The Monroe Legacy - G.2. Chapter 18 - Three Rights and a Wrong

Hallie tore the room apart looking for her mother's diary but it was gone. Furious tears gathered in her eyes at the audacity of somebody breaking into her home and stealing something so precious. It was her lifeline to her mother and her family history and with it gone her past, both good and bad, might become public knowledge.

In the hands of a stranger Marlie's private struggles would become gossip, her legacy as a great Mayor and family woman tarnished and her involvement with the Marilyn scenario - from faked death to kidnap - would be the story of the decade for the vultures of the paparazzi. It would also expose the intimate truths of her and Cai's beginnings, exposing their relationship to even more scrutiny than they were already being subjected to.

 Hallie wouldn't allow it.



Cai knew everything except the truth about Marilyn, Hallie having decided that it was her mother's secret, not hers and as her aunt and her family had vanished there was no need to try and explain the complicated situation. Now if she told him he might resent the secrecy or insist on involving the authorities and if that happened there was no chance of keeping the Monroe secret.

Hallie decided that until she knew what whoever had the diary wanted, it would be best to keep her husband in the dark.

For the next few weeks Hallie was jumpy, rushing out to meet the mail man and getting flustered when asked about it. Cai noticed, but as time passed with no communication Hallie relaxed and he chalked her funny spell up to hormones.



As the due date approached it was decided that Hallie would have a scheduled C-section and they settled on a few name options, they knew they were having a boy but the two other babies had been positioned wrongly to make it easy to tell what they were at the last scan!

Hallie's bump was so enormous and her family so excited that she mostly managed to avoid thinking about the lingering threat. Violet loved to talk to her new siblings in her mom's tummy and Cai even caught her reading a pregnancy book when she was meant to be doing her homework!

Gray was growing up well, he was walking and using his potty chair but he didn't like to talk much. He spent most of his time sneaking into quiet corners with his books and avoiding the noise and chaos which followed his dramatic big sister around!

Two weeks into Hallie's seventh month the dreaded letter arrived and pleading a head-ache to her worried husband who noticed her pale face and fast breathing she took it to her room and unfolded the lined paper.

If you would like your new arrivals to enter a world where the spotlight isn't on you and your family then follow these instructions and tell nobody.

Drive to the abandoned warehouse at Rustler's Den on Route 4 this Thursday at 3a with $20,000 in cash. Come alone - I will be watching.

Leave the money in the entrance to the abandoned mine behind the building.

If the above is all delivered I will return your journal to you and never tell what I know.


The letter was typed and unsigned, there was no way to identify the sender.

 Hallie felt like she had no choice. She had just sold a sculpture for more than the amount demanded and had yet to bank the money. Cai would never have to know and they could keep living as they were, worrying only about the challenges of raising a big family and avoiding the media.

A little voice in her head whispered that there was no guarantee that this would be the end of it but Hallie ignored it, she just wanted it to be over.

On Thursday night Hallie crept out of bed and wedged her bump behind the steering wheel. With a bulging rucksack on the seat beside her she drove through the deserted town and up into the hills to the destination. Her head-lamps illuminated a ramshackle building sitting completely deserted at the end of the drive. Her hands shaking, Hallie picked up the money and stepped out of the car.

Nothing moved and there was no sound other than the wind in the trees but Hallie felt as if she was being watched. Sweat trickled down her neck as she rounded the building and she saw the partially boarded mouth of the old mine.

As fast as her bump would allow her she crossed the open space, eyes flickering to the surrounding trees for any sign of movement. There was nothing. Hallie placed the bag behind a rocky outcrop at the entrance and took a deep breath. It was done.

A rustle came from inside the mine and then another. Hallie's heart stopped. The noise came again and louder, as if whatever was in there was approaching. Her courage failed and Hallie ran for the car, gasping for breath and tripping in the uneven ground.

As she slammed the door behind her and hit the lock button she looked back. It was hard to see anything in the darkness but Hallie could have sworn she saw a white haired figure outlined against the darkness of the mine entrance.

A sharp pain in her stomach drew Hallie's attention back inside the car. Forgetting about the figure and the rucksack she sucked in a deep breath and told herself to stay calm even as another contraction hit her. Gritting her teeth against the pain Hallie pulled out her mobile and called for an ambulance.

Half an hour later Cai waited anxiously at the hospital for the ambulance with his wife in it to arrive, he had no idea why she had been on the other side of town in the dead of night but right now he didn't care. Hallie's phone call had been frantic and scared but he knew from Lola's contacts at the hospital that the paramedics had reached her. As blue lights washed over the entrance, announcing the ambulance's arrival, Cai rushed to the doors as the opened and was both relieved and terrified to hear Hallie bellow with pain.

The paramedics rushed the trolley down and into the hospital, Cai grabbing Hallie's hand as she flew by and running alongside. She smiled weakly before gritting her teeth and screaming again.

'What's happening?' Cai asked the closest paramedic as they reached the maternity wing.

'Your wife was already 7cm dilated when we got to her. She reached full dilation as we arrived here and your baby is coming any minute now. There should be nothing to worry about, they're just a little early,' was the doctor's reply.

Cai nodded and turned back to Hallie, smoothing the hair back from her forehead as she squeezed his hand so hard it felt like it would break.

Jet Alecto Monroe was delivered less than twenty minutes later weighing 4.2 pounds and healthy. He head a few scraggly bits of red hair and Cai was ecstatic that one of his children might inherit his hair colour.

Sienna Rae Monroe followed with a few ounces on her big brother and less that three hours after first arriving at the hospital Hallie held the youngest of her triplets in her arms.

Saffron Eliana Monroe was a tiny thing, just 3.5 pounds and the doctors put her and her siblings in the Neonatal ICU where they could monitor their progress. Cai sat exhausted at his wife's bedside, relieved it was over and beginning to wonder what Hallie had been doing so far from home that night.

When Hallie was discharged a week later they were able to bring back Jet and Sienna who were doing well and growing fast. Saffron was still too little and the exhausted parents had to split their time between caring for the babies at home, finding time for Violet and Gray and visiting Saffron at the hospital. Without the help of Luna and Hallie's siblings they never would have coped.

Oscar oversaw Violet's schoolwork and she and his son Christoper became firm friends. Luna spent hours watching the babies and cheering up Cai and Hallie when it all got too much. Lola sent food, Georgia knitted baby clothes and Belle popped round whenever she could although she was also pregnant with her first child!

In the chaos Cai never found the right moment to speak to Hallie about her odd behaviour and Hallie never found time to worry that her journal hadn't been returned.

Six weeks after her birth Saffron was able to come home and Cai and Hallie celebrated quietly. For the first time their whole family was under one roof and as they settled Jet and Sienna for the night and crept from the room they prayed that things would get easier.

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Read on now with Chapter 19 - For Better, For Worse