by Jericho

Chapter 9

Carlino's

Paulina was making tiramisu in the kitchen. It was several minutes before she became aware that someone was watching her. When she saw Amanda standing in the doorway, she smiled and stopped preparing the dessert. She turned to her sister and hugged her tightly.

"Why didn't you tell me you were standing there? Here you've caught me with flour all over me. I must look a mess. But look at you. Marriage and pregnancy agree with you, Amanda."

Amanda had to smile at Paulina who was so bubbly. She hated to drop any more in her lap. So much had gone on in their lives recently.

"Thank you, Paulina. Could I pull you away from here for a little while?"

Paulina smiled at her and laughed, "Oooh, you're being so serious. Sure, let me tell Remy where I'm going. We can go upstairs to the office."

Amanda waited in the kitchen as Paulina disappeared to the front of the restaurant. The envelope in her hand felt as if it was on fire. She dreaded the conversation she was about to have.

Paulina swept back through the kitchen and with a quick, "Follow me", she and Amanda disappeared into the upstairs office.

"Shoo!!! Let me get some a/c going in here."

Paulina fiddled with the small window air conditioner as Amanda took a seat across from Paulina. She unclasped the envelope in preparation for the talk she was about to have.

"You're still looking very serious. What's up, Amanda?"

"I've been working on a story for Brava about this baby selling operation that has been operating out of Bay City."

"Yeah, the one where they arrested that doctor, but he got off on a technicality. I remember."

"We've found the lawyer who is behind it. He's not the one in charge, mind you, but he runs all the legal stuff, and it looks like he has for years."

"That's great, Amanda. How can I help you?"

Amanda looked at Paulina and saw the smile and trust in her eyes. She did not want to bring up what they had unearthed. It was ancient history.

"Cameron and Gary have been helping me. You know Cameron. He worries about me. So he's been trying to move things along. He and Gary were able to get copies of some of the lawyer's files on these 'adoptions'. . . . .Paulina, one of the files has your name on it."

Paulina's face fell. She immediately became very agitated and turned away from Amanda.

"So you thought you'd come here and confront me about it," Paulina said accusingly.

"No, Paulina, no. It's nothing like that. I just wanted you to be aware that such a file exists, and if we get to the bottom of this baby selling ring, everything could become public knowledge. I just wanted you to know."

Paulina took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She reached for a tissue as her eyes filled with tears . Amanda immediately felt even more terrible. She tried to hug Paulina, but Paulina moved away from her.

"I guess it's time you heard the truth. I had a baby on my sixteenth birthday. I didn't have any money, so I sold him. Now do you see what a terrible sister you have?"

Amanda succeeded in hugging Paulina this time.

"Paulina, I didn't come here to judge you. You were a child, and you were scared. I don't pretend to know what kind of childhood you had. I know you for you to have done something like that you must have felt that you had no choice."

"Then you don't hate me?"

"Of course, I don't. You're my sister. Sisters have to stick together."

"Thank you, Amanda. I recently found that child I gave up. I put an ad in the personals and wouldn't you know it. . . . .there he was. I introduced Timothy to Rachel recently. He's a great kid, Amanda. I think you'll really like him."

Amanda looked at Paulina, puzzled. She picked up the envelope and removed the photographs. She studied the words there for a few seconds before she turned back to Paulina.

"Paulina, I'm a little confused here. This file says that you had a baby girl."

Paulina's eyes opened wider. She shook her head.

"That's impossible. We had DNA tests and everything."

"Here. Look at it."

Amanda handed the file to Paulina. Paulina looked at the documents for several minutes. A look of complete awe transformed her face.

"Woods? Remy. Oh. . ."

"What is it, Paulina?"

"It's Remy," she smiled.

*******************************

Home of George Weston

George Weston paced in his study. He did not like the way all of this was falling into place. He was getting close to retirement, and he did not need the hassles of this business anymore. He ran his hands through his hair. He should never have gotten involved in the whole mess. Never. He could have made a comfortable living without it. He always knew there would come a day when his whole world could come crashing down around him.

He had been a young but established lawyer back in 1967. When Reginald Love had approached him about selling his own grandchild, he had been astonished, but Love had sweetened the deal with a promise of the Love legal business as well as a large sum of money for confidentially handling the adoption. Youth, arrogance, and greed had gotten him involved with the vile man.

Now here he was a middle-aged man still doing the bidding of Reginald Love. And he was about to be exposed by people who had not even been born when this whole mess had started.

"George, you seem lost in thought."

George jumped as Reginald Love strolled into his study. He could have described Love as elderly but that would be inaccurate. Age had only added gray hair and fine lines. It had not reduced the power and evil that lurked within the man. There had come a time when he had decided that Reginald Love was a demon sent to do the Devil's bidding. . .that he was immortal.

"Reginald, I thought you'd left for South America."

"I've decided to stick around to make sure my orders are carried out precisely. I don't trust these imbeciles to do my bidding. I can't leave here until I know that my identity remains a secret."

"Why shouldn't it? Everyone, including your family, thinks that it was you who fell to your death that night."

Reginald Love laughed, "Yes, you would have thought they would have had an autopsy. But I believe I have you to thank for that, George. Well done."

There was a time when George would have been pleased by Reginald's praise. But that time had passed. He simply nodded in his direction as recognition of the remark.

"Neale just reported in. He says that Amanda, Cameron and Gary Sinclair have been holed up inside Cory Enterprises since noon. They all left there separately."

"Who is he following now?"

"He's watching Cameron at the moment. He followed him to the library."

"Are they getting closer, Reg?"

"Much too close, George. That's why I'm here, in fact. I need your help."

George Weston felt like he had been hit in the stomach. The last thing on this earth he wanted to do was help this deceptive creep, but unfortunately, his own life was on the line.

****************************

Sinclair House

Amanda sat in the living room resting. She had had an exhausting day. Her feet and legs were swollen, and at the moment, she felt like a beached whale. It was difficult to relax when she had all of these things running through her head. The revelation about Paulina's child alone, had been a shock. All of this was falling together. But where and who did it all lead to? Sometimes it seemed like there were lots of answers, but all the answers created more questions. Her eyes popped open when she heard the front door open and close. She smiled knowing who would be walking around that corner.

Cameron grinned when he saw Amanda sitting in the chair with her feet on the ottoman in front of her. She looked so beautiful. He knew that she didn't think so, but he did. He walked over to where she sat and took a seat on the arm of the chair beside her. He leaned down to kiss her just as she raised up to kiss him. They met somewhere in the middle, and their lips clung together. When they parted, they just stared into each other's eyes in silent communication. Amanda put her hand on his neck and lightly stroked his jaw with her thumb.

"It always feels good to come home, especially when you're here waiting."

"It's nice to be at home knowing that you're going to walk through that door any second."

"Come on, help me fix supper."

Cameron took Amanda's hand. They walked to the kitchen together and began preparing the food.

"Do you know what I've got a craving for?" Amanda asked with a smile.

"What?"

"Pepperoni pizza!!!"

Cameron groaned at their ongoing joke, only it wasn't a joke. Every pregnant woman had her craving, and Amanda's was pepperoni pizza with green olives. Cameron had thought it cute at first until he'd heard the doorbell ring at 1:30 in the morning and found Amanda sitting in the living room eating pizza.

"Amanda, tell me that you're kidding."

Amanda laughed, "Okay, okay, I'm kidding."

"No, you're not," Cameron said as he shook his head. "Order my half with extra mushrooms."

Cameron put the food away that he had been preparing as he listened to Amanda order the pizza.

"You still love me, don't you?" Amanda asked as she wrapped her arms around him from behind.

"Hmmmmm? Let me think about it for a minute. It's a good thing that we like the same things on our pizza. I guess I'll keep you."

Amanda smiled. "Good answer. Do you think we can find something to occupy us while we're waiting for our pizza?"

Cameron raised one eyebrow, "What are you suggesting, Mrs. Sinclair?"

Amanda kissed him and tugged at his hand, "Come on. Let's see what kind of trouble we can get into in 30 minutes or less."

*****************************

Cameron saw Amanda eyeing the last piece of pizza in the box. He reached for it just to watch her reaction. He was shocked when she reached in and grabbed it before his hand could reach the box. He stared at her in astonishment, then laughed.

"So, do you think this means our son is going to like pepperoni?"

Amanda chewed on her pizza for a minute. "I think it's a very good possibility that our daughter will love it."

Cameron laughed. He knew her game very well.

"Don't you think it's time to discuss names?"

"Now?"

"No time like the present."

"Over pepperoni pizza? You're not thinking about something like 'Luigi' are you?"

"Nope. I kinda like the name 'Harley'."

Amanda choked, "You can't be serious!!!!"

"Gotcha. Seriously, what are you thinking? I've never been responsible for naming a little person before."

"How about 'Cameron'? They're using it for boys and girls these days."

Cameron slowly shook his head, "I don't think so."

"You're right. There's only one Cameron." Amanda kissed Cameron on the cheek. "Well, I guess I'm going to have to drag out the book of baby names."

Amanda went to the study and came back with a large book full of names. They bent their heads over it and seriously went to work. They both jumped when the door bell rang.

"Who could that be?"

"Are you expecting someone?" Cameron asked.

"No."

"I'll go."

Cameron walked to the foyer and looked through the peephole. He jumped back when he saw a giant eye looking back at him. He flung the door open and glared at his brother.

"I should have known it was you."

"Yeah, good to see you, too, bro. Oooh, is that pepperoni pizza I smell?"

"Just keep laughing. You're just so damned funny. Get in here."

Amanda smiled when she saw Cameron return with Gary.

"I knew it was you," she said.

"Well, if you knew it was me, why didn't you save me any pizza?"

They all laughed.

"I couldn't wait until tomorrow. I wanted to know what you found out."

"And on that note. . .it looks like the party's over."

Gary saw the book of baby names. He tried not to let it get to him, but there were times, such as this, when he recalled everything he had lost. He pushed his thoughts of the baby that wasn't and reminded himself how great it was going to be to have a little niece or nephew to spoil.

The three of them seemed to pull files out of thin air. Each of them sat with an open file in front of them.

Cameron began, "Okay, I'll go first. I dug up every newspaper article I could find on Reginald Love and George Weston. Amanda, you probably know a lot of this since you were around at the time. Reginald Love disappeared in the late '60's. He resurfaced again in the mid to late '80's. During the time he was gone from Bay City, he was living in Portugal under the alias of Reginald LaSalle. And. . . . you're going to love this one. . . . .he was known as 'The Vulture'. He fell from the Love Towers during a struggle with Michael Hudson. He died instantly. There was nothing significant that I could unearth about George Weston, but I did find a picture both of you may be interested in."

Cameron handed a newspaper clipping of the picture to Amanda.

"This is Reginald Love and George Weston at the Snowflake Ball," Amanda told them.

"So we're still under the impression that this picture you took outside Weston's office is a look alike of some sort," Gary stated and took the picture from Amanda.

"There's no other explanation," Amanda said.

"After Cam told me what he'd found at the library, I did a little checking on Love's estate in Portugal. The house is very well kept, and it appears to be occupied. Another thing, I checked with one of my buddies at the morgue. There wasn't an autopsy done on Reginald Love."

"So what are you saying, Gary? That Reginald Love is alive?" Cameron asked skeptically.

"It's just not possible. No one could have survived a fall like that," Amanda said.

"Maybe it wasn't Reginald Love who fell from the Love Towers that night," Gary stated as he looked back and forth between his disbelieving partners.

CONTINUE