MARTYWRITES.COM Presents "THE SEVENTH ROSE" a GH Fan Fiction "The Seventh Rose"

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN




Felicia watched Jillian play with Maxie and Georgie, then turned back to Jamie Jacks who was doing his best to appear comfortable. He was as handsome as Peter Harrell, she decided-the same sky blue eyes and shaggy blond hair, the same tanned body, tall and everything a woman could want as far as his physical build. He was, she suddenly knew, the man she'd fallen in love with once upon a time, the man who had betrayed her with his lust for gold. Aztec gold.

Had he ever loved her? she wondered. Odd, but she'd never examined her feelings for him since she and Frisco had fallen in love. They'd shared an overwhelming passion-not unlike, she mused, what many women feel for the wrong man. They responded to danger, to intrigue, to excitement, and then, when routine settled in, Frisco had vanished, ever seeking the thrills that the elusive mistress 'Danger' promised. Oh, he'd called it 'Duty', but the end result was the same.

She studied Peter who watched Jillian with deep affection-not simple 'Duty'. No matter what he said, she could see it in his eyes. And, she noted, she saw an odd sort of longing, a wistfulness that had been absent when she'd known him. She walked over to him, and said, "We need to talk."

"About what?" Jamie asked, doing his best to act as if he'd never met her.

"About us. About who you were before and why you lied to me." She smiled. "Jamie, or whoever you really are..."

Jamie looked down at her, and felt something that he hadn't felt for years, something that he'd thought lost to him forever. He smiled. "It's been a long time, Felicia. And a lot has happened. Some good, and some bad. But, I want you to know-my feelings were real. I never lied about that."

Felicia met his eyes, and felt a sudden heat flare up within. Jamie?


Tim Spencer glared at Lucy Coe-Collins. "You can just put a sock in it, sister!! I haven't taken any **** off a woman for over forty years, and I'm not starting now. If you want to cuss me for leaving my kids-go ahead, but I did it with a clear conscience."

"A clear conscience? Tim Spencer and Conscience in the same breath? Hah!!"

"Hah!?"

"Hah!"

"Humbug! So why are you here? You came in babbling about marshmallows and chocolate roses, and weird stuff like that and you have the nerve to give me down the river about something that happened years ago? I don't know where you get off yelling at me about something that I had nothing to do with. Now, take your silky little behind and sashay back out of here. I've got work to do."

"I need your help." Lucy was desperate, and if her visions had brought her to this Luke Lookalike, then that who she'd have to use. She had to find Kevin somehow. She couldn't chance him running into danger.

"Lady, you need help, that much we agree on." He puffed his cigar and got back to work. "Tim-Mr. Spencer-You're right. I do have a problem-and your son would help me if he could, but he can't just now, so I was wondering if you could help. I mean, a man with the hottest casino in Monte Carlo probably has connections-and he could use those connections to help his son's best friend. That is, his best friend that isn't his wife."

"He's married?"

"Has been for years. Happily."

"Then why don't you call his wife?" He eyed her craftily. "Maybe you don't want to call his wife? Hmmmmm. I'm beginning to see things a little more clearly. You're his little side dish, aren't you?"

Lucy straightened up quickly, and indignantly exclaimed, "I'm nobody's side dish, you nasty minded old...that is, you have the wrong impression. Luke and I are just good friends."

"I've used that line myself a time or two," Tim admitted cheerfully. "Didn't work then, either."

"Look, I've saved Luke's life-you owe me for that."

"What for? Do you really think that Luke would expect me to settle his debts? Especially one that would probably involve bodily harm to me?"

"He'd probably encourage it," Lucy told him. "Besides, your grandsons, that is, grandson-oh, hell, it's a mess, but there are two teenaged boys out there who also need your help."

"Just two?" Tim paused and considered that. "I'm disappointed in the lad."

"Whatever for?" Lucy gave him a disgusted look. "Don't tell me that you're the sort of man who measures his masculinity by the number of kids he's fathered. After all, you only had two."

Tim smiled at that. He considered his actions carefully, then said, "You're speaking of Luke and Bobbie?"

"Who else would I be speaking about?" Lucy stared at him, and then, gasped. "There are others?"

"Only one left alive," Tim admitted. "And she's Hell's own vixen, though she comes by it naturally. Damn if her mother didn't all but kill me."

Lucy watched as memories washed over the elderly man, his eyes sparkling with memories.

"You say that I've got grandchildren? Tell me about them and maybe I'll help."

"You don't know? They've been in the paper a lot in the last few months."

"Don't read the papers. Bad news all the time."

"And on television."

"More bad news. I just rent girly movies." He grinned broadly and puffed his cigar. "A man's gotta have one or two vices."

Lucy shook her head. "You probably have more than your share. Okay, Luke has a two children-well, three, if you count Lucky Spencer."

"Explain. I don't like loose connections."

"Fine. Luke and Laura were married, but she got kidnapped by a strange Greek family-wealthy and powerful, and nutty as fruitcakes."

"Go on."

"Anyway, she was gone for a couple of years-Luke thought she was dead, she thought he was dead, and she had a child while she was there-Nik-whom she passed off as Stefan's son-Stefan was her brother-in-law. Nik was really Luke's. She escaped but was pregnant with Stefan's son-which she passed off as Luke's baby. Then, she had Lulu-two years or so ago, and when Lulu became ill, she needed help-and got it from Nik, who came back into their lives."

"Sounds messy."

"It was. But, everything worked out except that Luke has been off sulking somewhere in Switzerland and we thought that the boys were with him. Kevin disappeared after painting weird stuff in the middle of the night on our honeymoon and I thought that Luke could help me find him if I could find Luke. I ate chocolates to help me with psychic visions and that led me to you."

Tim looked utterly bewildered. "You lost me there, pretty lady. What sort of daughter-in-law do I have that shacks up with these Greek guys?"

"It wasn't as if she had a choice," Lucy admitted. "The Cassadines are..."

"Cassadines? Wealthy Greeks? Holy sh**!! Don't tell me that my son is playing footsie with anybody related to Mikkos and Helena Cassadine."

"You know them?"

Tim sat back weakly in his chair. "Do I know them? Do bears ...er...do ducks poop in the pond?"

"Then you'll help?"

"Looks like I've got to help. I left Luke years ago to save him from that bi*** woman-cut myself off completely from my kids to save them. Maybe it's time that I settled accounts with that old biddy. Permanently."

"She's in an institution," Lucy told him. "She cracked up a few months ago and has been hospitalized ever since."


Julian watched as the elderly woman walked up to his abode in the States. She was very spry for a woman of her age-indeed, nobody would guess that she was as old as she was. But then, nobody was supposed to know, either.

He motioned his servant to open the door, allowing her entrance. "Helena. So good of you to come."

Helena Cassadine smiled. "So good of you to arrange my exit from that so-tiresome hospital." She cast off her coat and asked, "Now, Julian, how may I return the favor?"