DESTINED FOR ETERNITY

CHAPTER 36

JULY 1983

As Luke just stands their glaring at them, Robert and Holly remain speechless trying to come to terms with the fact that Luke is standing in front of them here in St. Thomas. Even though they try to cover up with the beach towel, it is a little too late for modesty after what Luke had just witnessed when he arrived.

"What?" Luke demands. "No explanations? No lies? No denials? This is a first for the two of you."

Robert looks over at Holly, searching for a reaction by looking in her eyes. He then turns to Luke. "I guess you deserve some sort of an explanation, although I do wonder why you are here." Robert grabs his swim trunks that are nearby and puts them on and gives Holly the rest of the towel. Standing, he goes over to Luke. "For that matter, how did you find us?"

Luke is seething. "YOU want answers? Let me tell you something, Pal," He says sarcastically, "YOU escaped town with MY woman and you wonder why I am here?"

"She is NOT your woman, she is MY wife!" Robert yells back. "And I can take her out of town wherever or whenever I please."

Unable to stand seeing Robert in his face, Luke draws up his fist and slugs him before Robert can even see it coming. Screaming for Luke to stop, Holly, after wrapping the towel around her body, rushes over to Robert where he is lying on the ground. Angry, Robert is getting up and he flies into Luke, as the two exhange punch for punch.

"Stop it!" Holly pleads, as tears run down her face. "Please, just stop it. Robert, please."

Hearing Holly's voice sink in, Robert stops and stands back from Luke. They glare at each other and Luke starts to advance again. Holly rushes to stand in front of Robert. "STOP IT, LUKE!" She yells. "This will not settle anything." Luke stares at her silently. She reads the betrayal in his eyes. "Luke, I intended to talk to you when we returned to Port Charles. I was going to explain everything. If you just would have stayed home. . ."

"Stayed home!" Luke yells at her. "So YOU could continue to LIE to me. What was it you said about just needing time away? You let him seduce you again! Why did you even allow him on this trip?"

Luke then turns to Robert with a look of contempt. "And it does appear that you have made a remarkable recovery, Commissioner!"

"Listen, Spencer, we just. . ." Robert begins, but then he is interrupted by Luke.

"Save your excuses, both of you. I don't want to hear any of your lies!" With those words, he turns and walks off in a huff.

Holly scrambles to find her bikini and then starts putting it on. "I can't believe he came here," She says to Robert. "God, what timing."

Going over to her, Robert takes her by the arms and looks into her eyes. "I'm sorry, Luv. And I am sorry that I let him goad me into that fight." Holly puts her arms around him for a comforting embrace.

Robert holds her back a little so he can look at her. "Are you really all right?"

Holly manages a tiny smile. "Yes. So much for privacy, I guess?" She manages a small laugh but she then gets serious. "I am sorry that Luke was hurt, I really am. But this might be the only way he will actually accept you and I together."

"True," Robert agrees. "I didn't want to hurt him either but I refuse to apologize for loving you." Giving her a tender kiss, they begin gathering up their picnic supplies. "Maybe we can try to explain before he is gone."

Finding her sundress, Holly throws it on over her bikini. Robert finds his khaki shorts and tank top and puts them on. "Let's see if we can't find him," Robert says as he takes her hand. "My first guess would be the first bar that he can find." Holly agrees with that assumption.

When they arrive back at their bungalow, they are totally shocked to find Luke sitting on the patio looking out over the ocean. He looks up to see them. "I hope you didn't stop what you were doing because of me," He tells them sarcastically.

Putting aside their picnic stuff, Robert says, "Luke, lets just talk about this."

"There really isn't much to say, is there?" Luke retorts. "Once again, you use all your expertise to seduce Holly into your arms and away from me. What did you do? Play on her guilt over your INJURY?"

Robert is getting angry and starts to say something in return when Holly takes hold of his arm. Looking down at her, Holly says softly, "Do you mind leaving us alone for a minute?"

Robert holds her gaze and she reads the questions in his eyes. His concern, his doubts, his worry.

Holly puts her hand on his face and says softly, "It's okay, darling. Really. I'm fine."

Nodding his head, he takes her palm from his face and kisses it. "I'll be right inside. I love you."

She smiles at him. "I love you."

Unable to take his eyes from the couple, Luke feels pain as he watches their exchange. Once Robert enters the bungalow, Holly turns to Luke. "I didn't mean to hurt you, Luke."

"Well," Luke smirks, "You aren't doing a very good job at proving it." He goes over to her and grabs her arms in his desperation. "Don't you see what this is, English? Scorpio is playing on your guilt and you are buying into it! That was his whole intention for this little vacation."

Holly remains calm as she takes his hands from her arms. "That isn't true, Luke. And you know it isn't."

"Look, I get it that you were worried about him when he was shot. I was worried, too. But he is going to live! You don't have to go overboard in making it up to him," Luke insists.

"Luke, I want you to be quiet and just listen to me."

He turns to her and remains silent. "I love him, Luke. I truly love him," She says sincerely.

Luke stares at her briefly, reading the sincerity in her face. "Then why?" He asks in confusion. "Why did you bother to choose me over Robert and then lead us on this merry-go-round? Why didn't you tell me when I came to town what you truly wanted? Why did you wait until he was shot? I just think you are confused right now. If you just give it some time you will see that your feelings are more about gratitude than anything else."

"Luke, this is really difficult to explain. I didn't know that my love for Robert was so strong. I knew that I loved him. And, if you recall, I told you that I loved him. And the more I was around you, the more guilty I felt, but not for the reason you think. I felt guilty because I truly felt like HIS wife and that I shouldn't be with you. But then when he was shot, then I knew just how strong my love was for Robert."

"And what about me, English," Luke asks her angrily. "What about that love you insisted you had for me?"

Holly looks into his eyes, truly hating to hurt him. "It isn't there anymore." Luke turns abruptly away from her as he attempts to deal with her honesty. "I'm sorry, Luke. I wish you knew how sorry I really am. I did not even realize it myself so it has been quite a month for me, which is why I have been avoiding you. I had to face my own feelings first."

Luke turns back around to look at her closely. "Are you really sure? How do you know that as soon as this little 'honeymoon stage' passes, that once he is truly mended and back at work, that you won't realize those feeling aren't what you thought they were?"

She manages a smile. "Because Robert has showed me what true love is all about. I have never known what it was like to be loved for myself, Luke. But Robert does. He loves me without conditions. He trusts me as a friend, he respects me as a wife, and he cherishes me as a lover. And I have never felt that before, Luke. Not even with you." Luke opens his mouth to object, but she stops him. "It is the same way you loved your Laura."

Luke's eyes grow wide at the mention of his dead wife.

"You know it is true, Luke," Holly continues. "You never loved me as you did her."

"I did love you, Holly," He insists.

"I know," She agrees. "And I did love you. But now I know that there are different kinds of love. Our relationship was either ice or fire, serene or volatile. But it never added up to enough because we didn't have trust or respect. Most of it was all based on desperation."

"It could have been enough, English. We could have made it work."

"Maybe," She agrees. "But fate stepped in and took it out of our control."

"We were good together," Luke insists, trying to make her remember the best of their times.

Holly nods. "We were good together. Sometimes. But with Robert, we are good together ALL the time. And it has been that way for us from the beginning. You know I used to envy what you had shared with your wife. Everyone I met would tell me about this glorious love you and Laura had shared." Holly's smile lights up her entire face. "But now I understand, Luke, because I am experiencing it. Robert makes me feel so special, so loved. He is my soulmate, Luke. I am so thankful that I was able to understand that before it was too late for us. And I am so sorry if this hurts you, Luke. But you need to be honest with yourself and find out just what hurts you the most, losing me or losing your best friend?

"That is nonsense," Luke says without much conviction.

"Is it?" Holly asks. "Robert is the same man he always was Luke. He's been no different yet you act as if you hate him. All he did was exactly what you would have wanted if you had really been dead. He looked after what was yours. He never stopped loving you Luke. He just added loving me to the equation, which made for a very big complication. You need to think about that before you totally destroy whatever friendship you might have left."

Robert had stepped out on the patio and heard some of what Holly had been saying. "It's true, Luke. I never stopped caring for you and I never intened to fall in love with Holly. Lord knows, I have never felt like this my entire life. I fought it, I tried to deny it, I tried to escape it. But I found out that I didn't want to, and you know why? Because I would remember watching you and Laura together and observing the love that the two of you shared. I wanted to experience that in my life and Holly was the one I felt it with, no one else. We never meant to hurt you, Luke. But if you would just let yourself remember those feeling you had with Laura then you could see where we are coming from here."

Robert turns to look at Holly and sees the tears in her eyes. "I hate coming between the two of you," She tells them both. "The one regret that I have is how responsible I feel for destroying your friendship."

Robert puts his arm around her in comfort.

Luke finally looks the two of them in the eye. They see a different Luke, a sad, lonely defeated look is on his face. "I'm going for a walk," He announces and walks off toward the beach.

As he walks off, Robert holds out his arms and Holly walks into them. He encloses her tightly in his embrace.

"I hate seeing him be hurt because of us, Robert."

"Me, too. But I think Luke is facing some hard truths right now."

"About us?" She asks.

"Partly. But for the most part its about Laura."

"What do you mean?" Holly asks curiously.

"I know Luke better than most," Robert tells her. "And I believe he loved you, but I also think that when he lost Laura it was real hard for him to trust in love again. It had failed him once and he was scared to face that possiblity again. He is having to face the fact that he pushed you away, as well as me."

Holly holds onto Robert tightly. "I hope we didn't make it so bad for him that he will never learn to trust again."

"Do you mind if I go look for him?" Robert asks her. "He might be ready to listen to a friend now."

Smiling at him, Holly says, "I hope so. You go ahead."

Bending down, Robert gives her a long kiss. "I love you." He tells her.

"And I love you, now and forever." Holly replies softly.

As Robert walks off, Holly goes inside and decides to take a shower. She hopes Robert is right about Luke accepting everything. Who would have thought that the best day of her life would turn into such a sad day for Luke Spencer?