Two Days Before
"Explain to me exactly what you have done Mother" Tyler hissed into his cell phone as he barreled to the airport.
Tyler you must stop screaming at me or we won't get anywhere." Mrs.Holt replied calm and demure.
"Explain, Mother, now." Tyler stated again less loudly but not more calmly.
"Alice was supposed to keep my abreast of the fate of the pregnancy, nothing more."
"No mother, the adoption. Tell me about the papers Bianca signed, your so called non disclosure agreement. Carl told me everything."
"Ah, of course, Carl" Barbara Holt mused silently for a moment, the betrayal by Carl Baxter, the Holts families attorney and trusted friend hadn't surprised her. Carl was terminated from his position with the family when Barbara had discovered a letter addressed to Tyler in the briefcase Carl carelessly left at the Holts residence after a mid afternoon martini meeting with her Husband. Barbara, suspecting that Carl was displeased with her actions in regards to Bianca, had wasted no time helping herself to the contents briefcase and confiscated the letter. The letter was written as if it were coming from an anonymous source, warning Tyler that the papers that Bianca signed under the assumption that they were a non disclosure agreement were in fact papers stating that if the pregnancy were successful Barbara would adopt and take possession the baby immediately. The money had sealed the deal and the agreement was air tight, Carl had seen to it. When Barbara confronted Carl, he was honest about his intentions with the letter. He expressed his disgust with her dishonesty and said his conscious was eating him alive. He also said he had not yet said anything to Tyler or anyone else about the agreement. Barbara immediately terminated him, and told him if he ever infringed upon their client attorney privilege he would be disbarred at best all the while implying a threat of harm to his person and his reputation in Oxford as a whole. Even then she hadn't felt confident it would be enough to quiet him for long, as she knew he had always felt an endearing connection to Tyler, but she had hoped that it could at the very least buy her some time to execute her next move.
When Barbara had devised to plan she actually believed that Bianca would terminate the pregnancy, the adoption was something the had thought up to cover her bases with Tyler, show him that she was always protecting his best interests by retrieving for him the love child that a very sick and undoubtedly mentally unstable Bianca had tried to disappear with and keep to herself despite being unfit both physically and mentally because of her aggressive cancer to care for. Barbara had believed Bianca would not reach out to Tyler again because despite her disdain for the young lady she sensed that Bianca a genuine concern for Tyler's future, and she was right, Bianca wouldn't have reeled Tyler back into her troubles. What Barbara Holt lacked was not an understanding of Bianca's heart it was a lack of understanding her sons. When Tyler Holt, love sick and broken, embarked on his mission to recover Bianca everything Barbara thought she knew didn't matter anymore.
"Tyler my actions were in your best interest, I was trying to protect you, to insure that if you had a child that you could have access to it."
"If I had a child, right mother? If, as in if Bianca hadn't aborted the pregnancy like you had asked her to?" Tyler snapped in response without skipping a beat.
"Oh Tyler why are you pretending to be so niave! Bianca was a very sick girl, carrying the baby to term was unlikely and dangerous for the both of them, can't you see that I was doing my very best for everyone involved, under the... unique and complicated circumstances I think my reasoning was sound. I'm not understanding how you are failing to see it. You may think me a wicked witch or whatever you please but you will not convince me to agree with you. Sometimes the right thing seems wrong and sometimes ethical lines get blurred but at the end of the day decisions must be made, and action must be taken to protect the ones we love."
"Oh my God Mother. You've convinced me, your a manipulative deviant because your so kind hearted and loving ."
"Deviant, Tyler, really do mind your manners, I am your mother."
"Mother who is Alice Leck?"
"She was your father's idea, he's not without fault in this situation either you know." Barbara sighed at the lack of response from Tyler about his father's involvement, Burford always somehow slipped through everything without any blame " she was a colleague of his several years , a companion rather that he entertained a relationship with during a rough patch in our marriage."
"He had an affair with Alice Leck?" Tyler shook his head overwhelmed by this new information.
"Oh I suppose if you must label it, you could call it that. Despite my feelings about their continued correspondence Burford and Alice have stayed in touch, I only allowed it because the poor woman fell apart when he ended the intimate aspect of their relationship. I'm no monster the woman deeply cared for him, she tried to end her life when he left her."
"That doesn't sound right Mother, I don't buy that for a second, what details are you conveniently omitting, you would never abide by Dad and his ex lover keeping in touch."
Barbara sighed again, she was Mother, always formal, always two syllables, never mom, never mommy and despite Burford's minimal, in her opinion, contribution to the raising of the boys he somehow managed to attach himself to the more endearing title of Dad. Very few things hurt Barbara Holts ridged heart the way the word dad did. "
"I understand that you are upset, I understand that you are looking for answers, but dredging up your father's indiscretions and knowing every detail is simply unnecessary because frankly it is unrelated. In marriage there are some things that are kept simply between a husband and wife the ins and outs of Alice Leck is one of those things. I will gladly share the pertinent information when you get here."
"Fine, yes I'm parking at the airport now. I fully intend to return home no later than tomorrow so all of the paperwork needs to be prepared when I arrive, to be clear, you will be signing the rights to the baby away, and arranging the rolling my trust over to the baby and removing yourself as an interested party."
"Yes son, just as we discussed, I am prepared to void Bianca's and I's agreement, although I don't see any need, with th circumstances the way they are presently I wouldn't have taken any action."
Tyler couldn't help but laugh, "Mother I have no idea what you are capable of these days, I don't trust you as far as I can throw you. Again, I need paperwork showing this is over so you can never pull any of your bullshit with my child. And the trust?"
"Tyler, I will sign the trust over to the baby as long as you fulfill your end of the of the agreement."
"For God's sake after all you have done to Bianca and I, I can't believe your insisting..." Barbara cut him off "in matters of the families money your opinion doesn't matter, the rules are in place for a reason, you are still my child and I am still your mother. You have satisfied the marriage and baby stipulations, but the investment option is still mine, and Mother," she emphasized the word mother in an obvious display of her distaste for the word "knows best. Besides Tyler, I find it completely ridiculous that you would even take issue with it! Holt stop is fantastically successful Austin is the perfect place for a new location. It will be a nice source of income for your family."
"More like it's a nice way for you to keep one foot in the door of my life forever."
"Well yes, that too, it's worked out beautifully for your brother in Atlanta, I have no doubt that it will be just as lucrative for you. Trent and Avery were no more excited about the opportunity than you are but I would be willing to bet that if he were being honest about it, he's content with my decision now."
"Don't delude yourself Barbara" Tyler growled "Trent wants nothing to do with you and either do I."
"I'll arrange transportation from the airport." Barbara stated "and call me Barbara if you want, I think I prefer it to Mother any way."
"No need to arrange a car, I'll be renting one, I want you to have no say if I come or go. And I believe I prefer Barbara as well, I don't know that you have ever behaved like a Mother." With that Tyler hung up the phone and made his way into the airport.
