Lucas tumbled in the doorway and nearly broke into a runat the sight of his Uncle Luke. His mother's quick hands caught theback of his coat and gently pulled him back into the foyer.
"Lucas, take your boots off first," Bobbie said, and then knelt downbeside her son, extraneously helping him with his boots, trying notto watch Luke watch her.
Lucas stood up and shrugged his coat off into his mother's arms andran to greet his uncle and father, drawing the two men uncomfortablyclose together as he tried to hug them both at once. Tony steppedaside, allowing uncle and nephew room to interact, knowing that hewould have time to be with Lucas later, at the brownstone.
Tony said hello to Bobbie, and then moved behind her to catch hercoat in a motion made fluid by years of repetition. Only this coatwas cashmere, given to her by another man.
Black... it figures, thought Tony as he hung her coat up on one ofthe hooks in the closet. The chill from the Port Charles air stillclung to the expensive fabric and he shivered as he shut the door,grateful to have it out of his sight.
When Tony turned around, Laura and Bobbie were greeting one anotherin awkward monosyllables, as Luke channeled all of his attention ontoLucas. He watched as their expressions filled the space around themwith unspoken lies: Bobbie was truly happy and in love with Stefan,Luke was better off without his traitorous sister, and Laura... Lauraseemed too unenvious of her sister-in-law's new marriage.
And what is my lie? thought Tony. He knew that he loved Carly. Therewas no untruth in that statement. But perhaps his lie was in thinkinghe was happy to be free of his bond with Bobbie. He did not feel freeat all. He felt cut adrift, with Lucas being his only tenuous hold tofamily.
After Laura took Lucas upstairs to play with some of Lucky's oldtoys, Luke turned his attention to Bobbie at last.
"So, little sister, how have you been?" he said.
"Well, right now, I'm pretty surprised," came her reply.
"Yeah, yeah," Luke said, waving off her remark. "I don't blame you abit. I just figured I'd do myself and the ex-doc-bro here a favor."He nodded in Tony's direction while he closed the distance betweenhim and Bobbie. "Tony was here, checking up on Lesley, so I thoughthe could just pick up Lucas at the same time, instead of having torow on out to the 'Island of Doctor Morose'."
Luke smiled, seeing the look of indignation cross his sister's face.He loved Barbara Jean's spirit, even if it was misguided at times."And," he continued in a conciliatory tone, "I just really wanted tosee my sister again." He extended both arms, inviting her embrace."I'm sorry, hon. Your choice of spouses is your business. I shouldn'thave thrown you out of my life like that. You didn't deserve it."
As Bobbie entered Luke's arms, Tony saw Luke's right hand move to thenape of her neck. It was then that he realized that Luke had nointention of asking permission to borrow Bobbie's necklace.
Luke's not telling her anything, Tony thought. And he was surprisedby the depth of sadness he felt. Bobbie was being used by the two menshe loved most in the world, and Tony didn't think he'd ever forgiveeither one of them for it. Certainly not before he forgavehimself.
Luke pulled away from his sister, covertly pocketing his prize as hedistracted his 'mark' with promises of dinner invitations, sanshusband of course, and other warm, tender family moments.
Tony looked at Bobbie, trying to read the expression behind hersmile. When their eyes locked briefly, he thought he could hear hertacit cry for help. The ex-couple shared a benign conversation aboutthe weather and arrangements for Lucas, and then Bobbie turned toleave, wrapping herself once again in Stefan's gift.
When the door closed behind her, Luke reached into his pocket toretrieve the medallion. He hung it from his index finger and it swungback and forth, like a pendulum. "You understand," Luke said, "why Ihad to do this like I did. I hate deceiving Bobbie, but I don't knowwhat Stefan's up to yet, and until I do, I can't risk telling heranything. It's too dangerous. I can't risk my family."
"Do you think your own sister could be a danger to you?" Tony asked."She used to BE your whole family..."
Luke swung the chain up and caught the medallion in his hand,abruptly halting its motion. "I know," he said, "But now, she'shis."
Tony shook his head. "I don't think she's anyone's..."
"I can't take that risk," Luke repeated, walking over to the Fabergeegg. "Well, let's see what this baby has in store for us," he said,inserting the medallion into the third hole.
The two men heard a clicking sound, and a small drawer slid open inthe base.
"Must be spring loaded," Luke remarked, as he reached inside thedrawer and held up a ring. It didn't have the Cassadine insignia onit like every other piece of jewelry he'd seen that family wear. Itwas a plain gold band, with an inscription on the inside. Luke heldthe ring under the table lamp, squinting at the writing.
"It's all Greek to me," Luke said, smiling at his unintended quip. Heheld the ring out to Tony. "Here. You take a look."
Tony put on his reading glasses and held the ring close to his face."It's not Greek," he announced. "It's written in the Cyrillicalphabet. This is probably Russian."
"How do you know?" asked Luke.
"I was married to a Russian, remember?" said Tony through a wistfulsmile.
"That's right!" said Luke, as if he was addressing a precociousstudent. "Do you know what any of that says?"
"Well, I never did learn the language, but I do recognize a name...Nicholas. It was one of the names we were considering if our baby hada been a boy." He closed his eyes, feeling a sense of unbalance ashis mind conjured unbidden images of Tania and BJ. "Tania made melearn to write the names in Russian."
Luke reached over and squeezed Tony's arm, as if to steady him. "I'msorry Tony," he said, in a quiet voice. And the two men stood therefor a moment, silently sharing their sins with an unseenconfessor.