Chapter Thirteen
"Brandon, you want me to…" Samantha's eyes filled with tears as she looked to the ring in his hands.
"Marry me," Brandon repeated seeing the emotions cross over her features, "I know that this might be a surprise considering, but I've never stopped loving you Samantha and in my heart I've always been committed to only you. You are my everything."
"Oh Brandon," tears spilled down her cheeks, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but yes, yes, yes oh God yes I'll marry you," she reached out to him.
"Yes?" he repeated seeing the look on her face as she nodded again.
"Of course I'll marry you Brandon," Sami admitted in between sniffles, "believe it or not, this is all I've ever wanted--all I've ever dreamt about. Brandon, I love you and I've never stopped loving you. As much as I wanted to hate you for what you did to me, the truth is that I couldn't. I couldn't stop thinking about you and when I thought that I'd never see you again…"
"Oh Samantha," Brandon slipped the ring over her finger before rising from the ground and sweeping her into his arms, "I love you," he kissed her eagerly, "you're everything to me and this time, this time I swear to you when I make you my bride it's going to be forever."
"I want that," Sami confessed holding him tight as nothing else in the world matter but the moment between her and Brandon. While she'd wanted to be furious, to say that returning to the life in Salem with Lucas was what was best, she realized she couldn't hide from her heart. Brandon's proposal had been the thing that had brought her to life again and now in being with him, she didn't want any of it to end.
"Samantha, I've waited so long for this moment, to have you back again, and I'm sorry I was so very wrong," he kissed her tenderly placing kiss after kiss upon her lips, over her cheekbones, her forehead, the tip of her nose as the weight of their emotions took over, "I was so lost without you and now…"
"Now we'll never be apart again," she said lost in the fantasy world he'd created for her over the last couple of days, "Brandon, I waited so long for you to return and now," she looked to the ring he slipped on her finger, "Brandon, it's perfect. It's absolutely perfect."
"I was hoping you'd feel that way Samantha," Brandon smiled overcome with emotion as he saw the happiness light up her features, "I swear to you that we'll have this wedding any way you want it, anything you want, it's yours…"
"Brandon, I just want to be with you. I want…" she stopped herself as thoughts of Lucas rushed back to her, "Brandon, wait a second. I told Lucas that I'd marry him, that he and I…"
"You don't love him, Samantha," Brandon reminded her, "You love me and you just agreed to marry me."
"I know I did and I do want to marry you, but back in Salem Lucas believes that he and I have a future together, that we're going to be a family and…"
"Lucas will have to get used to the way things are," Brandon interrupted matter of fact, "You weren't meant to spend your life with him. You and I were destined to be together Samantha because you're my one true love."
"And you're mine Brandon," she leaned into his touch as his palm pressed over her cheek, "but Brandon, how am I going to explain this to Lucas? To my family and even to Will? They all believe I'm going to marry Lucas and now…" she shook her head, "now it's so complicated…"
"It doesn't have to be," Brandon watched her step away from him as her thoughts returned to the life waiting for her in Salem.
"Brandon, just think about that for a moment--really think about it," she sighed, "I was kidnapped on my wedding day, on the one time in my life when I was supposed to be committing myself to the man that loved me…"
"And here you are promising to spend your life with the man you love," Brandon pointed out once more, "there's nothing wrong with following your heart, Samantha. You of all people should know that."
"I do, but at the same time," she ran her fingers through her blonde hair, "what about Will? How am I ever going to explain to him that I'm going to leave his father and be with you? How can I tell him that I'm not going to be married to Lucas?"
"Samantha, Will knows that you and Lucas aren't in love. He wouldn't want you two to be together when it isn't right for either one of you. He's a smart guy and he knows the importance of being happy…"
"Brandon, I know that my son wants me to be happy, but I want that for him as well. Knowing that I left his father," she shook her head, "I can't even begin to imagine what this is doing to him. If he thinks that I've been kidnapped or worse that I just skipped town.."
"Samantha, we already covered this," Brandon reached out to her, "I told you that Will knows you wouldn't abandon him. He knows that your leaving had nothing to do with him or your feelings about him. He knows that you're safe and that you love him very much."
"But not enough to follow through with marrying his father, right?" Sami turned her eyes to him, "Brandon, I don't know how he's going to deal with that."
"Well, if you really think it's going to upset him, why don't you ask him," Brandon shrugged his shoulders, "see what he has to say about the idea of you and I getting married."
"Just like that?" she gave him a strange look, "and how would you propose I bring it out in the open? Just tell him that his father and I can't work it out, so I'm going to marry you since I love you and not Lucas?"
"That sounds good to me," he nodded in response, "of course I'm sure when it comes up, it might be surprising for you to see his reaction. Will is a bit more perceptive than you give him credit for and you might find that he's already a step ahead of you…"
"Oh please," Sami shook her head, "I'm sure the last thing Will is thinking right now is that you and I are on some private yacht where you just proposed to me."
"He knows," Brandon admitted lowering his voice a bit.
"What?" She blinked back at him, "what did you just say?"
"I said that he knows, Samantha. Will knows that I brought you here and that I had the full intentions of proposing to you and making you my wife."
"But how," she questioned shaking her head, "Brandon, you can't be serious."
"I'm very serious," he replied bringing his arms around her slender waist, "I wouldn't have gone through all of this, if I'd thought it would hurt him. You know how much I care about him and I wanted him to be happy as well."
"So you told my son that you were going to kidnap me and propose to me?" she questioned with wide eyes.
Brandon nodded, "He and I had a long discussion about things and we both agreed that this was what was best for us all."
"My son told you that kidnapping me on my wedding day was the best thing to do?" she shook her head, "somehow that doesn't seem right to me."
"That wasn't his idea," Brandon confessed after a long pause, "but he wasn't against it when he heard about it. Look Samantha, I know that this might come as a surprise to you, but Will's been well aware of how miserable you've been. He's very in tune to both you and Lucas and the last thing he wants is for the two of you to be miserable. He wants you both to find the love and happiness that you deserve and he hopes that you give in to your heart."
"My son said all that?"
"Yes, he did and then some," Brandon contemplated his words as he realized the yacht was docking, "but if you don't believe me, and don't want to take my word for it, then hey you can ask him yourself."
"Oh right," she shook her head, "I don't even know where I am and you're telling me to just call Will up out of the blue and get into a discussion about how I'm away and engaged to you."
"Actually I was thinking more along the lines of you just talking to him about it right now," Brandon motioned towards the other side of the yacht as he reached for her hand, "Come here."
"Brandon, just where do you…" she stopped mid-sentence as she realized the yacht had stopped and as she looked down to the docks, she noticed Will making his way up to the top of the boat. She looked to Brandon in confusion, so many emotions rushing over her as she blinked up at him, "but how?"
"With us anything is possible," Brandon smiled at her knowingly, "even miracles."
"Brandon, I don't know what to say I…" she stopped herself as Will rushed up to greet her.
"Mom, Brandon," he greeted the both of them throwing his arms out to hug Sami.
"Will," she embraced him seeing the smile over his features as she hugged him tighter, "What are you doing here?"
"Brandon said that I could come and spend the day with you on his boat, but I had no idea it would be this big," Will looked around, "Brandon, is this really yours?"
"Every part of it," Brandon nodded with a smile, "you like it?"
"Definitely," Will nodded eagerly before looking to his mother, "so mom are you and Brandon going to get married for real this time?"
"Well we'd talked about…" she paused looking up at Brandon briefly before turning to her son, "did you help Brandon plan all of this?"
"Sort of," he shrugged his shoulders, "I wasn't sure you'd buy into it, but I figured it was worth a shot. He didn't have to tie you up to get you out of the church, did he?" Will paused a bit uncertain.
"No, he didn't," Sami shook her head, "why?"
"Well that was my idea at first, but I was hoping it wouldn't get to that," Will confessed after a moment, "I didn't want you mad at me for thinking up something like that," he hesitated, "you're not mad at me, are you?"
"Of course I'm not mad at you, but I don't understand how you managed to help Brandon pull this off," she started thinking about the elaborate plans that had been made to get her out of Salem.
"He wasn't alone on this one," another voice rose from the side of the yacht as Sami looked over to find Eric stepping onto the deck.
"Eric," she gasped as he approached the trio, "I should've known."
"Sami, I just couldn't let you marry Lucas," Eric confessed with a sigh, "I knew it was a mistake, but you wouldn't listen to me."
"So you helped Brandon," she questioned putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
"It was a bit of a group effort," Eric admitted as another laugh erupted from the side of the yacht.
"And a difficult one at that," Nicole added climbing onto the yacht, "one that I didn't think had a snowball's chance in hell of working."
"Nicole, what are you doing here," Sami frowned upon her entrance.
"I invited Nikki here," Brandon offered stepping in beside Sami, "she and Eric played a great part in my getting you here in the first place so I thought it would be only fitting if they spent some of this time with us."
"You mean she?" Sami looked over at Nicole, "no way. I don't buy it."
"It's true," Nicole smiled sweetly at her, "when my brother decided that there was no getting over you, I decided to stop fighting the inevitable. Eric came to me a few months ago with this plan that he, Brandon and Roman cooked up and I figured, hey why not…I'm a sucker for romance when it gets down to it," she confessed as she stepped in beside Eric.
"This is just," Sami shook her head taking it all in, "unbelievable."
"I couldn't let you destroy yourself again," Eric explained to his sister, "I've watched you do it too many times in this lifetime already."
"It's just I…" she looked to the group, "this is just so much to take in and…"
"I know it's a bit overwhelming Samantha," Brandon offered reaching out to her, "but I love you and I couldn't lose you again."
"I just…" she took in a breath, "I just don't know what to say."
"Tell me that you're not marrying Lucas and I think we'll all be happy here," Eric piped in watching his sister closely.
"Eric," she began before looking to her son, "Will, are you okay with the fact that your father and I won't be getting married?"
"Do I even have to answer that one," Will gave her a disapproving look, "Look mom I love you and dad. I really do, but together you can make a guy's life miserable. You're both good people deep down, but you bring out the worst in one another."
"We do not," Sami argued with him.
"Yes," he gave her a pointed look, "you do and I just don't think I can deal with the rest of my life having you two at each other's throats. Besides, you both were getting married for all the wrong reasons. You both were trying to make me happy and in the end you weren't making yourselves happy," he explained matter of fact, "and besides I'm not a little kid anymore. I can see how the world works and the way I see it, you and dad being married is a mistake. I told him that too before I came here."
"You mean Lucas knows you're here?" Sami's eyes widened.
"He wasn't happy with how things turned out, but I tried to tell him it was for the best," Will offered simply, "Mom, I know how much you love Brandon and if you want to be with him, I'm okay with that. Really, I'm more than okay with that."
"Will, I just want to give you a good life," Sami hugged him in her arms.
"Mom, you have given me a good life," he reminded her, "you're a good mom and I love you. I'm always going to love you and I want you to have your dreams come true…especially the ones you have with Brandon."
"But I thought…"
"Mom, when Brandon left before I only said the things I said because I didn't want you to be upset any more than you already were," Will offered in response, "I didn't want you thinking that I was torn up about it because you were already in so much pain. I saw how hurt you were and I was angry. I didn't like what Brandon did in leaving like he did, but Brandon and I talked," Will looked up at Brandon, "and we've been friends for a while. He and I set the rules straight on how you deserve to be treated and he promised me that things won't be like they were before. This time you are going to be happy and that's all I've ever wanted for you mom. I want you to have some happiness in your life because I know that hasn't been something you've had in a long time. You gave up a lot in your life having me as young as you did and I want to see you enjoy some things in your life for a change," he confessed gently, "Mom, just do that for me. Just be happy."
"I am happy," she hugged her son wondering how he'd grown up to be so wise, "you make me so proud to be your mother."
"I love you mom," Will confessed as she held him, "you're a good mom."
"And you're the best son in the whole world," she admitted keeping her arms wrapped around him as she looked to Brandon realizing that in a matter of days all of her dreams seemed to be finally coming true. With Brandon in her life again and Will in her arms, it seemed as if this day couldn't get any better. In this moment in time she realized that she had everything she'd ever wanted and needed right before her and this time she refused to ever let it slip away again.
"Brandon, you want me to…" Samantha's eyes filled with tears as she looked to the ring in his hands.
"Marry me," Brandon repeated seeing the emotions cross over her features, "I know that this might be a surprise considering, but I've never stopped loving you Samantha and in my heart I've always been committed to only you. You are my everything."
"Oh Brandon," tears spilled down her cheeks, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but yes, yes, yes oh God yes I'll marry you," she reached out to him.
"Yes?" he repeated seeing the look on her face as she nodded again.
"Of course I'll marry you Brandon," Sami admitted in between sniffles, "believe it or not, this is all I've ever wanted--all I've ever dreamt about. Brandon, I love you and I've never stopped loving you. As much as I wanted to hate you for what you did to me, the truth is that I couldn't. I couldn't stop thinking about you and when I thought that I'd never see you again…"
"Oh Samantha," Brandon slipped the ring over her finger before rising from the ground and sweeping her into his arms, "I love you," he kissed her eagerly, "you're everything to me and this time, this time I swear to you when I make you my bride it's going to be forever."
"I want that," Sami confessed holding him tight as nothing else in the world matter but the moment between her and Brandon. While she'd wanted to be furious, to say that returning to the life in Salem with Lucas was what was best, she realized she couldn't hide from her heart. Brandon's proposal had been the thing that had brought her to life again and now in being with him, she didn't want any of it to end.
"Samantha, I've waited so long for this moment, to have you back again, and I'm sorry I was so very wrong," he kissed her tenderly placing kiss after kiss upon her lips, over her cheekbones, her forehead, the tip of her nose as the weight of their emotions took over, "I was so lost without you and now…"
"Now we'll never be apart again," she said lost in the fantasy world he'd created for her over the last couple of days, "Brandon, I waited so long for you to return and now," she looked to the ring he slipped on her finger, "Brandon, it's perfect. It's absolutely perfect."
"I was hoping you'd feel that way Samantha," Brandon smiled overcome with emotion as he saw the happiness light up her features, "I swear to you that we'll have this wedding any way you want it, anything you want, it's yours…"
"Brandon, I just want to be with you. I want…" she stopped herself as thoughts of Lucas rushed back to her, "Brandon, wait a second. I told Lucas that I'd marry him, that he and I…"
"You don't love him, Samantha," Brandon reminded her, "You love me and you just agreed to marry me."
"I know I did and I do want to marry you, but back in Salem Lucas believes that he and I have a future together, that we're going to be a family and…"
"Lucas will have to get used to the way things are," Brandon interrupted matter of fact, "You weren't meant to spend your life with him. You and I were destined to be together Samantha because you're my one true love."
"And you're mine Brandon," she leaned into his touch as his palm pressed over her cheek, "but Brandon, how am I going to explain this to Lucas? To my family and even to Will? They all believe I'm going to marry Lucas and now…" she shook her head, "now it's so complicated…"
"It doesn't have to be," Brandon watched her step away from him as her thoughts returned to the life waiting for her in Salem.
"Brandon, just think about that for a moment--really think about it," she sighed, "I was kidnapped on my wedding day, on the one time in my life when I was supposed to be committing myself to the man that loved me…"
"And here you are promising to spend your life with the man you love," Brandon pointed out once more, "there's nothing wrong with following your heart, Samantha. You of all people should know that."
"I do, but at the same time," she ran her fingers through her blonde hair, "what about Will? How am I ever going to explain to him that I'm going to leave his father and be with you? How can I tell him that I'm not going to be married to Lucas?"
"Samantha, Will knows that you and Lucas aren't in love. He wouldn't want you two to be together when it isn't right for either one of you. He's a smart guy and he knows the importance of being happy…"
"Brandon, I know that my son wants me to be happy, but I want that for him as well. Knowing that I left his father," she shook her head, "I can't even begin to imagine what this is doing to him. If he thinks that I've been kidnapped or worse that I just skipped town.."
"Samantha, we already covered this," Brandon reached out to her, "I told you that Will knows you wouldn't abandon him. He knows that your leaving had nothing to do with him or your feelings about him. He knows that you're safe and that you love him very much."
"But not enough to follow through with marrying his father, right?" Sami turned her eyes to him, "Brandon, I don't know how he's going to deal with that."
"Well, if you really think it's going to upset him, why don't you ask him," Brandon shrugged his shoulders, "see what he has to say about the idea of you and I getting married."
"Just like that?" she gave him a strange look, "and how would you propose I bring it out in the open? Just tell him that his father and I can't work it out, so I'm going to marry you since I love you and not Lucas?"
"That sounds good to me," he nodded in response, "of course I'm sure when it comes up, it might be surprising for you to see his reaction. Will is a bit more perceptive than you give him credit for and you might find that he's already a step ahead of you…"
"Oh please," Sami shook her head, "I'm sure the last thing Will is thinking right now is that you and I are on some private yacht where you just proposed to me."
"He knows," Brandon admitted lowering his voice a bit.
"What?" She blinked back at him, "what did you just say?"
"I said that he knows, Samantha. Will knows that I brought you here and that I had the full intentions of proposing to you and making you my wife."
"But how," she questioned shaking her head, "Brandon, you can't be serious."
"I'm very serious," he replied bringing his arms around her slender waist, "I wouldn't have gone through all of this, if I'd thought it would hurt him. You know how much I care about him and I wanted him to be happy as well."
"So you told my son that you were going to kidnap me and propose to me?" she questioned with wide eyes.
Brandon nodded, "He and I had a long discussion about things and we both agreed that this was what was best for us all."
"My son told you that kidnapping me on my wedding day was the best thing to do?" she shook her head, "somehow that doesn't seem right to me."
"That wasn't his idea," Brandon confessed after a long pause, "but he wasn't against it when he heard about it. Look Samantha, I know that this might come as a surprise to you, but Will's been well aware of how miserable you've been. He's very in tune to both you and Lucas and the last thing he wants is for the two of you to be miserable. He wants you both to find the love and happiness that you deserve and he hopes that you give in to your heart."
"My son said all that?"
"Yes, he did and then some," Brandon contemplated his words as he realized the yacht was docking, "but if you don't believe me, and don't want to take my word for it, then hey you can ask him yourself."
"Oh right," she shook her head, "I don't even know where I am and you're telling me to just call Will up out of the blue and get into a discussion about how I'm away and engaged to you."
"Actually I was thinking more along the lines of you just talking to him about it right now," Brandon motioned towards the other side of the yacht as he reached for her hand, "Come here."
"Brandon, just where do you…" she stopped mid-sentence as she realized the yacht had stopped and as she looked down to the docks, she noticed Will making his way up to the top of the boat. She looked to Brandon in confusion, so many emotions rushing over her as she blinked up at him, "but how?"
"With us anything is possible," Brandon smiled at her knowingly, "even miracles."
"Brandon, I don't know what to say I…" she stopped herself as Will rushed up to greet her.
"Mom, Brandon," he greeted the both of them throwing his arms out to hug Sami.
"Will," she embraced him seeing the smile over his features as she hugged him tighter, "What are you doing here?"
"Brandon said that I could come and spend the day with you on his boat, but I had no idea it would be this big," Will looked around, "Brandon, is this really yours?"
"Every part of it," Brandon nodded with a smile, "you like it?"
"Definitely," Will nodded eagerly before looking to his mother, "so mom are you and Brandon going to get married for real this time?"
"Well we'd talked about…" she paused looking up at Brandon briefly before turning to her son, "did you help Brandon plan all of this?"
"Sort of," he shrugged his shoulders, "I wasn't sure you'd buy into it, but I figured it was worth a shot. He didn't have to tie you up to get you out of the church, did he?" Will paused a bit uncertain.
"No, he didn't," Sami shook her head, "why?"
"Well that was my idea at first, but I was hoping it wouldn't get to that," Will confessed after a moment, "I didn't want you mad at me for thinking up something like that," he hesitated, "you're not mad at me, are you?"
"Of course I'm not mad at you, but I don't understand how you managed to help Brandon pull this off," she started thinking about the elaborate plans that had been made to get her out of Salem.
"He wasn't alone on this one," another voice rose from the side of the yacht as Sami looked over to find Eric stepping onto the deck.
"Eric," she gasped as he approached the trio, "I should've known."
"Sami, I just couldn't let you marry Lucas," Eric confessed with a sigh, "I knew it was a mistake, but you wouldn't listen to me."
"So you helped Brandon," she questioned putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
"It was a bit of a group effort," Eric admitted as another laugh erupted from the side of the yacht.
"And a difficult one at that," Nicole added climbing onto the yacht, "one that I didn't think had a snowball's chance in hell of working."
"Nicole, what are you doing here," Sami frowned upon her entrance.
"I invited Nikki here," Brandon offered stepping in beside Sami, "she and Eric played a great part in my getting you here in the first place so I thought it would be only fitting if they spent some of this time with us."
"You mean she?" Sami looked over at Nicole, "no way. I don't buy it."
"It's true," Nicole smiled sweetly at her, "when my brother decided that there was no getting over you, I decided to stop fighting the inevitable. Eric came to me a few months ago with this plan that he, Brandon and Roman cooked up and I figured, hey why not…I'm a sucker for romance when it gets down to it," she confessed as she stepped in beside Eric.
"This is just," Sami shook her head taking it all in, "unbelievable."
"I couldn't let you destroy yourself again," Eric explained to his sister, "I've watched you do it too many times in this lifetime already."
"It's just I…" she looked to the group, "this is just so much to take in and…"
"I know it's a bit overwhelming Samantha," Brandon offered reaching out to her, "but I love you and I couldn't lose you again."
"I just…" she took in a breath, "I just don't know what to say."
"Tell me that you're not marrying Lucas and I think we'll all be happy here," Eric piped in watching his sister closely.
"Eric," she began before looking to her son, "Will, are you okay with the fact that your father and I won't be getting married?"
"Do I even have to answer that one," Will gave her a disapproving look, "Look mom I love you and dad. I really do, but together you can make a guy's life miserable. You're both good people deep down, but you bring out the worst in one another."
"We do not," Sami argued with him.
"Yes," he gave her a pointed look, "you do and I just don't think I can deal with the rest of my life having you two at each other's throats. Besides, you both were getting married for all the wrong reasons. You both were trying to make me happy and in the end you weren't making yourselves happy," he explained matter of fact, "and besides I'm not a little kid anymore. I can see how the world works and the way I see it, you and dad being married is a mistake. I told him that too before I came here."
"You mean Lucas knows you're here?" Sami's eyes widened.
"He wasn't happy with how things turned out, but I tried to tell him it was for the best," Will offered simply, "Mom, I know how much you love Brandon and if you want to be with him, I'm okay with that. Really, I'm more than okay with that."
"Will, I just want to give you a good life," Sami hugged him in her arms.
"Mom, you have given me a good life," he reminded her, "you're a good mom and I love you. I'm always going to love you and I want you to have your dreams come true…especially the ones you have with Brandon."
"But I thought…"
"Mom, when Brandon left before I only said the things I said because I didn't want you to be upset any more than you already were," Will offered in response, "I didn't want you thinking that I was torn up about it because you were already in so much pain. I saw how hurt you were and I was angry. I didn't like what Brandon did in leaving like he did, but Brandon and I talked," Will looked up at Brandon, "and we've been friends for a while. He and I set the rules straight on how you deserve to be treated and he promised me that things won't be like they were before. This time you are going to be happy and that's all I've ever wanted for you mom. I want you to have some happiness in your life because I know that hasn't been something you've had in a long time. You gave up a lot in your life having me as young as you did and I want to see you enjoy some things in your life for a change," he confessed gently, "Mom, just do that for me. Just be happy."
"I am happy," she hugged her son wondering how he'd grown up to be so wise, "you make me so proud to be your mother."
"I love you mom," Will confessed as she held him, "you're a good mom."
"And you're the best son in the whole world," she admitted keeping her arms wrapped around him as she looked to Brandon realizing that in a matter of days all of her dreams seemed to be finally coming true. With Brandon in her life again and Will in her arms, it seemed as if this day couldn't get any better. In this moment in time she realized that she had everything she'd ever wanted and needed right before her and this time she refused to ever let it slip away again.