Never Forgotten

Part 31

Part 31

One year later

The first rays of sunlight from the early morning sun brightened the room in warm colors, disturbing Marlena's peaceful sleep.
With her eyes still closed she reached over to the other side of the bed, only to find it abandoned by its occupant.
Sitting up by her elbow, she scanned the room with sleepy eyes, looking for her handsome man. When she heard the water running from the bathroom, a smile adored her lips and she crawled back under the covers with a satisfied sigh.

Marlena thought back to February last year when she had woken up with an all consuming pain and sadness. The longing for John and what could have been had been almost unbearable. The last 25 years she had walked around with a constant pain in her heart and no matter how much she tried to forget and make it go away, the pain only grew stronger. A broken bone, a deep cut and even psychological wounds could be healed and fixed, but when a heart broke, there was no obvious treatment or cure to help it heal.
That was until John had walked right back into Salem and just like that, the deep pain and sadness had disappeared.
The last year and a half had been a rollercoaster of emotions. Thinking back on everything that had happened, she couldn't believe that they actually made it to this place today.

From the day John came back into her life, she had felt alive again, even though the chaos that came along, their love overshadowed everything.

Shortly after their reunion with Alice, John had started a new branch of his business in Salem, making it possible for him to work and manage his company from there and only occasionally travel to New York.
Marlena had moved into John's loft where she felt more at home than she had felt in years.

A month ago both their divorces were finalized, leaving them free to eventually marry again.
Although they had agreed to wait, John was impatient. Every day he would ask Marlena to be his wife, but she would always decline, saying it was too early. It wasn't that she didn't want to marry him on the spot, actually she wanted to marry him as much as he wanted, but her concern was towards their children and their ex spouses. Especially Rebecca.
After the incident on the street, the police found Rebecca and arrested her. Marlena didn't want to press charges, the woman had hurt enough, but she did want her to get help. John had visited her at Bayview once a month, after all she was the mother of his son and he also couldn't help but feel somewhat responsible for everything that had happened.

All of their children were happy for them and they all treated each other like they had been siblings forever, bickering and joking every time they were together, which had become a tradition every Sunday. At exactly 6 pm every Sunday they all came for family dinner at the loft, filling the place with joy and laughter.
Especially Sami, Eric and Carrie were so content and happy about this new family constellation. It brought back happy and warm memories from when they used to call John their dad. Old memories of truly being family where everyone loved and respected each other, brought back those warm fuzzy feelings that they hadn't felt since that time.
The newest addition to the Evans-Black family was often the center of everyone's attention.
One year old Evan, the son of Brady and Chloe brought so much joy and happiness for the proud grandparents.
Never having had the chance to raise their daughter Alice together, John and Marlena treasured the opportunity to spoil and cherish their grandson together.

Alice had moved to Salem as well and lived just a block away from the loft. She had easily adapted to her new life with her real parents and her siblings. Her, Sami and Carrie would meet several times a week, shopping, drinking coffee or just hanging out and gossip about what happened around Salem.

Regarding Marlena's health, her kidney function was back to normal and stable after only on time in dialysis. Alice had been tested to see if she was a match if it became necessary for a transplantation.
Confirming what Marlena already knew in her heart, Alice was a match. Their lost love child who had miraculously found her was back to them, would be her savior if needed.