Chapter 21

The four people seated around the table in the back corner of the Brady Pub on Sunday morning could hardly be described as a group happy to see one another. Fortunately they were the Pub's only occupants at such an early hour, save for Arianna, who had taken their drink orders when they had arrived. Picking up on the tension in the air, Arianna had quickly delivered three coffees and one ice water to the table. She had then skedaddled behind the bar, wondering to herself if it was too early in the morning for a drink. Bo and Carly sitting opposite Doug and Julie made Arianna want to occupy space that was anywhere other than her current location. Awkward didn't even begin to cover it.

Had Arianna been able to read Carly's mind, she would have discovered she was not alone in her desire to be elsewhere. Carly could bring to bear any number of other activities she would have preferred over her present situation, including, but not limited to, root canals with no anesthetic. As it was, she sipped her ice water and clutched Bo's hand under the table in a death grip. She had forced herself to eat a piece of toast before they left home, and now she swore that every crumb of bread was lodged in her throat and threatening reappearance at any moment. The death glare she was receiving from Doug Williams was not helping relations with her stomach, either.

The man had been staring at her as if she were the Whore of Babylon since she and Bo had arrived. In between bouts of glaring, he insisted on laying blame to Carly and Bo for every wrong ever perpetrated against his precious daughter, and Carly had heard just about enough of his "Poor Little Hope" routine.

Bo, sensing that Carly's temper was about to be unleashed, pried his hand loose from the vice-like hold Carly had on it and laid his hand on her thigh. He squeezed just hard enough to get her attention, and when she turned her gaze to him, Bo spoke at last, interrupting Doug's tirade.

"Doug, that's enough," Bo said in a tone that left no room for argument. "Carly and I asked you to meet with us to discuss Ciara, nothing more. Hope and I are done. I'm sorry if she got hurt, Doug, I really am. But our marriage was over long before Carly came back into my life. Hope and I had our problems. Some we worked through, but others, well, we just couldn't. Or didn't. It really doesn't matter now. But I will not sit here and listen to you bad-mouth Carly. Can we discuss this like adults, or should I just take the papers Hope left for me and tell Ciara that she can't see her grandparents any more?"

Incensed, Doug shouted, "You'd never keep my granddaughter from me!"

"I will," Bo vowed. "I have to make certain that Ciara has a healthy environment to grow up in, and that means surrounding her with people who love her and won't try and undermine the foundation of the home and family that Carly and I are building."

"If you think for a minute that I'm going to sit back and let this two-bit floozy raise my granddaughter, you've got another thing coming! I'll sue you for custody of Ciara! I'll take her if I have to. It's bad enough that you've thrown away my daughter's love for a piece of trash, but I'll be damned if I'll let you drag that little girl down with you."

Doug's face had gone beet red. His breathing was shallow and erratic from his fury. Medically speaking, Carly wondered briefly about the state of the man's blood pressure. As a doctor, she'd taken an oath to help her fellow man; as a woman thoroughly pissed off at the insults which had been lobbed at her, she momentarily considered letting Doug Williams fall face-first into his forgotten cup of coffee, the victim of a well-timed stroke. They weren't that far from the hospital. Theoretically, EMS should be able to reach the Pub in plenty of time.

Then she stole a glimpse at the woman seated next to Doug. Julie Williams was, by nature, not a reticent individual. She normally radiated life. Long ago, Julie had welcomed Carly into her family with open arms, and Carly had felt privileged to call Julie "friend." In fact, Julie, along with her grandmother, Alice, had each played a significant part in Carly's first relationship with Bo.

Now, though, Julie looked…lost. That was it. Hope had fled to parts unknown, given away her child and from the anguish painting Julie's features, Hope's most recent escapades had left her older sister bereft. For the affection she once bore Julie Williams, Carly swallowed her anger and laid her hand on Bo's arm, staying her fiancée's ire.

"Bo, please," Carly's quiet request took Bo by surprise, causing him to falter mid-rant. "Let's not fight with Doug and Julie. They love Ciara, too, and I believe they only want what's best for her."

Gruffly, Doug interjected, "That's the smartest thing I've heard come out of your mouth, young lady. And the best thing for Ciara is to be with us, if she can't be with her mother."

"Her mother," Bo replied through gritted teeth. "Took off and left her behind."

"She left because you broke her heart!" Doug was back to shouting, and Carly leaned back in her chair, mentally throwing her hands in the air. This back-and-forth blame game was getting them nowhere. At the rate they were going, Ciara would be ready for college before they could extricate themselves from this god-awful conversation.

"Doug, sweetheart, don't." Julie's voice sounded over Doug's wrath, and he turned to look at his wife as though she'd sprouted a second head. Having gained his attention, Julie bravely forged ahead. "Hope is a big girl. She made her choice, as did Bo. Hope didn't have to leave town, and she certainly didn't have to give over her rights to Ciara. But she did, and her reasons for her behavior are her own. Justin helped her. He told us he spoke with Hope at length, and he felt she understood the ramifications of her actions. Do you trust Justin's opinion?"

"I don't know," Doug moaned. "I don't know what to think anymore. I only know that my little girl is gone, and these two," he jabbed a finger in Bo and Carly's direction. "Are to blame!"

Julie's head slowly shook, indicating that Doug was incorrect in his assessment. "Honey, you know I love Hope with all my heart, and I'd do anything to help her. But something has been wrong with her, to one degree or another, for a very long time. You and I have only enabled her behavior. We stood by and watched her blame Bo for Zach's death. We glossed over her affair with Patrick. We didn't stop her berating Bo for Ciara's kidnapping, even though it was Bo who, by the grace of God, was able to ultimately rescue Ciara. Hope made the decision to take Ciara from Bo and run away to us without telling Bo what she was doing. We knew that, we knew it was wrong to put Bo through that kind of emotional turmoil, but we did nothing. Then Hope chose to move with Ciara into Victor's, even though she knew how Bo felt about it. Hope told me herself that Bo begged her to give them another chance. He tried to explain to her that it wasn't safe for her to come home because of the…situation with Carly, but Hope didn't believe him."

"And she was right not to," Doug insisted. "Bo just wanted to play house with this one," he jerked a thumb in Carly's direction. "And string my daughter along for the ride."

Again, Julie sadly shook her head. "No, sweetheart. Bo did what he always does. He protects those who need help. Not that I'm entirely pleased with you two," Julie informed Bo and Carly. "But I do believe that you did not come here to destroy Bo's marriage, Carly."

Julie's statement was a double-edged sword, and unsure of how to respond, Carly merely nodded. Turning back to her husband, Julie hoped that he would listen to her.

"Bo and Hope were the only two in their marriage, and ultimately, they were the two who ended it. The fall-out may be nuclear, darling, but you cannot blame Carly for all of Bo and Hope's marital problems."

Doug took his wife's hands. "But, Julie. Why would Hope leave Ciara? Can you explain that to me, please, because I can't think of one good reason why my daughter would do something as thoughtless and hurtful as give up her rights to her child? She didn't just leave town, for heaven's sake; she actually signed away her legal rights as a parent! That is not my daughter!"

Julie closed her eyes fleetingly, praying for guidance. Doug had always been blind to Hope's more questionable behavior. Hope's teen antics had nearly destroyed Doug and Julie's happiness, and Julie had been ring-side for the majority of fits that Hope had pitched throughout her life in order to get whatever shiny object had caught her attention. Though she loved her baby sister beyond reason, Julie was a practical woman. And Hope, though at turns generous and loving, still harbored the spoiled-brat mentality that had driven her as a teenager. As her sibling, Julie could see this. As Hope's father, Doug could not and most likely never would.

"Darling, I can't begin to guess what is going on inside Hope's head at the moment. But I don't believe that Justin, as an officer of the court and more importantly as some one who cares for Hope very deeply, would file paperwork on her behalf if he thought for even a moment that Hope was not operating of her own free will. Perhaps Hope realized that she couldn't help Ciara until she worked through things on her own. Maybe she decided to go find herself. Maybe she's having some sort of mid-life crisis.

What ever Hope's reasons, we will just have to wait for her to disclose them to us. We have no way of knowing where she went so we can't follow her, and even if we did know her destination, I'm not certain that tracking her down would be the best course of action."

"Why not? I'm her father. It's my job to make her see sense. She's made a terrible mistake, and it's up to me to correct it for her."

"Oh, sweetheart," Julie said, not without sympathy. "I think it's time that you let Hope stand on her own. She's a grown woman, and if she's made a mistake, then she'll have to be the one to right it. You can't fight this battle for her."

Doug flagged under his wife's declarations, and Carly felt the first stirrings of compassion for the man who so blatantly disliked her. No one understood better than she the desire to protect one's child, even from themselves. Doug suddenly seemed older than he was as he pondered, for what was likely the first time, the idea that his daughter's actions couldn't be rectified by his own iron will. He met Julie's eyes; then looked hard at Carly before his gaze came at last to rest upon Bo.

"Will you let us see Ciara?"

Bo paused for a moment before nodding once. "But only if you promise to lay off Carly and me. I mean it, Doug. I get that Hope is your daughter, but Ciara is mine. She's already calling Carly 'mommy.' And Carly is who she's turned to for comfort the past few days. You saw that yourself when you took her to Hope's. I know that you and Julie love Ciara, and she adores both of you. No matter how adaptable she is, at some point Ciara will have to come to terms with the fact that Hope left her. Carly and I and the rest of our family will do everything within our power to help her. Can we count on the two of you?"

Carly's heart thrilled as it did every time that Bo referred to their hodge-podge of children as ours. Dear God, how I love this man! Breaking away from her personal celebration, Carly swung her piercing eyes to Doug and Julie, who were engaged in their own bout of non-verbal communication that only couples who truly know one another are capable of. Seeming to have come to an agreement, Doug met Bo's even gaze.

"We'll do what we can for Ciara," he replied quietly. Having thus spoken, he motioned to Julie, who retrieved a legal-sized envelope from her shoulder bag. She slid it across the table to Bo and Carly.

"This is what Hope left. The first is the paperwork she had Justin draw up relinquishing her rights as Ciara's birth mother." Julie paused to draw a breath, finding the words harder to say than she anticipated. Saying them aloud made the situation real. Bo held up the letter-sized envelope that had been included in the larger one.

"What's this?" he asked. There was nothing written on the envelope to indicate its intended recipient.

"That's for Carly," Julie answered. "Hope said to give it directly to you." She plucked the envelope from Bo's hand and passed it to Carly. Carly took it, examining it carefully, trying to fathom what on earth Hope could have wanted to tell her personally and found she was unable to come up with any pleasant explanations.

Feeling the eyes of the table's other occupants on her, Carly felt compelled to open the envelope. She did so carefully, though, on the off-chance that Hope had decided to do her in with Anthrax. Then figuring that if Hope really wished her dead, the other woman would hardly want witnesses to the crime, Carly tore at the remaining seal and pulled out a solitary sheet of paper, folded in three parts.

Carly,

I'm sure you're wondering why I chose to write to you. The truth is I'm wondering why myself. Ciara belongs to Bo now in the eyes of the law, and as far as I'm concerned, you're her mother. Adopt her if you like – I don't actually care, but the choice is yours. Perhaps you're thinking I'm out of my mind. I'm not. I'm thinking clearly for the first time in my life, and I know what I have to do. Enjoy your life. You win.

Hope

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Bo asked, echoing Carly's thoughts perfectly. For her part, Carly could only shake her head, skimming back over the short note again and again, but finding nothing of which she could make any sense.

"Obviously my daughter is out of her mind, but she's gone off the grid and given you two a free pass to do whatever the hell you like. And we can't even contest it because Hope left!" Doug's earlier truce had been broken by the contents of Hope's note to Carly. He was positively seething that the woman across the table from him had stolen his daughter's husband and was now poised to take over his granddaughter, as well.

"Now, Doug," Julie began, but Doug rounded on her.

"No! No more excuses, Julie! How can you sit there after listening to the nonsense Hope wrote and still claim that she was acting of her own free will? Am I the only one who understands that Hope has suffered a complete and total break with reality? I don't give a damn what those papers say! I'm going to find some way to fight them. I won't rest until I've taken Ciara from the both of you. There is no way in hell that I'll let you have any part in raising my granddaughter!"

In his absolute rage, Doug did something that he never would have done otherwise. He lunged across the table and grabbed Carly's left arm, shaking her, causing nauseating pain to track along her injured limb. Julie and Bo, mutually astounded at Doug's actions, reacted at the same time with Julie pulling on Doug to restrain him and Bo snagging Carly around the waist to remove her from Doug's reach.

Doug, shocked over his own behavior, sank back down into his chair, fully intent on begging both Carly and Bo's forgiveness. He never got the chance. Carly shot out of Bo's arms with the speed of a striking cobra, stopping within centimeters of Doug's face.

"I spent years allowing a man to abuse me, to take his anger and rage out on my body. Touch me again, and it will be the last thing you ever do. Do I need to repeat myself?"

Doug shook his head, unable to speak under the disarming glare of the woman in front of him. Carly slowly lowered herself back to her own seat and continued to stare at Doug, who in all honesty looked positively sick over having shaken Carly. That brought Carly some comfort, but it did little to quell the raging storm inside her that his actions had stirred up. She'd been the victim for so long, but when she had stabbed Lawrence in the gut, ending the cycle of abuse and terror, she had vowed to herself, Never again. Never again will a man lay hands on me without my express permission.

Having succeeded in ratcheting up the tension at the table by several thousand levels, Carly suddenly felt nausea creeping up on her and realized that her arm was throbbing like mad where Doug had grabbed her. She touched it unconsciously, but Bo picked up on the action and slid his arm protectively across her shoulders. One-handed, he gathered the custody papers and the note Hope had left and stood up, pulling Carly with him.

"I think it would be best for everyone if we go our separate ways for now, before anything else is said or done that can't be reconciled," Bo said.

"You're right," Julie readily agreed. Doug was still staring at his hands in a state of disbelief. He'd never touched a woman in anger before in his life. "Please, give Ciara our love and tell her we'll call her."

"Of course," Carly said, speaking for the first time since her outburst. She felt that for Ciara's sake she should apologize for threatening her grandfather. "Doug, I apologize. I shouldn't have…reacted like I did."

"No, Carly, it's I who owe you an apology. Please forgive me. I let my anger get the better of me, and I hurt you. For that I am deeply sorry."

"Julie, you have my numbers," Bo said. "You're welcome to call Ciara any time, and after things settle down a little, we'll set up a time when she can visit with you."

"Thank you, darling," Julie answered. "We'll be in touch." Bo and Carly walked out of the Pub where Carly immediately threw up in the nearest trash can.

"Stress," she said when she had finished. "Definitely makes the nausea worse."

"Well, then, we'll just have to make sure you stay out of stressful situations," Bo said and pulled her to him for a comforting hug.

Carly went, laughing, and said, "Right, because God knows there's no stress in Salem." They stood for a moment, secure in one another's love; then turned and walked in the direction of their car, heedless of the watchful eyes tracking their every move.