His decision to remain in Oakdale was much easier accomplished than his moving out of the Lakeview Hotel and finding an apartment of his own. He couldn't afford a nice place in the heart of Oakdale, nor was he really welcome there, but he was determined to stay....just for her....or the promise of her and a future together. He had nothing and no one in Australia, no diamond to help save his ancestor's station, no friends, no career.....nothing, but Lily. She was everything to him, and because of her he knew that he had to make a life for himself in Oakdale.

Taking on more hours at the garage was a beginning. Perhaps a pathetic beginning since he had so many other talents and skills, but it was a start nevertheless. Working full-time would at least enable him to afford a small studio apartment on the outskirts of town and support himself long enough until he figured out what he was going to do next to try and win Lily back. He wasn't sure if he could reach her and get her to own her feelings for him, but he couldn't just give up... not without a fight. She loved him...that much he was sure of.....so maybe if he simply remained patient and just continued to trust in "them" she would eventually return to him......

The sound of his newly connected phone ringing in his studio apartment snapped Simon out of his own thoughts. He cleared his throat before picking up the phone.

"Hello?" he said into the receiver unsure of who could possibly be calling him at his new number. He hadn't given it out to anyone yet, since there really wasn't anyone in Oakdale who would want it - except for Lily maybe.

"Yes, hello," the woman at the other end of the line replied. She had a slight British accent and the phone reception was fuzzy - as if the call was being made from overseas. "My name is Natalie Mercutio....and I'm looking for a Simon Frasier?"

"Yeah, speaking...." He was baffled. He didn't know anyone by that name.

"Hi, Simon," the woman continued. "I'm glad I found you. In the letter you sent to my mother about a year ago you didn't leave a number where you could be reached. You said only that you'd be in Oakdale....and I was grateful to discover that you were listed....the operator found your number right away."

"Well, I guess I became listed as of three days ago," he answered. "Who'd you say you were again?" He ran his fingers through his hair then gasped when he realized that he had oil all over his hands.

"Natalie....Natalie Mercutio. Almost a year ago you sent a letter to my mother's home addressed to my dad..... Peter Mercutio."

"Oh," Simon whispered as he began to remember the events that preceded his trip to Oakdale. He had been researching his family tree in his quest for the Rose of Sharon. His relatives were basically unknown to him since generations of squabbling had torn his family apart, but his quest for the diamond led him to a name of one of his father's cousins....one whom he had never met and his father had never mentioned....a Peter Mercutio whose last address was listed as being in London England.

"Peter Mercutio's your father?" Simon replied. "You're my cousin then...."

"Yes, yes I am..." Natalie sounded pleased. "Fourth generation cousins, I think...but we're most definitely related somehow. I really don't know much about my father's side of the family, so imagine my surprise when mom showed me your letter. ..."

"You read it, then, and know about the research I've been doing?"

"Yes, I was intrigued by it from the very beginning. You said that you were trying to learn more about your ancestry and your family line....particularly that relating to your great grandfather Simon Sr. and a woman to whom he always referred as Beloved....and something about having inherited his love letters...."

"Yeah," he said. "I'm actually no longer researching this stuff.... and I'm really not interested anymore...."

"That's too bad," Natalie replied, "because after asking some questions around here, digging around my family's closets, and playing Sherlock Holmes myself..... I've learned some pretty interesting things about our family! Of course I'm also thrilled to discover that I have a cousin who was living in Australia but for whatever reason is now in the States....."

"I can't say that I'm interested in what you've learned, because I'm really not," Simon chuckled, "but I am glad to know that I have a cousin who shares my curiosity and talents in snooping! I'm glad you called Natalie, and who knows, maybe one day we can actually get together and compare notes on our families." He was tired, and as pleased as he genuinely felt about meeting a long lost cousin, he was anxious to get in the shower and wash all the motor oil he had just smeared all over his hair.

"Her family name was Goddard...."

"Excuse me?" Simon asked.

"Beloved," Natalie replied quite pleased with herself. "I don't know her first name, but she was a Goddard.....something Goddard." Simon was stunned...and speechless.

"Hello? Cousin?" Natalie began. "Miss. Goddard. At least we now have a name...."

"Goddard," Simon whispered back.

"Yeah....and there's more...she lived and died right here in England.... southern end....out in the countryside."

The Oakdale Public Library. Who would've ever guessed that he'd even for a moment step foot in this building? But he was there....waiting for a computer terminal to become available. He was second in line, but the wait no doubt would be a long one.

"I just need to log on to the Internet for about 30 minutes," he thought to himself. "Why can't this library purchase more computers for public use...." He had never been a patient man and waiting in lines - waiting for anything - drove him nuts. He didn't even fully understand why he was bothering to follow-up on what Natalie had told him the night before. The only reason why he had been researching his great grandfather's relationship with Beloved was to track that diamond he gave to her. Simon had found the Rose of Sharon after months of research - only to lose it to Celia - and then had to watch Celia drown because of it and with it. Such a sick and twisted tragedy it all had been! Now he wanted only to bury every memory of that diamond in the past and never to think about it again. But Natalie had discovered so much more to his great grandfather's story and about Beloved, and it intrigued him.

Peter Mercutio, Simon's father's cousin and Natalie's dad, had passed on when Natalie was still in grade school. She had always been close to her father and had wanted to learn more about his side of the family when he died. So when she received Simon's letter and read about Simon Sr. and his Beloved, she became Sherlock Holmes of twentieth century England and picked up where Simon's research had left off.

Natalie discovered that her grandfather Michael had shared a lot with her mother about how some of his family ended up in England despite their strong Australian roots. Natalie's granddad said that his father David had moved to England in order to "save" his family's name. One of his cousins, Simon (Sr.) had fallen in love with a "low class" woman who would have disgraced their entire family had she become part of it - so the Frasier clan believed at the time, anyway. The entire family then schemed and plotted and used their power and fortune to get this woman out of Simon Sr.'s life and out of Australia. David (Natalie's great grandfather) headed up the plan to kidnap and transport "Beloved" to England, accompanied her to her new home to make sure she really went there and stayed there. Once in England, though, David discovered new business ventures in the country that could help expand his family's fortune. So he decided to stay and eventually married an English woman named Alexis, and raised a family - their oldest son was Michael, Natalie's grandfather.

Simon's head began to ache as he recalled the rather intricate tale of relations that his newly found cousin had shared with him. And this entire mess - families being ripped apart, not knowing each other, not speaking with one another - was a result of snobbish family pride and obsession with power and money. All of which they ultimately lost in the end anyway. It disgusted him. But Simon knew that he hadn't been very different from his relatives when it came to money and power - not until he met Lily, anyway - and fell in love. She changed his life, his priorities....changed him....and he had never felt more alive. Now, although he felt closer to his great grandfather Simon than to anyone else in his entire screwy family, he was determined not to suffer the same fate as his great granddad. No one was going to keep him and Lily from being together....no one and nothing.

Natalie's snooping also revealed that because her great grandfather David remained in England, he made sure that "Beloved" stayed away from his cousin Simon (Sr.) forever. But what was even more intriguing was the friendship that formed between David's wife Alexis and "Beloved." Apparently, Alexis never approved of what her husband and his family did to put an end to "Beloved's" and Simon's love affair. She took pity on "Beloved" and befriended her. Unbeknownst to David, his wife and the woman he kidnapped from his cousin became very close friends. It was that friendship that helped lead Natalie to the discovery of Beloved's famiy name....Goddard.

"Goddard," Simon whispered to himself. He didn't know exactly what he was going to research on the Internet or how he was going to follow-up on Natalie's lead...but he had to do something. How many Goddard's could there be in England anyway?? The answer to his own question made his head hurt even more.