After the dark of sadness comes the glory of happiness!

The talk!

On Sunday Taylor woke up very early, she had a restless sleep and was incredibly nervous before the meeting. She was already in the park at the bench at 8:30 a.m. She wanted to be the first and arrived therefore a bit earlier than arranged. She tried to get her anxiety under control, but the panic was written all over her face. She would have preferred not to come at all, but she knew Ridge and his stubbornness. She knew he wouldn't give up.

Ridge's heart was pounding as well, even though he had suggested the meeting himself. Now that the time had come, he was tense. He fervently hoped they could resolve their differences and start over, but he also knew how hard it would be after everything that had happened between them in the past. Finding the park Taylor had suggested was no problem. At 9 sharp he reached the bench where Taylor was already waiting for him. A little uncertainly, they greeted each other. She glanced at his forehead, where she could still see a small bump that had turned blue purple by now.
"Does it still hurt?" she asked, pointing to his injury.
"Oh not so bad," Ridge deflected. For a while they just sat there in silence. Neither really knew how to begin. Ridge looked around the small tranquil park.

"Shall we take a walk?" he suggested tentatively.
"Okay!"
"It's nice here, you wouldn't think there would be such beautiful spots in the middle of the city."
"Yes I love it here too, perfect for unwinding especially after a stressful day at work."
"I saw you work in a psychiatric center?"
"Indeed, I've been really lucky with this job. I'm the boss, so I can schedule my own appointments and work hours, and I'm very flexible."
"To be honest, I was a little surprised that you ended up here in San Francisco."
"Why? I've always liked the city, the flair and the climate, and the people are so relaxed."
"That's not what I meant, I thought because it was so close to LA. I wouldn't have been surprised, if you had emigrated to the end of the world."
"To leave the events of that time and all the past behind me, even the end of the universe wouldn't have been far enough away."
Ridge stared at her in horror for a moment, then looked down at the ground in embarrassment.

"I know I hurt you very badly back then with my reaction. I just did what was right for me at that moment."
"It wasn't just you, in the end you were fooled by Thomas and your mother just like the rest of us and there was obviously no reason why you should be away from Brooke any longer. But what I still ask myself sometimes, why did you want to marry me in the first place? It was obviously clear with which woman you really wanted to live with. Did you really think we could have been happy this way?"
"I don't know, I was completely overwhelmed by the situation and absolutely helpless and powerless. I just wanted to do the right thing and yes everyone was talking and pushing me and I mean you guys made it pretty clear what you wanted and I thought that if we got through this crisis together as a family that would be the best for Thomas, Steffy and all of us."
"You thought it would be the best to be married to a woman you don't really love, who is just the mother of your children and that you live with us even though your heart is somewhere else?"

"Do. (Ridge quickly bit his tongue)Taylor, you know full well that you are more to me than just the mother of my children and it's not like that I didn't love you."
"Yeah right, as your best friend, as the one who is always there for you and listens to you but you didn't love me like a husband loves his wife. I was so scared to even accept your proposal. I told you, I was always afraid it would end up the way it ended up and when you said, there was no way that was going to happen, I really thought we could be a family again, that you weren't just doing it because of Thomas but because you really wanted it. You just should have been honest with me." Taylor fought back her tears. She turned away from him and discreetly wiped them away. Ridge stood behind her. He would have loved to give her a hug, but let it go. Taylor continued.
"Yes it's true, I wanted nothing more than to be with you and for us to be a family again and maybe I pushed and pressured you too hard. I wanted it because I really loved you. I know I also made a lot of mistakes at that time..."