Now
that we were back in Seattle it was time to face the reality. Since Teddy and
Phoebe were staying with us we promised Grace and Carrick could visit them. The
car was all packed up and we were ready to leave. I have to face them, and I
need to tell them that I told Elliot. When we drove of our driveway Elliot
turns left and rides towards the highway. Elliot signals as we approach the 520
from the on-ramp towards Bellevue.
I keep staring out the window while the kids
are singing along with Sesame Street and The Muppets. I'm dread by the fact that I
have to face Grace and Carrick because in fact I have betrayed them, or so it
feels. It takes about a half an hour to arrive at the Bellevue and Elliot helps
the kids out of the car and once they are out they start running towards the
front door were Grace and Carrick are already waiting. Once inside Gretchen
pours us coffee and for the kids some lemonade. Then they run off to the
children’s playroom. I sit in the settee
by the fireplace and stare at the flames. Elliot and Carrick walk off to
Carrick’s study, probably to check out the game scores, and Grace comes towards
me. “Kate, is there something wrong? You seem so down.” I take a deep breath
and decide to come clean. “Grace, I told Elliot.” Is all I can manage. I see
Grace’s expression change, but she can’t utter a word. She sits back on the
couch and takes a sip from her coffee. “I’m sorry Grace, but I couldn’t lie to
Elliot anymore.” Tears well up in my eyes. “Kate I asked you specifically not
to tell anyone. You know how close Christian and Elliot are. Elliot is bound to
spill the beans to Christian.” I can sense that Grace is mad at me. “Please,
don’t be mad at me, Grace.” The tears are running freely. “I can’t believe
this, I told you that Carrick and I have it under control. We finally know who
this Mrs. X is. Her real name is Atkins, Debbie Atkins. And Carrick is already
trying to sue her. We were hoping to do this without any reporters and the rest of
the world.” Grace stands up and paces in front of the couch, with her hands
folded. “Look Grace, when we were in the Bahamas a reporter was already following us. But he never came near us. I spotted him twice, once on the beach and once
on the dock when we went to grab dinner on the mainland. Like I said on the
phone then, Christian knows that there is something wrong.” Grace interrupts
before I can go further. “Oh God Kate, please don’t tell me you told Christian
as well.” I hold up my hand. “No I didn’t. And not because I didn’t want to.” Grace
and I are interrupted by Elliot and Carrick who walk back into the living room.
“Mom, it’s not Kate’s fault. I wanted her to tell me. You know it wasn’t right
to tell Kate to keep this to herself. Not in her condition, not now. So I
wanted her to tell me, because I know all this stress isn’t good for her, you
must understand that mom.” Elliot says to his mother. I’ve never seen him
standing up to his mother like this. “Honey, Elliot is right. It was wrong of
us, to ask this of Kate in her situation. You know she can’t use the stress.
It’s okay; we can use this to our advantage.” Carrick wraps his arms around
Grace. After a few minutes Grace turns to me and says, “I am so sorry, Kate. I
am sorry of what I asked of you.” She opens her arms and I am willingly to use
them. I lay my head in her neck and she starts to rub my back.
Once
we get back to our own home it is late and the kids need to go to bed. But before
they do, Elliot promised them they could take a bath, so Elliot is filling up
the bathtub and I am helping Ava and Phoebe undress them. When I turn to Teddy
he says, “I am a big boy, I can do it myself.” It makes me laugh. He reminds me
so much of his dad. He is a real Grey. Elliot is lurking around the corner,
“The bath is filled and ready to go. The soap is high and the kids are playing.
Elliot offers to stay and watch them. I lie down on the bed and close my eyes
and I try to relax for a bit. Before the real nightmare begins of putting the
kids to bed. When I open my eyes again Elliot is peacefully sleeping next to me
and the room is dark. Quickly I run to the bathroom and find it empty. “Teddy?
Phoebe? Ava?” Slowly I feel the panic rise in my body and I run back into our
bedroom and want to walk towards Ava’s bedroom. But the door is locked. In the
distance I hear a woman laughing. “This is what you get when you don’t listen.
They told you to keep it a secret.” Then the devilish laugh comes back. I turn
around and pull the door. It’s still locked and I run to Elliot’s bed side
table and open the drawer for the spare key, but it isn’t there. “Elliot,” I
try to shake him awake. But he doesn’t respond. “For fuck sakes, Elliot wake
up.” The panic grows bigger and bigger and the tears are streaming again. There
is that laugh again, “You are caught in my web. You won’t come out until I say
so.” I try the door again and it’s still locked. I don’t know what I was
thinking. Protectively I wrap my arms around my tummy but my baby bump is gone.
I start to scream. And that laugh sounds again. Suddenly I am in a maze and I
am running. But from what am I running? And to what am I running to? It all looks
the same. I turn around in circles and then I hear a little child crying and I
recognize Ava. “Ava, Ava where are you?” “Mommy. Mommy.” I hear her. “Ava,
mommy is here. Where are you?” I turn around and start running towards the
crying. But instead it sound further away. So I turn around again and I run the
opposite direction. “Ava? Ava?” I keep shouting. But I don’t hear it anymore. I
raise my hands and put them around my mouth and shout again, “Ava?” nobody
answers. I feel my heart racing and then I hear it. “Kate, wake up. Kate baby,
wake up.” It’s Elliot. “Elliot, where are you.” Suddenly I open my eyes and I
am in my bedroom again. Elliot is looking at me and I sit up straight, and feel
my tummy. I take a breath of relieve when I feel my baby bump. “What? Where are
the kids, Elliot?” Disoriented I look around me. “Baby, calm down, they are
already in bed. You fell asleep. It’s four in the morning.” Slowly I realize I
was dreaming. I take a sip of water from the glass I have standing on my
bedside table as always. “I must’ve been dreaming. I was having a nightmare.
Elliot lays back down and ushers me to lie down as well. I rest my head on his
muscular chest. His hand rubs up and down my back and my upper arm. “The kids?”
I ask worried. “Hush baby, they are asleep. When they came out of the bathtub I
brought them to bed when I saw that you fell asleep. You need the rest baby.”
He kisses the top of my head and I close my eyes again. This time I drift off
in a peaceful sleep in Elliot’s arms……………
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