How many problems can a love bear ?
Chapter 8						Accueil   Home

42

The following morning Eden and Sophia were having breakfast at their hotel. Eden had already decided that she would fly back to Santa Barbara as soon as possible, because she knew that her family was there and she wanted to see them again and to give them the answers to their questions.

"Well, what do you want to do, now that you know that Cruz and the kids are in Santa Barbara?" Sophia asked.

"Momma, I want to take the first flight back to Santa Barbara! I've waited such a long time to see them and to explain why I left and why I didn't come back home for years!" Eden said and her beautiful green eyes were filled with tears.

"I understand that, your situations reminds me how I longed to see my family again after so many years and to tell everyone of you that I was still alive but that I didn't remember my family for so many years. I hope that it we'll be easier for you to find a way back into your family as it was for me!"

"Now I know that my reactions at that time were wrong but I knew how much daddy still loved you and I didn't want him to be hurt again if you would leave us once again!"

"I know! It was not your fault. I should have been honest telling everyone from the first day on that I was back in Santa Barbara but instead I disguised myself to find out if you missed me! I was so unsure about the love of my family when I came back, because you, my children were grown up and I was sure that your father had gone on with his life! It was so hard for me to see that he was about to marry Gina, because I still loved him so much!"

"And you still do!" Eden replied not waiting for answer she continued "Momma, I want you to come back home with me! I haven't told you yet, but I left a letter at the yacht for daddy! In this letter I explained everything to him about your mystery-monger and that I begged you not to tell anyone that I'm back!" Eden said and a impish smile appeared on her face.

"Well, Eden! I'm coming back to Santa Barbara with you, but I doubt that there will ever be a chance for your father and me to be together again!"

"Why can you say that? You love each other from the bottom of your hearts and you are meant for each other, because if you were not you could never have managed to go so many tragedies without hating each other!"

"Oh Eden! Sometimes love isn't enough to keep two people together. As long as there isn't enough trust between us we'll never be able to live together for sometime without mistrusting each other. Darling, your father will never forgive me the relationship with Lionel, I betrayed him with his worst enemy and I became a child that wasn't your father's but Lionel's!"

But you could give it a try once again! Or do you really want to be unhappy for the rest of your life? I know that the happiest time of your life was the time you spend with daddy! Besides I'm sure that he won't give up and try everything he can to win you back!"

"Oh, dear!" Sophia said and deep inside she wished more than everything that Eden was right.

43

At the same time at the Capwell mansion, Adriana, Chip and Cruz were sitting around the breakfast table when C.C. entered the room. The kids were very quiet, because they knew how much her grandfather suffered because he had lost the woman he loved more than his own life. During the last night Adriana and Chip got up, because they wanted to look after their grandfather, but C.C. had locked the door of his bedroom and the kids heard that her grandfather cried.

"Morning!" C.C. muttered.

"Morning!" Cruz and Chip replied.

"Good morning grandpa!" Adriana replied and smiled at her grandfather in love.

"Good morning my little princess!" C.C. said and tried to smile at his granddaughter, but it was impossible, when he looked at her he saw Eden who might come home in a few days, how would he tell her that her mother died! Yes since this phone call all his thoughts were about Sophia in every little piece of the house in every member of his family he saw something that had to do with Sophia. There were so many memories in this house, from times when life was easy, when the kids were small, before he lost Sophia for the first time. C.C. was torn out of his thoughts when Mason laid his hand on his father's shoulder.

"How do you feel today, dad?"

"Mason, do you remember how you felt when you lost Mary?"

"Yes, I do! And I'll never forget all the pain I felt than, it was the hardest time I ever went through. I know how much you suffer, because I know how much you loved Sophia! That's the reason why I am here!"

"I don't understand what you mean, Mason!"

"Dad, I'm going to arrange the funeral and if you don't mind I want to say a few words about Sophia at the commemoration." Mason hadn't already finished his sentence when C.C. already stood up and everyone saw that Mason had touched C.C.'s wound point.

"I'm not going to take part in this as long as it isn't proofed that Sophia was really in this plane and that she died in the crash. And you're not going to abuse her name or a memorial service for her to take revenge because I left your mother for her!"

"I loved her too, even if I never told her, but it's true! In some way she was my mother too, she always defended me in front of you, she was always there for me when I needed her! I would never abuse the memory of Sophia!" Mason said and left. Mason was very hurt by his father's behavior and now he could understand why Sophia left him so often though she deeply loved him. It was impossible to live in peace with C.C. Capwell.

"Grandpa?" Adriana said.

"Yes?"

"Why are you so angry about Mason's offer to arrange a memorial service for grandma? I mean we all loved her and we all want to say goodbye to her!"

"Princess, as long as I don't have a proof that your grandma died in this plane crash I'm not going to a funeral. Once I believed she was dead when people told me so I'm not going to live in misery for years again. I'm not going to live without her if there is the slightest chance that I can find her and that she's still alive!" C.C. said and for the first time in his life he cried in front of other people the only person who knew that he was able to cry was Sophia, but it seemed that she had left him forever.

"Mr. C.! What are you going to do now?" Cruz asked when his ex-father in law was about to leave the room.

"I'm going upstairs to pack my suitcase and than I'll fly to the scene of accident." C.C. replied.

"Do you want someone to join you?"

"No, Cruz! I have to go through this all alone." C.C. said and left the room.

44

At the other end of Santa Barbara, Brick was having breakfast with his niece Emma in the Capwell Oasis, when Kelly and Connor entered the restaurant. Brick saw them but didn't almost recognize his younger sister with in the years Kelly has changed a lot. Now she looked more matured than the last time he saw her but she still looked so vulnerable. She was dressed in black like she was after Joe's death, Brick remembered that he already liked her at that time even if he didn't knew yet that she was his sister.

At that moment Kelly saw Brick and the little girl.

"Connor, I want you to meet someone!"

"Who?" Connor asked while Kelly led him to Brick's table.

"Hi Brick!" Kelly said.

Brick stood up and took his sister into his arms. "Hi, little sister!"

"Connor that's my brother Brick! Brick that's my boyfriend Connor MacCabe. Officer Connor MacCabe!" She said.

"Nice to meet you!" Brick said and the two men shake hands.

"I didn't know that you have another brother!" Connor said to Kelly.

"Well, I'm her half-brother and I left Santa Barbara many years ago! How are you Kelly?"

"I suppose you haven't read the newspaper today?" Kelly replied and tears ran down her face.

"Did something happen to C.C.?" Brick asked.

"No, Brick!" Kelly took her brother's hand and led him away from the table where the little girl was still enjoying her breakfast.

"Is this your daughter?"

"Eh, no! She's Eden's daughter! Kelly what happened! Please tell me!"

"It's momma! She ... " Kelly didn't know how to tell her brother that their mother died in a plane crash, she searched for the right words but was unable to find them, so she continued "Momma died on a plane crash yesterday evening!" Kelly couldn't go on.

"What are you saying? What about Eden? How's she?"

"As far as I know Eden wasn't on the plane! Why are you asking?"

"Well, Eden and Sophia decided to fly to Mexico yesterday!"

"Brick, momma was on a flight to Italy and that plane crashed!"

"Kelly, did C.C. and Mum have an argument in the last few days?"

"Why are you asking that?"

"Please answer me!"

"Yes, they had a terrible fight a few days and momma told him that she would never come back to him."

"Oh, now I think I understand!" Brick replied, he knew his mother too well, he was almost sure that she booked a flight to Italy under her name that C.C. if he would search for her would fly to Italy instead of finding her in Mexico where she really was. It seemed that Sophia wanted some time to think about everything.

"What are you talking about?"

"Give me a few minutes and than I'll explain everything to you, alright?"

"Okay!" Kelly replied and Brick headed for the closest phone, he wanted to phone to the hotel in Acapulco to talk to Sophia or to Eden. Brick dialed the number and asked the woman who worked at the reception if Eden and Sophia Capwell already had checked out and the woman confirmed their checking out. His last chance was to phone Cruz, so he took his address book out of his pocket and searched Cruz's number, than dialed it. It was Carmen, Cruz mother who picked up the phone.

"Hello?" Carmen said.

"Hello! Mrs. Castillo?"

"Yes!"

"This is Brick Wallace!"

"Oh, Brick how are you?"

"I'm fine. I just wanted to ask if you have seen Eden or Sophia in the last few days?" Brick said and hoped that he was right by believing that Sophia joined Eden on her trip to Acapulco.

"Yes, they were here, but they left an hour ago, they wanted to take the next plane to Santa Barbara!" Carmen said.

"Thank you very much, Mrs. Castillo! Bye!" Brick said and hung up the phone and went back to the table where Kelly was waiting for him, he saw that she was really impatient.

"So? What did you find out?"

"Sophia wasn't on the plane that crashed yesterday! She was in Acapulco with Eden they just about to leave and come back to Santa Barbara." Brick said and smiled at his younger sister because he saw that she felt very relieved about what he told her.

"But how can it be that her name was on the list of the passenger of that flight to Italy?"

"I'm sure she once again ran away from C.C.! I don't know what happened between the two of them, but I'm sure he has hurt her once too often."

45

An hour later C.C. Capwell was sitting in his private helicopter to fly to the scene of accident. He was feeling old, he began to realize that he might have possibly lost everything that really meant something to him. Eden came back into town but left before he could see his darling daughter after so many years that he hadn't seen her and now it seem like if he had lost Sophia forever. He remembered the last time he saw her, sure it wasn't a nice memory because the last moment they had spent together they argued. C.C. remembered Sophia's last words.

"You're crazy! I swear there's nothing between Lionel and me, but you can't or perhaps you don't want to believe me! But in a few days you will see that I haven't lied to you, but than it could be too late!" C.C. asked himself if Sophia should have had some kind of premonition when she told him that. C.C. took a magazine to read in it, because he didn't want to think of Sophia all the time it hurt so much. He didn't know how he would ever be able to accept that she would never come back if he wouldn't find any proof that she wasn't on this plane.

Again C.C. was lost in his thoughts; he couldn't even concentrate on reading a simple article in a magazine. The only thing he could think of was Sophia, the love of his life. He began to remember the good times, when Sophia came back after she was in Italy for 15 years. He remembered their engagement when they were dancing in the old atrium.

"How long have we known each other?"

"Just the better part of our lives!" C.C. replied.

"I know! When I left here I lived in so many other places, C.C.! But this is the only place that was ever home to me!"

"This is where you belong!" C.C. replied.

"So many memories, the kids"

"Those were wonderful times!"

"We've wasted too much time hating each other!" Sophia said.

"You come back and I'll make you forget all the angry years only remember the good ones."

"I want too! I wanna come home, I missed my husband."

"You remember long time ago, sitting in the gazebo; do you remember what I said to you?"

"Every word!" Sophia replied.

At this moment C.C. started to put the engagement ring at her finger.

"This ring is the symbol of my love, everything I have is yours, I want you to share my live, my ...!"

C.C. was torn out of his thoughts because the pilot touched his arm and gave him a sign to look down.

"There it is Mr. Capwell, the place where the plane crashed."

C.C. looked down and what he saw made him fear, there were pieces of the plane laying around, there must have been a terrible fire when the plane crashed, the pieces of the plane were black and a lot of trees in the whole area were burned down. It was a horrible scene.

The pilot looked for a place to land the helicopter and he found one not very far from the scene of accident.

As soon as the helicopter touched the ground, C.C. opened the door and got out of the helicopter. He ran to the scene of accident and what he saw now was even more horrible than what he has seen from the helicopter. Everywhere saw bodies which were covered with white sheets; he went to one of the rescue men.

"Excuse me, Sir! I got a phone call from the police station in Santa Barbara; they told me that my wife was on this plane."

"I'm sorry, Sir. No one has survived the crash!" the man replied.

"I want to see my wife!" C.C. said and tears ran down his face, now he realized that he had lost everything that was important to him.

"Sir, it's impossible! All the bodies are burned and we haven't had time to identify them yet!"

"I want you to phone the police station in Santa Barbara if you have identified the bodies! I'm not sure if my wife ..." C.C. couldn't go on, because he saw the rests of a suitcase that looked familiar to him. Slowly he approached the rests and fear rose in him, he felt like he had lost control and that he could never get it back. C.C. got down on his knees and saw the initials. SC.

"I've lost her! It's my fault that she's dead! Oh my god how shall I live without her."

The rescue man came close to him.

"Can I do something for you, Sir?"

"No, just call the police station when you identified the bodies! I want to see my wife one last time!" C.C. said, got up and slowly went to the helicopter.

46

At the same time Kelly, Brick and Emma, Eden's little daughter, were waiting at the arrival terminal at the airport. The flight from Acapulco has landed a few minutes ago.

"Is mommy coming?" the little girl asked impatiently.

"Soon baby! Soon you will see your mommy again!" Brick told the little girl and gently touched her dark curled hair.

Then finally Eden and Sophia came out. Emma ran towards her mother and Eden who had already seen her little daughter opened her arms to hug and lift Emma up.

"Hey baby! How are you? Were you a good girl when I was away?" Eden asked and smiled.

"I'm fine, mommy! And I was a very good girl, wasn't I uncle Brick?"

"Yes, you were! Hey you two, can we talk for a minute!" Brick said seriously.

"What's wrong Brick? I expected a warmer welcoming when I saw the three of you, didn't you Eden?" Sophia said and smiled it seemed as if she wasn't as upset any more about the fight with C.C. as she was when she left Santa Barbara the day before.

"I'll go to car with you, Emma! Alright?" Kelly said, then she hugged her mother and her sister, took the little girls hand and then they walk towards the exit of the airport.

"What's wrong?" Eden asked.

"Well, Sophia everyone believes that you died in a plane crash!"

"What?" Eden couldn't believe what she just had heard.

"Mum, you booked a flight to Italy and that plane crashed yesterday evening!" Brick replied.

"We have to go home and explain them that it was a misunderstanding!" Eden replied.

"Eden you're right! How's C.C., Brick?" Sophia asked. She couldn't act differently than to ask how the man she loved felt.

"I don't know! I haven't talked to him yet! I was having breakfast at the Capwell Oasis with Emma when Kelly told me what happened. Besides she told me that C.C. had flown to the scene of accident to find any proof that you weren't on that flight."

"Oh my god!" Sophia said as she remembered that she had ordered her secretary to bring the suitcase with her initials to the airport because she wanted to send some of her things to Italy because she had already decided the day before that she would go to Italy after her returning from the trip with Eden.

"What's wrong, momma?" Eden asked.

"One of my suitcases was on that plan, I asked Wendy to bring it to the airport because I've decided to go back to Italy for a while."

"Let's go home and explain the whole story to everyone!" Brick said and the three left the airport.

Chapter 9