Betty sighed when they landed, rubbing her eyes, and wishing she had been able to sleep at all on the plane. Although the Meade jet had made excellent time, she had found it impossible to get any rest that night, thinking about Daniel, and wishing she had never let him leave London.
If only...two of the most heart-wrenching words in the English language! If only Betty had had the guts back then to ask him why he had followed her there, if only she had been less insecure and had the nerve to ask him about what his mother had suggested at her going away party.
Would they have found something together, and thereby been able to change the path he took, the path that ultimately had led him to…? Well, she didn't want to think about what might be at the end of that sentence.
She shook herself and tried to keep her hands from shaking as she poured another cup of coffee before she got off the plane to go join the search. She couldn't let her mind go there, he had to be fine, he WAS fine. This was Daniel; her friend, her well, okay, maybe they had lost touch over time, but she still cared about him, she still thought about him… pretty much daily and definitely at night!
Something she had never dared share with anyone (except her diary, of course), was her secret dreams about her one time boss, then best friend who had changed her life so drastically.
Daniel had given Betty her start, he had believed in her, cheered for her, and always encouraged her to follow her dreams. Except when he had been hurt on first finding out she had chosen to follow those dreams across an ocean away from him.
She didn't blame him for reacting so childishly when he found out she didn't include him in her decision. After all, she had desperately WANTED to tell him, to have him clap for her as he always did. But she was afraid to, afraid to see that look in his eyes, because she knew if she did, she would have never been able to get on the plane that took her away from him.
And then, like another dream come true, suddenly, he was there! He had quit Mode, had left his whole life in New York behind. Her mind had started to wonder, to question his motives behind making such a drastic decision. Could it really have been his mother was right? Could he actually have followed her because he didn't want to lose her?
Of course, he had made up some silly ruse about wanting to start over somewhere where his name wasn't on buildings, to "see what he found". But why London, in particular? Was it simply that he wanted to be closer to his sister and nephew, but couldn't speak the language, so he decided London was his best option?
That seemed a bit...far fetched to her at the time. But so was the idea that a man like Daniel Meade could actually be in love with a girl like Betty Suarez! Extremely far-fetched. That kind of thing just didn't happen in real life.
Besides, when she had stood blushing, and staring in wonder at his declaration back at Mode right after his office fire that he "couldn't live without her", he had made it clear that he only meant he couldn't do without her as an employee, when he started spouting off business incentives for her to remain at Mode, like he was some sort of game show host, giving out prizes.
Then he had gotten her hopes up again that night when he invited her to dinner at what she half-way thought could be an actual date, but he seemed so nervous and distracted that she figured he must have been concerned she would THINK he meant it as a date when nothing could be further from the truth.
He had only wanted to restore their friendship, nothing more. He had several times unconsciously moved his hand when she had tried to touch his or looked away when she looked into his eyes too long.
Those eyes...she had so many dreams involving Daniel's eyes, dreams where he had shown up to her flat in the middle of the night, declaring his passion to her like some kind of love-starved Romeo. But those were only dreams. Now she was simply here as an old friend of the family, come to support Claire, Alexis, Tyler and DJ in their search for him.
It seemed everyone who knew Daniel was there; Becks, Marc, Amanda, several other Mode staff were also involved in the search for the man who had inspired them in someway. Even Wilhelmina had called and texted Marc and Claire to ask if there was any news, in spite of the fact that it was Fashion Week.
"Betty! Thank you so much for coming, dear. It's so good to see you again."
Claire pulled her into a tight hug that gave away how upset she really was. Betty had never seen the woman so unnerved before, and that was saying quite a lot, considering all they had been through together in the past.
"Mrs….Claire, you know we'll find him. And he's going to be fine when we do. I just know it." Betty spoke softly and patted the older woman's arm gently.
Claire nodded, wiping away the tears she had been trying to keep away for so long when Betty gave her one of her hugs. It was as if all the feelings Claire had been managing to keep bottled up for days now suddenly came flooding to the surface the minute she saw the girl she knew to be the love of her son's life, "I know it,too, Betty. Don't tell me how I know; I just do.
Those idiotic police keep trying to get me to "prepare for the worst", since it's been so long. But what do they know? They're all complete morons! My Daniel is certainly NOT DEAD! There is absolutely no way that boy would do something stupid like die without telling me first! He's still my sweet baby boy no matter how old he is. Well...one of my boys, at least. You know how much I love Daniel, how special he is to me!"
"Yes, I do. And you're right! He's going to be fine. We just have to figure out where he is, that's all."
Claire smiled at Betty. She realized it was probably the first genuine smile she had given anyone in the past week, when she had first started calling everyone, after she had failed to get a call back from her son in such a long time. It was true, he sometimes got caught up in his writing and failed to call her back for almost a full day, but never anywhere near this long.
The last time any of his friends or family had heard from Daniel had been a full two weeks ago, when his publisher had called him to confirm the dates for the schedule of upcoming book tours promoting his latest novel. Betty asked, "He already finished it?"
"Already? He's been working on this book for two years! This was something he told me he was really putting his heart and soul into. He was very proud of it. He said his publisher was blown away by it, as well and was pushing him to really get back out into the public eye and promote it but he was hesitant to actively seek publicity again, when he was enjoying his "quieter" lifestyle these past few years.
If you ask me, his life was a bit too quiet lately. I was worried about him being alone far too much. Sometimes when he got into his writing, he would neglect his health. He'd wear his ratty old bathrobe, and not bother to shave, order take out and live like a hermit, he became so obsessed!"
Betty's mind went back to the time she had found him in his loft, hiding in the closet after Sofia had humiliated him in public. She couldn't picture the man she had watched him grow into reverting back to that kind of childish behavior.
Of course, hiding out because he was heartbroken was a totally different matter than simply being obsessed with his writing and losing touch with reality temporarily. But even if that was what was going on, how could he possibly have lost track of that much time? Two weeks? No matter how involved he was in his writing, there was no way he would simply not answer anyone's calls for that long.
"So...were the police able to do any kind of GPS tracking to locate his phone?"
Claire shook her head, "Yes and no. They were, of course. But that's just it, Betty, they found his phone at that lodge he was living in here. Who goes off somewhere and disappears without taking their phone? At first, there was some speculation that he had been kidnapped. But we've received no ransom note.
And there was so sign of any struggle, no….blood, Daniel's were the only footprints found, going out to his car. I think perhaps he took off in a rush for some reason, and didn't realize he had forgotten his phone, and either his car broke down or he just got lost out in these God forsaken woods! Who would choose to live out in this wilderness?"
Betty smiled at Claire's obvious distaste for the country, looking around at the lovely wooded areas, "It's nice. Pretty, even. I'm sure it was relaxing for him and helped him to be able to write without distractions."
Claire shrugged, "I suppose so. Unfortunately, since I raised him in the city, in civilization, Daniel is certainly no cowboy, so he has no idea how to survive alone in this...forest!" she was close to breaking down. Betty could see the obvious fear in her eyes, as she looked around, seeing all the dangers of her son being exposed to the elements.
She pulled the matriarch into another warm hug, "Where is everyone? Your family, the police?"
Claire waved absently to her car, "Come on, I'll take you and Justin to Daniel's cabin. That's where we've been meeting. The police have been searching there for some kind of clue as to where he might have gone. But they don't know him like you do, Betty. You're my last hope! You know the man better than anyone. If anyone can save him, can figure out where he went, I know you can!"
Betty took a deep breath, smiling and nodding. She fervently hoped she could solve Daniel's mysterious disappearance. But it had been so long since they had spoken. What if she simply didn't know where he had gone? It wasn't like she could "read his mind". At least, not anymore. He might have changed so much since she last saw him that she couldn't be any help whatsoever in finding him.
She looked at her nephew with fear in her eyes. He smiled at her, putting his arm around her, and Claire, and walking in between them both, "Don't despair, Claire! Betty Suarez will save the day! Nobody knows Daniel better than my aunt! I know she'll just be able to take one look around his place and be able to figure out where he is immediately! She knows that man better than he knows himself! Right, AB?"
Betty tried to give a convincing smile, swallowing hard to hide the doubt she felt inside, "Right! We'll figure it out together; all of us! Justin's right, Claire. I'm sure we'll be able to track him down if we all just work together as a team. Team...Daniel!"