Kelly Capwell and Nick Hartley's wedding

The weddings of Santa Barbara
Kelly Capwell and Nick Hartley (2/2)

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Back in Santa Barbara, the memory of the hours spent in the ghost town quickly fades for Kelly Capwell and Nick Hartley. Those sweet moments have disappeared into Kelly's memory, to Nick's despair. As feared by Nick, Kelly has forgotten everything... Forgotten the calm of the city, forgotten their love... The present has dissipated in favor of the past. Because Kelly has regained her memory and now she remembers another love story, the one she lived with Joe.

Again, Nick must work to win Kelly's heart. He must fight to take the place of a memory in Kelly's heart and to be imaginative to bring back the memory of their love, concretized in the ghost town.

And Kelly's memory is restored. And with it, the memories of those moments are reinvented in the present, transformed, anchored in reality. Kelly and Nick end up living together and no cloud seems to be able to darken their daily lives. Yet, it will not be a cloud but real storms that will strike the couple, storms rising and growing because of Kelly's many lies : the secret purchase of Nick's books, her love night with Dylan, his brother...

Originally planned for June, the wedding is late as storms approach Kelly. Even the engagement party organized for New Year's Eve could not keep Dylan's shadow on the lovers. The wedding ceremony will be held at the Capwell villa : after C.C. Capwell's coma, it will also be an opportunity to bring joy back into the walls of the house. It is Kelly who wanted to move the date forward, in a hurry to put an "inviolable" barrier between her and Dylan, wrongly believing that the ring on her finger would prevent her feelings from torturing her.

A part of the garden and the gazeebo of the villa are decorated with bouquets and ribbons. The Capwell villa has been adorned with its finest finery - which is much smaller than the decoration that will be made for Kelly's wedding to Jeffrey. As the wedding approaches, a growing tension takes hold of Kelly, forcing her sometimes to show Nick but also her family members, the trouble that tortures her daily. Kelly suffers from the secret that eats her : her love night with Dylan is the symbol of her betrayal towards Nick. How to marry this straight, honest man who only talks about trust between two people, when she committed the worst crime : sleeping with his brother. Constantly tortured by Dylan, Kelly does her best to avoid it, but their joint project of the Casino seems to play against them.

One detail will however make the wedding project wobble : the wedding gift offered by Dylan to Kelly. After selling his shares in the Casino to C.C., Dylan takes a moment to offer a gift to Kelly. It is a brooch he found in a small store. To mark this special day, he wanted to give her a personal and unique piece of jewelry. He chose an antique brooch that would have been given, as the inscription on the back of the jewel details it, to another Kelly on the occasion of her wedding. Kelly is touched by this attention, touched by this gift which burns her heart and proves once again the feelings that connect them to each other. So when Nick asks her who gave her this nice gift, Kelly has no choice but to lie again. To lie again and again, explaining that it is a gift from Brick and Amy.

In the atrium of the Villa, C.C. watches over the final preparations for the ceremony, checking the dishes under the gaze of his future son-in-law. Everything is ready. The groom has prepared his vows, he has his costume and all around him in the Villa, bouquets of flowers and garlands are waiting for the beginning of the ceremony and the presence of the bride. The bride is almost at a distance from the Villa and its preparations. The weight of her lies weighs on her conscience. Of course, she confided in her mother and her older sister, and both advised her to confess to Nick. How could she find the strength to proclaim such a truth ? How could she confess what she has denied on several occasions ? Thus, far from all the excitement of the wedding, Kelly rushes into a slow descent to hell. Her latest lie about the origin of the jewel, she knows, will not last for more than a day...

Kelly then joins Nick at the gazeebo. She knows she needs to talk to him. She knows she has to tell him the truth if she wants to keep Nick's love and her own esteem. As they meet, Nick misunderstands the nature of the discussion ahead - he thinks Kelly is coming to tell him that she lied about the origin of the brooch because he discovered a moment earlier that it was not Brick and Amy who gave it to her. Nick, with simple words, tender words, tries to make Kelly forgive herself. He knows why she lied to him : she is trying to preserve the fragile bonds that unite him and Dylan. At first, Kelly panics, fearing he may have discovered her affair with Dylan; then she is almost relieved when she realizes that he only talks about the gift. Half relieved, because the tenderness and affection of Nick towards her make her betrayal even more cruel. Kelly deviates a little, as if she was trying to keep the strength of Nick's love for her at a distance. Kelly knows, because Nick told her, told her again, the depth of his feelings, the confidence he has in her, in their relationship... This absolute trust is the cement of their relationship. Kelly closes her eyes and in a breath confides that she cannot go upstairs, put on her dress, walk down the stairs and become Mrs. Nicholas Hartley. She cannot, despite all the desire she has. Slowly, then more clearly, Kelly begins to speak. She explains to Nick that there are many more lies than the one related to the jewel, much more... Kelly has trouble finding the right words to describe her fear, her suffering and her fault as well. Snuggled in Nick's arms, she takes a little strength, in the sweet comfort of the loved one. It is only at this point that Kelly can begin her confession. And Kelly confesses...

Kelly admits about the books : she bought them all because they were not selling and she did not want him to suffer from failure and to feel like he was incapable. Kelly's words hurt Nick, but he finally understands her gesture : it is out of love that she has hidden the reality from him. In Nick's eyes, the gesture is forgiven and this does not thwart by their wedding plans. He then tries to take Kelly's hand, a hand that Kelly rejects. Because there are other things...

Kelly admits having slept with Dylan. A huge weight hits Nick, his face closes, hardens. Kelly can read the violence of his feelings. She admits that she had so many opportunities to confess and each time she could not. She tries to explain, but Nick does not hear. Nick turns away as Kelly talks to him. Suddenly, he orders her to shut up. A few seconds of deathly silence overwhelm the gazeebo. Then Nick says terrible words. He understands through Kelly's words, through his own feelings, that if Kelly confesses this terrible truth to him, it is not to marry him... New reproaches are coming from Nick, because he does not know how to handle this confession : to forgive, not to forgive. In any case, for Nick, it is obvious : they can not marry today. Kelly defends herself by saying that she wants to get married, and that if she chose to confess the whole truth, it is to be honest with him, so that their love is really based on trust. Facing Kelly, Nick suffers, Nick is upset... He admits that he always knew about her and Dylan, but that certainly he has already forgiven. To forgive... to forgive Kelly's unconscious thought of not having to get married, he cannot yet. Having no other option, Nick leaves.

The day is not over for Kelly, when she reports to her parents the discussion with Nick. If Sophia understands her daughter, this is not the case of C.C.. Indirectly or not, he finds in his beloved daughter's behavior that of Sophia's : the same betrayal. Kelly, who knows her father, reads on his face the anger and the fact that she deserves what happens to her. Kelly leaves to be alone. Alone to think of Nick's last words : and if she had, deep down, wished that this wedding would not happen...

Kelly's psyche is complex; behind each of her actions lies the fear of abandonment. This fear that took root in her with the disappearance of her mother, when she was just a little girl. The same fear that once destroyed her with Joe's death. And today Kelly knows her truth.

Some time later, she meets up with Nick at the bar of the Orient Express. She approaches him gently, aware that a border now exists between them. Nick barely looks at her. Yet, Kelly wants to talk to him and to confess not the truth, but her truth, that which she carries deep inside her bowels. Kelly explains that their love get built in the ghost town. There, she was not herself. She did not know who she really was. She explains that in her eyes, Nick fell in love with a person who does not exist, a person she is not. Then, with their return to Santa Barbara, she regained her memory and became the person she really is. In her mind, she was afraid. Afraid that the real Kelly would not find the same love in Nick's eyes. She did not want to disappoint him by becoming another... She was so afraid of not being up to the Kelly he loved in the ghost town. So yes, maybe she tried to complicate their relationship because she was afraid... Kelly says that she especially does not want him to feel responsible for anything. It is not him, never, who did wrong or said a wrong word. It is all her. She is the only one to blame.

If Nick hears these words, they do not bring him any comfort for the moment. Nick shows Kelly the wound he is carrying : Kelly had brought him a new hope, a reason to live and today he has lost everything... Nick asks Kelly to leave.

Kelly is alone. Alone with herself. Aware that she needs help, she will turn to counselling to overcome her fear of abandonment. Alone with a shadow always near her, a shadow that imagines that if Kelly abandoned Nick in front of the altar, it is to be with him. This shadow is that of Dylan Hartley...

This aborted wedding is an opportunity to take a dive in the deep "self" of Kelly Capwell. Kelly's psyche is marked by two deep wounds that she will not stop trying to overcome : abandonment and guilt. The plot is fully integrated into Kelly's psychological evolution, and especially this break between one of the leading couples (perhaps in lack of fans) will allow to put the carnation killer back on the front of the scene. The continuation of the storyline with Dylan's death combined with the ephemeral return of Peter Flint keep Kelly in this world where the beings she loves, abandon her. This personality, a subtle mix of strength and weakness, carried by the talent of Robin Wright, allows bringing credibility to the character of Kelly. Robin gives her character depth, finesse and subtlety. Kelly's psyche will not survive the changes of actresses, with each of the following actresses bringing another personality to Kelly, breaking her very first personality. Maybe her real personality...

Texte écrit pour ce site par Lilian