After the dark of sadness comes the glory of happiness!

The morning after!

Steffy woke up feeling miserable. As soon as she opened her eyes, all the painful memories came back to her and she wished she could just close her eyes, fall asleep again and pretend yesterday never happened. But instead, she crawled out of her bed and went straight to the master bedroom to check on her mother. Steffy had heard her crying last night and it was so hard for her that there was nothing she could do to help her.

The room was empty and the bed was made. Obviously, her mother was up already, maybe in the kitchen preparing breakfast. Steffy had a strange feeling, something was wrong in her mother's bedroom, but she couldn't put her finger on it. The feeling increased when she entered the kitchen and there were no signs of her mother or breakfast. On her way back to the livingroom she saw two envelopes on the small table in the entrance hall. She recognized her mother's handwriting and she started to panic. Her heartbeat went faster and her hands became sweaty.

While she was reading, she was shocked. This couldn't be true; her mother would never leave just like this. She ran out of the front door. The car was gone, she rushed back and checked again the master bedroom. Now she realized what was wrong. Many items weren't there anymore also the stuff from the bathroom was gone and the closet was nearly empty. It was real. Her mother was gone. Steffy fell on the bed and started to cry like a little baby.

Thomas woke up, hearing someone wailing. He jumped out of his bed and followed the noise.

"Oh my God Steffy what's wrong with you?" His sister didn't answer, she was lying there crying and breathing heavily. It took him a while to calm her down. She threw her arms around him and sobbed.

"Mom is gone. She left town!"

"No, she would never do that!" Thomas couldn't believe what his sister was telling him.

"Yeah, it's true. She wrote me a letter, there is one for you too. She wrote, she is sorry but she had to go, she cannot take the situation any longer with Dad, Brooke and the whole disaster. She needs time and space for herself. She loves us and hopes we will understand her." Thomas felt as if someone had punched him down to the floor. The guilt kicked right in. How could he be so stupid to go along with this lie, when he knew right from the beginning that it was wrong.

He went downstairs to read his letter. Tears swell up in his eyes. His mother knew him so well. She wrote he should not blame himself, it was not his fault that she was leaving and she has forgiven him his lie, because she knew he had done it for her but now it was time for her to take the responsibility for her life in her own hands. Steffy joined her brother.

"Okay, what we are going to do? I mean we have to do something."

"Like what Steffy? We cannot follow her, we don´t know where she is and obviously, she wants to be alone."

"I don't care what she wants! I want her at home with us, with her family so that we can support her. She needs us and I need her too!" Steffy started to cry again. Thomas pulled her into his arms.

"I know, I need her too!"

Suddenly Steffy had an idea. "I know what we will do. I call her, maybe I can convince her to come back."

With shaky hands she dialed her mother's cellphone number. "Damm! Mom its me. Please come back! I swear to you we will find a way, just come home. I love you and I miss you!" Thomas realized; his sister was leaving a message on the voice mail. He grabbed the phone. "Mom it´s Thomas. Mom, you have to come home. Steffy and I will be there for you. We three will get through this okay! We need you! I love you. Bye".

"Do you think she will come back?"

"I don't know Steffy, maybe I mean she loves us but on the other side I do understand her that she is not willing to go on like this. I mean she deals with this whole Dad Brooke drama longer as we both are alive. I hate to admit it, but her reasons for leaving are making sense. Maybe it's really the best for her to get away from all this crap and her letter sounds pretty adamant."

"This is all Dad's fault, why did he make all these promises, he knew how hard it was for Mom to trust him again and to put her heart into a new relationship with him and then suddenly just because it turns out that Brooke didn't do what we all thought she did, Mom is forgotten and he runs right back to her. How could he do this to her?"

"Well, that's Dad it was always so. I never remember it otherwise, but it's not alone Dad's fault. He didn't come up with this lie, that was me!"

"Yeah you and grandma! What was she thinking? Did she honestly believe that based on a lie Dad and Mom will find their happiness again? Couldn't she realize sooner that someday everything will come into the light and Dad will leave us again. And her timing to stop the wedding and confess everything couldn't have been worse. She humiliated Mom in front of the whole family. She is her best friend; she always claims Mom is like a daughter to her and then she stabs her in the back and has the nerve to say she has done it for her. That's crazy!"

"No Steffy that's not crazy, that's grandma!" Despite the tragic situation, Steffy had to grin about Thomas comment.

"Yeah, you're right but why didn't she just step back and let things go on by themselves in the first place. I mean maybe without her meddling in Mom and Dad would have found a way back together on their own. Let's face it, Dad wasn't happy in his marriage and with a little bit more time he probably would have realize that Mom is the perfect wife for him. But now Brooke is the holy victim!"

"She is the victim. I know you hate her more than anyone else, but Brooke went through hell the last couple of days and I hate myself for what I have done. By the way we are still talking about our grandma, stepping back and let things flow, I don't think she has that in her repertoire, specially not with Brooke."

"You know what, I will call Dad and grandma now and they shall come over here, they put us all into this mess and now they can fix it." Steffy grabbed her phone again and dialed this time the number of her father.
"Dad it's me Steffy, you must come immediately. It's very important, we have the total disaster here… no Dad I said now…. I don't care if Brooke, the kids and you are ready for breakfast. If you care about Thomas and me one little bit and have a small respect left for our family, you march yourself right down here." She hung up and dialed again
"Grandma here is Steffy; you have to come to our house now…. no nothing is ok; everything is just a total fiasco; we need you here bye!"

Stephanie Forrester was deeply concerned after the phone call from her granddaughter.

"What's wrong Stephanie?"

"I don't know Eric, Steffy just called me and said I should come to their house, something must be wrong. She seemed very distracted and exaggerated"

"Then we shouldn't waste any time, let's go!