Whatcha Say
Part XLIII
The twins were eating ice cream Caroline had brought to them and Johnny was acting goofy trying to get Allie to smile even though she still looked upset. EJ had been lost in thought momentarily while he was texting Sami and failed to notice Caroline had come up right behind him.
It was apparent she had caught him off guard when he dropped his phone onto the floor. He hastily went to retrieve it or no doubt he would have some explaining to do to Samantha's grandmother over what kind of messages he was sending her granddaughter.
"EJ, I didn't mean to startle you," Caroline said as she looked over fondly at the twins, noticing Johnny had already demolished the ice cream in his bowl, while Allie was just taking her spoon and swirling it around, not really eating anything of the treat she had given them both when they had come into the pub with EJ.
EJ put his phone into his inside pocket of his jacket before he gave Samantha's grandmother a smile, thankful she hadn't seen anything on his telephone screen. Caroline was one of the few Brady's that EJ actually cared about their opinion of him and he didn't ever want her to disapprove of his actions now that she finally seemed to genuinely like him.
EJ stood up from where he was sitting and offered a chair to Caroline, which she readily took and then he sat back down beside her, giving her a smile, "Sorry my mind was elsewhere for a few minutes."
"No need to explain to me although I am a little bit curious as to what the children are doing already out of school. Doesn't school get out at 3 pm?"
Allie nodded her head, "Yes ma'am." Then she quickly looked back down at her bowl of uneaten ice cream so as not to meet her great grandmother's eyes.
"Grandma, we got in a fight at school today!" Johnny explained with excitement in his voice, not one bit ashamed of the fact at all.
Caroline's eyebrows raised as she looked at the twins, Johnny was happy while Allie looked like she was about to begin crying. Before saying anything to either of her great grandchildren she turned to EJ.
EJ didn't want to have to explain this to Caroline especially with Allie on the verge of tears again, he had thought bringing them to the pub might put a smile on Allie's face, but it hadn't and now he was afraid of what either one of the children might say. Before he could come up with anything his son decided to offer up more on the subject to his great grandmother.
"Grandma, you should have seen it, Ciara and I were making those kids sorry for saying those mean things to Allie. They won't talk bad about our family anymore around us or we will kick some…"
"Johnny, I think we may need to discuss other strategies for dealing with the ignorance of others besides violence," EJ began to say when Samantha came in the door and he breathed a sigh of relief, knowing he would have her with him instead of trying to come up with some suitable explanation all on his own.
EJ excused himself from the table to greet Samantha at the door. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and whispered in her ear, "Thank god you are here. I'm afraid Johnny is about to launch into a play by play to your grandmother over the fight on the playground at school."
"Hey mom, we got ice cream!" Johnny called out as his parents approached the table.
"I see," Sami smiled as she took at seat after giving her grandmother a kiss on the cheek in greeting.
"Johnny was about to tell me why they weren't in school when you arrived," Caroline said trying not to laugh when she say the anxious looks between Sami and EJ.
Johnny was oblivious over why this would embarrass anyone and reached over to his sister, "Allie, if you aren't going to eat your ice cream, can I have yours?"
Allie was about to push her bowl over to Johnny when Sami intercepted it, "One bowl of ice cream is enough."
"I don't want mine anyway," Allie dropped her spoon into the ice cream that was already beginning to melt.
"See Mom, Allie doesn't want hers," Johnny stated as he tried to reach for Allie's discarded bowl, but EJ stopped him by reaching over to get the bowl before he could grab it.
"Your mother said one bowl," EJ took the bowl and placed it in front of him instead.
"I bet if Sydney was here and wanted another bowl of ice cream she would get it," Johnny claimed as his father gave him a look that made him stop from saying anything more.
Allie leaned over to rest against her mother, "Mom can we go home?"
Sami nodded her head, "Sure thing sweetie. Let's give Grandmother Caroline a hug and a kiss and we will be on our way."
Allie nodded her head dutifully while Johnny was miffed he wasn't going to get anymore ice cream since it was one of his favorites. He couldn't believe Allie let almost all of hers go to waste and he couldn't get what was left of her treat. He got up first to give his grandmother a kiss.
"Catch ya later Grandma, I'll tell you all about the fight another time. Maybe the next time we come to the pub Ciara can come too and we can reenact it all out for you to see," Johnny gave Caroline a big hug and then turned for the door ready to head out.
Allie went to Caroline and gave her a big hug and a kiss, "I love you Grandma."
"I love you too," Caroline gave Allie an extra big hug.
Johnny was impatient to go since he wasn't going to get his way and be able to eat any more ice cream. "Allie, come on. I'll race you to the car."
"No racing Johnny, you have to pay attention where you are going so you don't run into people." Sami said which earned her another huge sigh from Johnny.
"You people never want me to have any fun," Johnny said as he came over to grab Allie by the hand.
"Johnny, you do not address your family as you people," EJ began which made Johnny immediately apologize to his mother before his daddy got really mad at him.
"Mom, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. Let's walk to the car Allie."
"I'll go out with them to make sure they both walk to the car while you pay Grandma for the ice cream," Sami said as she gave her grandmother a small wave of her hand and rushed out after the twins and giving her an out of not having to get into the details of what had happened to the twins today at school.
EJ got up from his chair and went to pull back Caroline's for her so that she was able to get up from the table as well. He was reaching for his wallet when Caroline put up her hand in refusal to take any kind of payment from him.
"This one's on the house, it looks like the kids had a difficult afternoon."
"Caroline, I don't want to take advantage of your generosity, please allow me to pay," EJ took out few bills from his wallet only to have Caroline shoo him away.
"I don't want your money EJ, please put it away. I don't think two bowls of ice cream for my grandchildren are going to break the bank."
EJ reluctantly placed the bills back into his wallet. "Thank you Caroline."
"You are welcome and I just wanted to tell you that I think you and Sami are doing a great job with the children. Things like fights at school happen, I should know while my girls weren't ones to get into trouble and Roman was more serious than all of the rest of my children combined, my Bo was a scrapper."
"You think we are doing a good job raising our children?"
"Yes, raising a family is hard work, it takes a lot of love, loads of patience and plenty of laughter especially when you have a big family and yours is growing. Within six months time you'll already have another little one to add to the mix."
EJ smiled proudly, "I can't wait for the new baby to arrive. We are going to let it be a surprise as to what we are having this time around."
Caroline gave EJ a big smile and patted him lightly on the chest, "Surprises like those are good ones to anticipate. You're a good man EJ DiMera."
"Are you certain the walls of this place aren't going to come crashing down? I'm not a good person. I'm far from it."
The shock of her statement must have shown on his face when she chuckled softly, "Don't you know to respect your elders? By the way that's not the Alzheimer's talking either. I know what I am saying; well at least I do on most days."
EJ asked hesitantly, "May I give you a hug Caroline?"
"I'd be upset if you didn't. I mean you are going to be my new grandson, soon aren't you?"
EJ was at a loss for words, he never expected Caroline to accept him like she had done, especially with his and Samantha's turbulent past history not to mention him being a DiMera.
"I know you love my granddaughter, have loved her for years and you love your children, all of her children like your own as well. Don't you think it is past time you made an honest woman of her?"
"It's complicated Caroline," EJ began to explain when she took him by both arms and looked straight into his face.
"True Love is complicated and messy and sometimes even heartbreaking, but the joy you experience far outweighs all those other things."
EJ nodded his head, "The price of joy is sometimes very steep."
"The best in life also comes with great pain. You just have to decide if you're willing to take the chance on having a love that only comes around once in a lifetime if you are lucky enough to find that special person. EJ, the question is are you willing to risk it?"
EJ was quiet he really didn't know how to answer her question. Was he willing to risk having the possibility of Samantha breaking his heart all over again if things didn't work out between them this time around? "Caroline, I wish I could give you a definitive answer and say yes without reservation, but honestly I can't do it right at this moment."
"I see you have a lot to think about, just realize while Sami puts up that front of being strong all the time, you have to see that on the inside she is as fragile as Allie was sitting here in the pub this afternoon fighting to hold back her tears. My granddaughter never has felt like she deserved to be loved, that is why she fights so hard to maintain distance with almost all of us. While I wish I could say I don't understand why she feels that way I know our family has put some unrealistic expectations upon her."
"Samantha is the most incredible person I have ever met," EJ began ready to start listing her attributes and then stopped when Caroline started grinning at him. "I guess you already know all that about her though."
"EJ DiMera, you need to let her know how remarkable she is, how much you need her and most importantly how much you love her. If you do I think you'll be amazed by the woman who will emerge, the woman who doesn't let anyone see that part of her."
"I'm in awe of her now."
"Then quit playing games with her."
"I'm not…"
"Oh please EJ, if you believe you are both not playing games anymore, then decide what you want and tell her, either way so that you don't confuse your children."
"Go for broke? Just lay it all out there on the line for her even if she doesn't want me to make an honest woman out of her like you claim I need to do?"
"From where I see things you should either give it your all or throw in the towel and walk away from her before either one of you hurt each other again or god forbid you hurt these precious children in the crossfire. Why would you want to settle for anything less? You're never going to know for sure unless you are completely honest with her."
"If I do ask her to marry me again, do I have your blessing?"
"Mine and Shawn's, god rest his soul, he always wanted Sami to be happy and I hate that he never got to see it while he was here on this earth."
"You still miss him terribly don't you?"
"Every day, he was the love of my life. I was one of the lucky ones. I'm hoping you will be too."
EJ leaned over to give her a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you Caroline. You've given me a lot to think about."
Caroline watched EJ leave the pub and lifted her eyes up to the ceiling and spoke to her deceased husband, "Shawn you think I did the right thing by telling him what I did?"
It was quiet in the pub for a minute, maybe more and then she heard a faint sound of a bell tinkling from far away. She smiled to herself before saying, "Yes, I think I did too."