A Fresh Start
Chapter One Hundred Ninety
Olivia slept very little the night before and as the sun rose she gets out of bed, going to take a shower before she walks out onto the terrace. She's still out there when James wakes up. "Olivia." He calls, looking around the room.
Hearing him, she goes back inside, walking into the bedroom as he is getting up. "I was outside." She says, as she sits down beside him.
"Are you worried about leaving?"
"Maybe a little bit, I was hoping that once I told Ava that she could keep Emma, she would let me see her before I left, but I guess she wants to stay in San Cristobel until I'm gone."
"We will have to give it time, sweetheart. Ava will come around." He says, as she leans over and kisses him.
"When will the plane be ready?"
"Probably within a couple hours, I want to stop by Cassie's office to talk to her before we go."
"Alright, are you hungry?"
"We'll eat at Olivia's if you want." He says, getting up.
"That's fine."
He goes into the bathroom as Olivia walks into the other room. Thirty minutes later, they are walking into Olivia's. Cassie walks through about ten minutes later. "Cassie." James says, waving her over.
She walks over to him. "Good morning." She says, hugging him and then sitting down beside Olivia.
"I haven't seen you since you got back from the honeymoon. How was everything?"
"Wonderful, Richard rented a cabin on the lake where the Bauer Cabin is. It was quiet and peaceful. We went hiking and hung around the lake and then he found the man who bought the royal yacht from the Santos and he rented it for the evening and we spent our last night there."
"He actually found the royal yacht." Olivia asks.
"Yes, apparently Danny sold it several years ago and the man that bought it has property in the area and he keeps it there during the summer and then ships it down to Florida in the winter. Once he realized who Richard was, he let him rent it for the night."
"I'm sure that sort of felt like déjà vu." Olivia says.
"Yes, but we made it special for this time."
"I wanted to talk to you about the project in Europe." James says.
"I thought we had everything worked out. How is JR?"
"He's fine, busy as ever. He's at the site right now, working on the plans with architect."
"Good, when are you leaving?" Cassie asks, looking at Olivia.
"Later today, we're going together."
"Oh, okay. Well, I found someone to take over for your part here."
"Really, that quickly."
"Yes."
"How did you find someone so quickly? Ava's not coming…."
"No, I haven't spoken to Ava. And the person I found approached me. She actually approached me yesterday when I arrived."
"She approached you?"
"Yes."
"Who is it?" Olivia asks, suspecting that she knew.
"Reva." Cassie says.
Olivia starts to say something and then she takes a deep breath. "Reva, she is qualified to help run this place, although I'm not sure Lewis Construction is the same as a hotel."
"You're okay with this?"
"I… she wouldn't have been my choice but since I am the reason that you have to find someone one, if you want Reva to help you then I'm okay with it. I'll be in England anyway so you won't have to deal with our issues."
"This is the only way Richard will let me continue working while I'm pregnant. He was upset yesterday when he realized that I had spent all day here."
"Why were you here all day yesterday?"
"I was dealing with the Ladies Auxiliary from Laurel Falls."
"Everything was handled when they were here a couple months ago, I thought it was anyway."
"It was, but then they heard about your arrest and that you were leaving and Ms. Jackie Fairewood wanted to discuss what happened and what we were going to do about it. I kept explaining the situation and that I would be running the hotel from now on."
"I'm sorry, why didn't you call me in? I would have handled her."
"She needed to learn that she's going to have to deal with me from now on, well she'll deal with Reva until the baby comes but after that it's me. I knew what she wanted. She was angling to get us to reduce the rate we agreed on. I wasn't doing it."
"She could have taken the convention to Towers."
"She could have, but as Richard pointed out she wouldn't get the deal we made her and she would have to get the approval of the Ladies Auxiliary before she demanded we release her from the contract. It's all worked out."
"If I may ask, why does Reva want to help you out here?"
"She needs something to do."
"Lewis isn't keeping her busy enough."
"Umm, she's avoiding Lewis right now."
"She's avoiding Josh right now."
"Ah, I don't know if I should get into this with you. You and Reva haven't exactly been the best of friends over the years." Cassie says, as Olivia nods.
"No, we haven't. Well when you see her, tell her I hope it works out."
"I will."
"I do mean that. I hope it does work out."
"I'll tell her."
"Olivia, do you mind if I talk to Cassie for a moment?"
"Umm, no." She says, getting up.
"You take care." Cassie says, getting up. They hug before Olivia walks away and Cassie sits back down. "Is something wrong?"
"No, not exactly, I wanted to tell you something. Olivia already knows about it, but I wanted to talk to you about it."
"Alright."
"I wanted to tell about your sister."
"Sarah." Cassie says, sitting back.
"Yes."
"She's not in town is she?"
"No, she left the day after the wedding. I wanted you to know that she didn't return to London and that is part of the reason JR is busy right now. He is working on plans for hotel, but he's also looking for her."
"Do you have any idea where she is?"
"No, we had a bit of a rawl the morning after the wedding. I sent her back to England and when she landed she didn't go back to the house or her husband's home either."'
"Alright, do you think she'll try to do something?"
"No, I don't think she'll come after you or Richard. I just wanted you to know that she didn't return home and we don't know where she is."
"How do you know she won't do something?"
"I don't believe she will. She's petty and spoiled, but I don't think she would physically hurt you or your family."
"Alright and thank you for telling me, you're going over with Olivia?"
"Yes, I thought I would. I want to help her get settled. She will be staying in one of the towns close to the job site."
"So, she's not moving in with you."
"No, she doesn't want to, not right now. She says she wants to working on herself before we go to the next step anyway."
"I hope she makes you happy, but I have to say, be careful too."
"You don't believe people can change?"
"I hope she does. I hope this stuff with Jeffrey helps her."
"Will you, Richard and the boys come over?"
"I'll have to talk to Richard, but it won't be till after the baby comes. I'm a high risk pregnancy so Dr. Sedgwick will never approve of me flying anywhere."
"Then I'll come back when my first grandchild comes." James says with a smile.
"I expect you to be there." She says smiling back as Reva walks up.
"Hey sis, I just ran into Olivia and she said you told her about me helping out when she's gone." She says as James stands up.
"Yes, I did. I didn't tell her the full reason why but she guessed that it has something to do with Josh."
"I'm going to go find Olivia. I'll see you before I leave." James says.
"Okay." Cassie says, as James walks away and Reva sits down.
"Thank you for not telling her. When does she leave?"
"Later this afternoon, James is going with her."
"It looked like you guys were in the middle of a serious conversation when I walked up."
"He was telling me about Sarah."
"She's not in town, is she?"
"No, she left the day after the wedding, but when she returned to London, she didn't go to his house or her husband's and they don't know where she is."
"Is he afraid she'll try to do something to you or the baby?"
"No, but he wanted me to know what was going on. JR is looking for her and I'm not going to worry about her because if Richard thinks that I'm stressed he's going to force me to stay home. He was quite upset when he realized that I stayed here all day yesterday."
"Why did you stay here? I had everything handled."
"I was dealing with the Ladies Auxiliary from Laurel Falls."
"Is everything handled?"
"Yes, but from now on at least until the baby comes, I need you to take care of them."
"Alright."
"Did you have any problems with the employees or vendors yesterday?"
"No, I explained that I was taking over for Olivia because she is leaving the country."
"Good. Have you talked to…?"
"I haven't spoken with Josh. It's his move."
"Reva, this situation isn't going to resolve itself. You have to talk to him."
"I have talked to him. I've told him everything I can tell him. Now he has to decide if he's going to believe me or keep fighting the fact that Jeffrey is apart of this family and he's brother."
"And what if he doesn't accept him? Are you willing to loose Josh because of it?"
"If Josh wants to end this marriage, he will have to be the one that does it. I'm not going to, but I'm not going to placate him either. Jeffrey is his brother and we can't ignore that fact to ease Josh's insecurities."
"I know you're right, but you and Josh have been on a good streak and I hate to see it end because of this."
"We'll be fine Cassie." Reva says, reaching for her hand and giving it a squeeze.
"Listen, I'm going to go. I promised Richard that I would not stay past noon and I'm sort of tired anyway."
"Go, I'll hold down the fort for you."
"Thank you. I've got to meet Richard anyway?"
"Why?"
"I forgot, until I looked at the calendar this morning that I have a doctor's appointment at one and he's going to go with me."
"Okay."
"I'll see you and if you have any problems…."
"I will call you, but I'm sure everything will be fine." Reva says, as they both stand up and leave.
William is gone the next morning when Ava wakes up. She lies in bed for a while looking at the ring on her left hand. After they had finished dinner, they had come upstairs and spent the evening in bed. They both agreed to wait to start planning the wedding till he was in Springfield. She's looking at the ring when there's a knock on the door. Pushing the covers back, she gets out of bed grabbing her robe as she leaves the suite. Opening the door, she finds Emma on the other side. "What's up?" Ava asks, stepping back and Emma walks in.
"I wanted to see when we were going back to Springfield."
"I guess you're worried about Mom." Ava says, closing the door while Emma sits down on the couch.
"She's got to leave soon, and if I'm going with…."
"You're not going with her."
"She's not leaving Springfield, but she'll get…."
"No, she's still leaving Springfield. But the other night, she called and she wanted to talk to me but she spoke to William instead and she told him to tell me that she's agreed to let you stay with me for awhile."
"I get to stay with you in Springfield. I don't have to leave."
"No, you don't have to leave. Are you okay with that?"
"Yes, I didn't want to leave Springfield. I like it there and I have my friends. And if Mom stays the way she was before she got in trouble I don't think England would be that fun."
"You know that Mom didn't intend on hurting you."
"She was really mad a lot and sometimes she got mad at me and she's never done that before."
"Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore."
"How long will I be staying with you and William?"
"I'm not sure. We'll see how things go, but you'll be there for the immediate future."
"So, next month she can decide she wants me to come back to her."
"She could, but I don't think she will?"
"Why?"
"Because I think she realizes that she needs to take a break and fix the things that made her go after Jeffrey."
"So, when are we going back to Springfield?"
"We'll probably go home in a few days. Don't you like staying here on the island with William?"
"Sure, the palace is cool but…."
"But you're missing your friends. Well we'll go home in a few days."
"Okay." Emma gets up to leave and then she turns to Ava. "Where did you get that ring?" She asks, pointing to the ring on Ava left hand.
Ava looks down and then at Emma. "William gave it to me last night."
"You're getting married." Emma says.
"Umm, yes." Ava says, surprised she knew what the ring meant. "William asked me last night. Are you okay with that?"
"I'm totally okay with it. I think it's awesome but when are you getting married?"
"We haven't set a date yet. But when we do, you are going to be in the wedding?"
"I am."
"Yes, I'll need a flower girl, won't I? Have you had breakfast?"
"Yes."
"Does the nanny know that you're here?"
"Yes, she asked one of the maids to bring me here."
"Well, I haven't eaten yet and if I don't your little niece or nephew will be upset, so can you wait for me and we'll go downstairs."
"Okay." Emma says, sitting back down as Ava gets up.
"I'll be quick."
"Okay." Emma says, as Ava leaves the room.
Richard is in his office. His meeting had ended a few moments before and he has about twenty minutes before his next one. Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out his wallet and takes out the paper that has his former sister-in-law's number on it. He looks at it for a moment before he picks up the phone, dialing the number for Julie's office. "Peters, Steinman and Burke." A woman answers on the second ring.
"Yes I was calling to speak to a Julie Winslow."
"Umm, this is she. May I ask whose calling?"
"Ah, this is Richard, Richard Winslow. You were married to my brother." Richard says softly, realizing how strange it felt to talk about a man that he did not know."
"Yes, Mr. Winslow."
"I haven't called at a bad time, have I?"
"No, I wasn't busy."
"I don't really know what to say. I know you were married to my brother and that he died shortly before my accident about five years ago."
"That's correct. His accident left him brain dead. I am assuming that after you're accident that is when the agency approached me and asked me to allow them to take Matt…."
"Was that his name, Matt?" Richard asks.
"Umm, yes. Matthew Anthony Winslow."
"How did you meet him?"
"We went to high school together after he and his mother moved here from Chicago."
"My mother was from Chicago?"
"No, she was from southern Illinois but she moved to Chicago a few months after Matt was born. She didn't talk much about her life before Matt was born and I'm not even sure if she ever told him who his father was or that he had a twin…." She pauses for a moment, realizing the awkwardness of that statement. "I don't think she ever told him about you or your father."
"My father never told me about my true identity. I didn't find out until about a year before my accident. And from what I found out, I was lead to believe that she hadn't survived and there was no mention of me having a twin brother. Did he have a good life?"
"Yes, very. We had three kids, two boys and a girl before the accident."
"How long were you married?"
"Umm, we were married almost fifteen years."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up painful memories. It's just that I don't know what exactly to say." Richard says, hearing the pain in her voice. "Where are you living now?"
"I've just recently moved back to Oakdale. From what the agents told me you are in Springfield."
"That's correct, my wife is from here and we moved here from San Cristobel, shortly before my accident."
"Do you have any kids?"
"Umm, I've got three boys. My wife and I had a boy and she had a boy and a girl. I adopted them when I married Cassie, that's her name. I adopted her kids when we were married in San Cristobel. RJ's seven and Will is five. And then I have Jonathan from a previous marriage."
"What happened to your daughter?"
"Umm, she was killed about a year ago, I guess. It was before I woke up from the coma."
"Oh, I'm so sorry."
"How old are you kids?"
"My oldest is thirteen and then I have a ten year old and an eight year old. What was your daughter's name?"
"Tammy, Tammy Winslow."
"I remember that. She was hit by a car just outside of Springfield. The driver was never caught."
"That's correct. I know that you want to take this slow and I completely understand and I'm okay with that but I was calling to see if we could meet, maybe for lunch this week sometime."
"I think that would be okay."
"Good, would Friday be okay?"
"Friday, that should be fine."
"Around one, I'll come to Oakdale."
"I'll put you down for one on Friday."
"Thank you. Where do you want to eat?"
"We can meet at the Lakeview and eat there if you like."
"That's fine. I'll meet you at the Lakeview, Friday at one."
"And you can bring your wife, if you want or it can just be us, or maybe it would be better if you bring her."
Richard smiles. "It's okay. Cassie knows what's going on."
"Then I look forward to meeting you and your wife if you want to bring her."
"I'll see you Friday."
"Okay, I have one other question?"
"What?"
"What was my mother's name?"
"Oh, Maddie, it was short for Madeline."
"Maddie." Richard says softly. "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
"I'll see you Friday then."
"Yes, I'll see you then." She replies, and Richard hangs up a few moments later.
Josh walks into Company. He had been meeting with a man that wanted to hire Lewis to build some buildings outside of Springfield and he was between meetings so he decided to grab himself something to eat. He's sitting down when Jas walks into Company. She spots him as she walks in and pauses for a moment before she continues over to a table. Sitting down, she watches Josh for a moment before Marina comes up to her. "Welcome to Company, my names Marina and I'll be your waitress this afternoon. May I bring you something to drink?"
"Umm, I'll have some water with lemon."
"Yes ma'am. Do you need a moment to look over the menu or would you like to order now?"
"That gentleman over there, what is he having?" Jas asks, looking at Josh."
"Oh, that's the special. My granddad's famous chili." Marina says with a smile.
"I'll have that then."
"Do you want one, two, three or four alarm?" Marina asks, as Jas looks at her. "How spicy do you want it?"
"Oh, one alarm will be fine." She says, with a soft smile.
"Alright, I'll have that out to you in a moment."
"Thank you." Jas says, as Marina takes her menu and leaves. For another moment, Jas watches Josh while he eats but being afraid that he'll catch her watching him, she turns her attention to the rest of the restaurant until Marina brings her water and chili and she begins to eat.
Jeffrey had given her the day off when she showed up for work. She had to find a place to live. DJ had refused to stay with her anymore and she couldn't keep driving back and forth from Chicago. She is finishing up eating as Josh looks up and notices her sitting a couples tables away from him. Feeling someone's eyes on her, she looks up and finds Josh watching her, she nods to him and he nods back.
Richard is finishing his meeting when Cassie walks into his office. "I'll look over those reports and we will be in touch Mr. Slate."
"Thank you." He says, holding out his hand. They shake hands before he turns to leave, nodding to Cassie as he walks past.
"Good afternoon, darling." Richard says, smiling as she walks up to him.
"Good afternoon, handsome." She says, leaning up to kiss him. "Are you busy building up Springfield?"
"Yes, but we have an appointment with Dr. Sedgwick."
"Yes, we do."
"Amelia, I'm going to be out of the office until about three."
"Yes sir." She says, smiling as they leave.
He walks Cassie to his car, holding the door for her before he walks around to the other side. Getting in, they leave for Cedars. "How has your morning gone?"
"Quite well, I spoke with Olivia and James. She will be leaving later this afternoon for England, and he is going with her. And then I talked with Reva for a moment before I left. I wasn't at the Beacon for more than a couple hours and then I went home and I rested until it was time for me to leave for the appointment."
"Good." He says, smiling as he glances at her.
"So, you've been busy with Mr. Slate."
"Umm, yes and a couple of other things."
"What other things?"
"I had a meeting with that company out of Chicago. The one that missed the deadline for the land off Shadow Lane."
"I thought you didn't want to work with them?"
"I didn't but the man that was handling the negotiations before is no longer with the company, so they are asking that we reconsider them for another location. I'll have to talk to Jeffrey about it, but the company seems pretty solid." Richard says, pulling into Cedars.
"It sounds like you've been busy." She says, getting out as he gets out and walks around the car.
"I have." He says, putting his arm across her shoulders.
She slips her arm around his waist. "Have you seen Jeffrey?"
"Umm, no." Richard says, as they walk into the hospital. "How did Olivia seem this morning?"
"Alright, I suppose. I told her about Reva."
"How did she react?" Richard asks, pushing the button for the elevator.
"I think she wanted to say something but she stopped herself. She wanted to know why Reva wanted to help."
"What did you tell her?"
"That she needed something to do."
"You didn't tell her that she's keeping herself busy because of this thing with Josh and Jeffrey?"
"No, I didn't but she guessed that it has something to do with Josh."
They step off the elevator and walk down the hallway to Dr. Sedgwick's office. He holds the door for her and she sits down while he goes to let the nurse know they are there.