Part 5
Roman looked at his
mother and at his sister, who were
sitting opposite him. Kayla’s face was expressionless while Caroline’s was a
mixture of uneasiness, reproach and sadness; her eyes lowered. Roman already
told them of Starr’s birth, Melanie’s visit and Frankie’s presence in town.
‘Sooner or later this
day had to come. Melanie’s more aware of Carly’s past with Bo now. And I doubt
Frankie will count himself as a member of
this family from now on after he hears what happened to his sister. His sister,
Mum. How can we say we’re Frankie’s family after Carly was treated like an
outsider by all of us? What sort of excuse are we going to give him? Or we’re
just going to act all defensive and do to him what we did to his sister; his
only blood relative? We accused her of coming to wreck Bo’s marriage. We didn't
care to listen to her side of the story of Alamain’s murder. Like it or not,
we’ve got a lot to answer for.’
‘I’m aware of that,
Roman.’ Kayla said, her tone flat. She’d been away for a week attending a
medical conference, thus didn't know about Carly’s illness until Roman informed her and Caroline. ‘But what
exactly can we do about this now? What’s done is done; Frankie can’t expect us
to go down on our knees and start apologising.’
‘Do you hear yourself?’
Roman asked harshly. ‘Is this how we would’ve treated Carly years ago after
Hope suddenly came back? Have Bo throw Carly and Melanie out of his life
because of his history with Hope? Look at how we all swept Carly’s past with
Bo, with this family, under the rug because we cared too much about Hope’s
feelings! For god sake; Carly was one of us!’
‘Fine, she didn't
come back here for the reasons we thought,’ Kayla snapped. ‘But all the same
she shouldn’t have come back here; she was a complication Bo didn’t need...’
‘Don’t you ever call her that again!’ Kayla rose, backing away from
her brother’s wrath, his fist pounding the kitchen table.
‘Roman,
Kayla... please stop, just stop.’ Caroline demanded, her voice trembling. ‘I
can’t watch you two arguing, please.’
Roman
scowled at his sister, not heeding their mother. Kayla scowled back, trying not
to be intimidated by him but felt her eyes lowering.
‘Is
Carly going to be alright?’ Caroline asked slowly.
‘She’s
still in a coma; what she’s got is life
threatening.’ Roman turned to her, replying with great effort as he was still
simmering with anger.
‘And...’
Caroline swallowed, ‘the baby?’
‘She’s
in the NICU right now.’
‘Oh
my God...’ Caroline closed her eyes, bowing her head. ‘How angry is he...
Frankie?’
‘From
what Jennifer told me over the phone, I can only imagine how he’s feeling right
now. I don’t know about you two but I’m going over to the hospital right now to
see Carly and my niece; your granddaughter. Hope can say what she likes; I’m
done shunning my brother’s ex because of her.’
Picking
up his car keys, he left the house; slamming the door behind him.
Kayla
sighed deeply, sitting down next to her sobbing mother and put her arms round
her. ‘Mum, you’re going make yourself ill; please stop crying.’
‘How
will I face Frankie? He will never
forgive us...’
‘Mum,
stop it... it’s going to be alright...’ Kayla soothed.
‘How’s it going to be alright? Frankie’s my son, your
brother... what are you going to tell
him?’ Caroline demanded. ‘Carly’s his
sister, Kayla... one of the many things we conveniently forgot about!’
Kayla
shook her head, refusing to give in to guilt. ‘That may be true Mum... but
Carly shouldn’t have gotten involved with Bo.
Whatever the circumstances, her relationship with Bo was wrong.’
Caroline
pushed Kayla’s arm away from her shoulder. ‘after everything that’s been going
on in this family over the years... Kayla; who are we to judge what’s right and
what’s wrong?’ More tears rolled down her cheeks as memories flooded in. ‘ I
cheated on your father... for selfish reasons. You got involved with your
sister’s ex-husband.’
Kayla
bit her lower lip. ‘Mum...’
‘What right
did we have to judge Carly?’ Caroline
shouted. ‘She came back to find her daughter... she endured years of abuse
instead of contacting Bo to help her! That’s the extent of how much she loves him! Carly was like a daughter to
me.... she was your friend. How will we explain our actions to Frankie... you tell
me that!’
Long
awkward silence.
:::::::::::::
‘I should go,’ Hope sat
up, only to be pulled back down.
‘Stay, please.’
She sighed, resting
her head against his shoulder; her body still tingling from his lovemaking. ‘I
can’t stay the night, Ciara will be wondering where I am,’ she whispered,
running her fingers over his chest longingly.
‘She’s your daughter,
not your keeper. You can call and tell Kiriakis you’ll be out half the night,
cop stuff.’
Hope smiled faintly as she raised her head,
pressing a kiss on his mouth. Since the day she’d met him at Ciara’s school
she’d sensed the attraction for him and vice versa and fought hard against it;
her love for Bo the main reason. But the
feelings she had for this man couldn’t be ignored anymore. He’d found her at
the docks, upset over her fight with Jennifer and in the middle of comforting
her, had kissed her. Dinner had led to him taking her back to his place; where
they finally gave in to passion. It was different from her time with Patrick.
She had been taken in by him true but it was mostly out of revenge towards Bo
for his betrayal; an act of revenge she later found out to be futile. But now,
she felt no guilt or remorse.
Aiden Jennings kissed Hope back, wrapping his arms
round her tightly.
Pulling back a
little, he stroked one eyebrow with the tip of his finger. ‘This isn’t a one
night stand for me. I don’t want an affair; I want a relationship, a real
relationship with you.’
‘Aiden...’ Hope sat
up, clutching the sheet to her chest.
‘I mean it, Hope.’
Aiden’s strikingly handsome face was stern. ‘We’ve been keeping back how we
feel for each other for a very long time. We can’t deny it any longer.’
‘Not
after this we can’t,’ Hope reluctantly agreed.
‘What’s
this about, then?’ Aiden cupped her chin. ‘Do you still nurse the hope that Bo
will come back to you? Or... is this a way of getting back at him?’
‘No!’
Hope denied, stung by the question. ‘Of course not.’
‘Then
we do we go from here, Hope? I know what I want but what about you?’
‘It’s a
little more complicated than you think.’
‘You’re
afraid of what your family’s going to think about us, aren’t you?’
‘Well,
yes.’ Hope admitted. ‘Technically, Bo and I aren’t married... but he’s still
the father of my children and we’ve been together for years. We had our rough
patches but we always got through them.’
‘If
this was another rough patch, you wouldn’t be in bed with me right now.’
Hope
couldn’t argue with that. Bo’s been away for months... No letter after the one
she got through John; no phone call, not one word to let her know he was
alright. All because of his “deep undercover” mission. Just thinking about it
made her angry and resentful all over again. If Bo really loved his family,
truly put them first; he wouldn’t be gone at all. She was the one who’s been
raising their daughter alone; Ciara affected by her father’s absence. Lonely
nights, wondering if Bo would come home anytime soon and they will be a family
again.
Will
they ever be a family even if he came back tomorrow? She just made love to
another man... and she didn’t feel guilty, but she still loved Bo. She turned
to look at Aiden and the tender expression on his face made her want to cry. She
touched his cheek. ‘Give me time to think.’ She said softly. ‘Please... my feelings
are just all over the place right now. Please?’
Aiden looked at her for a few seconds then nodded,
drawing her back into his arms.
:::::::
‘She’s
beautiful, Mel.’ Roman said softly, peering down at Starr through the glass. ‘And
it’s a beautiful name Carly picked out for her.’ He’d already seen Carly, very
sad to see how pale and ill she looked under the oxygen mask.
Melanie
shrugged. ‘Thanks for the flowers and the baby stuff.’
‘It’s
the least I could do. Even before Jennifer called me, I thought about what you
said the day you came to the station. And you’re right, Mel. We acted badly. And
we should’ve told you more about your Mum, especially since you could’ve been
Bo’s daughter. I’m really sorry.’
So you should be,
Abby, who was standing beside Melanie, thought scathingly but said nothing.
‘Where’s
Frankie?’
‘I
sent him and Molly to Mum’s house; they needed the rest. You remember Molly?’
Roman frowned. ‘Molly... Molly Brinker?’
‘She’s
Scofield now.’
So she married Tanner, Roman
thought. ‘I see. So you know Mel, if I really knew where Bo was, I would
contact him in a heartbeat and get him to come home.’
Melanie
and Abby exchanged glances, they’d agreed not to tell any of the Bradys or the
Hortons of their plan to locate Bo.
Roman
continued, ‘I told Sami about Carly and Starr, she promised to come by with
Marlena in the morning. And... I sure hope you’ll go easy on Jennifer from now
on.’
‘Please
don’t mention her.’ Melanie turned to Abby. ‘Sorry.’
Abby
shook her head reassuringly.
Roman
patted Melanie’s shoulder. ‘There’s going to be amends being made, Mel. Try and
be generous; okay? I’m going to say the same thing to Frankie. I’ll see you
girls tomorrow.’
‘Good
night and thanks.’ Melanie waited for him to leave before turning back to Abby. ‘I’d like to see just what Caroline,
Kayla and Victor will explain to Frankie. Speaking of Victor...’ she noticed
Abby looking over her shoulder and turned.
‘Melanie.’
‘Nick!
You’re here finally, thank God!’ Melanie rushed to her brother. Abby stared at
Nicholas as he enveloped Melanie in his arms.
He’s here, the
man who’s been haunting her dreams.
