Tuscany, mid 1970s, New Year's Eve
Once Bella realized the story was going to take longer than a couple of songs, she proposed he tell her over supper, an idea he was happy to indulge, provided they could take the food somewhere other than the main dining hall.
And she agreed.
Thirty minutes later, reclining on a large woolly rug in front of a roaring fire in the library which was deserted other than the two of them, they shared a platter piled with specialties concocted by their hostess along with a bottle of champagne...something Bella drank sparingly at first but with increasing relish as it grew later, and the ghost story more tragic.
"So, where was I?" he asked, handing her a glass brimming to the top that tickled her nose. Wrinkling it, she told him,
"Lucio's father demanding his marriage be annulled."
"Ah yes..."
"But you didn't explain why."
Tony's smile was cynical. "Status. Her people were unsuitable. Not bankers or merchants whose ties would give the Portinari family any sort of leverage in France."
"So, Lucio's responsibility, first and foremost in a marriage was to broker himself. For his family's sake of course."
"You didn't object to the idea of our hostess doing precisely the same thing," came Tony's reply as he finished his first glass of champagne and picked at the section of fruit on the platter while across from him Bella had already demolished both pieces of tiramisu without a bite of pasta or any of the other main dishes.
"I didn't mean...well, it's all rather grubby when you put it that way, as though she were checking bank balances before choosing a husband. It sounds cheap."
"To some yes, though a time honored way to build a power base centuries before Rome was founded."
"I suppose." The admission was tentative at best and after a moment of sipping her champagne in silent thought, she glanced up. "The thing is, it's never the same. If a man marries for money, he's helping his family but if a woman, such as Lucio's wife does the same, she's called a..." Hesitating, her cheeks colored a furious if enchanting shade of pink, "well, you know."
Nodding, Tony poured himself more champagne and topped off her glass. "True enough."
"So, did Lucio's father get his way?" she asked quickly in hopes of covering her embarrassment.
"Of course. He sent her packing back to France in the company of his younger, more level-headed son but by then it was already too late. She was pregnant and her family was appalled."
"But powerless."
It came out midway between a question and a statement and Tony, busy cutting himself a piece of veal shook his head. "Not entirely as it turned out. The girl had an older sister, also ravishing and wed to some magistrate or lord. He convinced, though some say bribed the local bishop into advocating that the Portinari's were responsible for her honor, so the young man was, ah...persuaded to do the right thing and marry her."
Across from him, Bella set her glass of champagne next to the platter and turned to gaze into the fire. "Oh." That seemed more of a blow to her illusions than the previous less than romantic view of marriage. "A cruel irony for both of them, wasn't it?"
"Well, there is another theory I've heard bandied around, claiming the marriage was a clever manipulation and that the child wasn't Lucio's at all."
"I don't under..." But then suddenly, before she could form the words, Bella's eyes widened. "You mean she seduced him?"
Tony shrugged. "Possibly, or it could have been the other way around. It was a long journey to France. Not only that but by the time the couple made it back to Tuscany, there was already a second child and the elder Portinari didn't have influence on such a scale, so no annulment the second time around."
The look on her face now was one of obvious distaste. "When you said earlier there was no happy ending, you weren't kidding." And she shook her head. "The whole affair sounds utterly disgusting."
"There is more to it, but truthfully, I find it a lesson...a rather harrowing one to be sure in the power of emotions."
His choice of words baffled her. "You mean love?"
"Yes, and all the rest of what it can generate."
Bella looked at him and then leaned back against the overstuffed chair just behind her. "I don't see where love comes into any of what you've told me so far, except for Lucio marrying her in the first place."
"It's not simply a matter of love and honor though," said Tony carefully, "but of promises...the ones that are sworn whether in public or private."
With a frown, she finished off her second glass of champagne and reached for the bottle herself this time. "I don't understand. It sounds like you're talking about honor to me."
"And when does keeping a promise cross the line beyond what society considers honorable?"
He could see that idea made her uncomfortable. "What are you saying exactly?"
Tony lifted his glass to take a sip and gazed at her over the top of it. "Only that love and honor don't fit together all that easily since one is about duty and the other is something else entirely."
She was only partially focused on him as she listened and when he finished, murmured something he couldn't quite hear.
"Yes?"
"Oh, I just said, when love is not madness, it is not love."
Surprised, he gazed back at her. "de la Barca." And the corner of his mouth twitched with the ghost of a smile. "I must say, I'm impressed."
"Who?"
"He was a Spanish playwright," said Tony raising his glass to her. "And priest."
For an instant, the irony made her smile but her look grew pensive again and he couldn't help but ask,
"Where did you hear the phrase?"
Bella glanced up a bit self-consciously. "My sister," she told him. "It was in a letter she received from my mother, written shortly before her death."
The admission struck Tony as a piece of the puzzle that fit perfectly into the young woman's personality. Bella was searching. He was certain of that but what she sought remained illusive.
"I'm sorry," he said.
"I don't remember her," she admitted. "I'm afraid I was very young and yet it was so odd."
"Her death?"
"No, no. The letter, but never mind. You were making a point I believe that love and honor are to some degree exclusive and I...well, I never thought about it that way before."
"Or how dangerous a promise can be?"
"Not in the situation you've described. She married both brothers and had a child by at least one if not both of them and if she loved Lucio, how could she cause him that kind of pain? Even more so if she deliberately seduced his brother."
But Tony wasn't impressed by her logic. "How could Lucio allow her to be humiliated by his father, if he loved her enough to defy his obligations?"
Bella sat quietly, not quite certain she objected to what he was saying but not liking it either.
"As you said a moment ago," he said, though a bit more gently now, "love is madness and subscribing conventional rules to how the game is played usually doesn't work."
There was something adorable about the way she chewed on her bottom lip, as though trying to decide if he was messing with her but finally she picked up her glass and once she'd finished what was in it, said, "Okay, then tell me the rest."
Tony beamed a smile in return. He had to admit he was enjoying the young lady's company to an extent that was liable to get him into trouble and even more surprisingly, he didn't care. Beneath that demur charm, she had guts.
Sami's Townhouse
"She's an adorable creature."
Turning around where she stood at the front door, Sami leaned back and admired the view. EJ had taken off his coat, jacket and tie, and rolled up his sleeves above his elbows so that the silk stretched tight over his biceps. No man should be allowed to look that sexy while holding a baby, she decided. It made responsibilities seem frivolous and altogether inconsequential.
"What are you doing?" she asked, trying to break the spell.
"Introducing myself," he told her, sounding rather glib about the whole situation.
"And are you expecting her," she teased, "to return the favor?"
"Considering how much she looks like you, I wouldn't be surprised if she opened those big blue eyes and winked at me."
Sami's own eyes grew a little wider. "Like me?"
"Uh huh."
"Now I know you're pulling my leg."
EJ shook his head, confused. "So, let me get this straight. You observed no resemblance between the three of us but still brought her home thinking she was ours."
"I didn't say that -"
"Yes you did and I'd like to know too how Baker managed to find a baby that isn't related to us, all the while she looks like you and a few DiMeras as well.
The mention of Baker's name immediately brought back all of Sami's misgivings. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.
When they'd walked into the apartment not even ten minutes earlier, she'd felt light-headed and giddy. That was a first for her. She couldn't remember ever experiencing such a feeling in her life and wondered if it was possible she'd been drugged or something. She smiled at the thought. Of course she was high after that kiss, not to mention the last few hours and the way her life had been tipped completely upside down. Thinking about it again made her sigh.
EJ loved her ... wanted her, warts and all. Especially the warts.
And he trusted her enough to open up his own Pandora's box to her inspection.
The two of them must be crazy.
"It doesn't really matter who she looks likeā¦"
"You're joking, right?"
"No ..."
"You know Samantha, I could swear the woman lecturing me in the elevator about an hour ago on the finer points of my cousin's thoroughly bizarre personality looked exactly like the one standing in front of me now."
The implication of what he was saying washed over her gradually, leaving a sour taste behind and nervously, she fiddled with the door handle. "If Andre found Baker and brought him here, then yeah, it's possible he's the one who made sure I ended up with Grace."
EJ nodded in agreement but waited silently for her to put the rest of it together.
Problem was she didn't want to. She looked over at Grace, snuggled against EJ's chest...content and peaceful...oblivious to what was going on around her some sixth sense told Sami that it would be better to keep it that way. Andre was dead for good this time, right? So what if he'd been instrumental in finding Nicole her baby mama. The fact was, Grace was hers now and Sami had grown attached to her and whoever the child's biological mother happened to be, she'd relinquished her parental rights. She didn't want her and neither did Nicole and that was the bottom line.
Besides, the kid was barely a couple of months old and at that age, she was liable to look like practically anyone, Sami thought stubbornly, pushing to the back of her mind the numerous occasions she'd caught herself seeing a resemblance to her mother or Belle, or even more suspicious, Belle and Shawn's little girl. That was merely her imagination getting the best of her obviously.
"Samantha."
"Hmm?"
"Look at me."
Sami pulled her eyes from Grace and met EJ's intense gaze. "What?"
The intensity softened a bit. "I don't want to see you hurt."
"That's not going to happen," she said, trying to brush off his concern.
"You love her as much now as you did a few hours ago when you believed she was your own daughter and I saw the depth of Will's affection. He wasn't happy at all with handing her over to me."
Sami shrugged. "He was just upset because..."
"You wanted him to leave."
"No. But he brought his friend over here and he ought to take her home. Its late."
"You're avoiding the problem."
"And why do we have to deal with it right this second?" she snapped at him irritably. "I'm tired and I'm worried about Sydney, and you, and what the hell is going to happen when your...when Stefano wakes up."
Busy releasing her frustrations, she didn't notice the unease that settled across EJ's face until she'd finished and a tense, clammy silence blanketed the room.
"I didn't mean..." she began but stopped almost at once.
He wasn't looking at her any longer, or even at Grace. Suddenly he was somewhere else and what he was remembering pained him, so much that Sami caught to glimpse of a tear rolling down his cheek. Instinctively, she took a step towards him and in alarm he backed away.
The way he stared through her made Sami's stomach twist in a knot. "EJ..."
"You stay away from him," he hissed at her suddenly. "I heard the way he screamed when you picked him up and you're never going to touch him again. I'm going to tell Papa what you've been doing." His voice had grown rough with an edge of panic that set her heart racing with fear, especially after another few seconds when the hatred in his eyes intensified. "And once he finds out, he'll make you leave...cut you off without a cent...you'll be nothing to him."
Dear god, he thought she was Andre. What the hell had the bastard done to him all those years ago?
"EJ, he's dead." It took all the self-control she could muster to keep her voice steady. "Andre is dead."
But he just shook his head, backing up again, this time in the direction of the kitchen. "That's not going to work this time and all your excuses won't explain away the way he reacts when you're around him."
Sami's first instinct was to try and snap him of the state he was in but that hadn't worked so well back at the mansion. And he was still holding Grace.
In fact, he was shielding her with his arms as though someone were about to rip the baby away from him and real or not, his fear was backed up by his size which gave him a considerable advantage. She'd have to talk him out of this...or maybe if he were able to remember what happened...if she simply let his memories take their own course, the problem would be solved.
Normally an idea as naive as this one would have given Sami a good laugh but at the moment, she wasn't thinking clearly. The sensation of EJ's fingers squeezing her neck was altogether too vivid along with the way he looked at her as though she didn't exist.
And all because of that stupid conversation with Baker.
Why hadn't she insisted they go home immediately when he told her that Baker was upstairs, or thrown a tantrum or something. Fine time you picked to start behaving yourself.
"I told you to leave."
The tone of EJ's voice had more of a growl to it as he fumbled opening one of the drawers and he fished around inside until finally grabbing hold of what turned out to be a butcher knife, more than half a foot long. Immediately, he brandished it directly at her.
Sami couldn't believe what she was seeing at first. She couldn't wrap her mind how quickly the situation had spun out of control or the position she was in. He wouldn't really do anything to hurt her...but then he took a step towards her with the knife out in front of him, threatening.
"You try and touch him again, and you'll end up with this in your gut, and that's a promise."
"EJ..."
He took another quick step in her direction and Sami froze. Sick with apprehension, she faced him and tried to hold his gaze but his dark eyes blazed at her with hatred so thick it was primal and what he'd said to her back at the mansion as he tried to remember his past echoed in her head...
...there's a crib and blood...everywhere. The floor, the walls, on the blankets lying in the crib...and, oh god...it's all over me...
