Chapter 25

Sami wondered what sort of book would be kept that had no title and no author noted on the outside. Then she began leafing through the pages and got her answer.

Sami browsed past several pages of the book without much care until she stopped on a page about a quarter through the book and made sure to read every last word on the page.

"Stefano, how could you?" she said slamming the book back shut.

She couldn't read anymore. Just when she thought the man couldn't be more vile, more insane or more cruel for what he was doing to his son, E.J., in allowing his memory of the last year to be erased, she had to go and learn that he was capable of this...

That Stefano had lied to his entire family all these years because E.J. was actually the son of Tony and Anna Dimera!

She had to tell E.J. what was going on, she thought. But then she worried. E.J. might not believe her. He might hate her for ruining his idea about his family or maybe E.J. would confront Stefano so that Rolf would wipe E.J.'s memory clean again and she would just back where she started... or worse. No, she couldn't tell E.J. She would have to keep it a secret from him just like Stefano had.

Sami sat down on the floor next to the bed and wrung her hands in frustration as she contemplated how she always knew how cruel the Dimeras had been in keeping people in her family apart because of Stefano's sick vendetta against the Bradys, but she wondered was it really so important to him that he would do this to his son and grandchild?

She cursed Stefano.

But then she paused. She thought harder about what she had read. She picked up the diary again and tapped her fingertips across the cover. She thought some more.

And she thanked Stefano.

Because she could use this diary to convince TONY to let her go. That Stefano wasn't worth saving after all so that she and her baby's umbilical cord blood weren't needed to save him. She smiled as she formulated ways to go about executing the scheme.

But when Sami started diligently reading the diary again she became so engrossed in the material she didn't hear the rustling outside the door or the door opening until E.J. was already standing in the doorway holding a tray..

"Samantha, I thought you might be a little hungry..." E.J. said pausing while he watched Sami stuff something behind her back. "...so I thought I would bring you an early supper. Sorry I didn't wake you for lunch but you seemed like you needed to catch up your rest."

Sami felt him eyeing her with suspicion so she turned on the charm as she shoved the book behind her back and under the bed.

"Oh, E.J., this looks great," Sami said getting up off the floor and walking toward him. "Thank you so much."

E.J. set down the tray so that Sami could shower him with a warm embrace in appreciation of his gesture. And in that embrace he got a strange sense of deja vu.

(watch 40 second mark of this)
he clung to her tighter and tighter holding the back of her head in the palm of his hand, his thoughts were with this dream-like faint memory of him and Sami. They were hugging and he was comforting her, but where they were and why he was comforting her and what she needed comforting from he did not know.

"E.J.! E.J.!" Sami pounded on his chest while his arms still wrapped around her. "What are you doing?"

Snapped out of the dream, E.J. quickly released her as he was embarrassed by the episode.

"Nothing, Samantha. I'm sorry. It's just..." E.J. paused turning away from her with self-consciousness before coming back to face her and returning to his old cocky, flirting ways. "You know, you need to be a little bit more careful about your affections, sweetheart. I mean... before when you took your nap and now greeting me this way... someday you could give an old boy the wrong idea and break his heart. Or worse. He might break yours."

Hearing those words Sami was instantly reminded of the night when she agreed to have sex with E.J. if he helped her save Lucas's life. She winced and rubbed her stomach as she thought about the night her baby was conceived. E.J. noticed the change in her demeanor.

"Did I say something wrong, Samantha?" E.J. asked even though he already knew the answer.

"No. It's nothing," Sami lied. "I just am really hungry and can't wait to sit down and eat what you've brought me."

Sami put on a fake smile and asked if E.J. would be joining her for the meal.

"Actually, I can't, darling," E.J. said kissing her on the forehead before heading out and pausing at the doorway. "But I'll be back later and we can visit some more. First I have some business to attend to with Father."

Sami watched as E.J. left and the door shut behind him.

"Father," she muttered to herself. "If only E.J. knew."

Chapter 26

Kate gulped down her fourth vodka martini, and stood up from the table at Chez Rouge too quickly so that she needed to put her hands down to steady herself from the head rush. Then she leaned in and flirtatiously told Tony that as much as she enjoyed their lunch she needed to get back to work at Mythic to settle things before she left for New Orleans.

"Work?" Tony said pulling her on his lap. "Work can wait."

Tony shut his eyes as the two of them leaned in for a passionate kiss, but his lips went as limp as a fish's when he opened them to look over Kate's shoulder and see the stunning blonde coming out of the restroom.

Oblivious, Kate continued to nuzzle at Tony's neck while Tony blurted, "Anna!"

It was his ex-wife, Anna Dimera. The two hadn't spoken in the more than 20 years since she left for London heartbroken by their failed marriage attempts and the loss of the child they had conceived. So much had changed for both of them but as he saw her standing there he realized his feelings for her hadn't changed.

Anna laughed as she watched Tony quickly move to disentangle himself from Kate so he could get up to greet her.

"Oh, Tony, don't interrupt your uh... love in the afternoon, that's what it was called right?... all on account of me," Anna cackled.

Kate plastered on a fake smile while she seethed inside and straightened her suit jacket. Tony got up to kiss Anna's hand.

"Anna, you have no idea how good it is to see you," Tony said.

"Probably not," Anna said dismissively. "Anyway, I believe this is Kate Roberts you have with you?"

"Yes, Anna," Kate said proudly stepping forward to offer a firm handshake. "It's nice to finally meet you. Austin told me that he and Carrie had a wonderful time spending Christmas in England visiting with you."

"Well that's good to hear," Anna said wistfully. "It's funny, I spent most of Carrie's life across the ocean from her while she was here in Salem and I was in London, and yet when she finally joins me in Europe she winds up encouraging me to come back here."

Tony watched the two women size each other up while making polite conversation and couldn't help but compare them.

Kate was powerful in her business suit yet sexy in the way her short brown hair was always a perfect mess, her skirt a little too short and how she left one too many buttons of her blouse undone. She wore a little too much makeup but she also knew how to have fun as well as any woman he knew. As hard as life had been for her, he knew that she would be easy for him, Tony thought.

Anna was graceful in her elegant black dress and gold bracelets with her oversized sunglasses holding back the bangs of her long flowing golden hair. Her makeup perfectly accentuated her sensuality and her manners and movement did the same for her complicated vulnerability. The moment with Anna wasn't a fun one for Tony as it brought to the surface so much pain and regret. Tony knew it would be hard, if not impossible, to make up for all the mistakes the two of them had made, to get back what was lost in the twenty years since they had last seen one another.

Meanwhile, Kate sensed the unspoken tension building between Anna and Tony and decided she had enough feeling like the third wheel for the day and left the two of them alone to have things out.

Kate kissed Tony on the cheek and said goodbye, but before she had even taken three steps away Tony was already locked into Anna's gaze.

"So why did you come back to Salem, Anna?" Tony asked.

"Well, I'm actually going to be going into business with Kate's daughter, Billie, if you must know, over at Countess Wilhemina," she said matter of factly.

"But why would you decide to do that? To come back here to work there when you had her your own company back in England?" Tony asked. "I thought you always said Salem wasn't good enough for you, wasn't big enough for you --- that to feel alive you needed the rush and the ritz and the… the… the romance that you could only get across the pond."

"Maybe as you get older and closer to death you get tired of all that, the trappings of being among the young and fabulous," Anna said turning away from him with a sigh. "Lord knows I stopped feeling young and fabulous long ago."

Anna paused for a moment then turned back to face him.

"But Tony, I just want you to know, that even after all that's happened and well, what hasn't happened, I think it is nice to see you, too."

Tony smiled appreciatively.

"Now I really need to be going," Anna said, her eyes soft and lips pursed as she waited for Tony to say something, anything back. He didn't.

Tony wanted to kiss her just then but he didn't. He didn't hug her either. He thought it might hurt too much to hold something he could never have so he just let her walk out of the restaurant and watched her go.

Tony then sat back down at the table having forgotten the martini mess he had made earlier until the spilt vodka had already soaked right through the jacket sleeve of his fancy Italian suit.

It reminded him of the bigger mess at Maison Blanche he would have to clean up before Roman and the others got there.

Chapter 27

Lexie hovered around Stefano's bed as she checked over his chart.

There had been no change in her father's condition for several days, which was a good thing but also a bad thing.

Stefano's body had accepted John's kidney and his vital signs were stable, but since the surgery he couldn't get out of the bed on his own and spent much of the day asleep.

Lexie looked down on her father, the great and powerful Stefano Dimera suddenly helpless and weak, and marveled at how even he was susceptible to life's own fragility.

Caring for him day after day and seeing him in this weakened state made him seem human to her for the first time, so different from the larger than life monster she had tried to shut out of her life so many times before.

As much as she hated the way her brother had threatened her to get her to come to Maison Blanche and take care of Stefano, her opinion of E.J. had also changed in the weeks since she had been in Salem.

She missed Theo, Abe and her mother terribly but she was amazed that despite how cold EJ had been to her and his enemies, how kind he was to their father as he sat with him, fed him ice chips, and talked with him. While Stefano was still not able to respond, his eyes lit up at the sight of EJ just the same. Though EJ's devotion to their father had kept her away from her family, for reasons she didn't understand their bond impressed her. Perhaps because she knew she would never have the same relationship to Stefano she was jealous of it.

Lexie was just about to whisper goodbye for the night to Stefano when a rustling of the curtain behind her startled her so much she nearly fell onto the hospital bed.

"E.J. You nearly scared me half to death!" Lexie told him catching her breath.

"I'm sorry, Lexie," E.J. said. "Is there any change in Father's condition?"

"No. I'm afraid not. He needs that umbilical cord blood or he's not going to make it," Lexie said.

"Well how long does he have to wait?" E.J. asked concerned.

"Well I think he should make it five months," Lexie said. "Rolf, on the other hand..."

"What about Rolf?" E.J. asked.

"Well Rolf is pressuring me to induce labor in Sami," Lexie said. "He is getting impatient."

"But it's too early, isn't it?" E.J. worried. "Samantha's child would die, wouldn't it? That wasn't part of Father's deal, was it?"

Lexie frowned hearing E.J. speak of the pregnancy as if it was a bargain, a business transaction. But she knew she would lose everything if she crossed Tony and revealed the truth to E.J. that he was the father of the child.

"No, E.J., as far as I know that wasn't part of the deal," Lexie said. "But when Tony gets back he might try to renegotiate..."

"Well you can't do it," E.J. said. "Samantha has been through enough with her troubles whatever they are. We can't take away her child as well."

Lexie eyed his concern for Sami with surprise.

"Did Sami tell you something about the baby?" Lexie asked.

"No... I mean she tried to tell me something earlier but she got upset and I had to calm her down but she said nothing once she was all right," E.J. said. "Is there something else I should know?"

Lexie looked at him with pity. But not so much pity that she was willing to put her neck on the line to help him. And especially not to help that witch, Sami Brady.

"No. Nothing," Lexie said before changing the subject and pushing him out the curtain of their father's room. "Really we should both go now. Father needs his rest. And so do you. Good night, E.J."

E.J. sighed. Lexie watched as her brother left the makeshift medical station and started walking toward his room and out of sight then quickly turned back past the doorway again walking toward the secret passage to the living quarters of Maison Blanche.

Chapter 28

Anna sighed as she stopped outside the sign for Chez Rouge and waited for the valet to retrieve her car.

She had come back to Salem in hopes of putting the past behind her once and for all, an idea that seemed plausible back in London when she and Carrie dreamed it up but not so much when that past was staring her in the face in the personage of her ex-husband Tony Dimera.

And her ex-husband Roman Brady, who nearly knocked her over as he brushed against her walking purposefully to the restaurant's front door.

"Hey, watch where you're going," Anna said with a laugh.

"Anna? Anna! I'm so sorry! It's so good to see you," Roman said sheepishly while offering her a friendly hug. "When the hell you'd get back in Salem? And how long you staying?"

"I just got back recently, Roman," Anna said. "And I'm not sure how long I'll stay. At least as long as it takes to complete the Countess Wilhemina relaunch. I just joined up there to head their new fashion division."

"Wow. That's great," Roman said wistfully. "You know I can't tell you how nice it is to see you. Finally some good news on what's been a truly awful day."

"What happened?" Anna asked. "What's wrong?"

"Oh hell I don't think it's fair to dump all my troubles on you yet," Roman said. "I was just coming here to pick up a cell phone I left behind but whaddya say I buy you a drink and then I tell you all about it. And you tell me all about what's going on with you. And how Carrie is doing in Europe. I hate that damn time difference and how the two of us can't have those father-daughter talks like we used to."

"Actually, Roman, I'd love to but I have to..."

"You have to have a drink with me because I'm not taking no for an answer, Anna," Roman said. "C'mon. One drink."

Under other circumstances Anna would have been loathe to turn down a free drink, especially with a kind man like Roman. But she got uncomfortable imagining walking into Chez Rouge with him and Tony seeing them together and getting the wrong idea. He might get jealous.

Just then the memory of that trashy tart Kate Roberts sitting in Tony's lap flashed in her brain.

Hmmmm, she thought, he might get jealous.

"OK, Roman, if you insist," she said plastering on a flirtatious grin and locking arms with him as the two of them entered the restaurant.

As the two of them walked through the crowd of the bar to take their seats Anna craned her neck to glance at Tony's table but other patrons and the restaurant's wait staff obstructed her view.

Finally the sea parted and she got a good view of his table. And her heart sank.

Tony was gone.