Ch. 31 - The DiMera Heir

About a week after my conversation with Elvis, I woke up with a start.

I felt a twinge right before my water broke. The time had come.

“Rolf!” I called out frantically. “Stefano! Somebody!”

“Renee...” Father cried out, rushing to my room. “Is it the baby?”

“I think so!”

Father went to get Dr. Rolf at once.

The next twelve hours seemed to go on forever with no one but Dr. Rolf in the room to keep me company in my bedroom. First, there were the waves of labor pains that seemed to be breaking my back. Rolf gave me an epidural, but it seemed to make me itch out of my skin more than relieve any pain. The pushing was frustrating and exhausting, seeming to go on forever.

Finally, after forever had passed, the baby was born.

I swear I could hear the child cry before it was even out of my body all of the way. Rolf placed the crying infant in my arms.

“A boy!” Rolf cried out. “How wonderful! Stefano will be so pleased!”

At first, I was simply reeling in shock at the sight of the baby. Of course, I knew that the he was a living breathing human being, but it wasn’t until now that my son seemed real.

Oddly enough, the baby stopped crying once he was in my arms. For a moment, he seemed to calm down as he studied my face. Perhaps I was so exhausted from the labor that I was imagining things, but the newborn seemed to look up at me with recognition and confusion. He seemed to somehow know that with me he was safe. And the child’s expression was so familiar to me somehow.

Then I was the one who began to cry like a baby at this miracle of life.

The child was uncommonly beautiful, almost unnaturally so. Even with blue hands and feet and covered in goo, he was so innocent and sweet-looking. I was surprised to see that he had a full head of hair, dark black...and that his complexion, although pale, was noticeably darker than mine.

That was when the epiphany hit me.

This child did not look at all like David...and not that much like me either.

No, the baby took after his father.

He looked like Tony DiMera.

I gasped in shock at the realization. How was it possible?

“Let me tend to the child. We still have the placenta to come out, yes?”

Still tortured by more pain and cramps during this last phase of labor, I could not help but think about Tony and this baby...linked together.

Tony was this baby’s father.

I knew it.

I knew...

And suddenly it was as if a door opened in my mind.

A rush of memories came to me. I remembered Tony reaching down to feel my tummy as the baby kicked for the first time in an inn on the outskirts of Italy. I remembered our wedding and our vows of love. I remembered hearing his words of how he had longed to be a father as we raced along the streets of Salem in his limousine. I remembered making love to him, being so scared and excited and enchanted all at once. I remembered seeing him for the first time in the bunker, sure that he would kill me. I remembered...

I remembered!

“I know you are in pain, Renee...” Rolf remarked at my loud gasp. “But it is natural. You shall recover well enough. You made it through like a champ, ja?”

Renee! He called me Renee!

Then I realized just what Stefano had been trying to do. How ironic that some time ago, I had accused Tony of trying to make me into her. And Stefano DiMera had nearly succeeded in doing just that! He must have brainwashed me just like John Black and Hope and all of the others, somehow implanting my mind with her memories. How he had managed to do this with the memories of a dead woman eluded me. But it seemed like with Stefano, anything was possible.

“How is the baby?” I cried out.

“The baby is doing just fine.”

“Where is he?”

“With Stefano, of course,” Rolf answered matter-of-factly. “You should know there would be no keeping your father away.”

The thought of that crazed maniac, grandfather or no, holding my child made me frantic. But I had to keep a cool head. Just like Andre had pretended to be Tony for all that time, I should have to pretend to be Renee. My life...and my baby’s life...depended upon it.

I hated seeing Stefano holding my baby, but I had to pretend otherwise.

“Ah, Renee!” he beamed. “Thank you! Thank you for blessing me with such a beautiful grandson!”

“He is beautiful, isn’t he?”

I was at a loss for words. Truly, Stefano’s reprehensible actions towards me left me speechless. What had he hoped to achieve by making me into Renee? Often he had spoken of having me learn all about the DiMeras and the Empire. Was that truly what he had wanted of me? And how could he have thought such a plan would work?

“Renee...” Stefano narrowed his eyes as he rocked the baby. “Is everything all right? You look rather odd.”

I covered with a laugh.

“Well, I did just go through twelve hours of labor. After that, anyone would look odd.”

“You are right, of course,” he laughed. “Rest, my child. You are fortunate that you are here; and not miserable at some horrible hospital somewhere. You can rest and recover at your leisure and needn’t worry about a thing. And we have plenty of servants here who know exactly how to take care of little Santos.”

Oh, yes.

I remembered that Stefano and I had agreed to name the child ‘Santos’ in honor of Stefano’s father. But that was when I thought I was Renee.

But Tony and I had wanted to name the child ‘Gino’, in honor of Tony’s good friend, Eugene Bradford. I had only met Eugene once...when he came to our wedding. He seemed to be a very nice man, eccentric and brilliant. I also loved the actor Gene Kelly...so the name of Gino was fine with me.

But for the present, I should have to call my son by the name of Santos.

And all I could do was silently cringe as I watched Stefano hold my baby in his devil’s grasp.

Having a baby takes a lot out of a person. Add that the realization that you’ve been kidnapped and brainwashed and that let to double the amount of stress. Weeks went by. Weeks of having to learn to take care of this newborn child...and to keep up the charade of being Renee.

I slept long and deep, despite the anxiety. Because despite my worries, I was more exhausted than anything else.

That is why Tony had such a hard time waking me up.

“Leigh...”

I thought I heard his voice, but I knew I had to be dreaming.

“Leigh!”

It was no dream!

“Tony!” I gasped, awakened in the middle of the night.

There he was before me, all dressed in black, smelling of cologne.

“You’re real? You’re really here?” I babbled as he held me close in a tight embrace.

“Thank God I found you!” he crooned. “The baby? Is the baby okay?”

I turned on the lamp on the side of the bed.

“See for yourself.”

“Ooohhh...”

Words could not express the look on Tony’s eyes as he gazed upon the sleeping child in the bassinet.

“He’s so incredible!”

“Yes.”

“I want nothing more than to hold him and get to know him, but...” Tony swallowed back tears as he looked at me. “We’ve got to get you both out of here now.”

“Yes.”

“I’m so relieved I found you. If it hadn’t been for Elvis...”

“So Elvis did help me?”

I was grateful to EJ, even though I knew he was only doing it for his own benefit.

“Tony, Stefano tried to brainwash me into thinking I was Renee. I’ve been pretending to be her for a long time now.”

“I know. Elvis told me what Stefano has done. This time, I swear I shall kill him!”

Hurriedly, I got dressed and picked Gino up from the bassinet. He was mercifully still asleep and still quiet.

Tony and I left the bedroom with the baby, making good with our escape.

As we crept along, I saw the figure of Dr. Rolf lying along the side of the corridor.

“No, he’s not dead,” Tony said. “I just had to rough him up a bit so that we could get out of here.”

I was impressed. Tony looked so calm and unruffled that I never would have guessed he had been in a fight.

Along we went until we reached the living room area. Suddenly, the lights flickered on.

“Not so fast, my friends.”

Stefano had a gun pointed directly at us.

“You will take that child out of here over my dead body!”

“Oh, that we should be so lucky...” Tony hissed at the man who had raised him. “How dare you kidnap Leigh and try to take my child from me!”

“That child is a DiMera and will remain under this roof!”

“Father, please...” I begged.

Stefano laughed with contempt.

“Oh, stop the playacting, Leigh,” he snarled. “As soon as the memories of your old life started to come back, I knew it was only a matter of time before you would remember everything. And I also knew that Elvis would betray me once again. But I commend you for your performance for the last few weeks. Unfortunately, you never have mastered the skill of outguessing your opponent, eh, Leigh?”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Stefano!” Tony answered. “You have been outguessed! Roman Brady, Abe Carver, John Black...all of you enemies are right outside of this mansion. They can’t wait to bring you down just as you deserve!”

“You’re lying!”

As if right on cue, we heard Roman’s voice bellowing from outside.

“Stefano DiMera! Come out with your hands up!”

“It seems the Phoenix has risen for the last time,” Tony answered with a smile. “And now you’re going to get what you’ve had coming to you for ages!”

“If I am to go down, you shall go down with me!” Stefano cursed. “All three of you!”

“Stop bluffing, Stefano! You might kill us but you’d never kill Gino, part of the next DiMera generation.”

“Wouldn’t I?” he answered. “What good is a son of yours? You were always a disappointment to me! And you!”

Stefano glared at me.

“Perhaps if we had met sooner, my dear...” he admitted. “I could have been the father you had wished for. Perhaps we could have truly shared the same blood. But as long as your allegiance is to this...TRAITOR!...this can never be!”

He raised the gun threateningly, preparing to shoot.

Everything was happening so fast I barely had time to be truly afraid; but at this moment, I was terrified. I prayed for Tony and myself...but most of all, for poor innocent Gino who had only now just begun to live.

But Stefano hesitated. Suddenly, his eyes widened in terror and horror as he gazed upon some vision before him.

“No!” He cried out. “No! It is not possible!”

His last living word was one of disbelief.

“Renee...?”

He made a croaking sound as he began to fight for breath as he clutched at his chest.

But it was no use.

The Phoenix had at last fallen to the ashes, never to rise again.

Six months later...

“The house is so beautiful...” I sighed, smiling as I walked with Tony along the pathway winding away from the Aremid estate. Little Gino was comfortable sleeping in his father’s arms, quiet at long last.

Tony was currently pursuing a project of restoring some of the old DiMera residences. Maison Blanche, Aremid and the mansion in Salem were all being restored to their former glory. He could not erase the crimes that he and his family had committed, but he was determined to live in the present. Along with this restoration project, he was once more giving to charities, trying to atone for his family’s past. He even released his prisoner cousin, Andre, to the Salem Police. While Tony could have been imprisoned for his actions against Andre, the authorities in Salem seemed to turn a blind eye to this particular crime.

More than anything, Tony wanted to set a good example for our son, Gino.

The next DiMera heir...

“Well, we shall be back here in Aremid many times,” Tony smiled. “Perhaps we could make this our summer home if you like.”

I smiled, knowing that I would never get used to being rich. The idea of having more than one place to live just seemed unbelievable to me.

As I gazed along the beautiful gardens, I paused for a moment and gasped.

There, inside the new gazebo, I saw her!

“What’s wrong?” Tony asked, touching my arm.

The image faded right before my eyes.

Shaking my head, I laughed.

“Nothing,” I answered. “I guess I just thought I saw a ghost.”

“Oh, Leigh!” Tony laughed. “Surely you don’t believe all of those ghost stories about Aremid. That ‘Woman in White’ was Kristen’s mother, Rachel. That was just a hoax engineered by Stefano. Surely you are schooled enough in our family history to know the truth about that.”

“Yes, I know all about Rachel, Tony.”

But the ‘Woman in White’ that I saw was not Kristen’s mother.

The ‘Woman in White’ was Renee DiMera. She was standing in the gazebo, wearing a beautiful lace gown of white, her hair piled regally upside her head. As she held a bouquet of white roses, she gazed at the three of us.

And just for a brief moment, she smiled softly, having found some sort of peace and contentment at last...after so long...

Before she slowly faded away into the mists of Aremid...

THE END