Prologue
"I'll get it!" Nick Brady shouted. He picked up the phone. "Mom, it's for you!"
"Thanks sweetheart." Nick bounced away. Nicole smiled and took the phone. "Hello?"
"Nicole, this is Brandon."
Nicole gasped. "How are you? Where are you? You don't want more money do you?"
"No, nothing like that. I want to come visit you."
"Come whenever." Nicole was shocked. Last time they spoke was the night he left Salem.
"I'm going to bring Taylor's daughter with me." He said.
"Taylor has a daughter?" Nicole was suddenly having trouble breathing.
"Yeah. Look, there are a few things you need to know but I don't think you should hear it over the phone. I'll explain when we get there."
"Is Taylor coming?"
"No."
The coldness in Brandon's voice surprised and hurt her. "What's the little girl's name? Is Taylor married? How old is she?
"Her name is Erin Regina Raines." He paused. "She's seventeen. Taylor is not married."
Nicole swallowed hard. "Erin is about the same age as Kat then?"
"Yeah."
"Who's her father?"
"I don't know. Tay didn't tell me or Erin."
"So, ask her."
"That might be hard." Brandon said.
"Why? Does she not like talking about it?"
"She can't talk about it. She's dead." Brandon's voice was colder than Nicole had ever heard it. There was also a note of accusation in his voice.
"Dead?" Nicole gasped. "That's not possible."
"Oh, it's possible all right."
"How did she die?"
"Her cancer was in remission, and she was coming home in a cab. The cab crashed."
"Oh my God. Tay had cancer?" Nicole breathed. Erica and Kat appeared in the kitchen doorway, each needing to talk to Nicole. She hushed them so she could hear Brandon.
"You didn't know?" He sounded surprised.
"No, I didn't know. I haven't talked to Tay in nearly eighteen years."
Kat gently pulled Erica out of the kitchen. "Later." She said softly. Erica frowned, but nodded.
Brandon sighed. "You didn't know she was sick?"
"NO! If I'd known don't you think I would've come to see her?"
"I thought you would. That's part of why I was so mad at you."
Nicole braced herself. "The other part?"
"You didn't come to the funeral, you didn't call Erin and offer your sympathies, you didn't even drop a damn note into the mailbox." Brandon's tone was intense.
"If you're that mad at me, why are you coming to visit?"
"Taylor's will made you and Eric her legal guardians." Brandon's words made Nicole's head spin.
"Why don't you come here next week? We'll sort everything out then, OK?"
"Fine. Oh, so I know to tell Erin, how many kids do you have and are you still married to Eric?"
"I have three kids, Kat, Nick, and Erica. For half the year Eric's son Adam lives with us."
"So you are still married?"
"Yes."
"Congratulations. Bye Nikki."
"Bye Brandon." Nicole hung up the phone, but her hands were shaking uncontrollably. Taylor, her baby sister was dead. Taylor had a daughter who was Kat's age. Nicole's entire body began to shake. She hadn't been close to Taylor in over thirty years. But it still hurt to find out she was dead. Nicole coped in the way she had developed from all her years in Salem. She began to clean the house from top to bottom.
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