by Maggie Thom
Guy and a guilty looking, red faced Bailey entered the second floor salon. Dorothea was sitting on the love seat, something that made Guy pause. He'd never seen her sit there before. He took in the rest of the room. Glancing at Bailey, he knew she was right to be tense. Nothing would be the same after this.
Extending his hand, he walked forward. "Hello Daniel, Gina." Due to the manners they'd been brought up with, they both acknowledged him but their eyes were glued to Bailey's as hers were to them. There was only the why it had all happened, for the light of recognition and knowledge was there in each other's eyes.
It was Gina who first broke the silence. "My baby." Running forward, she wrapped her arms around Bailey, both women crying as they hugged for the first time in twenty-nine and half years. And very possibly for only the second time in their lives. Daniel hung back for a second but he didn't want to be left out. He wrapped his arms around both women and held on. The three let their tears cleanse away the pain of separation.
Guy was having a hell of a time swallowing the boulder-size lump that was stuck in his throat. His grandmother, he noted, was in much the same shape. He walked over and sat beside her.
"I don't know how much to tell them." Her hands worried the fabric of her blue silk dress, something she'd never done before. She'd never asked for anyone's guidance in her life.
"No more secrets, Grandma. No more. There have been too many for too long. It's gonna hurt but then the healing can begin. You don't have to do it. Graham and I have pieced together most of it. Thank you for holding off for a few days so we could all rest." He kissed her cheek and then stood as Graham entered the room. Graham's eyes opened wide, he started to fidget and look anywhere but at the scene in front of him. Guy walked over and slapped him on the back. "Think of it as getting in touch with your feminine side."
Graham, the guy who females sought out when they needed that strong shoulder, choked out, "Hell." Guy found himself in not much better shape as he turned his back on the scene and stared out the window, blinking several times. Once under control he walked over to the bar and poured himself and Graham a straight whiskey. They clinked glasses, looked at each other, nodded and downed them. Unsure where they fit into this, they both moved to stand in front of the ornate mantle fireplace.
Gina was busy brushing Bailey's hair back from her face and staring at every square inch of her. Daniel's arms remained around both women.
"I don't want to break this up but I think it's important that we talk about all that has brought us here, to find a way to heal and move forward. Aunt, Uncle and Bailey, please sit down." They never looked at him but they moved like a three-legged being, to sit on the couch.
Rubbing his face, Guy let out a long sigh. "I don't even know where to start with this."
"Let me, Guy. I can fill in some of the background." His grandmother sat forward, clasped her hands in her lap and thrust her chin upwards. "Geoffrey was only my half-brother. I think that secret is what drove him over the brink. No one was supposed to know. Not even Geoffrey. But my parents weren't the best at keeping their feelings to themselves. They always treated him differently, my mother as though he was lower class. I guess since his real mother was a maid, she felt she was justified. My father looked at him as a reminder of getting caught with his pants down. Not something he took lightly. Geoffrey used to have to work so hard. The ugliest jobs. The longest hours. And when he didn't do a perfect job, because that was impossible, they beat him. Not just pull down your pants and get the belt across the butt, no." All the color drained out of her face. Pale and shaky, she continued, "no. They tied his hands to the rafters in the barn. Stripped him naked and whipped him." Her hand flew to her mouth as the horror of what she was saying hit her. "I saw them. I did nothing. I was so scared. I was their perfect child. Geoffrey hated me so. He stabbed me with a sword." She waved at the cane and her injured leg. "He was eighteen and very drunk. I had come home for a visit. He was already into some pretty bad stuff but I didn't want to know. I think I knew he'd hurt me deliberately. But I didn't want to believe it. I made sure no one knew it was him. I deserved it." Deep sobs shook her frail frame.
"Another time, he beat me with a cane. He thought I didn't know it was him. But I did. I forgave him. He wasn't responsible. He wasn't. Mother did this to him." Her body shook as though there wasn't much holding it together.
Guy wrapped his arms around her as did Gina, who had also come to comfort her mother.
"Oh, Mom. It wasn't your fault."
There was a loud indrawn breath. "Oh, Gina. My beautiful daughter. You don't know the worst of it." Taking a deep breath, she whispered, "he stole your baby."
Gina reared back as though slapped. Her jaw moved several times but nothing came out.
"What? Why? How long have you known this?" Angry now, Gina stood up glaring down at her mother.
"She just found out. I know this is painful Gina but please hold on until we tell the whole sordid tale." Although she complied Guy wasn't so sure that their relationship, which had been strained for years thanks to her mother's interference in Gina's life, would survive this latest family saga. Gina backed up, her eyes wide as she plopped down onto the couch. Bailey reached out and clasped her hand.
Graham took over at this point. "It seems that Geoff was living a life of debauchery, money laundering, drugs. Whatever was illegal, he was probably involved. At some point he met this brother and sister - John and Mary. She worked as a nurse and got hired on at the hospital where you planned on having your baby."
Gina gasped. Daniel sank wearily into the cushions, as the import of that sunk in.
"She'd been there six months, when you arrived and had Cassidy. She took the baby. It seems it was all planned out." Guy bowed his head for a moment, before straightening and looking at each person in turn. "The next part is a little unclear. We think she had to go into hiding due to the reward that you offered. After five months they figured they were safe, so she took a plane to Vancouver. Only the plane went down in Alberta. Back in those days, if a baby was traveling on an adult's lap, there wasn't a record made of an infant being aboard. So when the plane crashed, all those listed on the manifest were identified as dead. No one realized that a baby was on board or missing. Again not sure how-" he looked at Bailey, "she survived it. But she did. A determined young lady."
Graham winked at Bailey. She pursed her lips in acknowledgement. Guy tried to catch her eye but she refused to make eye contact with him. Something?. had changed. She sat ramrod straight, her fists clenched on her thighs.
"Again pretty sketchy but it seems that a Donna Zajic was leaving her abusive husband on that night. She came across the crash, found the baby and took her with her. Cassidy became Bailey Saunders and lived?"
Bailey's face hardened and she shook her head firmly. "I lived okay. As you can see I turned out alright. It had to have been the good genes I started out with."
Gina and Daniel both broke down. Bailey took on the parent role and held them close. Telling them it was okay, they were together. That she was fine. She'd had a good life.
The pain and agony was so heavy in the room it was like a thick fog, the weight of which was having a devastating effect on his grandmother. She sat slumped in her chair. Kneeling in front of her, Guy took her cold hands in his.
"I love you, Grandma."
Huge tears rolled down her cheeks but she refused to look at him.
CHAPTER FIFTY