Chapter 17

As her wedding day drew nearer, Carly did her best to avoid Bo who kept calling her cell; instructing Maxine and the other nurses to tell him she was unavailable whenever he showed up at the hospital. She also had to put up with hostile looks from Caroline and Maggie Horton whenever they met on the street, which pained her a lot and the silent treatment from Jennifer which hurt more. She had no idea what excuse she gave Daniel for not coming to the wedding but unknown to her, Daniel, after hearing what had really happened to her from Melanie, decided not to interfere in the matter but nursed the hope the two women will become best friends again.

Adrienne was in charge of the reception; which was going to take place at The Wings' private dining room and the restaurant's Head Chef promised to provide a scrumptious spread as well as a three tiered wedding cake. After much and careful thinking, Carly informed Lexie that she was going to move to New York as soon as she got a reply from a hospital she'd applied to. In the meantime, she and Tony have leased a penthouse apartment in Salem and he will keep commuting until she got the green light.

Lexie's face fell at the bombshell. In her own way she hadn't been fair to Carly since her return to Salem but the truth of the matter was that she didn't want to lose Hope's friendship. The whole time she'd watched Carly struggle to get back on her feet after her breakup with Bo made her fervently wish more than once that she hadn't made that tactless statement to her on their first encounter after so many years. Carly wasn't an scheming woman yet everyone except a few had treated her as such, not caring to know what happened to her since she'd left Salem. And now she was going to leave.

'I'm sorry to have to lose you, Carly.' She now said.

Carly gave her a wry look. 'Of course you are.'

'I am.' Lexie stressed. 'You've done a lot of great work here and we're going to miss you, including me.'

'Well, that's good to know Lexie. I'm sorry we aren't as close as we used to be but that's how time works. I can't force you to divide your loyalties after coming out of the blue.'

'I guess I asked for that.' Lexie said quietly. 'But I want you to know this; I never really believed you came back here to cause trouble between Bo and Hope; I just felt they would be able to work things out easier…'

'I understand.' Carly said, though she actually didn't. 'And it's in the past now; sooner or later Bo will change his mind about the divorce and they'll work things out again like they've always done. What happened last year proves it.' Shrugging and pushing back the nagging feeling of bitterness she continued, 'I hope you and Abe will come to my wedding.'

'We'll be there,' Lexie kissed her on the cheek, 'most definitely.'

Probably to make sure she actually went ahead with the wedding; Carly cynically thought to herself. Just as well she'd decided to leave Salem; Bo and the rest of the town will eventually forget her and go on with their lives as before. Divorce or not, she was never going back to Bo.

Later onshe had lunch with Adrienne, Melanie and Brady at The Wings.

'So the wedding's next week. Any jitters yet?' Brady teased.

Carly flicked him with the napkin, glaring but with a smile tugging at her mouth. 'Jitters are for first timers, which I'm not. And this is definitely the last wedding I'm ever going to have.'

'I'm still not thrilled at the idea of you eventually moving to New York though,' Adrienne said soberly. 'Why can't you keep practicing medicine here; Tony's got his son to handle the business, doesn't he?'

'I have to leave Salem once and for all; things are now more heated with what's going on.' Carly replied. 'Like I told Mel, it would be for the best; I don't want everyone's attitude towards me affect my marriage, which is bound to happen.'

'Well I don't see why you have to let half the town run you off for something that's not your fault.' Brady said before Melanie could speak. 'Choices were made and you didn't influence those choices; Bo and Hope are adults for crying out loud!'

'Like anyone who knows Hope Brady real well would actually call her an adult.' Was Melanie's scathing contribution to the conversation.

'Can we please not discuss Hope?' Carly asked quietly.

'Why not, after rubbing her pregnancy in your face?' Melanie snapped.

'So… Hope's pregnant and Uncle Bo's still going ahead with the divorce?' Brady asked, surprised. 'I don't get it.'

'Well I'll unconfuse you; Bo's not going ahead with the divorce no matter what he's making everyone think.' Carly said firmly. 'If he could leave me on Christmas to break Hope out of prison and reconcile with her later; he's bound to change his mind at the last minute again. Lord knows he procrastinated enough with the last batch of divorce papers; then I thought he just wanted to give her time to get over Alice's death.'

Adrienne shrugged, picking at her salad. 'You're probably right about that.'

'I'm right about that and even if I'm wrong; Bo and I are done, definitely done this time.' Was Carly's emphatic reply. 'Everything that's happened taught me one huge lesson; some things are just better off left in the past and there's no point raking them out all over again.'

As Carly spoke, Adrienne looked over her shoulder and grimaced. 'Here comes trouble.'

The "trouble" was in the shape of Vivian Alamain who was surprisingly sans bodyguard for once. Typically, the cold stares she received from the people at the table didn't daunt her one bit.

'Well, well… isn't this cozy?' she smiled sardonically.

'What the hell do you want?' growled Brady.

'Come now Brady; I simply wanted to stop by and formally congratulate Carly on her upcoming nuptials. You must be very excited Carly; I hear your fiancé's quite the sort after bachelor.'

'You would know that, wouldn't you Vivian?' Carly said coldly. 'And I don't need congratulations from you, or anything else for that matter.'

'So do us all a favor and vanish back to the witch's cave you emerged from.' Melanie snapped.

Vivian gave Melanie a withering look. 'You know I did give you the benefit of the doubt initially; that you wouldn't be like your mother who's famous for making promises to her lovers and then ditching them. I'll never forgive you for what you did to my son.'

'You aren't Phillip's mother; just the damn oven!' Brady retorted, rising from his seat. 'And he wasn't fit to wipe Melanie's boots or any woman's for that matter. Like you could ever be maternal; having to steal a child from his rightful mother- which makes you the worse kind of thief.'

'Yeah, stealing lives.' Adrienne added, her face hard. 'What you need to do is commit yourself to the nearest loony bin because obviously your only pleasure in life is spreading poison everywhere.'

Vivian's lips tightened in anger.

'Get lost, Vivian.' Carly said. 'And keep your poison to yourself for once.'

'Oh I'll leave,' Vivian spat, raising her chin in her usual arrogant way. 'Good luck on your wedding day, my dear. You're definitely going to need it. By the way; I do hope it's a real wedding. Because it would be juvenile to expect Bo Brady to come riding up to voice his objection…'

Brady roughed shoved her. 'Get away from this place now!' he snarled, to the consternation of the other patrons. 'Go on get!'

'You keep your hands off me!' Vivian shouted back, outraged. Glaring at Carly, she looked as though she was going to say something but changed her mind.

'That woman!' Melanie exclaimed as Vivian turned her heel. 'It's a good thing you'll be moving Mum.'

'I can move to Australia and she'll still be on my tail, trust me.' Carly said dryly. 'She's relentless; never stops until she accomplishes her mission.'

'Please forget about her!' Adrienne urged, picking up her glass. ' I want to propose a toast,' she smiled at Carly who picked up her own glass, Melanie and Brady following suit. 'Here's to the future Mrs. Delfino and May she and Tony have the best marriage a couple can possibly have.'

'Hear, hear!' was the general response.

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Vivian was enraged but she was comforted by the reminder of the plan; ruin Carly's wedding and reputation by publicly announcing at the very moment she was saying "I do", about Carly's abortion. Not only will she lose him but she'll definitely be shunned by the whole Salem community; and will barely be able to hold up her head. Murdering her was once the ultimate revenge but ruining her life and career was a much better prospect.

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Bo knew very well that Carly was avoiding him and would definitely not let him in if he showed up at her place so after several weeks of her dodging and not answering his calls, he let her be; because he had already formulated Plan B. And Plan B involved grabbing her outside City Hall and driving her to the cabin where he will tell her Hope had lied and convinces her she couldn't marry Tony after all. Thanks to an unsuspecting Maxine, he knew when and where the wedding was going to take place, all he had to do was make sure to grab Carly at the exact moment. If that didn't bring them back together, nothing will; there was no way he was going to let her marry another man when she obviously still loved him.

In the meantime, the divorce was going under way and he was facing the family's anger and disappointment; especially from Caroline who was furious with him for kicking his sister out of his house. Roman was more impassive about it but reminded him that the family will not support him if he and Carly eventually reconciled . Ciara was now noticing the coldness between her parents but was yet to know that they were splitting up; he and Hope agreed to tell her everything the very day the divorce was final. For now they were still living together but the situation was more and more awkward by the day.

But Bo was optimistic. Once he and Carly got back together, they will be able to face anything, because of the strength of their love.

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Frankie and Audra were arriving a day to the wedding and will be staying at The Salem Inn; Carly fervently hoped that her brother will be able to control himself and not unleash his anger or fists on Bo.

'Like he doesn't deserve it.' Melanie scoffed as she helped Carly pack her clothes. The leased penthouse flat was now furnished and Carly was moving in; Tony was in New York doing some last minute clearing of his schedule, promising to make it back to town in time with Gianni and Vito.

'Maybe.' Carly said. 'But I don't want him to do that; I just want Frankie to be there on my special day, without having a terrible encounter with Bo or the Bradys.'

Melanie knew her mother was soft hearted but sometimes she went about things too far; she should be pleased at the idea of her brother telling Bo and his family where to go.

'Whatever, Mum; you know best.' She shrugged. 'But I for one would love Uncle Frankie to do what I'd do; reshape Bo's mouth.'

Carly pushed back the memory of Bo's urgent, possessive kisses with some effort. 'Yeah, well…' She broke off at the appearance of Dario who'd been downstairs putting some of her things in boxes.

'You have a phone call, Dr. Manning; it's Gianni.' He said.

'Oh, thanks.' She got up and hurried downstairs to take it, pressing the speaker phone button. 'Gianni, how are you honey?'

'Carly,' Gianni's usual jovial voice sounded strained. 'I'm afraid I have some bad news.'

Carly's stomach flipped. 'What's wrong?' she asked as Melanie and Dario appeared at her elbow.

She heard Gianni make a sound as if he was gulping. 'It's Dad… this afternoon he started complaining of a migraine in the middle of a meeting… then afterwards he collapsed.'

Melanie pressed her hand to her mouth. Dario looked bewildered but Carly's face was an expression of deadly calm. 'Do you remember any other symptom before he collapsed?'

'Uh… he was feeling nauseous in the morning but he thought it was some stomach bug and wouldn't go for a checkup. It all happened so fast; he looked like he was in excruciating pain, like someone punched him in the head.'

Thunderclap headache, nausea… Carly suspected what it was; aneurismal subarachnoid hemorrhage. Gianni's next statement confirmed it. 'The doctor here said it was some cerebral hemorrhage… I can't even pronounce it….'

'That's… that's not important…' Carly said, her words tumbling over the words, her hands shaking. 'How is he? Is he conscious; is he resting?'

More silence, ominous silence. Then the sound of Gianni crying, 'Dad died twenty minutes ago, Carly. The doctor said… he said… it was too late, some artery in his brain was too ruptured for them to operate on time…' he went on crying over the phone. 'My father's gone Carly, he's gone!'

'No, no; it's not possible!' Melanie cried heartbrokenly, tears pouring down her cheeks. 'Not Tony!'

Tony's dead... Tony's dead was all Carly's brain could register. It wasn't true... couldn't be true. Her face wore the look of death. No, it wasn't true... Tony wasn't dead; she was marrying him day after tomorrow... it was all a big mistake.

'Mum, Mum!' Melanie cried, terrified at the look on Carly's face; Dario held her shoulders in case Carly keeled over.

'Melanie, is that you?' Gianni cried from the phone.

While Dario swiftly picked up Carly and carried her upstairs; Melanie moved to the phone, picking up the receiver.

'Yes, it's me.' She sobbed. 'I think Mum's gone into shock, I have to take care of her right now. Oh God I'm so, so sorry about Tony; how could this happen?'

'I don't know Mel, I don't know; Dad's never been sick in his life. I still can't believe it.' He sobbed. 'Uncle Vito's devastated; Dad was like a son to him…'

'Oh my God…' Melanie wept, thinking of Tony's handsome, genial face and kindness. 'Why… why?'

At his end, Gianni wiped his tears with the back of his hand. 'Listen… I have some stuff I have to take care of. Tell me when and I'll send the plane over to pick you and Carly up.'

'Sure, sure… please tell Mr. Vito I'm sorry; do all you can for him, okay?'

'Yeah… thanks, Melanie; thanks.'

Melanie hung up, silently weeping. Why did this have to happen; the happiness her mother experienced cruelly snatched away from her. It was unfair, so unfair…. Tony gone forever.

Remembering her mother, she darted up the stairs.

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Melanie gave Carly a strong sedative before slipping the blankets over her. Dario held her in his arms and she sobbed against his chest. 'Oh Dario...'

'I'm so sorry.' Dario stroked her hair, staring at Carly who was now in a drugged sleep.

'How will she get through this? She's suffered enough for God's sake!'

'It's a question I can't answer.' Dario's eyes were sad as he shook his head. 'She's going to need all the support she can get, especially from you and Mrs. Kiriakis.'

'Oh...' Melanie sniffled, pulling away to reach for her cell phone. 'I have to call her and Dad.' Wiping her tears, she called Daniel who answered after four rings. 'Hello? Mel, what's going on?'

'Tony's dead. '

'What?!' Daniel sat up in bed, shocked. 'What happened?'

'Gianni called from New York; he said Tony had a cerebral haemorrhage and it was too late to operate.' Melanie gulped, trying not to cry again.

Beside Daniel, Jennifer sat up; clutching the blanket up her chest.

'How's Carly?'

'She's in shock.'

'Jennifer and I are coming over right now.'

'Better make it tomorrow Dad. I gave her a pill; she's sleeping right now.'

'Okay, tomorrow first thing. I'll let Jennifer know.'

'What's going on? What happened?' Jennifer asked anxiously as Daniel hung up.

'Tony Delfino's dead...' Jennifer gasped in horror, 'according to his son, he suddenly had a brain haemorrhage; poor Carly...'

'Oh no...' Jennifer began to cry as she remembered her last conversation with Carly about Tony, thoroughly ashamed and very upset for her friend. 'Oh my God...'

As Daniel was consoling her; Melanie was breaking the sad news to Adrienne and afterwards made a phone call to Washington D.C.