A daughter. He had not even given that a thought. A daughter,not a son.
Was it really that important the baby had not be a boy? Stefan'sthoughts
were interrupted by a knock on the library's door. "Come in." Aman
enters the room. "Alexander."
"I wish to convey my condolences for your mother's death. You have myfull
support as your mother had."
"Thank you."
"Tell me about Ariel Wiseman's child."
"Your mother called me about five years ago and told me that sheneeded the
child to be hidden. She did not want the details, just have thechild
somewhere, alive, so if she ever needed her she would be available.I
contacted a couple who had worked for Helena before and explainedthe
situation. They agreed to keep the child."
"Is the child still with this couple?"
"Yes. They are sent a monthly check to make sure the child staysalive."
"Is the child well cared for?"
"I don't know. Helena's instructions were only to keep the childalive."
Where is this couple now?"
"They live in the small village of Apolone on the island ofNaxos."
"What are their names?"
"Manos and Arianna Poppolas."
"How much are they paid?"
"30,000 drachmas a month."
"Dismissed." Stefan reaches for his phone. Alexander leaves the roomwith
a curious look on his face.
Into the phone, "I am going to Naxos. Get the plane ready."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Robert is on the phone as Ariel arrives the next morning. She andSonny
exchange hellos as Robert ends his phone conversation. "Goodmorning,
Ariel. I see Sonny has gotten you some coffee."
"Good morning, Robert. Yes, he did, but who taught you guys how tomake
coffee?" Ariel takes another sip of the 'mud' coffee while the twomen
laugh. "Next time I'll bring some from the Outback. By the way,Robert,
who was that on the phone?"
"Owens was updating me on the weapons. They are expected here around11:00
a.m. tomorrow."
Sonny grabs a file folder and flips though the papers until he comesto the
one he was looking for. "The Tracey is scheduled to leave port theday
after tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. That gives us less than 24 hours toexecute
the raid, seize the arms and get Phiasal and his cohorts."
"Frisco is has 18 WSB agents in addition to us four. That should beplenty
to wrap this up," Ariel states.
"That should be enough if we have all Phiasal men accounted for, butwe
don't know who his contact is here and how many people that personmay
have," Sonny says.
"There is probably only the contact here. He probably doesn't haveany
men. My guess is it is someone who can arrange so the arms can be puton
the ship without any suspicion. So it will take someone who canarrange
for the manifest to contain the crates of arms under other cratelabels,"
Ariel states.
"The only people with access to the manifest to add items would bethe
harbor master, his assistants and the ship's captain," Robertsays.
"Or someone who can tell one of them to add something withoutbeing
questioned," adds Sonny.
"Who could do that?" Ariel asks.
"Being an ELQ ship anyone on the board of directors or seniorofficers
could probably tell the captain to add something to the manifest. Orany
of them could be getting a payoff for doing it," Robert says.
Sonny takes the file folder he had before and begins to go throughit
again. He soon come to the paper he wants. He pulls it out andquickly
reads it. "Andrew R. Franklin is the captain of the USS Tracey.According
to this report he is a straight arrow. Captain Franklin has even hada
couple of run-ins with Edward over some less than squeaky cleanbusiness.
I can't see him letting someone add something to the manifest that hewas
completely informed about. He has been known to open crates to checkcargo
when he has questions. There is a possibility that the items wereadded to
the manifest as it was being drawn up."
"That is possible and if that is how it happened, then this operationhas
been planned for longer than we thought. The manifest was finishedtwo
months ago," says a voice from behind Robert. They see that Friscohas
just arrived. He continues, "I don't think this has been plannedthat
long. Phiasal's clients are ones without a lot of patience. Waitingover
a couple of months isn't exactly par for their course."
"You are right. I suspect that the items were added after themanifest was
drawn up," Ariel stated.
"If that is the case I can get the original manifest if I can get tomy
computer at ELQ Headquarters. I don't know why I did think of thatwhen I
got the loading manifest."
"Does it have to be your computer at ELQ or can we patch into itfrom
here?" asks Ariel.
"No, the computer system is completely independent at ELQ. Afterthe
system was broken into last spring, Ned brought in a computer expertand
now the system cannot be accessed from any computer, but the onesalready
on the system. Each computer is assigned a security rating andeveryone is
assigned a clearance rating. For me to get the manifest I have tohave a
computer with at least a level four rating. Most of the computers atELQ
Headquarters would do."
"Can you get in without too many people noticing?" Frisco asked.
"I could get in any time without too much suspicion. I've been knownto
come in in the middle of the night to do some work. So I wouldn'thave to
go in when there is a lot of people there. During the night there isthe a
security officer at the door and he has let me it before and shut offthe
alarms in the halls and my office. When I get to my office he turnsthe
hall alarms back on. When I'm ready to leave I just call him and heturns
the hall alarms off again until I get out."
Frisco asks, "Are you searched when you leave."
Sonny laughs, "I'm a ELQ board member. They are not going to searchme.
Though I do know Ned has left a standing order to be informed if Ihave
come in during the night. Occasionally he will ask me what I wasworking
on. He is still trying to get me out of ELQ."
"So you could go in tonight and get the manifest without too many
question?" Frisco's asks.
"Yea, I'll need to go back to the penthouse and get cleaned up andchanged.
I can't show up looking like this. It would be better if I don't gountil
after 11:00 p.m."
"Then it is set. You go in at 11:30 and get the original manifest andthen
we will have the rest of the night to compare the manifests and seewhat
items were added after the original was done."
Stefan's plane lands on the small airstrip. As he steps off theplane a
man approaches him from a limo parked a short distance from thestrip.
"Did you find the Poppolases?"
"Yes, the driver has the directions."
"Good." Stefan steps into the limo. The car slowly pulls away fromthe
strip. In a short while, the car pulls up to a small white house. Theman
at the airstrip jumps out of the front seat and opens the door forStefan.
Stefan steps out and blinks as the strong sunlight is reflect offthe
white-washed house. He approaches the door and knocks.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Cassadine," Arianna Poppolas said. "Please comein.
We were told you were coming and you had some questions about thegirl."
"'The girl.' What is her name?"
Mrs. Poppolas and Stefan enter the small living room of the house."We
were told she was to be called Victoria. Supposedly her mother namedher
Victoria Alexandra."
"Victoria, "Stefan softly tried the name on for size.
Mrs. Poppolas continued, "We were told that her mother was an enemyof Mrs.
Cassadine's and as long as we kept her alive we could do anythingwith her
we chose. Mrs. Cassadine wanted to keep her alive to use her if hermother
every started to cause problems."
'She is talking as if Victoria was property. She is *my* daughter,'Stefan
thought to himself as Manos Poppolas entered the room.
"Mr. Cassadine," Manos Poppolas said as he extended his hand toStefan.
Stefan glanced at his hand, but did not shake it.
"I want to see Victoria, now," Stefan stated.
Mrs. Poppolas looked at Mr. Poppolas inquizzily, "I will get her foryou,"
and she leaves the room. Stefan looks around the room. Mr.Poppolas
looked very uncomfortable standing in the middle of his own livingroom.
"You were told by my mother just to keep the girl alive. What did youdo
with her?" Stefan asked very controlled. His training in Tia Chiwas
coming in very useful at this time to control his emotions.
"We kept her with us. She is a so-so helper to our maid. She is fedand
she has a roof over her head. Mrs. Cassadine did not tell us shewanted
anything more for her than that."
Stefan was having a very difficult time keeping his emotions in checkand
not to strike out at Poppolas. 'What had this couple done to his
daughter?' Stefan wondered. He hears Mrs. Poppolas return. As heturns he
sees a downtrodden small child in rags. Her hair is dull and hangs inher
eyes and even if it didn't he would not have been able to see hereyes,
since her head was hung and her eyes were on the floor. As heapproached
the small child, she shrunk back as if she was going to be hit.
"VICTORIA, YOU STAND THERE OR YOU'LL GET THE SWITCH AGAIN,"
Mr. Poppolas yells at Victoria.
Stefan swoops Victoria up in his arms in one motion and turns tothe
Poppolases, "You will pay for what you have done to this child." Hecarries
the frighten little girl out of the house and to the limo. Stefanstops
and tells the man at the car, "Do what you like with them. Theyhave
displeased me."
"Yes, Mr. Cassadine," the man replied looking at the Poppolases," itwill
be my pleasure."
Stefan places Victoria on the seat beside him and picks up the phoneas the
car begins to move. Stefan says into the phone, "This child needs tobe
cleaned up and have some decent clothes." He replaces the phone inits
holder and turns to the small child beside him. "I promise, no one isever
going to hurt you again. I will see to that. We are going to stop anda
nice woman will take you and give you a bath and dress you in somepretty
clothes."
Victoria sat very still. Stefan listens very closely, but the childdid
not speak. The car stops in front of a small hotel. A lady rushes outof
the hotel as the man in the front seat opens the car door forStefan.
Stefan gets out and offers his hand to Victoria to help her. Hersmall
hand looks even smaller in Stefan's.
"Mr. Cassadine, this is Mrs. Karras. She is the one who will bathethe
girl," the man holding the door says as Victoria gets out of thecar.
"My, my, my so much hair in your eyes, I bet you can't see," Mrs.Karras
says as she brushes the hair out of Victoria's eyes. "Mr. Cassadine,I
will take very good care of her." Mrs. Karras takes Victoria's otherhand.
Victoria looks up at Stefan. He smiles at her, "Go with Mrs. Karras.She
will give you a bath and wash your hair. When you are finished wewill
leave this place." He looks up at Mrs. Karras, "Did you get cleanclothes
for her."
"Yes, sir, they will be brought over as soon as I call the shoppewith her
measurements."
"Good."
Victoria goes with Mrs. Karras as Stefan seats himself on a smallsofa in
the hotel's lobby. He takes a cellular phone out of his pocket anddials.
In about an hour, Mrs. Karras returns to the lobby with Victoria.Victoria
is now dressed in pink jeans and a pink and white blouse. Hersun-streaked
light brown hair is clean and brushed out of her eyes, it is held bya
barrette on the side. Stefan is still seated on the small sofa, butnow
there is a large box on the sofa next to him. Stefan looks up asthey
enter and smiles at Victoria. "Aren't you a pretty girl." He looksat
Mrs. Karras, "Thank you, Mrs. Karras." He turns to Victoria, "Areyou
ready for a gift, young lady."
Victoria looks up at Stefan with an inquizzed expression on herface.
Stefan puts the brightly wrapped box, "This is for you. Do you wantto
open it?" Victoria hesitates for a few moments and then approachedthe box
and touches it gingerly. "Go ahead and open it." Victoria looks upat
Stefan once more to make sure it was okay for her to open the boxbefore
she begins to remove the wrapping. Victoria's eyes grow wide as sheopens
the box and a beautifully dressed doll is revealed. She gentlytouches the
doll's dress as if the whole thing would disappear if she touches itmore.
"Here," Stefan removes the doll from the box and puts it in hisdaughter's
arms, "your baby needs to be held." Victoria hugs the doll to her andthen
looks up and sees the smile on her father's face.
Stefan takes Victoria's hand and they walk out of the hotel. They getinto
the limo to take them back to the air strip.
It is shortly after 10:00 p.m. when Sonny enters his penthouse. Heturns
on the lamp on the table and sees that the drapes are drawn. Arielhad
been there earlier 'to feed the fish' and had made sure the drapeshad been
drawn so not to arise suspension from lights being on when Sonny wasthere.
He picks up the mail that had been left on his desk and looks throughit.
He smiles as he sees a letter from Robin. He opens it and readsthe
letter. When he is finished reading he replaces the letter in theenvelope
and says to himself, "It shouldn't be long now, Robin and you andyour
father will be together." Just then his cell phone rings and Sonnyanswers
it. "Corinthos." He listens to his caller for a few moments thensays,
"Okay Joseph. Keep the good work up and don't let her see you."Sonny
ends the phone call and then puts the phone down next to Robin'sletter on
the desk as he heads upstairs to shower and change.
Sonny approaches the door of the ELQ offices and the night guardopens the
door for him. "Good evening, Mr. Corinthos," the guard greets Sonny."How
can I help you tonight?"
"I left a file in my office that I need. Can you turn off the alarmsso I
can go up and get it?"
"Sure, except there has been a problem with the floor alarms, so Ihave to
turn off all the alarms of the floor while you are up there. When youcome
back down, I'll turn them all back on."
"Thanks, Dave. It shouldn't take me too long to find the file."Sonny
walks over and enters to the elevator as Dave goes and turns off thealarms
on the 25th floor.
Sonny reaches his office and turns on the lights. He sits down at hisdesk
and boots his computer. As the computer is booting he opens a deskdrawer
and withdraws a file folder. He quickly finds the computer file hewas
looking for and runs a hard copy. He takes the copy out of theprinter and
places it into the folder, then he shuts down the computer and leaveshis
office.
On his way back to the elevator he passes Keith Chestnut's office.Keith
is the head of the shipping department. Sonny recalls that the guardhad
told him *all* the alarms were off on the floor. He takes a smalldetour
into Keith's office. He looks through the files on the secretary'sdesk,
but doesn't find what he is looking for. He then goes to the inneroffice
and starts to look through the files on Keith's desk. Still notfinding
what he wants he starts opening desk drawers and there it was. Afile
marked 'USS Tracey'. Sonny opens the file and quickly thumbs throughit.
He takes the file to the copy machine and starts copying thecontents. In
a short while the file has been copied and returned to Keith'sdesk.
Sonny exits the elevator and says good night to the guard and leaves.He
returns to the penthouse and changes his clothes before returning tothe
catacombs. As he is leaving the penthouse, he walks by his desk,picks up
the letter from Robin and puts it in his coat pocket.
Frisco, Robert and Ariel are at the base when Sonny arrives with thefile.
Also there are three other agents that Sonny had not met. After somequick
introductions they get down to business.
Sonny opens the file and takes out the contents. He has theTracey's
original manifest and the papers from Chestnut's office. There arelists
of the ship's crew and the longshoremen, who were assigned to loadthe
ship. There was also a list of port officials assigned for overseethe
Tracey. The last things in the file were two other shippingmanifests.
They divide the pages of the manifests and start checking betweenthe
original manifest and the loading manifest that Sonny had gottenearly.
They each make a list of items that were not on the original but wereon
the loading manifest. When they were finished and put the listtogether
there were over 40 items.
"Okay, there are over 40 items here that were added after theoriginal
manifest was put together," say Ariel. "Which one's can we ruleout?"
"There several that are to light to be the arms," Robert says as helooks
at the weight and size notations.
"You're right," Sonny add. "This one, this one and that one are toosmall
to be what we are looking for." They continue to go down the list
eliminating 16 items.
While Sonny, Ariel and Robert are going over the list, Frisco haspicked up
the manifest as from Chestnut's office. "Sonny, what are thesenotation
for on this one," Frisco asks as he hands the manifest to Sonny.
Sonny looks at the manifest, "These are the captain's initials andthese
are the harbor master's. They must have initialed the items okay bythem
after the original manifest was done. So if we compare this to ourlist,
maybe it would narrow down the items." They do the comparison. "Thereare
six items add that aren't initialed. I would bet that these six itemsare
our arms. The size and weight would be right if they have divided thearms
up," Sonny says as he shows the group the items.
"I would agree with that," says Robert looking at the last manifest."This
is the latest manifest dated today. It shows what has been loaded asof
noon today. Those six items have not been loaded according tothis."
The phone rings and Ariel answers it. She jots down a few things andends
the conversation. "That was Owens. The arms are still expected to behere
in the morning and his informants told him that the arms will beloaded
onto the ship between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. Though his informantsdidn't
know where the arms will be between the time they arrive in the cityand
the time they will be loaded."
The phone rings and Ariel answers it. She jots down a fewthings and ends
the conversation. "That was Owens. The arms are still expected to behere
in the morning and his informants told him that the arms will beloaded
onto the ship between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. Though his informantsdidn't
know where the arms will be between the time they arrive in the cityand
the time they will be loaded."
"The majority of dockworkers are off at 4:00. There must be asmall
workforce scheduled to work tomorrow night," says Frisco.
Sonny starts rifling through the file again. He find what he islooking
for and address the group. "According to this, there are eightworkers
staying until 6:00 tomorrow night to finish loading the cargo."
"Do you have the names?" asks Robert.
"Yea, they are here," Sonny says as he hands Robert the list.
Robert starts to enter the names into the computer. In a shortwhile
Robert is finished. "They all check out. No real criminal recordsamong
them. Just a couple of drunk driving charges and a simple assault ortwo
from barroom brawls. They are pretty clean."
"Let's see, there will be eight dockworkers in addition to Phiasal'smen.
Any information on how many he has?" Sonny asks.
"According to Owens there will probably not be more than six. Thereare
four with the trucks, his contact and Phiasal," Ariel answers.
"Owens is still sure Phiasal will be here?" Frisco asks.
"Phiasal needs to make sure this shipment gets through. He isn'tgoing to
take any chances. He will be here to supervise the loading,"Robert
states.
"Okay, we are looking at quite a few civilians around the targetarea
tomorrow night. Also there needs to be a diversion for the PCPD sothey
don't stubble into the operation," Ariel states.
Robert addresses one of the other agents, "Wedeking, you takeBartlett and
Jensen and clean out the homeless around the pier."
"Won't that look a little suspicious without the homeless around.There
are always some wandering around down here?" Wedeking asks.
"There will be homeless. Frisco, Sonny what do you think about livingon
the street?" Robert quips.
"Come on, Robert. First you make me live down in this sewer, nowyou're
going to make me homeless." Robert looks at Sonny as if he had
overestimated Sonny's abilities as an agent. Sonny then give Robertone of
his broad grins, "The least you can do is to get me a old cashmereovercoat
if you are going to make me homeless."
Ariel laughs, "For a boy from Brooklyn you have awful expensivetastes, but
you are just going to have to make do with an old woolen overcoat. Ifyou
are real nice, I'll think of getting you one that doesn't stink toobadly."
Ariel continues, "Robert and Frisco, you still have your overcoatsfrom
your little adventure of planting the can, correct?"
"Yea, they are over there." Frisco points to a heap of old clothes inone
of the corners.
"Okay the homeless are taken care of," Robert says. "Ariel, your teamwill
come from the catacomb entrance here." Robert points to the entranceon
the map that they had been using to get to the base. "Cahill, youwill
bring your team in from here," pointing to another location on themap,
"and Dix, you and your team will come in from here," point to athird
location, "after you see the trucks enter the dock area. We willconverge
on the area, getting the dockworkers out of the line of fire. Nomatter
what, Phiasal doesn't get away."
"What about the diversion for the PCPD?" Sonny asks.
"Frisco, you have that worked out don't you?" Robert inquires.
"Yea. At 5:05 p.m. a call will come into police headquarters statingthat
there is a bomb set to go off at 6:00 somewhere in the downtown area.Mac
will have to pull in all the cops he can to cordon off the area.That
should leave the docks open for us."
"You didn't set a bomb, did you?" Sonny asks.
"Sure, there will be a couple of bombs. One will have pink smoke theother
will have green. Actually Maxie picked the colors."
"Your daughter pick the colors for the bombs? What are youthinking,
Frisco?" Ariel yells at him.
"Now, don't get in a tisey. Maxie and I were coloring and I asked herwhat
her favorite colors were and she told me pink and green. So I thoughtthe
bombs would look pretty in those colors. Besides, the smoke bombswill be
placed on the roofs of two buildings. The smoke won't cause anydamage,
but all of PC should be able to see them go off."
The group gets a laugh out of the sight they see in their minds ofthe pink
and green smoke going up in the PC sky.
"Are you setting them up?" Sonny asks.
"No, Henning will set them up."
"Okay lets go over this one step at a time, so there will be no screwups
tomorrow," Robert says.
The group get down to the work at hand, trying to anticipate everyscenario.
As Stefan steps out of the limo at the air strip, a man rushes up tohim
and hands him an envelope. Stefan opens it and withdraws a birth
certificate and a passport. He looks at the birth certificate andopens
the passport and reads the name 'Victoria Alexandra Cassadine' onboth. He
nods his head to the man and boards the plane with Victoria. Her headis
downcast as she boards holding Stefan's hand. He seats her in a seatand
places the seatbelt around her. He takes the seat across from her,puts
on his own seatbelt and lifts the phone. "We're ready." The planeslowly
starts to move down the runaway. As the plane leave the groundVictoria
glances out the window.
"Everything will be all right, Victoria. I'm going to take care ofyou
now. We are going home. Are you hungry?" Stefan motions to theattendant
and she approaches. "Bring Miss Victoria a sandwich and a glass ofmilk."
Victoria sits holding her doll and has not moved a muscle sinceStefan had
placed the seat belt around her. Victoria quickly glances at Stefanand
then as quick looks back down. Noone had every treated her like this.She
had always been the one that others told to do something. Here wasthis
man, who was ordering people to get something for her. Who was he?What
does he want with me?
The attendant brought a tray with the sandwich and glass of milk.She
placed it in front of Victoria on a low table. "I hope you likepeanut
butter," the attendant said to Victoria.
Victoria stared at the sandwich and milk, not knowing if she shouldtouch
it or not.
"Go ahead and eat," Stefan said reaching across the table andlightly
smoothing her hair. "No one is every going to hurt you ever again,I
promise."
Victoria sets her doll on the seat, reaches for the glass of milk andlifts
it to her mouth half expecting it to be yanked away. She takes adrink and
replaces the glass on the table and picks up half of the sandwich.She
takes a bit. She wasn't sure what it was, but it tasted good. She
finishes her milk and sandwich and the attendant came and removesthe
dishes. Victoria picks up her doll again, afraid if she does not holdit,
the doll will disappear.
"You are going to like Wyndemere. Nikolas is there and he is going tobe
like your big brother." Victoria shrinks back in her seat as Stefansays
this. She had a 'brother' named Nicholas and he constantly yelled ather.
There were times when he would hit her and if she told anyone, theywould
hit her, too, and tell her to keep her mouth shut. She did notwant
another 'brother.'
Stefan notices Victoria's reaction to Nikolas' name. He moves to theseat
next to her and placed his arm around the little girl. "I told you,no one
is ever going to hurt you again. Nikolas will also see to that. Hewill
protect you as I will."
Slowly Victoria relaxes with his arm around her. Instinctively, shepulled
her legs up and curls up next to Stefan with her head resting on hisleg.
In a few minutes she was fast asleep. Stefan caressing her hair."I
promise you, Victoria, no one is every going to hurt you again. Iwill see
to that."
Shortly Stefan motions to the attendant. "Bring me a pillow and ablanket,
please." The attendant leaves and returns with the items, she setsthe
pillow in the other seat and unfolds the blanket and places itover
Victoria. Stefan holds Victoria's head while the attendant placethe
pillow on the seat and Stefan carefully lowers her head onto thepillow.
He bends over and gentle kisses Victoria's cheek, "sweet dreams,my
daughter." As he stands up he addresses the attendant, "Please, bringme a
glass of brandy."
Stefan sits back in his original seat. He continues to watchVictoria
sleep. The attendant arrives and hands him the glass of brandy. Hetakes
a sip and lowers the glass. " Ariel, we do have a child," hemurmured
softly. He raises his glass, again and takes another sip beforeplacing it
on the table. He opens his briefcase and removes his copy of TheIllid (in
Greek, of course). He removes his glasses from the breast pocket ofhis
jacket and begins to read. Glancing up every now and then to seeVictoria
asleep on the seat across from him. A small smile emerges on hislips.
His and Ariel's daughter.
The plane started its slow descent into Heathrow in London. Thiswas
primarily a fueling stop, but Stefan had called his people in Londonfrom
Naxos to do some shopping for Victoria. As the plane touches downand
taxies to the tarmac, Stefan prepares to disembark. After instructingthe
attendant on Victoria's care while he was gone he deplanes. Animmigration
official checks his passport and asks him a few questions. ThenStefan
steps into a waiting limo and quickly disappears into traffic. Thereis
one thing he wanted for Victoria, and this could not be done byservants.
Stefan's limo arrives back at the plane an hour later. He steps outof the
limo and boards the plane with a shopping bag in tow.
"May I store that for you, Mr. Cassadine?" asked the attendant.
"No, I'll keep it with me. Did Victoria sleep all the time I wasgone?"
"Yes, like a sweet baby."
"Were the things I ordered delivered?"
"Yes, they have been stored."
Stefan places the bag in the seat next to the one across fromwhere
Victoria was sleeping. He reaches over and strokes her hairsoftly.
"Sweet dreams, Victoria." She stirs slightly as she hears his voice,but
remains asleep. Stefan takes his seat and tells the pilot he is readyfor
take off.
He removes a small box from the bag on the seat besides him and opensit
up. Inside there is a small intricately designed gold locket. Heremoves
it from its box and opens it up. Inside is a small picture of himselfand
Ariel taken during happier times. On the other side of the openlocket is
the inscription, "To my daughter, with love, Papa." He smiles tohimself
and closes the locket and replaces it into the box and returns thebox to
the bag. He then removes a second jeweler's box and opens it. Insideis
an identical locket, but on a larger scale. He remove it from its boxand
examines it. He opens it and inside this one is a picture ofVictoria
taken earlier that day. There is also an inscription, "To my eternallove
with all my heart and soul. Stefan." He returns the locket to its boxand
places it back into the bag. He then removes a third jeweler's box,but
this time from his coat pocket. He opens this one and inside is themost
beautiful diamond and emerald ring ever seen. He gazes at the ringand
softly murmurs, "I love you, Ariel. I hope you will allow me to loveyou
for the rest of our lives." He looks across at his daughter sleepingand
adds, "Victoria needs her mother and I need you."