Chapter 3

Dixie found the abandoned warehouse and went inside. She stopped short when she saw a swarthy-looking man looming in the dim light. "Tommy?"

The swarthy man smiled inasmuch as a man like him could genuinely smile. "Hey, Miss Rosanna! Long time no see." He referred to her by the name she had used when she was away from Pine Valley.

She chuckled. "Yeah, it's good to see you. I guess Ian is inside?" He nodded and indicated the entrance. She went through the door.

Ian was sitting at a desk. He looked up and grinned. "Baby, it's good to see you!" He pushed back his chair and came over to her, wrapping her in a bear hug.

Dixie took a shuddering breath. "Oh, it is so good to see you! You don't know how much I've missed you." She pulled back, wiping her eyes. "It's been so hard since I came back to town. People either hate me, rightfully so, or they want something from me, or they have their own life that needs their concentration."

Ian squeezed her shoulder. "Has Zach not been helping you?"

Dixie smiled. "He's been wonderful, I'm so glad you told me about him. But he's got his own life. His wife, Kendall, was in a coma for awhile, and now she's out of it. They're going to bring her baby home from the hospital soon. The baby's father, Ryan Lavery, has also been very helpful."

Ian cocked his head. "So you've spoken to Ryan."

She nodded and raised her eyebrows. "You knew him when you were here before?"

Ian sighed. "Yeah, that's an understatement. Long story."

Dixie smiled. "And you didn't call me here to tell me that story. You have something else you want to pass on?"

Ian nodded and waved her over to a couch. They sat down. "Ever since I found out that everyone knows you're alive, I've kept a close watch on the situation."

Dixie's eyes widened. "Oh, Ian. If you're worried that I'll tell everyone your secret now that mine is out, you can put your mind at rest. I would never breathe a word to anyone. Tad knows I was shacking up with someone named Ian Wells, but he has no idea of your true identity."

Ian put his arm around her. "Darlin, I wasn't worried about that. I was worried about you. I didn't want those people tearing you up for what you did. When I found out Greg Madden was in Pine Valley, I knew I had to come back. The job I'm working on has hit a slow patch, so I was free to come over. I don't want anyone to know I'm here, but I couldn't let you deal with this all alone. Zach Slater is very talented at getting certain things done, but he has his limits. There are some things that even he won't do. I figured I was going to have to be the one to get the information out of Madden."

Dixie rested her head on his shoulder. "If anyone can get him to talk, it's you. There's just one problem. Greg has been missing for weeks now. Nobody has been able to find him."

"My dear, he's been literally right under everyone's noses." She stared at him, and he stood up. "Come with me, and I'll tell you everything."

As they walked down a hallway, he explained how David Hayward had buried Madden alive in the park. Her jaw dropped. "David did that? I…I don't understand. Why didn't he just whip up one of his drugs that would make Madden tell him the truth?"

Ian shook his head. "Hayward just got his medical license back; he's not going to jeopardize it. Greg would have had him arrested for drugging him while the proof was still in his system. The box setup was completely anonymous. David would have been a suspect, sure, but one of many. It was a good plan, but David got sloppy. I had to take matters into my own hands." They stopped in front of a door. Ian slid the small disc covering the peephole over to the side. "Take a look."

Dixie peered inside. To her amazement, she saw Greg Madden. He was sitting in a chair, wearing boxer shorts and a tank. He was being attended to by a nurse or doctor, who was taking splinters out of his hand. He had salve on various raw spots. He was a mess. Dixie looked at Ian. "So you're going to try and get him to tell you where Kate is?"

Ian reached out and tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. "I wasn't going to bring you here and get your hopes up if there was even the slightest chance he wouldn't talk. I was only going to call you once it was a done deal." He held up a piece of paper.

Dixie felt a roaring in her head. She took a shuddering breath, and took the piece of paper from his hand. "You mean…?"

He nodded. "It didn't take him long to start spilling his guts. He was already at the breaking point from being buried for so long. I just had to send him over the edge. Violence is rarely needed when good old-fashioned psychology will work. Though I wouldn't have minded giving him an extreme makeover."

Dixie opened the slip of paper and saw a name…an address…a phone number. "Oh God, Ian. This is fantastic! But what if this doesn't pan out? What if it's another dead end?"

Ian stroked her hair. "I've called the number. The couple does have a daughter Kate's age that they adopted from Madden. But just in case, I'll continue to hold him here until you've run a DNA test."

Tears streamed down her cheeks. "Ian…thank you so much!" She threw her arms around him, sobbing. With Madden's disappearance, she had all but given up hope of ever finding Kate. After awhile, she pulled back. "Ian, you might want to know about what he did to Erica."

He nodded. "I already know. He rambled on about it while he was in the box. He's a pretty twisted bastard, alright."

She narrowed her eyes. "What are you going to do to him?"

He chuckled. "I can think of many things I would do love to do to him. Once we know for sure that the little girl is Kate, I will do what I promised Madden I would do – send him to a federal penitentiary where he can rot with the rest of the scum of the earth."

Greenlee laughed so hard, tears were streaming down her face. "Oh God! Did you see the look on her face? She wanted so badly to rip me to shreds, but she knew she would look like a bitch if she tore into a poor defenseless pregnant woman. Ha!"

Max threw his arm casually over the back of Greenlee's car seat. "Yeah, as if you could ever be mistaken for poor and defenseless."

She gave him a strange look. "You know me so well."

Max cleared his throat. "Well, I can read people pretty easily. You strike me as being very independent. I bet your bite is much, much worse than your bark."

Greenlee chuckled. "Got it in one. Oh wow, I don't think I've laughed so hard in so long. But seriously, Max, why were we there, tonight? It wasn't a coincidence that girl showed up when she did. Did you bring me there so she would see us and pop a blood vessel?" Greenlee folded her arms.

Max reached over with his left hand and ran a finger down her jawline. "I will admit that I was hoping to stick it to Renee. She's been leading me on a merry chase for quite awhile. When I met you in that café, suddenly she no longer seemed worth the effort. After you agreed to have dinner with me, I decided we should go to her favorite restaurant so that I could close that chapter of my life for good. Are you angry?"

Greenlee sighed. "No. It's just…it just reminds me of something that…" She didn't finish. She was going to say that it reminded her of something Leo would do, back when they first met. But she didn't want to talk about Leo with this man. She didn't want to think about the fact that Max was resurrecting feelings she thought she had laid to rest. She just wanted to live in the moment. She wanted to have fun. She cleared her throat. "Do you really think I'm better than that girl? I mean, I'm not exactly someone that men drool over…at least not at this point in my life. I…" She trailed off, looking down at her large stomach.

Max lifted her chin with his finger, so that she looked at him. "You are a beautiful woman. The most exquisite woman I have ever met. The fact that you're carrying a child isn't relevant. Some guys might be put off because if you're pregnant, surely it must mean that you have a man in your life or are looking for a man. I could tell that you just wanted someone to talk to, laugh with, feel like you're a person and not a baby container. You aren't just the peanut's mom. You're Greenlee – an extraordinary woman who deserves to be seen for who you are."

Greenlee tried to smile at his beautiful words, but grimaced instead. Tears started to roll down her cheeks. "I'm sorry. It's these stupid hormones, they're making me crazy."

Max shifted his right arm from the seat onto her shoulders. He pulled her close and she cried into his jacket. When her tears were spent, she looked up at him, a determined look on her face. "I'm sick of crying, Max. I want to laugh. Just like you said. Please…help me to laugh again."

A slow grin spread on Max's face. "You've got it, babe." He pulled his arm from around her and turned on the ignition. He peeled out of the parking lot, spurred on by the glorious sound of her laughter.

Kendall murmured into Zach's ear. "It's been a long day, why don't we go to bed?"

Zach started to put his hand on her thigh, then thought better of it and dropped it back on his own. "Why don't you go on? I um…I have to check my e-mail."

Kendall put her hand over his. "You can do that tomorrow. We need our sleep. It won't be much longer before we have a baby in the house and sleeping will be at a premium. So will privacy." She gave him a significant look.

Zach smiled ruefully, and touched her delicate face. "I still marvel that I get to touch you…hold you in my arms. After all the things that I've done…"

Kendall sighed. "Zach, if you're talking about the blackout or helping Ryan fake his death…we've resolved those issues. They don't need to be brought up again. If you're talking about the stuff that happened in your life before we met, I think you're well aware that my resume isn't squeaky clean either. Everything that's happened to us – the good, the bad and the very ugly – it all makes up who we are and it's what led us to this place…to us. You, me and Spike." Kendall frowned. "I don't know if we should name him Christopher now that I know the truth about Chris Stamp."

Zach shook his head. "I think Christopher is a fine name. Remember, it wasn't just about Stamp – Ryan also mentioned the Saint Christopher pendant. We'd have to explain to Ryan why you don't want to call him that, and I don't really want to spread the word about my past. Let Ryan continue to have good memories of Chris. Besides, Chris wasn't really a bad man. Not down deep. His actions were usually unethical, and often ruthless, but most of the time his overall agenda was for the greater good. That was a very hard lesson to understand when I was younger, but I accept it now."

Kendall scrunched her nose. "I don't know if I agree. I've done some bad things for what I thought were pure motives, and they always came back to bite me in the ass. But I suppose I agree about not telling Ryan about Chris. He wasn't really Ryan's father after all, so whether Ryan knows the truth about him or not is kinda moot."

Ian's cell phone vibrated, waking him from a deep sleep. He sat up in his cot and answered it. "Sophie? What is it?" He listened as she explained about Maxwell running into Greenlee. He had taken her out on a date the night before and as of that morning – Paris time – he had still not come back. He also wouldn't answer the phone. Chris rubbed his face. "Are you fucking kidding me? What the hell is he thinking? What have you done to contain the situation?" He listened to her excuses. "Yeah, I'm well aware that he rarely listens to you, and you know why? You can be a stone-cold bitch with anyone else in the world, but when it comes to that boy you fold like a goddamn lawn chair. What have I told you about weaknesses, Sophie? He's exploiting yours. Dammit. I can't come to Paris; I've got stuff I need to do here. I'll try and call him – maybe he'll answer the phone for me." He pressed the end button and contemplated the latest development. Greenlee Lavery was in Paris. And she was eight months pregnant. Her child was concieved before she left Pine Valley. Every instinct told him that only one person could be that child's father. Ryan.

Ian got up from his cot and sat down at the little desk that also served as his dining table. It had been awhile since he'd had to live quite this utilitarian, but he was never one to allow himself to grow soft. Despite the fact that he was tired as hell, he needed answers. He spent half an hour researching vasectomies. What he read seemed to indicate that Ryan's vasectomy might have been unsuccessful. As a matter of course, two months after the procedure is done the patient is usually tested to see if it worked. It was a routine operation, but errors can be made. Based on the information Ian had collected, two months after his operation, Ryan was faking his death. Not exactly an opportune time for a follow-up appointment. Apparently the operation didn't work, because Greenlee was now carrying his child.

Ian sighed. Ryan was in for a hell of a shock. Dixie had mentioned to Ian that one of Madden's dirty little secrets was that he was donor #1 for all his surrogacies. Considering that Greg was obsessed with Erica, and Kendall was Erica's daughter, the likelihood that he used Ryan's sample as promised was slim to none. Spike was probably Greg's child. Ryan was going to have to deal with the fact that the baby he has grown to love – Spike - was not his. Meanwhile, the woman he loved was in France, about to have a baby that really was his. And she was being romanced by her other not-so-dead husband.

Ian would make sure that Ryan never found out that particular detail. Greenlee would eventually reunite with Ryan, and they would live happily ever after – the way it should be. Ian would make sure of that. He already fucked things up by planting that damn fake journal for Erica to find. He'd done it so that Ryan wouldn't ever get curious to know more about his dear departed father. Standard procedure in undercover work – when you leave an assignment you sever all ties. But what was done was done. The only thing he could control now was what happened next. He was going to get Leo…Max…the hell away from Greenlee.