Gertie

Chapter 1

San Francisco, February 1993

Marlena was exhausted. Returning to her hotel room in the late afternoon on the third day of her conference in San Francisco, all she could think about was falling into bed, and it was barely 5:00 pm. The weather was cold, and even though she was wearing multiple layers, the bite of the air was still too much. Her cheeks burned from the chill. The sun had already gone down, and she was walking with her head low, hoping to get inside as quickly as possible. Juggling her briefcase, and her purse was difficult enough, but trying to balance a coffee, and navigate through crowded streets was just an added frustration.

Just as she was about to enter the side entrance of the hotel, the door flew open, hitting her, and causing her to drop everything she was carrying, including the coffee she had just purchased. "Oh!" She cried in frustration.

She knelt down, and began gathering her things, telling herself over and over again, it was an accident. She wanted to scream, but she knew it was her own frustration. "It was an accident," she mumbled under her breath. She felt sometimes, as if she couldn't catch a break. Feeling chronically unhappy had a way of doing that to a person. She felt another person kneel beside her. A man, seemingly large, but she didn't turn to look. She didn't think she'd be able to school her features into a mask of politeness, so she reached for her briefcase. The man next to her began to ramble out a nonsense apology, and her heart stopped. Her heart then stuttered violently, creating a tightness in her chest. Her mind told her no, even as her heart, and the scent of his cologne, said yes. She knew that voice. There was no way Marlena would ever forget that voice.

John had been rushing out of the building to meet a potential business owner who was looking to possibly merge with his company. It would be a lucrative deal, if he could make it happen. He was running late, because his wife, Isabella, had kept him on the telephone too long. Even though she knew, he was going to be home the following day. She did this every time he went out of town. Her insecurities at an all time high. He had tried repeatedly to get her off of the telephone, finally explaining that he was going to have to hang up. Now he was left with the guilt she would likely throw at him tomorrow, because of it.

Kneeling down to help the woman retrieve her things, John started to say, "I'm sorry. I was rushing, and not paying attention—" The wind picked up again, cold and bitter, and the woman's scent wafted across his face, causing him to stop speaking completely. That scent was so rare. He'd only ever known one woman to wear it, and it brought back memories of a woman he'd fought every day for over a year to forget. A woman who still invaded his dreams every night, as his brain conjured images of her fingers trailing over his skin. He took a deeper breath, inhaling it, and holding it in his lungs. He turned his head, staring at the huddled form of the woman beside him, and noted that she had stopped moving as well. Her hand extended towards her briefcase, as if she were frozen in place.

It was John. Marlena knew his voice, even if she hadn't seen, or heard from him in almost fourteen months. He'd left Salem almost as soon as their group had returned home after Mexico. He and Isabella had simply packed up, and left within the week. No telephone number. No forwarding address. They simply disappeared. Without a word of goodbye, he'd broken her heart. Marlena's pulse was thudding in her veins so hard, she could feel it vibrate throughout her body. It was several moments, before she realized he'd stopped speaking, and she finally began to look up slowly.

John was internally telling himself, Look up. Look up. He was silently begging the woman bundled up beside him, to raise her head, and allow him to see her eyes. She was wearing a hat, and her clothing had so many layers, he couldn't be sure if it was her. It was a moment, before she seemed to realize that he had fallen silent, but when she raised her hazel eyes to look at him, all he could do was whisper in a choked voice, "Doc."