When Darrin awoke, he was disoriented and for a moment found it impossible to remember exactly where he was and why. He felt stiff all over and, after stretching, sat up on the edge of the bed to note the time on the clock. The red numerals glared 6:02. So much for early evening, he thought. By the time I get to Lawrence, it’ll be at least seven or seven-thirty.
Getting to his feet, he stretched again and went to pull back the curtains, surprised to note the color of the sky. Something about it just didn’t look right. He checked his watch again and then a sudden revelation hit him. He’d slept all night! It wasn’t 6:02 on Sunday evening. It was 6:02 Monday morning.
With a groan, he flipped on the television to confirm his suspicions. “Monday morning traffic is backed up on the Shawnee Mission Parkway off of I-35,” a female reporter was saying. “Also a non-injury accident at State Line and seventy-fifth is requiring a detour if you’re heading north into the city.” The male co-anchor joked with her about the road construction detours, which apparently were requiring detours around detours, but Darrin had stopped listening.
Shutting the set off, he sat down on the sofa and ran a hand through his hair. “How could I have slept all night? Leslie will think me a real heel for not at least calling. I promised I’d call on Sunday.”
He wondered silently if it was too early to call, then deciding it was, opted for a shower instead. He’d just make up for lost time and no phone call by spending all of Monday with her. And if she couldn’t get away from Crossroads, he’d plop down at one of the booths and spend the entire day drinking coffee. Two hours later, Darrin wheeled the BMW into a parking spot outside of Crossroads and noted the sign in the window. SORRY, WE’RE CLOSED! stared back at him as if putting a physical wall between Darrin and his mission. The trip over had given him a great deal of time to consider how he would break his news to Leslie – not that he hadn’t already been considering the hows and whens ever since he’d left for Paris.
He planned first to explain Laurelin. He knew his ex-fiancée well enough to know that she probably made it very clear to Leslie what her status was in his life, at least Laurelin’s version of her status. Leslie probably thought him a complete write-off, and he couldn’t blame her. He’d made a real mess of things, and only now was he beginning to fear that Leslie would have nothing more to do with him based on the Laurelin issue alone.
Even so, Laurelin’s position in his life paled against the reality of his father’s position. He’d sent Laurelin packing, but he couldn’t just remove the fact that Mike Malone was his father, nor the fact that Mike Malone had killed Leslie’s father and mother. That was an issue of such major proportions that Darrin was beginning to feel inadequate to face it.
He sat parked in front of the shop for several minutes before deciding to drive by Leslie’s house. If her car was in the drive, he’d stop and visit with her there. If not, he’d head over to the hospital and hope that she’d be able to give him some private time to explain his situation. Either way, Darrin felt more and more apprehensive about facing the truth. He’d come to care about her, love her in a way that he’d never expected. This was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Yet, this was also the woman who might never accept him in her life because of the past and what his name would forever be a reminder of.
Slowing down as he drove past the Heyward house, Darrin saw no sign of Leslie’s Toyota. She must be with Travis, he concluded and headed to the hospital. But, upon entering pediatrics, Kelly greeting him with the same news she’d given him the day before.
“Oh, Darrin, you just missed Leslie. She was here for about half an hour, and she took off. Had some kind of meeting and said she’d be back around lunchtime.” She pulled a breakfast tray from a tall, four-wheeled cart and added, “Travis is eating right now, but you’re welcome to go on in. He’s been moved, you know. It’s the third room down that hall.” She pointed.
“Thanks, Kelly.” Darrin went in search of Travis, hoping that he might shed some light on Leslie’s absence.
“Well, hey there, partner. You remember me?” Darrin asked, coming in to find Travis negotiating a bowl of cereal.
“You’re Leslie’s friend,” Travis stated matter-of-factly. “You’re Darrin.”
“That’s right, but I’m your friend, too. At least I’d like to be.”
Travis’s face lit up, and a smile spread from ear to ear. “Do you like Legos?”
Darrin nodded. “I think they’re the best toy in the world.”
Travis’s face grew contemplative. “They’re not just toys.”
Darrin realized his mistake instantly. “Oh, of course not.” He pulled up a chair alongside the bed. “No, they’re really a great deal more than just toys.”
Travis nodded as though important information was being shared between two people in the same secret society. “I build things with them,” Travis said, dribbling milk down the front of his hospital pajamas as the spoon wobbled on the way to his mouth. ‘I build a lot.”
“I’ll bet you do. Have you ever made a whole town out of Legos?” Darrin asked, trying his best to endear himself to the boy.
“Oh, sure,” Travis replied. “All the time. The hard thing is to make airplanes and helicopters. I can make them with rubber bands and Legos, and the propellers can really turn.”
Darrin smiled in admiration. “That’s pretty creative.”
“Oh, I saw it in the Lego magazine, but I know a lot of stuff about it already.”
Darrin wanted to chuckle at the boy’s creative confidence, but instead he decided to change the subject. “Has your sister been in today?”
“Yup,” Travis said and turned his concentration on a piece of jellied toast.
“Did she say where she was going? I mean, I know she had some kind of meeting, right?” Darrin asked, hoping the boy wouldn’t clam up on him now.
“Sure. She told me,” Travis said. His little brows knitted together as he tried to remember. “She was going to the bank for clothes.”
“The bank?” Darrin questioned. “She was going to buy clothes at the bank? Maybe she just meant she was going to get some money to buy clothes. Is she going shopping for you – is that who the clothes are for?”
Travis began shaking his head. “No. They’re for bears.”
Now Darrin was genuinely confused. “For bears? Leslie is buying clothes for bears?”
“That’s what she said,” Travis replied, seeming completely unconcerned that it made no sense in Darrin’s adult world.
“Can you remember exactly what she said, Travis?”
Travis put the toast down as if exasperated with Darrin’s inability to understand. “She said she was going to see some bears at the bank for clothes.”
Darrin fell silent, trying to make sense of it all, while Travis, seeing that his visitor was apparently satisfied with the answer, continued to eat his breakfast.
Bears? Clothes? What does it mean, God? It just doesn’t make any sense. The only thing that did make sense was that Leslie had gone to the bank. Maybe he could catch up with her there. But which bank and. . .Then a thought came to Darrin. A very awful thought.
“Travis, are you sure your sister said bears? Could it have been buyers?”
Travis shrugged. Darrin was feeling a sick dread in the pit of his stomach. Was Leslie meeting buyers for the shop because the bank planned to foreclose? Fearing the worse, he got up. “Travis, I’ll be back to see you later. Can I bring you anything?”
Travis beamed a smile. “There’s a new Lego set with enough stuff to build a time machine,” he said in an offhand manner. “You could bring that.”
“You got it, buddy. If I can find it, it’s yours.”
With that Darrin fairly flew out of the hospital, pausing only long enough to call Leslie’s house. With any luck at all, he’d get ahold of Leslie’s aunt Margie and perhaps she would be able to tell him where Leslie had gone. If Leslie was planning to sell the shop because the bank was threatening foreclosure, he had to stop her.
Filling Margie in on the details, including the fact that he’d already arranged to pay Travis’s hospital bill, Darrin was finally given the information he needed to stop Leslie from selling Crossroads. He arrived at the bank, and after insisting the receptionist interrupt the meeting, practically dragged Leslie into the hall outside the office.
Her stunned expression did little to calm his nerves. “Look, you need to stop what you’re doing and come with me.”
“Why? Is something wrong with Travis?” Leslie asked, looking suddenly panicked.
“No,” Darrin assured her, “but you don’t have to do this. I can’t explain it all here, but put your people off. Tell them you’ve changed your mind, or that I made you a better deal, or whatever, but just put an end to this meeting and come back to Crossroads with me.”
“Darrin, I’m in the middle of –”
“I know what you’re in the middle of, and you don’t have to sell the shop. Just come with me, and I’ll explain.” Darrin persisted.
“All right, Darrin,” Leslie said, exasperation edging her voice, “but this better be good.”
Back at Crossroads, Leslie allowed Darrin to take charge and lead her to the table in the very back of the shop. He sat down opposite her, seeing the confusion written in her expression, and sighed.
“This isn’t going to be easy for me, Leslie, but I have a great deal I need to tell you.”
“Like about your fiancée? Leslie asked, her blue-green eyes searching for the truth in his face.
“Ex-fiancée,” he stated clearly. Then changing his mind as to the order in which he would confess his sins, Darrin continued. “Yes, I want to explain about her as well, but first and foremost, I feel I have to tell you something of much greater importance.”
“All right,” Leslie replied, sounding much calmer than she looked.
Darrin sighed again. Where do I begin? he wondered. “You don’t need to worry about the shop,” he finally said. “First of all, if there is a problem with the rent or the bills or whatever, I want you to know that I intend to see it taken care of.”
“But –”
“No, hear me out,” Darrin said, halting her questions. “I’ve already arranged to pay for Travis’s hospital bills, and if your time away from Crossroads has caused problems with the bank, then I’ll take care of that as well.”
Leslie’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “But, Darrin,” she insisted, “Travis’s bill is going to amount to more than fifteen thousand dollars. I can’t let you pay that. You don’t even know us, and we certainly don’t know you. There’s absolutely nothing to connect you to us, and certainly nothing to obligate you to seeing to our welfare.”
Darrin frowned. “But there is, Leslie. You see,” he paused trying to find just the right words, “what I’m going to tell you will probably change things between us forever, but I just want to tell you something first, before I explain any more about why I’m doing this. I’ve fallen in love with you.”
The color drained from her face, and she sat back hard against the chair.
“I told you that I wanted to be more than friends, and I meant it. I meant it because I’ve lost my heart to you and . . .” He stopped. “This isn’t what I came here to say.”
“Then what?” Leslie managed to ask.
Darrin stood and paced the aisle between the table and the counter. “Leslie, my name is Darrin Malone. I live in Kansas City, and the first time I ever set eyes on you was on our flight down to Dallas.”
“You were the man next to me. I remember you now,” Leslie said, gasping in surprise. “I thought you looked familiar, but I could never place it. Of course, I had a lot on my mind then.”
“I know,” Darrin replied. “The thing is, we share a great deal and most of it you aren’t even aware of, but when you understand the full details, you may never speak to me again. I’m just begging you to hear me out before you try to throw me out.”
“Why would I throw you out?” Leslie asked, shaking her head in confusion.
“Because I’m Darrin Malone.”
“But that doesn’t mean anything to –” She stopped in mid-sentence. “Malone?”
“Yes,” Darrin said, nodding. “I’m Darrin Malone, and my father is, or rather was, Michael Malone – the man responsible for killing your parents.”