Chapter 7- DNA Results

After speaking to Kevin, Felicia regained her composure and headed back to Ace's room. Kevin advised she go home and take a break. After some hesitation Felicia agreed she shouldn't hover too much, but she still wanted to check on them before leaving.

She found Laura and Spencer outside of Ace's room.

"Hi, is Esme in with Ace?" Felicia asked.

"No, she hasn't come back yet," Laura said.

"Oh." Felicia frowned. "I hope she's okay."

"She's fine," Spencer spoke up. "She just over-dramatizes everything."

"Spencer!" Laura shook her head. "I told you to be kinder with Esme right now. We need to get along for Ace's sake."

"I don't think you can over-dramatize when your child is unwell," Felicia said. "Laura, would it be all right if I visit Ace before I leave?"

"I think that would be all right." Laura smiled. "Ace couldn't ask for a better health aide."

Felicia nodded. "Right." She headed into the room and found Ace sleeping in his crib. "Hi Ace. You remind me a lot of James when he was a baby. I know you don't know me. But I promise I'm going to be here for you and your mommy in any way that I can."

Ace's eyes fluttered open and he looked up at her.

She smiled at him. "You're going to pull through this, Ace. I know you will because my daughter Maxie did. And I just know that she is your auntie." She glanced over and noticed Esme's coat on the chair. "And I'm going to prove it." She whisked over and lifted the coat. She turned it over and sure enough there were several strands of long brown hair sticking to it. But in the instance she flipped it over, a red glove fell to the floor. She stared at the same worn material from the glove Laura showed for evidence of someone breaking into Wyndemere.

GHGHGH

"Hey, Jake, I just came to ask you a few questions about last night," Dante said and Elizabeth rose so he could take her chair. "What were you doing at the docks?"

"Looking for Charlotte," Jake said, his face battered and bruised.

"And did you find her?" Dante asked.

"Yeah, I did."

"Okay." Dante wrote that down. "And then what happened?"

Jake took a deep breath and Elizabeth reached for his hand. "It's okay. Take your time."

Jake nodded. "Spencer's uncle showed up."

Elizabeth's eyes widened. "Victor?"

"I forget his name," Jake said. "He arrived with some other men. He wanted Charlotte to go with him."

"Did she go with him?" Dante asked.

"She didn't want to because he wanted her to go to Switzerland with him. After she kept saying no, he grabbed her and started dragging her. So… I punched him."

Dante nodded. "Okay. And then what happened?"

"One of his men shoved me to the ground and kicked me. Wouldn't stop kicking me. Then the other punched me several times and everything went black and I woke up here."

"So, you don't know what happened to Charlotte?" Dante asked.

Jake shook his head. "He must've taken her."

"Did he say where in Switzerland?"

"No," Jake said. "Just Switzerland."

"Okay," Dante said. "I need to tell Valentin and Laura."

GHGHGH

Felicia arrived at Maxie's house and knocked on the door.

"Oh, hi Felicia." Cody answered it. "Maxie's still out with Bailey Lou."

She smiled. "Yes, I saw her at the hospital. I actually wanted to talk to you."

He scrunched his face. "Okay. Uh, come in."

She walked in and glanced around. "Where's James?"

"The basement," Cody said. "We've been playing the Switch."

"Okay…. I wanted to talk to you alone for a minute."

"Why?" Cody asked.

"So, I've noticed some things the past few months," Felicia said. "You fit right in with our family. And there's a lot of similarities between you and Mac. I know I shouldn't have done it…." She pulled the envelope out of her bag. "But I ran a new DNA test between you and Robert."

"What?"

"I'm sorry," Felicia said. "I should've just talked to you about my suspicions. But our whole family adores you and we would love for you to be part of it. I didn't open the results, but I want to give them to you. And I really hope you don't hold this against Mac or Maxie. But again, I'm sorry. I really hope you're Mac's son though because we all love you."

He stared at the envelope in her hand.

"Cody is Grandpa's son?" They turned to find James standing there. "Does that mean Cody's my uncle? Yay!" He ran over and hugged Cody. "Then we have three boys in our family now, Grandma!"

Felicia sighed. "Oh, Cody, I'm sor—"

"I gotta go." He took the envelope from Felicia's hand. "See you later, James."

"Cody… Cody, wait…." Felicia followed him to the door, but he took off.

James stuck out his lower lip. "Why did he leave, Grandma? Doesn't he want to be my uncle?"

"Oh, buddy…." She hugged him. "It's not that. He adores you. Grandma just made a mistake and she doesn't know how to fix it."

"Can you hug Uncle Cody and say you're sorry?" James suggested. "That's what Mommy always wants me and Georgie do when we make mistakes."

Felicia smiled. "Maybe. Can you show me your video game until Mommy comes home?"

James nodded.

GHGHGH

Sam sat on a saucer while Scout perched on Drew's lap on the tube.

"Okay, 1—" Drew said.

"—2—" Sam counted.

"3!" Scout squealed as they took off down the hill, screaming and laughing. They passed trees and missed the ramp and soared across the ground. They slowed next to the playground where they saw three figures standing there with their own sleighs.

"Hi Drew, hi Scout," Carly said, wrapping her arms around Donna and Avery.

Scout frowned.

"When you told me you were taking Scout tobogganing, I thought we'd surprise you," Carly explained. "So, I called Ava, and she thought Avery would love to come too."

Scout climbed off Drew's lap and moved over to Sam. She whispered, "I want to go home, Mommy."

Sam sighed. "Do you want to go home because you're tired or because you don't want Carly and the girls to join?"

"I don't want them to join."

Sam nodded. "Okay, then we're not leaving." She stood up and walked over holding Scout's hand. "I'm sorry girls, but your mom got a little mixed up. This is Scout's special day and she wants to spend some extra special time with her dad."

Carly scowled.

Donna gaped at her. "Without us?"

"Sometimes we like to have alone time with our parents," Sam said. "But this is a really big park with lots of hills to use. Maybe we can use a different one."

Drew nodded. "That's a good idea. Then everyone can still have fun."

Carly shook her head. "Come on, girls. I'll be calling Drew later." She shot him a disappointed look.

Drew watched them go in the other direction for a moment, then turned to Sam and Scout. He clapped his hands together and smiled. "Okay, who would you like to slide down with this round, Scout?"

Scout pointed to Sam. "Mommy."

GHGHGH

Felicia tried to take a nap when she got home but she couldn't stop thinking about Esme, Ace, and Cody. Would Cody forgive her? Would he ever embrace Mac if he's really his son? And what about Esme? Would she be furious too that Felicia had a DNA test done without her knowledge? Or was Kevin right and this was the best route to take? And then there's little Ace… just like her poor little Maxie had to go through. Would he have to have surgery too or heaven forbid a heart transplant?

She heard a rustling sound at the door and Mac walked in carrying his suitcase. "Honey, I'm home."

She hurried over to him and threw her arms around him. "Oh, Mac. I missed you so much."

He kissed her. "I missed you too, Felicia. How are things here?"

Felicia sighed. "I'd rather hear about your trip."

He shrugged. "Nothing too exciting. I missed not being home for Christmas."

"We missed you."

They turned when there was a knock at the door. Mac answered it. "Cody, hi! How are you?"

Cody smiled a little. "Oh hey. I didn't know were home yet."

"Come on in," Mac said. "I just got in a couple minutes ago."

"Well, I can come later if you want to get settled first." He turned to leave.

Felicia frowned.

"No, don't be silly," Mac spoke up. "Come sit down."

Cody walked in awkwardly and met Felicia's eyes.

"So, did you want to see Felicia about something?" Mac asked, settling in on the couch. "Since you didn't realize I'd be home?"

Cody sat on the chair furthest from the couch. "I did. But since you're back, I might as well tell you too."

Felicia took a seat beside Mac, nervously looking at Cody.

Mac scrunched his face. "What did you want to tell us?"

"Um…." He rubbed his nose. "I don't know, maybe this was a bad idea…." He stood up.

"Cody?" Felicia spoke up with an inkling of what he wanted to say. "Do you want to talk to Mac alone?"

He shook his head. "You kind of… uh… gave me the push I needed, so I think you should be here."

Mac raised an eyebrow. "Push for what?"

Felicia smiled a little. "It's okay, Cody. You can tell him."

"Um, so I… I kind of lied to you before," Cody said. "And I'm probably going to go to jail for telling you now."

"Why would you go to jail?" Mac asked.

"Well, Scott kind of convinced me…." Cody cleared his throat. "No, I can't blame this on him. I sued the WSB for destroying the Ice Princess necklace and it was under Leopold Taub's name. I had to sign a document saying I'm his son. So, now I will be charged if I tell the truth."

"The truth?" Mac asked and Felicia rubbed his back.

"That I'm… that I'm your son."

Mac stared at him silently.

"I'm sorry I lied," Cody said. "I couldn't keep it to myself any longer… even if it means I have to serve time."

Felicia pushed away some tears from her eyes. "I'm going to let you have some time alone together. I need to get to the hospital." She patted Cody's shoulder when she passed by him. "You did the right thing. I'm proud of you. And we'll figure out the legal stuff together."

She grabbed her coat and left.

GHGHGH

Felicia arrived back at the hospital to find Laura, Kevin, and Spencer outside of Ace's room with Dr. Robinson.

"I'm afraid Ace is going to need bypass surgery," Dr. Robinson explained.

Laura placed a shaky hand over her mouth. Felicia stepped closer remembering when Monica told her Maxie would need heart surgery.

"But he's just a baby," Spencer cried.

"I'm afraid his heart will just get weaker and weaker if he doesn't have the surgery," Dr. Robinson said. "But I need to speak to Esme. She'll need to sign the papers."

Laura frowned. "But we can't find Esme. She's been missing since this morning."

"Esme… Esme is missing?" Felicia choked up.

"I even tried calling her phone," Laura said. "But it's still in Ace's room with her coat."

"So, she abandoned him," Spencer said.

"She would not abandon her son," Laura said. "And why would she leave without her coat and her phone? It makes no sense." She rubbed her temples. "I can't believe so much is happening at once…. Ace needs heart surgery. Charlotte and Esme are missing."

Kevin wrapped his arm around her.

"Have you called the police?" Felicia asked. "Although they won't do anything until it's been 24 hours…."

"The police are already going through our surveillance system," Dr. Robinson explained. "An infant went missing from the nursery last night. Maybe they'll see something with Esme too. But in the meantime, Esme wrote your name down, Laura, to make medical decisions for Ace if she can't. You could sign off his surgery. We should do it right away."

Laura nodded. "All right, then I'm calling Valentin to see if there's an update on Charlotte. Kevin, can you and Spencer stay with Ace while I do those things?" She went with Dr. Robinson down the hallway.

Kevin patted Spencer's back. "You head on in with Ace, Spencer. I'll be in in a few minutes."

Spencer nodded and headed into the room.

"Are you okay, Felicia?" Kevin asked.

Felicia stared through the window at Ace.

"Mrs. Scorpio?" Nurse Amy walked over to them. "Your second DNA results are in. You put a rush on them, correct?"

Felicia turned and stared at the envelope in Amy's hand, then glanced at Kevin nervously.

Kevin took the envelope. "Thank you, Amy." They watched her leave. "You don't have to open it until you're ready."

"I've been ready since the day she went missing." She took the envelope from him and ripped it open.

"Felicia?" Kevin asked after a few minutes. "What does it say?"

"I need to… I need to…." Felicia burst into tears. "I need to find my baby girl… she's missing again." She rushed off to find some hospital staff, leaving Kevin standing there with his mouth dropped.

GHGHGH

"There she is… my sweet, precious baby girl!"

Esme slowly opened her eyes and saw a blurry blond woman hovering over her, and as her vision cleared, she realized it was Heather.

"Did you enjoy you enjoy your nap?" Heather asked in a baby voice.

Esme turned her head from side to side. She was lying in a bed. The walls of the room were made of logs. "Ace… I need to see him." She tried to sit up, but Heather pushed her down.

"Ace is in the next room sleeping," Heather said. "We mustn't wake him."

"But…." Esme rubbed her throbbing temple. "He… he needs to be in the hospital."

"Is that what those lunatics told you?" Heather shook her head. "I rescued both of you from there."

Esme stared at her. "Did you… drug me?"

"A mother has to do what's best for her child." Heather smiled. "And now we'll always be together."

Esme's head spun. "I need to… to get… Ace back… he needs a doctor…."

Heather stroked her hair and kissed her forehead. Esme shivered.

"I am the only doctor he needs," Heather said. "I'm the only everything both you and Ace need. And never forget that." She tapped Esme's nose and stood up.

Esme's body went cold as Heather moved to the door.

"Don't worry, sweetheart," Heather said. "I will always lock this door to protect you from the lunatics and monsters. That way you'll be mine forever." She exited the door and Esme heard a click.