"Melanie, your mom is on life support," those words were like nails to a chalkboard in Melanie's ears. Her day had gone from awkward to the worst day. She wished she never woke up and continued to sleep the day away. How could her mom go from fine to life support in a matter of hours? It probably had something to do with her mom running off Melanie formulated.
"Dad, what if it has something to do with the docks?" she says out loud.
"What do you mean?" he asks curiously.
"This weird man came looking for her, and she ran out like a bat from hell, I don't know where she went, but the next time I saw her was at the Pub," she confessed.
"What man? What did he look like?" Daniel asked.
"Tall, dark hair, brown eyes, he called her Katerina. I told mom what he said and she said only Lawrence called her that. That can't be right?" she asked her dad as if he would know.
"I don't know sweetie, but we'll find out. I need to take your mom to get that MRI," he says.
"Do you know what could possibly be wrong?" she asked.
"I have a few ideas that I will tell you once it is more definitive or confirmed," he said vaguely. "I have to go make rounds while the nurses get her prepped". With that Daniel hugged Melanie and exited the room. Melanie sobbed in a chair while looking at her mother. She didn't even notice the nurses come to take her away. She just sat there for what felt like hours as the tears rushed from her face. By the time she came back to reality, Carly was being carted in on a gurney and placed back onto the hospital bed.
"Do you know what's wrong with my mom?" she asked.
"The doctor will be with you in a minute ma'am," the nurse replies grimly giving Melanie chills. The nurse seemed new to the hospital so Melanie forgave her for not spilling any information since they didn't know each other. Melanie continued to stare at her mother, too afraid to talk. Staring was better because the sound of her voice cracking would confirm her worst nightmare, her mother on the brink of death. So many things she'd yet to say, all the things they never got a chance to do. She regretted holding a grudge against her mother for so long, and although she said she forgave her mom for giving her away, she didn't truly feel in her heart until now that she'd be able to move past it. She guessed what they said was true, you don't know what you have until it's gone. Hopefully she wasn't too late in forming a stronger relationship with her mom. Her inner monologue was cut by Daniel's presence.
"I have news Melanie," he said flatly.
"Is it good or bad dad," Melanie cried.
"We found out what's wrong," he said.
"Good, that's really good, now what can we do to help wake her up?" she said hopeful.
"It's not that simple Mel," he reason and it broke his heart to watch his daughter's heart break.
"What do you mean dad, can 't you save her?" she said defensively.
"Your mom had a heart arrhythmia which caused her to lose oxygen in her brain. Did your mom tell you about the time when Vivian buried her alive?" he asked hesitantly.
"Yes! But what does that have to do with this?" she said frustrated.
"She suffered amnesia, and brain damage. Her heart arrhythmia and losing oxygen in the brain is causing more brain damage, the longer she stays in a coma, the harder the recovery," he said trying to calm her down.
"So why can't you wake her up?" she asked.
"It's up to Carly to come back to us. There's nothing we can do except get her heart working properly again," he said.
"Could what happened in the office and her running off caused a heart arrhythmia?" she asked more clear-headed.
"It could've been a factor, but she would've had to have had a heart attack or irregular heartbeats prior to this," he explains.
"What do her medical records say?" she asks.
"You know I can't tell you that Mel, but nothing in here indicated heart problems," he says.
"Do you know when she'll wake up?" she asks.
"No, I don't know. Her brain shows partial damage to her motor skills, but we won't know what effect that will have. Plus the longer she stays in this state, the worse her condition will be," he says truthfully.
"What if she never wakes up," Melanie sobs assuming the worst.
"Don't say that sweetie, be positive that your mom will pull through. Who do you think you get your strong will from? Trust me she's a fighter," he says confidently.
"You're her next of kin since we can't get in contact with Nicky, I need you to sign some papers," he says and pulls her away and out the room. They eventually go to his office to give them a chance to be in private. Meanwhile in Carly's room, the man from earlier enters.
"Oh no, my sweet Katerina, it wasn't suppose to be this way," he chokes. "I was going to come here for revenge, and I never really realized what it would be like without you in my life, and now that I don't have a choice, I don't want you to go. Please be strong for me, for your daughter, Nicky. You have a family waiting for you. I want that thirteenth chance we never got to have," he cries only to be interrupted by the door closing.
"Who in the hell do you think you are?" Melanie all but screams.
"That is of no importance to you," he says briskly collecting his thoughts.
"The hell it isn't. This is your entire fault. I told my mom about you and she bolted, next time I see her and she's on life support," she reasons.
"I did no such thing to your mother," he says and goes to move but is stopped by Melanie. "Move out of my way".
"Not until you tell me who you are, unless you want me to call the cops, who I know very well".
"I know them well too, but if you must know, I'm Lawrence, Carly's husband," he says strongly placing his belongings back around the room making his stance that he wasn't leaving.
"B.. but…but that's…" Melanie stutters.
"But that's impossible?" he finishes for her.
"Ye…yes…yeah," she says going down octaves.
"Wrong," he says in a finalizing tone leaving no room for discussion. The coldness in his tone makes a lasting impression on Melanie and she sympathizes with her mom for dealing with that tone for over a decade.
"I see why mom tried to kill you, my problem is why did it take her so damn long," she yells. "Here you are strolling in like you own the place and putting your foot down, you're nothing but a bully and a wife beater".
"I've made mistakes, but your mother is no saint either," he says with venom.
"No one claims that she is and I can attest that I know first hand, but she didn't deserve the kind of love you came with, an iron fist," she said.
"You're right," he says softening his voice. "You're mother deserved so much more. She was so beautiful and so full of life and my evil ways turned her into a callous woman. Our love wasn't only one sided though and I couldn't resist the love she showed me since we were teenagers. Our families had arranged a marriage between the two of us, can you believe that, an arranged marriage that turn into soul mates". The way in which he talked of her mother made Melanie's heart ache. She was torn between wanting to strangle him for all the things he's done to her and her mother, but also wanting to hug him for the pain he must be in. "Do they know what's wrong with her?"
"Yeah, she had a heart arrhythmia that caused oxygen to stop flowing to the brain. Brain damage that she suffered from being buried alive by your beloved aunt coupled with the brain damage from this caused her to slip into a coma. She's not breathing on her own, she's on life support".
"Well thanks for your honesty and not sugarcoating things," he says with a smile. "You remind me so much of your mother when she was your age".
"What was she like?" she asked curiously.
"Stubborn, strong willed, annoyingly persistent, fiercely passionate, full of love and joy despite her upbringing. She was really a beautiful person inside and out".
"Why do you keep say 'was' as if she's dead?" Melanie asks.
"Because we both changed from the people we once were," he says sadly. "After my accident, I was so blinded by rage I couldn't see straight, she became the brunt of my anger and everything she did was under a microscope. She became dormant, she used to be a spitfire and I turned her into a wallflower. It was heartbreaking to know that I broke the woman who used to make me stutter in boarding school".
"Why did you force her to give me away?" she asks with tears in her eyes.
"Because I couldn't deal with the fact that the woman I devoted my life to and gave my everything to, created a baby with another man. I was furious and nothing could stop my rage, not even my own self. If I could go back in time, there would be so many things I'd do different, starting with how I dealt with that situation. I was so afraid that if she saw you everyday she'd be reminded of her affair and how it was the happiest she'd been in years. I was afraid to lose her, so I made her give away the only thing that was separating us, or so I thought".
"Did you know what Trent was doing to me?" she asked wanting an honest answer.
"No, I hadn't checked up on you in a while, I found out too late, you were already off to boarding school. I'm sorry that I gave you away to such a despicable man; nothing can ever erase the damage I've done to you. I only hope that with time you can forgive me".
"Well you're in luck, because I made a deal with God that if he bring my mother back to me, I'd be different, more forgiving, less self centered," she rambled and Lawrence smiled. "What's so funny?"
"You look just like her," he says and pulls out a picture of Carly and him while she was suffering from amnesia.
"She's beautiful, and you guys look so in love," Melanie says and it finally sinks in that her parents love for one another will ever compare to what Carly and Lawrence have. They're it for each other.
"She was suffering from amnesia and she thought I was the James from high school that she'd met and fell madly in love with, not the Lawrence who terrorized Salem and did unspeakable things. I loved the way she looked at me in those few months I had with her. It was like a second chance, she saw me, the goodness in my heart and it made me feel like a better man. It was the happiest time of my life despite the circumstances, because all we have now is a stained marriage. It's tainted and I don't think it can ever be repaired".
"So then why are you here?" she asks.
"Because in spite of our problems, I love your mother. I will do anything for her and I will be her every step of the way in whatever way she wants me. I just wished she'd wake up," he says and goes to grab Carly's hand and sits in a chair. "Sit down kiddo, I want to know more about you, if you'd let me".