Chapter 13
Sami tried to sidestep E.J. to the right walking into the bathroom but at the same time he moved to the left.
They laughed and did the same dance in the other direction before E.J. finally paused and yielded so that Sami could go in the bathroom. She had intended only to allow E.J. some privacy while dressing and put on her own nightgown, but as she saw the large tub with its candles around it and sweet-smelling bubble bath oil she couldn't resist taking a dip to relax and collect her thoughts before she went to bed. Of course, even as she relaxed she could think of nothing but E.J.
Meanwhile, E.J. put on a pair of shorts and climbed into his new bed staring at the empty one where Sami would be sleeping later and wondering just what he had got himself into.
E.J. had told her that the extra bed was for her sake, but he knew that was a lie. It had taken every ounce of willpower he could muster to avoid taking Sami in his arms and kissing her the night before when he shared a bed with her and he hoped keeping separate beds would allow him to remain her protector but better temper his desire for her. Unfortunately, the knowledge that just behind the door she laid unclothed and soaking in the tub did not help matters much.
E.J. tried to put Sami out of his head and shut his eyes tight as he tossed and turned and waited for the wine he had taken with dinner to do its work and take him from his weary waking state to the blissful world of dreams.
Yet when he opened his eyes to the sound of the bathroom door squeaking and Sami stepping forward in a furry white bathrobe he felt suddenly wide awake again.
E.J. said nothing as he squinted and pretended to be asleep while he watched as, to his surprise, Sami didn't climb into her bed but kept walking toward his.
"E.J., care if I join you?" Sami asked as E.J. sat up in bed.
When she slipped off her bathrobe, E.J.'s jaw dropped to the floor. Sami just laughed and said, "I'll take that as a 'no'."
"Samantha, I…" E.J. started to say before Sami climbed on top of him and pressed her right index finger over his lips.
"Shhhhh," Sami said, before removing her finger from his lips and replacing it with her mouth.
Unable to contain his passion having Sami finally in his arms, E.J. quickly moved from Sami's mouth to begin kissing her neck and caressing her face and doing all other sorts of things to her he had always wanted.
E.J. beamed with pride with every contented moan and whisper of his name that came from Sami's lips and when those whispers grew to shouts he thought he had never been happier.
"Are you happy, Samantha?" E.J. asked as Sami lay peacefully beside him saying nothing but with a grin a mile wide across her face.
"What do you think?" Sami asked as E.J. began kissing her shoulder sweetly. "E.J., I've never been happier than I am right now."
"Good, sweetheart," E.J. said. "Neither have I. And I'm going to do everything I can to see that we stay this way forever."
But forever ended sooner than E.J. would have hoped.
As E.J. awoke breathing heavy, and his sheets a mess on the floor, he opened his eyes to realize he was in bed alone while to his right a few feet away Sami was nestled in her own bed quietly dreaming. E.J. sighed at the sight. He wanted so badly to wake her so that he could tell her he loved her so and then prove it with a kiss, but instead he got out of bed to take his second shower of the night – this one a bit cooler.
Chapter 14
As Sami spent more and more time in the DiMera mansion as the weeks went on, she found herself more and more enchanted by the family's opulent lifestyle. She also found herself increasingly disinterested in the affairs of the Bradys, which was well enough she thought because even after she had made the sacrifice of marrying E.J. to end the feud, all she could see in the eyes of her family members was pity rather than the admiration and respect she so craved for securing their safety. It had been weeks since she had visited the Brady Pub and she didn't know if she could ever come back there after the day E.J. attempted to surprise her following a trip to Salem Place for a shopping spree with a stop in for the clam chowder she had been craving. It was there that Sami laughed a little too loudly at a joke E.J. told and thus encountered the ire of Caroline, Max and Chelsea, who were sitting at the bar and shot daggers at her with their eyes that destroyed her so completely she told E.J. she was feeling sick and needed to leave immediately.
E.J. spent long hours at Mythic trying to restore his company leaving Sami to fend for herself most days, even sometimes on the weekends. Though caring for the twins consumed a sizable portion of her days, their many naps and her many servants allowed her a great deal more leisure time than she had ever imagined a new mother of two might have. Though momentary flashes of guilt crept in, she thought of her son, Will, very little as the precocious teenager fed up with his family's latest crisis and not wanting to deal with his dysfunctional parents had told them he had grown quite fond of Europe while staying with his Aunt Carrie and Uncle Austin and elected to attend boarding school in Britain when E.J. offered to pay for it. Lucas quickly agreed to that custody arrangement without much argument knowing that E.J.'s lawyers would make it happen whether he fought it or not and happy that even if he couldn't see his son, Sami wouldn't be able to either.
Even though Stefano frightened Sami, the more time she spent exploring his home the more curiously fascinated she became with who he was and why he was that way. At first they seldom crossed paths, and when they did Sami would leave the room without saying much at all. But then one afternoon the old man caught her spying on him as he conducted the blaring opera music blasting from his stereo and invited his daughter-in-law to join him for some brandy.
At first Sami tried to refuse, but one disapproving glare from Stefano had her accepting his offering. The first sip was rich and strong, but bitter, causing Sami's throat to burn and her cheeks to flush quickly as she not had any alcohol since the champagne on her honeymoon night.
Sami had been afraid that were she to drink even one glass of wine at dinner as the rest of the DiMeras did when they would dine together, she wouldn't be able to control herself from doing something with her husband she would regret later those evenings. But as she absorbed the emotion and drama of the music that afternoon and listened to Stefano explain the story behind it, she felt swept up by the passion and didn't give much thought to the consequences of her drinking as her cheeks grew pinker while her head began to swim.
When the fat lady had sung, Sami looked up at the grandfather clock against the wall and realized she had been enjoying the opera and drinking for hours. She also glanced in the mirror and frowned at her rosy cheeks with the thought that E.J. would be home soon.
"Oh, Stefano, I didn't realize it was this late," Sami said. "Thanks for the music lesson. I'll see you at dinner."
"The pleasure is all mine," Stefano called to Sami as she hurried out of the room toward the staircase and he chuckled to himself.
Chapter 15
Sami was so deep in her own thoughts humming a tune from the opera she listened to earlier that she didn't hear the bedroom door open even as she placed the ruby earrings in her ears to match her deep red lipstick and deep red evening gown.
"Samantha, Father says that he has something important to tell us at dinner…" E.J. said before his voice trailed off at the thrilling sight of his wife viewed from the angle of the mirror in the corner of the room.
"Yes, he told me that earlier when we were listening to music," Sami said absent-mindedly applying perfume with her back still turned toward her husband and unaware of her affect on him.
"You look… good," E.J. said as he walked toward her and couldn't resist placing his hands on her shoulders as he got a closer look at his wife in the vanity mirror as he stood behind her. Sami looked up at him and noticed his wide grin but said nothing.
"Mmmmm. You smell good, too," E.J. said caressing her shoulders and arms with his hands and putting his cheek up against the side of her head.
"Thank you, E.J.," Sami said walking away from him uncomfortable with her reaction to him and afraid of what she would do if she lingered in his touch any longer. "But I don't think I smell as good as whatever it is the servants are cooking. Is dinner almost ready?"
"Any minute," E.J. said with a sigh at once again finding his advances rebuffed by Sami. "Tony and Anna will be joining us and they are already waiting in the dining room. Shall we head downstairs?"
"Let's," Sami nodded, noticing his disappointment but not sure what to say to it as they quietly walked down the stairs and took their seats at the dining room table.
"Well, my sons, I have called you and your beautiful blonde wives here today to inform you of something I have decided about what I want for the future of this family after my death," Stefano said as he came into the dining room and took his place at his seat.
"Father, don't talk like that," E.J. said touching Stefano's arm, before Stefano brushed his son's hand away.
"No, my son, I need to talk about this," Stefano said angrily. "Between my recent illnesses and now Andre's death I must finally admit my own mortality and lay out plans for my legacy just as my father did for me."
E.J. listened intently and bowed his head in acknowledgment of his father's disappointment in him for killing Andre while Tony rolled his eyes at Stefano's legacy talk.
Anna didn't even bother feigning interest in the discussion as she alternately played with her hair and fidgeted with the gigantic block of ice attached to her left ring finger as a token of her recent re-marriage to Tony. She also twice interrupted the talk to ask E.J. to pass her a new bottle of wine, the second time receiving a swift kick from Tony under the table, which earned him in turn a glare from his wife.
Meanwhile, Sami felt uneasy listening to the conversation to which she had nothing to contribute and began matching Anna glass for glass of Pinot Noir not realizing her freshening up before dinner had not erased all the intoxicating effects from her earlier brandy drinking.
At least she didn't realize it until she got a bout of hiccups halfway through her fourth glass of wine.
"Excuse you!" Anna cackled.
"I'm sorry," Sami said meekly.
But Sami recoiled in horror as Stefano thunderously roared, "Well you should be sorrrrry. I don't know what kind of table manners you were taught in the Brrrady household, but as a DiMerrrra you will learn to how to handle your drink or you will not drink at all!"
Sami sheepishly pushed her wine glass away toward the center of the table while Stefano continued his rant about the family and she realized Stefano had scared the hiccups right out of her.
E.J. bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing at the sight of Sami's terror, knowing his father would never refuse someone a drink and understanding the difference between the biteless bark of his father's voice when he was simply annoyed at being interrupted compared to the quiet rage he would convey when ready to take action against his enemies. But E.J. put on a smiling face of support as he reached his hand across the table to place it in Sami's and to his pleasant surprise she accepted the gesture and stared back at him with appreciation.
"So as you know I have been blessed in my life with many children," Stefano said. "Unfortunately, you are the only two children who are still alive and willing to see me. And since Benjy has left without giving me any knowledge of his whereabouts and Lexie unfortunately has disowned me and forbids me from seeing little Theo, that means I have no grandchildren. And thus I have no one to whom I can pass on this home and my fortune and my power when I am gone."
Anna and Tony shared a sad glance as they thought about their miscarried child, while at those words Sami let go of E.J.'s hand and averted her eyes from his penetrating stare.
"But what about Sofia and Eric John?" Sami asked, turning to Stefano. "Don't they deserve anything for having to be raised as DiMeras?"
"Having to be raised as DiMeras?!" Stefano stood up and quietly raged in a manner that prompted E.J. to get out of his seat to stand between his father and wife. "They should thank their lucky stars they are not being cursed to be raised with that idiot Lucas Rrrrroberts for a father like their hopeless older brother."
"How dare you say that about my son, Will?" Sami said standing up just as angry as Stefano had been. "He is not hopeless! He is brilliant!"
"Well, he will be now thanks to the fabulous educational opportunities he's going to get purchased with DiMera money," Stefano said with a chuckle. "At least now he can make something of himself and won't have to wait for his Grandma Kate to start a company for him to work at or enlist with the Keystone Kops like all those Brady boys do."
"How dare you," Sami said lunging at Stefano and seething with rage even as E.J. held her back and wrapped his long arms completely around her to restrain her.
Stefano taunted Sami with his laughter while E.J. tried to tell her maybe it would be best if they had the rest of their dinner upstairs.
"Fine, I'll go upstairs, but I'm done with dinner," Sami screamed as she pushed E.J. away and stormed past Stefano toward the staircase before storming right back to the table. "Although I'm not done drinking."
E.J. shook his head as he watched Sami grab the bottle of Pinot Noir from the table and he watched her hold her head up triumphantly even as she somewhat uneasily doddered up the stairs in her deep red six-inch pumps.
"I think I should go check on her and make sure she is all right," E.J. said running his fingers through his hair. "Excuse me, Father. It was nice seeing you Tony and Anna."
After E.J. left, Stefano and Tony and Anna resumed eating in several minutes of silence before Anna finally spoke.
"Stefano, I hate to break it to you, but if you're looking for a grandchild, you're going to have to look to another daughter-in-law at this point," Anna said finally.
"Oh, Anna," Tony scoffed. "Do you really think that whole speech had anything to do with us? It was clearly designed with E.J.'s happiness in mind."
"You think so, my son, Tony," Stefano said with a sly grin. "You always were too smart for your own good."
"For your own good, too, Stefano," Tony said seriously. "But you don't have anything to worry about from me. I have no intention of saying anything as long as you promise not to hurt my brother the way you hurt me…"
"And as long as you keep paying Anna's credit card bills," Tony said with a smile turning his attention toward Anna.
"Yeah, Stefano, I'll keep him in line," Anna said even as she stared deeply into Tony's eyes before the two of them passionately kissed.
Stefano didn't hear them as he leaned back with a smile on his face locked in his own thoughts, in his own chess game plotting his next move.
But unbeknownst to them all, even Stefano, Andre stood beneath a heating vent in the DiMera's servant's quarters adjacent to the dining room listening to the entire dinner conversation and furious that despite all his loyalty it seemed the man he had given up his life to honor as his father was forsaking him a place as part of his legacy to instead share it with those worthless men he had raised as sons.
Andre clenched his fist angrily but quickly regained his composure and reached in his pocket for his cell phone and dialed.
"It's time. Are you ready?" Andre said nervously into the phone before the response at the other end of the line caused an evil grin to spread across his face. "Good. I think this is going to be fun for the both of us."
Chapter 16
Sami hobbled up the stairs and into her bedroom wobbling greatly but somehow not spilling a drop of the bottle of wine in her shaky right hand.
She stepped over to the vanity and stared in the mirror as she took a large gulp of the wine and felt tears welling up behind her eyes. But as she saw the reflection of E.J. walk in the door behind her, she set the bottle down and furiously began wiping away the liquid in her eyes as her sadness turned to fury.
"Well, that was quite a scene," E.J. said shutting the bedroom door behind him.
"Oh you want a scene, E.J.?! I can give you a scene!" Sami yelled as she threw a vase at the wall that E.J. deftly avoided at the last second.
"That I don't doubt, sweetheart," E.J. said with a smile as he treaded carefully toward Sami.
E.J. turned solemn though, when he noticed her rosy cheeks and nose were not colored by her drinking, but tears.
"Look, this may not mean much to you, but I'm sorry for my father's remarks at dinner, O.K.?" E.J. said putting his hands on Sami's shoulders and looking down into her eyes. "It was wrong of him to say anything about Will and it is wrong of him to expect you to give him grandchildren. I need you to know I don't expect that, sweetheart."
E.J. had meant the words to soothe his sorrowful wife but to his surprise, they had somehow spurred a fresh wave of tears. Panicked, E.J. instinctively grabbed the back of her head with the palm of his hand and pulled her into his chest locking her in a tight embrace in a vain attempt to will her sadness away.
As she began to calm down feeling E.J.'s soothing touch stroking her hair and listening to his reassurances, Sami realized she felt safe, she felt warm and she felt happy standing there in his embrace. She remembered the way he had calmed her after Lucas's shooting and his steady hand when the twins were born. But most of all she remembered the strange sweetness that radiated from E.J.'s face as he held Sofia for the first time.
"But E.J., what if I want more children?" Sami asked quietly before looking up at him.
"Even with the twins? Already?" E.J. said pulling Sami's face back so he could hold her gaze with his hands wrapped around her cheeks before he began pacing around the room. "Not that we can't afford a whole litter of kids, but this is really something you want? To adopt? I mean, I know that seems to be the trend with all the Hollywood actresses these days, but…"
"No, E.J.," Sami said interrupting E.J. and putting her hands on his chest. "I want to have children… with you."
E.J. was taken aback as Sami's hands moved upward to tightly grasp his collar and pull him in for a passionate kiss. It didn't take too long for the shock to wear off and E.J. to enthusiastically reciprocate Sami's affection, before a momentary flash of conscience he didn't even realize he had got the best of him.
E.J. pulled back from the kiss and sighed.
"Samantha, that was some kiss," E.J. said shaking his head.
"You haven't ssseen anything yet," Sami slurred as she attacked him once more.
This time their passion had led him to scoop her up and place her on the bed for a horizontal stab at making out, but once again E.J. was hit with a shocking fit of conscience and he summoned all the willpower he could muster to pull away and simply sit next to her in the bed as his hand covered his face and he collected his breath.
"No, sweetheart, this isn't right," E.J. said getting out of the bed. "You're drunk. Very drunk."
"I'm not THAT very drunk, E.J.," Sami said with a laugh as she hopped out of the bed as well. "And so what if I was? Why should you have trouble sleeping with a woman who may have had five… or six… was it six? Glasses of wine…"
Sami paused as she tried to count the amount of wine she drank on her fingers.
"Yes… six… six glasses of wine," Sami said nodding. "And three glasses of brandy earlier with Stefano, too. Tell me, E.J. Wells-slash-DiMera, why oh why can't you sleep with your wife who just happens to be a wee bit intoxicated when we BOTH know you're not above extorting sex from a woman who doesn't love you, hmmm?"
The words stung but E.J. knew he deserved all that and more that Sami could dish out at him.
"And I know I'm not that man anymore, Samantha. Even if you don't," E.J. said resolutely. "My dear, I'm in love with you. Don't you get that? I do desperately want to be with you. More than you can possibly know. Every cell in my body cries out for you, Samantha, but I don't want to just sleep with you. I want to MAKE LOVE to you."
E.J. ran his hand through his hair in agony over the situation while he wondered if Sami was sober enough to absorb and comprehend what he was telling her. When she responded to his words with nothing but a blank stare and silence, E.J. decided she was too drunk even for that.
"Now if you don't mind I'm going to get you a glass of water," E.J. said walking to the bathroom. "You're going to wake up with a nasty hangover tomorrow if you don't drink some water. And even if you do drink water you'll still probably have a headache in the morning."
Sami tapped her feet angrily and impatiently for the entire fifteen seconds it took E.J. to fill up the cup of water and return with it.
"Here, darling," E.J. said holding out the cup. "Drink this."
"But I don't wannnnnnt it, E.J.," Sami whined. "I wantttt you."
After E.J. pushed Sami away once more, Sami finally took the glass of water out of E.J.'s free hand and pretended like she was going to sip the water before she suddenly dumped it over his head.
"If that's your idea of foreplay, my dear, I am not interested," E.J. said with a grin.
"Dammit E.J.," Sami said pounding his fists in his chest. "Why can't you give me what I want for once and just sleep with me? Look, you can call it whatevvvvverrr you want."
"Samantha, if I slept with you tonight, I'd call it taking advantage of you," E.J. said walking away.
"But… but… but what if I call it you making love to me, E.J.?" Sami asked walking after him and tugging on his arm while pouting. "Why won't you make love to me, tonight?"
E.J. stared at Sami's face and wondered where the strength came from that he could resist that pouting face and those batting eyelashes over sapphire eyes.
"Because it'll make you hate me in the morning, Samantha, and that is the one thing in life I can't bear," E.J. said looking sorrowfully at his wife as he held up her chin with his right thumb and index finger.
"But I already hate you," Sami said desperately as she pressed her lips against his fiercely.
This time, it wasn't difficult at all for E.J. to break away from the kiss.
"Then you'll have to hate me by yourself while I spend the night down the hall in the guest room," E.J. said defiantly as he stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind him.