AnotherWorld - View topic - Part 6: "Reclaiming Forever" - The *Fans* Board - Free Message Board Hosting by FreePowerBoards.com

"Reclaiming Forever," Part 6

The next day, Lucas walked into the Cafe Paradise and was instantly struck by how little the place seemed to have changed since he'd been gone. Even TOPS had looked a bit different to him yesterday; Fanny had obviously redecorated. But the Paradise was the same as it was the night six years ago that he had had a diamond ring burning a hole in his pocket and Fanny had chattered nervously on about adopting Jenna if Jenna was willing. He wondered if Rachel's mother Ada Hobson still ran the place, or if she had retired.

Surrounded by the familiar atmosphere, Lucas relaxed as he took a seat at a table and a young waitress approached. He ordered a mushroom omelet, a plate of melon, and coffee. He was just about to take his first sip of coffee when he heard a familiar voice: "Well, fancy meeting you here, Lucas."

Lucas looked up to see Iris Wheeler, resplendent in a pastel pink jacket, shell, and skirt with matching bag, standing by the empty chair at Lucas's table. "Iris," Lucas said cautiously.

Iris gestured to the empty chair. "May I?" she inquired.

"All right," Lucas agreed, still cautious.

Iris seated herself across from Lucas. "Relax, Lucas," she said as she set her bag on the table. "I'm not going to faint, slap you, or tell you off."

"You don't seem surprised to see me," he said, leaning back in his chair.

"I was over at Rachel's when she and the others arrived home from the wedding yesterday," Iris explained. The waitress brought Lucas's plate of melon, and Iris said, "Could I get a cup of coffee, please? Thank you."

"Iris Wheeler being nice to waitresses? When did this happen?" Lucas asked after the waitress left to get Iris's coffee. "Or are you just trying to avoid trouble with Ada?"

A shadow crossed Iris's face. "A lot has changed in the last five years, Lucas. Including me. As for Ada, she passed away four years ago. She left the Paradise to Paulina, and she runs it now," Iris explained.

"I'm sorry," Lucas said. The waitress brought Iris her coffee, and she thanked the woman, added sugar, and took a sip. "It isn't that I don't appreciate you talking to me, Iris, because right now the only people who are talking to me nicely are in France on their honeymoon, but I'm not..." he began, then trailed off, uncertain how to tell Iris that he was not interested in rekindling their romance.

Iris rolled her eyes. "If I didn't know better, I'd swear you've been talking to Jake," she said. "I am here only as a friend, Lucas. I know that you want Felicia back. You've always wanted her. Rachel refused to divulge any juicy details, but I know you came back for her and for your daughters, and not for me. But that doesn't mean that we can't be friends, does it?"

Lucas ran his fingertips and the tip of his thumb around the corners of his mouth, a nervous habit that he hadn't indulged in in years. "What's in it for you?" he asked.

"Given our history, I'll overlook your cynicism," Iris replied, replacing her coffee cup on its saucer. "But I'm not the same woman you knew back then, Lucas." At Lucas's intense look, Iris said, "Oh, all right, yes, there's something in it for me. But it's not what you might think." Iris met Lucas's gaze and the look in her own eyes became just as intense. "You have the chance I never got, and I want it to work out for you. The greatest regret of my life is that my father died before I could truly make it up to him for being 'the Chief,'" she continued, referring to her attempted anonymous takeover of Cory Publishing the year before Mac's sudden, unexpected death from a heart attack; it was Iris's misguided way of trying to prove to Mac that he needed her in his life after their long estrangement, but only after Mac's death did Iris realize that Mac had always wanted and needed her in his life, and she didn't need to save the day for her father to make him feel that way. "Felicia may be angry now, but she still loves you, Lucas, I know she does. You have the chance I never had. You have the opportunity to make up for the betrayal, the lies, the unspeakable pain you've caused her all these years...and Jenna and Lorna as well."

"I think you missed your calling, Iris. With a pep talk like that, you should have gone into coaching sports teams," Lucas remarked dryly.

"Do you want my help or not?" Iris asked archly, reaching for her coffee cup again. "You said yourself that your only current allies are in France on their honeymoon. They'll be gone, what, one week? Two? You've never been a man who lets grass grow under his feet, Lucas."

"Don't tell me you and Fanny have become best friends in the last five years?" Lucas asked, shocked.

"Yes, Lucas, Felicia and I are bosom buddies now. We regularly have lunch together and go on shopping sprees, and we include Donna Hudson in them as well," Iris said.

"Seriously?" Lucas asked.

"Of course not," Iris said, disgusted. "And that will never happen, not even if the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were to come galloping through Bay City tomorrow!"

"Well, at least that much hasn't changed," Lucas said, cracking a brief smile. "I could use a friend, Iris. But I will NOT use you to make Fanny jealous."

"And I don't think that would help any of us now," Iris replied. "Although it would be fun to get Felicia all riled up...."

"Iris," Lucas said warningly.

Iris just smiled at him devilishly in reply.

"I hope I don't regret this," Lucas murmured as the waitress set his mushroom omelet and his melon before him.
**************************************************************************************************** ********************************************

Frankie answered the doorbell's ring to reveal Dean, with little Lucas clinging to his back, having been given a piggyback ride from the car to the Winthrops' front door, with Jenna standing beside them. "Come on in," she greeted her cousin and his family. "Felicia's not here yet, but everyone else is." Frankie closed the door behind Dean, little Lucas, and Jenna. Cass was sitting on the window seat, holding Wally aloft and making funny faces at him. Charlie sat beside her father, also making funny faces at her baby brother. Rachel and Gary were seated in chairs, talking quietly. Dean knelt down and little Lucas scrambled off his father's back.

"Are the kids staying in the room when Mom gets here?" Jenna asked Frankie quietly.

"I wanna see Grammy!" little Lucas piped up.

Cass looked to Frankie, Dean and Jenna. "All I know is that Felicia won't yell at me in front of her godchildren," he said.

"Smart thinking," Dean said. But then, looking at his own son, he said, "But I don't know..."

The doorbell rang then. "That must be Felicia," Rachel said, rising from her seat. "Cass, Frankie, would you like me to get the door?"

"If you wouldn't mind, Rachel, thanks," Cass replied. Rachel nodded and headed to the door. Gary also stood up, but remained near his chair.

Felicia entered Cass and Frankie's house. "Grammy!" Lucas exclaimed, running to his beloved grandmother.

Felicia bent to scoop up her grandson and deposit him on her hip. "There's my favorite guy!" she said, giving him a genuine smile and kissing the top of his head. She had worked out a lot of her frustration and exasperation during her marathon writing session. She was still plenty angry at Luke, and she would definitely have to have a talk with Lorna when Lorna and Joe got home from their honeymoon, but her talk with Paulina the night before had helped her immensely as well. She would just tell everyone that while she knew they meant well, she wasn't looking for the first opportunity to swan dive into a bottle of vodka. She already knew all too well what would happen if she did that, and it wasn't even something that crossed her mind. After accepting Lucas's fierce little-boy hug around her neck and returning it, she continued to hold onto him as she walked across the room and closer to the window seat, where Cass sat now holding Wally on his lap, with Charlie sitting on one side of them and Frankie on the other. Dean and Jenna stood off to Frankie's side, Gary behind them, and Rachel followed Felicia and little Lucas over to the windowseat. "Well, all of you had quite a busy night last night," Felicia began, sweeping her gaze over all the adults in the room. "Some more than others."

"Overkill," Frankie muttered to Cass.

Cass inclined his head in Dean and Jenna's direction. "They beat us by three calls," he reminded her.

"Actually, Rachel beat you by two," Felicia said. "I believe the final tally was ten messages from Jenna and Dean, nine from Rachel, seven from Cass and Frankie, five from Gary, and even one from Lorna, although that was a 'don't be mad at me for setting you and Daddy up to run into each other at my apartment' message instead of a 'don't do what everyone else is afraid you're going to do' message."

"Lorna called you?" Jenna asked, surprised.

"On her wedding night?" Dean asked incredulously.

"Ouch. I doubt the Captain appreciated that too much," Gary said.

"What guy would?" Cass asked.

All of the women in the room except for Charlie fixed all of the males except Wally and little Lucas with "Shut up now, you insensitive pig" looks.

"Actually, she called me from O'Hare before they changed planes to go to Paris," Felicia said. "But that's not why I'm here."

"Honey, in our defense, we only called so much because we were worried about you," Cass said.

"Mom," Jenna said, "Dean and I weren't trying to be annoying. None of us were. It's just that we all...well, except for Gary, because he wasn't here when it happened..." She trailed off. She was still having a hard time with what she perceived as Lucas's abandonment of her, Felicia, and Lorna. Dean wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders and gently pulled her against his side.

"I think what Jenna is trying to say," Rachel spoke up, "is that we all know what happened when Lucas d--when he went away, and none of us want to see you go through that again."

"Rachel is right," Frankie added.

"You're our family, Felicia. We're just tryin' to look out for you, that's all," Dean said.

"The temptation is always there," Gary said. "That's why we take it one day at a time."

"I understand and appreciate your concern," Felicia told them. "Truly, I do. But it never even crossed my mind, I swear to you. And if it ever does, I will pick up a phone instead of a bottle. I have way too much to lose now. I have even more than I had back then," she said, her gaze going to Wally and Charlie, her precious godchildren, and then meeting the solemn brown-eyed gaze of her beloved grandson, who didn't understand what the grown-ups were talking about but who knew that it was something serious, and that whatever it was had Mommy very upset. Little Lucas was a bright, precocious child, and he knew that it was better not to mention Gampa Luke in front of Mommy and Daddy, because it would just make Mommy cry and Daddy look like he didn't know what to do, so he had decided that he would only talk to Uncle Cass and Aunt Frankie, and Auntie Lorna and Uncle Joe, about Gampa Luke for now. "I'm not going to do anything that puts any of this, that puts my relationships with any of you, at that kind of risk again."

Jenna broke away from Dean's side and went to her mother. Little Lucas, already sensing that his mommy needed a hug from Grammy, scrambled out of Felicia's arms and went to stand with his daddy. Jenna hugged Felicia tightly. "I'm so glad you're okay, Mom," she said, her voice muffled.

Felicia looked at Dean over Jenna's shoulder. Dean bit his lower lip and sort of shrugged at Felicia in reply, which made her realize that Dean didn't know how to help Jenna deal with this.

"We're family," Felicia reminded her. "And family sticks together, no matter what, right?" She drew back and cupped Jenna's chin in her hand. Jenna's eyes were filled with tears.

"Right," Jenna said.

"We'll find our way through this, I promise," Felicia said. "I don't know how yet, but we will." Cass, Frankie, Rachel, and Gary exchanged looks of relief all around. Dean, one hand on little Lucas's shoulder, watched his wife and mother-in-law and relaxed for the first time since he had laid eyes on the elder Lucas the day before. He was just as much a part of this family as Jenna and Lorna and Felicia. They had survived terrible, tragic, painful, confusing situations before, and they would again...somehow, even if, as Felicia said, they didn't know how just yet.

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

"She's beautiful, Iris," Lucas said.

Iris had her wallet out and was showing Lucas pictures of her son Dennis and his daughter, her granddaughter Sarah. "She gets her blonde hair from me," Iris said proudly, "but those eyes are Dennis's eyes. She's going to be five years old next month. She starts kindergarten this fall. I can hardly believe it. They grow up so fast. You'll be finding out about that soon, though, won't you?" Then Iris's smile faded. "Oh, Lucas, I'm sorry!" she exclaimed. "Did you even know that--?"

"I have a grandson, yes," Lucas said. "I met him very briefly yesterday. Dean and Jenna named him after me."

"Yes, they did," Iris said.

"He was happy to see me," Lucas replied. "So I guess that makes three people I have in my corner. But I have the very strong feeling that Jenna and Dean aren't going to let me anywhere near him until and unless they forgive me."

Iris squeezed Lucas's forearm in a gesture of comfort. "Dennis and I went years without talking," she said. "I never dreamed that I would be so much a part of his life that I would be actively involved in helping to raise my granddaughter. It was more than I ever hoped for, and probably more than I deserve. But if Dennis can forgive me, and he did, then I know Jenna can forgive you, Lucas. She just needs some time."

Lucas was about to answer Iris when Carl Hutchins walked into the Paradise, casually dressed in a tan linen jacket and trousers with a white banded-collar shirt, his flowing mane of gray hair pulled back into a neat ponytail, his hands tucked in his trouser pockets. He stopped to chat with a waitress. Iris followed Lucas's gaze as Lucas shot out of his chair so fast he knocked it over. "Lucas, wait!" Iris called, but Lucas ignored her and went charging over to Carl.

Carl was surprised when he felt two hands grab him and spin him around. "YOU!" Lucas exclaimed. "Why aren't you locked up in a jail cell somewhere?"

"Lucas," Carl said. "I heard that you were back in town. I should have known that someone like you could fake his own demise, although the Witness Protection Program is a rather trite way of doing it." Lucas's face darkened, and Carl's smile grew wider. "Would you mind removing your hands from my jacket? Linen wrinkles so easily, especially in this humidity."

"I asked you a question," Lucas said through clenched teeth. "Why aren't you in prison?"

Iris rushed up to them then. "Lucas--" she began.

"Not now, Iris," Lucas said tersely.

Carl pried Lucas's hands from the lapels of Carl's jacket and smoothed the fabric down. "Ah, but fate is a strange thing, isn't it, Lucas? For so very many years, I was on the outside looking in, despised by all, and now I have the most incredible son in the world, and a wife whose inner beauty rivals her outer beauty...while you are the despised one with your nose pressed up against the glass, staring at what you want most, what cannot be given to you, at least not yet."

"Carl," Iris said, figuring she would have an easier time appealing to Carl than to Lucas at this point.

"You have a wife and a son?" Lucas asked. "Yeah, right."

Carl held up his left hand to show off his wedding band. "As cliched as it is, I have truly reformed, Lucas, I swear it. The love of a good woman does indeed make all the difference in a man's life. And when you become a parent, you want your children to be proud to call you their father. You remember what that was like, don't you? Only a few short years ago, you and Felicia (Carl pronounced her name "Fel-lee-sea-uh" as he always had) were happily married, you had the lovely Jenna to make you proud, and then you learned that Lorna was your long-lost daughter."

When Carl mentioned Lorna's name, Lucas lost the last thread of control keeping his temper at bay. "You aren't fit to speak any of their names," he rasped, his face turning bright red with anger as he lunged at Carl and threw him up against the nearest wall, his hands clutching Carl's shirt front in a white-knuckled grasp. He heard Iris shouting both his name and Carl's but didn't bother to acknowledge her. "And whatever kind of sick past you had with Lorna, you stay the hell away from her now, or I'll make you wish you were in prison, because you won't like the alternative!"

"Lucas, let him go!"

"Carl? Lucas? Iris, what's going on here?"

"Whoa. I'm glad the boys wanted to go to the park with Bridget instead of come here with us."

Ryan Harrison, the one who had ordered Lucas to let Carl go, stepped forward then and pulled Lucas off of Carl. Lucas made a move to try and break free of Ryan's grip, but Ryan held him firmly in place. "Enough!" Ryan shouted. Then he looked to Carl. "Dad, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Ryan, really," Carl said. "Just catching up with Lucas here."

"You're Carl Hutchins' son?" Lucas asked, looking at Ryan in disbelief.

"Yes, I am," Ryan replied, and Carl beamed at the pride in Ryan's voice, at how far they had come since learning they were father and son.

Lucas was thunderstruck. "But you're the police commissioner, and he's a master criminal!" he exclaimed.

"Youthful indiscretions," Carl said, waving a hand dismissively. "Besides, you're not exactly in a position to cast stones, Lucas."

"I'm warning you--" Lucas began, trying to lunge at Carl again, but Ryan once again stopped him.

"Carl, stop baiting Lucas," Rachel Cory Hutchins said sternly. She had been the one to ask what was going on, and Vicky had been the one to remark with no small relief that she was glad Steven and Kirk had gone to the park with Bridget instead of coming to the Paradise for brunch with their Grandma Rachel and Grandpa Carl.

Carl sighed good-naturedly. "Yes, my dear," he said.

Lucas's eyes bulged with so much surprise that they nearly popped out of his head. "No," he said. "Oh no. You didn't. Rachel, you couldn't have! He tried to kill you! More than once! He made you lose your eyesight temporarily! He hired someone to try and kill you on the set of Felicia's talk show!"

"Love changes everything," Rachel said. "I know that you know that, Lucas."

Lucas shook off Ryan's grip, then took a step back and looked from Carl to Rachel to Ryan. "You married HIM?" Lucas asked Rachel. And when he looked to Ryan, he asked, "You're HIS son?"

"And he's given me a grandson," Carl added proudly. "Two, really. I do consider Steven just as much my grandson as Kirk, since I'm married to Steven's grandmother, as Ryan is married to Steven's mother. Grandchildren are the joy of a man's life. You have a grandchild, too, Lucas. A namesake grandson."

Lucas made another attempted lunge at Carl, and Ryan caught him again. "You stay away from my family!" Lucas ordered Carl. "You are destructive and evil!"

"I WAS destructive and evil," Carl said. "Past tense. Now I am simply a law-abiding, upstanding citizen and a loving husband, father, and grandfather."

"And I'm Benjamin Franklin," Lucas said sarcastically. "If you so much as breathe in the direction of any member of my family, Hutchins, so help me--"

"Okay, that's enough," Ryan said, staring Lucas down. "Lucas, I know that we don't know your whole story yet, but a lot has happened in the last five years. And I'm warning you right now to stop threatening and trying to attack my dad, because if you keep it up, I'll have to arrest you, and I think we can all agree that's the last thing you need right now."

"I know this is all a big shock to you, Lucas," Vicky said, finally addressing Lucas directly for the first time. "But it really does all make sense in its own way."

Lucas just shook his head. "Lucas, let's go back to our table," Iris said.

"I mean it, Carl. You stay away from my family or else!" Lucas said as Iris began propelling him back to their table.

Ryan, Vicky, Rachel and Carl went to their usual booth. Back at their table, Iris said, "I should have told you. About Rachel and Carl."

"You let Rachel marry him?" Lucas asked.

Iris laughed. "Rachel and I do get along much better now, but never once since we've known each other has Rachel said or done anything because I asked, suggested, or ordered her to. There was no stopping her and Carl. We weren't exactly doing handstands over the prospect at first, except for Ryan and Paulina, but I think that's because Ryan and Paulina didn't know Daddy. Ryan just knew that his father was happy, and Paulina just knew that Rachel was happy, and their parents' happiness was all that mattered to them. It wasn't that the rest of us didn't want Rachel to be happy, because we did. We do. But it was more difficult for Jamie, Matthew and even for me. At least we all showed up for the wedding, though. Jamie and Matthew both walked Rachel down the aisle and gave her away, Paulina was the maid of honor, and Ryan was the best man. Amanda didn't even bother to come home, but then we don't see much of her anymore. Anyway, Rachel and Carl have been married for three years, and as hard as it is for you to believe, Lucas, Carl really has changed. I think it was because he wanted Ryan to be proud of him. He and Rachel didn't expect to fall in love, but when they did, they took the next logical step."

Lucas just shook his head. Iris again squeezed his forearm in a gesture of comfort.

Paulina watched Iris and Lucas with a frown. She had arrived at the Paradise just a couple of minutes after the brawl that had been brewing between Lucas and Carl was broken up. After greeting Rachel, Carl, Ryan, and Vicky, she had noticed Iris and Lucas sharing a table, and Iris with her hand on Lucas's forearm, leaning in close to talk to him. "Oh no you don't, Iris," she murmured. "You're not going to mess things up for Felicia and Lucas. I'm not gonna let that happen." She continued to watch her sister and Lucas, frowning all the while.

TO BE CONTINUED
_________________

Made by Dean_FrankieCass_addict