Promises
Parts 9-10
By Candy
He sighed as he
entered the tall thick gate. He had promised himself he would never come here.
He never wanted to set foot in this place, but under the circumstances, he had
no choice.
"Visitor for Carmen Santos," he heard someone say.
Danny stood in front of a glass panel, waiting to see the woman he had once
known as his mother. Now, there were only feelings of hatred and betrayal. He
was somewhat stunned when she entered the room. She looked so different from the
last time he had seen her.
It had been over a year ago in the courtroom, the day the judge sentenced her to
twenty years in jail. He never did understand how Ben got her off with that easy
of a sentence. Considering the numerous charges against her, including the
attempted murder of her daughter-in-law, she should be in here for life. But he
knew Ben Warren and assumed he had probably blackmailed the judge. That day she
had been a striking presence in one of her classic business suits with perfectly
done make-up and hair.
Now though, she was so different. She was dressed in an orange jumpsuit with no
makeup and her hair was pulled back away from her face. She looked a little pale
and her once fiery eyes were lifeless. He pushed away a pang of sympathy that
started to emerge. She tried to kill Michelle once, Danny reminded himself, she
could have easily done it again.
He caught a sudden spark in her eyes, when she looked through the glass and saw
he was her visitor. She smiled as she sat down reaching for the phone. Danny
followed slowly, not returning her smile.
"Daniel," she smiled. "I'm so glad to see you. I have missed you
so much."
"Save it," Danny snapped. "I didn't come for a social
visit."
Carmen's smile vanished as quickly as it had appeared. "I thought maybe by
your being here that you had forgiven me."
"Forgiven you?" he shouted into the phone. "Are you kidding me?
You tried to kill my wife. I meant what I told you in the courtroom. I will
never forgive you for that."
"Then why are you here?" she asked coldly.
"I need to know what was used to poison Michelle?" he asked point
blank.
"Poison Michelle?" she asked confused. "Daniel, I have no idea
what you're talking about."
"Come on, mother," he demanded. "No one else wants Michelle dead,
but you. Your plan didn't work though, because she's not dead."
"I didn't have anything to do with this," she snapped. "I'm
locked up in a jail cell in case you've forgotten."
"No, I remember exactly where you are," Danny said. "I also
remember what kind of monster you are. I know you still have contacts on the
outside. So who did your dirty work for you this time?"
"I already told you," her voice rose. "I don't know anything.
Check my visitor records if you don't believe me. My lawyer and your sister have
been the only visitors I've had since I've been in here. I swear to you on your
father's grave that I had nothing to do with this."
"Don't you dare talk about him," Danny warned.
"I'm sorry," she apologized. "Go to Ben. He can help you find out
who did this to Michelle. Whether or not you believe me, I want you to be happy
Daniel. I've had a lot of time to think since I've been in here. I know Michelle
makes you happy and I want the two of you to have a wonderful life together. I
know I interfered with that happiness in the past, but I promise you I have
changed."
"You will never change," Danny smirked.
"I have," she pleaded. "Please, believe me. The Santos still have
enemies lurking out there. Someone is after Michelle. For your sake and for
hers, please find out who it is before it's too late."
A sudden chill crept up Danny's spine. What if she was telling the truth? What
if the person after Michelle was still out there, waiting for the next
opportunity to get to her? Glaring at his mother, he hung up the phone without
saying good-bye. He got up and walked away despite her protests to pick the
phone back up. He turned away not wanting to see a guard come lead his mother,
sobbing, back to her jail cell.
He got outside as fast as he could. He took a deep breath of the late evening
air. Frank could come check on the visitors records later. He needed to get back
to the hospital to be with Michelle. There were so many feelings boiling inside
of him right now. He needed to talk to someone. Normally he turned to Michelle,
but she couldn't deal with all of this right now. She had to concentrate on
getting stronger for her and their baby. No, he knew what he needed to do.
He pulled out his cell phone as he cranked his car. "Hey it's me. Can you
meet me at the hospital?"
____________________________________________________
Danny found Michelle sleeping when he made it back to her room. Bill was still
there, as he had promised. He followed Danny out to the hallway.
"We talked for a little while and then she just couldn't keep her eyes open
any more," Bill explained. "She told me about being poisoned. Who
could have done this to her?"
"I don't know Bill," Danny sighed. "Frank's working on it."
"Come on Danny," Bill snapped. "With all of your connections you
don't honestly expect me to believe you're letting the police handle this."
"I promised Michelle I would work with the police on this," Danny's
eyes narrowed. "As far as she is concerned, that is exactly what I'm
doing."
"Just find whoever it is," Bill demanded. "And make them pay for
hurting her."
"That's exactly what I plan to do," Danny said.
-----------------------------------------
After Bill left, Danny went back in to sit with Michelle. Looking through the
window of her room, he saw the sun beginning to set. It had been a long day. One
he would rather forget. He was so lost in thought that he was startled by the
tap on his shoulder.
"Ray," Danny sighed when he turned around. "I'm glad you could
come."
"You sounded so desperate on the phone," Ray whispered. "You mind
telling me what's wrong with Michelle."
"I really need to talk to you, but I don't want to leave Michelle right
now," Danny sighed.
"Well, for starters, just tell me why Michelle is in the hospital,"
Ray said, in a hushed voice.
"She was poisoned," Danny whispered.
"Poisoned?" Ray said a little more loudly than he intended.
"Shh!" Danny said, looking at Michelle. "She's been sick for a
few days now. The doctors say she'll be okay, but she's still really weak."
"Who did this?" Ray asked.
"I wish I knew," Danny uttered. "I thought for sure it had to be
my mother, so I called Ben Warren, who denied everything. Then I went to see her
in jail."
"You visited Carmen in jail?" Ray questioned. "I thought you said
you never wanted to see her again."
"I didn't," Danny began. "But I thought if she saw me after all
this time, she would slip up or let something out that would prove she was the
one behind this."
"But she didn't," Ray finished.
"No," Danny rubbed his stiff neck. "She told me she didn't know
anything about this and for some reason I believe her."
"After everything she has done, all the lies and deceptions," he
began. "Why trust her now?"
"You should have seen her, Ray," Danny winced. "She didn't look
anything like the woman who raised me. She was pale and her eyes were sunken in.
I almost felt sorry for her, but then she looked at me with that gleam in her
eye again. It didn't take long for me to remember everything she did to Michelle
and the hatred returned. She swore on my father's grave that she had nothing to
do with this."
"She actually said that?" Ray asked. "Danny you know how she felt
about your father. If she said that, then you know she couldn't have…"
"I know," Danny snapped. "She wasn't behind this. But that
doesn't make me feel any better because someone is and I don't know who it is.
Before, I knew who I was protecting Michelle from and now…now I don't know who
is trying to hurt her."
"Danny, I know how easy it would be to fall back into the old ways
again," Ray began. "But you have to think of Michelle and what that
would do to her, not to mention what it would do to you too."
"I don't want to go back any more than she wants me too, but I have to
protect her and the…" he stopped short before finishing. "There's
something I haven't told you. We haven't told anybody because until I find out
who was behind this, I don't want this to get out. But next to Michelle, there's
no one I trust more than you."
"What is it?" Ray questioned.
Danny hesitated, knowing he could trust Ray, "Michelle is pregnant."
"Danny," he smiled. "This is wonderful news. Everything's okay,
right?"
"Yes," he nodded. "The baby wasn't hurt this time. I just have to
make sure that there never is a next time. I have to find out who is behind
this. I promised Michelle I would protect her and our baby and that's exactly
what I'm going to do…whatever it takes.
------------------------------------------
Danny stayed the night with Michelle, dozing more than sleeping in the chair
beside her. He awoke with a jolt every time the door to her room opened, usually
by a nurse. The idea that whoever poisoned her was still out there, kept him on
edge. He knew how independent his wife was, but she was just going to have to
understand that he had to do whatever it took to keep her safe. She wasn't going
to like being watched 24 hours a day, but there was no other option. Someone had
to be with her at all times.
At 6:00, he finally gave up on sleep and decided to get to work. He needed to
get the word out that Michelle had been poisoned and he was on the rampage. If
the right person heard and knew the wrath of the Santos' maybe they would slip
with some information, trying to save their own hide. He had to be careful with
this because he didn't want Michelle to know what he was doing. It would worry
her that he was getting involved with these people again and that was the last
thing she needed right now. Besides, he wasn't getting involved in the
"business" again. He was only using the Santos name to get the
information he needed. The only problem was he didn't know what he would do when
he found out who was responsible for this…or maybe he did know. He just prayed
Michelle would understand.