Chapter 9

The third evening of Marlena's trip to Napa saw her ensconced in a very comfortable easy chair arranged alongside John's bed in the master bedroom. Ordinarily, the chair sat facing the same way as the bed and farther from it. But tonight Marlena faced toward John so they could more easily see one another. She was not in bed because John needed rest, and she didn't want to hinder the fastest possible recovery.

John's eyes and lips were puffed and discolored. The bandage under his arm revealed only a dab of blood. His pupils were regular, no dilation. Marlena could not hold either hand right now because of the sling he wore on the left one and the tenderness of his right hand sprains The rest of his body was one big bruise too, pretty much. So they contended themselves with this arrangement.

Tommy has spent a good part of the afternoon lying next to John, sleeping. The ragged excitement of the day had worn the boy out, but he didn't want to leave his dad's side. Now, though, Tommy was in his own bed in the other room, and thankfully, he seemed to slumber there without nightmares.

They had had to cancel their vow renewal. By the time they got John home again it was nearly 4 o'clock. Marlena asked John for the number and called his priest to make their apologies for not showing up. Once she had explained, Father Cannon offered his prayers and assured her that he would be happy to do the vow renewal with them as soon as they were able.

The police also visited and asked them to give statements. They both provided a rough outline of the morning's events, but promised they would make formal statements tomorrow or the next day.

Marlena called back Sami and Eric, as well as her parents. Now, her mother would go and get the two kids and they would stay in Colorado for at least a week, maybe more. Marlena assured Sami and Eric that she still wanted them to see John, but she said, not telling the scary events of the imposter's appearance, that there was just too much going on at the winery right now, and if they waited a little, John would have more time for them.

Both Marlena and John had eaten a light repast just about an hour ago. Now, they sat in genial silence. Marlena wondered if John would just fall asleep. She wondered if she would.

Although John's fat lip made him sound a little funny when he spoke, he said, "I'm sorry the kids can't come as soon as planned, Doc. I really do want to see them."

Marlena yawned, but quickly covered the yawn with her hand so he wouldn't stop talking. "They want to see you too. They were disappointed to have to postpone it." She added, "But, I want to be here with you while you recuperate, John." She grimaced. "You wouldn't have sustained these wounds if I hadn't come."

"Oh, Marlena, don't blame yourself. I was just inconveniently in his way, but you were the target. Stefano and his henchman, this imposter, are the ones to blame. I just thank God that he wasn't successful in his evil mission to abduct you again."

"Thank God - Yes. And thank you, John. If you haven't come and saved me, I'd probably be flying over the ocean in a private plane, maybe drugged out of my mind." She shuddered at the thought.

"Well, not to compound worry unnecessarily, Doc, but since the imposter failed in his mission - and will be behind bars for a long time - I can't help but think we need to be prepared for Stefano sending more men to try to abduct you. We've got to keep you protected."

Marlena groaned. But she knew John was right. Stefano didn't give up.

John's blue eyes bored into hers. "What?" she asked.

"I'm sorry that we can't be together in this bed tonight. This morning when I woke up at the crack of dawn, that was the first thing I thought about."

Marlena shot him a sexy smile and said, "We'll have to make do with a little more anticipation.

"Sweetheart, over three years of waiting is too damn long."

Marlena nodded wholeheartedly.

To get their minds off what they were missing, John told her, "Some of our vineyards will start harvesting the fruit tonight."

"You have humans pick the grapes, right? Not machines? I've seen some machines that pick other types of fruit, but I don't recall ever seeing a mechanical grape picker."

"Right. We do it by hand. But you know, some wineries here don't even have their own vineyards. They contract with growers who have grapes but no processing facilities.

"Does Grafton have contracts like that?"

Sometimes. It depends on what kind of wine we want to make. If it requires a variety of grapes that we don't grow - or don't grow much of - we will. They did it more when Bill Harding was here than we do now."

Marlena asked, "John. If you could freely choose any job available in the world now, what would it be?"

John laughed a little uncomfortably. "Isn't that a question more for a five-year-old: what do you want to be when you grow up? I'm sure my parents must have asked me that question. Too bad I have no idea what I told them."

"You didn't talk about that with your mother when you met her?"

"Sort of. I mean, she did tell me that I loved baseball. And I still do, but I wasn't quite big league material. And she said, not surprisingly, I played soldier, fireman, cowboy, g-man, etc. with my friends when I was little. She said I talked quite a bit becoming a policeman or a priest in high school. I think she said I wanted to join the FBI during my senior year. I guess I didn't show a lot of interest in the wine business. Maybe I disappointed my father on that score, but when I asked her, she said he had only wanted me to fulfill my potential, and he was content to let me find my own way on that."

Marlena chuffed gently. "You a priest? Gosh, I can't quite picture that. A cop, yes, of course. The FBI? That makes a lot of sense. But it's hard to imagine you being happy as a priest.

"I know what you mean. When she told me that, I joked with her. I said, that kid can't have been me, after all. You'll have to keep looking. But she shook her head at me, and I'll never forget what she said: 'John, God knows you. He knows all your secrets, even those you keep from yourself. God knows why you had that desire when you were young. He also knows why you aren't a priest now. Just as He knows why you wanted to be a police officer when you were a boy but aren't one now,' And I told her, 'The difference is I was a cop for a while. I wasn't a priest.' She nodded and changed the subject."

"That's very interesting," Marlena wondered if there was a message there that neither John nor she understood.

"But now, John, I really would like to know. If you could be anything you wanted to be now, what would it be?"

"Seriously, I'll tell you. When I die, I want my gravestone to read, "He was the best husband and father. We couldn't have asked for more."

Marlena teared up. "Oh, honey." She couldn't stop her voice from breaking. "God forbid you need a gravestone - not for another sixty years at least - but you have already earned that epitaph many times over with us."

He smiled sadly at her. "Thank you for saying that, but I can't forget my shortcomings. I can't forget that I skipped out on the family."

Marlena nodded solemnly, wiping away her tears. "I can't forget my shortcomings either, John. Maybe that will make us both better people in the future. I hope so." She added, "Besides, you were there for me today - just when I needed help the most with the imposter. Thank you again so much."

"Tweren't nuthin', Ma'am."

"Oh, yes, John. It was something. You gave me my life and my future. I will never forget that." Then she gave him a saucy smile and said, "You wiggled out of my question in the most gallant of ways. But seriously, if you could pick any profession, any line of work, what would it be?"

John ignored his bruised lips and made an "O" with them and blew out some air. "Whoo. You know the answer to that, Marlena. I'd be a cop. I don't know what else I did during the times I got away from Stefano. I've never been able to overcome the block on my memories from birth until I came to Salem. Oh, I guess once in a while I get some kind of image that might be from that time, but those are so fleeting and out of context. I could have been a housepainter one time or a railway steward. I might have gone to sea. Maybe I even enlisted in one of the services but then went AWOL. I don't have the foggiest. And I don't know, therefore, if I might have enjoyed any of the jobs I took when on the run from Stefano. But I do have my memories starting when I met you, and when I was your husband and the father of Carrie, Eric, and Sami, and I was a cop. Then, my life was complete." He wiped his eyes and his upper lip because his emotions were causing his eyes and his nose to run.

Seeing him do that reminded Marlena that his nose had run at their 1986 wedding. She had wiped it for him. She now wiped her own cheeks which had tears on them too.

"This is hypothetical, but if you received notification from the Salem PD that you could return to your position as Police Commander, would you? Or do you think too much water has gone under that bridge no matter how much you loved being a cop?"

"Oh, Doc, that's so hypothetical that I'm not sure I want to touch it. I can't imagine that happening after all this time. I made an effort to be reinstated when I was forced out, and my petition was denied. Even though I was good at my job, I had not attended the police academy, completed any administration of justice courses. I had not gone up through the ranks. Roman was a lieutenant, as you know, when I came, so that's where I started, and then I did earn my promotions to captain and commander. But those earned promotions and my own service record were not enough to offset the rest. I can't imagine that if I filed a petition again, it would be accepted this time."

John cocked his head at her and smiled endearingly. He shrugged.

Marlena softly said, "I understand, John. I just wonder. Roman isn't there. He was when you had to leave. Maybe, things could be different now."

"I love you for thinking about it. But I'm sure they've got someone waiting to come up the ranks." John yawned.

Marlena took that as her cue and folded the recliner leg rest. She rose. Time for them both to get some sleep. "Okay, Sailor, I'm going to bed. You need your rest, my knight. She leaned over the bed and gave John a kiss.

John looked at her longingly. "You could sleep here, you know. I'm not in any shape for 'gymnastics' with you so…" He faded out.

Marlena gave him a sweet look. "I love you! Heal up quick so we can perform 'gymnastics' together." She turned out the light in the room and was guided to the stairs by a fairly strong night light that burned between the master bedroom and Tommy's room. She heard John's sigh as she ascended the stairs.