Chapter Four
The celebration continued at the Black/Brady table, where the clinking of the glasses for the toast momentarily drowned out the gasps of awe from the other diners at Tuscany at the amazing sight that stood elegantly poised in the doorway of Salem's fine dining establishment. "Have you set a date yet?" John inquired curiously to Belle and Shawn after he had taken his obligatory sip following Marlena's toast. The other conversations around Tuscany had completely stopped, but the occupants at the table hadn't noticed the complete standstill of the thriving restaurant.
Belle hesitated, and then she announced in her always-direct way, "Let's get this out of the way. I'm not pregnant!" Concerned and puzzled faces met hers, wondering where that statement had came from. Shawn reacted by blushing twenty-five shades of pink. Brady eyed Shawn evilly, planning on how, exactly, he would make him pay. "Anyway," Belle continued, unaware of the puzzlement she had created, "I've always wanted a Christmas wedding. So, Shawn and I have decided to get married, this Christmas Eve!"
The puzzlement cleared from everyone's faces and was replaced with relief. Marlena's eyes fluttered furiously again as she announced frantically to the table at large, "We don't have much time, Belle! There's so much to do. The church, the dress, the cake, the decorations…" She half-stood from her chair as she exclaimed nervously, "We've got to get started, Belle. Now!"
The whole table laughed at Marlena and her pre-wedding jitters. John pulled his harried wife gently back down into her seat. Belle replied calmly to her mother, with a large smile on her face, "Don't worry about it, Mom. We can start planning everything tomorrow. There'll be plenty of time to get everything done."
Brady grinned good-naturedly at his flustered stepmother. She so very rarely lost her composure. It was always enjoyable to watch the sophisticated Dr. Marlena Evans lose her famous cool. "Yeah, Marlena," he said, eyeing Belle with a look of amusement. "There's nearly two weeks before the wedding. Plenty of time."
Belle slapped her brother on the shoulder, who was sitting in the seat next to her. "Brady! You are not allowed to say things like that right now. This could become a very tense situation." She laughed in delight and clapped her hands together, so completely excited about her upcoming nuptials.
Brady laughed again at his sister's expense. He always enjoyed teasing Tink. "I know, Belle. I love making you squirm!" The whole table laughed again, enjoying the banter between the brother and sister.
As all of the teasing was happening at the Black/Brady table, a small sensation was occurring throughout the rest of Tuscany. Chloe, Greta, and Hope stood poised casually on the small landing as the majority of the diners turned and recognized them. There was a sudden quiet and then a quick murmur of voices as people pointed and looked as the three very beautiful women gracefully walked down the steps, blatantly ignoring the reaction their arrival had caused.
"Holy shit!" A man said loudly, close to the Black/Brady table, causing the people gathered there to look at each other in question. "I've never seen anything like this before! Look, over there, by the hostess stand." Continued murmurings ran through the diners.
His friend turned around and looked to where his friend was pointing. He couldn't pry his eyes off of the women meeting with the owner of Tuscany. "Whoa…Man, they are hot!" He thumped his hand hard a couple of times over his heart, to make certain it was still working properly. "Damn, they look so familiar, like they've stepped off a TV screen or magazine or something."
The commotion caused a sudden quiet at their table. Marlena fluttered her eyes frantically again as she eavesdropped on this loud conversation and looked quizzically about her. She finally noticed the sudden stillness of the restaurant, and then the hushed conversations. She shrugged her shoulders dramatically when everyone at the table looked at her. Marlena had the best seat to view the hostess stand from their table. The private table Belle had requested was hidden nearly from view by large, green plants. This was the reason why none of the occupants of the table had been aware of the new arrivals.
Marlena leaned over in her chair, taking a look to the side of the beautiful potted plants that blocked most of their table from view. She could only view the back of the three women who were being greeted by Maggie.
"What is it?" John asked with impatient curiosity. The others murmured in agreement, wondering what had caused the nearly standstill activity of the normally bustling restaurant.
Marlena waved her hand out at him, effectively shushing him. "I don't know yet. Let me see…" She trailed off as she witnessed Maggie enthusiastically hugging one of the women, with a jubilant smile on her face. "Maggie seems awfully happy to see them. They look very familiar, for some reason," Marlena continued as she stood up and peered around the plant, trying to get a better look at the new arrivals.
Marlena felt a shock of extreme surprise run through her as she got what she was looking for. "Oh dear lord!" she exclaimed slowly. She turned to the table, not certain how to break the news of what she had just seen with her own eyes to the people dining at the table. Her eyes opened wide with surprise and concern.
"Well?" Shawn and Belle asked at the same time. Brady used his hands to question Marlena. John looked on, with one eyebrow raised. Bo stared intently at Marlena, his excellent Salem PD police instincts just starting to kick in. Something interesting was occurring in Tuscany, he knew.
"You'll never believe it," Marlena said as she slowly sank down into her seat. She decided that seeing was better than explaining the unexpected sight to the whole table. "Ummm, ahhh, you had better take a look for yourself." She motioned again in the direction of Maggie.
John stood up immediately, towering over the large foliage by their table. "My god!" he exclaimed as his eyes immediately found the women who were casually walking to a table for dining, without any knowledge of the group partially hidden in the corner. He took a deep breath and rested his hands with a tight grip on the top of his chair.
"All right!" Brady explained with an honest grin to his father and Marlena.. "Now I'm really interested. First, the restaurant comes to a standstill. Now, everyone is talking mutely, as if there is some big secret. Two men swear they've seen some type of celebrity. And you two looked completely shocked. What gives?"
Both John and Marlena looked at Brady, and then glanced worriedly at each other. They wondered how he would take the news about who had returned to Salem. Their gazes reflected their joint concern for Brady.
Belle replied to Brady before her parents could, feeling frustrated with the new arrivals who were apparently destroying her celebration. "I'm going to find out," she said huffily to no one in particular.
Belle stood up and walked over to the edge of their table, where Marlena was sitting and looked over the crowd of diners. It only took her a second to locate the unusual sight at Tuscany. She covered her cheeks with her hands in a classic Belle pose when she realized who had caused the uncommon commotion. She turned her expressive face to the table, causing the rest of the occupants to wonder what was going on. "Ahh…." Belle said incoherently, trying to get the words out of her mouth. She could only point mutely with her hand in the direction of the surprising trio who were making their way to their table.
"Enough of this!," Brady exclaimed impatiently. "I'll find exactly what's going on." He stalked out of his chair and joined his sister by the foliage. Whatever was causing the shock on his family's face had disappeared from view, so Brady needed to step completely in front of the increasingly annoying large plant.
Brady's magnificent blue eyes searched the crowd intently, looking for the cause of the disturbance. He was able to follow the turned heads to the location of the new arrivals. Brady cocked his head to one side as he started to feel something electric shoot through him. He had only felt that electricity around one person before in his life. Finally, he located the three women but he could only see the backs of the women.
His eyes zeroed in on the woman in the sexy forest green dress. She seemed to be the source of the amazing amount of electricity. "No," he murmured quietly to himself when his heart and soul recognized the woman simply from looking at her back. He watched in extreme disbelief as that one person turned her head slightly so he could positively identify her amazing profile with his mind. Chloe! His heart screamed as he watched her take a seat at a table across the room, with her back completely to him.
Shawn and Bo had joined Brady by now at his post by the strategically placed large green plants. "My god!" Shawn exclaimed as he viewed his mother, Princess Greta, and Chloe Lane preparing to calmly enjoy a meal, as if it hadn't been three years since they had last set foot in Tuscany or on Salem soil. "I can't believe it!" Bo didn't say anything. The angry vein pumping wildly on the side of his forehead gave away his agitation to anyone who was watching him.
Brady felt paralyzed. He couldn't move because of the shock of seeing Chloe again. When Chloe had left Salem so suddenly, and had become such an international sensation, along with Greta and Hope, he had concluded that he would never see her here, in sleepy Salem, again. She would inhabit the fast lane of Europe, floating from one social gathering to the next. At this moment, he realized how false his beliefs were. Now he could taste bitterly how wrong his conclusions were about Chloe. He abruptly returned to his seat, carefully controlling the strong emotions that wanted to overrule him and spill out. Keep it together, Black, he ordered himself as Belle, Marlena, and John looked at him with mute sympathy reflected in their eyes.
"I'm, mmmm, I'm completely shocked!" Marlena explained as the rest of the group joined them silently, with varying degrees of anger or resentment or shock showing on their faces. "I don't know why, but, after being away for so long, I never expected them to come back."
Shawn could feel the angry resentment he carried around for his mother start to bubble up. He put a tight lid on it, remembering that tonight was about him and Belle. It was supposed to be a joyous event spent with the people who meant the most to them. "Hey," Shawn said suddenly, breaking into their silence and causing all heads to turn to him, "so they're back. Big deal. Did we come here to celebrate or what?"
John and Marlena looked worriedly at each other. They again wondered what kind of effect Chloe's arrival would have on Brady. John turned to Shawn and answered, as jovially as he could muster, "You're right! Let's enjoy this meal, and the good company at our table."
Brady watched as the heads started to nod in agreement. He was still emotionally reeling from the shock but no one could tell that from the stoic expression on his face. Then, he forcefully grabbed his conflicting emotions in check and reminded himself of something very important. She didn't have faith in you, or trust enough in your love, he told himself as the conversation began to flow more evenly around him and he made an attempt to appear to be actively involved in it. She didn't believe in you. She didn't love you enough. Black, she deserted you. Forget about her. Only his heart had a hard time listening to his mind when it came to Chloe Lane.