Promises

Parts 3-4

By Candy

"More than the fact that I was poisoned," she groaned. "What else could it possibly be?"
"Michelle," he began. "You're pregnant."
She slowly moved her arm and stared at Rick, "What?"
"I had the lab tech run the test five times," he sighed. "It came back positive."
"Pregnant?" she said in astonishment. "How can that be? We were careful. I even had my suspicions so I took a test at home. It was negative."
"Well, I don't know what to tell you, but there's no doubt you're pregnant," Rick said.
"I don't believe this," she said, covering her face with her hands remembering that one night on the beach when they were vacationing a couple of months ago. Suddenly she remembered. "Oh, my God. Rick! The poison! Did it hurt the baby?"
"It wasn't enough to hurt the baby," he reassured. "But I talked to Dr. Sedwick and we think it would be best if we kept you overnight and let her check you over just to make sure."
"Okay," she nodded. "Can you find Danny for me?"
"Are you sure you're up to talking to him about all this?" he asked. "I can talk to him."
"I have to," she explained. "He has to hear this from me."
"Michelle," he begged. "Please try to get some rest. I'll come get you when they have a room ready."
Rick took one more look at this sister before closing the door. He wondered if she would ever be safe as long as she was married to Danny Santos.
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Danny quietly closed the door behind him. Something was wrong. Rick had a worried look on his face when he had told him Michelle wanted to see him. And now Michelle had the same look on her face.
"Hey sweetie," he forced a slight smile as he sat down beside her, reaching for her hand.
"Danny, we need to talk," she said quietly.
"Okay, Michelle, you and Rick are really scaring me," his voice cracked. "Please just tell me what's going on. Are you okay?"
She began to push herself up, trying to sit up, but stopped as she had a sharp pain through her abdomen, which heightened her fear considered what she now knew.
"Just lie back," he panicked. "You need to take it easy."
"I'm fine," she grimaced. "I have to tell you this."
"What is it?" he asked.
"Rick got the test results back and he found out what is wrong with me," she explained.
"Is it serious?" he swallowed around the lump in his throat.
"They found a trace of arsenic in my bloodstream," she whispered. "But it was just enough to make me sick. I'm going to be fine."
He squeezed her hand tighter as he dropped his head. "I don't believe this!" he screamed. "Michelle, I am so sorry. This is all my fault. I promised I would protect you and I will. I will find out who did this and when I do…"
"Danny, wait," she interrupted. "There's something else you need to know."
She hesitated not knowing what his reaction was going to be. "What?" he asked.
"Danny, I'm pregnant," she blurted out.
He sat there for a minute, thinking he had misunderstood her. "You're…I mean we're going to…you're…"
"Going to have a baby," she finished for him.
"But how…I mean we were careful," he said.
"I know, I said the same thing," she said. "But then I remembered that one night on the beach in San Cristobal."
The more he let it sink in, the more sense all of this made. That night had been magical. Being careful was the last thing on their minds. And now they were going to have a baby. The woman he loved more than anything in this world was going to have his baby. A smile crept on his face as the idea sunk in. "This is wonderful," he laughed. "We're going to have a baby!"
He leaned over to kiss her, but pulled back when she barely returned his kiss. When he looked into her sunken eyes, he came back to reality and remembered why she was so sick. "The poison! Is the baby okay?"
"Yes," she nodded. "But Rick and Dr. Sedwick want to keep me here overnight."
"Overnight?" his voice cracked. "Are you okay?"
"The arsenic wasn't enough to kill me," she forced a slight laugh. "I guess we should thankful for that."
"This isn't funny," he demanded. "I'm going to find out who did this. And I promise you there will be hell to pay."
"Please don't talk like that," she winced.
"I'm sorry, but somebody tried to hurt you," he said. "I have to find out who did this."
"Let's just forget about it and concentrate on us and our baby," she pleaded.
"Forget about it?" he asked in amazement. "Michelle, somebody poisoned you. I can't just forget about it. What if they try this again? What if the next time the dose is a little higher? What then? I would lose you and I can't…no, I WON'T let that happen."
"Danny, I'm sorry," she said as new tears began to fall. "I know this is serious, but you've worked so hard to break away from the past and I don't want you to go falling right back in. I don't want our child to grow up in that kind of environment."
"I promise you our child will be safe and sheltered from all of this," he drew closer, wiping her tears away gently with his fingers. "I will never let anything come between us, ever, but I have to know who did this to you."
"I understand," she whispered, barely able to keep her eyes open. "But please work with the police on this and don't do anything by yourself. I don't know what I would do if anything happened to you."
"Now you know how I feel," he said. "You're exhausted. Close those beautiful brown eyes and get some sleep."
"Stay here with me," her hand closed tightly over his as she looked at him with pleading eyes.
"I told you I'm not going anywhere," he smiled, brushing a stray curl from her face. "Now close your eyes."

___________________________________________________

Rick had called Frank and he came to question Michelle. When Rick came to move her to a private room, Frank asked Danny if he could talk to him alone for a minute. He didn't want to leave Michelle, but she said it was okay.
"Danny," Frank began. "I think we both know who the number one suspect is, but if your mother had anything to do with this, she had to have had help from the outside."
"Please don't call her my mother," Danny snapped. "I don't want any association with that monster."
"I know how you feel, but we have to find out who did this," Frank said. "We need to trace back to the source of the poison. Whatever it is, if it's still in your house, you or Michelle could get into it again. Rick said he would get the toxicology report to me, which will help, but we need to question you and Michelle some more to see if we can narrow the list down so we have a better idea what we're looking for."
"Michelle's not up to this right now," Danny demanded. "She's still too weak."
"Danny, if we wait on this, we may never find out who tried to kill your wife," he explained.
"Frank, I know you've been after the Santos family for a long time, but I'm not going to let you grill my wife, especially when she is so sick," Danny shouted.
"Wait just a minute! I bent over backwards keeping you out of jail when you agreed to testify against your mother," Frank shot back, "I've known Michelle for years and I don't want to do anything to upset her, but we have to have answers fast before someone tries to do this again."
"I know…I know you're right," Danny sighed, rubbing his hands over his face. "I'm sorry. I'm just so worried about her right now."
"I understand," Frank's voice softened. "But we can't wait."
"Can you at least wait until later tonight before you question her again?" Danny asked. "It would give her time to get a little rest."
"Sure," Frank nodded. "I'm going to talk to Rick about getting that report."
"Okay," Danny said. "And I'll do what I can to figure out where the poison came from. "
"That would be a help," Frank said. "I'll be back around 5:00. We'll find out who did this. I promise."
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Two hours later, Danny was still by her side. Dr. Sedwick had examined Michelle and reassured her and Danny that the baby was healthy. She said she wanted to do an ultrasound in the morning, just for precautionary measures. Michelle was having trouble sleeping, so despite her protests, Rick had given her a sedative. The only way she would relax is if Danny promised her he wouldn't leave her side, which he did. He hated lying to her, but she needed to rest. He didn't want to leave her, but he had matters to take care of.
When he was sure she was asleep, he pulled out his cell phone and walked to an outside balcony. He knew he had promised her that he would work with the police on this, but he had his suspicions and he had to follow through with them on his own. The police may not be able to stop this from happening again, but he sure as hell could.
He quickly dialed the number and was somewhat surprised when it was answered after the first ring.
"Hello Daniel," Ben said, obviously recognizing the number. "How can I help you?"
"You can start by confessing," Danny said coldly.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Ben smirked.
"I know you had to have helped my mother with this one," Danny snapped. "Even with her scrupulous dealings she couldn't have pulled this one off from behind bars without help from someone."
"What are you accusing us of now Danny?" Ben sighed impatiently.
"My wife is the hospital," Danny yelled through gritted teeth.
"What's wrong with Michelle?" he asked.
"Like you don't know," Danny said. "Someone tried to kill her."
"Danny, whether you want to believe me or not," Ben began. "I don't know anything about this. And I can assure you that your mother has more to deal with right now than trying to get rid of your wife. You made sure of that."
"My moth…Carmen is exactly where she belongs!" Danny exclaimed. "And I know she's behind this. So you can pass a message along to her for me. She's going to pay for this and if anything else happens to Michelle, she's going to wish she had never crossed me."
"I advise you to keep a close eye on your wife," Ben said calmly. "Because someone is trying to hurt her and you're looking in the wrong place."
"You've both been warned," Danny said coldly as he hit the end button on his phone.
Danny rubbed unsteady hands over his face. What if his mother wasn't behind this? Ben seemed genuinely confused about all of this…as genuine as he could be anyway. If it wasn't his mother, who else would want to hurt Michelle?

Parts 5-6

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