Heart and Soul

Episode 73

Grace

By Allan Craig

 

 

Sitting alone in the darkness, Natalie Denman clutched a teddy bear to her chest as she stared into her daughter’s empty crib. Although she felt like this was all one big nightmare that she would wake up from any minute, her aching heart knew that what she was experiencing was painfully real.

 

“You really should try and eat something.” Josh urged his sister from the doorway; although it had only been a few days, Natalie appeared frail and weak.

“I can’t eat…not now…” Natalie struggled to whisper, her body present in the room but her mind a million miles away.

 

Josh entered the room and placed a plate carrying a sandwich down next to Natalie. “In case you change your mind.” Josh took a seat next to his younger sister, putting his arm around her shoulder and drawing her in close. “It’s all going to be okay.”

 

Silent, Natalie closed her eyes and imagined a world where nothing had happened. She tried to fill her mind with feelings of hope, but she didn’t feel anything; no sadness, no anger, the entire situation was still totally surreal. She was numb to her feelings, and a voice in her head kept telling her she was just imagining it and the last week had been some horrible nightmare.

 

 

Sitting alone in the darkness, Leo Sterling raised a vodka-filled glass to his mouth and downed it within seconds before pouring another. He hadn’t slept in days, his eyes were red and bloodshot and his normally golden skin was pale and washed out. Although silent in his grief, the toll his daughter’s death had taken on Leo was evident in his appearance.

 

“Isn’t it a little early to be drinking?” Kendall asked her brother as she entered his bedroom. The tragedy had taken its toll on Kendall as well, but she had forced herself to stay strong for Leo.

 

“Please, spare me the lecture.” Leo muttered, running his hands down his face.

 

“I just want you to know, that if you ever want to talk about what happened…” Kendall stopped herself before she could finish, knowing that her brother wouldn’t appreciate that kind of ‘support’.

 

Leo remained silent as Kendall walked over to the window and opened the curtains, flooding the room with light. He shielded his eyes from the piercing brightness with his hands, turning away from the window. “What the hell are you playing at?”

 

“Well you’re not going to accomplish anything moping here in the darkness.” As much as Kendall hated being so blunt with her brother in his time of grief, she knew it was for his own good.

 

“I don’t need this right now, Kendall, would you just go away?” Leo snapped.

 

“Look, I get it that you’re hurting and everything, but you need to get out of this room and get some fresh air or you’ll drive yourself crazy.”

 

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Kendall. Do you know how it feels to lose a child? Nope, didn’t think so.”

 

“All I know is that the longer you stay holed up in here, the worse things will get. You need to wake up and smell the coffee, Leo, because no matter how much you’re hurting, you need to realize that what Natalie’s going through is a whole lot worse. And no matter how bad things are between you and Natalie right now, she needs you. So here’s what’s going to happen,” Kendall began, grabbing her brother by the arm and pulling him up from his chair. “You are going to go have a shower, and when you come out Julie will have made breakfast. Then, you’re going to get yourself dressed and we’re going over to Natalie’s.”

 

“I’m the last person Natalie wants to see just now.” Leo yelled, not taking too kindly to his younger sister telling him what to do. “And besides, this has absolutely nothing to do with you, so butt out, okay?”

 

Defeated, Kendall rolled her eyes. Despite her best efforts, she had not been able to snap her brother out of his depression like she had hoped. “Well if you need me I’ll be downstairs.” Kendall rested her hand gently on her brother’s shoulder, hoping that at the very least he’d be safe in the knowledge that she was there for him, before exiting the room to leave Leo on his own.

 

Leo sighed and raised the glass back up to his mouth, almost allowing the liquid to enter his mouth before launching the glass across the room and watching it shatter into a million pieces as it hit the wall. He fell to his knees, single tear emerging from his eye as he began to realize that his daughter was gone, and there was nothing he could do about it.

 

 

Oakridge General Hospital operated like a well oiled machine. Patients checked in and checked out, staff came and went, and the hospital continued to function normally. For Dr. Cal Ryan, Oakridge General was no different to any other hospital he’d worked in, and thus he had slotted into place effortlessly. However, for Dr. Tyler Davis, going into a new job where he wasn’t the big shot was a daunting process.

 

“Are you guys settling in okay?” Dr. Melissa Stafford asked as she put a coin in the vending machine and browsed the selection of drinks on offer. As her selected can dropped to the bottom of the machine, she picked it up and took a seat on one of the sofas in the spacious staff room.

 

“You’ve seen one hospital, you’ve seen them all.” Cal joked as he took a sip of his coffee.

 

“It’s a little less hectic than other places I’ve worked, but I guess I can learn to adjust.” Tyler added, although he enjoyed working in busy environments, he couldn’t help but wonder if a change of pace was what he needed.

 

“I wouldn’t count on it being a cushy experience just yet.” Melissa warned her two new colleagues. “When you’re working with patients on a more one-on-one basis, it’s easy to get emotionally involved.”

 

“Not this one.” Cal laughed, motioning over to the cool, calm and collected Tyler. “Keep ‘em at an arm’s length…isn’t that your motto, bro?”

 

“You two know each other?” Melissa asked.

 

“We went to med school together.” Tyler explained, not entirely thrilled at the prospect of working with Cal again. “And then years later fate brings us back together here in sunny Oakridge.”

 

Cal cleared his throat as he quickly attempted to change the subject; reminiscing of his misspent youth with Tyler wasn’t top of his priorities. In fact, it was right at the bottom, and working with Tyler again only threatened to allow everything he had worked so hard to bury to come rushing back to the surface.

 

 

With her mind clearly on another planet, Jessica Monroe approached the door to Carrie’s house and rang the bell. The knots in her stomach tightened as she waited for her friend to come to the door; no matter how hard she tried to block it from her mind or tell herself it wasn’t true, Jessica couldn’t escape the fact that she was pregnant, and the distinct possibility that the baby could be Shane’s had been playing on her mind constantly since she took the first, of what would be many, pregnancy test.

 

“I need to tell you something.” Jessica began as Carrie opened the door, not even giving her friend a chance to greet her as she made her way into Carrie’s home. “And it’s something I really don’t want to say out loud because if I say it out loud then it makes it real but I cant keep it bottled up inside or I’ll go insane and that cant be good for anyone so…”

 

“Slow down.” Carrie stopped her friend, who was barely giving herself time to breathe as the speed of her speech increased. “I would offer you tea but I think this situation calls for something stronger.”

 

“That would be…no, tea is fine.” Jessica quickly remembered her predicament as she followed Carrie into the kitchen.

 

“So what’s up?” Carrie asked as she filled the kettle up with water and switched it on before joining her friend at the kitchen table. While she couldn’t help but notice that Jessica looked awful, she knew her friend wouldn’t appreciate being told that.

 

“I’m…I’m pregnant.” Jessica gulped, finally allowing the words to come out of her mouth, almost admitting defeat as she faced up to the truth.

 

“Well that’s great news…” Carrie began, although the look on Jessica’s face caused Carrie’s enthusiastic smile to drop. “…isn’t it?”

 

“I guess it really should be, but…right okay I know we’re supposed to tell each other everything and not keep secrets from each other but…”

 

“What have you done, Jess?” Carrie reached out and touched Jessica’s hand, her heart filling with worry for her clearly distressed friend. “Whatever it is, we’ll get through it.”

 

“I don’t know…I just wish…” Jessica rose to her feet and walked over to the window, gazing out at the sky and watching as clouds gathered, seemingly over her head. “The thing is, I’ve sort of been having an affair.”

 

“And now you don’t know whether Rex is the father.” Carrie sighed, the pieces coming together in her head as she walked over and gave her friend a hug. “Have you talked to him about it yet?”

 

“Somehow I don’t think ‘honey, I’m having a baby and oh yeah odds are it’s not yours’ will go down too well.” Jessica wiped a tear from her eye. “I just don’t know what I’m going to do.”

 

“So you don’t think Rex is the father?”

 

“I don’t see how it’s possible, we’ve barely had sex the last few weeks because he’s barely home. But then again, if this baby is Shane’s…”

 

“Wait, Shane Baldwin is the man you’re having an affair with?” Carrie waited for an answer from her friend. Jessica nodded as she sat back down on her seat and buried her head in her hands.

 

“I just don’t know what I’m going to do…” Jessica buried her head in her hands. “If, by some immaculate conception considering how little I see of him, the baby is Rex’s, do I really want to have a child with a man who can barely make time for me let alone a kid?”

 

“And if the baby is Shane’s…” Carrie was still struggling to make sense of the entire situation.

 

“If the baby is Shane’s…we’re just having a little bit of fun. No strings; well at least that was the idea.”

 

“And you’re sure you’re pregnant?”

 

“Positive.”

 

“Well, if you want my advice, you should be honest with Rex about this whole situation.” Carrie urged her friend as she poured them both cups of tea. “Tell him how you feel about him putting his job before you and about how you don’t want to bring a child into this world with a father who’s still going to be more focused on his work than his family.”

 

Carrie’s talk of children and family was beginning to freak Jessica out. She didn’t want to be a mother at this age, especially not when she was finally beginning to get somewhere with her career, and as for her relationships with Rex and Shane, neither of them seemed like ideal candidates to be her boyfriend, never mind the father of her child.

 

 

 

“I’ve got someone here to see you.” Josh appeared in the doorway to Natalie’s bedroom.

 

“I don’t want to see anyone just now.” Natalie muttered as she gazed off into space.

 

“As much as it pains me to admit it, sis, I think you need to talk to him.” Josh continued. The last thing he wanted was for Leo to be in his apartment, talking to his little sister when she was already going through so much. He stood aside to let Leo into the room, “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.”

 

Josh closed the door, leaving Leo and Natalie alone in the dark room. Leo silently made his way over to Natalie and rested his hand on her shoulder. She turned to look at him and their eyes met, and without a word being exchanged between the two of them, Natalie knew that, if only for now, Leo was there for her, and she was there for him.

 

 

Having poured herself a fresh cup of coffee, Diane took a seat on the sofa, relaxing safe in the knowledge that Taylor was at the mall and wouldn’t be home for a good few hours if she was lucky. She kicked off her heels and made herself comfortable on the sofa as she flipped through the channels, tempted to tune in to her newest guilty pleasure, The Hills, but fearing that without Taylor around she had no excuse to watch it and so instead settled on the news while opening the paper.

 

“Do you know where my laptop charger has gone?” Joseph asked as he made his way down the stairs. “It seems to have gone walkabout.”

 

“If I were you I’d check the guest room. Taylor was on it last night looking up pictures of that boy from High School Musical.” Diane folded the paper shut on the coffee table. “It really is a tragedy about Leo’s daughter. Do you think we should send a card?”

 

“I don’t think Leo would appreciate it, do you?” It was rare that Joseph saw Diane allow such concern for others, but this was most definitely not the time or the place.

 

“I meant we should send a card to the girl.” Diane explained as she stood up. “After all, we were that child’s great aunt and uncle. It wouldn’t be proper if we didn’t send our condolences.”

 

“Do what you want, Diane.” Joseph shrugged. “You always do, anyway.”

 

“Aren’t we spitting the dummy out just a tad Joseph?” Diane joked as she approached her fiancé.

 

“I’m just a little stressed out right now, that’s all.” Joseph fumbled around various drawers and cupboards in search of his laptop charger. “I’ve spent ages working on something only for the battery to go flat, and silly me was thinking it was fully charged. I guess I’ll just have to get Taylor her own laptop to stop this happening.”

 

“Oh yes, Joseph, that’s wise...reward her selfishness by buying her something.” Diane rolled her eyes.

 

“Well it works often enough on you.” Joseph chuckled.

 

“What is it you’re working on, anyway?”

 

“That would be telling.” Joseph teased. “But don’t you worry, it will all become clear.”

 

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were up to something.”

 

“You’ll just have to wait and see.” Joseph winked as he made his way back up the stairs in search of his charger. Diane didn’t have a clue what Joseph was playing at, but she was determined to find out.

 

 

As the numbers crept up inside the elevator, Ashley Abbot checked her reflection in her compact mirror and quickly restyled her bangs as the empty elevator stopped at her desired floor. She stepped out at the ninth floor of Oakridge General and approached the reception desk.

 

“Could you tell me if Dr. Calvin Ryan’s available?” Ashley asked the heavy set woman sat behind the desk. The woman quickly obliged and paged Cal, who approached Ashley at the desk soon after.

 

“So what brings you into my neck of the woods?” Cal asked as he took a seat with his cousin in the reception area. “Are you missing me already?”

“I just thought I’d stop by and see how your first day was going.” The truth of the matter was, now that Cal was working, she didn’t have anyone to spend her day with. Most of her school friends had now moved away to college, while her brother and her mother were busy spending time with John.

 

“Yeah, it’s going good so far.” Cal half lied; while he was enjoying getting back to work after a few weeks off, the fact he was working in a close proximity to Tyler was making things slightly more awkward than he’d anticipated. “Although I’m kind of busy right now, so I can’t really talk for too long.”

 

“There goes my idea of taking you for lunch to celebrate your first day on the job.” Ashley sighed, glancing at her watch. “Ah, well, I suppose I better let you get back to work.”

 

“Sorry, cuz. Maybe some other time?” Cal hated the thought of Ashley, still caught up in grief for her father, wallowing around town by herself.

 

“I’ll hold you to that.” Ashley joked as she stood up. “Besides, I’ve got a meeting with Wesley’s lawyer later to talk about my inheritance.”

 

“I wonder if you’ll get the whole lot, what with Will not being his son and everything.” Cal remarked before quickly realizing how inappropriate his comment was. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything.”

 

“Well it’s a distinct possibility. My father could easily have changed his will any time before he died, after all, he planned to kill himself, I guess the only thing that didn’t factor into his plans was my mother surviving his attack. It all depends on whether or not he decided to change his will before he totally lost his mind. I guess I’ll know soon enough.” Ashley couldn’t believe how talking about her psycho late father sounded totally normal.

 

“You’re not going to the reading alone, are you?”

 

“No, my mom’s going to come with me.” Ashley explained, leaving out the part about Will refusing to attend because of his hatred for Wesley.

 

“Ryan, Dr. Prince is looking for you.” Tyler yelled as he made his way down the spacious corridor that led to the reception. He stopped at the sight of Ashley, looking the pretty young woman up and down. “Ashley Abbot…it’s been too long.”

 

“You two know each other?” Cal asked, puzzled by the situation.

 

“Tyler? You work here?” The last person Ashley expected to see now she was back in Oakridge was the handsome doctor.

 

“Does somebody want to tell me what’s going on here?” Cal interrupted the reunion.

 

“When I was traveling, I met Tyler in Monaco…” Ashley reminisced.

 

“Those were some good times.” Tyler grinned.

 

“And now you’re in Oakridge? You never said…”

 

“My BlackBerry crashed and I lost all my numbers…” Tyler explained, whether his excuse was true or not seemed dubious to Cal, an expert in Tyler’s ways. “How do you two know each other?”

 

“Ashley’s my cousin.” Cal stated bluntly, not trying to cover up how much he hated the fact Ashley even knew who Tyler was.

 

“Small world, huh?” Tyler shot Ashley a wink that made her ever so slightly weak at the knees before turning his attention to Cal. “Ryan, we better boost.”

 

“Yeah, um, Ashley I’ll see you tonight.” Cal and Tyler began their journey down the corridor. “Good luck with today.”

 

“And girl, call me sometime, we can catch up?” Tyler yelled as Ashley waved goodbye to both men.

 

“Don’t count on it.” Cal muttered under his breath. He was determined that there was no way in hell his cousin was going to get involved with Tyler Davis while he was around.

 

 

As Shane closed the door to his penthouse, Kendall rested her purse on the sideboard and turned to face him.

 

“How’s he holding up?” Shane had attempted to reach out to Leo during his time of need, but his son had rejected his advances, which was beginning to frustrate Shane, who despite being in Oakridge for almost a year, had made no progress in building bridges with his estranged son.

 

“He could be better, but given the circumstances…” Kendall explained.

 

“I understand.” Shane agreed as they made their way into the living room. “I cant imagine what he must be going through right now. I just wish Leo would understand that I’m there for him.”

 

“I think he knows that, Shane.” Kendall had urged her brother to make amends with Shane, if anything she hoped that Grace’s death would cause Leo to realize that life was too short to hold a grudge against his father, but nothing had changed. “I think you just have to give him time. He’ll come around, eventually.”

 

“I’ve been telling myself that for months, Kendall, but nothing’s happened.”

 

“He’s going through a lot right now. You never know, this experience could cause him to put it all into perspective.”

 

“Or it could drive him further away.”

 

“I don’t think you can get much further away from where you both stand right now.” The look on Shane’s face made it clear to Kendall that her attempt at reassuring Shane hadn’t exactly come out how she had planned. “You know what I mean. Besides, you’re hardly in a position to criticize someone for being stubborn.”

 

“I’ll give you that one.” Shane relented. “Can I get you a drink?”

 

“No, I’m good, thanks. I dropped Leo off at Natalie’s and I said I’d pick him up again in a while. He’s in no state to drive.”

 

“How come?”

 

“Shane, I’m worried about him. All he does is sit in his room in the darkness, smoking, drinking and god knows what else…I just don’t want to see him do something stupid. But what am I meant to do? I cant watch over him twenty four hours a day, I’ve got a multi million dollar company to run.”

 

“And a life of your own to live,” Shane reminded Kendall. “You’re too young to be worrying about Leo. He’s a big boy, he can take care of himself. Trust me, he’ll be fine. He’s a Baldwin.”

 

“He’s a Sterling.” Kendall added, hardly the most promising of surnames considering the family’s attraction to trouble.

 

“As for the company.” Shane continued. “You leave it to me for a while. Go and have fun. You’re only young once.”

 

“I don’t know, Shane…”

 

“Sterling Enterprises is in perfectly capable hands with the team we have installed. John can run that company with his eyes shut; after all, it was him that built it from the ground up. And I’m hardly going to run the place into the ground considering the amount of money I’ve got tied up in it. Seriously, Kendall; don’t turn into your mother, let work take a back seat for a while and enjoy life. You’ll regret it if you don’t.”

 

As much as she tried to assure herself that she wasn’t turning into Jackie, Kendall couldn’t help but think that Shane might be right.

 

 

“Well, how did it go?” John asked as Alex and Ashley entered the apartment. Will looked up from his laptop and smiled at his mother and sister.

 

“You’re not going to believe this.” Alex seemed a little confused, whatever she was about to say next, she barely believed it herself.

 

“Well, don’t keep me in suspense.” John urged Alex for an answer. He didn’t particularly care about the outcome of Wesley’s will reading, but the fact Alex seemed so worked up about it warranted it some attention.

 

“Wesley left me two million dollars…” Alex was still in shock at the revelation. She didn’t think she’d get anything from Wesley, let alone a small fortune.

 

“And he left the rest to me and Will.” Ashley added, now a millionaire many times over. “Five million each. Apparently my father invested his money a lot better than any of us knew.”

 

“You have got to be kidding me.” Will didn’t know how to take the news…he basically disowned Wesley in the closing years of his life, and he got five million for it?

 

“Well, that’s good news, isn’t it?” John didn’t understand why none of them were screaming from the rooftops about their newfound fortune, but it seemed nobody particularly thrilled by coming into money in this instance.

 

“I suppose it is.” Ashley muttered as she took a seat on the sofa and buried her head in her hands. “It just doesn’t feel right, why should I get his money? I wasn’t there for him when he needed me. Maybe if I was, none of this would…”

 

“Ashley, you stop right there.” Will ordered his sister. “We’ve been through this…there was nothing you could have done to stop this from happening. Now accept what’s happened has happened and get on with your life. You’ve got fifteen million in the bank, enjoy it.”

 

“And how are you going to enjoy yours, Will?” Ashley asked. “I will never be able to enjoy this money because it’s tainted with guilt. Whether you believe it or not, we could have stopped Wesley from losing it the way he did.”

 

“You two really need to stop this.” Alex interrupted her children. “Wesley is gone, and there is no point in arguing over whether or not this entire situation could have been prevented. It’s happened and we cant change that. We just need to get on with our lives.”

 

“Your mother’s right.” John agreed, putting his arm around his fiancée. “The sooner everyone gets back to normal, the better.”

 

“It’s easy for all of you to say. He was nothing to any of you.” Ashley yelled as she stood up. “But he was my father, and no matter what you say about him, that fact will never change. You both enjoy your money, because I sure as hell won’t.”

 

 

Bracing herself for the worst, Jessica opened the door to her apartment and walked inside. Rex sat at the dining table, which had apparently been doubling as an office if the papers spread all over the tabletop, with his head buried in paperwork.

 

“Hey.” Jessica half smiled, pacing slowly as she made her way over to Rex.

 

“What’s up?” Rex maintained his gaze on his papers.

 

“I think we need to talk.” Jessica took a deep breath.

 

“Can it wait? I’m just snowed under with work right now, Jess.” Rex chewed on his pen as he glanced over all of the paperwork related to the poisoned drugs that were circulating rapidly around the city.

 

“Um, yeah, whatever.” Jessica sighed, defeated. She made her way to her bedroom and closed the door, throwing herself on top of her bed as she wiped a tear from her eye.

 

 

Alex handed John a cup of tea and sat down next to him on the sofa. Since her outburst, Ashley had went out for a walk to clear her head, leaving John and Alex alone to try and come to terms with the fallout from Wesley’s surprise fortune.

 

“So what are you going to do with your money?” John asked, putting his arm around his fiancée. “It must have come as quite a shock considering everything you and Wesley went through over the last few years.”

 

“I don’t know, John. I mean either he just didn’t change his will before all of this happened, or he’s doing this so that he constantly has a hold over me.” Alex sighed. “I mean it is, and will always be, his money. How can I enjoy anything that I can get from this money if I know it’s come at a cost. I used to love Wesley, I used to think I’d spend the rest of my life with him, and I cost him his family, his job, everything he held dear in his life, and now I get money for it? As long as that money sits in my bank account, Wesley will always have a hold on me and I’ll never be able to move on from this.”

 

“I think you need to consider all the good this money can do. Two million dollars is a lot of money; you can change your life with it; do something you’ve always wanted to do…travel the world, open a business…”

 

“…on Wesley’s buck? I’ll never enjoy it. I don’t know, maybe I should just give it to charity and be done with it.”

 

“Whether you want to believe it or not, Wesley gave you that money because in some sick, twisted way, he loved you.” John sighed. “As much as I hate the guy for what he did to you, I cant help but think that maybe you should use this money for good, turn this ordeal into something positive.”

 

“I guess you’re right.” Alex admitted as they heard a knock at the door. She rose from her seat and made her way across the living room, opening the door to see Joseph standing in the hallway. “And to what do we owe this pleasure?”

 

“Is John home?” Joseph asked, pushing past Alex and making his way into the apartment, seeing his brother standing up in front of him.

 

“Joseph, what can I do for you?” John asked, desperate to spend as little time with his brother as possible.

 

“I have a little proposition for you.” Joseph explained.

 

“Forget it.” John cut his brother off without hearing another word from him. “Whatever it is you’re up to, I’m not interested.”

 

“What if it could get you your company back?” Joseph continued, suddenly capturing John’s interest.

 

 

“I thought I’d find you here.” Cal smiled as he made his way over to Ashley, who was crouched down facing her father’s grave. “Will told me what happened; I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

 

“I don’t know, Cal.” Ashley stood up. “What am I supposed to do? Suddenly I have all this money that I don’t have a clue what to do with, which usually would be great except the only reason I got it is because my father died…”

 

“If you even begin to blame yourself, I swear to god, Ashley.” Cal smiled as he put his arm around his upset cousin. “Now listen to me; Wesley wouldn’t have wanted you to get into this state, he’d want you to enjoy this money and make the most of it. Letting his death stand in the way of you having a life of your own is the last thing he’d want.”

 

“You’re right, I guess,” a smile began to form on Ashley’s face. The guilt she had been experiencing for the last few weeks was definitely wearing her down, but what Cal said was beginning to make sense.

 

“Of course I’m right.” Cal joked. “Now, how about you and me go get a drink or something? This place is giving me the creeps.”

 

Ashley nodded in agreement as she and Cal made their way along the path out of the graveyard.

 

“Oh, and now that you’re loaded, the drinks are on you,” Cal added jokingly.

 

 

“What do you want?” Leo snarled upon seeing his father standing on the front porch of the mansion. No sooner had he returned from Natalie’s than he was greeted by Shane.

 

“I just thought I’d stop by to see how you were.” Shane asked, glancing past Leo into the mansion, hinting at an invite.

 

Leo rolled his eyes and sighed; as much as he was falling apart inside, he wasn’t about to let his father see it. “I thought I had made it perfectly clear that I don’t want anything to do with you.”

 

“And I thought I made it perfectly clear that I don’t intend to back down; I’m your father, Leo, and whether you like it or not, I’m going to be a part of your life.” Shane announced as he marched past Leo into the spacious home. “Lucy sends her love, by the way. She wanted to come with me but I thought she might be a little much for you to handle, considering all you’ve been through.”

 

“Trust me, I’d much rather see Lucy right now than I would you.” Leo muttered as he flopped himself down on the sofa. “What do you want, Shane?”

 

“I thought I’d already made that clear. I want to know how you’re holding up. I know what you’re going through must be incredibly tough on…”

 

“How would you know what I’m going through?” Leo yelled; he didn’t even know what he was going through himself, so the concept of someone else ‘knowing’ startled him somewhat. “How the hell would you know anything about what I’m going through? You don’t have a clue, Shane, you don’t know the first thing about me, so please, tell me how you think you know what I’m going through?”

 

“Calm down, son…”

 

“Don’t call me son you bastard. You have no right to be coming over here acting like the perfect father when you fucked off for most of my life.” Leo began to feel his blood boil, all the rage that he had kept bottled up about having Grace snatched away from him was suddenly rising to the surface.

 

“Because you told me to.” Shane explained.

 

“Well then, I’m telling you to go and jump off a fucking cliff, so are you going to do that?”

 

“Get a hold of yourself,” Shane shook his son. “Get a grip, for crying out loud.”

 

“Get your hands off me.” Leo shook his father off and headed over to the front door, swinging it open and motioning for Shane to get out. “Get the hell out of my house and out of my life, got it?”

 

“I’ll speak to you when you’ve calmed down.” Shane added as he made his way out of the mansion.

 

“Don’t bother.” Leo yelled as he slammed the door shut, collapsing to the ground as the tears he had fought so hard to restrain began to fall from his eyes.

 

TO BE CONTINUED…