Chapter 31 <br><p> 

Taking advantage of the recently snow-cleared path, 
Dara practically sprinted up the courthouse steps. 
Working mightily to suppress a smile by biting her 
bottom lip, Dara somehow didn't think the judge would 
appreciate the reason for her late arrival in the 
courtroom this morning. She and Mac must start setting 
the alarm 30 minutes earlier or one day they'd pay the 
price for their morning wake-up routines. But the 
payment would not be required today because Dara 
entered the courtroom at 09:01 a.m., just as his honor 
Judge Marshall sat down at the bench. The jury was 
ready to give the verdict in Moreno's trial. Dara held 
her breath as the jury foreman read the verdicts - 
guilty on three counts of racketeering, one count of 
murder in the first degree, and one count of 
conspiracy. Judge Marshall ordered "quiet" as the 
courtroom became abuzz with conversations and 
commotion. He set a sentencing hearing for 2 weeks 
from today and the bailiff escorted the handcuff 
Anthony Moreno from the courtroom. 
<br><p> 
Taggert immediately paged Mac, who was unable to be in 
the courtroom this morning, with the news of the 
verdict. Officer Donna Richards was sitting next to 
Taggert in the courtroom, and both of them proceeded 
to the prosecutor's table to congratulate Dara on the 
victory. 
<br><p> 
"Now, can I congratulate you?" teased Taggert as he 
gave Dara a hug. He grinned remembering she didn't 
want to jinx the trial by celebrating too soon. 
<br><p> "Yes, you may." Dara was supremely happy that the 
trial had ended successfully. Winning this verdict 
would certainly be one of the highlights of her 
professional career. Looking at Marcus and Donna, she 
remarked, "We did it together, the DA's office and 
PCPD finest officers." 
<br><p> 
"How about going out and celebrating tonight?" Taggert 
suggested. Dara regretfully gave an apology and 
declined the invitation for dinner, but she agreed to 
get together briefly for a drink after work today. She 
knew that Mac would spend most of the evening with 
Maxie and Georgie and she had decided before hearing 
the verdict that she'd spend the evening quietly alone 
at home. Taggert couldn't completely hide the 
disappointment from his face when she declined the 
dinner offer, and both Donna and Dara noticed it. 
<br><p> 
For the last month Donna had been an observer of 
Taggert 's interactions with Dara and Mac. This 
morning she quickly decided to move from the observer 
role to an active participant in the attractive 
detective's life. Displaying an uncharacteristic 
boldness she turned to Taggert and offered, "Hey, I'm 
available to go out tonight to celebrate. Why don't we 
make reservations for dinner at La Margerita's 
tonight?" 
<br><p> 
The pretty redhead's dinner invitation momentarily 
stunned Taggert. He had had no idea that Donna might 
be interested in seeing him outside of work, but he 
swiftly recovered and accepted the dinner date. The 
three of them agreed to meet at 6 p.m. at a nearby bar 
for a congratulatory drink. 
<br><p> 
~~~*~~~ 
<br><p> 
Mac had just ended a telephone call when Robin arrived 
at his office for a visit. To Mac, she seemed friendly 
and open and he was hopeful that he'd be able to 
explain the recent changes in his life to his niece. 
After offering Robin a seat and asking her if she'd 
like anything to drink, he inquired, "How are you 
doing at the house with Felicia and the girls?" 
<br><p> 
"I'm very glad to be home and to be able to spend time 
with them," Robin replied. Not seeing an easy way to 
tackle a difficult subject, Robin spoke bluntly but 
not harshly. "They're really hurting Uncle Mac. Do you 
really think that it is best for everyone that you're 
not living in the house with them?" 
<br><p> 
Sighing, Mac noted, "Robin, Felicia and I are getting 
divorced. Moving back into the house would just 
confuse the girls and give them hope in a hopeless 
situation." 
<br><p> 
"Uncle Mac, you have never really explained it to me. 
Why are you divorcing Felicia? She told me about her 
fling with Luke Spencer and I wouldn't for a moment 
presume to defend her actions. But she does love you 
Uncle Mac. I always thought she did; remember when I 
mentioned that to you once? Can't you find it in your 
heart to forgive her and get past this bad moment in 
your marriage?" 
<br><p> 
Mac felt his jaw clench as he silently swore at 
Felicia. It was obvious that she had spent quite a bit 
of time already telling Robin her side of the story. 
"Robin, I'm not sure what Felicia has told you but her 
relationship with Luke Spencer was quite a bit more 
than a fling. She repeatedly went off on numerous 
adventures with him, leaving the girls at home with me 
and putting herself in considerable danger. Several 
times I asked her not to see Luke again and each time 
she rebuked my request. I'm not going to go into a lot 
of the details of her affair with Luke but the breakup 
of our marriage was not just about Luke. Time and time 
again Felicia lied to me, put her own needs or Luke's 
needs before mine or the girls, and basically never 
acknowledged that she did anything wrong until she was 
forced to testify in court about the relationship. The 
bottom line is that Felicia doesn't now nor has ever 
loved me as much as I loved her. I understand that now 
and accept it. No amount of time in the house with 
Felicia will fix that and I'm ready to move on with my 
life." 
<br><p> 
Robin threw caution to the wind and asked, "I can't 
think of a better way to ask this, but wouldn't you 
give Felicia another chance if you weren't involved 
with Dara Jensen?" 
<br><p> 
Anger momentarily flickered in Mac's green eyes but he 
kept his voice calm, responding, "Robin, I love you 
more than I can say, but I'm not going to defend my 
relationship with Dara to you or anyone else. You're 
much younger than I am, and for years now you never 
wanted me to question your relationships with Stone 
Cates or Jason Morgan. Eventually with Stone and 
always with Jason I respected your wishes in this 
matter, and I expect no less from you now." 
<br><p> 
Robin winced when she heard Mac's response. Many times 
in the past she had chastised Mac for his comments on 
her relationship with Sonny, Stone, and Jason, so it 
was like a splash of cold water in her face to have 
her words turned back at her. Immediately contrite, 
she tried to apologize. "I didn't mean to be offensive 
Uncle Mac. I wasn't asking you to defend your 
relationship with Dara." 
<br><p> 
Leaning forward and frowning, Mac disagreed. "Yes, you 
were. And you are asking me to defend my decision to 
divorce Felicia. Because you're my niece I told you my 
reasons. You don't have to agree with them but I'm 
asking you to accept them. I always intend to be an 
important part of Maxie and Georgie's lives. And maybe 
eventually Felicia and I will be able to move towards 
friendship. But I won't be a convenience for her 
anymore and I won't be her husband for much longer." 
Feeling there was nothing else to say on this matter, 
Mac tried to relax again. He stood and suggested, "Why 
don't we get out of the office and go for a walk and 
you can tell me more about Paris and your friends and 
your studies." 
<br><p> 
Unfortunately, after their discussion Robin didn't 
feel in the mood for an uncle/niece bonding 
experience. She needed some time to mull over what Mac 
had said to her. "Can I take a rain-check? Maybe we 
can talk some more tomorrow or Wednesday before you 
leave town." 
<br><p> 
Mac was disappointed that Robin obviously wanted to 
leave now but he didn't try to change her mind. 
Instead, he put on his coat and escorted Robin from 
the station. He then decided to head to General 
Hospital to catch up with Kevin. 
<br><p> 
~~~*~~~ 
<br><p> 
Ellen was busy discussing a chart of a patient 
recently transferred from the emergency room with 
Grace Sullivan when she heard the exclamation, "There 
you are! I've been looking all over for you! Where 
have you been?" 
<br><p> 
"Working," was Ellen's flippant reply to Lucy's 
interruption. "Hold on for a minute." After giving 
Grace a few more instructions, Ellen remained at the 
nurse's station but gave her complete attention to Ms. 
Lucy Coe, who was obviously very excited about 
something. 
<br><p> 
"Oh, oh," Ellen said with a wary look in her eyes. 
"Every time I see you like this it means only one 
thing - trouble. Maybe I should make my escape now." 
<br><p> 
"Not a chance," countered the flamboyant Lucy Coe. 
"You still owe me big time for saving your life in the 
woods last summer and this is a way for you to make 
significant progress on paying that debt." 
<br><p> 
With great reservations Ellen asked Lucy for details 
and she was in total shock when she heard that Lucy 
had arranged for Matt, Kevin, Lucy, and herself to 
spend Valentine evening together at Luke's. Apparently 
Lucy had been unsuccessful lately in getting Kevin to 
agree to spend some quality, romantic time alone with 
her, so Lucy came up with a brainstorm. Maybe Kevin 
and Lucy could double-date with Matt and Ellen on 
Valentine's Day. In Lucy's opinion, the happy engaged 
couple were the perfect people to help Lucy put 
Kevin's mind on the romance track on Valentine's Day. 
Ellen tried to beg off by saying that she probably had 
to work that evening but Lucy had already arranged 
with her ex-husband, Alan Quartermaine, GH's chief of 
staff, to make sure that both Matt and Ellen would 
have Valentine evening off. As Ellen continued to 
argue against meeting that evening, Lucy's mood 
changed from exuberance to exasperation. 
<br><p> 
"Ellen, what is the problem?" Lucy pouted. "Both Matt 
and Kevin have already agreed; why are you resisting?" 
<br><p> 
"What do you mean Matt and Kevin have already agreed?" 
Ellen couldn't believe that Kevin had agreed to Lucy's 
suggestion. <br><p> 

"Well, I just saw Matt on the 6th floor when I was 
looking for you and he agreed immediately. And earlier 
today, after a few moments of resistance Kevin agreed 
also. You are the last person that I would have 
expected some problems from. You're going to do this 
for me, right?" <br><p> 

Not being able to come up with a plausible reason for 
not accepting Lucy's proposal, Ellen finally agreed. 
Hugging Ellen and kissing her on both cheeks, Lucy 
soon departed. Tapping her pen on the counter of the 
nurse's station and deep in thought for a minute, 
Ellen forgot about continuing her work with Grace and 
she headed to Kevin Collin's office. Grace had been a 
silent observer of the Lucy-Ellen discussion and she 
watched Ellen as she headed down the hallway.  <br><p> 

"What? Did Burgess just do something to tick you off?" 
Chris Ramsey had just arrived and he saw the intense 
look that Grace had on her face as she watched Ellen. <br><p> 

Ignoring his question, Grace turned to face him and 
asked, "Chris, do you have plans for Valentine Day 
already?"  <br><p><a href="matters.htm">Back</a> | <a href="matt32.htm">Next</a>

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