Chapter 35

'Olivia! Olivia!'

Ciara's short legs peddled her towards her sister who gathered her up in her arms. Ciara's sitter Sally- who'd picked her from school- watched, smiling.

'You are a one you are; running so hard.' Olivia kissed her soundly on both cheeks before putting her down, nodding towards Sally who took her leave, waving goodbye. Ciara eyed the Welsh Springer spaniel at Olivia's heels with great interest. 'Is he yours?'

'She not he, love. Phoebe, shake hands.'

The dog solemnly raised her paw and Ciara shook it, giggling. Delighted, Phoebe butted Ciara with her soft nose, tail wagging. Ciara patted her longingly. 'You're a real pretty dog... I wish you were mine.'

'Never mind, we'll share her, okay?' Olivia assured her, stroking Ciara's hair; always happy to see her adorable little sister and more than relieved. If Bo had been denied access to her, Olivia would never have forgiven herself. For a long time Hope had fought against the idea and both families had to get involved. Olivia and Carly hadn't been present at the meeting and the only thing her Dad told them afterwards was that Hope had accepted she went too far at the wake and they would jointly share custody of Ciara. But he'd taken Olivia aside later.

'I can't get mad at you or judge you for what you did,' he'd said quietly but firmly, 'I understand you were provoked, but you can't defend your Mum all the time with your fists either.'

Personally, Olivia had no remorse punching out Hope; that woman more than deserved it for slandering her mother in public. But she was sorry for upsetting Maggie and had gone back with flowers the day after the funeral to apologize, which Maggie had quietly accepted. She'd also kept Nathan at arm's length, despite his protests; feeling he'd be better off with a girl who didn't have a hot temper like hers. Besides, Hope's his cousin; how on earth will they be able to get past that awful episode?

Phoebe suddenly growled, making Olivia turn.

'Hello, again. And hello to you, Ciara.' The little girl winced, moving closer to Olivia.

Olivia scowled. 'Go inside to Grandy, I'll be with you in a moment.'

'No.' Ciara said, refusing to let go of Olivia's leg. Phoebe let out another growl. But E.J appeared unruffled by the sound. He looked at Olivia squarely. 'I need to talk to you.'

'Leave my sister alone.' Ciara said, her voice tremulous. She didn't like him or his scary looking father; he had kidnapped Sami's baby and Sami had cried and looked sad for a long time until Sydney was returned. Maybe he wanted to kidnap Olivia also- she was a princess and had lots of money.

Olivia freed herself from Ciara's grip. 'Love, do what I say.'

Ciara's pretty eyes were round with fear. 'No!' she whispered, shaking her head.

Olivia squatted, holding Ciara's face. 'Nothing is going to happen to me; stop worrying. Go inside the pub with Phoebe.' Rising, she opened the glass door.

Ciara eyed E.J but obeyed, Phoebe following her inside.

'Do you make a habit of stalking females about town, E.J?'

'Why did you send back the necklace?' he asked, not wasting anytime. He hadn't been pleased when he'd received it via messenger, along with a note coldly telling him never to send her anything again.

'I don't have to explain to you why I don't want anything from you or anything to do with you for that matter.'

'It was a Christmas gift, given with the best of intentions.' E.J protested.

'I don't care, you had no business dropping it on my doorstep!' Olivia snapped. 'How you possibly think you could win me over... with jewellery, of all things?'

'I meant no insult, I just wanted to get you something; something meaningful because I find you ... adorable.' E.J reached out to touch her cheek, wishing the hard look in those luminous eyes would disappear.

Olivia stared for a minute then shrank from his touch, furiously realising her heart was beating fast and not out of fear or anger. He was very handsome and polished and she found him disturbingly attractive; he radiated something she couldn't put her finger on and didn't care to. He was a DiMera and besides, he reminded her too much of Lawrence; clean-cut and arrogant. There was no way she planned on letting history repeat itself; becoming the object of obsession of a polished snake in a suit.

'There can never be anything between us and I can't believe you actually think there could be.'

'I beg to differ. There's something happening between us Olivia, and it would be wrong to just deny it.' He edged closer. 'I have an effect on you... don't I?' he said caressingly, delighted that a flush was spreading over her cheeks.

'I have no idea what you're talking about,' Olivia replied coldly, 'and we're not having this conversation again.' Turning her heel, she disappeared into the Pub.

E.J DiMera smiled after her. The most beautiful of roses had thorns; but after the momentary pain from its sharp jab, nothing mattered except for the pleasure of its beauty and fragrance. Olivia Brady, which she now answered to, was lying more to herself than to him and she didn't even know it. One way or the other, she would succumb to him and when she did; they'll find a way of getting round her family.

'A matter of time, my darling,' he murmured, walking away leisurely down the street, not noticing Nathan Horton's angry stare.

Ciara rushed to her anxiously as she entered. 'Is he gone? What did he want?'

'He was just being a pest, love. Nothing to worry about.' Olivia took Ciara's hand. 'Let's go home. Just wait until you see your room. Mum and decorated it just for you.'

'Really?' Ciara bounced up and down as they walked to her car, Phoebe at their heels. It was Bo's week to have Ciara so she was riding with her to the beach house. One of the cars Olivia inherited had been shipped from Alamainia recently; a shiny dark-green Volkswagen New Beetle and Brady, Will and Phillip already expressed their scorn towards it.

'Of all the cars in that huge garage, you had to choose this one.' Phillip, who proudly drove a Porsche, snorted.

'This car isn't you at all.' Was Brady's opinion.

'The bike... hands down.' Will said.

As Olivia buckled Ciara up, Nathan appeared from behind. 'Olivia.'

She rose sharply. 'Nathan. You startled me.'

'Really? I'm willing to bet it was a more pleasant feeling with your real boyfriend.' Nathan remarked with bitter sarcasm.

'What the devil are you talking about?'

Ciara blinked in surprise at Olivia's language. She'd never heard her talk like that before. And why was Nathan looking so angry?

'If you didn't want to see me again, couldn't you have been straight with me regarding the real reason!' Nathan snapped. 'At least it would have been honest!'

'You do know the real reason!' Olivia snapped back. 'After what happened at your grandfather's house...'

'Cut it out!' there was more pain than anger in Nathan's voice, the pain of betrayal. 'Just stop it! It's bad enough I got chewed and spit out but of all the guys you had to sneak around with... E.J DiMera! You want to end up like your Mum, be my guest!'

The stinging slap on his cheek stunned him. Ciara gasped in amazement.

Nathan felt like his head was snapped from his neck by the force of Olivia's open palm.

'HOW DARE YOU!' Olivia's voice shook with rage. 'How dare you imply Ma encouraged that bastard, how dare you assume I would betray my family with the likes of that man! You've proven exactly what I thought about you...'

She stopped short suddenly, seeing Ciara's bewildered face. She was about to about to finish the sentence with "You Hortons". Nathan thought she was two-faced; the rest of his family thought her precious mother was a home-wrecker. Just as well she'd made the decision to stay away from him; they could never be a couple thanks to the incident at the Wake coupled with his stupid assumption and she wasn't about to explain herself to him.

She turned away from him but Nathan held her by the shoulders, angry with himself now. He knew what she'd wanted to say and felt terrible over the words he'd hurled at her. If it ever hit Bo's ears...

'Olivia wait, I'm sorry... I shouldn't have said...'

Olivia proudly disentangled herself from his grip. 'Don't touch me, don't even talk to me. I don't ever want to see you again, Nathan Horton.'

'Olivia, please!' Nathan insisted, distressed. 'I...'

'Don't bother.' Pushing him aside roughly, she got into the car, started the engine and drove off.

Nathan swore loudly, kicking himself. He'd lashed out of jealousy but he'd had no right to talk about Carly like that. He was no better than Hope, saying what he did. And now the girl he loved very much wanted nothing to do with him, thanks to his big mouth. If he didn't do some damage control any time soon, E.J DiMera would swoop in and seduce her. Thinking of "Pretty Boy E.J"- as he was contemptuously called by the young men of Salem- made Nathan scowl darkly. Since when was he into sixteen year old girls and did he honestly think Bo and Carly will allow him date their daughter? No one will ever forget the misery he'd caused Sami, not to mention the DiMera/Brady feud. E.J's gone completely crazy, or maybe Stefano's putting him up to it. Either way, Nathan decided, Bo has to know and put a stop to whatever father and son are planning.

All through the drive to the beach house, Ciara kept glancing at her sister anxiously. Olivia's eyes were on the road; her tapered hands gripping the steering wheel. Olivia had Aunt Carly's face and green eyes but even Ciara could see that at that moment, Olivia looked like their Dad when he was angry; lips tight, eyes narrowed to slits. She didn't understand the weird conversation between her and Nathan but he must have made her very angry for her to slap him. Olivia never got angry; she was always smiling, her green eyes twinkling like emeralds.

'Olivia, are you okay?' she said, touching her arm. To her relief, her sister's face softened as she turned to her briefly. She looked like Aunt Carly again. 'I'm fine, love.'

'What were you and Nathan yelling about?'

'Just grown up matters, nothing to worry your pretty little head about.' Olivia smoothed Ciara's hair. 'Nothing at all.'

Ciara nodded, not believing her. First that scary man no one liked bothered her, then Nathan had said something about Aunt Carly and it made her angry. Why would he do that? Aunt Carly was so pretty and sweet; and she'd given her that beautiful doll house for Christmas. Although she'd been upset at the divorce at first; Mummy and Daddy had talked to her for a long time, gently telling her Daddy will always be her Daddy and be there whenever she needed him. She and Mummy will be living at their old house but she'll also get to stay with Daddy, Aunt Carly and Olivia at their beach house. She'd first met Aunt Carly at the Pub last month when Daddy had introduced them. 'Honey, this is Olivia's Mum.' He'd said to her. 'She's the one who got you the doll house.'

Ciara had thanked her shyly and spent the rest of the day watching her. Aunt Carly looked like Olivia's twin although her hair wasn't curly, she wasn't as tall and she didn't talk the same way. Ciara had also noticed that she made Daddy laugh a lot, something she hadn't seen him do for a long time. That had made her walk over to her and climb onto her lap. Aunt Carly had held her close to her; smelling like flowers, her arms so warm. Much as she loved Mummy dearly, Ciara had to admit that Aunt Carly made her Daddy happy; they didn't fight at all and she was always so nice to her. And now she was going to stay at their house for a whole week.

'Can we build sand castles at the beach?' she asked now.

'Oh no, love.' Olivia laughed. 'It's still too cold for that. But we can do a lot of other things; we can make pop-corn together and watch any film you like or play the video games I got for you. We're going to have a wonderful time, the four of us.'

Ciara grinned widely as Olivia listed out the things they were going to do. But she still hadn't forgotten what had happened with her and Nathan and E.J. Both men had bothered her sister and she didn't like it. When Daddy gets home, I'll tell him and he can make them leave Olivia alone, she decided.

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'I don't think I've seen a more beautiful ring!' Kayla said, holding up Carly's hand as she admired the exquisite Claddagh ring. 'That brother of mine's always been sentimental.'

'Only to those in the know.' Marlena smiled. 'It's really a fabulous ring, Carly. And congratulations! We knew he'd pop the question sooner or later.' The two women hugged Carly tightly.

'Thanks, you guys.' Carly smiled round. ' I actually didn't except this so soon...'

'Soon? I hardly think Bo sees it that way!' Kayla laughed. 'he's probably held himself back from doing this for a long time... oh, it was really sweet where he proposed, where you two almost...'

Carly nodded, her eyes misty. Everything Bo did always reminded just how and why she loved him. But then again- anything they'd ever shared in the past had something symbolic attached to it; the Sno' Ball at the cabin always made her remember they'd fallen in love that fateful cold day, the star pendant he'd given her a year later represented their favourite star- The North Star, their vows at the top of El Castillo which had bound them spiritually... so many things. Diamond of my heart, he'd called her. And she was yet to give him something symbolic in return.

'Well, now we know what your surprise package's all about.' Marlena cut through her thoughts.

'Surprise package?'

'While you were out,' Kayla explained, 'a package came for you, via messenger. I signed for it and put it in your office.'

The package turned out to be a garment bag. Unzipping it, Carly pulled out a strapless evening gown; black silk embroidered with gold.

'Oh my...' Carly murmured, smiling widely.

'Looks like Bo wants to celebrate your engagement.' Marlena said, nudging Kayla mischievously. 'You didn't know he was sending you this?'

'No, I didn't.' Carly shook her head. 'It's just like him; he springs one surprise after the other. I can hardly keep up with them.'

Marlena laughed again. ' Yeah, but you love them.'

' That I do. He didn't say anything about going out tonight. But I guess I'll have to change to this before he gets here. Wonder where he has in mind.'

'Knowing him, somewhere very romantic.' A beeper sounded from Marlena's pocket. 'I'll see you both later.' She left, closing the door behind her.

Kayla rubbed Carly's arm. It's a new beginning... for both of you. Right now, I wish I could go back to the very beginning; when Steve and I were about to get married- looking forward to the future ahead of us.'

Carly looked at Kayla. 'I'm happy for you too. That Steve came back to you, after all that time. You must have been shocked.'

'Shocked being an understatement. One minute I was crying over his grave, next minute I turned round and there he was.' Kayla's voice trembled with emotion at the memory. 'He had acute amnesia- it took him months to remember me, Stephanie, everybody. So many awful stuff happened during that time, even afterwards... but we've remained together ; he's all the more precious to me.'

Carly took her hand, Kayla squeezed it. 'Did you ever found out how...'

Kayla looked at Carly intently. 'Steven's IV was poisoned that day. Then his casket was switched before we could bury it.'

'My God!' Carly exclaimed. It sounded close to what had happened to her. 'Who did it, was it Nick Corelli like Bo suspected?'

'No, the person who had him murdered. Lawrence.'

Carly sat down, stunned. 'Lawrence... he... he faked Steve's death? Why did he do that to the family... to you and Bo?'

'The enforcer who killed Nick confessed when Bo arrested him on another charge. It was right after Steve got his memory back. He saw him and just had to spill it all out. Lawrence was afraid Steve was on to him about something incriminating and...'

'Decided to silence him.' Carly said bitterly, hatred for her dead husband resurfacing with full force. 'And Bo suspected him too, wanted to kill him to avenge Steve and what did I do... I talked him out of it! I should have kept my mouth shut and just let him do it!'

Kayla knelt in front of her, taking her hand. 'Larry covered his tracks well enough... you didn't want Bo to end up in jail...'

'He did nothing but play God with everyone's lives, everyone's!' Carly spat, tears pouring down her cheeks. 'It's bad enough he and Vivian did it to me, but he had to do it to Steve as well... your husband, Bo's best friend! Just how could he live with what he did to the family? He might have done the same thing to Bo if we'd gotten married years ago; taken him away from me! To think... to think... my father handed me over to that... DEMON!'

Kayla gripped her hands tighter, tears falling down her cheeks as well. 'It's over, Carly. Steve is alive and well, you and Bo are together and will remain together. Larry can no longer hurt us, ever.'

Carly wiped her tears with the back of her hands. 'I just think of all the times he insisted he'd changed and expected me to believe him...'

'But you never did.' Kayla interrupted her. 'And that's why he took advantage; he took what he could get; Katarina, not Carly. He never had Carly.' She stroked Carly's cheek. 'Come now, honey. Don't let memories of him ruin your day. I shouldn't have told you.'

'No Kayla, I'm glad you did. This is just what we did back in the day; telling each other things from the heart. I really feel we're back to where we were then.'

'Remember you've always been in my heart, Carly. Just like Steve always was, even when I was with Shane.' Kayla replied softly. 'And no one's going take you both away again.'

The two women hugged each other tightly.