STOLEN CHANCES - PART SEVEN

PREVIOUSLY

Tea looks at Todd as if to say that she's staying, but Todd tells her it's best that she leaves right now. He holds her in his arms for a moment, and gently kisses her before she leaves. Her love is his strength. He is going to need that strength for the fight he's facing.

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Todd stands there for a moment and watches as Viki leads Tea out of the Palace. She doesn't need this, he thinks to himself. We've just got our lives back on track . . . and now this. Then he turns around and looks at Michelle. There was so much he'd always wanted to say to her, the woman who stole his heart and left it broken. But now that she was right there in front of him, he couldn't find any words. All he could do was remember. Years of memories flooded his mind. He remembered the adorable little three-year-old girl he ate sand with. He remembered the eight-year-old tomboy he climbed trees with. He remembered the twelve-year-old budding beauty he shared his first kiss with. Most of all, he remembered the young woman he shared first love with. All these memories softened his heart towards her a little. Anger was no longer his dominant emotion. He just wanted to understand why she left him. But this time, Michelle is the first to speak.

"So, you have nothing to say to me after all these years?", she asks him, with an angry tone still in her voice.
This confused Todd. Why did she sound upset with him, he wondered to himself. Then he started to get angry again, realizing that she somehow blamed him for their separation.
"Me? Why should I have something to say to you? I think you owe me an explanation," he barks at her.
"You did get an explanation!", she yells at him. "And I've been waiting 10 years for a reply."
"What kind of reply did you expect? Michelle, you left me. You left me alone with only our dead hopes and dreams to haunt me. All I knew were those hopes and those dreams. I didn't even know you were gone until your father said . . . "
"Wait a minute. My father told you something? What did he say? You didn't get my letter?" Michelle's face suddenly drops as doubt and confusion starts to enter her mind.
"I didn't get any letter Michelle. On the day we were supposed to leave for Llanview, I went to get you, but you weren't home. Your father told me you were gone to live the kind of life I couldn't give you. He said you realized that you would be better off without me."
Michelle is once again shocked to silence. She collapses onto the nearest chair and looks up at Todd. She just stares at him while she attempts to process his version of history. If what he's saying is true, then he really didn't owe her any explanation. He really would have a right to be angry with her. And he really would have the right to hate her because in his eyes, she had betrayed him. She begins to cry uncontrollably at this new revelation. Todd never got her letter. He never knew the real reason why she left.
"Michelle, are you all right?". Todd tries to comfort her, but she pulls away, ashamed of the mess her father has made of their lives. "Michelle, what letter were you talking about? I never got any letter from you."
But Michelle could no longer bear the guilt she felt. She sobbed a hasty apology to Todd and ran to her room, leaving Todd with more questions than before.
Todd stood alone on the terrace, absorbing the shock. A chapter of his life that he thought was closed had been forced open by the reappearance of his first love. Her betrayal turned him into the monster the citizens of Llanview have come to hate. However, based on Michelle's recent actions, Todd is starting to believe that there may be more to her betrayal than he knows about.
"She left me alone just like this 10 years ago - hurt, clueless and confused. But not tonight. I won't let her do that to me again. I have to find her," Todd said to himself before running back inside toward the hotel, chasing the answers to the questions that had gone unanswered for far too long.
Michelle ran all the way to her room, every step carrying her farther and farther away from Todd. But distance didn't stop her agony. She had learned that years ago. Hating him is the only thing that eased her pain. However, no matter how far she tried to run from Todd, she knew it was only a matter of time before he came looking for her. And looking for some answers. She decided it was time they both quit running and faced the past together.

Just as she was gathering some strength to confront Todd again, she heard a knock at the door. She went to open it, only to find herself standing face to face with him.
"How did you find me? Never mind. It's not important. Please. Come in," she says to him.
"We have a lot to talk about, Michelle. I get the feeling there's a lot more going on than you're telling me."
"There is, Todd. There's a lot more going on than either of us could ever imagine." They sit down and Michelle begins to cry again.
"I'm sorry," she says. "I can't help it. Todd, I never knew that I hurt you so much. You have to believe that I would never leave you without a word. You have to know that I would never trust my father to give you a message like that. Todd, I loved you."
"Well I loved you too. That's why it hurt so much. If you didn't leave me like I thought you did, then what happened? What exactly was in this letter I never received?"
"Todd, it was my father. He made me leave. He wouldn't even let me tell you where I was going. He threatened to take away . . . something I loved dearly, something I couldn't bear to part with. But, I took the risk anyway. I sent you a letter to tell you where I was and why I left. I waited years for you to find me. Then I just figured you didn't want to find me, that you didn't want to take responsibility for . . ." Michelle's voice trails off. She looks down to hide the tears welling up in her eyes again.
"Michelle, I never got the letter," Todd softly says with his hand lightly on her chin, lifting her face up to look into her teary eyes. "Hey, don't cry. I understand what happened now. We were just pawns in your father's game. But look, the joke's on him. We found each other again."
Michelle backs away. "Todd, we can't go back to the way we used to be. Too much has happened. Too much time has gone by."
"But we can go back, Michelle. We have to. But not back to that romantic stuff. I'm talking about the friendship. You were my best friend. I missed you," he says, grabbing her for a warm hug.
They stay locked in the embrace for a moment, getting familiar with each other's touch again. But Michelle couldn't enjoy the reconciliation for very long. A nagging guilt still ate away at her heart. Todd's only heard half the story. What she still had to tell him could blow their newly rekindled friendship right out of the water.
"Todd," she says as she pulls away from his arms. "This whole thing has been a big misunderstanding caused by my father trying to run my life. But I thought you hurt me. And I wanted to hurt you back. The only way to do that was to keep something from you."
"What are you trying to tell me, Michelle?"
"I'm trying to tell you the rest of the story. The missing pieces to make you understand how my father could make me do what I did. You see, there was something I never got to tell you. Before we were supposed to leave Chicago, I had a doctor's appointment. The doctor gave me some interesting news, Todd. He told me I was . . . "
Michelle's sentence was interrupted by the startling sound of the bedroom door opening. Todd didn't know anyone else was staying at her suite with her. Maybe she has a husband or something, he thinks to himself. But a man doesn't emerge from the room. A small child does.
"Mommy, are you okay? I thought I heard you crying," says the little boy. He looks curiously at the strange man standing in his mother's hotel room. After checking Todd out to make sure he wasn't a threat to his mom, the little boy offers his hand to Todd to shake. "Hi, my name is Ryan. Are you a friend of my mom's?"

Todd just nods his head, unable to speak. He stared unbelievably at Michelle's son. He was a handsome kid about 9 or 10 years old. He saw a lot of Michelle in the boy. But Todd wasn't prepared for what else he saw when he looked at Ryan. He looked into the little boy's eyes - and saw his own.

TO BE CONTINUED