The Bold and the Beautiful: A Tale Of Demons And Undying Love.

Chapter Twenty Five: Eric

         "You know Julius, apart from being CEO of my company I always thought to model swim wear," I joked as I took a puff on my cigar. "Then again I don't want to out do Rick and Carter." Julius laughed and no sooner did I join him.

       "Rich as you are amusing," Julius said.

       "Well someone has to be around here," I replied. Since Quinn's mysterious departure, everything seemed so colorless and bleak. She bought beauty, love and joy into my life since Stephanie. Now that she was gone, I had to find my own amusement. Julius nodded as he looked wistfully into the night sky. He took a puff from his cigar as he stared in thought. "Something troubling you, Julius?"

      "Too much," Julius replied. He turned to me, looking even more tired than I could ever be as I listened, "My marriage with Vivienne isn't going as I...as I like it to be."

        "What makes you say that?" I wondered.

          "We had a bit of a disagreement earlier today," Julius explained, "she invited Sasha to this party without my  consent. She knows perfectly how we all feel about her and yet she goes behind our backs and do what she felt was right." I nodded so Julius could see that I was still paying attention to him. "This resulted with Vivienne calling me ridiculous, which I am not." Julius was a bit ridiculous but who wasn't.

      "I'm sure she didn't mean it," I told him.

       "Oh she meant it alright," Julius replied. "I saw it in her eyes."

        "You two were in a disagreement," I reasoned, "which meant that neither of you were thinking correctly in the heat of the situation." Believe me, Stephanie and I had ton of those heated disagreements during our marriage. "It happens."

       "Yes but it shouldn't have," Julius said as he leaned forward on the porch. "Our marriage is complex Eric. Viv and I are just two different people. She's level headed, fair, forgiving and so understanding while I'm just...Julius." Sounded all too familiar to me. "During the time when Myron-I mean Maya decided that she wanted to change her gender, Vivienne condoned it. I didn't because being a girl wasn't what God made her." Didn't he mean woman and not girl? "It just didn't feel right, it still doesn't." I nodded even though I didn't completely agree with him on Maya's choice to be a woman. "But Vivienne wasn't bothered by it and sometimes I wish I could be more like her."

       "Well Julius, opposites certainly do attract," I stated. "My late wife Stephanie and I also had difficulties in our marriage. She was a very strong no nonsense woman. She wore the pants in our relationship and boy did she make Cruella Deville seem angelic." Julius chuckled and I'm glad he could laugh during such a stressful situation. "Vivienne is definitely no Stephanie. She's beautiful, kind and gracious." I gestured towards the inside of the mansion to show Julius his stunning wife. She was talking to both Rick and Carter and held an H'oudever in her hand. "You don't wanna lose a good women like her Julius. Good women are hard to come by nowadays." Just like Quinn. "I'm sure if she could forgive you for involving yourself in another women eons ago, you could certainly forgive her for calling you a meaningless name."

      Julius sighed as he stared at Vivienne. He had that look and I knew that look too well. He loved  the woman more than anything in this world and it was rather evident. I use to look at Quinn like that from morning to night because she was my world.

       "Daddy we have to go," came a girlish voice.

       I turned around as I saw Maya looking as lovely as ever in a shimmering cream Pepu off shoulder gown. She was much  too pretty for Rick, that much I knew. Maya stood beside Julius and there was something about her that seemed a bit off. I couldn't place it but it was there.

       "Go?" Julius asked as Maya nodded hastily. "As in now?" Maya nodded again. "But we only just arrived. What's the rush?"

      "There's no time to explain," Maya answered. "We have to go now."

        "Is everything alright my dear?" I wondered.

        "Yea," Maya replied as she gave me a smile that seemed forced. "Every things...perfect."

       "So why do you seem so eager to leave?" I questioned. "We hardly had any time to catch up and-"

       "We'll catch up soon," Maya answered as she quickly kissed me on the cheek. She then grabbed hold of her father's arm and took him away into the beautiful night.

      It seemed that whatever it was that concerned Maya and Julius it must have been quite important. It wasn't my business to inquire or pry into affairs that obviously didn't concern me. I took my last puff from the cigar as I tiredly retired back into the ole mansion. Cigar smoking wasn't fun especially when you had no one to smoke with. If I wasn't mad at them, I would had asked Ridge, Rick, Thomas, Zende and Thorne to partake in the cigar smoking with me on such a lovely night. But, oh well. Maybe if they came to my  wedding and treated Quinn properly then I would have considered it. They were swines! All swines and that included Steffy, Pam, Felicia and Kristen too. God just thinking about them made me angry that they were my  family. Some family!

       I tried my best not to think about those people who pretended  that they cared about me. I didn't want to stress myself too far and suffer a heart attack later. I wasn't as young as I felt and I had to remember that. I dispose my cigar in the garbage as I went to get something to drink to be rid my cigar breath. I headed towards the staircase as an old cold pitcher full of water, that no one touched, awaited me. I guess that the guest where too busy guzzling down that strawberry champagne to even consider pure and fresh water. Gently, I poured the pitcher of water into a glass as Rick and Vivienne exited the mansion. I assume  that they went to join Maya and Julius in whatever business it was that needed to be tended to.

       As I poured the water, a nutmeg aroma filled my nostrils. A beautiful aroma it was that enraptured me dearly. It bought back many fond memories of Quinn because she smelled of nutmeg. Quinn was gone though and maybe this was just my senses playing sick games with me. It had to be. I took a sip of water and thought to take my medication while I'm at it. I reached into my breast pocket and pulled out my pills of sanity. As I readied to pop them into my mouth, I paused as a petite figure wearing  a sapphire colored half moon mask with peacock feathers entered into the mansion. She was wearing a blue sweet heart neck gown with a slit that ran down her right thigh. A stunning dress it was yet it seemed so familiar. The petite figure walked into the guest room leaving a trail of nut meg behind her. By the heavens, it couldn't be!

       I quickly took my pills and followed the peculiar figure into the guest room. The good thing was that the guest were all gone from the guest room. I guess they were all out in the back getting ready to sing happy birthday to Caroline. I definitely wasn't going to miss out on the singing but I had to make certain of some thing. The petite figure stopped to look at the portraits of Stephanie and Caroline that hung above the fire place. She didn't seem to know that I was right behind her because she remained in awe at the grand portraits.

    "Is this real or is this a figment of my own imagination?" I asked as the petite figure froze at the sound of my voice. "Could it be that my prayers have been answered as I hoped they would?" I walked closer to the petite figure as her back faced me. "Is it you? Is it really you Quinn? Please tell me it is."

      The petite figure slowly turned to face me as I stared at her excitedly. She seemed nervous as I saw a pair of light crystal blue eyes gazing at me through that remarkable moon mask of hers. My eyes sparkled with glee once I recognize those eyes. I found her at last. I found my wife.