Chapter 11

Zach strolled along the path from the gazebo to the veranda. Chris hadn't wanted him to leave, but he knew that Ryan needed answers. It would probably be awhile before they got back around to what they'd do next about the kidnapping, so Zach didn't see the point in hanging around during a private conversation.

He stepped onto the veranda and approached the French doors that led into the living room. He reached for the levered handles, but paused when he saw that Kendall and Josh were sitting on the living room sofa. They were deep in discussion. Kendall looked bewildered, Josh was intense. He was telling her the truth about Madden and Erica. Zach stifled the urge to go inside and make sure that Josh didn't upset her too much. Their body language, the way Josh's hand rested on her arm and she tilted her head towards him as he talked, indicated that their discussion wasn't acrimonious. Like with Ryan and Chris, Zach knew that he would be intruding on a private matter.

Zach turned and made his way around the side of the house, intending to come in the front door. As he was passing another set of French doors that led to the sunroom off the kitchen, he saw that they were standing open. The sunroom was dark, so he went to investigate. Stepping across the threshold, he paused, listening. He heard a chuckle in the gloom. "My dear, you can relax, there are no intruders. Just an old woman with a desire to feel the lovely night breeze."

Zach continued into the room. "Myrtle, why are you sitting in the dark?" Now adjusted to the interior darkness, he sat next to her on the settee.

She patted his hand. "My old eyes don't appreciate the glare from the lamp."

He put his hand over hers and squeezed. "It's late; you should be in bed resting. Why don't you let me take you home?"

"Pish! I'm quite accustomed to being up at all hours of the night. You forget that most of my boarders are young people. Besides, you know as well as I do that none of us are going to get a lick of sleep until Erica and Spike are found."

Zach sighed. "True enough, though I'd like to slip Kendall a mickey so she'd get some rest. I'm worried about her, Myrtle."

"Oh darlin, I know you are. But you need to understand something. Kendall has always been a fighter. Now that she's a mother, her will to live is even stronger. She's got to look out for her boy, and there's no way she's going to leave this earth until she knows he's safe. Kendall knows herself and knows her body. If she's doing too much, she'll back off."

Zach absorbed her words. "You're absolutely right, Myrtle. I guess I'm still too shaken from her last brush with death – I can't handle the possibility that it could happen again."

Myrtle nodded. "This awful crisis has made everyone feel out of control. That horrible man robbed us of our security. I understand that you're overcompensating. Just remember how Kendall reacts when people try to run her life."

Zach chuckled. "I have a feeling I'm going to be reminded on a regular basis."

Greenlee looked around the entrance hall of the chateau. It was exquisite. Just the type of retreat that she dreamed about owning, but even she couldn't afford a home this opulent. How ironic that the getaway of her dreams was instead going to be a prison. The chateau was remote. Very remote. Even if she were able to escape the house, Madden would discover she was gone and fetch her before she came within a mile of the nearest neighbor.

Greg had pointed out the stables on their way up the main drive to the chateau, noting that he housed the finest thoroughbreds in the province and knew every inch of the countryside. Greenlee had known that he wasn't just boasting – he was warning her and Erica that escaping on foot would be a waste of time.

Shortly after parking, a severe-looking woman met them at the car and took custody of Spike. As she was walking briskly away with him, Greg held onto a very furious Erica. He told her that if she didn't settle down, he would make sure her visits to her grandson were few and far between. She immediately stilled. Greenlee's heart went out to Erica. It was clear that Greg meant to use Spike to manipulate her.

Erica rested her hand on the banister of the sweeping staircase. She cocked her head at Greg. "This chateau is very large. It must require a number of people to keep it running."

Greg smirked at her. "I keep a small core staff that is efficient and extremely dedicated to me. They understand me and my work. You won't be able to convince them that I am anything other than a brilliant philanthropist that deserves their utmost loyalty." He looked at Greenlee. "You remember Hazel, don't you?"

She did indeed. If his servants here were anything like Hazel, she and Erica didn't stand a chance of encouraging mutiny. "Let's put your loyal subjects to the test, shall we? I'm tired, hungry and I have to go to the bathroom. Not in that order."

Greg's smile was frozen for a second or two, but then he laughed heartily. "I do so love pregnant women. Never a dull moment. Not to worry. I'll take you to your room myself."

He turned towards the stairs and Greenlee muttered, "Condescending ass." She and Erica exchanged glances. The likelihood of them escaping was getting more and more remote. Their only hope would be the people looking for Erica and Spike. Nobody was searching for her. She had burned too many bridges, including her most recent rejection of Max. He's probably moved on to another gullible rich girl by now.

How apropos that she had been so inexorably drawn to yet another con man. He'd almost succeeded in pulling the ultimate con. He should have taken a few lessons from Di Kirby. It was ironic that after all that drama with Di, the real Dixie had come back from the dead after all. Greenlee tried not to think about the fact that, like Dixie, Leo's body had never been found. If he was truly alive, he would have come back to her. Greenlee knew that David had to be hurting right now. He loved Dixie, and she had chosen to stay away. Tad must be devastated, too. Greenlee knew how they felt. Ryan had betrayed her in the worst possible way by deliberately putting her through all that agony.

The newspaper accounts of Dixie's resurrection didn't include any information about why she had pretended to be dead for four years. She didn't give amnesia as the reason, like with Anna Devane and Maria Santos. Greenlee remembered initially thinking that was the reason Ryan had stayed away for so long. The truth had been much uglier. At least in her case, Ryan was only gone for a few months before he couldn't stand it and came back to her. Dixie had been gone for more than four years. Leo's been gone four years. If he were to pop up now, with no loss of memory as an excuse for his absence, she didn't know if she could take it.

Greg opened a door and swept his hand towards the interior. "Greenlee's room. Fortunately all my guest rooms are kept in tip top shape in case of unexpected visitors." Greenlee wordlessly went into the room and sat down on the bed. She turned her back to the door and lay down on her side.

"I'll show you your room now, Erica."

"No. Later. I want to speak with Greenlee alone." There was a pause, and then Erica's voice turned steely. "You may leave us, now." Another pause. Greenlee heard footsteps receding, then the door closed. Erica came into her line of vision, and sat down on the bed next to her.

Greenlee didn't want to discuss their situation. Her brain latched onto a neutral topic. "I read online about Dixie being alive and back in Pine Valley. Do you know why she came back to town after being away so long?"

Erica was incredulous. "You're thinking about town gossip at a time like this?" Greenlee shrugged. It would take too long to explain about Max and how her mind had wandered from him to Dixie. Erica crossed her legs. "It's funny you should mention her. Dixie's disappearance and her return are both connected with Dr. Madden."

Greenlee sat up, startled by her words. Erica told her all that she knew about Madden putting Kate up for adoption, and Dixie's subsequent search for her. Greenlee listened in horror. When Erica was finished, Greenlee put her hands on her abdomen. If he would do that to Dixie, it didn't take a stretch of the imagination to figure that he would do the same to her. She was more afraid at that moment than she had ever been in her life. She'd already lost Leo and Ryan. She couldn't lose her child, as well.

Kendall rubbed her forehead, trying to take it all in. The man sitting next to her was her brother. She'd grown up as an only child, never knowing what it was like to have brothers and sisters - and now here she was with surprise sibling number three. She wondered briefly if Josh would leave her too, go off to Paris or get thrown in jail. He was almost put in the slammer for poisoning Erica. Such random thoughts flitted through her head. She wondered how much more of these shocks to the system she could take before she shut down mentally, a la Lily.

Zach entered the living room. Kendall jumped up and ran over to him, circling her arms around his waist. "Zach! Josh just told me some crazy news. Not about where Madden is, but what he did to my mother a long time ago."

Zach rubbed her back. "I know, Kendall. I know that Josh is your brother."

She pulled back and stared at him in amazement. "What? How could you possibly know?"

Zach guided her back to the couch and they sat next to Josh. "Remember when Dixie and I went back to the island and found Madden's secret file room? One of the items it contained was a videotape." He looked at Josh. "Madden filmed the procedure. He documented everything he did. We saw Erica's face."

Kendall gaped. "Why didn't you tell me or Josh? He's furious that our mother has known the truth for months and didn't tell us."

Zach took her hand in his and raised it to his lips. "If you had seen that tape, you'd understand. When the camera began rolling, Erica was already sedated. She must have been nervous when she was put under, but at that point she looked peaceful. Vulnerable. She'd put her trust in Dr. Madden. The expression on his face as he…" Zach paused, taking a deep breath. "He was so smug, so full of his own brilliance and cunning. It made me sick to watch him violate her body, violate her trust. I can't even imagine what goes on in Erica's head when she thinks about it. I figured if she was keeping it a secret, it was because she wasn't ready to deal with it yet. It certainly wasn't my place to force her to." He looked over at Josh. "I'm sure that sooner or later she would have told you the truth."

A muscle ticked in Josh's jaw. He looked at Kendall. "I should probably go back to my place and look through some of my things. Maybe something will jump out at me about where my…where Greg would have taken them. If he took them. I'm still not absolutely sure."

Kendall put her hand on his arm. "Thank you."

Josh turned to Zach. "What did you do with the video tape?"

Zach sighed. "We brought it back with us, but it was stolen. Everything we took from that vault disappeared the night Madden disappeared."

Josh raised one eyebrow. "Including the records about donor #1? Or was that Jamie and Julia's idea of a sick joke?"

Kendall frowned in confusion, then raised her eyebrows at the stony look Zach gave Josh. "Someone want to fill me in, here? Donor #1?"

Zach remained silent. Josh turned to Kendall. "According to Jamie, there were records in that vault that indicated my…that Greg wasn't impregnating surrogates with anonymous sperm donors. There was only one donor for all of them, and that donor was himself."

Kendall wanted to vomit. "That's disgusting. All those poor women! Zach, is what he's saying true?"

Zach closed his eyes and sighed, then opened them and faced Kendall. "According to the records, there was only one donor for every surrogacy. It didn't name Madden specifically as the donor, but it's reasonable to suppose that he was the one."

Kendall shook her head. "Okay, that's pretty sick and twisted. But why were you so reluctant to tell me? Did you think I would go knocking on a bunch of doors and say, 'Hey, remember that baby Dr. Madden helped you create…'?" Kendall trailed off. An ugly, ugly possibility occurred to her. She looked up at Josh, and she could see that the thought had just occurred to him too. She started to feel dizzy. "Oh God, Zach. Oh God!" She started to sway and her eyes slid back in her head.

Zach gripped her shoulders, gathering her to him. "Dammit Josh, couldn't you have kept your mouth shut?"

Josh bent over Kendall to assess her condition. "Jesus, I had no idea. The thought never entered my head until just now. Kendall?"

She groaned. "I need to lie back."

Zach gently rested her against the pillows of the couch and Josh checked her vitals. "She was examined by her neurologist earlier today. She's been having stress-related symptoms that he said could lead to a relapse if she isn't careful."

"Shit! I forgot about the head injury. She shouldn't be dealing with all this while she's still trying to recover."

"No kidding!" Zach barked.

"I'm fine," she moaned. "I need to know, Zach. No more secrets. Is Madden the father of my baby? Is that why he took Spike?"

Zach stroked her head. "Kendall, I don't know. I don't see any reason why your child wouldn't be Ryan's. That was the plan: Ryan's sperm and Greenlee's egg. I was the one who messed it up so her egg couldn't be used. His sample was still fine."

She opened her eyes. "Fine, according to Madden. He could have been lying. It all makes sense now. Why else would he have taken Spike?"

"It's been explained already. According to his twisted worldview he thought you and Ryan would be terrible parents. He did everything he could legally to get Spike away from you. When that didn't work, he went to extremes."

Josh tilted his head. "But when you think about it - considering his obsession with Erica, wouldn't he love the idea of knocking up her daughter?"

Zach glowered at him. "Will you shut the fuck up?"

Kendall sat up, taking a deep breath to steady herself. "Ryan needs to know about this."

"Ryan already knows."

Her eyes widened. "What? Ryan knows, Josh knows, even Jamie and Hoolia know. Were you going to tell me after you'd gone through everyone in the Pine Valley phone book?"

Zach put his hands on her shoulders. "I didn't want you to go through the agony of thinking you've been violated when I was convinced, still am convinced, that Madden didn't do it. Spike is yours and Ryan's. End of story."

Kendall pushed his hands off her shoulders and stood up. "I know you want to protect me, Zach. It just…it just pisses me off. I need to talk to Ryan."

"Ryan's not in his room."

"Where is he? Is he following a lead without telling me?"

"Not exactly." He sighed.

Kendall put her hands on her hips. "You better tell me where he is, goddammit! Stop protecting me!"

Zach looked over at Josh. Josh shrugged, "I think it'll be worse for her stress levels if you don't tell her. How about I go to the kitchen and get something to drink, and if something happens you can come get me."

Zach put his hand on Josh's arm. "Myrtle is in the sunroom off the kitchen. I'm sure she would want to know about you and Erica. She's a great person to talk to." Josh gave a short nod and then left the room.

Zach sat on the couch, pulling Kendall's arm so she'd sit next to him. She glared at him. "Tell me everything."

Zach took a deep breath. "You asked for it. Ryan is, at this very moment, out in the gazebo talking with Chris Stamp who, as it turns out, didn't die two years ago. He's been very much alive and was helping the also presumed dead Dixie try to find Kate. He's the one that rescued Madden from David's prison and then let him escape. Oh, and I think he may really be Ryan's father, after all." He sat back and watched Kendall's reaction.

She stared blankly at him a long while. "I think this would be a good time to get very, very drunk."