Haunted Nights, Chapter 22
by SIPort

Eve opened the door to her house, yelling.

“ TC! Whitney! Are you here?”

TC comes out of the kitchen. “ Hey, Baby. Dinner will be finished in around 10 minutes.” TC saw that Eve was crying.

“ Baby, why are you crying?”

Eve goes over to the stairs. “ Whitney? Are you here? Come on down!”

Eve tapped her foot impatiently as Whitney came down the stairs.

“ Mom, what’s going on?”

Eve took both their hands and pulled them to the couch where they all said down.

“ Mom..”

“ Baby..”

Eve opened up the box, and pulled out the sweaters for both of them. They looked at her confused until she said,” They’re from SIMONE!”

TC stared at his sweater, and when he looked back at Eve, he had tears in his eyes. “ Sugarbear?”

Eve nodded, and pulled out the note. TC grabbed it like it was gold and read it over and over. “ You think she’s ok?”

“ I think so. I hope so. TC, she sent this to us! She’s been thinking about us.” Eve took Whitney’s hand. “ ALL of us. She’s going to come home. I know it.”

Eve pulled Whitney into a hug. “ She still loves you, Whitney.”

The bell on the oven went off, and TC stood up, putting on his sweater. “ Dinner will be up in five.”

Whitney and Eve made their way towards the dining room, and had the most hopeful dinner in the Russell house since Simone left.

Kay was poured over her books in her office when she heard a knock on the door. She looked up.

“ Fox.”

“ I thought you’d be here.”

“ I have another test tomorrow.”

“ I know. But, you have to eat.”

“ No. I have to study. Plus, I can get some junk from the vending machines.”
Fox took Kay’s hand. “ That might have been good enough for you, but now, there’s someone else, and she deserves better nourishment than Twinkies. A quick healthy meal, and back here.”

“ I’m not going to get rid of you, am I?”

“ Absolutely not.”

“ Ok.”

Fox and Kay wound up on the wharf at a new bistro. Everything was vegetarian.

“ I didn’t know you were a vegetarian, Fox?”

“ I’m not, but the food here is good, healthy, but filling. Mind if I order for the two of us?” Kay shrugged her shoulders, and when the waitress arrived, Fox placed the order. After she left, “ Now, they’ll be enough for you to take back to the office and nibble on while you’re studying.”

“ Thanks.”

They sat there, drinking the smoothies Fox ordered for them. There was a silence between them that Fox broke.

“ So, why don’t you tell me about Kay Bennett?”

“ Tell you. What’s there to tell? Born in Harmony, live in Harmony, will probably die in Harmony. Simple girl.”

Fox laughed. “ You gotta be kidding me.”

“ What?”

“ You are anything but simple. “

“ I dunno about that.”

“ I do. You want to know what I see?”

“ Sure. Why not.”

“ I see a smart, beautiful woman who hasn’t been told either enough, which is why she thinks her limits are this small, insignificant town. Which isn’t true, because your limits are the world. “

Kay stared at Fox. “ What’s your angle?”

“ Angle?”

“ Why would you say something like that to me?”

“ Maybe, because it’s true. Kay, you are so above this town, you don’t even know.”

“ No. That isn’t true. I am this town. Because, Miguel and I are going to raise our family here.”

“ The same Miguel who’s missed your last THREE doctor’s appointments?”

“ Miguel was just absentminded.”

“ I bet he doesn’t forget that drip girlfriend of his, does he?”

“ Shut up.”

“ Why should I? Do you have any friends in this town?”

“ Shut up!”

“ I am your friend, Kay. I look at you, and you know what I see.”

“ A pathetic woman.”

“ No. Not at all. Kay, he’s not good enough for you. And, I don’t care if you fell for him when you were in diapers, and if the entire town sings his praises about him being such a swell guy. From where I sit, he’s an *******. Of the highest order. I don’t give a **** if he didn’t MEAN to get you pregnant. He did, and look how he’s handling the situation. LOUSILY, if you ask me.”

“ Well, I didn’t ask you! I don’t need any comments on my relationship with Miguel!”

“ Girl, you don’t HAVE a relationship from Miguel. I’m not one of the locals. I don’t worship at the Altar of the Lopez-Fitzgeralds as the salt of the earth of Harmony. I look at this objectively, and objectively, he’s jerking you around.”

“ Miguel wouldn’t do something like that! You don’t know him!”

Fox sighed hard. Kay was brilliant, but dumb as a post. She’d only learn about Miguel the hard way. He was saved by the waitress who brought their food. They ate their meal in silence, and then Fox took Kay and the leftovers back to Crane Industries, where she would study for most of the night.

Julian had just gotten Little Ethan back from Theresa. He loved the evenings with his son. He had bathed him, dressed him, and read him a couple of stories. He was out like a light.

Julian went into the Library, and put on the tape of Eve. As he sat on the couch, eyes closed, breathing in her singing., when his phone rang.

“ Julian Crane.”

“ Julian?”

“ Eve. Is there something wrong?”

“ No…….I got a present from Simone.”

“ You did? That’s terrific.”

“ Yes. It is.”

“ Is she coming home?”

“ Not right now….Julian…..did you ignore my request about Simone? Do you know where she is?”

“ Yes, Darling, I know where she is.”

“ Is she safe?”

“ I believe so. Do you want to know?”

There was a long pause on Eve’s end. “ No. If I handle this wrong, Simone might never come home. So, I’ll let her do this at her own pace. As long as she’s safe.”

“ She is.”

“ Thank you, Julian.”

“ Anytime, Darling.”