After the dark of sadness comes the glory of happiness!

Splinter in the eyes!

Ridge and Taylor couldn't tell how long they had been sitting on the bench.
"I hope it's OK that I told you all this. I've never talked to anyone so honestly about all this before."
"It's fine, really. I just don't know what to say. I never thought to hear such words out of your mouth one day. Over the past few months, I've actually come to terms with the idea that Brooke is the love of your life and nothing and no one can ever change that. Never did I expect to sit here with you one day and hear that you were done with your marriage."
"I don't think anyone expected it. Most people still believe Brooke and I are getting back together.

But now, maybe for the first time, I really start seeing Brooke for who she is. It may sound silly, but in the meantime, our love story reminds me of the fairytale 'The Snow Queen' "
"You mean the story with the enchanted mirror and the boy who gets a splinter in his eye and his heart and afterwards he sees the good and beautiful in an ugly way and he gives his devotion to the Snow Queen and no longer recognizes his true friends?"

"Exactly, only to me it seems as if I had not only a splinter, but the whole mirror scattered in my eyes. All these years I've always had an ideal image of Brooke, I've always kind of glossed over her mistakes and scandals. I always wanted to see only the good in her, always stretched the truth, as if she had just always been the victim of tragic circumstances. I got angry at those who exposed her weaknesses. The whole time I had just this one goal, to be a happy family with her, RJ and Hope. I had the dream, one day we would sit there together and we would be able to show the whole world, we made it. Over that goal, I became blind to so much else. Instead of blaming Brooke for her misbehavior, I blamed others and the worst part is, I spent so much energy and strength trying to forgive Brooke over and over again, that I was all the harder on others. But what I really regret, I was so focused on Brooke, I didn't realize that I kept hurting the people who actually had my best interest in heart. Mainly you and the kids." Taylor felt a lump in her throat, which she had to swallow down.

"It hurt everytime, when we had hoped for a brief moment you would come back to us, and then you always went back to Brooke. It was painful for me to watch our children have to take a back seat because of your family with Brooke and it hurt like hell that even during our marriage I never had your undivided love. That a part of your heart always belonged to Brooke. But lately I came to the realization it was not just you. I did all this to myself. I kept getting involved every time, despite knowing better. I should have set up some boundaries, for my sake and the kids sake."

"Neither of us drew the line. I always considered you my family and in a way I still felt like you belonged to me. It sounds selfish, but I loved and needed both of you. Brooke and you, each of you gave me something that the other couldn't give me. You and the kids, you've always been my safe haven."
"Yes the safe shelter for stormy times, only they would eventually pass and Brooke was responsible for the sunny side. You and I were always good at sticking together in times of crisis, like after Phoebe's death or when Thomas disappeared, but I would have loved to share the good and happy times with you too. Instead, for years I had to watch Brooke be the shining winner, and I'm not just talking about you. It was the same with my marriage to Nick, Jack, even Stephanie confided in her when she was fighting the cancer and to top it off I felt like I was losing Thomas to her. I am very well aware now, my concerns for him were mostly sheer jealousy. It was hard to see how close they were, how he admired her, how he looked up to her. It made me think, now I'm going to lose the last thing I have left, my children."

"You wouldn't have lost Thomas. You're his mother."
"Yeah, but Brooke and him were a team and I was just an outsider. I know I should have been above that, but it just got me."
"I think you're looking at all this way too one-sided, it may be, Brooke won all those people over, but she couldn't keep any of them for the long haul. Nick no longer plays a role in her life, neither does Jack. She has nothing to do with Thomas anymore and her relationship with Mother has cooled noticeably. With that, I wouldn't consider her a winner."
"Wow you know what, you're right." Taylor suddenly beamed. She'd never thought of it that way before; that realization gave her a good satisfying feeling.
"And looking at the last few months, I feel more like I lost and not you. My whole world was turned upside down, the only support were the kids. Especially you weren't there. I think I realized for the first time how valuable your support has been all these years for me. It's true, you learn to appreciate the true value of a person only when she is no longer there."

"I understand well what you mean. I felt the same way sometimes, even if I was the one who wanted to break off contact. There were some moments, especially in the early days, where I missed you. It wasn't always easy. Also for Christmas, it felt strange not celebrating Christmas with you all for the first time."
"Why didn't you come then? Your absence hit us all very hard. I was thinking at the time how much you must hate me or whoever that you didn't even want to sit for Christmas at the table with us."
"It had nothing to do with hate, we had practically no contact for over half a year at that time and it just seemed so absurd to me to sit down with the whole family in peaceful harmony. Furthermore, my decision also had to do with you. I was already in control of my feelings towards you. I no longer had that unfulfilled desire to become a family again, but you were freshly separated from Brooke. I didn't want to just fall back into old patterns of behavior. I was afraid everything would start all over again. You'd cry on my shoulder, I'd want to be there for you, and then maybe I'd have false hopes again, and you'd end up back with Brooke after all."
"You're probably right, at least about the first part. I probably would have come to you for comfort, and I can only imagine what Mother would have said to you."
"Well, we both can." They laughed.

Taylor found herself yawning more and more as the conversation went on; she glanced at her watch.
"Oh my God, it's way past midnight and my alarm is going off at the crack of dawn tomorrow." They set off and headed for the car. On the short drive to Taylor's apartment, they were both silent and absorbed in their own thoughts. Outside the apartment complex, they said their goodbyes.
"To tell you the truth, this morning I was very skeptical about getting involved in this meeting. But I have to admit, you were right. It's been really good to be able to talk about all these things openly." Ridge grinned
"Excuse me? Did you really just say I was right?!"
"Yes I did, now don't get too cocky about it."
"I'm also glad we got a chance to sort everything out for once and cleared things up between us." He held out his hand to her. "Peace?" Taylor took his hand a shaked it.
"Peace!" Taylor and Ridge hugged each other. She was about to go inside when he grabbed her back once more.
"So now that there's officially peace between us, does that mean we might see each other again sometime? You could stop by the store by any chance and I'll show you around."
"I'll think about it, you can send me the address if you want to." Ridge was a little surprised at first.
"Well, now that we're officially at peace, I've already unblocked your number and taken your mail address off my blacklist. So you can reach me again from now on."
"Wow, I'm honored. So see you!"
"See you!" She gave him another quick wave and finally disappeared into the house. With a pleasant feeling of ease, Ridge made his way home.