand and helping her up, following her upstairs.
Billy walks into Lewis after meeting with Ava. Wanda is at her desk when he walks in, working on a letter that Josh asked her to type up. "Can you get Jake on the phone?" He asks, walking through to his office.
"Yes sir." She says, reaching for the phone.
"Thanks." Billy says walking into his office and over to his desk. A few moments later, Wanda buzzes him. "Yes."
"Jake is on line one."
"Thank you." Billy says, picking up his phone. "Jake." He says, pushing the button to connect the call.
"Yes sir."
"I spoke with Ava a few moments ago."
"Yes sir, I wanted to speak to you about…."
"She seems to be under the impression that you have a problem with her working on this project for me."
"Umm, no sir, I just…."
"Ava will be working on this project for the near future and any other project that I assign her, and while she is working this assignment Alice will be working in her place."
"Yes Sir." Jake says. Billy hangs up.
Megan walks into the house. She had taken the boys over to one of their friend's houses for a sleep over. Patrick is standing in the middle of the living room, with two suitcases when she walks in. "What's going on?" She asks, looking at the suitcases and then at him.
"You're leaving."
"I'm leaving. I don't have anyplace to go. Did something happen…?"
"You're leaving because you turned your back on me and the boys."
"Excuse me."
"I'm tired of this Megan."
"Tired of what?"
"Of everything, I'm tired of my job, I'm tired of DC, and I'm tired of taking care of the boys so you can go off to play around at school."
"I'm not playing around at school. This was the deal we made, I would wait until the boys were in school and then I would go back and finished my degree. If you're tired of DC, then we can leave. If you want to change jobs, then we'll work that out too, but I don't have to leave."
"I don't want to work this out. We were doing just fine the way things were before and if you won't go back to that, then you've got to leave."
"You're going to throw our marriage away because I went back to school."
"I never wanted you to go to school, you through this marriage away when you did that."
"We had an agreement, after the boys were in school that I could finish my degree, and if you love me then you would want me to be happy."
"And if you loved me you would want to do as I say, but you don't so maybe I don't love you anymore."
She sucks in a deep breath, staring at him with tears in her eyes. "I don't understand this. You have to love me. What about the boys?" She asks, as he picks up the suitcases, walking around her and towards the door. "Patrick."
"I'll them you'll see them this weekend."
"You seriously want me to leave."
"Yes, I seriously want you to leave."
"I love you."
"I'm sorry." He says, walking to the door. He turns to her but she doesn't move.
"Megan."
She finally walks towards him. Taking the suitcases and he steps back but she turns around and walks away from him.
"Where the hell do you think you're going?"
"No where." Megan says, walking towards the stairs.
"I told you to leave."
"And I'm telling that if you want out of this marriage then you will have to be the one that leaves. I'm not, because I haven't done anything wrong. You're not throwing me out of my house or out of my boy's lives. You want it to end, there's the door." She says, hoping that he won't leave. He looks at her for several seconds before he turns around, opening the door, as she says. "Patrick, don't do this, please."
"I didn't, you did."
"I love you."
"I'm sorry." He says, walking out and pulling the door closed, leaving her standing at the stairs, staring at the empty doorway.
Jeffrey gets up around nine the next morning. Going downstairs, he gets breakfast for them and then returns to the room. When he gets back, Sam is still sleeping. He goes to get a shower, letting her sleep a little longer. When he gets out, he hears her call. "Jeffrey."
"I'm right here." He says, opening the bathroom door.
"Oh." Sam says, sitting up as he comes out with a towel wrapped around him. "How long have you been up?"
"About an hour." He says, walking over to the bed.
"Why didn't you wake me up?"
"Because I was letting you sleep. We were up kind of late last night." He says, sitting down on the bed. Leaning over, he kisses her softly.'
"When is the plane going to be here?"
"It should be here around eleven."
"Then I need to get up." She says, pushing the covers back."
He sits back, letting her up. She's goes into the bathroom as he gets up to dress. About thirty minutes later, she comes out of the bathroom. Getting her clothes she turns to him and asks. "Would we have time to go by the falls again?"
"We can, the plane will wait for us. Do you want something to eat?"
"Not right now."
"Okay." He says, as he walks into the bathroom.
She gets dressed while he shaves and brushes his teeth. She walks into the bathroom as he's finishing up. "I'm going to take the suitcases down to the car."
"Okay, I'll be ready in a few minutes."
"There's no hurry." Jeffrey says, walking out of the bathroom.
Jeffrey takes the suitcases and opening the door he leave as Sam starts her makeup. When he comes back, he gets the shopping bags that they didn't have room to pack. When he returns, Sam is coming out of the bathroom with their travel bag. Sitting down on the couch, she looks at the breakfast he brought up. Picking up a piece of toast she eats some eggs and the toast. "Is everything ready?" She asks, as he sits down beside her.
"Yes, except for the travel bag."
"Okay."
When she finishes eating, he gets up and puts the tray out in the hallway before he closes the door. "Are you ready to go?"
"Yes." She says, getting up as he gets the travel bag and she grabs her purse.
He opens the door and holds it open for her. He closes it behind them and then follows her downstairs and when they get downstairs, they both stop at the front desk. "May I help you, Mr. O'Neill?"
"Yes, we need to check out?" Jeffrey says, putting the travel bag down.
"Of course, I hope you both enjoyed you stay here and I hope you come back."
"Thank you and we had a very good time." Jeffrey says, as Sam nods.
"I need you to sign these papers and then you'll be free to go." The clerk says, handing him some papers.
Taking the papers, Jeffrey signs them and then hands them back to the clerk. "Thank you and have a safe trip home."
"Thank you." Jeffrey says, picking up the travel bag as Sam smiles at the woman before they turn to leave.
They walk towards the door with Jeffrey following behind Sam. He holds the door for her. When they walk out, he puts his arm around her waist as they walk down the steps. Walking up to the car, Jeffrey opens her door and when she's inside, he closes it before putting the travel bag in the back with the rest of the luggage before he walks around the car. Opening the driver door, he gets in. Starting the car, he pulls out headed for the falls.
When they arrive, Jeffrey finds a place to park that's fairly close and they get out. As they walk towards the falls, he puts his arm around her, drawing her to him as he softly kisses the side of her head as she puts her arm around his waist, slipping her hand into his back pocket.
As they approach the falls, they walk through the crowd until they reach the railing, they stand there for several minutes before Jeffrey says. "I've had the best time while we were here."
"Me too." Sam says, moving closer to him.
Laying her head on his chest, he wraps his arms around her. "You don't want to leave." He says, softly kissing the top of her head as she nods yes. "We can come back, and we have our own falls."
"But it won't be only you and me, like it is now."
"Why not?"
"We'll still be together, but it will be different. This has just been us. We'll have kids and lives. It'll be different, if we come back." She says, reaching up to wipe her eyes.
"I tell you what we can plan to come back here next year, for our anniversary, just the two of us. We'll come back and we'll spend two weeks like we did this time and we'll stay at the inn and we'll do everything we did this time."
"Okay." She says, as she reaches up to wipe her eyes.
"Good." He says, leaning over to kiss her. When he pulls away he says. "We need to go."
"Okay." She replies, turning to look back at the falls. Putting his arm around her waist, she lets him draw her away, walking through the crowd.
When they reach the airport, he goes to the private hanger where they landed before, returning the car to the man waiting for them while the crew unloads the luggage from the car. He and Sam board and settle into the middle cabin where they sat before. About twenty minutes after they arrive, the pilot buzzes them.
"Yes." Jeffrey says, holding down the intercom.
"Sir, we've been cleared for take off, if you're not already buckled in, please do so."
"Thank you, we're ready to leave." Jeffrey says, reaching for Sam's hand.
"Yes sir."
A few moments later, the plane begins to roll towards the runway and in less than five minutes they are in the air and headed back to Springfield.