Chapter 5

Within a few days the village was buzzing with the news that one of the Favreau children was finally leaving the nest. Tim's friends and mostly the local girls seemed to crowd the family's home regularly, all eager to spend as much time with Tim as possible before he left for University. Fathers laughingly congratulated James on his success in finally getting one of the "little dickens" out of the house and bade him good luck with the other four, while mothers came around to cluck sympathetically and offer support to Cori, who was actually bearing up quite well. Quite well that is, except for the fact that she couldn't seem to get anything done. And all the visitors and the noise level of heartily laughing boys and giggling girls was getting on her nerves. After three days of what seemed like non-stop interruptions in her household's usually well ordered routine, Cori had had enough and shouted at her son and his friends to "get out of her house and go to bloody Nassau for the day!" Tim and his friends took one astonished look at Cori brandishing a bottle of bug spray threateningly at them and beat a hasty retreat to the island across the bay for the rest of the afternoon and Cori breathed a sigh of relief at having her house quiet at last. Unfortunately for her, the quiet was to be broken several hours later, when Tim and his best friend Kevin came roaring up the drive on motor scooters, Kevin's younger brother Nicky riding on the back of Kevin's bike. "Where did you get those?" Cori asked impatiently as they parked the bikes. "We borrowed them, but Mom…" Tim began. "Well you can just go un-borrow them!" Cori said heatedly. "You know how I feel about those things, Timothy! Now you walk them right back to where ever you got them from and don't let me catch you riding one of those death traps again.

Thinking that was the end of it she turned to go back inside, but Tim caught her arm and pulled her back. "Mom, wait!" He said anxiously and as she turned she caught sight of the fearful expressions on the boys' faces and a feeling of stole over her. "What is it?" She asked fear suddenly gripping her insides. "Is it one of the girls? Your brother?" She grasped his arms and shook him hard. "Answer me Tim! Is somebody hurt?" Tim shook his head but said nothing as he quietly handed the piece of paper to his mother, who took it confusedly. "They were handing them out all over Nassau, Mrs. Favreau." Kevin spoke up. And the police there, they were asking all these questions. Questions about Mr. Favreau, only they weren't calling him that. They kept calling him "Count DiMera" but we, neither of us said anything about him. We just hopped on the ferry and rushed back over here. We borrowed the scooters from Bobby and Jamal." Cori looked up into Tim's face which was a mask of fear. "Kevin, Nick," she said quietly her eyes never leaving her son's face. "I want you two to go home now. Go home and say nothing about any of this. Do you understand me?" Both boys nodded hastily. "And see to it that bikes get back to their owners." Sure thing Mrs. F. Let's go Nick. See ya Tim." Kevin said as he and his brother jumped onto the bikes and roared back down the hill. "Timothy, I want you to go inside and gather your brother and sisters and wait for me in the drawing room. I'm going to find your father." "Yes ma'am." Kevin said and ran inside the house.

Cori found James in the barn, rubbing down the horses. He took one look at her and ran forward. "What is it?" He asked when he reached her. "Tim said they were handing these out in the Nassau." She said handing him the paper. He scanned it quickly and looked back up at Cori's terrified face. "Where are the children?" He asked taking her hand and beginning to lead her quickly towards the house. "Um, Daveigh is still on punishment, so she's home, so are Tim and Vicky of course. I think that Christopher is at Michael Smith's house playing video games and Rachel is out with her friends somewhere." "Alright! Daveigh, Tim, Victoria get down here right now!" He shouted as they entered the house. The three of them came barreling down the steps. "Daddy, what's going on? What is it? What's happening?" They all shouted excitedly. "Listen to me very carefully." James said. "I want all of you to go upstairs and pack some clothes and any items that you absolutely cannot do without for a while. That means, toothbrushes, combs, deordant. Anything you would take with you on an overnight trip. And pack sensibly, clothes for all types of weather, do you understand?" "Yes, papa" they answered. "But why?" asked Daveigh. "Just do as I say and don't ask me any questions right now." He said pushing her towards the stairs. "Yes papa." She said running up the stairs to her room. "She stopped at the top and called down to him. "Papa?" "Daveigh, just do it!" he yelled. "I just wanted to know if I should pack Rachel's things for her too." Daveigh asked in a squeaky voice. James sighed guiltily "I'm sorry, dear heart! Yes, please pack your sister's things and help Vicky with hers. And ask Tim to pack Chris' alright?" "Yes papa." Daveigh said and ran back to her room.

James turned back to Cori, whose face was so white that he was afraid she might faint. He took her by the shoulders and looked down into her eyes. "Cori?" "James, I'm so frightened." She said in a shaky voice. "I know love." He said drawing her close. "I am too, but we need to hold it together right now." She wrapped her arms arounds his back and pressed her cheek to his chest. She could hear his heart beating, suprising calm and steady. She stayed in his arms for what seemed like endless minutes, before finally pulling away from him. Squaring her shoulders with all the fortitude of a soldier, she looked him squarely in the eye and asked, "What do you need for me to do?" "That's my girl!" he said smiling at her proudly. "Now do you still have those emergency suitcases packed with our things?" "Yes, but goodness James, the stuff in them must be ancient by now. I haven't changed any of it in years." "Alright", he said "Go through them quickly and replace what you can. I'm going to go through the house and try to hide any traces of myself from view. Hopefully they won't be able to enter the house, but if they do, it's better if they don't find any pictures of me or such." Tim came rushing downstairs. "I'm all packed sir, and I packed Chris' stuff too" "Good!" James said "Now I have a very important mission for you!" And he pulled his son closer to tell him what to do.