Damon comes outside with a mug of coffee in hand. As he takes a sip, he glances around his dad's property, stopping his drift when he notices Elena standing on the fence. The first thing he realizes is just how beautiful she is with her brown hair tumbling over her shoulders and the carefree smile on her face as she watches the horses galloping around the pen.
Setting his mug down, he starts walking toward her. Elena looks up as he approaches. Immediately she turns, a surprised expression on her face, though it soon fades into something less and more all at the same time.
"Elena," Damon starts, "Is everything okay?" He comes to stand beside her.
"Everything's fine. I just came to check on Gunner, the foal."
"Have you been avoiding me?"
"No, I've just been very busy at the clinic."
"Do you think Sybil will like this place...If I bring her here, I mean?"
"I don't know her, Damon. It's calm and quiet. The people are friendly, the air is clean. But I suppose Mystic Falls is a world apart from what she's used to," Elena states as she brushes a windblown strand of hair off of her face.
"What's going on with you?"
"You have a lot of people in your life who tell you what they think and what you want to hear rather than what you need to hear. So maybe that's how you roll now?"
"I'd rather hear the truth, Elena," Damon presses.
"You're about to marry a woman you barely know. You don't know her favorite color, her favorite food, or flower. Do you even know if she wants children someday? It seems to me that you really know nothing about her."
Damon gets defensive. "That's not true. I know everything I need to know."
"Why isn't she here? Giuseppe will be her father-in-law. You would think she'd have a little interest in supporting you and getting to know him."
"Hell, Elena, I don't even know my father," Damon blurts out, raking his hand through his hair.
"Yes, you do. And she should be here."
"I told you that she's been in Europe filming. She has responsibilities, too."
"You and I have been friends for a long time so I'm going to be honest here," Elena states, locking eyes with his.
"I expect no less."
"You can't marry Sybil Cade. You don't love her."
"I do. I do love her."
"Why did you kiss me?"
"I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry, I got caught up in the moment," Damon tries to explain.
"So that's all it was? Caught up in the moment?"
"Yes, I told you it was a mistake," he adds, unable to hold her stare.
"I understand that you got your heart broken when your parents divorced and all the tumult that came with that, moving across the country and not seeing your dad. I think you're scared. But you know what, Damon? Love is scary. It's terrifying to put your heart out there, but you do it anyway. It's like getting back on a horse or flying again after a crash. You do it again despite that fear. And if you haven't tried, you haven't lived."
"You have no right!" Damon fumes.
"You don't marry someone, Damon, because you like the same things or live similar lifestyles. You get married because you can't stand the thought of not being together and because you love that person with your whole heart."
Flames of anger lick through him and Damon struggles to tamper it down. "Just because you knew me as a kid doesn't mean you know me now. You have no idea what Sybil and I share," he snaps.
"You're right...I guess we're done here," Elena answers. She holds his stare until he looks away and climbs over the fence. After she puts the foal and its mother back in their stable, she hops in her truck and drives away, kicking up a cloud of dust as she speeds down the gravel road.
Sitting at the back of The Grill, Damon takes a long swig of his bourbon. Elena and what she said has been on his mind all day and he needs to try to drink her out of it. It bothers him that he can't shake her words and how she defies every expectation that he had formed of her. And what if Elena is right about him and Sybil? What if he's on the cusp of marrying someone he really doesn't know?
How could Elena read him so thoroughly when he's been absent from her life for the last fifteen years? She comes bursting into his life and making him feel things he isn't supposed to feel. He needs a distraction...And maybe the time has come for him to demand answers from his father. Then he can get the hell out of Mystic Falls and not have to think about all of these things again.
He takes out his cell phone and presses her icon. Sybil's face appears on the screen.
"Darling, I'm so glad you called. Aren't you about done in that podunk little town? You could fly to Italy. I'm in Lake Como; we could elope and have the formal ceremony later for our friends and business associates."
"That's something to think about," Damon says softly, trying to ignore the tense feeling that balls up inside of his chest.
"We're filming here for the next several weeks."
"My dad is still in the hospital. I was thinking about buying a parcel of land here to build us a house."
"Why?" Sybil asks incredulously.
"I grew up here. This place...Mystic Falls...feels like home again."
"Damon," Sybil can't hide the grimace on her face. "We can live anywhere."
"I just thought it would be a nice place to get away when we need some downtime. A place for our children to be away from prying eyes."
"Children!" Sybil retorts, "We never talked about children, Damon, and frankly I have no desire to have kids."
"You don't want kids?"
"No...let's not talk about this now. I have to get back to the set. But, please, Damon, come to Italy. We've been separated for much too long."
"I'll think about it." Damon stares at the phone for a few seconds after she ends the call.
After throwing some bills on the table, he walks out of the bar and towards the hospital. He chooses to ignore the sinking feeling in his gut and the fact that Sybil's eyes are nearly the same shade of brown as Elena's.
Damon signals the nurse to follow him and grabs a wheelchair with a leg lift, pushing it with him to Giuseppe's room. He doesn't bother to knock, he just pushes right in.
"What's this?" Giuseppe asks, looking over the top of his glasses at Damon.
"We're going to go outside to the break area and we're going to talk," Damon states, stopping the chair beside his father's bed.
Giuseppe stares at him for several seconds before the look on his face reveals acceptance.
"I suppose it's time."
The nurse helps him to sit at the edge of the bed while Damon helps him put a robe on after which the two of them transfer the older man into the wheelchair.
"Thank you," Damon tells the woman.
"You're welcome, Mr. Salvatore. I'm a big fan."
"That's always nice to hear." Damon smiles at her and after she walks out, he guides the chair to the elevator and pushes the ground-level button.
Once Damon parks him at one of the concrete tables, he excuses him before returning shortly with a glass of soda for each of them.
"Thanks," Giuseppe says softly and sticks the straw in his mouth. He pushes it away slightly and locks eyes with Damon.
"You have to realize, Damon, that I never stopped loving you. Your mother found a man who loves her and as long as he treated you right, I didn't want to make waves."
"What do you mean by make waves?"
"During our divorce, Lily claimed I was irresponsible and aloof, and that she was afraid for your safety. She tried to get supervised visitation. That wasn't practical with us living across the country from each other," Giuseppe pauses to take another swallow of soda.
"I grew tired of making phone calls that weren't answered, or of being put on hold and you not coming to the phone, and of canceled visits. It was heartbreaking seeing my child slip away from me, little by little. I eventually reached a crossroads. You know, some men commit suicide because they can't handle the anguish. Others resort to violence and anger against the ex-wife. Others take the difficult road, and sacrifice years of their happiness, fighting a hopeless battle with the ex just to maintain some sort of contact with the child.
The other way is to simply give up, and decide that the cost to the child- you- through seeing the conflict was just too high. I thought long and hard about it and it was the most difficult decision of my life but I thought it was what was best for you."
"Why would she do that?"
"Look, Damon, I don't want you to hate your mother. She loves you very much and look where you are now...you're a huge success and you owe a lot of that to her diligence. She did a good job raising you."
"Why are you defending her?" Damon asks incredulously.
"The truth of the matter is I wasn't a good husband to her. We hooked up, I thought it was a casual fling... She got pregnant. I know I wouldn't have had to marry her, but her parents were very old-fashioned and couldn't abide their daughter having a child out of wedlock. So I did. For her and for you but I never loved your mother, Damon."
"Did you cheat on her? Is that why she's still so bitter?"
"No!" Giuseppe shakes his head firmly.
"All this time, I never knew..." Damon stares absently at a crow sitting on a tree branch.
"Now you do. I'm sorry, Damon. Looking back on it, it was the wrong choice, I missed so much but at the time, it seemed like the only sensible option."
"Thanks for being honest. I'm going to pack up and head back to LA. Sybil wants me to join her in Italy so..."
"Are you sure that's what you really want?" Giuseppe asks Damon candidly.
Damon ignores the question, not sure he wants to know the answer. "I'll stop to say goodbye before I go. Are you ready to go inside?"
"No, I think I'll sit out here for a little while. The sun feels good."
Damon stands up and after nodding at his father, walks away feeling more unsettled than ever.
What's Damon going to do?
Thank you all so very much. Thank you, Eva.
Chapter title: 'Honesty' by Billy Joel
Have a fabulous weekend everyone. We'll see next week with chapter 9.