Chapter Two

Her cold hands close over his larger ones, and she looks into his chaotic blue eyes. There is pain in those eyes. Pain she is sure that he has carried with him since the last time he saw her. There is also love in those eyes and confusion. She used to be able to read every emotion in the intensity of his stare. Now when she looks at him, he looks away, and she wonders why he prefers to hide his shame from her when he has to know that she would forgive him any wrong, real or imagined.

"You're not free," she concludes. It is the only explanation she has for Robert's inability to say the words. He simply does not know how to verbalize what he knows will break her heart.

He looks up at her now, their joined hands now feeling heavier. "I'm sorry Luv, "he admits. "I am so sorry."

"Why," she demands? "You are my soulmate Robert…I thought I was yours."

"I thought you were dead…I thought I'd never see you again."

Anna pulls her hand from him regretfully, pain falling down her cheeks, as her knees buckle and she falls upon the snow covered grass. He kneels down next to her, his eyes pleading with her to forgive him for his weakness.

"I didn't think I would see you either Robert…In all those years when I was gone…I thought for sure that I would die before I could ever get to you again…but never, in all those years, did I ever think I could give my heart to someone else? I am not condemning you Robert…I just want to understand."

He caresses her cheek as he feels tears of remorse fill his eyes…"I do not know what I can tell you to make this okay. If I knew you were alive…If I even suspected it…Anna, you have to believe me…I would have moved mountains to find you. "

"And now?"

"Now there are so many things that I need to tell you…and I don't even know where to Start."

"You could start with how you feel," she reasons.

"It's not that simple Anna. I love you. I will always love you. When we first got married all those years ago, I was one hundred percent sure that we would survive until both of us were old and gray…But life happens doesn't it? Life plays cruel tricks sometimes. Your death was the perfect example. For seven years, I believed that my soulmate was gone forever…I blamed myself for not being able to save you…I blamed you for the choices you made…and then I made every bargain with God that I could. None of it mattered Anna…you were still gone."

"And then you met Holly right?"

"When I met Holly, she was pregnant and alone. Luke Spencer, who happens to be one of my best friends, and the father of her child, supposedly died in an avalanche and I wanted to give that innocent child a name. I wanted to honor Luke's memory. "

"So you married her because you are an honorable man Robert Scorpio," she states. It was not a question.

"As it turns out, the baby did not survive and we found out that Luke was actually alive. By that time, we started to have feelings for each other and eventually Luke's wife Laura turned up alive."

"So you stayed with her because you loved her."

"I do love her Anna. I am not going to insult your intelligence by trying to convince you that I do not. I also need you to understand that while I do love her, it is not on the same scale as you. I love you in a way that I will never love anyone else in my entire life. If you hadn't died…"

"We would still be together…You wouldn't have married Holly…"

"You have no idea how lost I was without you …It was the worst kind of pain I have ever experienced in my life. There were so many times when I thought I saw you or I could hear your voice…Only when I got close enough to see you, it was not you. Not even close. I would dream about you all the time…I would dream of you dying…"

"Oh Robert," she cries. "I never wanted that for you. I never wanted anything to hurt you…least of all, me."

"I don't blame you anymore Luv…It's not your fault that you 'died.' I desperately needed someone to blame and it was easier to blame you because you were not around to defend yourself. I did not have anywhere else to put all that anger and sorrow. I lashed out. Eventually though, I had to let it go. It was ruining my life. I could not focus. I was not eating. I was barely even sleeping."

"So in a way Holly saved you. Is that what you are trying to tell me?"

"She gave me something else to focus on…something that was not rooted in pain. She does not know about you though. Nobody does. After you died, I just could not bring myself to tell anyone that I married an incredible woman that I knew only three days before we wed and now she is dead. Somehow I think people would have thought I was crazy."

Anna leans her head to rest on Robert's shoulder as she wraps her arms around his waist. "It is kind of a crazy story isn't it? We fell in love in two days, got married on the third and not even one year after, you believed that I died. It's tragic really."

"Anna…"

"It's okay Robert. You are an incredible man and any woman would be lucky to have you…It's just that you are my home Robert…you always have been…I'm not even sure where to go now that I know that I am not your home anymore."

"I didn't say that Anna…"

"No but you didn't say I was either…I'm not the only woman you love anymore and I respect that. No one is blaming you for moving on with your life, least of all, me. What I cannot do though is be with you when I would never be certain if you are choosing me because you cannot live without me or because you think it is the right thing to do. You are an honorable man Robert Scorpio…You will always try to do the right thing… except I do not want to be your chance at redemption…I want to be the woman that sets your heart on fire…I want to be everything to you. Until you can look me in the eyes and promise me that I am the only woman you want than I think you should go."

He does not fight her; He knows that every word she says is true. She holds his face in her hands one more time…Forcing him to look into her eyes.

"I survived because of you…I love you more than anything in the world…More than anyone else ever could...Don't think I'm giving up on you…I am only giving you a chance to figure out what will make you happy. I believe with all my heart that it is me."

She kisses him once more with desperate urgency and a searing intensity that he has not felt since her lips last touched his. He knows what she is doing. She is burning a memory into his soul so he will never forget how she feels. As if that was even possible.

It was at this exact moment when Robert wondered why he had to be so damn noble…

Watching Anna walk away from him felt wrong...