Strange Bedfellows
~ ch. 9, continued ~

At Mrs. Landsbury’s strongly worded suggestion, Dara spent several eye opening hours exploring the first floor of Wyndemere.  The Cassadine housekeeper patiently allowed Dara to explain that she really had no reason to ‘become familiar’ with the lay of Wyndemere.  Mrs. Landsbury, in turn, ignored her protests and noted several rooms in the enormous dwelling that she believed the young attorney would come to enjoy during her time at the family home.

With almost childlike awe, Dara wandered from room to room of the ground floor.  She had been reluctant to violate her host’s privacy in that way.  But once she had realized that there were no personal quarters located on the first floor, Dara set about exploring with abandon.  It was too valuable an opportunity to gather insight into the inner workings of Stefan Cassadine.  Just like in the Wizard of Oz, Dara hoped that a glimpse behind the curtain of Stefan’s public persona might reveal to her the true man.

She ran a loving hand along the nearest row of leather-bound books.  The Cassadine library was filled with volumes as far as the eye could see, including this section of law books that would have made her law school professors green with envy.  Dara skimmed their titles.  Her fingers stopped upon a copy of a manuscript so rare that she could only gape in wonder.

“That is one of the prizes of Uncle’s legal collection.”  Dara was startled by the soft, cultured voice behind her.  She whirled guiltily.

Nikolas and Stefan Cassadine strode into the massive library.  Nikolas gave Dara a small, open smile as he walked up beside the silent attorney.  The younger Cassadine selected with ease a book from a place several shelves above the rare manuscript.  “This is another.”  He presented the aged book for Dara to see.

Dara slowly reached out and ran her hand across the cover of the book Nikolas held.  She shook her head as she realized that in a matter of moments she had held two treasures of her profession that 99.9 percent of her colleagues would never even see from a distance.  “Your collection is amazing.”

As Nikolas returned the tome to its place, Dara’s eye was caught by the sight of a common first year law school textbook nestled among the other precious books.  It was the type with which every law student began his most fundamental learning of the legal system. “An old textbook?” she asked in amused disbelief. 

Stefan crossed the room and pulled the simple book from its place on the shelf.  Carefully he opened the cover, revealing the inscription inside.  'I did what I could with what I had.’

With reverence Dara traced the small, careful signature of the Supreme Court Justice who had been her idol from the moment she decided to become a lawyer.  The beautiful young attorney reflected that she had been so caught up by the value of the other books that she dismissed the possible value of this one simple volume.

The day’s exploration had provided a lesson more valuable than any insight Dara might have hoped to achieve.  It was a lesson she intended to keep foremost in her mind.

  Continued