Quietus

Chapter 10

Even though I do not want to ever let Samantha out of my sight again, I have to make myself stay seated on the bench while I watch her walk away from me. My eyes strain to see her as she rounds a corner, but unless I go after her right now, I will not be able to catch up with her.

If I did go with my impulse, it would probably make her believe I am a flat-out stalker. Which emphatically I am not, even if I have been known on certain occasions to use various types of surveillance equipment to find out information.

Really, I had thought myself to be quite ingenious when I came up with the baby monitors to use to keep up with Samantha, but she quickly caught on to what I was doing. Note to self; in the future, do not try to eavesdrop on her again unless, I want another bump on my noggin.

Yes; my Samantha can throw things with an almost perfect aim, this held especially true whenever she wanted to hit me with an object. I've had all kinds of things thrown at me by her over the years, glasses filled with all sundry types of liquid, flower vases, books, keys, etc. You name it and if it is in her line of vision when she gets angry, then if it is breakable; better hope it is not a cherished treasure item.

I ponder about our somewhat new yet old friendship we had just formed with each other at the Horton Square. Speaking with Samantha it was very evident she does not have the memories I have of us together. Maybe that is a good thing or it could be a bad thing? Does this mean I have a chance to forge a lasting friendship with her this time around without all the bad things that happened to us along the way?

Then I wonder if and when I will see Samantha again. She told me she would see me around and I have to hold onto the promise. I just have to believe I will see her again, even if I don't actually know what to trust in at the moment.

So many jumbled memories; are flooding my mind, all at once after seeing her again. I want to only recall the good times with her and our children, but there are so many bad times too. Dark times, ones that I can't dismiss, no matter how hard I try to make them go away.

I honestly don't know how long I sat on the bench, because I didn't wear my watch and I have no clue where my cell phone is either. I usually don't leave the house without either one of them with me. It's not like me to forget things. Being a DiMera, has taught me to be prepared for whatever may come my way, yet I feel totally lost as what to do next.

I do know it is growing darker; the afternoon has somehow gotten away from me after Samantha left my side. For some reason, I feel like I should go home, if for no other reason than to hope when I return, my life as I knew it before I woke up from this mystifying dream will return to normal.

Then I chuckle to myself, when in the hell was my life ever normal? Apparently normal for Samantha and I is something totally different for us than everyone else.

I finally push myself up from the bench because some strangers have walked pass me and the looks they are giving me make me self-conscious, which is something I rarely, if ever feel. Maybe they think I have lost all my marbles if I have been talking aloud while I have been contemplating what is happening in my life.

Without really knowing how, I make the trek back to the DiMera Mansion after I left the park, I find at least I can gain entry here even without having the house key with me. That Harold is not there to answer the door is somewhat odd. Nine times out of ten, he is there to either grant access to the mansion or tell whoever is at the door they are not allowed entrance.

I walk into the foyer almost expecting the crowd who was here before I left to still be here, but the house is eerily quiet. Too quiet for my liking. My children while most times they have good manners, they are also very loud. The noise doesn't even bother Father though; he agrees with me that having them around makes the house come to life by their laughter and playfulness they exude.

I slowly walk up the stairs determined to go to their playroom, but when I open the door to the room, it is empty. I frown as I close the door to the room and then I see a welcome face. Mary, my children's nanny is in the hallway. I smile at her as I approach, but she isn't smiling back at me, which is unusual behaviour for her. I try not to let it bother me, because I need to find out where my children are since they weren't in the playroom.

I reach out to Mary and she shies away from me. Sometimes in the past I have been abrupt with her, so that may be the reason. I have to know where my children are and this woman will know since she has been with them most of their lives.

"Mary, where are the children? They aren't in their playroom."

Mary looks at me curiously, "Master EJ, the children aren't here."

"Where could they be then? This is their home or at least it will be until Samantha and I find a home of our own. We have been looking for one, but haven 't agreed on which one we will buy."

Maybe it is upon hearing of our intentions to eventually move out of the mansion is what makes Mary begin to cry, but surely she knows she will go with us. She is like family to me, Samantha and of course our children. I'm about to inform her of such that we wouldn't leave without her when she is wiping at her eyes. I reach out my hand to her forearm in hopes of trying to calm her worries when she says something to me I never dreamed of hearing come out of her mouth.

"Master EJ, the children haven't been here for a very long time."

My brow furrows, this can't be true, why they were just here, well they were, until Sonny came to pick them up to take them to the party. Mary is just confused, she has to be.

"Mary, you aren't making any sense. I know the children went to Will and Sonny's, but they aren't going to stay there with them."

"Master EJ, your mother has the children with her and her husband Edmund for quite some time now."

"I thought Mother had come alone when she came to Salem. She told me Edmund was still in England."

"Your children are in England with your mother and step-father."

I shake my head, while Samantha and I have made up and renewed our wedding vows I doubt she would let the children go across the pond to England without either one of us being with them.

I let go of Mary's arm and stumble back a few steps until I reach the hardness of the wall behind me. "No, they should be here," I claim with a certainty that I do not feel, but desperately want to be true.

Mary reaches out her hand to steady me this time, "Master EJ, you need to go rest. Let me take you back to your room."

Even though I'm to the point of exhaustion and should heed her advice, I tell her. "I can't, I have to find my children, I have to find Samantha again too and let her know what has happened."

Upon hearing this last thing from me, Mary bursts out into a torrent of tears and then I suddenly feel myself falling; Mary isn't strong enough to hold me up. I hear her calling out for Harold and that is the last thing I remember before everything goes black on me once more.