Chapter 4

Bo quickly ushered Jack and the young woman who had arrived with Nicky out the door in order to give mother and son some privacy. Nicky pulled away from his mother and led her back to the desk chairs, never letting go of her hands.

"Mom, please," he begged. "Please forgive me. I'm so sorry. I had no idea what Dad did to you all these years. If I'd known, I'd never have let him hurt you."

"Nicky, sweetheart," Carly spoke through her tears. "You couldn't have known. You were only a child. And how do you know your father hurt me? What's changed your mind about me? What brought all this on?" Carly had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach as to how Nicky had learned of her fate, but she needed to know for certain before things went any further.

"The journals, Mom. I found Dad's journals. I didn't read them all, but I read enough to know what he did to you. I know how he took your daughter from you, how he kept you under lock and key for years, how he…hurt you." Nicky looked away, unable to meet his mother's gaze.

"Oh, sweetheart. I'm so glad you're here now, but I would give anything if I could've kept you from reading those words. I've tried for years to protect my children and I've failed both you and your sister."

Nicky shook his head. "No, Mom, I needed to know the truth, and if I have anything to say about it, Melanie will, too. She needs to know what you sacrificed so that she could live. She needs to understand the monster you were protecting her from, that you protected me from. All those years and you never said anything. You never let on that you were being taken apart physically and emotionally. You knew that Dad was trying to turn me against you, and yet you kept silent, never letting on how you were suffering. You were so strong, Mom, but you don't have to be strong any more. Let me be strong for you, let me help you."

Carly's tears flowed anew at her son's impassioned plea. For the first time in months, she felt hope. If Nicky could be restored to her, then she was beginning to believe that Melanie could as well. She tenderly stroked Nicky's cheek, wiping his tears away, just as she'd done when he'd been a young boy. "You've already helped me so much, Nicky. Just you being here gives me hope that no matter what happens, I can face it."

"Nothing is going to happen to you," Nicky insisted. "I'm going to get through to my sister. We're going to get these charges dropped, and then you and I and Melanie are going to spend some time together. You can even bring Bo if you want," Nicky added with a smirk that resembled his mother's all too well.

Carly let the remark slide in favor of imparting what seemed to her as logic. "That's a nice dream, sweetheart, but the reality of the situation is very different. Melanie hates me, and with good reason. So does Daniel. Hell, pretty much everyone in this town save Bo hates me."

"Wait a minute," Nicky interjected. "Daniel? Do you mean Daniel Jonas, as in Melanie's father, Daniel Jonas?"

Carly looked puzzled. "That's him. Wait, how did you know Daniel was Melanie's father? Oh, Christ, please don't tell me it's gotten into the papers. Daniel's gonna kill me. He made me promise not to tell anyone, and Bo is the only one I told! Well, except for Chloe, but Daniel knows about that, and it isn't as though she'd go blabbing to the papers. Oh, God, he's gonna kill me! Melanie doesn't know yet and now she's gonna find out from some newspaper article and…"

Nicky grabbed his mother's flailing hands and marveled at her ability to babble like the proverbial brook. "No, Mom, no. There's no article. Relax, please. No one knows except for you, me, Bo, Daniel and this Chloe person. Calm down, all right? I found out because Dad knew, and he wrote about it in his journal. It was his last entry before he…died." Nicky seemed a little unsure as to how to phrase his father's demise.

"It's okay, Nicky," Carly said sensing her son's unease. "I…killed your father. I understand that must hurt you, and if there'd been another way out I would have taken it. I regret the necessity of it, but I'd do it again to protect you and your sister."

"That's just it, Mom. After learning what Dad did to you and the way he manipulated me to turn me against you, my only regret is that I didn't kill the bastard myself."

"Baby, no! Don't say that, please!" Carly begged. "Let my sins be mine. Don't take them on yourself."

"But, Mom, the things that he did to you; I can't even bear to think about them without wanting him to suffer as much as he caused you to!"

"I survived, Nicky. You and your sister both survived. That's all that matters. Now will you please tell me what your father wrote about Daniel? It could be important."

Nicky was able to quote his father's last journal entry ver batim to his mother. He feared that it along with several others was burned indelibly into his brain for all eternity. When he finished his mother had paled considerably and her hands trembled in his grasp. "Mom, are you all right?"

Carly nodded her head briefly and asked, "Did you bring the journals with you, Nicky?"

"Yes. I thought they would help in your defense."

"Good, good." Carly's mind was already racing a mile a minute, processing what this new development could mean for her relationships with Daniel and their daughter.

"Can you get Bo for me, sweetheart? And find out from Jack if I can go yet?"

"Of course. I've already rented a house for us. It's on the outskirts of town so it's secluded. It should give us plenty of privacy while we sort through everything. I'll get Bo, and we'll have you out of here in no time." Nicky exited though the office door and in less than thirty seconds, Bo took his place.

He gathered Carly in his arms and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. He thought she was weeping again, but he quickly realized she was laughing. More than a little concerned, he pulled away so that he could look in her eyes. The normal jade color seemed to Bo to be as bright as emeralds with joy despite the tear tracks he could make out on her cheeks.

"You haven't gone completely around the bend on me have you, Princess?" he asked with a smile.

Carly shook her head, her answering smile nearly blinding him with its brilliance. "I've got my son back, Bo. And maybe, just maybe, I can get my daughter back, too."

"We will, Princess," Bo assured her. "The girl who came with Nicky," Bo began only to be interrupted by Carly.

"You mean Carys? She's been Nicky's best friend since they were freshmen in high school."

"She spoke very highly of you, by the way," Bo continued. "But she also told Jack and me about some journals of Larry's that Nicky discovered. She and Nicky seem to think they can go a long way towards clearing you. Do you know what's in them?"

"A bit, but I don't want to get into it now. We only have a few more minutes before I'm not supposed to come within five miles of you or whatever the ridiculous terms of my bail state. There are other things I'd rather be doing." Carly's voice dropped an octave and subsequently Bo's libido shot through the roof. Standing on her toes, she covered his mouth with hers, and he lost the ability to think about anything other than the beautiful woman in his arms.

Bo lifted her to his desk and Carly's legs twined around his waist, their hands roaming each other's flesh, already trying to discard clothing. Some cognitive part of Bo's brain finally registered the fact that at least fifteen people, one being Carly's son, were all standing on the other side of the paper-thin wall waiting for them. He detached himself from her with a groan and began pulling her shirt back in place. The pout she gave him was nearly his undoing, but he kept his resolve while he righted his own clothing.

Reaching for her hand Bo helped her from the desk and led her to the door. Her hair was a mess, her lips were swollen from his kisses and God knew he could use a cold shower. At present, he was trying to picture his high school football coach, Coach Morrison, naked. There, he could at least leave the room without embarrassing himself. He tucked an errant strand of hair behind Carly's ear and swiped his thumb across her full bottom lip. Just before he opened the door to turn her over to her son and begin their court-enforced "separation," Bo leaned over and whispered in her ear, "I know the layout of the house Nicky rented. Take the bedroom at the back of the wing that's closest to the woods. And sleep with the window open."