Water under the bridge

Part 9: The reconciliation

Part 9: The reconciliation

We have been locked up inside this room for 2 days now, making love, fucking like crazy teenagers, talking, just enjoying each other. But reality awaits. We both need to get back to our jobs and our children. Shutting out the world has been just what we needed, getting reacquainted with each other's mind and body. Even though the last 4 months have been hell, I think it actually has done us some good. We both agree that we will never take each other for granted and we have to trust in our love...always.. no matter what or who is trying to convince us otherwise.
I need to get back to our penthouse and fix things with Brady. I want us to be a family again and I'm going to do everything it takes for him to feel loved and wanted. John called Brady and Bell and told them that we were at the Inn together and we would come home today. I'm feeling nervous. I hope with all of my heart that we can make things right.
I look at John, he is on the phone with Abe, talking about the case. During the last 2 days John has been more romantic and more emotional than ever before. He has been so attentive, hovering around me, pampering me just making me feel like the luckiest woman in the world. I will have to figure out a special way to thank him. He turns around, still on the phone, and smiles his handsome smile at me. He is still wearing only a towel, clothes have not been needed the last 2 days. There is a knock on the door, it's the maid with John clothes washed and dried. I get up and head for the bathroom to get ready to leave this love nest behind and enter our real lives.

Abe is telling me about the progress they have made on the case. He is asking me to come with him to Washington to brief the ISA. I turn around and look at Marlena, and I can't give him the answer he wants. I can't and won't leave her right now. She needs me. Not only for physical support but also emotional support. I'm not letting her fix this thing with Brady on her own. I'm going to stand firmly by her side, ready to catch her if she falls. She has been tossing in her sleep, having nightmares again. She hasn't told me about them, saying she doesn't remember. I don't believe her. She is trying to protect me because she knows I don't do well if I know something is upsetting her. Maybe it's "just" the old nightmares from before that hunts her, but I feel like something is different this time.
My clean clothes have arrived so I say goodbye to Abe. It's time to get back to our lives even though it's quite difficult leaving this little bubble we have created here.

John opens the door for me and lets me walk into our penthouse first. The smell is so familiar, it makes me so happy and safe. Everything looks the same, not a single thing has changed during the last 4 months. On my crutches I walk around the living room, touching the many photo frames that hold so many memories of our whole family. Happy times with all of our children, and sweet memories from our weddings. I turn around and look at John with tears in my eyes, happy tears. "It's so good back home" I tell him as he wraps his arms around me and gives me one of his famous bear hugs. His embrace is so warm and loving and I feel my body melting into his. I hear the door open and Bell walks in, her face one big smile. She runs towards me and falls into my arms. She tells me how happy she is to have us all under the same roof again and I can only agree.

I am so content and grateful to have her back. Seeing her and our daughter sit together on the sofa watching the favorite show makes my heart swell with love. This is just what she needs, what we all need. I don't know where Brady is and I can't help but feel a little nervous about the possibility of a confrontation when he comes home. I don't want that for her or him for that matter. And certainly I don't want that for Bell, she doesn't need to be in the middle of this, having to choose sides or having to defend her mother or brother. But I don't want to think about that right now, so I join my favorite girls on the sofa and just enjoy this moment.

It's getting late as I look at Marlena sleeping peacefully on the sofa together with Bell. After I made them dinner, we watched a movie and ate popcorn. They both fell asleep in the middle leaving me to finish the romantic horror called "The Notebook". I can see why they love that movie but if I compare it to the love story that is Marlena and I, that movie would pale in comparison. The story of Us is one of the greatest of all time. It has everything that makes a great love story and we haven't even gotten to the end yet but I know for sure that it will be a happy ending...that's a fact.
First I carry Bell to her room, she wakes up halfway and laughs at me, telling me that I could just have woken her up and that she isn't a little girl anymore. I know that, but I like it when I get to treat her as the sweet little 6 year old girl she used to be. I kiss her forehead and tell her goodnight. Next up is her mother. I carry her upstairs to our bedroom and gently place her in our bed. She must be exhausted and overwhelmed because she doesn't even wake up when I start to undress her. I crawl underneath the covers and she snuggles close to me, laying her head in the crock of my neck, and soon I join her in our dreams.