CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Alexis looked at Stefan, then down to the chess table in front of
them, “What sort of options?” she asked him.
“I need to know of a way I can legally retain custody of the child,”
he said simply.
“You mean Andrea? If Bobbie becomes her legal guardian upon
her father’s death...”
Stefan cut her off, “I don’t want this to have anything to do with
Barbara, Alexis.”
Alexis studied her cousin’s expression, “Stefan, what is it you
aren’t telling me?”
Stefan glanced at her before resetting the chess pieces to their
original position. “A doctor from General Hospital is coming here to
perform a DNA test on the child.’
Alexis’ jaw dropped, “Why? What for?”
“I believe she is Anreya.”
“Stefan, don’t be ridiculous. You and I both know Anreya didn’t
survive Billy’s attack on Lisa when she was pregnant.”
“She could have survived, merely been taken from us,” Stefan tried
to rationalize.
Alexis planted both hands on the table and leaned in towards
Stefan, “Lisa was only two weeks away from giving birth. Billy raped and
brutally beat her, nearly slicing her open himself. I don’t see how any child
could have survived with all the internal injuries Lisa suffered. What makes
you think that Andrea is Anreya?”
Stefan stood up, “I have my reasons. I’ll call you when I get the
test results. We can determine how to proceed then.”
Alexis stood up and headed towards the door, “I assume you aren’t
telling Lisa about this test.”
“Of course not. There’s no reason to raise her hopes for something
that could potentially cause her so much pain.”
Alexis nodded slowly, “Just let me know when you learn anything,”
she said as she left.
*****
Luke walked up to the door of his house with Lu toddling beside
him. She was the first one to see Lisa sitting in the corner of the porch.
“Hi Lisa!” she exclaimed, running up to her older sister.
“Hey kiddo, how’s it going?” Lisa replied, standing up and picking
up Lu.
Luke walked over to her, and kissed her forehead. “Hey Sunshine.
What are you doing out here? It’s freezing.”
Lisa looked up at him, “I thought Laura and her mom needed some
time alone.”
Luke nodded, then did a double take. “Her mom? Lesley?” Luke
shook his head, “That’s impossible.”
“Daddy, you said the same thing about me a few short months
ago,” Lisa said as she shivered and smiled.
Luke held out his hand to her. “True. Come on inside Sunshine,
before you catch pneumonia.” Luke couldn’t help but smile as he opened
the door to let his daughters inside. He couldn’t believe that after all this
time, he was able to see his whole family together.
Laura stood up from the sofa as Luke walked in. Lisa handed Lulu
to Laura as Lesley stood up. Luke rushed over and gave Lesley a huge
hug. “Les! What Lisa just told me is true!?!” He said disbelievingly. “This
is unreal!” Luke is speechless, “I just don’t know what to say.” He hugs
her again, “I guess all I can say is, welcome home!”
“Oh Luke, it’s so good to see you,” Lesley said, smiling.
Laura walked back over to Lesley. “Mother, this is...”
Lesley smiled. “I know. Lulu.” She reached out her arms to her.
“You want to come to your grandma?”
Lulu chewed on her finger before grinning and going to Lesley.
Luke went over and put his arms around Laura. “Well Angel, this is
something I never thought I’d see.”
Lisa sat down in the chair. She felt really sick again. Lesley
noticed, handed Lu back to Laura and knelt beside Lisa’s chair. “Not
again, honey.”
Lisa nodded weakly, “’Fraid so, Grandma.”
“You need to go to the doctor. You promised you would.”
Luke looked at his daughter with concern. “Sunshine, is something
wrong?”
Lisa shook her head no, but Lesley spoke for her. “She’s not been
feeling well for a while and if she doesn’t go to the doctor on her own, I
will drag her kicking and screaming myself.”
Laura was worried about Lisa, but was amused at her mother’s
doctoral instincts kicking in. Luke laughed slightly, “You tell her, Les.”
The door flew open and Lucky came in quickly, with Amy hot on
his heels. “Cowboy, where’s the fire?” Luke asked.
Lucky didn’t say anything as Amy saw Lesley for the first time.
She started screaming, “Oh my God! You’re alive!” Amy ran over and
threw her arms around Lesley and they embraced like mother and daughter
for the first time in years.
Luke went over to Lucky, “You knew about this?”
Lucky nodded, “I met Grandma earlier today. Lisa wouldn’t let me
tell anyone until she’d told Mom. But I thought Aunt Amy should be here
too.”
“Good call,” Lisa said softly to Lucky. “I never even thought about
Amy.” Lisa watched as Laura went into the kitchen. With everyone trying
to talk to Lesley at once, Lisa was able to follow her. “Mom?”
Laura turned around to face her and wiped away tears, “Yeah?”
“You’re happy about Grandma, right?”
Laura hugged Lisa quickly, “Oh yes. Indescribably happy.”
“Nikolas doesn’t know,” Lisa informed her. “You should be the
one to tell him.”
“Does she know about Nikolas?” Laura wondered.
Lisa shook her head, “Yeah. She’s never met him, but Stefan
always told her stories about him. She had his picture in her room in
Switzerland. Your’s too.”
Laura nodded slowly, “I just wish we hadn’t lost so much time.”
Lisa hugged Laura again, “You’ve got nothing but time, now.”
*****
Doctor Tony Jones was getting ready to leave the Brownstone to
meet Carly at their apartment when there was a knock on the door.
He walked over to the door and opened it to find Alexander
Spencer standing there. “May I help you?”
Alexander smiled. “Hello Doctor Jones. You don’t know me, but I
know you. I’m Alexander Spencer, Barbara’s father.”
“I saw the two of you in the hospital cafeteria.” He moved away
from the door so Alexander could enter. “Come in Mr. Spencer. What can
I do for you?”
Alexander walked in and smiled. “First of all, call me Alexander, or
Alex. I would like to talk to you about my daughter.”
Tony and Alexander walked into the living room and both sat
down. “Okay Alexander. But Bobbie and I aren’t together anymore.”
Alexander waved his hand in front of his face a couple of times to
signify the insignificance of Tony’s statement. “That doesn’t matter, my
boy. What I have to tell you is for someone that knows Bobbie well,
someone that she trusts.”
“Bobbie doesn’t trust me. Not anymore. She trusts her husband,
Stefan Cassadine. Why don’t you talk to him?”
“Stefan will find out what I have to say soon enough, although I
suspect he knows already. Doctor Jones, I need you to swear to me that
nothing we say will leave this room.”
Tony nodded agreement, even though this whole conversation
seemed to be coming out of nowhere and he had no clue what any of it had
to do with him. “Sure.”
Alexander took a deep breath, knowing that he was about to crash
Bobbie’s world. “Barbara isn’t really married to Stefan.”
Tony had to pick his jaw up from the floor. “What? The marriage
to Cassadine isn’t legal?”
Alexander shook his head. “Stefan is married to someone else.
Even the preacher that performed the ceremony was a phony.”
Now Tony was suspicious. “How do you know all this?”
“It doesn’t matter. The point is, the truth about a lot of things will
come out very shortly, and Barbara is going to be bearing the brunt of it.
She’s going to need someone to help her hold it together.”
Tony shook his head, “I know you’ve not been around Bobbie
much, so let me just say that she has no problem holding it together.
Besides, I’m involved with someone else now, I’m not Bobbie’s support
system.”
Alexander sighed. “I know who you’re involved with. That is one
of the truths I was talking about. Doctor Jones, your Carly is Bobbie’s
daughter Caroline that she gave up for adoption.”
Tony didn’t believe him. “That’s impossible. Bobbie’s child is
dead. She said so herself.”
Alexander waved his hand in front of his face again, blowing off
Tony’s statement. “Barbara doesn’t know that Carly is Caroline. But
Luke does. He told Barbara that Caroline was dead when he found out
about your affair. He was trying to protect her from finding out that her
husband was sleeping with her daughter. And for once in my life, I have to
agree with what my son did.”
Tony felt as if the carpet had just been pulled out from under him.
“Then why are you bringing it up?”
Alexander was getting frustrated, “I told you, the truth about many
things is about to come out.”
“And who is going to start confessing these ‘truths’ that you keep
mentioning?”
“As they say, Doctor Jones, the proof is in the pudding.
Unfortunately for my whole family, exposing the truth is my job.”
Tony instantly hated the old man. “You don’t have to destroy your
own family, especially if you’re so concerned for them,” he said
sarcastically.
Alexander practically growled, “Are you deaf, young man? I said,
it’s my job. I’m under orders. I don’t have a choice!” He stood up
quickly. “Now, I’ve warned you. It’s going to get ugly, and your life will
probably be in a lot of turmoil as well. My daughter will need someone. If
you ever cared about her, support her now.”
Tony felt for Bobbie, not to mentioned that his illusions about Carly
had just been shattered, but he acted indifferent towards Alexander.
“Maybe. I’ll think about it.” He walked Alexander to the door and
slammed it behind the old man. “Arrogant fool,” he said as soon as the
door was shut.
*****
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Stefan stood on the docks practicing his Tai Chi. Suddenly, he lost
his concentration. He looked over at where his cell phone was sitting silent
on a rock. He willed it to ring.
What was taking so long? The DNA test had been completed and
now all that was left was to wait for the results. The answer would
determine his next move. Like the chess game, he had a strategy planned
for every outcome.
Realizing that no matter the outcome, he would maintain an upper
hand helped strengthen his resolve. He was now able to focus on his Tai
Chi.
He didn’t see Lisa standing nearby until she came up beside him and
started practicing alongside him. He glanced over to her, “It’s been a long
time since you and I practiced together.”
“Too long, I think,” she replied, “I’m a little rusty.”
He stopped and turned towards her, “Have you arranged a doctor’s
appointment yet?”
She nodded, not wavering from her movements, “Yes. The
appointment was earlier. I’m just getting ready to head back to town to
get the test results.”
“Tests?”
She stopped at looked her husband in the eyes, “Yeah. Doctor
Quartermaine wanted to run several different tests. He seems to think that
some of what’s wrong with me could be after effects of my last ‘incident’
with Billy.”
Stefan’s cell phone started to ring. “I should go,” Lisa said. “If
Bobbie was to come up here, she’d get a little miffed about me being here.”
Stefan leaned over and kissed her briefly, “I’ll come by later,” he
said quietly. Lisa just nodded and quickly walked off. Stefan took a deep
breath, walked over and answered his phone. “Stefan Cassadine.”
The voice was exactly who he expected. “Mr. Cassadine, this is
Doctor Jackson from GH, we have your test results.”
“Very good, what is it? Positive or negative?”
“Then you want me to give you the results over the phone?”
Stefan maintained his composure, despite the fact all he wanted to
do was to scream at the guy. “Yes Doctor, if that’s not a problem.”
The doctor could practically hear the seething in Stefan’s voice, “Of
course not, sir. The results are as you expected.”
Stefan interrupted, “Then it’s positive.”
“Yes sir. This particular DNA test has a 98% accuracy level.”
Stefan smiled slightly. “Excellent. Thank you doctor.” He hung
up the phone, took another deep breath, and resumed practicing his Tai
Chi.
*****
Luke sat at the bar of the club waiting for his own phone to ring.
Instead, the front door opened and Tony Jones walked in. He had a look
on his face like he’d seen a ghost. A common look in the Spencer house
these days, but odd coming from the good doctor.
“Hey Doc-Ex-Bro-in-Law, what can I do for you? You look like
you could use a stiff drink.”
Tony shook his head, “I don’t think it’ll help.” Tony sat next to
Luke at the bar, “I had the strangest visitor come by earlier.”
Luke nodded, and poured Tony a drink anyway. “Fairly common
occurrence lately.”
“It was your father.”
“I’m sorry,” Luke said sarcastically.
Tony continued, “He said a lot that didn’t make sense about truth
and what not, but he said one thing I can’t shake. About Carly.”
Luke just looked at him, “And?”
“He said that Carly is actually the daughter that Bobbie gave up for
adoption.”
Luke nodded absently, “Caroline, yep.”
Tony didn’t want to believe him. “Then it’s true?” Tony let it sink
in for a second, “Why did you tell Bobbie she was dead?” he asked harshly.
Luke glared at Tony, “Would you have wanted to tell her that the
daughter she was desperately searching for was across town in bed with
her husband?”
Tony stared at the floor. “What have I done?”
Luke stood up, “You let yourself be lead around by your pants and
now you feel guilty.” As he walked toward his office, he said, “Stay in
here and pout all you want, Tony, but you’ll have to excuse me, I’m
expecting a call from my daughter.”
Before Luke disappeared into the office, the front door opened
again and Lisa walked in. She called out to him, “Hey Daddy.”
He turned around and went up to her and gave her a hug, “Hey
Sunshine, I thought you were going to call when you got your test results.”
“Well, Doctor Quartermaine just called. I’m on my way now.”
He looked at his daughter, “Okay, well, just let me know what he
says. Oh, have you seen Laura? I just tried to call.”
“Yeah, Mom, Grandma and Lu are outside. They’re gonna drop
me off. Grandma’s going to be my moral support when I go in.”
Luke laughed, “That’ll be the talk of the hospital. You’re just
going to walk in with a former doctor that’s supposedly been dead for
nearly fifteen years?”
Lisa nodded, “Yeah. It’ll be fun,” she said, a wicked grin crossing
her face.
Luke kissed her forehead, matching her grin with one of his own,
“Take pictures.”
She waved slightly as she headed out the door. Tony stood up
from the bar. “Is that your daughter?” he asked.
Luke smiled, “Sure is.”
Tony nodded and walked out the door. Luke’s daughter reminded
him of Carly. He had a lot of thinking to do.
*****
Stefan sat waiting patiently by the front door. He was sitting
somewhat secluded by shadows. Stefan showed a cold and calm exterior,
but inside he was boiling. He’d had time to enjoy his news from earlier,
although he hadn’t told anyone, but now he needed answers.
And those he could only get from one man. Simply asking would
not get all the desired results. Demanding might not either. He already
knew how to get what he needed. Like a vicious animal hungry for it’s
next meal, Stefan waited to pounce.
*****
