Stephen stopped at Four Winds and pounded up the driveway to the front door. He wanted out of his bargain with Gwen. God help him, he loved Hallie. But she was bent on making him suffer for a one nighter with Maggie Stewart. If that meant marrying Luke Conlan, she would do it. He couldn't stand back and watch it. Nor could he betray her to the one woman she hated most. He knocked on the door and rang the bell simultaneously, but no one answered immediately. Lights were on, someone was home. He knocked again, longer and harder. At last the door opened to a bleary eyed Morgan.

"Where's Gwen?" Stephen demanded. Morgan blinked stupidly in response. Grabbing him by the collar, Stephen pulled him inside with him as he stormed into the hall. "Gwen? I need to talk to you now!" He yelled through the hall.

"Not here...," Morgan mumbled jerking himself free of Stephen's grip. Stephen turned and glared at the man.  

"What?" He asked. "Where is she?"

"She's left...some party," Morgan replied, stumbling back to the den where he had been helping himself to James Mason's beloved antique bar and it's contents. Stephen followed him mostly out of curiosity. "She acts like a queen and insists we all do her bidding so she can gad about and have the life she's always wanted. Well, I'm not a toady. I don't always do what I'm supposed to do. Ha. I'm still here aren't I?"

"That's right, Morgan. Why are you still here?" Stephen asked. He was losing whatever steam he had built up over Hallie's behavior. Instead, he had stumbled upon an opportunity of magnificent proportions. If Morgan was drunk enough, then he might spill his secrets and Gwen's. "I thought Gwen wanted you to leave."

"So she told you that?" he poured himself another drink and waggled the bottle at Stephen. "Interest you in a drink?" Nodding Stephen approached the bar and took the glass offered him. "Gwen's playing the game all right. I haven't seen her this focused since...well for a long time now."

"Gwen is a master all right," Stephen agreed tasting the brandy in his glass. "But Hallie is pretty smart and learned a lot from her aunt. Gwen has a right to be paranoid."

"Of course she does! My god, if Hallie finds out what we did...well, that's the end of the Masons!" Morgan exclaimed.

"Aren't you exaggerating just a little, Morgan? What could be as bad as all that?"

"Look at it this way, no one challenges Gwen when it comes to family issues, right? Sometimes they don't challenger her when it comes to ME, either. If Hallie finds out about this, there goes Gwen's control. Because it won't be her puppet in charge then...no not at all."

Her puppet? Jamie? So this affected Jamie considerably. There was definitely more to this story than what even Hallie suspected. If Gwen was that worried about losing control or Jamie she would do pretty much anything to squash anyone finding out. He studied Morgan for a moment wondering how best to go about making him spill his guts. Deciding on a path, he set his glass on the bar and motioned for a refill.

"Gwen treats you pretty shoddy, doesn't she? I mean, you've kept her secret all these years and yet here she is sending you away. That's pretty low," he said.

"Yes...but have I got the dirt on her," Morgan replied leaning forward solicitously. "And for once, I don't think I want to keep it to myself. I'm gonna tell you and let you decide what to do with it, Mr. Roth. Because I, for one, am tired of being the only one who knows!" Stephen waited as Morgan stumbled to the fireplace, dropping to his knees in front of it. He stared into the grate as if there were a real fire there mesmerizing him. "When Gwen and I were kids, Isabelle Allen was our third musketeer. We did everything together," he began, his words slow and softly slurred. "But when we grew up, Isabelle became jealous of everything Gwen had. She picked at poor Gwennie until Gwen gave up on Bella completely." He let out a soft sigh as if the whole affair had happened yesterday.

"Go on," Stephen urged moving closer to him.  

"James. He and Gwen fell in love at first sight. I never believed in that until Gwen laid eyes on James Mason. God, Jim was gorgeous. Jamie looks just like him...but good looks are a curse. Jim loved Gwen but you know who fell for Jim? Yes, Bella. That was trouble and that is where Gwen's problems started...."



Scene 3:

She hated every minute of it. It was her party and she was having a miserable time. Hallie looked around at the women who had bothered to show up and counted how many were women she actually knew. The guests had swelled to forty by now but a good thirty of them were friends of Gwen's. She kept a plastic smile plastered to her face as the old crones came by offering her congratulations and commenting on how odd men were and how Luke would surely change once they were married. Hallie simply nodded and laughed, taking their "advice" into consideration.

She caught sight of her future sister-in-laws talking in the corner. Maura and Jillie who despised each other were having a lively conversation that appeared to be without malice. Well, goodie for them, she thought bitterly. Must be my misery that makes them so happy. Piper was on the other side of the room talking on the phone while her best friend...what was her name? Started with a 'd.' Oh yes, Dinah glowered at her from a table she shared with Liza. Liza looked none too pleased to have been roped into this either.

Excusing herself from a long winded story about what men did after they had stuffed their faces, Hallie wound her way through the guests to Liza's table. Liza smiled at her appearance and motioned to the chair next to her. Hallie accepted, looking pointedly at Dinah for a moment.  

"Oh. Excuse me, Liza. I think I'll go talk to...someone. Congratulations Hallie."

"Thank you," Hallie replied crisply. She turned to Liza as Dinah disappeared. "You didn't have to stay but it was very nice of you. I wanted to thank you for picking me up. If it weren't for you, I'd still be on that road."

"Unlikely," Liza laughed. "Someone would have picked you up. Luke would have come looking for you eventually."

Hallie blinked at the familiar way Liza addressed Luke, but ignored it in favor of being nice for a change. "Still, I do owe you a favor. If you ever need anything, please don't hesitate to ask."
"Well, I probably won't ask. But thank you all the same."  

"Fair enough. Look, you don't have to stay. In fact, I think I am going to leave myself. I don't think I could take it if another old biddy told me how to handle Luke when he gets gassy. I'll see you tomorrow at work." She moved off in search of Ellen, a coat and a ride home but was intercepted by Gwen.

"Did you have a lovely trip, Hallie?" She asked, her voice smooth but cold.  

"As a matter of fact, no," Hallie answered, rearranging her face to hide her annoyance. "The dress was all wrong. I had to get a completely new one. This one is much better. Much more suited to me."

"I see. Well, then I look forward to seeing this one. I'm afraid I have some bad news for you, Hallie. Morgan had to leave suddenly. Your portrait won't be done in time for the wedding, I'm afraid."

So she had sent him away just as Stephen said she had. She brushed Stephen's name away. He had been right about one thing. That didn't mean he was right about anything else. And it certainly did not mean he could treat her the way he had. Morgan left town. All it meant was that she had gotten close to something and Gwen was scared. She smiled at the thought of Gwen running scared. Scared people made mistakes and Gwen was bound to make one soon. And when she was....

"That's a shame. I guess I'll just have to wait until he returns then won't I? I'm sorry to be such a spoil sport, Gwen, but I do think I've had a rather terrible day. If you all don't mind, I think I'd like to go. I want to see Luke before it gets too late." Gwen nodded and stepped aside. She did want to see Luke, she realized offering goodbyes as well as a pleasant thank you to his sisters. She had a lot to tell him, not the least of which was wanting to clear the air between them. Something had been bothering Luke lately, and after her run ins with Stephen, she just wanted to make sure she and Luke would get married without a hitch.



Scene 4:

Jamie tucked the boys into their beds and kissed each one on the forehead as they drifted into sleep. He paused at the bedroom door, burning the picture of them sleeping peacefully into his memory. He would need that in the days to come. Closing the door gently, he headed back downstairs to his study where he had a small fire in the fireplace to warm the room. He could hear the cold rain beating against the window as he stirred the fire and lay another log on it. He heard the door open and close. Too early for Michaela, he thought, turning to the doorway. As if in response to his thought, he heard Jude call out a hello.

"In the study," he called back, taking a seat on the leather couch in front of the fireplace. Jude entered the room and dropped his jacket on the arm of a chair near the door.

"You wanted to see me?" Jude said, sitting next to Jamie on the couch.

"Thanks for coming...Michaela won't be home for a while yet, so we have time to talk," Jamie replied, his eyes still glued to the fire.  

"What's going on, Jamie?"

"Kerri has a new lawyer." Jude raised an eyebrow but remained silent, waiting for Jamie to continue. "She fired her old lawyer and found a new one. Any idea who the new lawyer is?"  

"Haven't a clue."

"Oh, I thought you might know since it's a friend of yours," Jamie told him, trying not to sound too bitter. It wasn't Jude's fault that Cynthia had poor taste in clients or that Kerri seemed to know who would be the one person that could make her custody case a full on publicity campaign.

"Someone from Washington?" Jude asked, the corners of his mouth twisting as he thought. Jamie could see him ticking off lawyer friends in his head.

"No, she's here in the Glen." Jude's mouth fell open slightly giving off a comical expression. If Jamie wasn't so annoyed and stressed out, he would have found it amusing. "I guess that means you had no idea."

"Of course not! Cynthia's specialty is real estate and tax law. Not custody cases!"

"Ryan believes she's trying to make a name for herself. Personally, I wonder if she isn't trying to get even with you?" Jamie ventured.  

"Through you? Not her style. I'd go with Ryan on this one." Jamie jumped up from his seat and paced the room like a caged animal.  

"I was afraid of that. That means she'll take it to the press somehow."

"Not in this town. I think we can handle The Observer. And what other options does she have here? One of the local television stations? You can count out WCGV since Mason Enterprises owns a controlling interest there. The Fox affiliate might run something. You know how Fox is." Jude rubbed his chin thoughtfully, trying to second guess Cynthia. "I know their news editor thought. I'll talk to him. In fact, I know most of the news editors in town. It might take some doing, but I could get equal time for you about this whole thing. Now outside of the Glen, we run into problems..."

"Jude. I want you to talk to her first," Jamie interrupted. "See if you can't convince her that I am in the right here. Offer her job back. Anything. Just get her off Kerri's side." Desperate words from a desperate man.  

"She won't listen to me, Jamie. I'm probably the last person she wants to talk to. You're going to have to deal with this no matter what happens, might as well face it head on now instead of next year or the year after."

"You talk to her. It's bad enough I'll have to tell Michaela and the boys to get ready for another custody trial. Do you know what that is going to do to Chris? He's just starting to adjust."

"Do you know what it will do if you have to go through this year after year? I'm sorry Jamie, but you have to face this head on now. Otherwise, Kerri will never go away and you'll always have to worry about how Chris will be affected. As for Michaela, you know my feelings on that."

Jamie nodded. Jude had always said honesty was the best policy. Be up front and nothing can bite you in the ass later. He should have listened. "Talk to Cynthia. See if she can't be convinced to keep it private for Chris' sake. Please."

"Okay," Jude sighed, the dread evident. "But if I have to talk to Cynthia, you have to tell Michaela what's going on."

"What is going on?" Michaela asked from the doorway. Jamie's stomach twisted immediately into knots at her voice. Of course, she would happen on them now. He exchanged a guilty look with Jude. There was no other choice now. "Well?" She demanded. "What is going on?"

On the next Episode of Secret Horizons...

Episode 62