"A mom's hug lasts long after she lets go." ~Author Unknown

Dr. Carly Manning left with her first love Lawrence and their son for Paris to start a new life away from Salem. Their joy together didn't last long. Lawrence began to show signs of a debilitating illness. A doctor in Switzerland confirmed their worst fears. Lawrence had an ailment that was attacking his brain. His illness made him irritable and borderline abusive. Instead of stashing him away in a facility for long-term care, Carly sent their son Nicky to boarding school and stayed home to personally care for her ailing husband. She loved him so much. She was so scared that she was gradually losing the man she loved. Each and every day, more of his brain would waste away. She was slowly losing Lawrence to an illness that could not be reversed. At the moment the doctor told her what the illness was doing to his brain, the doctor also warned her that the ailment would also make him sterile. There would never be another child. Not only would she lose her husband, but her last chance to become a mother. How Carly grieved for that child she could never have.

Sadness engulfed her most days as she dutifully cared for Lawrence. She missed her son, but he only came home every other weekend. She had no contact with anyone, except the servants as she couldn't leave Lawrence at home unattended. She was heartbroken and lonely. When the chance came up to go on a physician's retreat, Carly hired a nurse to stay with Lawrence so she could get some much needed time away from being her husband's sole caretaker.

She told Lawrence where she was going, but he wasn't happy. "You can't leave me, Katerina. I need you now," he begged, taking her hand.

He wouldn't let go even though Carly tried to pull away from his touch. He was squeezing her hand almost hurtfully. He looked lost and afraid.

"Lawrence, it's only for one weekend. Everything will be fine," Carly tried to reassure him. She attempted to smile, but the gesture did not calm him.

He lost his temper as he said, "If you go on this retreat, you'll REGRET it, Katerina. Hear my words. This is my only warning."

The look in his eyes chilled her to the core. Who WAS this man? He certainly was not the loving and tender husband that she had married. The disease had turned him into something unrecognizable. She was certain that Lawrence was on the verge of extreme violence. He scared her... and he scared himself. He was sinking fast, but Carly couldn't save him from drowning. She HAD to get away. She couldn't bear to see his suffering another moment, so she left.

She packed her bags and she went on the retreat. It was only one weekend, but two days later she came back... and she was pregnant. It wasn't her husband's child. The child she and Lawrence had so desperately wanted was growing beneath her heart, but it was not his baby. Carly, in her lonely state, had cheated on her beloved husband. How could she ever tell him?!

She waited until the very last minute before she finally sat at Lawrence's bedside and told him the news. "Lawrence, there's something I have to tell you. I am pregnant."

Lawrence was enraged when she told him about her pregnancy. He knew there was NO POSSIBLE WAY that he was the baby's father. He said in an angry and dangerous tone, "Katerina, you cheated on me."

"I know. And I am sorry. Please try to understand..."

"How can I understand?! You gave yourself to another man!"

"It was a mistake. It- it's you that I love. I swear it. I want to have this baby with YOU. You're my husband and I love you!"

"That baby will NEVER live under this roof. Get RID of it!" he barked.

"I- I can't. It would be too dangerous. I am too far along! And besides, I WANT this baby! It is my child."

"I am going to get out of this bed. I am going to walk... and as soon as that baby is born, I will make sure that your little mistake will be far, FAR away from our lives!" he threatened.

Tears fell from Carly's eyes. She didn't know the man lying within their bed. He wasn't Lawrence. He was someone else. So hurtful and unforgiving. She hoped and prayed he would never have the chance to carry out his unspeakable threats. She wanted to escape and protect her unborn child, but she couldn't. She had another child, her firstborn who absolutely adored his father. With Nicky in a boarding school hours away, she just couldn't take off and leave. She had to protect BOTH of her babies.

"Lawrence, please-."

"NEVER speak of it again!" he shouted. She jumped, startled by his angry reaction.

It wasn't until the day of the baby's birth when she and Lawrence spoke of it again. She thought he'd never have the strength to get out of bed, but he did. He followed her to the hospital and waited outside in the hall while she pushed her baby into the world.

Unlike Nicky's birth, Carly had an easy time having her daughter. Melanie was born healthy and strong. A nurse placed the crying, beautiful baby girl into Carly's waiting arms.

Tears slid down Carly's face when she saw her baby girl, because sadly, Lawrence's aunt had taken Nicholas away at his birth, but she was able to hold and cuddle this baby- her precious newborn daughter. After the nurses and doctor had left to let Carly bond with her infant, Lawrence walked in, standing over Carly's hospital bed.

"What are you doing here?" Carly asked uneasily, seeing the evil gleam in those greenish-hazel eyes of his. Those eyes had once held so much love and adoration for her, but now there was only hatred.

"I am your husband. I have the RIGHT to be here," he stated.

He reached out, snatching the infant from Carly's embrace. "What are you doing...what are doing with her?" Carly asked fearfully.

Lawrence only laughed as he pretended he might drop the tiny baby. "Ooops. You wouldn't want me to accidentally... drop her, would you?"

"Lawrence, please! Don't do this!" Carly begged.

He was staring down at little Melanie as if she was the child of Satan. "I found a home for your little mistake. I am sending her away like an orphaned dog."

"What?! No ... you can't!"

"We wouldn't want our son Nicholas to know what a whore his mother has become now, would we? This child is being put up for adoption!"

Then he walked out of the room, carrying Carly's newborn daughter in his arms. Carly never saw Melanie again. Lawrence saw to it that Melanie was adopted out to an unknown couple.

Everytime Carly cried, missing her baby girl, Lawrence would hatefully say, "She went to a good home. You should be glad I sent her to a couple who were longing for a child to love. If she lived her with us, she'd discover her mother was nothing but a dirty, rotten slut."

As the weeks and months passed, Carly grieved for her baby girl. She only got to hold and hug her for such a short time, but in those moments, she had bonded so deeply with her precious daughter. All she wanted was to escape Lawrence and find her child, but Lawrence purposely kept her from Nicky. She seldom got to see her son, because Lawrence feared she would run away with him.

She hoped that Melanie was in a happy home, loved and well-cared-for. Mostly she wished that she could be the one to do all those things for Melanie- that she could hug her, sing to her, and shower her with a mother's love.

Time flew quickly. Lawrence's brain had deteriorated so much that he had become a monster. Carly had painful bruises from his angry and violent outbursts. He blamed her for the one-night-stand that had produced her daughter. He was furious because he wished the child had been theirs.

One day, Carly could take it no more. During a vicious fight with her husband, she picked up a knife and stabbed Lawrence.

As he lay bleeding, he said, "You'll never find..."

*Melanie,* she answered for him in her mind.

She packed her bags and ran, returning to Salem to get help from her ex, Bo Brady. Under Bo's protection, Carly was reunited with her sweet daughter, Melanie. Sadly, she discovered that her daughter didn't grow up happy and loved. Lawrence had left her in an abusive home. When Carly tried to make contact with her daughter, Melanie turned away from her at first. She felt that Carly had abandoned her.

When Carly told Melanie her painful story, they both cried. "I always wanted you. I loved you... so much!" Carly implored.

"Why would you do it then; give me up?"

"I didn't want to give you up. My husband took you from me. He sent you away. I wanted you! Ohhh God, I wanted you! I nearly died when he took my baby girl. Melanie, you're MY baby. My baby girl. I love you!" Carly sobbed.

Melanie completely broke down as she cried in her mother's arms. Once again, Carly was reunited with her child. Melanie was back in her mother's embrace again. And this time she could hug her daughter and NEVER let her go.

Even as she held her sweet Melanie, tears flowed unchecked down her cheeks. Nicholas would hate her. She had killed his father. He would never understand. No one would. Even if Nicholas forgave her, would she ever be able to forgive herself, because in the end, she had been forced to murder the man that she loved.

THE END