Audrey Hardy felt defeated as she pulled her own front door open. She was dreading the conversation she needed to have with Jeff. He had trusted her with his child and she had let him down. There was no acceptable explanation.
With a heavy heart she hung up her coat and then made her way into the kitchen.
"Oh, hi Gram!" Sarah said as she picked up her sandwich to take another bite.
Audrey flew across the room and enveloped her granddaughter in a hug. "Sarah! You're home! I was so worried!"
"Of course, I'm home. Where else would I be? Ali's dad took the whole family to the Country Club for lunch but I swear I came straight home right after," Sarah said.
"But I spoke with Monica Quartermaine. She claimed that you never spent the night!"
"Oh Gram, I think you must have misunderstood. When I said I was spending the night at Alison's house, I meant Alison Barrington. She is on the cheering squad and she is in my history class. We really have a lot in common."
Audrey couldn't imagine what Sarah and Alison Barrington had in common. Back when Audrey was Sarah's age girls like Alison Barrington were considered fast or loose and neither term was complimentary. "I didn't realize that you and Alison Barrington were even friends."
"Well, we've been in the same pyramid group for cheering and we did that history project together. Oh Gram, I know that look, you probably think Alison's mom is, well, a bit like Steven's mom. From Ali's stories, I'm not sure even she would dispute that. But Ali is really a lot more like me and I just feel like I shouldn't judge her because of who her mother is. I mean can you imagine if people knew about Steven's mom but that isn't really his fault."
Audrey hated to admit it but Sarah did have a point. Sarah had always been such an empathetic and kind child; just like her grandfather Steve. "That is very true. Perhaps I have been a bit hasty in my judgment. I was just so worried about you."
"I'm sorry Gram, I was a bit worried myself when I came home and you weren't home but I figured perhaps you had gone to the grocery store or gotten called into the hospital."
"Didn't your sister tell you that I went to the police station?" Audrey asked.
"Lizzie has been up in her room blaring that infernal music since I got home. She didn't even say hello!"
Audrey shook her head. Her youngest granddaughter seemed to define unreliable and irresponsible. "I must call Detective Janelle back and let him know that you are fine and it was all a simple misunderstanding. Then I am going to give Elizabeth a piece of my mind," she said.
XXXXXXXX
Tracy Quartermaine-Grabler stacked the final plate in the dishwasher. "Well, I guess that does it," she said as she closed the door to the dishwasher.
"Yes, thank you for your help," Dr. Monica Quartermaine said as she closed the refrigerator and then grabbed a cloth to wipe down the granite countertops.
Tracy figured that since Monica and Alan basically hosted the entire family at least weekly it was kind of the least she could do. Fortunately, her sister in law had a well-designed kitchen with two dishwashers, double ovens, a separate prep sink, an induction cooktop and granite counters. They had just finished a major renovation project over the summer. "Do you like the induction cooktop?" she asked.
"I do. Alan still tends to believe that men cook outside the house," Monica said.
Tracy chuckled. She thought it was eleven years ago when Alan had put then three-year-old Allison and nine-year-old AJ into their snowsuits so he could make pancakes on the grill outside. Like many things, it had become a bit of a family joke. Alan continued to claim that Allison and AJ thought it was cool and his wife agreed that cool was a good word to use since it was the middle of January and there was a foot of snow on the ground. "We're looking at ranges now. Ryan wants to take advantage of the Black Friday sales."
"If you're upgrading more than replacing, you can donate your current range to Habitat for Humanity. It made me feel better about basically destroying a perfectly good kitchen this summer. We donated our cabinets and appliances to Habitat," Monica said.
Monica and Alan had always had a gorgeous and completely on trend kitchen. Renovating every five years would do that. Although in contrast to many of their neighbors, Tracy knew that they at least cooked in their kitchen. Or at least Monica did; Alan was apparently still flipping pancakes and grilling salmon and prime rib on the patio. "That is a good idea. Do they have a pickup service?" Tracy asked.
"They do. They actually did most of the demolition of the old kitchen so they could save the appliances and the cabinets."
XXXXXXXX
Ned Ashton stood outside his aunt and uncle's kitchen listening to his mother and aunt's seemingly innocuous conversation. He wanted to talk to Monica but there wasn't a good way to interrupt without making his mother feel like he was rejecting her advice in favor of his aunt's so he decided he wouldn't do that. He definitely didn't need to insert any more awkwardness into their mother -son relationship. Yet, as he turned to walk back down the East Hallway, he realized how much it had always been that way and he wasn't quite sure how to change it.
His mother had been the first wife, in a long series of wives, of the low-level British Monarch, Lord Lawrence Ashton. He didn't remember his father. He had been barely two months old when the divorce had been finalized. They had returned to the states then and moved in with his mother's parents, the Quartermaines. He didn't really remember that either, or at least not their arrival at the original Quartermaine Estate. He had some early disjointed memories of his grandfather and the Wall Street Journal and he had some vague idea that he had once crawled his way through his grandmother's original rose garden, the one before the even larger one she had designed, developed, and cultivated on the grounds around the mansion his Uncle Alan had given his wife the summer after Ned had turned twelve. It hadn't made much sense to Ned at the time, since his Aunt Monica had barely had time to select paint colors for her new dream home before she went off to Philadelphia for her cardiology fellowship and, at least from his grandfather's perspective, abandoned her husband and child. Fortunately, Dr. Alan Quartermaine had viewed things a bit differently. He had been raised by Lila Morgan Quartermaine after all.
When Ned looked back on all of that he realized that even that recounting of childhood memories would make his mother feel badly since his memories centered around everyone but her. Perhaps that was because his mother had spent most of his early childhood in college and then law school. He had turned seven a few months before she graduated from law school. She took a job as pro-counsel for CPS but from overheard conversations Ned knew she had felt like a hypocritical fraud. In spite of that, she was sworn in as a family court judge a few weeks before his eleventh birthday.
When he stepped back into the living room, Ned realized that the rest of the family had scattered. Only his grandfather was sitting in an armchair by the fireplace flipping through a contract. "What did you do this time, Grandfather?" Ned asked.
"I beg your pardon," Edward said as he frowned at the contract.
"When I stepped out of the room a few minutes ago there were about fifteen people here," Ned said.
"If you must know, Scott Baldwin arrived so Serena and that social worker went off with him; your cousin had to go back to the hospital, apparently even the physical rehabilitation unit has emergencies; the kids went outside to play soccer; and your grandmother is somewhere with Carly and Betsy and the baby."
"I think she prefers Beth now; I believe Elizabeth is her given name," Ned said.
Edward grunted and then shook his head making it quite clear he was not going to be reproached. "She was Betsy when she met Mark Henry at your wedding. That was about the only good thing which came of that day," he said.
Sadly, Ned wasn't even sure he could disagree with that statement.
XXXXXXXX
Carly Ashton watched Mark and Beth's daughter toddle across the patio outside the living room. Ned had referred to it as something else, perhaps the East Terrace but Carly couldn't keep all of that straight.
"I remember when I was a few months away from having Kensi I was alternatively terrified of birth and excited to finally meet her. Are you and Ned doing a Bradley Birth?" Beth asked.
Bradley Birth? What?Carly had no idea what that even was. "Umm, I think our childbirth class starts next week," she finally managed to choke out.
"Mark researched all of the methods and concluded that Bradley was the most evidence based. Evidenced Based Medicine is his thing," Beth said.
"I see," Carly said. What else could she say?
"He's kind of a geek that way. I love him but don't get him started on EBM unless you want to just sit and listen until your eyes glaze over," Beth said.
"I'll keep that in mind. So how did you meet?" Carly asked. She needed a topic change!
Beth appeared uncomfortable with the question. More than a few seconds passed before she said, "Umm, we met at a wedding."
"You don't need to be uncomfortable, dear. Carly knows Ned was married before," Lila said.
"I think you misunderstand Mrs. Quartermaine. It wasn't that I thought Carly would be upset to know that I met Mark at Ned and Jenny's wedding. It was that when I look back on that wedding, I am still a bit mortified I stood up for Jenny after I caught her kissing Paul Hornsby before the rehearsal dinner. Oh, she had an excuse; Jenny always did but I guess I just feel I should have known better."
Carly couldn't really comment on that. She might not have been kissing Jason before the rehearsal dinner but she would have if he had shown up and promised they would figure it out somehow. She wondered if Lila suspected that. After all she had carefully gone back into the house and left Jason and Carly alone on the patio by the pool on Friday.
"I assure you that no one in this family hold you responsible for Jennifer's infidelity, or her lack of integrity," Lila said.
"I appreciate that. So, onto happier topics I don't think I ever heard how you and Ned met."
"I guess we technically met at the Nurse's Ball in 1996. I was Lucy Coe's assistant so I met a lot of people but Ned has a really good memory so he remembered my name five months later when we both helped serve at the Charles Street Community Thanksgiving held at Ward House," Carly said. She had basically used the explanation that Ned had provided his cousins a week earlier. She figured the more consistent they were the better.
"So, you volunteer with Ward House? That is great, when Kensi gets a little older I want to do that. I worked as an attorney for a non-profit when we lived in New Jersey but I couldn't bear to put Kensi in daycare so I've been staying home with her."
"I really just helped out with the Thanksgiving thing and a little with the Christmas Toy Drive," Carly said.
"Carly undervalues her contributions. We would love to have you join us as well, Beth."
"I'll talk to Mark about his schedule. As long as he isn't on call, I can leave Kensi with him on the weekends so I could probably help out then," Beth said.
Carly forced a smile. Beth's daughter was really cute and she seemed like such a good mom. It must be nice, Carly thought.
XXXXXXXX
Maggie Carpenter hated hiking more with every step along the trail at the Chapparal County State Park in Deering. Up ahead Scott Baldwin bounded along the trail with his daughter on his back. According to the map, if she didn't die first, they would reach the waterfall in another half mile.
"You doing alright back there?" Scott Baldwin called as he stopped for moment.
"Just fine," Maggie ground out.
"Ok, full steam ahead!" Scott Baldwin said as he started walking again at an even faster clip.
Maggie just groaned. She hated her life! As an added bonus, apparently Edward Quartermaine, who golfed regularly with the Director of Social Services Ed Crane, was annoyed her ineptitude had resulted in his Sunday Brunch being interrupted. She could only imagine the reprimand that would follow from that.
XXXXXXXX
Katherine Bell tried to enjoy a luxurious soak in her suite at the Port Charles Hotel. Unfortunately, she just felt wrinkled and ruined, just like her skin. Stefan had not returned any of her calls. It was as if, at least from Stefan's perspective, she no longer existed. She probably didn't. She had seen the way Stefan coldly and callously dismissed people. She just had never thought it would happen to her. Perhaps she should have stayed with Mac Scorpio when she had the chance. Hadn't her mother always said that a bird in hand was worth two in the bush?
With that thought, Katherine pulled herself from her quickly cooling tub. Suddenly she felt like a martini, or three, at The Outback.
XXXXXXXX
AJ Quartermaine turned onto Windsor Road which wrapped around the back of the Port Charles University Campus. PCU's four fraternities and three sororities were interspersed amongst private estates. As he pulled into the parking lot beneath the back of the Delta Tau Delta Fraternity House, he glanced over at Keesha. "This house meeting should be quick and then we can go grab dinner somewhere. Do you want to study in our library?" he asked as he slid his BMW into park.
"Ok," Keesha said without meeting his eyes.
AJ heard the uncertainty in her voice. "Is something wrong, Keesha?" he asked.
"Isaiah got arrested again last night," she said.
Isaiah Abraham Ward was the eldest son of late US Attorney, Bradley Ward Jr. He was Justus and Faith's older brother and Keesha's first cousin. AJ had met him only briefly when he returned for his father's funeral in March of 1994. He didn't remember him being at his grandmother's funeral in January of 1996. "I'm sorry," AJ said.
"I guess the problem is I'm not sure if I am," Keesha said.
"What do you mean?"
"They are charging him with murder. The cop they say he killed had young children; two little girls who were four and seven. That's even younger than Faith was when his father was murdered," Keesha said.
AJ stopped himself from asking if she thought her cousin had actually committed murder. He couldn't imagine that. Or maybe he couldn't. Jason basically did the same thing. "I guess maybe I'm sorry that it happened. I'm sorry that a man is dead and two children will grow up without their father. If your cousin actually killed then I'm sorry that his heart is where it is. I don't know, don't hate me for not knowing how to respond to this Keesha," he said.
"Yeah, it's not like there is a book how to still love your cousin who kills people. Or I don't think there is," Keesha said.
AJ wondered what that book might say. He was intelligent enough to not suggest he and Keesha could write it. Although, in a way, they were writing that book just by living their lives. "I can miss this house meeting if you need me to," he offered instead.
Keesha shook her head. "No, I don't need you to. Come on, let's go inside," Keesha said.
XXXXXXXX
Alexis Davis came down the formal front stairs in Wyndamere and saw her nephew standing in front of the full-length mirror pensively. He was dressed in black slacks and a black collared shirt with a grey sports coat. "Is everything alright, Nikolas, you look troubled?" she asked.
"I am just trying to decide if this outfit requires a tie," Nikolas said.
Alexis laughed. While Stefan was adamant that Cassadines dressed for dinner, Nikolas seemed to be taking that to an entirely new level. "I think Ms. Lansbury and the kitchen staff will you let you slide this once and Stefan won't be home until tomorrow," she said.
"I actually have different dinner plans. I will go upstairs and add a tie," Nikolas said.
As her nephew turned towards the stairs, Alexis had a horrible thought. Did Nikolas have dinner plans with Katherine? It would the third time in a week! "Oh, who are you going out with tonight?" Alexis asked. She tried to make her words sound nonchalant. She felt anything but. She had created the elaborate lie to get Stefan away from Katherine but that was hardly helpful if it just made Nikolas vulnerable to Katherine's spider web. What had she done?
Nikolas's cheeks turned slightly crimson. "Sarah invited me to have dinner with her and her grandmother."
Alexis released a deep breath. Audrey Hardy had mentioned that her grandmother Sarah was enjoying spending time with Nikolas. Stefan had appeared chagrinned but quickly covered, as it would not do to offend the widow of his predecessor who also happened to be the current director of nursing. Alexis knew that her cousin did not regard Sarah Webber as a suitable partner for a prince. Of course, Nikolas would not be eligible to assume control of the Cassadine holdings for another seven years so Alexis didn't see the harm of him spending some time with Sarah Webber in his teens. "What restaurant are you taking Sarah to dine at?" she asked.
"Friday night I took her to Café Decadence, down on the River Walk. Tonight, she invited me to have dinner with her grandmother at the Hardy home," Nikolas said.
"I think you can forget the tie. I highly doubt the Hardy family routinely wears ties to the dinner table."
"When Emily and Allison Quartermaine invited me to go that brunch everyone was wearing suits and ties," Nikolas said.
"Yes, I'm sure they were. Edward Quartermaine is rather particular about that kind of stuff," Alexis said. Emily and Allison Quartermaine came from a family of similar class and social standing but Alexis was quite sure her cousin wouldn't approve of Nikolas dating one of them either. After all, there was that whole thing with Alexandria and Tony.
"So, are you sure the situation does not require a tie?" Nikolas asked.
The only thing Alexis was really sure about was that she would once again be dining alone. "I would definitely ditch the tie," she said.
"Thank you, cousin, I hope you have a pleasant evening as well," Nikolas said as he made a final adjustment to his collar before heading to the foyer and out the door.
XXXXXXXX
Katherine Bell's smile quickly turned into a pout when she walked into The Outback and didn't see a certain Australian tending bar. Regardless, she made her way over to the bar and climbed up seductively with a wink to the bartender. "How about a double martini with three olives?" she asked.
Trask Bodine refrained from comment as he poured gin and vermouth into a shaker. He was one of the few people who knew that his boss had been prepared to propose to Katherine Bell on the night she dumped his butt.
"So where is your sexy boss?" Katherine asked as he slid her drink across the bar.
Mac Scorpio had left town along with Felicia and Bobbie Jones and their respective kids on some extended PI case about two months earlier. Trask was sure there was more to that story but he had carefully not asked because he was a horrible liar and he had a feeling someone would question him eventually. "Mac is out of town on a case," he said.
Katherine tried to laugh but it came out as more of a cackle, which in Trask's opinion, was fitting. "Wasn't he out of town on a case the last time I was here?" she asked.
"I'm not sure," Trask said. Technically that was the truth. He really didn't recall the last time Katherine had been in The Outback. Of course, if it was any time in the past two months then the answer would have been yes.