EPISODE #2013-219 Part #2
“It’s good to see you, Felicia,” Rachel told her friend gently, realizing the effort it must have taken her to set foot once again inside the Cory Mansion.
“I came to talk to Lorna,” Felicia looked around desperately, afraid of what the answer might be. “Is she still here?”
“I’ll send for her. She’ll be right down. Please, Felicia, come in.”
“How is she?” Felicia nearly pleaded for an answer. “How is she feeling? Has being here, has it helped her recall… anything?”
“I don’t know,” Rachel admitted. “I actually haven’t seen her yet today.”
“She should visit a doctor, don’t you think? A psychiatrist or a neurologist or, I don’t know. Someone should be able to help her.”
“Carl got her the best medical care he could.”
“How did it happen?” Felicia wanted to know. “What triggered it? Something must have triggered it. Maybe if we found out what the cause was, it would help with a cure.”
“I’m… not certain,” Rachel admitted.
“But, I thought you were in on Carl’s plan.”
“Just the broad strokes, not the specifics. It was too dangerous for us to be in touch while he was… away. We knew the compound was watching us.”
“Iris?” Felicia guessed.
“It does explain her showing up the way she did, doesn’t it? I thought it was merely so she could get her hooks into Cory Publishing. I never imagined she had a much broader agenda.”
“So why isn’t she behind bards? If Carl says she put out the contract on our children’s lives, why hasn’t she been arrested?”
“Chase Hamilton,” Rachel reminded. “He was in on it, too. And he’s the law.”
“He’s nothing! The Justice Department…”
“They’re the ones who drove Carl out of town in the first place. The conspiracy goes much higher than Chase, he’s just a two-bit flunky.”
“But…” Felicia’s brow furrowed. “Didn’t Carl confess to you that he was, in fact, guilty of the crimes they charged him with?”
“Him and hundreds of others,” Rachel pointed out. “Look at the economy, Felicia. Do you think Carl caused all this damage on his own? He was hardly doing something no one else was doing. And yet he was the only one targeted. That’s selective prosecution.”
Felicia wasn’t sure how to respond to that. It didn’t seem right. But she had much more important things on her mind at the moment. So instead, she pressed, “And you knew that Lucas was involved, as well?”
“He wanted to protect Lorna as much as I wanted to protect Elizabeth and Cory. We both realized that being separated from them was a necessary sacrifice.”
“And you couldn’t have told me? Either of you?”
“It was too dangerous. We didn’t want to put such a painful burden on your shoulders. It was bad enough Lucas and I were forced to lie to Jamie. We couldn’t ask you to do the same”
“You didn’t trust me?”
“We loved you too much.”
Felicia snorted. “Why does Lucas’ version of love always involve lying to me? For my own good, of course.”
“Sometimes, that’s the purest form of love. I should know, Felicia.”
She wondered, “Jamie…”
“You heard him the other day. He’s done with me.”
“Are you alright?”
“Not at all. But, what can I do? I put up with his hostility towards Carl for years. He cut me out of his life after Kirkland was kidnapped – even though that was Spencer’s doing, not Carl’s. And he got Amanda and Matt to go along. Even when he thought my husband was dead, it wasn’t enough to soften Jamie’s stance. My son has made it clear that hating Carl is more important to him than loving me. So be it. I am through begging any of my children for acceptance. If this is how they want it, this is how it’s going to be from now on.”
“What are you doing here?” Amanda asked accusingly, the sight of Olivia making herself at home in Jamie’s house never failing to set her teeth on edge.
“Watching Devon and Zee. Jamie got called in to a hospital emergency.”
“Shouldn’t you have given up by now? I mean, Lorna’s back. No need to go on keeping her side of the bed warm.”
“What do you want, Amanda?”
“To speak to my brother.”
“I’ll give him the message.”
“He doesn’t want you,” Amanda felt a need to reiterate. “Not for messages or anything else. He wants his wife.”
“We’ll see about that.”
“Don’t go counting your chickens,” Amanda advised, then suddenly got a brainstorm. “Are you two in on this together?”
“What? Who? What are you talking about?”
“You and Morgan? It makes perfect sense. You want Jamie, he wants Lorna… I was just at the house. You should have seen the two of them together, laughing over old times.”
“Lorna remembers Morgan but not Jamie?” Olivia leapt on the piece of information as if it were the greatest news she’d ever heard. Which, as a matter of fact, it was.
“She claims not to. But, considering how cozy they were looking….”
“Is that what you came to tell Jamie?”
“He deserves to know.”
“Aren’t you the loyal sister? Where were you when your husband was trying to take Jamie’s kid away from him?”
“That was business. Grant hired Kevin as his lawyer. It was nothing personal.”
“Kevin was trying to take down the entire Frame family.”
“Ancient history. Kevin and Alice have made up.”
“What about your hooking up with Morgan? Another guy who had it out for Jamie.”
“How did my dating Morgan – years ago – affect Jamie’s life one way or another?”
“There’s this thing called family loyalty.”
“I’ll make sure to bring it up with your daughter. I’d suggest you ask her for me, but odds are I’ll see her long before you will.”
“And I’ll tell Jamie you stopped by,” Olivia promised.
And slammed the door in Amanda’s face.
“Am I interrupting?” Kirkland poked his head into Jamie’s office. “I called the house. Olivia said you were at work.”
“Nope. Just finishing up here.” Jamie smiled at the boy across his desk and gestured for Kirkland to take a seat. “It’s good to see you.”
“I wanted to apologize for cutting out on you the other night. I figured you had your hands full and I didn’t want to be in the way. Hope you weren’t worried.”
“I was. A little,” Jamie said. “But I told myself, the years you were away at school, I didn’t know where, who you were with, what you were doing, whether you came home or not. I had no choice but to trust you. I figure that trust should extend to Bay City.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
“Did you have a good time?”
Kirkland managed to look his father in the eye, only the cocky smile giving away how he really felt. “Pretty good, yeah.”
“Then I’m happy for you. And,” he repeated. “I trust you. I’m cool to do that, right?”
“Totally cool. And I appreciate it, too.”
Jamie sighed. “When I was your age, Grandma… Your Grandma… she had some pretty strong opinions about my romantic choices.”
“Well, you did run off and get married without telling her.”
“Still. I have no interest in repeating that pattern with you. I want you to live your own life. Don’t let worrying what I might think slow you down.”
Kirkland took a tentative guess. “This thing with Grandma claiming she knew where Lorna was all along…. Steven filled me in.”
“I don’t know how I’m supposed to react,” Jamie admitted. “After Mom stood by and didn’t do a damn thing when Carl let you get kidnapped, I thought it really couldn’t get any worse. I was wrong.”
“She says she did it for your own good.”
“She doesn’t get to make that choice!” Jamie thundered, then instantly reeled himself in. “Sorry. Sorry about that, son.”
“It’s okay. You’re allowed. You’ve had a hell of a couple of days.”
“You can say that again.” Jamie attempted to force his features into a semblance of if not exactly a smile, at least something like calm. “By the way, I don’t want you to think that just because I’m playing Cool Dad, it means I don’t care what’s going on in your life.”
“I know that.”
“When do you start your job – jobs, I mean?”
“Next week.”
“Terrific! Good luck! I can’t wait to hear about it.”
“Yeah,” Kirkland smiled wistfully, remembering the previous reception his plans had received. “I had a feeling that’s what you’d say….”
“Some chick in a uniform said you wanted to see me,” Lorna informed Felicia, arms crossed. “She didn’t make it sound like a request.”
“I did want to see you,” her mother confirmed. “I wanted to find out how you were.”
“Still not buying what you’re selling.”
“Did you ask Carl? About me being your mother?”
“Didn’t need to. Looked everyone up online. Let’s see if I’ve got this right – you were the minister’s daughter – “
“He was my stepfather.”
“Who got knocked up by the local hood.”
“Luke… He isn’t… He wasn’t… Not then.”
“Who dumped the baby on her cleaning lady.”
“That’s not how it happened. My stepfather told me you were dead. He’s the one who gave you away to Helen, not me.”
“And then there’s something about a mercury dime.”
Felicia smiled, moved that Lorna had picked up that particular detail. “Luke gave you a dime on a chain when you were still an infant. You had it made into a ring. That’s how we all found each other again.”
“So where’s the ring?” Lorna wondered.
“You… You left it behind. In Devon and Mackenzie’s diaper bag. Along with your wedding and your engagement rings.”
Lorna shrugged. “They couldn’t have meant all that much to me then, could they?”
“Jamie thought you were sending him a sign.”
“You mean like: Get Lost?”
“That you were coming back.”
“Dude’s got a funny way of looking at things. Delusional, if you ask me.”
“Jamie loves you, Lorna. I love you, too.”
“Then why didn’t Carl tell you what was going on? He told Lucas. And Rachel. Why didn’t he think you – or Jamie – could be trusted?”
“Rachel said she didn’t want to burden us with having to pretend we thought you were dead.”
“With friends like that….”
“Stop it, Lorna,” Felicia reached the end of her rope. “Just stop it, would you, please? You don’t need to put on your tough facade. Believe me, I got plenty of it twenty years ago, when I first found out you were my daughter. You did the exact same thing to me then, acted like you couldn’t care less, like I didn’t matter.”
“So I guess I haven’t changed all that much, after all, then.”
“No. That’s where you’re wrong. You did change. And for the better. You learned to let people in. You learned to let them love you. Me, your father, Jamie, your children…”
“What about Morgan?”
“Morgan, too, yes.” Felicia was willing to go along with anything Lorna said, as long as it connected her to the past. “Morgan loved you. And you loved him.”
“Yeah….” Lorna mused. “That’s what I thought.”
“Don’t be scared, sweetie,” Marley patted Daisy’s hair, kissing her stepdaughter’s head and hugging her close. “The bad lady isn’t going to stay for long.”
“Oh, please,” Donna refused to be offended. Nothing Marley did offended her anymore. “The child clearly has no idea what you’re referring to. You’re merely confusing her. Do put a pin in the psychodrama. I have something important I need to discuss with you. In private.”
Marley set Daisy down on the ground and urged the child, “Go to your room, honey. I’ll be right there. This shouldn’t take long.”
“Bye-bye, bad lady,” Daisy waved cheerfully to Donna before scampering up the stairs.
Donna watched her go, unable to keep from observing, “Why you’ve chosen to dedicate your life to bringing up Grant Harrison’s bastard….”
“You didn’t object when Kirkland was the child in question. He’s Grant’s, too.”
“And Victoria’s,” Donna stressed. “That was an entirely different situation.”
“What do you want, Donna?” Marley made it clear she was watching the clock.
Donna appeared momentarily strapped for words, prompting her daughter to accuse, “I knew it. You didn’t have anything to tell me. This is just another one of your lies to – “
“Lucas was the one who tried to kill you,” Donna blurted out.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Your suicide attempt. No one believed you when you said you weren’t trying to kill yourself, that you’d been trapped in the garage against your will. Well, I believe you now, darling. Rachel told me it was Lucas who was behind it. He set you up in order to get at me. He, Carl and Spencer were plotting to force the compound out of hiding, and, in order to do that, they needed to make it seem like my loved ones were being targeted.”
Marley struggled to absorb what her mother was trying to tell her. “You believe me… now?”
“Yes. Yes, darling. And I am so sorry that – “
“But, not then,” she clarified. “You’re accepting Rachel’s word, Lucas’ word, Carl’s word – when you never even considered accepting mine.”
“Well, it’s only that you were in such a state back then.”
“Right. Poor, dumb, weak Marley. She can’t possibly know what she’s saying or doing.”
“I said that I was sorry. As soon as I found out the truth, I rushed right over here to tell you just how sorry I was.”
“You should be.”
“I know.”
“It was all your fault.”
“My fault? No. Weren’t you listening? Lucas – “
“Went after me to get to you. He hated you for what you’d done to Jenna. What’s that they say about the sins of fathers? Only it’s mothers, in my case. Lucas was itching to get back at you for killing Jenna and having him kidnapped and bringing the compound to Bay City. My God, I’m amazed the man didn’t slice me up in front of your eyes, or at least made you watch while I suffocated; same way Felicia watched Jenna. That would have been a fitting punishment for everything you’d done to him.”
“Darling… Marley…” Donna stammered. “Truly, I believe the shock has prompted you to direct your anger at a wholly inappropriate target.”
“I am directing it at the person responsible for what happened to me. For everything that has ever happened to me from the day I was born. What were you hoping to achieve here, Donna? Why did you come running over with this information? Did you suppose I’d be grateful?”
“I thought you had a right to know,” Donna defended stiffly.
“Did you think it would make me forget the role you played? You said it yourself. Carl, Spencer and Lucas were out to get you. I was merely their means to an end. The same way I always was with you.”
“This needs to end,” Iris burst into Lucas’ apartment without waiting for an invitation or even an acknowledgement. “Now.”
“Carl?” Lucas guessed.
“Carl,” she confirmed. “I cannot have that man strutting about town, informing anyone who’ll listen that I would sink so low as to order the execution of children.”
“And that I was aware of his alleged rescue plan.”
“We both know he’s lying. Why can’t anyone else see what’s right in front of their faces?”
“Some people do. Jamie…”
“Oh, who cares about Jamie? Jamie is worthless as far as we’re concerned. Carl claims he has proof of my involvement.”
“Does he?”
“Of course not! Tell me something, Lucas. Tell me this: If I really was out to protect the compound’s interests by threatening Carl’s and your loved ones, why in the world would I stop with Lorna, Elizabeth and Cory? Why not draw a bead on your grandchildren, or on Felicia or Rachel?”
Lucas shrugged, playing Devil’s Advocate. “With the four of them presumed dead, you could have figured the rest of us got the message and would keep our mouths shut.”
“Are you seriously suggesting – “
“You asked, Iris.”
“Do you believe Carl, then? Do you believe I’m the guilty party, and he the hero?”
“Carl a hero? Never. But, you guilty….”
“If I am so powerful,” she challenged. “Then why am I still begging for scraps from the Cory Publishing table? If I am capable of the sort of feats Carl accuses me of, why isn’t Amanda lying in a gutter somewhere, a bullet through her brain?”
“You’re pacing yourself,” Lucas offered dryly.
“I am no more guilty in this than you are, Lucas.”
“Alright,” he conceded, unsure of what good his acquiescence did any of them. He did offer, “I’ve hired Frankie and Cass to do some digging for me.”
“And?” Iris asked eagerly.
“It’s only been a few days.”
“Lay-abouts,” Iris snorted. “The both of them.”
“All I care about is proving that I haven’t been lying to my family.”
“And all I care about is not being sent to prison – again – due to Carl’s underhanded machinations.”
“You weren’t exactly innocent the last time,” Lucas observed.
“Well, I am now! Carl’s tale is unadulterated rubbish. And it is up to us, Lucas, to prove it.”
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