Chapter 623
SALEM BAY APARTMENTS
KINSEY: So, that’s it, then?
Kinsey was sitting down with Mrs. Wilson, the landlady of Salem Bay Apartments.
WILSON: Almost. Just a few more ground rules. No excessive noise after 10 p.m. Some is fine, but if there are complaints from other tenants, action will be taken. No pets, except for fish. The pools, both indoor and outdoor, as well as the fitness room are open daily from six in the morning until midnight. The common area is open to anybody at any time. All I ask is that you keep it clean. I’m your landlady, not your housekeeper. Rent will be collected the last Friday of every month, except for holidays, where it will be on the nearest weekday after it. Any questions?
KINSEY: Nope. The tour was great. The space looks good for just me, and the occasional friend. And that is a sweet looking pool! The only question is, where do I sign?
Mrs. Wilson handed some papers to Kinsey.
WILSON: This contains everything that we discussed now and during the tour. Please sign, initial and date at the bottom.
KINSEY: You got it.
Kinse wrote down her name, initials and the date.
WILSON: Very good. Makinsey Taylor, welcome to Salem Bay Apartments.
KINSEY: You can just call me Kinsey. And thanks.
Kinsey handed the papers to Mrs. Wilson and they shook hands.
SALEM UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL
A short time later, Aiden and Doug had joined Craig and Addie in Hope’s room.
CRAIG: Thank you for coming so quickly.
AIDEN: Of course.
DOUG: You said it was urgent. What have you found out about Hope’s condition now?
Craig pulled up Hope’s chart on his laptop.
CRAIG: This is the scan I showed you two and Julie the other day.
AIDEN: Looks familiar.
CRAIG: I’ve been running daily scans to see if Hope’s brain activity increases, or if there’s any change at all between her’s and Gina’s brainwaves. Now this is the scan from this morning.
Aiden and Doug looked at the graph.
DOUG: That one’s Hope’s, right?
CRAIG: Yes. As you can see, Hope’s brainwaves are getting stronger, while Gina’s are getting weaker. I was right that Hope is fighting back. I just didn’t know how long it would take.
AIDEN: Well, we all know that Hope is a fighter.
CRAIG: That we do. It seems Hope’s brain was reacting positively to the stimulants we tried giving it. Which means, if I’m correct…
Craig pulled out a syringe and put it in Hope’s IV.
CRAIG: ...Hope, the real Hope, should be waking up soon.
BRADY PUB
MARLENA: Lawrence Alamain?
JOHN: You sure about that?
GRETA: Yep. It lines up exactly.
JOHN: How so?
GRETA: Back when my mother first died, I was going through her things. I had hoped that there might be something that would give me a clue about my father. And there was. I found a bunch of old diaries that she had kept safely hidden in the palace. Apparently, many years ago, she and Prince Philip were going through a rough patch. He had issues with the fact that she was the one with all the power while he was just a figurehead. My mother had to spend a fortnight in the country of Alamainia, to meet with some delegates there for a trade agreement. While there, she met Lawrence. Over the next fortnight, they had an intense, passionate affair. An affair that resulted in a child, me. After the delegation was over, mother returned to Europe and Prince Philip. She never spoke of Lawrence again. And on the few occasions they did meet at social gatherings, they were distant. The most I ever got from him on the few occasions we met was a polite, if curt, nod.
MARLENA: And she kept it secret all this time?
JOHN: So did he.
GRETA: Think of her position, she was royalty and married. And he was arranged to be married to Katerina von Leuschner. The diary doesn’t go into what happened to them, but whatever it is, it doesn’t sound good. However, the dates match up perfectly for when she was in Alamainia. That’s why I waited until now to find my family. From the sound of it, Lawrence wanted nothing to do with me, if he even knew I existed.
JOHN: You wouldn’t be the first.
MARLENA: Katerina, or Dr. Carly Manning as she is known now, also had a child outside of her marriage to Lawrence. We didn’t find out about her until a few years ago. It seems Lawrence was as keen to hide his own indiscretion as he was Carly’s.
GRETA: That makes sense. Anyway, I had heard that Lawrence’s son, who I suppose would be my half-brother, Nicholas Alamain, was in Salem. So, I thought that now, with this situation with Hope going on, I might try to contact him.
JOHN: Well, I wish you luck. But be careful. Nicholas might not be as vicious as his old man, but he’s also very protective of the Alamain legacy.
GRETA: And I don’t want to mess with that. I already have Princess Gina’s legacy to live up to, I don’t need anything from the Alamains. I just want to get to know a part of my family that I never knew before.
