Chapter 10
Ned opened the door and Alexis flew into his arms, squealing with joy. “Hey, what’s gotten into you?” he asked with a chuckle.
“You’ll never believe who showed up on my doorstep today!” she said, grinning at him.
He shrugged, wondering what on Earth could have made her so happy, and feeling a little jealous that it wasn’t him.
She giggled for a second before answering. “My daughter!”
“Huh? Whoa, wait a minute, you lost me back there. What daughter?”
“The daughter I had 18 years ago and was forced by Helena to give up for adoption. I never told anyone else about her, but she found me!”
Ned sat down heavily on the couch, letting the news sink in. “So, you’re telling me you have an 18-year-old daughter out there, that until today, you’d never met?”
Alexis nodded happily. “It’s like, all of a sudden, my life is finally full. I can’t even begin to describe it. Oh, and Ned, she’s so beautiful!”
He smiled and took her in his arms. “Well, with a mother like you, who wouldn’t be?” She giggled again as he kissed her.
“So, what did you and your daughter do today? By the way, does she have a name?”
“Oh, right,” Alexis said, still giggling. “Elizabeth Webber. Well, now it’s Elizabeth Davis. She’s going to change it, do you believe that? She’s even using her birth name, Raina, as her middle name!”
“Well, I can’t wait to meet her. It’s good to see you so happy. How come you never mentioned her before?”
She shrugged. “I never talk about her to anyone. It was too sad, and I guess I was sort of ashamed that I gave her away like that, even though Helena didn’t give me much of a choice! Oh! Why don’t we invite her to dinner with us tomorrow night? We were going out, right?”
Ned nodded, trying to think of a good excuse out of it. He had something big planned for her tomorrow, and it was sort of private. “Well, I actually had something planned...”
“Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to throw this on you like that. You don’t have to meet her right away if you don’t want to,” Alexis said quickly, trying to hide her disappointment.
Ned took her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. “I do want to meet her, Alexis. In fact, go ahead and invite her to dinner. I can do what I had planned tonight instead. Just a second.” He hurried upstairs before she could say anything. She waited downstairs, wondering what he was up to.
A minute later, he hurried back down, hiding his hand behind his back. He lead her over to sit on the couch and took a deep breath. “Okay, I know we haven’t talked a lot about this yet, but I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately. Alexis, I love you with all my heart, with everything I am. I never want to spend another day without seeing your beautiful face or hearing your voice. I never thought I would feel this was about someone, that I could love someone so completely, but I do. I guess what I’m trying to say is, Alexis, will you be my wife?” He got down on one knee as he said this, smiling at the shocked expression on her face, and held out the ring box that had been behind his back.
“Oh, Ned,” she whispered, looking at the ring, then at him, then back at the ring. “I’m.. I’m speechless. I mean, yes, of course I’ll marry you!” She flung her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. He managed to pry her off of him long enough to slip the ring on her finger.
“You have just made me the happiest man in the world, do you know that?” he asked, kissing her tenderly.
“And you just managed to take a day that I thought couldn’t get any better, and make it the best day of my life!”
He smiled, thrilled to see her so happy. “I guess that means tomorrow’s dinner is going to be a celebration.”
~*~
After working a short shift at Kelly’s, Elizabeth decided to take another walk. She went the opposite direction than she had the previous evening, wanting to see the rest of the city. She passed the Port Charles Hotel, saw the police station, the courthouse, and a restaurant called The Outback, making a mental note to check it out later, it looked like a neat place.
After a while she found herself walking down a residential street, looking at all the houses. Suddenly, there in front of her, was one of the biggest mansions she’d ever seen! “Wow!” she breathed, standing at the gate and staring in awe.
There was a slight chuckle behind her and she jumped. “Oh, sorry I didn’t mean to startle you,” the girl said, smiling. “Elizabeth, right? I’m Emily Quartermaine, Lucky’s friend. We met earlier at the PC Grille?”
Liz nodded, recognizing her instantly. “Right, it’s good to see you again.”
“You know, this house may look impressive from here, but trust me, if you lived there, you’d be dying to leave!”
Liz gaped at her. “You live there?”
Emily giggled and nodded. “Yeah, that’s the Quartermaine mansion. My wonderful family. Well, they adopted me, but they’re still my family, crazy as they all are!”
“You’re adopted too? Wow, sometimes I feel like I’m the only one!”
“Yeah, but my situation was different. My mom was a good friend of Monica’s, and she was dying of breast cancer, so Monica agreed to take care of me. After she died, they adopted me. I still miss her a lot, but I’ve gotten used to being a Quartermaine.”
Liz nodded, looking up at the house again. “I wonder how long it’s going to take me to get used to being a Cassidine?”
Emily chuckled. “Well, that’s a whole different kind of family there! I can’t imagine what it would be like to suddenly be one of them! Then again, when I first met the Quartermaines, I thought they were all nuts, but they’ve grown on me. Why don’t you talk to Nikolas sometime? He’s pretty cool, and he can fill you in on all the family dirt.”
“Thanks, maybe I will. Well, I’ll let you go. It was nice seeing you again. I’ll probably see you around. This seems like a pretty small town, and I’m working at Kelly’s now. I get the impression that everyone goes there at one point or another!”
“Yeah, Kelly’s is cool. Nikolas and I eat there a lot. I guess I’ll see you there, then!” Emily smiled and opened the gate, walking up the long driveway to the house. Liz just shook her head in amazement and walked back toward Kelly’s. First Wyndemere, now this place. For a small town, Port Charles certainly had some wealthy families!
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