Chapter 36

'How did you know they'd prepared it for us?' Carly asked, looking round in delight at the candle lit room Bo led her into. It was their beloved hut from long ago, lovingly and elaborately furnished and decorated again. And like before, in keeping with Mayan custom, they'd secretly made an exit from the wedding reception. It wasn't practised in native Mayan weddings but Soledad had made a huge cake with the words Congratulations Bo and Carlina written in icing while Professor Moore popped open a bottle of Xtabentún and led the toast to their happiness.

'Soledad dropped a heavy hint while you and the Professor were talking. She and two of the professor's students did all this.' Bo explained.

Carly guessed who the students were; Raquel and Marianna; who had told her they'd found her and Bo's story very, very romantic and how lucky they were to have found each other all over again.

'Well, they did a very good job. It's just like I remember it.' She turned to smile up at him as he kissed her hands, one after the other.

'I've never been so happy than I am right now.' She whispered, holding on to him. 'I still can't believe I'm looking at my husband.'

'It's all real.' Bo replied softly. 'Sometimes I feel like I don't deserve you, princess.' Tears filling his eyes, he kissed her hands again, his lips lingering over the finger bearing her engagement and wedding rings.

Carly freed one hand to wipe his eyes, her own misty. 'It wasn't an easy journey, was it?'

'No, it wasn't. But this moment...' he held her face with both hands. 'Thisbeautiful moment makes it all worth it. We belong to each other, in the truest sense of the word, princess. And maybeit took a very long time but we're back at the beginning of our journey; back in Corzon Del Cielo.'

'The Heart of Heaven.' Carly whispered.

'Yeah... the heart of heaven; our own private world, our love. I'm never letting you go again; ever. And we'll be living our love for the rest of our lives, princess. I promise you.' Touching her face, he then pulled her close then they kissed eagerly and fervently, hands slowly undressing each soon as Carly's dress slid noiselessly on the floor, Bo crushed her bare breasts against his chest and lifted her high in his arms, placing her gently on the cool, clean sheets before moving over her, fire licking through his veins. The silence in the room was broken by the sounds of quick breathing and whispered words of love. Hands and fingers caressed skin, lips and tongues merged and duelled; Carly gripped Bo's muscular shoulders as they moved in the age-old, primitive dance of love, meeting his passion with an equal with pleasure, Bo flipped her on top of him and the pace grew wilder and harder; carrying each other to the final, earth shattering peak, their bodies melting together as they lay on the bed, sated and exhausted. Bo shivered and stroked Carly's hair as he felt her lips raining kisses on his chest, aftershocks of fulfillment rippling through him. They'd made love so many times before but this... on this particular night was so wonderfully different. Carly was finally his legal wife; completely and irrevocably attached to him... for all time. Raising her head, he kissed her lingeringly, enfolding her in his arms.

'I love you.' He whispered, meeting her radiant eyes. 'Our love is for always, I hope you believe that.'

'I'm back at the very beginning with the man I love.' She whispered back. 'I believe in anything now.'

'This is the beginning... of an easier, smoother journey for us. None of the mistakes of the past or anyone to stand between us, ever again.'

Carly kissed him, rested her head against his chest, savouring the feel of his hands rubbing her back. 'We'll have to go home sometime though.'

'Hmm...This year or next?' he teased.

Carly laughed softly along with him. 'We have a week and a few days left before you have to go back to work. Duty calls, commissioner.'

Bo sighed. 'True. And what about you? You're going to take that job?'

'I still feel odd about it. When I first came to Salem, I was another young intern walking behind Dr. Horton; I never thought I'll be holding his position some day.'

'Did anybody think a hot headed motorcycle riding punk like me would wound up the Police Commissioner?'

'You've always been above anything you thought of yourself, Bo.'

'And you're prejudiced.' He kissed her head. 'Even when you were scared something might happen to me, you still supported me when I decided to join the force. Remember how you helped me study for the exam?'

'I was strict.'

'But you made up for it... much later.'

Carly rubbed his arm, smiling. 'I remember when I first saw you, after I came back. I was at the hospital, trying to find medication for Rafe... I saw you by the nurses' station. You were holding Theo in your arms and talking to Maxine. Seeing you for the first time in years and hearing the sound of your voice...' she nuzzled against his neck. 'I knew so much had changed since we parted ways but the feelings were there all the same. At first I told myself I was just proud of you and happy that your life had turned out better than mine...'

Bo gripped her tightly. 'You were wrong about that.'

'Far better than mine.' Carly insisted. 'At least you had your family; Shawn Douglas, Zach and then Ciara. I was all alone; Lawrence kept moving us from one place to another so that Frankie couldn't contact me and I was so worried about my daughter. And...'

'And what?' Bo asked, softly.

'Well... sometimes I wondered if you ever thought about me. But that went to hell after Lawrence told me Hope was back in your life. He kept crowing over it at every opportunity; laughing about how it was now easier for you to forget me because you would've left me anyway if he hadn't stolen me away from you.'

'That bastard...' Bo bit out savagely.

'But did you? You know... think of me sometimes?' she asked hesitantly.

'I did.' He confessed softly, anger gone. 'Sometimes when I had a really bad day, I thought about you, wondering if you were happy... if you'd had other kids and my mind would go to what might have been if I'd gotten you out of that casket first.' He resumed stroking her back. 'So many things ran through my mind when I looked into your eyes for the first time in years.'

'The main thing being...?'

'That you were even more beautiful than the last time I saw you. And the whole time we talked, I wondered when I'll see that lovely smile. Your face looked so haunted and scared... I hated seeing you that way.'

Carly kissed his chest.

'But all that's way behind us now, princess. We're together and it's going to stay that way, for good this time. We've both paid our dues; you especially. Which is why I want you to accept the board's offer when we get back to Salem. The hospital couldn't have chosen a better Chief of Staff to run it.'

'Now who's being prejudiced?' She said softly, raising her head to meet his eyes again, one finger tracing his upper lip. Grinning, he nipped the tip of her finger. 'Great minds think alike, remember? But I mean it. The sky's the limit; just go for it.'

She smiled back. 'I love you.'

'I love you too.' Bo pulled her down to kiss her deeply again, then gently rolled her on her back and they made love several times over for the rest of the night.

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Carly was awoken by something velvety brushing against her cheek. Opening her eyes, the first thing she saw was a half open rose and then Bo's smiling face hovering over hers. 'Good morning, princess.' He murmured, handing it to her. Carly sniffed it briefly before sitting up to kiss him; their lips joining lovingly. 'Good morning... husband.' She stroked his unshaven cheek with the back of her hand. 'It still feels like a dream; almost too beautiful to be real.'

'You're almost too beautiful to be real.' He kissed her again, wrapping his arms round her. 'Everything about you; your mind, your heart...everything. The whole time you were in a coma and I sat beside you, holding your hand... I kept praying that when you opened your eyes, they would look at me like they used to... before I screwed up.' He looked deep in the green eyes staring back at him with love and warmth. 'Promise you'll never stop looking at me like that.'

'I promise.' Carly replied softly. 'And do you promise, to always wake me up like this, with this smile on your face, reminding me that I'm the luckiest woman on earth? And...' she touched his face again. 'That I'll never lose you?'

'You never have to be afraid of that, princess. Because I'm not going anywhere. Not for anything, or anyone.' He took hold of her hand, rubbing his thumb over the rings. 'These aren't the only things binding us. Our love, our bond, our souls; every one of them...unbreakable.' He kissed her long and deep. 'You also promise that you'll always stay strong for us, be by my side no matter what the future brings?'

Carly's intense kiss spoke louder than words and there was no talking for a little while.

'We should get dressed and go grab some breakfast.' She said breathlessly as Bo's hands began stoking a gnawing hunger through her body again.

'In another few minutes.' He whispered, running his lips along her jaw and neck.

'But aren't you...' Carly exhaled sharply as he moved up to her ear. 'Aren't you starving?'

'I'm starved for you.'

And with that came more lovemaking. For the next ten minutes.

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The rest of their vacation was spent in Cancun after a few days at Chichén Itzá. While they both felt sad at leaving their very special place; Bo promised Carly they'll come back on their one year anniversary and then the next.

'Home Sweet Home.' Carly said wryly as Bo unlocked the door of their apartment.

'No...' Bo stopped her as she was about to follow him inside. Dropping their bags, he lifted her in his arms and carried her across the threshold, covering her with kisses as he deposited her on the couch. 'Welcome home, Mrs. Brady.' He murmured against her lips then kissed her over again.

Carly stroked his cheeks. 'Are you dreading everyone's reaction to our news, like I am?' she asked softly.

'They'll get over it in time; we did what we wanted for us.' Was Bo's firm reply. 'And certain people will also have to accept the fact that you're my wife now.'

'Victor will blow a fuse.'

'We should be so lucky.' He retorted, honestly not caring what his biological father thought. 'I'm done with him for good this time; so the hell with him. As for Kayla and Mum; I'd like to see them showing any disrespect to you from now on.'

'Oh Bo...' Carly said, distressed at the thought of a long lasting feud. 'Surely they won't still be aggressive towards me after all this time?'

'They'll be very heartless then if they are.' Bo's face was hard and unrelenting. 'You almost died saving my daughter so they should be asking you for forgiveness a hundred times over. And I'm not going to have anything to do with them until they do!'

Carly winced, praying it won't come to that; it wouldn't be a good start to their marriage at all. But not wanting to ruin their first day home, she didn't argue. Instead, she smiled, slipping her arms round his neck. 'So what should we do now?'

Bo frowned, pretending to be thinking hard which made her break out in helpless giggles.

'Well we could let the kids know we're back in town but I sort of want you all to myself...'

'You've had me all to yourself for four whole weeks!' she reminded, laughingly trying to disentangle herself from his arms which were already fast placing her on lockdown. 'Get off me... I want to take a shower.'

'Even better.' he leered, kissing down her neck before rising, pulling her to her feet.

'Commissioner Brady, you are a sex fiend!' she complained as he began undressing her as soon as they got to the bathroom.

'Sure I am... that's why you married me, doc.'

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'Married?!' Nicholas spluttered after the bombshell was dropped. 'Without inviting us to the wedding?'

'I can't believe you did this without telling us, how could you?' Melanie exclaimed, staring at the rings glittering on her mother's finger. 'Oh Bo, we would've wanted to be there! It's not fair!'

'We wanted it to be just us, our way.' Bo forcibly got a word in, refusing to let them make him or Carly feel guilty. 'Understand... it took a very long time coming and we didn't want to wait any longer; with the planning and whatever. Besides, there was no time to invite you lot to fly over to Chichén Itzá.'

'Chichén Itzá?' Melanie asked in surprise and delight, remembering what that place had meant to them, according to Carly's stories. 'That's where you got married?'

'At the foot of El Castillo;we had a native Mayan wedding!' Carly said enthusiastically, reliving the happiest day of her life. 'I'm so, so sorry we didn't invite you all like Bo said... we just couldn't wait any longer. Please don't be mad at us.'

Melanie and Nicholas glared at Bo but only for a minute; their faces soon softening.

'Congratulations Mum, we couldn't be happier for you!' Nicholas shook Bo's hand. 'And congratulations to you too, I hope you both will be very happy.'

'Thanks Nick. I promise I'll take good care of her.'

'I'll hold you up on that.'

Melanie hugged her new step father, as Nicholas hugged Carly; kissing his cheek before whispering in his ear. 'But so you know, if you ever hurt Mum again, Nick and I will punish and torture you in ways you've never heard of.'

Bo grinned ruefully as she pulled away; the warning was playful but he sensed the faint steely tone in her voice.

'I never will Mel, I promise you both that. I love her very much.'

Melanie's eyes, so like her mother's,regarded him solemnly. 'I know you do. Just make sure your mistakes don't repeat themselves, okay?'

Bo touched his step daughter's cheek reassuringly. 'They won't... ever again. Because I know what I'll be without Carly. Empty.' He looked at Carly who was in deep conversation with Nicholas. 'I really mean it.'

Taking her mother aside as Nicholas talked to Bo, she whispered. 'See what Love and Time's done for you; just like Adrienne said.'

'Yes, so much.' Carly said emotionally as Melanie hugged her again.

'You of all people deserve it, Mum. When someone like you gives so much love, you get it back ten-fold. And I'm very, very happy for you. No more sadness from now on.'

'No.' Carly lovingly glanced at Bo over Melanie's shoulder. 'Only love. And I'll be living it with that wonderful man over there from now on.'