Author's Note: I am so very sorry about this long-lasted absence, I've told myself a thousand times to keep posting but things just didn't work out. My plans were to release Christmas chapters in time for the holidays but that doesn't seem to be possible, unfortunately.

Despite that, though, I am back here to share the rest of the story and, for those who kindly waited till now, here's a new chapter that I hope you will like. And since it's been a while from my last chapter, you may like to be reminded that up to now Julie and Blake have decided to get married and during a call to her parents, she finds out they're busy in moving to a new house, meaning they won't be present on the big day. Read to see if Blake will get more like with his own relatives.

Enjoy your reading!

Shadows From The Past, Chapter 10.

Blake's call didn't bring much luck either.

When the phone got free, he was about to call his family but he strangely hesitated. His hands trembled as he was about to pick up the receiver so he walked away from it, losing his glance in the sky. Julie reached him to the window and drove an arm around his back.

"Do you need to talk about it?" she asked accompanying him to the sofa.

At first he wasn't sure about it but after a brief pause he realized that maybe talking about his family situation with her would have relieved him somehow. He rubbed his knee and sighed sadly before starting to tell.

- "See that camera, Jools? Apart from you, it's the thing I care the most about. My father, George, gave it to me when I was twelve, before his departure with the army. I knew how hard he had worked to afford it so I really wanted to make him proud of me …" his lips traced a smile that reflected on Julie's

"… if only I was given the chance … he was shot and died during the war. Since that day she hasn't been the same anymore"

- "Your mother?" Julie asked. He nodded

- "Her name's Barbara. She never made me miss anything but we've never been very close …"

He went on explaining that back in those days it was up to him to take care of his mother and to run the house. In the meanwhile he wanted to study and achieve his dream of becoming a director. He did his very best to do both things at the same time and his life was exhausting. He woke up very early in the morning to prepare breakfast and lunch to his mother and then went school and was out until evening since in the afternoon he tried to make practice with his camera. When he came home he was exhausted but he didn't want to leave his mother alone so he prepared dinner for the two of them and talked to her until she fell asleep. He then cleaned the house all night long and had few hours of rest before the whole thing started all over again.

- "… but she never appreciated that. She never appreciated me, no matter what I was doing. When after all those years of hard study I was asked to go to Hollywood she didn't show any kind of enthusiasm, only disdain. I thought that leaving would have freed me from all of that but it almost went worse. Our relationship is almost inexistent, we only get to talk on birthdays and festivities, she's never been more cold …"

- "Oh my love, I wish you didn't have to get through this all alone" she held his clasped hands

- "No, no, now it's fine. Because you're here. I came here looking for a new life and now I have it. The most beautiful life I could ever wish for" he smiled but his eyes kept speaking his sorrow for that situation.

While Julie kept running her fingers on his knuckles, he looked up and have another sigh. The thing that was bothering him was that Barbara still didn't know that he had left Patricia and had a new girlfriend that he was about to marry. A long fight was practically assured.

- "I am here Blake, but I don't want to be intrusive, take all the time you need. I will always remain here by your side though" Julie reassured him and gave him enough courage to make another attempt.

He was clearly worried about it but she was right there by his side and while the phone was ringing, he looked at her with a look full of fears and worries but her smile was so understanding and reassuring that if she was holding his hand, as she was, he felt like nothing could go wrong.

At the first call no one answered. "Try again" Julie said, and the following call finally received an answer. It was not Barbara, but the aunt that was taking care of her, Lucille.

She said that none of them was willing to talk to him again, especially Barbara since he didn't even called her for her birthday. Blake tried to tell her that he didn't call because that day he had just been shot but she didn't even listened to him, she simply kept accusing him of laying. Afterwards he heard his mother's voice saying that she was heading upstairs to sleep and once she went away he was surprised to discover that his aunt was still waiting at the phone, she wanted to talk to Blake.

She accused him of being the reason of the aggravation of her sister's mental conditions: she constantly went mad and screamed about his son and all her rage about him was thrown out. She asked him one last time to come back home but although he was aching at the thought of his mother's pain, he was very firm in saying that he wouldn't have come back to her.

From then on a loud and long phone call lasted all night long with Julie feeling so bad being unable to do anything to help her future husband. Blake was destroyed, after so many years no one had recognized or even appreciated his courage to chase his dream, he was still badly judged for having gone away. None of them was even slightly grateful for the huge amount of supplies he sent them regularly to help both mother and aunt to have a better kind of life, no one was understanding towards him.

Julie saw him screaming, crying and being defenseless in front of an overwhelming pain that he had brought with himself since his earliest years and was torn between what she wanted to do and what was right to do. It was obvious that Blake needed intimacy to get through the situation but she didn't had the courage to leave him alone. She would have loved to hang down the call for him, put an end to that suffering and hold him into a deep hug. But she respected his will and just stood there, looking at him without saying a word or judging, not even with her look. When he needed it the most she approached him to hold his hand or give him napkins to wipe his tears or a glass of water, she did everything possible to sustain him.

After many hours, that painful call finally finished.

As Blake hang it down distraught, out of exhaustion, and as he turned his head he rushed to Julie to hug her, he needed to feel that someone was still there for him, and she was.

Julie held him as much as she could, hoping to make him feel better and they remained glued to one another for several minutes with no one saying a word about what had happened, their tears were enough to speak the pain they felt for each other. Afterwards they sat on the sofa and Blake took a deep breath before telling her what had happened. He said that his mother didn't want to talk to him ever again and that now even his aunt was completely by her side, at first she seemed to be slightly understanding but now he was totally alone in that battle. He apologized about not having been able to talk about the engagement and the marriage because the call went all on the reasons of his departure and how wrong he was when he did it. He had been accused and offended in so many ways and looking into his eyes, Julie could see how his heart was broken for it, she could understand him.

Julie listened to him in silence, she sensed that what he needed was just someone to listen and to allow him to unburden himself from the huge weight of the pain he had held inside for years. She supported him every step of the way letting him free to express all he had inside in every possible way. He would often look into her eyes seeking for her consent and she never let him alone.

After a long time since that conversation had started, Julie noticed that Blake was so miserable and in pain that couldn't handle it all anymore. She had been stroking his back comforting him but she suddenly stopped to bring him to her lap. As his head rested on her thighs, she ran her fingers through his hair, making him fall asleep in a few minutes. His tears still flowing down his cheeks. As Julie made sure that he had fallen asleep, she felt freed to cry for him and to unburden herself from what she felt inside. Her early family life had been quite the same in her youth but she knew that if she let those things out that moment, things would have gone worse, it was better to hold back. Blake needed someone to support him. But she didn't manage to hold in the tears and as she cried in silence, she held Blake tight to her, then fell asleep as well, holding his hands tenderly.

When it all happened it was already early morning so they slept very long and they only woke up the following afternoon. Blake woke up first and found himself in an unthinkable position that he couldn't believe he had slept like that all night.

- "Thank you, my love" he whispered before kissing Julie's hand that was still on his cheek.

As soon as she felt the touch of his lips she woke up as well. They looked at each other, surprised of waking up in the middle of a sunset. Julie caressed his face and placed a little kiss on his temple, then got up from the sofa and held out her hand to bring him outside to enjoy that spectacle of nature.

Once in the garden, they sat on the grass, leaning against each other and looking at the beauty of the moment. There was utter silence around them. They gazed at the sunset without saying a word, the sound of their breath along with the birds chirping were the only sounds to be heard.

Julie turned to look at him and held his hands, gently kissing his knuckles:

- "We will get married Blackie. No matter who will be with us and who won't, I only know that I want to be your wife. That's the only thing that matters".

Blake had tears in his eyes again, he couldn't believe that despite the 'dark side' of his family he didn't let anyone know before she still was by his side. They hugged each other and Blake whispered into her ears that the marriage would have been celebrated at any cost. They shared a tender smile and kissed again as the sun went down the hill.

The following day, right after lunch, plans for the wedding started and to their surprise they agreed on everything the other said. They decided that the marriage would have been celebrated in the garden of their house and host few guests, just their closest friends and their parents; if they had ever agreed to attend of course. They also began to fantasize about how the ceremony would have been. Being a director Blake imagined everything as if it was one of his movies, something perfect and extremely romantic, something that would have surprised Julie and that she would have loved without any doubt, as she eventually did.

And while he dreamed on that, the first thing that came to Julie's mind was her first dance with Blake. It was something she was really looking forward to but would it be a classical dance? Or an original one to surprise their guests? She long thought about it and then, as soon as he took a pause, she came up shouting "That's it!". Blake looked at her very confused.

- "Are you okay, darling? I was talking about this kind of chair. One minute ago you said you didn't like it"

- "What? No, was talking about our first dance"

- "Dance?"

- "Usually newlyweds are supposed to do a first marriage dance as the ceremony is about to end" she explained brightly

- "That's right, usually not always"

- "What do you mean? You don't want to dance?"

- "I want darling but in front of all those people…"

- "Oh come on Blackie, we'll have fun!" she smiled and unkempt his hair

That said Julie took Blake's hand and made him get up from the couch, she wanted to teach him to dance. Blake was clearly not enthusiastic about the idea but the excitement in her smile had a magic effect on him and he couldn't resist her overwhelming energy.

He timidly flung himself into the dance and Julie was delighted. She put the music on and started with the first steps although this time, unlike the usual, it seemed she was the one leading and to be honest Blake didn't mind at all. At first he seemed to be as stiff as a piece of wood and the slow looked extremely awkward but it was clear that they were having lots of fun. From time to time Blake would play jokes to her mistaking the steps voluntarily and after so many times it had happened, she seemed to be slightly bothered by it and her patience was nearly over. Caring so much about that moment, she was getting a bit angry so she stopped in front of Blake with her arms on her hips:

- "Are you or are you not going to help me?"

Blake thought she was simply adorable and answered nodding and turning on a more serious expression. He then changed the music of the turntable and approached her slowly.

- "As I said I won't dance in front of all those people. But this doesn't mean that I won't dance with you now. Allow me this dance, miss?" he held out his hand

- "Tell me, how can resist you?" she replied, her eyes flicked between his mesmerized

- "You simply can't. Come here, honey"

Blake put his hand behind Julie's back to bring her closer to him and she put hers around his shoulders. Looking at each other, they started to dance on the beautiful slow notes of the songs that were playing and shared another magical moment holding each other tenderly. As they danced Julie understood Blake's choice and didn't talk about the dance anymore, unless he was the one to bring up the topic.

Now the most important matters were their dresses and the pastor that would have married them.

Author's Note: I wanted to have a happy ending for this chapter just to cut off the sad mood that the first part brought. I hope you did like it and apologize again for this lack of presence. That being said, I'll see you for the next chapter, maybe before Christmas but no promise!