Chapter 3
The first thing he thought upon entering Wyndemere was
that someone was playing a cruel trick on him. He could hear the strains of
Bach’s Goldberg Variations coming from somewhere in the house. Bach. His
uncle’s favorite. Nikolas himself had always preferred Mozart, whom Stefan
had always shunned as overwrought. He didn’t like the reminder of his uncle,
and had put all of his uncle’s recordings in storage a few weeks after he
had died. It angered him to think one of the servants had dug them out against
his orders. Perhaps this was Helena’s distorted sense of humor. He hesitated
to find the source, afraid to find his grandmother reveling in his uncle’s
death.
Instead, he found Gia, playing the harpsichord. She
had no sheet music, and was in fact playing with her eyes closed. She was
good, very good in fact, so Nikolas applauded.
“What? Oh, it’s just you”
“Don’t stop on my account. That was beautiful.”
“Well, I had to find something to do while you were
gone. What kind of place is this, it has secret tunnels and a harpsichord, but
no TV?”
He could tell her about the TV behind the sliding
panel in his uncle’s study, but that would have been too easy. “My uncle
wasn’t really big on TV.”
“Judging by the décor around here, I would have
thought he’d have been a PBS freak.”
“Not really. The décor is more family tradition
than personal taste.”
“Jeez. Real upbeat family you got here. Anyway,
I’m glad you’re here.”
“Really…you seemed to be entertaining yourself. I
didn’t know you could play harpsichord.”
“I couldn’t. But I can play most everything else,
it didn’t take long to figure out.”
“Impressive.”
“I’d be more impressed by a satellite hookup, or a
computer, or something. Your staff here isn’t the most talkative bunch.”
“Well, I’m glad you didn’t go exploring. If
you’d had gotten lost in the tunnels, I might never have found you.”
“And I’m sure you’d have been crushed.”
“I would have found you eventually. Once you started
to smell…”
“Great image there, Romeo…you really know how to
get to a girl.”
“Wasn’t my intention to make you feel good. Just
to keep you out of the tunnels. So you know how to play…Do you know how to
ride?”
“Ride what? Horses?”
“No, hamsters. Yes, horses.”
“I’m sorry, your highness there wasn’t much
occasion in Brooklyn to go on fox hunts.”
“Well, you will tomorrow.”
“Hunt a fox?”
“No, ride.”
That afternoon he had Sheba brought over on the launch
from his stables at the cottage. He didn’t like restricting Sheba to the
island, but riding Sheba every morning gave him a good excuse to come check on
Gia. As he was leading Sheba up the ramp to the boat, she was skittish.
Nikolas couldn’t understand why for a second, then he saw why. Taggert was
standing on the dock.
“Mr. Cassadine…”
“Lieutenant…Any word on Emily?”
“No, actually. But that’s not why I’m here. I
was wondering what you knew about my sister?”
Oh, hell. “Your sister? Excuse me, Lieutenant, I
didn’t know you had one…”
“Oh, you know her. Gia. Hannah saw her with you, and
more importantly from what Juan said every time he saw her you were with her.
Now Gia’s not a very common name, and from the description I’d have to say
it was my sister.”
“Is she in trouble?”
“We can’t tell that yet, because we don’t know
her side of the story, but under the circumstances, I’d have to think that
Gia thinks she is. Our mother’s in the hospital, hanging on the edge, and
where’s she? Nowhere to be found…yet another reason I’m thinking this is
my sister. I called Columbia and they haven’t seen her since May. Now I’d
rather think that she was here in Port Charles and hiding, rather than just
missing. So, Mr. Cassadine, anything you might tell me would be helpful. Gia
may be a material witness against Zander Smith. Now you may not like my sister
from what Juan said about how she was acting, but if you’re interested in
getting the bastard that kidnapped Emily, I’d appreciate it if you could
tell me anything you knew about where my sister might be.”
“I’m afraid I don’t know anything,
Lieutenant.”
“Well, if you see her, you let me know.”
“I will, and Lieutenant?”
“Yeah?”
“How’s your mom?”
“She hasn’t woken up yet…”
“Sorry to hear that.”
“Yeah, well, just remember what I said. That’s
some animal you got there. Never learned to ride myself.”
“Not much occasion in Brooklyn, huh?”
“No…hey, how’d you know I was from Brooklyn?”
“I think I overheard you and Hannah the other
day.”
“Yeah, she’s a Yankees, fan, and I’m a Mets
fan…but I guess there’s no accounting for taste, is there?”
Nikolas had no idea what a Met was, but whatever, it
had seemed to work. “Guess not. Well, if you’ll excuse me Lieutenant,
Sheba’s getting a little restless.”
“Take care, Mr. Cassadine”
“Thank you.”
Nikolas hadn’t liked any aspect of what Taggert had
said. On the ride out to the island, he called Bobbie on his cell and asked
her to tell him if anything changed. He had to make up some excuse as to why
he was concerned, but Bobbie knew enough to not ask many questions.
He had to admit Gia looked good in the riding outfit
he had brought her. He was kind of hesitant about giving the girl a riding
crop, but seeing her in the little hat made up for it.
“I don’t know about this, Nikolas.”
“Why, they’re just animals”
“No, I don’t know why you get the thoroughbred and
I get the nag…”
“Archimedes isn’t a nag, he’s just gotten finer
with age…He’s beautiful”
“He’s a walking couch.”
“Then you should be comfortable.”
“Whatever, let’s get this over with…”
It took Gia while to get the hang of it, but Nikolas
was amazed at her poise and gentleness with Archimedes. He could tell she
actually enjoyed it quite a bit. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a smile
break across her face every time they started to gallop. After about an hour,
they came to a bench overlooking a bluff, and Gia pulled up short. “Whoa,
Archie….Nikolas, this is beautiful.”
“Yeah…it was my uncle’s favorite spot. He used
to sit up here for hours, just thinking.”
“Sounds like a good idea….Stay, Archie…” With
that, she hopped off and went to sit on the bench. Archimedes began to wander
off until Nikolas caught up to him.
“He’s not a dog, Gia.”
“Nope, I haven’t tried to ride a dog since I was
five.”
“You tried to ride a dog?”
“Yeah, my neighbor’s Labrador…name was something
stupid like Goldie…but I think I could’ve done it if I’d have had a
saddle.”
“I’m sure you could of.”
They sat there for two hours, just staring at the
water. Occasionally Nikolas would tell her the name of a bird that would fly
past, giving the full Latin name as Stefan taught him. Gia called them all
pigeons whether they were or not.
Gia had begun to lean on his shoulder as they looked
over the water. Soon she was resting her head on his chest. Nikolas was
surprised at how natural this felt. He didn’t get to think about it too
long, because his cell phone rang.
“Yes…hey Bobbie…hold on…I can’t quite hear
you…” He walked from the bench trying to get better reception…
“What….a stroke…when?…yeah thanks…”
He hung up and wondered what he was going to tell Gia.
He didn’t have to tell her anything. When he turned around, she was already
on Sheba, and he could see tears in her eyes….
“Thanks, Nikolas, I’ve got to go…” With that
she took off at a gallop…far too fast for her own good.