A Fresh Start
Chapter Two Hundred Nine
The next morning Cassie walks into the Beacon. Reva hasn't made it in yet so she goes to her office. After turning her computer on, she checks the voicemail to see if there are any messages. "Cass, it's your Dad. I was calling to see how you're doing. When you get this, call me."
Cassie picks up the phone and dials James's number. After a few rings, a lady picks up. "Richard's residence."
"Yes, this is Cassie. Is my dad there?"
"He's left for the construction site, Ms." The woman says.
"Of course, I didn't think about the time difference. I will call his cell phone."
"Is there a message Ms, should Mr. Richard's call in."
"Just tell him that Cassie called, but I'm sure I'll reach him on his cell phone."
"Yes, Ms." The woman replies, hanging up.
Cassie waits a couple minutes before she dials James's cell phone. "Hello." He says, rather loudly when he picks up.
"Dad, its Cassie."
"I can't hear you, hold on." James yells. Turning away from the crew that he was watching he walks over to a small trailer. Going inside, he says. "Hello, are you there?"
"Yes, I can hear you. Can you hear me?" Cassie asks.
"Yes, who is this?"
"It's Cassie. I was returning your call."
"Oh, hi. How are you?"
"I'm good. How are you?"
"Busy, the construction for the new site is in full swing."
"I haven't heard from Olivia. Is everything okay…?"
"Olivia's not around much. She says she needs some time to get herself together."
"I'm sorry. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I just want her to be happy."
"Are you happy?"
"I've got a lot to keep me busy."
"I'm sorry."
"There's no reason to be sorry. Olivia and I didn't make any promises to each other. She wants time to work on things so I'm giving her time."
"You think she's going to come back."
"I don't know. I'm hoping she does. I think the things that happened in Springfield with Ava's father really shook her and she needs time to work through that. How is Richard?" James says, changing the subject.
Cassie lets it drop. "Richard is fine."
"So there's nothing going on in Springfield?"
"Nothing more than the usual stuff. Alan was convicted and sentenced to thirty years."
"Alan was convicted. I never thought they would convict him. How is your sister?"
"Reva's good. She's helping me here at the Beacon."
"Is there more going on?"
"Its personal stuff, but I think she's going to be alright."
"How are the boys?"
"Will's settling in really well. RJ's sick right now."
"Will he be okay?"
"Yes, it's only tonsillitis. His pediatrician gave him some antibiotics and we'll go from there. He did miss his last game however."
"I'm sure he's not happy about that."
"No, he wasn't. They played the team's rival."
"How did the game turn out?"
"We won, but RJ still wasn't happy about missing the game." Cassie says, as the foreman walks into the trailer.
"Cass, I need to go. My foreman is here for a meeting."
"Okay, quick question. What's JR doing?"
"He's still working on leads for Sarah."
"Do I need to be concerned?"
"No, she's probably off pouting and when she's finished, she'll come back."
"I'll let you go and I'm sorry about Olivia."
"I'm fine. I'll talk to you soon."
"Okay, love you."
"I love you too." James says, smiling as he hangs up.
Jeffrey walks into Richard's office shortly before lunch. Amelia is at her desk when he walks in and says. "Hello, Mr. Mayor."
"Hello, is he in his office?"
"Yes." She says, as Jeffrey walks over to the door.
He knocks once and opens the door when Richard answers. "Jeffrey, hi." Richard says, looking up.
"Hi. Am I interrupting?"
"No, I was looking over some proposals for fund raisers. I didn't realize a campaign could be so expensive."
"I didn't realize it either so I understand." Jeffrey says, sitting down across from him. "So, you've decided to run."
"I'm exploring my options." Richard says, as Jeffrey nods.
"Well if you need any help, I would be glad to give what little advice I know." He says, as Richard nods. "I came by to see if you and Cassie would be able to help us move this weekend."
"Yes, William called me last night and told us about it. We would love to help. Cassie's actually excited to see what you bought her." Richard says with a smile.
"I only bought the house. Billy made it livable."
"Have you seen or talked to Josh?"
"No, I haven't seen him. I'm going to call Billy when I get back to my office. I thought I would ask him if he wanted to help too."
"I'm sure he would."
"Was there some reason you wanted to know if I'd seen or talked to Josh?"
"No, I was just curious. I know things have been strained between you."
"I would say more than strained, but no I haven't seen or talked to him."
"Okay. How are things with Ava and William?"
"Great, from what he told me yesterday. They're planning on getting married on New Years Eve."
"Have they made any other plans?"
"No, only the date has been set." Jeffrey says, as Amelia buzzes Richard.
"Yes." Richard says, holding down the button for the intercom.
"Sir, your eleven o'clock is here."
"Thank you, Amelia. I'll be right out."
"I'll go." Jeffrey says, getting up. "I'll see you this weekend."
"Yes, what time?"
"I would say about nine." Jeffrey says, as they walk over to the door.
"We'll see you then." Richard says, opening the door.
"Great." Jeffrey replies, walking out. Leaving Richard to greet his guest.
A few minutes later, Jeffrey walks into his office. "Stace." He says, as he walks in.
"Yes sir." She replies, looking up from the letter she was typing.
"I meant to tell that I will be out of the office tomorrow after lunch. Do I have anything scheduled?"
Stace looks at his calendar. "I don't see anything Sir."
"Good, then don't schedule anything else until Monday."
"Yes sir."
"I'm going to lunch so you can go too."
"Yes sir." She says. Jeffrey leaves as she stands up to leave.
Josh walks into Sam's clinic around noon. Leah looks up and when she sees him, she sighs before she goes over to him. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to take you to lunch."
"There is no reason for this."
"I think there is. We need to discuss our child…?"
"My son doesn't want anything to do with either of us. There's nothing for us to discuss."
"And I would like to know my son since I was deprived of knowing him as he was growing up." Josh says, as Sam walks up.
"Leah, go ahead and take your lunch. We'll be fine." Sam says, looking at Josh.
"I need to file these charts." Leah says, holding up the charts in her hand.
"I'll have Nancy do them." Sam says, taking the charts. "Go on to lunch."
"I'll be right back." She says, turning to Josh.
"Thank you." Josh says, turning to Sam.
"I didn't do it for you. I don't want a scene here." Sam says, looking at him as he nods.
A few seconds later, Leah returns. "Where are we going?"
"I thought we could get something at Company and then eat in the park."
"It's freezing outside, or didn't you notice that."
"It'll be more private for this conversation." Josh says, holding the door for her.
They leave. About thirty minutes later, Josh leads the way to the gazebo in the middle of the park. After finding a table that was in the sun to make things more comfortable, he sits down with Leah sitting down across from him. They each take their food out before Josh looks up and asks. "When did you know that you were pregnant?"
She looks at him and then sighs. "Not until about six weeks after you left."
"If you were married, why did you sleep with me that night?"
"If I remember correctly, we both were married."
"Yes, we were. But I thought my wife was dead. Obviously you knew your husband wasn't."
"Joseph and I had some problems early in our marriage. One of them being that he couldn't have children and I wanted children. He wasn't ready to adopt and I was. We seemed to fight a lot about that and that is why I was at the bar that night. He had decided to move out. I thought he wasn't going to come back and I was alone and scared so I went to the bar. You know the rest."
"If he wasn't able to have kids, how did you explain being pregnant?"
"I told him the truth. I had no other option at that point."
"And after you told him the truth, he decided to raise your son as his own?"
"Yes, it wouldn't've been much different than raising a child that we adopted; only this child would be related to one of us a little bit more."
"How did your son…? What's his name?"
"Dorian Joshua…."
"You named him after me?"
"Yes and no. My father's father was named Joshua too. Dorian was a name that I picked out because I liked the meaning."
"Does he have any idea that I'm his father?"
"No, I never told him your name. I barely remembered it."
"You realize that we have to tell him."
"Why? He's shown no interest in finding out who you are."
"Eventually he will."
"He still thinks of my husband as his father. And he's too angry with me right now to even listen to what I have to say, let alone hearing that you're his father."
"I want him to know that I had no idea he existed."
"Maybe you want to elevate the guilt."
"We're both guilty. I want him to know that if I had known he existed I would have been there."
"Would you have been there? It seems as though your life ended up much better than you explained that night."
"My life is good. I was lucky and Reva is a good woman." Josh says, looking at Leah. "But I still want him to know that I didn't know."
"Then I will tell him."
"You can't keep my son from me. We have the right to know each other."
"Up until yesterday, you didn't even know he existed and now you want to demand rights to him."
"He's a grown man."
"He's still my son!" Leah says, getting up and walking away. Josh gets up to follow her.
He reaches out to stop her when he catches up to her. "Leah, stop." He says, catching her arm.
"Let go of me."
"You're not the only one involved here."
"He's my son, so you will stay away from him."
"I'm not going to do that." Josh says, looking at her.
"Why do you care? You have your life and your family."
"He's part of my family. He's my child."
"You were his sperm donor." Leah says, looking at him.
Josh stares at her. "I was his sperm donor, only because you didn't tell me he was alive. He's my son and now that I know about him, I'm not going to turn my back on him no matter what you say." Josh says, turning away from her.
He's coming out of the park when Harley walks up. "Josh." She says, getting his attention.
"Harley, hi." Josh says, looking up.
"Something wrong?" She asks, before looking behind Josh. "Is that…?"
"Yes, I'm taking care of it. Was there something you needed?"
"I was just following up to see if you wanted me to continue looking into this." Harley says, as Leah walks by.
"No, I'll handle it from here. Thank you for everything."
"You're welcome."
"You can send the bill to Lewis and I'll have Wanda send you a check."
"I will. Are you sure you will be okay?"
"I'll be fine." Josh says, turning away.
"Okay." Harley says to herself as Josh walks away.
Ava walks into the Beacon after lunch. Cassie is talking with one of the maids when she walks in. "You'll take care of that." Cassie says to the maid.
"Right away, Mrs. Winslow." The girl replies.
"Thank you." Cassie says, as the maid walks away.
"Cassie." Ava says, as she walks up to her.
"Ava, hi." Cassie says, turning to her. "How are you doing?"
"I'm great. I just came from Dr. Sedgwick's office. Everything is progressing like it should."
"That's good to hear. I have an appointment on Monday. I'll have to remind Richard about it." Cassie says, making a mental note to tell Richard that evening.
"I'm surprised you're still here. I thought you only stayed half a day."
"I was about to leave."
"Oh, well I guess I can come back."
"No, I can stay a little longer. What did you need?"
"Well, I was going to talk to you about my wedding. We've set a date and I thought it would be good to have it here at the Beacon. With the date we've chosen, we can't have it outside and I didn't want to deal with the Country Club or Towers."
"New years is not a good time for Towers or the Country Club." Cassie says, as she turns to walk back to her office. Ava follows her.
"You know the date?" She asks, as Cassie opens the door to her office.
"Yes, Richard told me. Congratulations on William's job."
"He's excited about it."
"For what Richard told me, it sounds like it will be a good fit for him. So, you're getting married New Years Eve. That gives us just over three months to plan this. Is there anything in particular that you wanted?"
"Ummm, no. I've always been a simple kind of girl. We'll probably only have our family there and a few close friends so it won't be a large wedding."
"Are you thinking fifty to a hundred guests?"
"Actually it's probably going to be smaller than that. You and Richard, Jeffrey and Sam. My mom can't be there but Emma will be. In fact, she'll probably be our flower girl and Will can be the ring bear, if that's okay with you."
"It's fine with me. I would ask William though." Cassie says. "So, me and Richard, with RJ and Will, Jeffrey and Sam and Emma. Will you have any personal friends there?"
"Stace will be my maid of honor. I thought you; Sam and Reva could be my braids maids, if you want?"
"I can't speak for Sam and Reva, but I would be honored. Are there any particular colors you want?"
"Umm, since it's going to be on New Years Eve, We could do a winter themed wedding."
"We can do whatever you want, but maybe you should think about doing something that's not so expected."
"Did you have something in mind?"
"Well, we would need to speak with our planner and catering office but it might be worth considering doing a spring time wedding. Of course we can't have the wedding outside in the garden because it would be too cold, but we could use one of the ballrooms and make it into a spring garden. It's just an idea."
"I'll need to talk to William."
"Let's set up appointment for you to speak with our planner and the catering staff. Will you have the reception here as well?"
"Yes, we were planning on having everything here, including the wedding night."
"Alright, then I'll make sure the honeymoon suite is booked for you that evening. And we won't charge you for that as a wedding gift from me and Richard."
"Thank you."
"Have you picked out a dress yet?"
"No, I was going to see if you could go with me, since Olivia's…."
"I would be happy to go with you. Is there anything else?"
"No, let me talk to William about the theme for the wedding and I'll get back to you."
"That's fine, I'll contact the wedding planner and catering staff."
"Thank you." Ava says, standing up.
"You're welcome." Cassie says, standing up with her. "You and William need to come out to the farm soon."
"I'll talk to him about that." Ava says, as they walk over to Cassie's door.
"Good, I'll have the planner get in touch with you as well as the catering office."
"Thank you." Ava says, as Cassie opens the door for her.
"Tell William hello for me."
"I will." Ava says, walking out of the office.
Julie had to work late the day after RJ's game so Maggie was there to watch the kids when they came home from school. "Nana!" They call when they walk in the door.
She walks out of the kitchen to greet them. "Did you all have a good day at school?" She asks, as she hugs each of them and they all nod. "Put your stuff away and then we're going to go somewhere." They all go to put their backpacks in their rooms before the boys come back downstairs.
"I'm hungry." Michael says, looking up at her.
"Where are we going?" Morgan asks.
"We're going over to Springfield and we'll get something to eat before we leave town. Let's go, MJ, come on." Maggie calls, as she comes downstairs.
"Where are we going?" She asks, as Maggie opens the door.
"Springfield."
"I've got homework." MJ says
"We'll finish it when we get back. We won't be long." Maggie says, as the kids walk out of the house. Maggie closes the door and locks it before following the kids to her car.
Richard is wrapping up some paperwork. He's about to leave the office for the day when Amelia buzzes him. "Yes." He says, holding down the button for the intercom.
"Sir, there is a woman here to see you."
"Is she on the calendar?"
"No sir."
"Could she come back tomorrow?"
"No sir, she's says it's personal."
"Alright, you can send her in." Richard says, releasing the button and standing up as Maggie opens the door to his office.
"Thank you for seeing us." She says, as Richard looks up.
"Hello." He says, obviously surprised. "I wasn't expecting to see you." He says, noticing the kids that are with her.
"I know. This was a last minute decision. I have my grandchildren this afternoon until my daughter gets home from work. She's has to work late. I thought that since we couldn't meet at the game, I could bring them here." Maggie says, as Richard looks at the kids.
"These are…?" He looks at her.
"Yes, this is Morgan, MJ and Michael." Maggie says, pointing to each of them.
"Hello." Richard says, walking around the desk. All three of the kids stare at him. "I'm very happy to meet you."
"You look just like my daddy." Michael says, staring at Richard.
"Yes, I know." Richard says, looking at Maggie.
"I thought maybe you would like to explain it to them." Maggie says, as Richard nods.
"Michael, you're right. I do look like your Daddy."
"Why?" Michael asks, watching him.
"You're daddy was my brother, my twin brother. Do you know what that means?" Richard asks, as Michael shakes his head no. "What that means is that our mother, your grandmother had two babies growing inside her and when she had us your father and I were born on the same day, a few minutes apart."
"How did she have two babies growing inside her?" Michael asks.
"Well, it was a pretty amazing thing." Richard says, sitting down in the chair in front of his desk. "When our mother was expecting us, the egg that she was carrying split in two parts, creating your father and me, at the same time."
"So, you're part of my Daddy." Michael says, looking at him.
"Yes, we were part of each other. That made us identical twins."
"Why didn't he tell us?" Morgan asks.
"He didn't know. Neither one of us knew about the other one."
"But if you were a part of each other, how did you not know about each other?" MJ asks.
"My father made a deal with our mother. He would take me and raise me and our mother would take my brother and raise him. He would never see my brother and she would never see me again."
"Why?"
"I wasn't born in the US. Neither was your father. We were born on the tiny island of San Cristobel."
"Oh, I want to go there." MJ says. "I've seen pictures when I was online at school. It's beautiful."
"Yes, it is." Richard says with a smile. "Anyway, when we were born, our father was Prince of San Cristobel."
"So, our Granma was a Princess." MJ says.
"No, she wasn't princess. Our father was married when he met your Granma, but he loved her deeply. So much so, that your father and I came along. My father was under a lot of pressure to provide an heir for the throne of San Cristobel. And the woman that he was married to hadn't been able to carry a baby to full term, so when your Granma became pregnant with me and your father, our father made a deal with her after we were born."
"I don't understand." Michael says.
"I know it's complicated. What you need to know is that neither your father nor I knew about each other."
"How did you find out?" Morgan asks.
"Your father saved my life, in a way." Richard says. "Do you remember your father's accident?" All three kids nod yes. "About a week after your father's accident, I had one too. I was hurt really bad and I didn't think that I would survive so I asked my wife's sister to turn off the machines that were helping me. She didn't want to do it, so she went to the chapel there in the hospital to pray. But while she was gone, some men from the government came into my room and they switched me with your father and they took me to Washington DC."
"Why did they take you away?" Michael asks.
"Because I was hurt really bad and the doctors in DC could help me get better quicker, but still it took a long time for me to get well. I've been in a coma for the last five years."
"What's a coma?" Michael asks.
"I was in a deep sleep. I couldn't move, couldn't talk. I didn't know that all of my family thought that I had died that day in the hospital. I didn't know about your father taking my place."
"Why did you have an accident?" Morgan asks.
"Someone wanted to hurt my wife, so she paid someone to kill me. Your father was an innocent victim in all of this and I am so sorry about that. If I could bring him back to you I would. I want you to know that." Richard says, looking at all three of them.
Michael walks over to him. "Its okay uncle Richard, it's not your fault." He says, hugging him.
Richard pulls him close, hugging him for a few moments before he says. "Thank you, Michael." Morgan and MJ hug him too after he releases Michael.
"I think it's time that we go. You're mom is going to be home soon." Maggie says. Each of them hugs Richard again. "Can you wait for me outside?" She asks them.
They leave the room as Richard stands up. "Thank you." He says, turning to Maggie.
"You're welcome."
"She doesn't know that you brought them over here, does she?"
"No."
"You're taking a big risk bringing them here."
"You deserve to know them. And you deserve the chance to tell them what happened from your own point of view. I'll handle Julie, if she finds out."
"Thank you again." Richard says, reaching to hug her.
They hug for a moment and then Maggie steps back. "I really do need to go."
"Thank you again." Richard says, walking her to the door.
The kids are waiting in the outer office and when they walk out. They each hug Richard again before they leave.
He leaves right after Maggie and the kid's leave. Cassie is in the kitchen when he walks in. When the door opens, she turns around and smiles when she sees him. "Hi." She says, as he puts his briefcase down and hangs up his coat and keys by the door.
"Hi." He says, walking over to her. Slipping his arms around her, he pulls her back to him. "Did you have a good day?"
"Yes, RJ's feeling better. I went to the Beacon this morning and I talked to James."
"How is he doing?" He asks, still holding her.
"He's busy with the project."
"How's Olivia?"
"They seem to be taking a break. Olivia wanted time and he's giving her time."
"Is he okay?"
"He thinks that once she's dealt with what happened with Jeffrey she'll come back."
"You don't think so?" He asks.
"I don't know." She says, reaching for the spoon to stir the chili she's fixing. He still hasn't released her. "Are you okay?" She asks, putting the spoon down.
"I'm fine." He says, finally releasing her as Will comes in to the kitchen.
"Daddy, you're home." He says, going over to Richard.
Bending down, he picks him up and hugs him close. "Did you have a good day at school?" He asks, still holding him.
"Yes sir. We're going to Children's museum tomorrow."
"You are."
"Yes, the whole class is going. Momma when will dinner be ready, I'm starving."
"It's almost finished. Why don't you go get washed up?" Cassie says, as Richard put him down.
"Okay." He says, running out of the room.
"Walk, Will." Cassie calls, turning to Richard. "What's bothering you?" She asks, watching him.
"Nothing is bothering me. I'm just very glad I have you, Will and RJ to come home too."
"Did something happen at work?" She asks, reaching for the bowls for the chili.
"I had a visitor before I left this afternoon."
"You had a visitor, who?"
"Maggie and she brought Julie's kids with her." Cassie stops what she was doing and looks at him.
"She brought, you mean you got to meet his kids." Richard nods yes as she walks over to him "Richard." She says, reaching for him. He pulls her to him, hugging her tightly. There's a lump forming in his throat so he doesn't say anything as they stand there. After a while, she steps back so she can look at him. "What happened?"
"I was finishing up for the day when Amelia buzzed me. I wasn't expecting anyone else, but Maggie insisted on seeing me so I told her to let her in. I didn't know she had the kids with her until she brought them into the office with her." Richard says, releasing her.
"What happened next?"
"I got to talk to them. I tried to explain to them what happened without scaring them or freaking them out. Michael was the one that was most curious. The other two had questions but it's hard to explain to them. They wanted to know why we didn't know about each other. Michael wanted to know how I looked exactly like his Daddy. That was interesting to explain to a five year old." Richard says, as Will walks back into the kitchen.
"I'm all done Momma." He says, holding his hands out. Cassie looks at them and then nods. "Can you go tell your brother that dinner's ready?"
"Yes ma'am." He says, turning to leave the room.
"Did Julie know that she brought them to see you?"
"No. And I told her she's taking a big risk by bringing them to see me."
"What did she say?"
"That I deserve to know them and I deserve the chance to explain what happened to them. You wouldn't believe how much his boys look like him, me. I can see him in MJ too, but she looks a lot like her mother."
"What did you tell them?"
"I tried to explain what happened after our accidents and I tried to explain why we didn't know about each other."
"Were they okay?"
"I think they were."
"What are you going to do now?"
"I don't know. This wasn't supposes to happen and if Julie finds out she's going to be very upset."
"But."
"I want to see them again. I want them to know me and to meet you and boys and then the baby. I want to be a part of their lives." Richard says, as Will and RJ come into the kitchen. The discussion is dropped as they sit down to eat supper.