Chapter 16

Bo suddenly found himself roughly flung onto his back; blinking in confusion as Carly scrambled out of the bed as though it's suddenly caught fire.

'Oh my God, Oh my God…. What am I doing? What did we just do?' Carly whispered, covering her face.

'Princess…' Bo got out of bed and moved towards Carly but she warded him off with an outstretched arm.

'No… don't come near me. Damn it!' she cried agitatedly. 'What did we just do?'

'Correct me if I'm wrong, we were about to make love.' Bo pointed out quietly.

'Make love? We were about to have sex!' Carly snapped, looking round for her top. Unable to find it, she grabbed a silk robe draped over a chair and slipped it on hastily. ' I cannot believe I let you do this again!' her fingers shook as she tied the sash.

'Again?' Bo said incredulously. ' I thought you've forgiven me.'

'That doesn't mean I want things back the way they were! I won't be "the other woman" again Bo; no way; you're married, I'm getting married! Oh no… this is so bad!' she ran her fingers through her hair , thoroughly upset and ashamed. How will she ever look Tony in the eye from now on?

'I loved you then and I love you now, more than ever!' Bo insisted, grabbing her shoulders.

'You went back to Hope!' she reminded him, pushing him away.

'It was a mistake and I've regretted it ever since.'

'Please! Only after you saw me with Tony, you more or less admitted it.' Picking up his discarded shirt, she tossed it to him. 'Jealousy reigning supreme, not love.'

Bo stared at her, clutching his shirt. 'I can't believe you just said that to me.'

Carly winced but stood her ground all the same. 'Isn't that the truth, Bo? If it isn't, what brought on the sudden change of heart after you showed the whole town how glad you were to have your wife back, huh? You turned your back on me; I didn't exist anymore! No, don't… don't touch me.' She moved back as Bo walked towards her again. ' I won't go through the whole thing again; wondering whether you're thinking about Hope or me. We're done.'

'Not by a long shot we're not, princess.' Bo said, his face hard and resolute as he slipped his shirt back on. 'What my heart told me, after the accident, was that you're the woman I love; the woman I want forever. I wanted to tell you that the night I saw you with Tony.'

'Bo…'

'I'm NOT lying! You're the missing part of me; I'm not complete without you, Carly!' he pleaded. 'Don't do this to us; we love each other, it's more than obvious!'

Carly rubbed her eyes. 'Even if that you say is true; it's too late. I'm getting married to Tony in a month.'

'You're… you're still going ahead with that?' Bo asked, shocked. 'After what we…'

'I will not betray Tony; he's a good man and he loves me.' Carly replied. 'And I'm sorry, but I love him too.'

Bo struggled to let the pain digest. 'You can't tell me it's the same as you and me- I'll never accept that!' he growled.

Carly was not about to let him trap her. 'My feelings for him are real. He was there for me; he knows about my past, about the baby, everything. And I have a real, guaranteed future with him, as opposed to you.'

'Carly…'

'No! I can't do this again Bo; I've told you that!' Carly cried. 'Your family will never accept me; they'll always blame me for you and Hope splitting. And can you actually stand there and tell me you'll choose your unborn child over me? Seriously?'

Bo frowned, startled. 'What are you talking about?'

'Oh no, don't you do this to me.' Carly turned away only for Bo to grab her arm and roughly turn her to face him.

'What did you just say?' he demanded.

'If Hope hasn't told you, it's not my place…'

'Carly Marie, if I have to thrash you within the inch of your life, you will tell me what you mean!' he shouted, shaking her again.

'Hope's pregnant, she told me!' Carly shouted. 'The whole time you were making love to her I lost our baby; how do you think that's makes me feel? Even if I didn't have Tony I can't trust you- she'll always have a hold on you somehow! And I'm not going to be responsible for breaking up a family no matter what she or Kayla thinks; it's over, Bo, over! We're just not meant to be!' tears filled her eyes again and she turned away, not seeing the stunned look on Bo's face. 'We have to concentrate on what we have now. I've made a commitment to Tony; you have your family.'

'Wait a minute Carly, I don't…'

'Please Bo, just go, go!' she said, her back to him; willing him not to touch her. Lord knows whether or not she'll be strong enough to resist temptation this time; he'll have her naked in seconds if she let him.

She heard him climb down the stairs then the faint sound of her door sliding and closing a few minutes later. Bereft, she walked to her tumbled bed, lying on the space Bo had lain, inhaling the faint scent of his aftershave on the pillow before closing her eyes.

:::::::::::::::::::

Bo got to his front door just in time to hear Kayla say, 'don't even bother, Carly's got more money than she could ever count; and not Lawrence Alamain's money either. She's a blue-blooded heiress.'

'Somoney wasn't the reason she went back to him?'

'She sprang a lot of bombshells on Bo, why else would she go back to the father of her son? Bo clearly couldn't take it any more…'

Bo flung the door open, startling the two women; eyes blazing with anger as he slammed it shut behind him, looking first at Hope's guilty face then Kayla's defiant one.

'Before you say anything Bo…' his sister began.

'I will deal with you later, in the meantime get the hell out of my house.'

'Hey!' Hope exclaimed, shocked.

'I know you just didn't just say that to me.' Kayla said, her voice tight.

'I know I just didn't hear you talk about Carly that way either.' Bo replied harshly. 'She would never treat you the way you treat her; I don't know what the hell's wrong with you all of a sudden. And if I'm a fool for sticking up for her, so be it.'

'Bo, you can't talk to your own sister this way…'

'You stay out of this!' Bo snapped. 'Kayla out… now!'

Hope tried to stop Kayla as she picked up her jacket but Kayla shrugged her away, glaring at Bo. 'You're going to regret this, I promise you.'

Hope stared at Bo in disbelief after Kayla slammed the door behind her. 'How could you kick your own sister out of our house; what's the matter with you?'

Bo gave his wife an ice-cold stare. 'Are you pregnant?'

Hope's blood ran cold. Carly had split on her after all. Relived that Ciara was spending the night with Caroline and not having to witness this she mumbled,'Where did you get that idea from?'

'That's not the answer to my question; are you pregnant, yes or no?'

No answer, only the biting of her lower lip and a guilty look which made him completely lose his temper. 'Are you pregnant, answer me!'

'I made a mistake…'

'Bullshit! You lied to Carly about being pregnant; how dare you?!'

Hope recovered fast. 'How dare me? How dare you, Brady!' she yelled back. 'How dare you ask me to move back in , making me think you were over Carly! If there's anyone to blame it's you, for not knowing what you want!'

'You got a lot of nerve accusing me of not knowing what I want! You were the one who left! You made me feel guilty for falling in love with Carly again; like you wouldn't have filed divorce papers on me if she hadn't come back to Salem! If you had more regard for our marriage, none of this would've happened in the first place!' Bo's eyes flashed as he continued, 'I made a mistake alright, but it's not Carly.'

'I supposed it's me, right?' Hope said bitterly. 'Because everything's my fault like you so pointed out!'

'Whatever.' Was the cold reply. 'I'm always the one repairing our marriage and I'm sick of that job. I want a divorce and you will not fight me over this.'

'Like hell I won't.' Hope's voice was ominously low. 'I will sue for sole custody of Ciara.'

'Don't even think of threatening me. It's not going to work this time and after the stunt you pulled last year; which I forgave you for, I honestly doubt any judge would grant you that. '

'Go to hell.' Hope hissed, dark eyes glinting. 'You want a divorce, you got it, Brady! I for one I'm done having to live in this so-called marriage!' she stormed upstairs, lips trembling.

'As for you princess.' Bo said to himself. 'There ain't going to be a wedding. Not while I'm around.'

:::::::::::::::::::::

Carly felt someone gently shaking her by the shoulder and she opened her eyes. It was now dark but she could make out her daughter's silhouette. 'Melanie? What time is it?'

'Little past eight.' Melanie switched on the lamp on the nightstand, her pretty face wearing an anxious look. 'Are you okay? I called your cell and Adrienne said she came by but you didn't answer the door.'

Carly sat up, pushing back her tousled hair from her eyes. 'I… I guess I fell asleep.'

Melanie looked her carefully; Carly had faint circles under her eyes. 'you've been crying again.'

Carly nodded. 'Bo knows. About the baby.'

'How did he find out?' Melanie asked, astonished.

'That's not important.' Carly shook her head. 'He was devastated, you should have seen him Mel, he was really upset about what happened.'

'Yeah, but Mum; it doesn't change things, does it?' Melanie pointed out. 'I mean, you're marrying Tony; you can't allow Bo to make a fool of you again, especially with him and Hope expecting another baby.'

'No… it doesn't.' Carly said truthfully. 'But at least he knows and I'm glad. Now I can marry Tony without feeling there was something I should have done. One of the things I did wrong with Bo years ago was keeping secrets from him.'

'I know you well enough now to say it was obviously for a perfectly good reason. And you have to put Bo completely behind you now; he's definitely not for you.'

Carly could only nod again; hoping her daughter wouldn't notice the blush on her cheeks. Hours before, she'd come so close to betraying Tony. She couldn't let that happen, ever again.

'Well, I'll go start dinner. Here's your purse; you left it on the couch.' Melanie handed it to her before kissing her on the cheek and going downstairs again.

Carly pulled out her cell phone and saw there was several missed calls; some of Adrienne, some from Melanie, the rest from Bo and one text message. Carly opened the inbox. His message simply read: "We're not done, princess."

Fingers steady, Carly deleted it.

:::::::::::::::::::

Tony came back to town a week later and surprised Carly in her office, lifting her clear off her feet and kissing her thoroughly .

'How was your trip?' Carly asked breathlessly as he set her down again.

'It would've been greater if you'd been there with me.' Tony smiled, holding her face. 'I missed you bad.'

'I missed you too.' Carly rubbed his arm, smiling back, pushing back the feeling of guilt in her chest. Bo had been calling her since that day and she'd ignored all of them but it was only a matter of time he came by to see her and God forbid Tony should be there when he did.

'Tony!' Melanie hurried through the open door and hugged him warmly. 'Welcome back; how's Gianni and Vito?'

'They're great, thanks.' Tony pinched her cheek. 'And I got you both something.' He produced two small shopping bags. Melanie squealed as he handed one to her. 'Oh… Tony, you shouldn't have but thank you!' Her presents turned out to be a bottle of Chanel No.5 and a Chanel purse. 'Thanks so much!'

Carly's present was a very much sort after Hermes Birkin bag and a black velvet lined box. Opening it, a three strand fresh water pearl necklace, milky white and incandescent, with a solid gold claspmet her gaze.

'Mum, they're beautiful!'

Carly barely heard Melanie's exclamation as she went back in time…

Opening the small pink box Bo handed to her , she drew out a solid gold chain, holding the glittering star pendant dangling on it between her fingers.

'It's so beautiful,' she whispered, touched.

'It's a North Star.' Bo explained, obviously pleased at her reaction. 'My Pop first told me about the North Star when I was about Shawn D's age. Took me on those voyages; we'll be in his old fishing boat late at night, I'd snuggle up next to him and he'd put those big ol' arms around me. We'd sit there, looking up at the night sky.'

She nodded, interested.

'There was one twinkling light,' he continued, '"Sailor's Heavenly Friend" he would call it. He's right. Anytime I felt troubled or confused or just plain lost… I'd just look up in the heavens, at the North Star and it would guide me home. That's what this North Star's going to do for you. It's going to bring you home.'

'Babe.' Tony snapped his fingers in front of her face, his own anxious. 'What's wrong, you don't like them?'

Carly caught Melanie's expression, which was puzzled. 'No… no, I love them, really I do, honey. They are beautiful.'

'Once I saw them on display I knew they were you.' Tony took the necklace out of the box and slipped it round her neck, clasping it firmly. 'Perfect.'

Carly moved to the small mirror on the wall, Melanie following her.

'They are great Mum, totally.'

Carly smiled faintly. 'Well, I guess this will go with my wedding dress. Once we shop for one that is.'

'You're getting your dress already?'

'Yeah, didn't your Mum tell you,' Tony drew Carly to his side. 'We're picking a date. How does the first day of next month sound to you?'

Melanie was speechless for a few seconds. 'It sounds… okay, more than okay!' she cried, hugging him and then Carly. 'How's it going to be?'

Carly had sent Tony an email, telling him exactly what she wanted. 'We're just going to have a civil wedding at City Hall here; Gianni and Uncle Vito will fly over. At least the paparazzi won't bother us here .'

'Frankie's going to try and make it then, with Audra of course.' Carly added. 'Then there's going to be Adrienne and Justin and Brady…'

'And us too, I hope?' Daniel appeared, Jennifer at his elbow. Carly had broken the news to Daniel at last , but left the job of telling Jennifer to him. Jennifer had hugged her and wished her happiness but there had been an odd look on face when she did so.

'Tony, you remember Daniel.'

'Yeah, sure; good to see you again, man.' Tony shook hands with him, turning to Jennifer. 'And you are…?'

'Jennifer Devereaux,' Jennifer replied, smiling with an effort. 'Carly and I went to school together.'

Melanie made a slight noise before turning it into a quiet cough.

'Oh, cool. Then I hope you'll both come to our wedding.' He slipped his arm round Carly's waist. 'I'm sure it will mean a lot to have Carly's old school mate there, right babe?'

'Sure.' Carly said quietly; eyeing Jennifer warily. She didn't look thrilled at the idea. Melanie noticed it too and her lips tightened.

'Great!' Daniel exclaimed. 'We won't miss it for anything. And congratulations to you both again.'

'Thanks Daniel, I really appreciate this.'

Daniel's beeper went off. 'Shoot… I have to run. Nice seeing you again, Tony.'

'You too.'

Jennifer turned to Carly as soon as Daniel left. 'can I talk to you alone, Carly?'

'Oh right, girl talk. I'll get out of the way then.' Tony kissed his fiancée on the mouth. 'I'll see you tonight, baby.'

'Yeah.' Carly rubbed his cheek and he took his leave as well.

'Melanie, do you mind?'

'What, leave you alone with my Mum so you can express your doubts? I'm not an idiot, I saw the look on your face.' Melanie said coldly.

'Yes I saw it too, what the hell?' Carly snapped.

Jennifer's expression was calm. 'I really need to talk to you alone, Carly.'

'Anything you want to say to me, you'll say it in front of my daughter.'

'Fine. I heard from Hope that she and Bo are getting a divorce.'

'And Mum's automatically to blame,' Melanie said in disgust before Carly could speak, 'the general conclusion in this town! Just what kind of a friend are you?!'

Carly raised a hand. 'I'll handle this. So, is that what you're trying to say to me, Jen? You're finally sharing Hope's wave length now; that I'm a home wrecker!'

Jennifer shook her head. 'That's not what I'm want to say. Whether you choose to believe it or not; you're still my friend and I love you. And because I love you, I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt, that you aren't making a show of marrying Tony to force Bo's hand.'

'What?' Carly exclaimed, shocked.

'How dare you?!' Melanie shouted, moving menacingly towards her but Carly pulled her back just in time. 'No, let me go; did you hear what she just said?'

Carly kept a hold on her irate daughter. 'Jennifer, of all people I never thought you would accuse me of such a thing.' She whispered.

'I've known you for a long time Carly so I think I have a right to say this.' Jennifer insisted, her face white and distressed. 'You're still in love with Bo, you can't fool me.'

'You're full of shit!'

'Mel, that's enough!' Carly admonished, pushing Melanie behind her. 'Well, Jen? Bo's getting a divorce and that's my green light to leave Tony at the altar? That's what you're waiting to hear?'

'You don't love Tony, Carly; why the hell are you marrying him?' Jennifer demanded. 'You accused Bo of making you live a lie, isn't that what you're going to be doing to Tony? If you're still going ahead with this, you're making a big mistake.'

'My big mistake was allowing myself believe that Bo and I had a future after all this time.' Carly said harshly. 'And believing that you would actually support me instead of hurting me with this crap you just poured out! It's obvious we've outgrown each other, Jennifer Devereaux. I'm marrying Tony because I want to and you and the rest of this town can believe what you want.'

Jennifer raised her chin, face tight. 'I won't be attending this charade.'

'Nobody's forcing you to come.' Melanie spat. 'Don't come at all; it's just going to be family and true friends.'

Without a word, Jennifer walked out of the office, slamming the door behind her.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Carly shook her head at the dress the shop assistant brought out for her inspection. 'I don't want to wear white. Do you have something in silver-grey?'

'I think I may have just the thing.' The woman bustled away.

'Are you okay, Mum?' Mel asked, watching Carly pace.

Carly shrugged.

'Don't listen to Jennifer, what she said was stupid.'

'It's not just what she said, it's the fact that it came from her of all people.'

'If I were you I won't lose any sleep over her. She's changed, just like everyone else here who used to be your friend. Don't think so much about it; next month's your wedding.' Adrienne urged.

Carly looked down at the engagement ring flashing on her finger. The colour of your eyes, Tony had said as he slipped it on her finger. 'Yes, honey- a new beginning.' She agreed. 'Everyone can say what they damn well like; at least I know why I'm marrying Tony.'

The shop assistant came back, looking apologetic. 'We have a silver-grey one but I'm afraid it isn't your size, Dr. Manning. How about this one?'

The floor length dress with a Grecian neckline was beige and made of silk.

'This one's you, Mum.' Mel nodded enthusiastically.

'I think so too, Carly.' Adrienne agreed.

Carly nodded, thinking how well her new pearls would go with it. 'I'll take it.'

Adrienne and Melanie grinned at each other, overjoyed. Carly was truly looking forward to her wedding day.

'Go ahead, try it on!'

Smiling, Carly took the dress and moved to the dressing room. In a few minutes she came out, stretching her arms wide. 'Well?'

'Oh…' Melanie said softly, hand to her chest as her mother twirled round.

'You look… exceedingly beautiful.' Adrienne shook her head in admiration. 'And maybe you should wear your hair up that day; we're going to get the best hair dresser for that.'

'And the best makeup artist; Tony's going to flip!' Melanie clapped her hands gleefully. 'This is going to be so great.'

'Yeah.' Carly nodded to the shop assistant still hovering anxiously. 'I'll definitely take this.' Turning to Melanie and Adrienne she said emotionally, 'I'm so glad I have you both; your support means so much to me, I hope you know that.'

'You do have it, Carly.' Adrienne's fingers stroked her hair. 'And as long as I'm breathing, you'll always have it.' She hugged her tightly. 'Because I love you.'

'I love you too, Mum.' Melanie said softly, enfolding them with her arms. 'And you'll always have me too.'