How many problems can a love bear ?
Chapter 12						Accueil   Home

56

The next morning Sophia was ready to take the next flight to Italy, she wasn't happy with her decision to leave Santa Barbara but it seemed that it was her own chance to get some distance from CC and everything that happened in the last few weeks, she remembered when she confessed her love to CC at BJ and Warren's wedding.

In front of her inner eye she saw the whole scene:

CC stood by the fountain.

"Look at you! The great CC Capwell tossing coins in the fountain!" she said when she appeared from behind a palm. "Wishing things that can never be. You know of all the lessons that you had to learn giving up has always alluded you."

"Maybe it's about time!"

"I hope you don't mean that!"

And than they stood there for a while without saying a word. So Sophia decided  to change the subject.

"What does this remind you of?" she asked while she pointed at the fountain.

"Our old atrium!" CC replied. "Happier times!"

"When things were simple and clear and neither of us had any doubts exactly where we were supposed to be! Together!"

"I wish to hell to have those times again!" CC replied.

"Why do you think I'm here?" Sophia said and smiled at CC.

"You and I? Baby, we've been around the block so many times, no matter how much we loved each other and god knows we have, we never got it right."

"Life is so precious! And so very very terminus and you can lose it in a blink of an eye and if you waste that life in anyway on a lie then you waste it. And automatlly you don't deserve to have it at all. So I'm coming to you today to tell you: I have finally learned my life's lesson and that is I love you so much and no matter what is happening nothing can change that. And.... if you'll have me, I wanna be your wife again!"

"If I will have you? If I will have you? My darling, don't you know in this whole world all I wanted to be married to is you! I love you!"

"I love you too!" Sophia replied and granted CC with one of her beautiful smiles.

"I want you to be sure. I don't you to rush in anything!"

"Don't you hear what I'm trying to tell you? We've wasted too much time already!"

"Welcome home honey! Welcome home!" CC said and than they kissed passionately.

Sophia came back to reality and wiped away a tear that was running down her check. Her decision hurt so much but she felt that it was the only way for her to go on with her life, she had given up hope that CC and her could handle this situation and find a way to be together again. Sophia remembered his words from the night before when she saw him on the beach but she wasn't able to believe them, because she was scared that the next time he would see her talking with Lionel or meeting him by accident would cause another fight and she knew that she wouldn't support that anymore. Now she was sure that CC would never forgive her for betraying him with Lionel all those years ago.

Sophia picked up the phone and called her children to tell them that she was about to leave Santa Barbara, sure they weren't happy about her decision and tried to convince her to stay, but they had no luck. Sophia didn't change her mind!

57

Later that morning Eden wanted to explain everything that happened to her father, she felt guilty. She thought that it was her fault that her parents were separated once again and she knew that she would do everything to bring them back together and even if she would have to do it without her siblings' help. Eden was sure that she would find a way, but she was aware that it might be more difficult because Sophia was on her way to Italy. She looked into the living room to find her father but he wasn't there, she knew where she would find him and she felt very unease by the thought that she might have to enter the study in her parents house. She slowly went to the study, deep inside she hoped that she would meet her father on her way to the study, because memories from the last time she was in that room appeared in front of her inner eye.

She had put on a tuxedo and was sitting in the chair behind her father's desk in the study, she had turned her back to the door. It wasn't really her but it was her alter ego Channing who wanted to take revenge. She waited until Sophia entered the study and than turned the chair around so that she could look in her mother's eyes.

"Dear god!"

"Save your prayers they won't help you!" Eden said while she was holding Sophia at gunshot. "You look like you see a ghost!" Eden said and stood up and walked to the door to lock it. "I hope you don't mind, I did a little redecorating upstairs." She stood behind Sophia and laid her hand with the gun in it around Sophia's shoulder. "I still remember how soft your check felt when you used to come and kiss little Channing good night. Is it still as soft? Can I feel?" She touched Sophia's check and she could feel that her mother was scared to death but at that time she didn't care.

"Eden, why are you doing this?"

"Eden? I don't see Eden anywhere around you, do you?" she replied and walked in front of Sophia to look into her face.

"I know you're Eden! I wanna talk to Eden!" Sophia said.

Eden remembered that her alter ego Channing became angrier.

"It's been twelve years! Twelwe years since we came face to face and you shot me! Twelwe years and you don't wanna talk to me? You executed me! I died for your sins and when that wasn't enough you killed Eden too. And you don't wanna talk to me!" She pointed the gun at her own mother and asked: "Do you have a last request?"

"Yes, I wanna say goodbye to Eden! Let her come back to me! Eden? Eden I know you're there. Come back to me baby! It's your momma, I gonna take care of you. Everything's gonna be allright."

"I already told you: Eden is not here!"

"She's standing right in front of me! I know she's there! I told you to tell her to come back!" Sophia shouted and Eden/ Channing stared to smile.

"You said you and that means I exist! I exist in the only place that felt truly save! You see I used to joke with Eden, called her garden of Eden, paradise lost. She was the only one that didn't judge me! When you looked at me you saw your guilt! When Eden looked at me she saw me! Channing! She loved me, she gave me something to recall to and now I let her down but not today! Finally I have a chance to make her life and my death worth something!"

"Killing me is going to make her life worth something? That will ruin her life! Is that anyway to love her? Channing she doesn't need you, she needs her husband and she needs her children! Channing let her go!" Sophia said.

"I've an idea. Did you mean what you said by helping her earlier?"

"Yes!"

"Than take her place! If I kill you I can let Eden go! I hold your hand you can close your eyes, I promise it won't hurt and than I can Eden let go free!"

"NOOOOOO!" Sophia shouted.

"Oh I knew it! I knew you didn't mean what you said about sparing Eden! Just a lot of talk! You killed her, you couldn't save her, you can't save yourself!" Eden said while she returned to the chair behind the desk and sat down.

"Goodbye momma!" Eden said and then she pulled the trigger.

Oh my God, Eden thought when her thoughts came back to the now and then, she couldn't believe that her mother had spent the last few days with her in Mexico and that Sophia was able to treat her like if this terrible night would never had happened. Eden felt guiltier than before, because it was the second time within a year that she was the reason for her parents separation. First she had shot her own mother and Sophia was sure that Eden would only come back home if she would leave her family and now Eden asked her mother to keep her return home a secret which caused once again a breakup of her parents relationship. Eden had reached the study and she knocked on the door.

"Come in!" CC replied.

Eden opened the door and instead of walking in the room she stayed in the doorway, she realized that she wasn't ready to enter this room, not yet.

"Eh, Daddy? I wanted to ask you if you would like to take a walk with me around the grounds?"

"Oh princess! I'm so happy that you are back home!" CC said to his daughter who he hadn't seen since the day she fell off the cliffs a year ago. He walked to her and took her in his arms and never wanted to let her go again. It was Eden who moved back from her father's arms.

"I'm happy to see you too, but if I had known that I would cause so much problems by coming back to Santa Barbara I think I wouldn't have come back!" Eden replied and wiped a tear away.

"You're talking nonsense! We're all happy that you are back home, right where you belong and we'll never let you go again!"

"Can we walk for a walk, dad? I really need to talk to you!"

"Sure Princess! Everything that you want!"

When they reached the garden Eden started to tell her father what bothered her.

"Daddy, please listen to me before you say anything, ok?"

"Promised!"

"Look, when I came back to Santa Barbara I wanted to see momma first because we had so much unfinished business and I was the happiest person on earth when momma came to the yacht and didn't run away from me after everything that I have done to her! I know I was sick but that isn't an excuse for shooting my own mother! I begged momma not to tell anyone that I was back because I wanted to explain everything to her and I wanted to tell her that I always loved her and that I hoped that she would one day be able to forgive me! And by being very selfish I caused a breakup between you two! I never wanted to do that and now I'm here to tell you that you'll have to fight for her and that I'll do everything to help you to bring you two together again! You love each other so much and if you don't fight for her you're fool!" Eden said and a smile appeared on her face.

"Oh, baby! It's not that easy! Your mother has left town and I'm not sure that she wants to see me ever again! I was so wrong by thinking that she would have an affair with Lionel, but I'm just so jealous because I love her so much! And I promise if I will ever get a chance again I'll never do anything to jappadize it again!"

"Did you tell momma how you feel?" Eden asked.

"No, she was so mad at me and she has every right to, because I was such a fool!"

"Great! You're realising that you have to fight for her?" Eden said and felt that hope was growing inside of her.

"I'm honest princess! I think it's too late! I'm sorry but I have to leave, I have an important meeting! I'll see you later, Ok?" CC said, gave Eden a hug and a kiss on her forehead and left without waiting for an answer from his daughter.

58

Some hours later Sophia arrived at the Armonti residence near Milan. Sophia immediately realized that this wasn't her home anymore, she never belonged there and she knew that the only place she ever really belonged was CC and their children. Sophia remembered the day when she and CC got engaged for the second time. They had dinner together and afterwards they danced in the atrium and talked. Sophia hadn't time to get lost in her thoughts because Maria the maid of the Armonti mansion came to greet her.

"Oh senora! It's so good to see you! Where's the rest of your family, will they come later?"

"Hello Maria! I'm glad to see you! No, I'm alone and I don't know how long I'll stay!"

"Is something wrong? Did something happen to your family?"

"Eh, not really! It's just that CC and I had a very big fight and I need some time on my own!"

"Oh, I understand! I'll make your bedroom ready for you!"

"Thank you, Maria! In the meantime I'll take a walk around the grounds." Sophia replied and walked out of the house, she passed the roses garden, she had decided to go to the pool and sit down on a chair there for a while. She didn't feel well at all but she was sure that it might still come from the poisment and from the stress she was under the last time.

'If I don't feel better in the next few days I'll have to see a doctor!' Sophia thought by herself. When she walked pass the pool she felt more ill than before, she had this terrible headache and a terrible pain in her belly, it was so painful that she couldn't walk on, she fell and lost conscious.

By enormous luck Giovanni the gardener just came by and saw the lady of the house laying on the floor. He took her into his arms and carried her into the house. When he entered the house with Sophia on his arms he started to call out for Maria.

"Maria, call a doctor! Hurry up!"

"What's wrong? Oh what happened to the senora?"

"I don't know! Call a doctor!" Giovanni replied and carried Sophia into the living room and laid her down on the sofa.

"The doctor will be here in a few minutes!" Maria said when she entered the living room.

"Good!" Giovanni said while he checked Sophia's heartbeat and her respiration and he felt relieved when he noticed that both seemed to be regular.

"We should call her family and tell them what happened!" Giovanni said.

"No, please don't call them!"  Sophia said weakly.

The door bell rang and Maria immediately left the living room to open the front door.

"The doctor is here!" Maria said when she came back into the living room followed by a man.

"What happened?" the doctor asked.

"She was unconscious when I found her on the floor near the swimming pool!" Giovanni replied.

"Alright! I'll check your vitals, senora! Would you please leave us alone?" the doctor said to Maria and Giovanni and both left the room.

"I have to make a call!" Giovanni said to Maria when they had left the living room.

"You heard what the senora said, she doesn't want us to call her family!"

"I do what I think is the best for the seniora, she was always good to us and what she needs right now is her family!" Giovanni replied and picked up the phone.

59

When Kelly stood in front of the study door, she knew that her father would be in there and she was sure that he couldn't concentrate on his work because of all the things that happened in the last few hours.

"Hey dad! May I talk to you for a moment?" Kelly said still standing in the doorway.

"Sure kitten! Come in!" CC replied.

"I'm sure you know why I want to talk to you, don't you?" Kelly asked and a smile appeared on her face.

"Even if I hadn't the slightest idea when you entered the room, now I know it!"

"Dad you have to fight for her! You love her and momma loves you!"

"She loves me? And why did she leave me?"

"Because you acted like a fool, just like you do right now! You always told us to fight as hard as we could for the ones we love but you don't do what you taught us when we were kids!" Kelly told her father.

"Eden already told me almost the same thing and last night after I have seen your mother on the beach Mason told me that I'm an idiot if I don't fight for Sophia."

"Sorry daddy, but as hard as it may sound now Mason's absolutely right."

"I don't know, kitten!"

"Don't you love her anymore?"

"I always loved her and I always will, but I'm not sure if she'll be able to forgive me!" CC replied sadly.

"She loves you and I'm sure she will forgive you!"

"And why did she fly to Italy?"

"I think she needed some time on her own, you know that a lot had happened to mum in the last year! Eden disappeared and momma felt guilty, she left you and married Ken who betrayed her and tried to poison her."

"Yes I know and I was the reason for almost all the pain Sophia had to endure the last year. I wish I could turn back time and don't make all the mistakes I've had made."

"You have still a chance to....." Kelly was interrupted by the phone ring.

CC picked up the phone.

"CC Capwell speaking!"

60

At the same time in Italy, the doctor has just finished with Sophia.

"Well Mrs. Ar..., eh sorry I mean Mrs. Mathis, I think you should lay down and rest for a while. I'll call you as soon as I have the results from the blood analysis."

"What's wrong with me, doctor? Do you think that my illness may still come from the poisoning?" Sophia asked.

"I'm not sure but I don't think so! Maybe you feel unease because of the stress you had the last few months."

"Allright, but you'll call me as soon as you have the results, right?"

"Of course I will! I have to go now, I'll call you later! Bye Misses Mathis!" the doctor said and left the house.

"Oh CC! If you only would be here by my side! I would need your strength so much right now!" Sophia said to herself when Maria came into the living room.

"Scusi senora, but I heard what you said about Mister Capwell when I came in. Don't you think you shouldn't call him and tell him that you feeling ill?" Maria said and smiled.

"I don't think that's a good idea. We had a lot of problems before I left Santa Barbara and I don't think that we'll be able to work it out this time." Sophia said and her eyes were filled with tears.

"I'm sure that he would love to hear from you and I bet he would come right here to be by your side if he knew that you don't feel well." Maria said.

"If I'm honest, I'm not so sure that he would come here, he's really stubborn and we've hurt each other so much and I'm almost sure that he'll never be able to forgive me the mistakes I made so many many years ago."

"But you love each other, senora! And real love can endure very very much! Now I'll make you a cup of tea and than you'll get some sleep!" Maria replied and left the room.

"If she would only be right!" Sophia thought and got lost in her memories.