A Love Beyond Compare by Sandra Bondelier
Chapter 9
Two Women and a Stack of Pancakes
Somewhere across town from here there is a woman whom I love Yesterday we were planning to wed, now nothing about my future is clear A miracle was granted, my greatest love has returned, therein lies the rub What am I to do, how is my heart supposed to feel, now that she is here.....
Isabella Toscano began to wake up in a strange place and felt disoriented. She wasn't in Roman's bed...where was she? As the foggy tendrils of sleep cleared away, the painful memory came back. Roman's wife had returned from the dead last night and Roman found her on the pier and brought her to the house during the engagement party. "Engagement..." she repeated out loud as she rubbed the fingertips of her right hand over the bare fourth finger of her left hand, remembering the agonizing moment of taking off the ring and pressing it into Roman's right palm. "Oh, Roman...I love you so much! Will you ever put the ring back on my finger?" she asked the emptiness that surrounded her. She was in the guest room at Jack and Jen's place. They were wonderful about having her stay with them. When Isabella spoke with Jennifer about what had happened, the invitation to stay as long as she needed was the first sentence out of her friend's mouth after, "I'm sorry...I know how much you love him."
Isabella allowed herself to arise gradually, reluctant to face the day. Finally she stood up and put her robe on, then padded slowly toward the bathroom to get a shower. She was so tired, she hadn't been able to sleep. All she could think of was Roman and Marlena together at the house, wondering how it was going, wondering if he was thinking of her and wishing to be with her as she was him. Her dreams were filled with alternate versions of the outcome of this newly created triangle. One dream would have Roman telling her on bended knee that he still loved her and wanted to marry her, that he was planning to finalize a divorce from Marlena. Then the next one had him tearfully apologizing to her and explaining that his love for the other woman had been rekindled, that he was staying with her and their children. "Oh, Roman...which will it be?" she again asked the air...wishing there would be an answer for her, knowing it would come someday down the line.
Isabella stepped apprehensively into the shower and felt a twinge of pain on the right side, down below the appendix, "Ow...what was that?" she felt it again and then before she could find the words to describe what it felt like, it was gone. "Hmm, probably just a little...gas," she said to herself and chuckled as she remembered that Roman often said that when there was unidentified pain in the abdominal area. She could hear him saying it and then saw in her mind's eye, the smile that would spread across his handsome face as she punched him playfully on the arm and responded, "Oh, Roman...that's what you always say." She sighed...there were so many little things about him that she loved, so many every day little moments like that.
She missed him already, the way he would kiss her good morning, the way he said goodbye when he had to go into the "Cop Shop," the way he gloried in making pancake breakfasts for the twins, the beaming smile of pride and joy when he successfully flipped them in the pan and then landed them perfectly on the kids' plates. Taking out a snapshot of the four of them taken at a softball game earlier in the summer, she spoke to his smiling image. "Roman, I do love you....everything about you, every little moment we've shared. I hope our time together and our love count for something when you're deciding your future, I hope you don't forget how special it has been between us, how happy the kids have been since we got together." She sighed with worry and implored him to hear her, "Don't forget, Roman....please don't forget about Us."
At the Brady household across town, Roman was in the process of trying once again to flip the pancakes and was only slightly successful and Marlena was beginning to giggle at his rising frustration. It was obvious that he was trying to show off his well honed skills, perfected through the years. "Hey...no comments from the peanut gallery," he said firmly while winking to let her know he was teasing.
"Who me? I didn't say anything. Oh you mean the laughing....sorry about that...am I..distracting you, Roman?" she asked, teasing in response.
"Well, as a matter of fact," he started and then thought better of it as he saw her expression. "No, I think I'm just so excited this morning that my concentration is off a little, that's all."
She smiled, nodded and mumbled purposely, "Same old Roman...I see."
That one caused him to turn around and look her in the eye... "And just what is that supposed to mean, Doc?" he asked with an edge to his voice.
This was getting to be fun, "Oh....shall we say.. defensive perhaps?"
Smiling broadly, he pointed to himself and replied, "Me... defensive... nah....couldn't be. Not the new and improved Roman Brady...I don't get defensive. I was just...uh...making a reasonable..." Roman paused briefly and Marlena jumped in again.
"Excuse, is that the word you were searching for, Roman?" she joked again, loving every minute of their teasing banter, it was almost like the old days.
"Ha ha.. no, that is not the word...I was searching for, miss smarty pants, it was..explanation, so there." He promptly flipped the next three pancakes in a row perfectly and smiled proudly on his own behalf. She was speechless momentarily and he stuck his tongue out at her very briefly which made her laugh again. He loved to hear her laugh, she could see that much in his eyes and she smiled warmly, returning his contented gaze. 'Oh, Roman, I love your smile,' she said inside. Roman was saying the same thing in his mind and was about to verbalize how having her back made him feel when another voice penetrated their symbolic embrace.
"Way to go Dad!" said Eric in reference to the pancake flipping, as he quietly entered the kitchen, unbeknownst to Roman and Marlena.
"Thanks Eric!" Roman said gleefully. Then he became conscious of the fact that his son was staring at Marlena and he scrambled to think of what he should or could do, if anything, to make the situation easier for Marlena and/or the children.
As the young boy stepped further into the room, he noticed the woman and looked her right at her face, studying it for a minute or so. Then, he said, "You....you're the woman from the pictures that Daddy always shows me, the one he said would live in his heart forever and ever. You're my....mommy, the mommy who wasn't supposed to come back home again. What happened to you? How did you get here and where is Isabella?"
"Yes, where is Isabella? We love her and she was staying here with us lately, where is she?" asked Sami innocently, as she entered the room a few steps behind her brother.
Roman looked over at Marlena and her face bore an odd expression full of mixed emotions. She was touched by what he had told the children and maybe caught a little off guard with the questions, "Doc..are you allright? Do you want to go in the living room and sit down to do this? It's all up to you, Marlena."
"No...right here is fine, Roman, thank you." Patting a chair on either side of her, suggesting they sit down, she said," Sami, Eric you are right, I am your mother, the one your Daddy thought had died several years ago. I was kept away from you and your Daddy all this time, in a far away place and I finally was able to get away and come back to you. Isabella went to stay somewhere nearby so that I might get to see you a lot for awhile. I was hoping we could talk, and play and get to know each other again, a little bit at a time. How does that sound to you?"
The adorable blond-haired blue eyed twins looked at each other, then at their father, who sent the nonverbal signal that it was up to them to decide exactly what came next. Then Sami said, "I guess that would be okay. Do you know how to play Twister? It's an old fashioned game, but sometimes we play it with Isabella and Daddy, maybe we could play it with you too. We always laugh when we play it because Daddy always does something silly, right Eric?"
Eric giggled slightly, "Yep...that's my dad, always doing something to make us laugh!"
Marlena smiled broadly in remembrance of his playful nature with her. She looked over at him and it seemed that he was remembering too, from the look on his face. It often showed itself when they were in the early beginnings of a romantic evening, before lovemaking began in earnest. "I'd love to play Twister, it sounds like fun and I think I've played it a time or two in the past."
Roman piped up too, "Sounds like a great idea, should we eat first and then play a little later?"
All three of the others said, "Let's eat first!" with great enthusiasm and it made *him* laugh. 'Well, maybe we're on our way already,' Roman said quietly to himself, as he went back to making and flipping the pancakes.
As he watched the pancake fly up into the air and go through several revolutions, his mind flashed briefly to other mornings like this, recent ones that included Isabella and he suddenly felt a longing for her, wondering how she was doing, if she was thinking about him, where she had spent the night. He wanted to find her...and tell her....what... what can you possibly tell her, Roman... that will make this easier, that will take away her fears, that will assure her of your love? There is nothing you can do or say that will help her right now, so focus on the kids and enjoy the fact that they're getting their mother back. Enjoy how happy it makes Marlena to be with them again. The rest will have to wait. He redoubled his efforts to focus on the moment at hand and turned back toward the hungry minions, asking with that same contented smile, "Who wants a pancake hot off the griddle?"
to be continued