It was a warm Friday morning in May 2059 and Chris Loud-Sharp was going to marry Elsie Montgomery — even though deep down he had an innate sense that his wife was still alive somewhere, it seemed there was a good chance she was for he'd noticed his tentative ex-father-in-law (because while he'd almost given up on the hope of Marléna still being alive, the rest of his extended family had never and his brother had volunteered that she'd been abducted one high summer's day about two years ago by Bjørn Jansen, as for the things the bastard did to her — Robbin didn't bother to elaborate on) was smiling in a way he'd only done when his firstborn daughter was around.
He played again in his mind a phone call from a week after the twins' 7th birthday, god the caller had sounded so much like his wife, and the pain of not knowing where his high school sweetheart was was again on the surface, and the result had been him standing shocked in their living room as the caller had broken out in plaintively agonized sobbing, which had then made him wonder whether in reality it had been his wife after all.
His younger brother still wasn't going to be in attendance at his wedding due to his wife being Marléna's younger sister Astrid. So instead, JJ was his best man and now stood close by with a stony faced Linnéa — who still was angry at Chris for hurting her dearest cousin — her (Marléna's) brother Karl, who'd reluctantly agreed to stand as the family's representative (Yes, he knew his sister was back, and knew also she was heartbroken to hear that her beloved husband had basically cheated on her willingly as he'd once said he wouldn't), His own twin brother, with his wife Chelsea, and their baby sister Roxy and her boyfriend Jeff Ferrier.
The procession went off without a hitch, until the part during the exchanging of the vows where the priest said "If anyone has anything to say against the union of this couple then let them speak now, or forever hold their peace."
Suddenly a shapely, feminine figure appeared in the doorframe of the chapel. A tall woman, barely under six feet in height, with shoulder length medium brown hair and hauntingly familiar blue eyes.
"I believe I might…" the beauteous apparition stated, striding into full view, and from within the crowd from somewhere behind Chris, a gasp was heard. He could feel the room start to contort because it looked as if his wife was indeed alive and here in front of him, fear and uncertainty paralyzed him as the shock set in.
He was momentarily broken from his trance by Erik and Ingrid's elated cries of "Mor!" as they threw themselves at the apparition, Olivia darting into the waiting, tender arms as she walked after her older siblings.
Marléna swept the toddler up and secured her against her left hip, and leaning down, gazed upon the tear-streaked faces of her older children.
"My darlings, I'm fine, the stories Far-Mor has told are true, I've been back for about three months, but kept a low profile because…." She broke off, and looked sadly to where the man who'd had her full love and attention since shortly after she'd turned sixteen stood "Chris — how could you do this to me?" She asked brokenly, the tears stinging the backs of her eyes "After promising me not to break my heart again after the last time…" Her face crumbled, and agonized sobs began "I've spent many months trying to return to you…. in the faint hope you'd remained faithful." yet more tears glistened in her eyes "Yet, you stand before me, marrying another woman… so I guess I was foolish in trying so hard…" she managed a weak smile "Maybe we could devise a custody plan? I completely understand if you don't want to see me again — I just want to be involved with the lives of our children."
Chris's heart wrenched, he knew he was only marrying the pretty blonde woman opposite him because his young children needed a mother…. His heart still belonged to the ghost that stood with her arms lovingly about his children. He longed to utter a phrase that would bring this dream to life, yet also was frightened that she'd likely disappear again if he spoke, as hearing her this upset again — over his actions — was enough to wildly affect his heart rate.
She soon returned Olivia to the ground, the confused toddler running to her Aunt and Jeff for comfort, with Erik going to stand beside Jeremy — who tightly held a softly sobbing Linnéa — whilst Ingrid held on for dear life to her mother's coat-tails;
"Mor… please don't leave us!" the girl begged, looking up at her mother with tear-filled green eyes, "Daddy still loves you…"
Marléna took a breath to steady herself, and leaning down to gently stroke her daughter's hair she whispered, shaking her head, "I don't think your father has any romantic feelings left for me… so I'm afraid the only time you'll see me now is each time you visit with Far-Mor and Gran…" She finished, and after detaching the tenacious fingers that gripped her jacket, turned to exit the chapel again and walk out of their lives — Ingrid went and sat with her Mor-bror, who wrapped an arm comfortingly around his young niece's shoulder.
Chris left Elsie at the altar with a curious expression on her face, and followed after the beautiful woman he was almost certain was his wife, reaching out to gently, tentatively and affectionately squeeze her shoulder, and she looked back over it and saw a pair of wistful hazel-green eyes watching her intently.
"Marléna…" He began haltingly "is this real, and are you indeed standing here — in front of me right now? — because I…." he dropped his voice low, so the crowd wasn't able to hear it "still love you with all my heart, and the kids and I all need you."
His answer was first the ever familiar smirk which appeared on her face, followed by the teasing glint in her blue eyes, and finally with her saying "Well — it sure seems like it!"
So, it had been her on the phone that time, and he realized how unwanted he must've made Marléna feel, because in his pain he'd once more uttered things he'd never meant, and had shattered her heart again.
He drew her to him then and leaned down in order to kiss his guardian Angel, gently at first - then quickly intensifying with a fierce urgency, now he knew when he'd kissed Elsie, it had been almost void of actual passion.
Marléna snuggled into her husband's warmth, relieved in the almost certainty that he appeared to still feel as deeply for her, as she always had for him.
He released her minutes later, and studied her still angelic, demure face lovingly "What did Jansen do to you whilst he had you in captivity?" He regretted asking it a second later as she began to sob hysterically "He would try and endlessly brainwash me into believing you'd already forgotten about our marriage, and when I repeatedly refused he would…" here she paused to pull her light jacket off , exposing the myriad of scars covering the once smooth, supple skin of her back " whip me with his belt, 'til my skin was raw and bloody." she finished and Chris's look was horror-stricken as his fingers traced them, and from deep within felt a seething rage and fiery hatred fast burning, he thought " I'm sure KK, Tony and Gus wouldn't mind taking a piece of Jansen along with me, after all she's their sister and all that.
He drew Marléna close again, and rested his forehead against hers and murmured "Babe, I'm so sorry — I promise I won't ever hurt you again." and before she could reply, his lips swept down on hers and he deeply and passionately kissed her.
Elsie witnessed this reunion with a heavy heart, finally having understood why her fiancé hadn't ever really been intimate with her, and this was because his heart truly lay solely with the — she had to admit, in spite of herself — gorgeous woman who he held so tightly.
After several minutes, Chris turned his head and threw his fiancée an apologetic look "I apologize, Elsie, for any pain my current actions may have caused you… but I know now why I couldn't give you my heart — though I kept stating my sweetheart was deceased," He paused to throw his wife a tender smile "somewhere deep in my heart I had this feeling she wasn't, and marrying you wasn't the right thing — I only did it because I felt it was necessary for my children to have a mother… I didn't realize you may have been mistreating my little girl because she is her mother's daughter and she and her brother wouldn't call you "Mom" and were already distant with me since I broke their Mor's heart when we'd just begun dating … And it's not like we can even afford to remain friends — our relationship has caused a rift within the pre-existing one I had with my extended family — our younger siblings are married and my favourite brother barely talks to me since I nearly spoiled my union with Marléna, since I became serious with you I've become a little neglectful of the twins…" He trailed off, as his wife suddenly glared at him "What the hell?! I thought you would have spoiled them, Ingrid in particular — since she is basically the spitting image of me — as they and Olivia were you're only reminder of me apart from our photos which you probably kept hidden because you'd moved on," here her face once again crumbled, and she bowed her head suddenly averting her gaze, as a fresh flood of tears glistened in her eyes, and turning to walk from the building she whispered hoarsely "I thought our marriage meant a lot to you — but now it seems you appear to have given up on me — or rather us — and made an attempt to replace me."
Chris felt his heart race, of course she still meant the world to him… those months without her had been akin to a personal hell for him, and now, faced with the possibility of losing her again was more than he could bear in that moment — so he reached out and squeezed her shoulder again, murmuring "Sweetheart… I didn't truly believe it could've possibly been you on the phone that time — and though our twins both assured me it was you, I still punished them for their apparent falsehood. I'd been rethinking whether I should be marrying Elsie or not since around two months ago when she started pressuring me into putting Erik and Ingrid up for adoption… it upset me for a few weeks, because I never told her I was myself adopted…" He paused for thought "and your face kept flashing through my mind with an expression of such deep betrayal upon it that I couldn't bear to cause you that kind of pain, even though I had no idea where you were."
She turned to face him once more, this time with marked reluctance, but her eyes and face remained downcast, "Do you honestly still love me? Or… were you just telling me that so I wouldn't leave again?" she questioned brokenly, taking a shaky breath.
Chris felt his heart wrench again, and pulled Marléna into a tight, affectionate embrace, "My sweet Marléna, how could you possibly be of the opinion I don't love you anymore?" He chuckled softly, shaking his head ruefully "You have been my most treasured possession since we were both 16 — and you're the only one who has this effect on me…" He paused, and tilted her chin upwards in order to brush away the tears that were just beginning to trickle from her eyes "Of course I still love you — Babe, you're everything to me, and a life without you at my side would be practically unliveable."
He felt her arms wrap themselves about his waist as she smiled at him lovingly "I can't wait to get home, I've sorely missed the protectiveness of your embrace and playing with our children, I only hope we can have more because of Jansen's continual assaults… he violated me once as well, but luckily I didn't get pregnant, no way would I have kept that child since it wouldn't have come from a loving situation…" She mumbled against his skin.
They stood like that for ten minutes, Chris continually brushing his lips gently against Marléna's temple and stroking her back, then he at last looked to Elsie again "So I must ask for the ring I gave you back… since if we'd actually married I'd become the family's eternal outcast — since my brother and her sister are married, and they as well as the rest of her side of the extended family are basically not talking with me, since I almost hurt my sweetheart in the worst way… now it's bound to take them a long while to forgive me, which for my sake I hope they do." He said, extending a hand out to the younger woman, Elsie was practically 8 years younger then he and Marléna, and was not even friendly with any of their siblings, so they often wondered why Chris had picked her, when they all preferred Marléna's friend from Sweden, — Ilse — who moved to attend the same college as she and Chris around the time he had transferred.
Elsie sighed, sliding the modest diamond ring that adorned her right hand off "Thank you for being honest with me… I'm sorry I was so unaccommodating with regards to the children… I accepted Olivia since she had no real memory of her mother, and I was quite hard on Ingrid because I was jealous of the way you would always greet her with words like "Baby girl" or "gorgeous" while I was there in the room, it was petty of me to be envious of a small girl I know, but it blinded me to the point that I felt asking you to put them up for adoption was the best course of action — I could feel you becoming more distant when I first approached you with the suggestion…" quite abruptly, a new, enraged voice entered the conversation, "You heartless witch! You willingly abused my older systerdötter purely because she is the image of her Mor — and you managed to partially corrupt my svåger into putting my oldest niece and nephew up for adoption because you knew they'd never accept you as their 'mother' because my dear syster was still alive! That is why we've gone minimal contact with Chris - because we thought he'd hurt her like that!!" And Chris and Marléna both glanced slightly to their left — the latter wide-eyed because she'd never expected such vehement words to be uttered by her generally introverted, quiet bror — to see an irate Karl Lannerbäck on his feet, glaring daggers at Elsie.
"Karl Lannerbäck! What is the meaning of this?" Marléna queried rhetorically, in mock fury, as she knew well her bror was just defending her.
The gentleman, himself fathering a son barely a year younger than the twins, and now expecting another child — winked knowingly at his older sister.
She then looked to where her almost sister cousin stood, "Linnéa it's me, what Asti has told you was completely true — I have missed you a lot my dearest cousin."
Linnéa smiled at her almost-sister cousin, and walked to embrace her, "I don't know what Chris had been thinking, bringing her back with him, we all knew you were still alive and we despised him for kind of accepting that you weren't probably ever coming back."
Meanwhile, Elsie walked towards her almost-husband and slid the modest diamond ring off her right hand and placed it in his outstretched palm, walking past silently to change from her wedding dress to casual clothes.
Her father speared the younger man with a sharp glance "You led my little girl on, and what's more who's to say your 'wife' won't leave you and the kids again?!"
Karl's eyes were blazing as he glared daggers at the older man "Oh fuck off, your daughter ain't no angel.., didn't you hear her admit to abusing my systerdotter?! And my dear syster would never willingly abandon her family… she was abducted the summer before last and mercilessly beaten by the vile jerk who assaulted her while we were still in school! And your daughter was also attempting to convince Chris to put both Erik and Ingrid up for adoption — and was keen to corrupt little Olivia's mind… she was 2 when Chris brought your daughter back with him and had few memories of her mother… so you and your witch-daughter can go back where you came from and not bother Chris or our extended families again."
Meanwhile the priest, Father Dalton, was looking confused "I guess I'm not presiding over a wedding this morning, am I?"
Marléna rejoined Chris, slipping an arm around his waist — the two then turned simultaneously to the priest;
"I believe we can remedy that conundrum…" She said, smiling gamely, and Chris nodded enthusiastically.