The couple Megan Richardson and C.C. Capwell
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Between subtle yet profound feelings and unspoken words, the love story between author Megan Richardson and businessman C.C. Capwell, regardless of time or place, always carries a sense of incompleteness. A successful romance novelist, Megan knows that the story she shares with C.C. could not have ended any other way. At each of their encounters, they seized and savored every moment. From the skies of Paris to those of Santa Barbara, a shadow - then a presence - has always haunted C.C.'s mind, stirred his heart, and eclipsed all others.

According to a certain adage, life is like a box of chocolates... Some are simply good, others exquisite, but regardless of their flavor, their pleasure lasts only as long as a single bite...

Under the Paris sky, the stirrings of a first love...

A 17-year-old American girl on holiday in the City of Light, Megan Richardson lets her heart soak in the charm, lights, and wonders of the French capital. Her heart absorbs and feeds on the romanticism of every place her steps lead her. Enchanted by the city, she has no idea how much the magic of those moments, those places, will transform her and shape her future. Despite her young age, her heart opens to love. Megan hopes for it. Megan awaits it. Megan finds it.

One day. One evening. One night. It does not matter. She falls in love... She loves a man. A man older than her. He is an American businessman from California. Widowed just two years prior, his work now consumes his life and time. Yet he is touched by Megan - by her lightness, her carefree nature, her heightened romanticism. Megan seems different from the other women he has known since the death of his great love. For one, she does not know who he is. She knows nothing about him. Just as he knows nothing about her - not even her age.

Moved by the magic of the city, they share a moment outside of time. Megan gives in to the advances of this self-assured man who promises her nothing - yet makes her dream of a new life. A night of love is all Megan receives. One single night. Because at one point, he discovers Megan's age : 17 years old...

Under the Paris sky, a first lie...

One single night of love for an entirely different life. The love oath in Paris is fulfilled. Megan becomes pregnant and discovers the identity of the child's father. Fully aware that neither she nor their story had any place in the businessman's life, Megan keeps silent. Like in the novels she would later write, she invents a version far from reality. She chooses to raise her child alone - a son, Greg - telling him the story of a fictional father, a military man named Joe Hughes, as a stand-in for the truth. Megan leaves Paris, never forgetting the magic, emotions, and feelings experienced in the City of Light.

Under the Santa Barbara sky, a second lie...

Now a famous romance novelist, Megan still harbors deep sentimentalism. The characters in her books allow her to live, beyond fantasy, the life she once dreamed of. This emotional depth, while a blessing for her work, is a hidden wound that slowly eats away at her. Diagnosed with leukemia, Megan realizes the life she hoped for is not hers to live. The disease will not go away. To protect her loved ones, Megan invents another story - for Greg and for herself. With time slipping away, she chooses to return to her first love - not just for herself, but to offer both father and son a chance to meet. Megan chooses to hide her illness, just as she hid the existence of her son, and flies to Santa Barbara...

Under the Santa Barbara sky, the stirrings of a first love rekindled...

Determined to finally consider revealing the lie that defined her life, Megan Richardson takes on the task of writing C.C. Capwell's biography. She has followed his life from afar. Now, before entrusting him with their child's story, she wishes to know him intimately through those close to him.

When Megan walks into the Capwell Villa, she presents herself in the best possible light - confident, charming, witty, determined, and in control - nothing like the young girl she was 18 years ago. C.C. is charmed instantly when she brings him brandied cherries, which he enjoys, and he even invites her to his birthday party.

While his children are wary and unimpressed by the young author, C.C. is quickly taken with her. Eager to talk about himself, to present his best side, he spends more and more time with Megan, even at the expense of his family. Hoping to seduce her, he, like Megan, plays loosely with the truth - especially when recounting his relationship with Pamela, his first wife. Slowly, Megan is moved by the man behind the patriarch, behind the businessman. What touches her most is C.C.'s visible difficulty when speaking about his relationship with Sophia and his emotion when talking about his children.

Even when Mason reveals the darker sides of his father, Megan remains unfazed. She knows her subject well - his faults, his edges, his weaknesses. The man she rediscovers, years after Paris, appeals to her. She sees beyond his imperfections, something Sophia no longer seems able to do.

On his end, C.C., clearly drawn to Megan, ignores the doubts of Sophia and Kelly about Megan's integrity and her work. Despite them discovering discrepancies in Megan's notes - character names that do not match real people and the existence of a son - C.C. continues pursuing her. He invites her for dinner, and during a candlelit meal, begins to express his feelings. Touched and afraid, Megan leaves abruptly, with no kiss exchanged.

Spurred by Sophia's increasing jealousy, C.C. intensifies his courtship. Dinner after dinner, Megan's defenses begin to fall. A new candlelit dinner themed around Paris shakes her resolve. To her, C.C. becomes again the man who once awakened her heart and body to love. Rejuvenated, C.C. rediscovers confidence and hope : despite his age and recent retirement, a new life could begin. A new life which could be embodied by Megan. Burdened by secrets, Megan resists his kisses and leaves again. But later, when C.C. finds her at the guesthouse, champagne in hand, she finally gives in. She surrenders herself to her first love. The emotion of a first time carries her away. And, as with many first times, regret follows.

Megan regrets this second night of love. Overwhelmed, enchanted, captivated by him, she lacked the strength to resist. At dawn, she tells him clearly : the night was a mistake, and from now on, things will be strictly professional. Of course, C.C. does not accept that and continues including her in his new life, even asking her to be his date at Julia and Mason's wedding, much to Sophia's dismay.

Under the Santa Barbara sky, the lies revealed...

Drawn into love's game, Megan's resistance begins to crumble. In love with C.C., she seeks his presence and avoids it in equal measure, which only intensifies his desire. Determined to give their relationship a chance, C.C. confides to a jealous and worried Sophia the depth of his love for Megan. Only the fear of revealing her secrets keeps Megan at bay. But the walls begin to fall when, forced by Sophia, she admits to C.C. that she has a son, Greg. This, along with the Joe Hughes story, does not sway C.C.'s feelings. In fact, he invites Greg to stay at the villa and get to know the Capwell children.

Greg, in turn, uncovers a lie from his mother : she was never in Rome as she pretended it. He also discovers one from Sophia : she was never recruiting for elite universities.

During a new family dinner, C.C. suffers a heart attack while kissing Megan. Saved by Greg's intervention, this incident leads Sophia to understand the depth of his feelings and withdraw. Greg chooses to leave, followed by Megan, who finally tells him the truth about his birth. Through a fictionalized letter, she reveals that Joe Hughes was just a name... And that behind that shadow stands C.C. Capwell. Greg is barely surprised by this revelation. Still, before acknowledging the truth, he wants to get to know the Capwell patriarch. Sophia also discovers this secret and chooses to stay silent.

C.C. learns Megan's secret as well. To everyone's surprise, he welcomes Greg and becomes even more attentive to Megan, perhaps to make up for lost time since Paris. He asks her to attend at distance Adriana's baptism with them. He invites her to Mason's wedding, where she catches the bouquet. He wants her by his side at Sophia's birthday party. Then, to everyone's astonishment - including Megan's - he proposes during a family dinner, in front of all the Capwell children. Megan panics. She does not know what to say or do, and she refuses.

Suspected of being a mole for Robert Barr, Megan decides to leave town.

Under a sky elsewhere...

Megan leaves Santa Barbara, caught in the web of her emotions and forced to face her ultimate secret alone, her final trial. Two years ago, she was diagnosed with leukemia. Though she experienced a brief remission, the illness has returned, stronger than ever. Megan knows no treatment can save her : she is condemned. She decides to confide in C.C. first, entrusting him with both her greatest burden and their son. C.C. is devastated. For a man of action, helplessness is agony.

Determined to tell her final truth, Megan admits to Greg that she is dying. Crushed, Greg refuses to believe it. He flees, seeking comfort from Emily DiNapoli. Urged by Emily, he returns to the Capwell Villa to see his parents. In the emotional reunion, Megan and C.C. share one last dance - a dance that began long ago in Paris. C.C. tries to convince her to stay, but fails.

Before leaving, Megan gives Sophia two letters : one for Greg, and one for C.C. At the airport, C.C. arrives, trying to stop her. But determined not to be a burden, Megan boards the plane and flies off, toward other skies, toward elsewhere...

A love story rich in emotion, the couple Megan / C.C. allows the head of the Capwell clan to gain in humanity what he loses in rigidity. While this story gives him a son, it most importantly offers Sophia the chance to return from the shadows into C.C.'s heart. Megan turns out to be only a parenthesis in their own story... A parenthesis that began after her presumed death and ends years later, with Megan's blessing.

Text written for this site by Lilian