Chapter 12

Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, USA

"I can't believe you forgot the maple butter," Maggie sighed as she sat down across from him at the dining room table. "One thing, David. I ask you to get one thing. It's like me forgetting to feed your guinea pig."

"Did you?" David asked her.

"Did I what?"

"Feed Ruben?"

Maggie cupped her hot chocolate. "Yeah, yeah, yeah...baby carrots and then lettuce in the afternoon, just like you said. Leah reminded me about seven times."

David smiled. "Glad to see my daughter's on top of things."

"Unlike her Dad," she groaned. She looked at the ceiling as if considering something. "Then again, just looking at a stupid container of maple butter will probably set me off like everything else that reminds me of her."

David eyed her.

"Sophie's parents used to send them to her from Quebec," she explained.

David took a sip of the red wine in his glass, stifling a yawn. It had been a long day. He probably set a new personal record for miles travelled in twenty-four hours. Leah was fast asleep; wiped out from a day with her cousin. David was sure he'd follow suit very shortly.

"My...meeting ran later than I thought. I almost missed the last flight out to O'Hare," he told her. "It would have been either me tonight or me and the maple butter tomorrow."

"And what's wrong with the latter?" Maggie grinned, leaning forward. "So are you finally going to tell me what this mysterious trip was all about? Are you having a hot affair while Anna's jetting off to Africa alone."

David almost choked on his wine. His cousin was shameless. Truly. "Uh...no."

Maggie's smile was sly. "Good. I like Anna. She's good at keeping you in line. Plus, she's kinda hot for someone who's old enough to be my Mom."

David cringed at first, then he went along, clinking his glass with her mug. "Well, here's to being a kept man, then."

She got up to give him a hug and a kiss on his cheek. "Since I'm going to get nothing juicy out of you tonight, I'm heading up to Robin's disgustingly neat room to check some stuff online and then hit the sheets. Seriously, your little princess wore me out today. I'm not convinced anymore that this is a good deal...this babysitting in exchange for free room and board."

Davis laughed. "In that case I can suggest some hotels."

"Hey!" Maggie raised her hand in defense. "Just kidding!" She gave him another kiss for good measure. "By the way, did you know it's almost three am? You really should hit the sheets too, before those bags under yours eyes sag down to your chin. Might wreck your rugged good looks."

David raised his glass. "Another toast...to your subtle, tactful nature."

Maggie laughed as she left the kitchen, leaving David behind with a lingering smile on his face. Much as his cousin's arrival had been a complete surprise, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't happy to have her here.

The cabin felt empty somehow without Anna's presence. Maggie's feistiness was a nice antidote.

The kitchen was silent now and his thoughts went back to Vancouver. He still couldn't quite get over seeing Alex again.

We had a chat, over cake and coffee. Like it was the most natural thing in the world. As if we haven't spent most of our professional lives hating each others guts and you haven't been missing for the last two years.

He stared out the window into the total darkness of the forest that surrounded his mountain cabin. He loved the stillness here at night and wondered if he'd ever be able to go back to living on a noisy city street.

He thought of the bleak neighbourhood he'd found Alex in and wondered how it must have felt to have moved there, after living in the beautiful Hungarian countryside.

Were you telling me the truth when you said I could trust you not to run again? When you asked me to hold off telling Anna until you contacted Dimitri and Andrei?

Dimitri Marick had no idea where Alex was. Or even whether she was alive or dead.

If the tables were turned and it was Anna in her place, I'd want to know. God, I'd give and arm and a leg to know...

David rested his chin in the palm of his hand, feeling the prickliness of his growing stubble.

He knew that Anna had Dimitri's phone number in her desk upstairs somewhere.

It's not my place to make that call. Hell, it's not like I even give a damn about Marick.

But if Alex doesn't call him.

And it were Anna in her place...

David set down his wineglass and went upstairs.

London, England

"You're reading?" Dimitri Marick stared at his son, lying on the sofa, perplexed. During school it was a struggle to put a book in his hands, and now that he had time off for spring break, Andrei was reading. Voluntarily.

"Stay there," Dimitri told him. "I'm going to get the camera."

Andrei frowned. "You are very funny."

Dimitri sat down next to his son, pushing Andrei's feet off the coffee table. "What are you reading anyway?"

"It's not a book. It's a guide," Andrei told him. "I need to know what to do. Where to go."

Dimitri eyed the title of the paperback. Fodor's Guide to Ibiza and Formentera.

"It says there are horseback riding trails here," he pointed out to him, sitting up straight, next to Dimitri now. "See...here is the hotel and here..." His index finger ran along the map that was on the page, away from the island's coast and inland. "And here there are trails. For bikes and horses."

Dimitri looked at him in disbelief. He was taking him to the party capital of Europe and he wanted to go...horseback riding? He took a long look at his son wondering if he was playing a joke on him. But Andrei barely noticed him, he was too engrossed in the guidebook.

If I didn't already know it, I'd wonder if you were adopted...

"Do you think I can take a taxi there?" Andrei asked him.

"I think you're crazy, is what I think." He'd change his mind Dimitri thought, once he got to the beach and saw the beautiful women and the pitchers of sangria. He flipped through his guide book and pointed to a beach scene. "That's what people do in Ibiza," he told him. "Party."

"But look at those people," Andrei shot back. "Do I look like them?" He pointed to his braces, which were finally ready to come off in a couple of weeks. "I still have metal in my mouth and I'm sure I'm shorter than the shortest girl in that photo."

Dimitri cringed. So Andrei wasn't the best looking kid on the block but he had more than enough personality to make up for it. He was a Marick, after all. "Trust me, that's an ad. Not a real photo. The beach is really full of pale Englishmen with beer bellies."

Andrei flashed him a metallic grin. "Then you and Helen have fun with your ugly Englishmen. Girls ride horses too you know and that's where I will look great. Riding a horse."

Dimitri laughed, liking his answer. Andrei was aware of his limitations, but he wasn't insecure. He knew that it was about focusing on your strengths, while being aware of your weaknesses. That was a winning combination and it made Dimitri proud.

You have no idea how far you've come since I plucked you out of that orphanage and you made me jump from a moving train after you tried to run away.

Andrei ran away a few times after that too. He also nearly got expelled from school for stealing his teacher's bracelet. But then Alex took him for a ride on Tempus one early morning and everything changed.

Andrei flipped back to a page with a photo showing a riding trail. "It looks fantastic. I cannot wait."

"One more day," Dimitri told him, suddenly no longer dreading the destination Helen chose. If it made Andrei happy, he was fine with it.

Dimitri's cell phone rang and he excused himself as he stepped out into the hallway to answer it. He was sure it was the sheikh from Dubai again, the one who hadn't been too pleased about Dimitri cancelling his trip there.

He leaned against the wall outside, surprised to see the number come from Pennsylvania.

'Edmund,' he thought automatically. Although they didn't have as much time to meet up as he'd like, he tried to stay in touch with his brother and his family as much as he could.

"Dimitri?"

It wasn't Edmund's voice.

"Yes...who is this?"

"David Hayward."

Dimitri frowned. He hadn't heard from Hayward since the last time he'd seen him in Moscow two years ago.

"What can I do for you?"

"Has Alex contacted you?"

"What?"His heart skipped a beat. What kind of a question was that? "Is this a joke?"

"I take it that's a no. Look...there's something I need to tell you. A little while back Robin saw an article in a medical journal she thought might have been written by Alex. I followed up on it, and, long story short, tracked down the author."

"What?"

"With some help from an IT guy, I tracked down her address. I flew to Vancouver today to see her. Robin was right on the mark. Alex did write the article."

Dimitri was glad he was leaning against the wall. He felt as though someone had knocked the air out of his lungs. Hayward's words echoed in his mind.

"I flew to Vancouver today to see her."

Alex was alive and Hayward had found her. How was that possible?

"Dimitri, are you there?"

"Yeah..."

"I think you should go and see her."

"Is she...alright?"

There was a pause on the other end. "Physically she's fine, yes. Absolutely. Not that I think she was when she left Moscow. Look, she's had her reasons for doing what she did...and I think you really should..."

"If she's fine why hasn't she contacted any of us?"What exactly was he expecting to hear? Amnesia? A coma?

"I think you should find that out from her."

"What is she doing in Canada?"

"I don't know...she's living and working there...but that's not the point."

Dimitri took in a sharp breath, willing his knees to stop shaking. "She fine...and she's living and working in Canada? Explain that to me?"

"I'm not the one to explain her circumstances to you, really I'm not. I'm telling you I found her and if there's any part of you that still cares for her, then you need to go see her!"

"Vancouver's one the other side of the planet...I'm flying to Spain tomorrow."

"Oh for chrissakes, don't you have a couple of private jets at your disposal?"

"Stop this and tell me what the hell is going on!"

Hayward's annoyance was audible in his voice. "I'm not explaining myself over the phone...I'm going to give you an address now and telling you, that you need to go see her."

Dimitri didn't answer.

"Are you there? Do you have a pen and paper?"

Dimitri pulled out the Montblanc from his jacket pocket and moved to a drawer that had some mail scattered on top of it.

"Yeah..."He scribbled down the street name and number David gave him.

"Go and see her."

"Tell me what she said to you when you saw her."

"She needs to tell you. Not me."

"David! Don't just give me a damn address and expect me to jet off to Canada! Tell me more than that!"

"That's all I have for you, Marick. Either go or don't go. It's your choice."

"David..."

There was silence on the other end. Hayward had hung up.

"Bastard..." Dimitri mouthed aloud. He re-dialled the number and Hayward answered it gruffly.

"I have nothing else for you, Dimitri. It's not a joke. It's not a trick. If you still give a damn about Alex go and see her."

"I can't just..."

Click.

He'd hung up a second time and this time Dimitri hurled the phone down the hallway, followed by one of his favourite Hungarian expletives.

The commotion drew out Andrei from his room and elicited a look of surprise on his face.

"It was not a good conversation you were having?"

Dimitri walked a few steps and bent down to pick up the phone.

"Are you okay?" Andrei asked, his look of surprise mixing with concern now.

Dimitri nodded. "Yes...I'll be okay."

"Did you get bad news? Are all the horses at Vadsel okay?"

"Yes, everything's fine at Vadsel."

"Are you sure?"

Dimitri draped an arm around his son. "Yeah...I'm sure." How would Andrei react to what Hayward just called to say? Was it even true? Had he really found Alex and gone to see her in Canada? Was she well and alive halfway across the world from them?

And if so...why? Why not let them know? Why put them through two years of hell of not knowing whether she was alive or not? There couldn't be a good enough reason in the world.

"Are we still going to Ibiza tomorrow?"

Dimitri set down the phone on the drawer and turned it off. He ripped off a piece of paper from the envelope where he'd written down the address, folded it and put it in his shirt pocket. He mustered a smile, hoping it would wipe the look of concern off Andrei's face.

"Yes...yes, of course."

Rome, Italy

"Un doppio espresso, per favore," Anna Devane told the waiter just after she took a seat at a small, touristy cafe that had a corner view of the Trevi fountain.

Her Italian was rusty. In spite of spending some time in the country after Robin was born here, she'd never bothered to attain a genuine fluency. Filomena had spoiled her by speaking mostly English to her during their time together.

"Grazie," she said when the waiter brought her the coffee only moments later. Still, it was good enough to get by without insisting on English like most of the tourists around her.

Anna poured an aspirin from the container she bought at a nearby pharmacy. Her headache wasn't nearly as bad as last night, and she figured the aspirin combined with the espresso would take care of it for good. Another battle won.

She swallowed it with a sip of water that came in a tall glass without ice, along with the coffee, thinking back to the night before.

The hotel that the airport limo driver had found for her was small and overpriced and her room, in spite of being only blocks from the Coliseo, had a view of an alleyway and a brick wall. In hindsight, that had been a plus. It meant she wasn't facing a noisy main street and got a decent night's sleep. Besides, beggars couldn't be choosers. Thanks to the many travellers stuck here, the city's hotels were almost all fully booked. She knew she was lucky to have gotten a room at all.

It could've been worse. I could've spent the night sleeping at Fiumicino' s Terminal C.

After texting David and letting him know she was stuck here, she checked the hotel's internet to see whether anything had changed at the airport. Apparently the baggage handlers had reached an agreement with the negotiators and they were expecting flights to leave as early as this evening again. It meant she had to head back out to Fiumicino later this afternoon and cross her fingers.

That gave her half a day in the Eternal City. To soak in its timelessness and its warmth and buy something to wear from one of the elegant shops on the Via dei Condotti.

She stared at the Trevi fountain as she finished the espresso. The lavish Baroque fountain was surrounded by tourists and vendors hawking goods. Anna smiled when she saw someone turn their back to the fountain as they tossed a coin into it. The tradition was supposed to ensure a return to Rome.

Anna closed her eyes, enjoying the morning sun.

She hadn't planned on an Italian stop-over but it felt good to be back here. Even if Rome wasn't exactly San Remo where she'd spent the bulk of her time in Italy, raising Robin with Filomena's help, before moving to the United States.

She'd come here after losing Robert. Unsure of how to raise a child by herself, in a country that wasn't her own. She somehow found strength to do it.

Then, years later, she left David to give birth to his daughter in Paris and raise her second daughter in yet another foreign country.

"And now what?" she asked herself aloud. Anna knew she was more than capable of picking up the pieces and starting over on her own. Not that it meant she wanted to. 'But things have to change,' she thought. 'I can't be with someone who doesn't trust me to fight my own battles.' She thought back to the many nights spent in David Hayward's arms and fought back a smile that left her lips as quickly as it came. 'No matter how much I love him.'

Her wedding was only a few months away and yet it was the furthest thing from her mind. Part of her cringed at the thought. She still didn't feel the need for a ring and a wedding license to solidify her relationship with David. After all, they'd never been about convention had they? Why start now?

'For Leah,' she reminded herself. 'And for David.'

David Hayward, who'd gone from self-confessed bachelor to wanting not only a wedding but a big, conventional one with all the trimmings and a guest list so long it made Anna nervous just thinking about it.

She bit her lip as she stared at the increasing crowd at the fountain. She wondered why she was getting cold feet, when really she should be the calm one here. 'After all, I've done this before. More than once.' David was the one who was new to this. Unless you counted their first, hasty wedding, which neither of them had taken seriously, until they fell in love.

'Stop it...' she chided herself. 'First things first,' she thought. Getting to Africa and making sure Robin was alright was her first priority. Then she'd call Sean and get his help in tracking down the leads that David had found.

The thought of finding her sister sent a shiver of excitement up her spine.

A smile found its way on her lips again as she got up from her chair. 'And if you're alright Robin, you're going to get an earful for not telling me about that article.'

Authors note: I know Edmund Grey is no longer alive on the show, but since he was when I first started the previous story, Strangers, and I didn't mention his death in it, I figured I'd keep him alive in my alternate universe. And as always, big thanks to my two awesome proof readers, Annie and Kel.