ALL THIS TIME

Chapter 31-35

Chapter 31

Sensing Eve's apparent anger, Chris set the bouquet of flowers down in the chair she had just gotten up from, "Somehow when I bought these flowers, this wasn't the reaction I was hoping to receive from you."

"This isn't funny Chris," Eve huffed at him.

"Do you see me laughing? I didn't know that Cheri was going to come by here today," Chris offered up to Eve as she stood there glaring at him.

"I can't believe that you have a girlfriend after what has happened between us. What kind of game are you playing with me Chris?"

"I'm not playing any kind of games with you Eve," Chris told her sincerely then added, "oh my goodness, you're jealous, well I never thought I would see the day..."

"I am not jealous of that tramp Ramsey!" Eve pushed him aside and walked away from him to go stand by the railing of the deck to look out at the ocean.

Chris came up behind her, "Eve, Cheri is not my girlfriend. You should know by now that there is only one woman for me," he placed his hands upon her shoulders to turn Eve around to face him.

"Who might that woman be?" Eve asked skeptically.

"You, I only want you Eve. How could you think I would be interested in anyone else after what we have shared with one another this past week?"

"Chris, she was so rude to me and if you could have only seen how she came in making herself right at home in your place."

"I'm sorry she came over here. Cheri is just like that, a spoiled rich girl who has always gotten everything that she has ever wanted," Chris explained as he noted the hurt expression on Eve's face. "We went out with each other over the past couple of months, but I swear as soon as I came back home from seeing you this weekend I told her that I couldn't see her anymore."

"Why would you tell her something like that? Were you ever in love with her?"

"I knew after I had been with you that even if you didn't decide to come to me that I couldn't lead Cheri on to think something more would come out of our dating each another. I didn't care about her the way she wanted me to. You see, there wasn't room in my heart to love her since I was already in love with you. I won't lie to you, I've dated a lot of women after I got settled here, although no matter what I did or who I dated, they never measured up to my expectations."

"Why is that?" Eve searched his eyes as she questioned him.

"Because none of them could ever measure up to you. You have ruined me Lambert, because I only want the best and you're it for me," Chris admitted to her as he brushed her cheek softly with his fingertips.

"Really?" Eve innocently asked, moving towards Chris catching him off guard and pushing him into the pool.

Chris came up sputtering from the deep end of the pool, his outfit totally soaked, while he shook his head is disbelief over the fact that Eve had tossed him into the pool. He wiped his eyes seeing Eve bent over double with laughter at the sight of him. He swam to the edge of the pool to ask, "What was that for?"

Eve leaned down to him, "For saying that I was jealous Ramsey," she hurriedly back away from him when he reached out to the edge to pull himself out of the pool.

"Eve, you are so going to get it," Chris proclaimed, reaching out for her.

"Not if you can't catch me," she laughed after starting to run away from him. Eve made it to the door when Chris grabbed her by the wrist.

"Caught you," he grinned as he wrapped his arms around her to pull her close to his wet body.

"You're getting me all wet," Eve squealed as Chris began to kiss her.

"And whose fault is that?" Chris laughed, "I guess we'll both have to end up changing clothes now or maybe we could just get out of our clothes altogether."

"What ever would we do if that happened?" Eve asked placing her hands up his drenched chest. She noticed the box that was clearly outlined by his wet clothes, "Wait a minute, what's in your pocket?"

"It was one of your surprises for tonight," he half teased her, loving the fact that he had sparked her curiosity, "seeing as how you threw me into the pool, I guess you won't be getting it now."

"Oh come on Chris, that's not fair. How can I make it up to you?" she ran a finger down upon his chest smiling suggestively at him.

He reached for the discarded flowers, "Let's say we start this evening over again."

"Okay," she gently kissed him on the lips. "Is this a better welcome home than earlier?"

"Much," he replied, holding out the flowers to give them to Eve once more, "These are for you sweetheart."

"Thank you, they're lovely," Eve admired the pale pink roses he gave her, "I'm going to find a vase to put them in."

She opened the door and walked into the kitchen noticing the array of bags that were placed on the countertop. She attempted to look into one of the bags when Chris caught her red handed and warned, "No peeking in those bags while I'm gone to change clothes."

He walked into his bedroom, pulling off his wet clothes and carefully placed the box on his dresser. He reached to open one of the drawers that contained his boxers when he heard a whistle from across the room. He turned to see Eve standing in the doorway wearing on a black lace teddy. He turned to face her and grinned, "Like the view Lambert?"

"Love it, seeing you like this was worth me pushing you into the pool," she commented while she moved towards him.

Chris was in awe of her beauty as she stood before him. He took her into his arms and began to rain gentle kisses on her. Chris guided her to the bed, looking at her so lovingly while he started tracing the outline of the straps of her lingerie with his finger. His touch was so gentle to her when he dipped beneath the lace to trace the curve of her breast.

"Do you have any idea how beautiful you are to me?" he quietly asked her, slowing pulling down the straps to reveal her body to him. "You are absolutely breathtaking Eve."

"Chris, you make me feel beautiful," she softly replied, seeing the adoration in his eyes for her.

He smiled to her and continued his exploration down to her stomach, then further still to her thighs, Eve shifted her legs to give him better access to her womanhood. He gently stroked her intimately, as she closed her eyes, lost in the magic of his touch upon her body.

"Am I convincing you yet that you're the only woman in my life?"

"Almost," she whispered as she opened her eyes to see him staring intently at her.

"Well I guess I need to show you that you're all I've ever dreamed about, all I've ever wanted," he bent to lick her navel then placed tiny kisses on her stomach. His kisses continued lower until his tongue moved upon her sex.

"Tell me," he paused, then commenced a different movement upon her, "do you like this better" he flicked his tongue over her sensitive flesh, "or this?"

Eve couldn't answer him since every touch he made was sending thrills throughout her body. He raised up to give her a wink before asking, "Are you convinced now Eve?"

She nodded in affirmation to his questions as Chris moved over her body to come back to face her. He leaned down to blow his warm breath softly into her ear, causing her to turn her head, "I didn't hear your answer Lambert. Do you know you're the only woman for me?"

"Yes," she finally admitted breathlessly. She reached up to bring his lips upon hers. The slowly kissed savoring each other as their kiss intensified. Eve ran her fingers through his hair beckoning him even closer to her, "Chris, you're the only man for me, I need you so badly," she confessed as she arched her body forward to make contact with his hard erection. She guided him into her as she wrapped her legs around him. "I love you Chris," she whispered as she gave herself willingly to him.

"I love you Eve," he told her as they moved together in unison each taking and giving pleasure to one another generously. Their movements consuming them both as they came together as one. Lovers who had found a perfect partner in one another, best friends who could trust one another with the most intimate of acts, soulmates who had finally found their way to one another after all this time.

Chris and Eve nestled together in the afterglow of their love until Chris moved over on the bed and rose to leave Eve momentarily.

“Hey, where do you think you are going?” she questioned him giving him a curious look at the sudden departure Chris was making from her.

“Just right here,” he explained, straightening up to go over to the dresser to retrieve the little black velvet box that was lying on the dresser.

Eve sat up on the bed and pulled the sheet up around her form as she watched Chris walk back to the bed, “Does this mean I am going to get my surprise after all?”

“It all depends,” he replied cryptically, reaching for his robe to put on before he crawled back into the center of the bed where Eve sat.

“Depends on what?” 

“Your answer to my question,” he stated solemnly as he looked deep into her eyes. He took a deep breath before he continued, “Eve, over the years since we first met, you’ve been my best friend, the one person I trusted more than anyone else in this world. As our friendship grew, I wanted so much more from you, but instead of me telling you how I felt about you, I let you walk away from me time after time. I was willing to let you go and find your happiness elsewhere because I was too afraid that you would reject my declaration of love for you. When I left Port Charles I thought I was doing the best thing I could for you in finally letting you go and live your life without me and now I see what a huge mistake that was on my part. From now on I want you to know how much you mean to me. Eve, I love you with my whole heart, body and soul. I want to go to sleep with you at night and wake up with you beside me every morning. I want to share my life with you. More than anything, I want Madison, you and me to be a family. A real family, the kind of family that has so much love for each other, the kind we used to talk about having one day since neither one of us ever got to experience that kind of life growing up. Eve, will you marry me?”

She touched his face and looked into his eyes seeing all she had ever wanted shining there. Chris was the one man who could make her life complete, the one man she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she could spend the rest of her life with and never grow tired of being with as the years rolled by. She could see a life full of love, laughter and happiness for her and Madison with Chris joining their family. Her dream of happily ever after was finally coming true right before her very eyes.

“Eve, are you going to say anything?” Chris asked expectantly waiting for her reply.

“Yes, I would love to be your wife Christopher Ramsey,” she answered him as the tears rolled down her cheeks.

“You really mean it?”

She nodded, “Chris, this is what I should have told you the first time you asked me to marry you so very long ago…”

He opened the box and took the ring out of it, Eve’s hands shook slightly as Chris slid the engagement ring upon her finger, “No more regrets about things we should have done in the past, what matters now is our future.”

“Our future,” Eve repeated softly as she raised her hand up to admire the elegant engagement ring that Chris had just given her, “I like the sound of that Ramsey.”

“Me too, Lambert,” he slid in behind her to nuzzle her, placing tiny kisses along her neck. 

Eve smiled and lay back against Chris while he placed his arms around her waist and kissed her shoulder, “Chris, since we are talking about our future, I think that we need to make some plans very soon. I don’t think I can wait too long before I’m officially a Ramsey.” 

He hugged her close to him, reveling in the sound of her words, “Is that so? Well, I can’t wait for you to become the other Dr. Ramsey in the family either,” he smiled, pulling her closer to him, “Although one of the first things we need to decide about is where we are going to live. I know how much you love Port Charles, but I think if you and Madison moved here, you would both grow to love this part of the country as much as I have. It’s really a wonderful place to live.”

“Hmm, I think I could get used to living near the beach. Madison would love to be able to play in the ocean whenever she felt like it and when I start thinking about those long cold winters in New York…”

“The cold weather does have its good points too,” Chris commented with a twinkle in his eye, “I could see us snuggled up together, braving the cold…”

“As long as we are together, it doesn’t matter where we chose to live,” Eve honestly replied. “We have been apart from each other for far too long.”

“We won’t be separated again. Eve, I promise you that, as long as you want me around, I’ll be here for you and Madison,” Chris vowed to her, “I don’t ever want you to doubt my love for you.”

“Chris, you’ve taken away my fears of losing you. You’ve set me free to love you, to give all of myself to you without reservation,” Eve tenderly caressed his cheek, “I want to make my home here with you and Madison. ”
“So you really think you want to try living in the South for a while?” Chris asked excitedly. “Eve, just consider all of the possibilities, we could be partners in our very own practice.”

Eve nodded, “You know, I remember a man trying to persuade me to do something along those lines a few years ago.”

“Must have been a very smart man to suggest a wonderful opportunity like that to you,” he quipped, placing another kiss along her neckline.

“He was extremely intelligent,” she remarked, letting the sheet fall from her body, “ and now that I think about it, he was incredibly sexy too.”

“You don’t say,” he raised a brow to her.

“Oh yeah, he was hot. I don’t know why I didn’t have enough sense to take him up on his offer the first time around…”

“Maybe you weren’t ready to start a new life like the one he was offering you at the time.”

“No, I wasn’t able to accept the fact that he was the one for me, the man I had been searching for my entire life. I had to lose him to realize how much I really cared about him. Then one day he magically came back into my life when I least expected it.”

“He did?” Chris questioned, bringing his hands up to run them through her luxurious dark auburn hair. “So what happened when you saw this man again?”

“I tried to pretend to myself that I didn’t want him, but I was only fooling myself. I wanted him more than anything I had ever wanted,” she admitted to Chris and gently pushed him down upon the mattress. Eve moved over Chris and began placing a trail of kisses down his chest, “Then I finally got my courage up and told him how much he really meant to me, how much I wanted to be with him.”

“I’d have to say that would be one lucky man indeed,” Chris quietly stated as Eve continued her kisses along his well-muscled torso.

“Well, I’m going to spend the rest of my days showing him how much I love and appreciate him,” Eve raised her head up from kissing his body to look into his passion laded eyes to give him a lustful stare, “starting right now.”

Chris closed his eyes, enjoying the feel of Eve’s sultry mouth upon him. She resumed her loving kisses, moving lower on his body until the ringing of the phone jerked them both back to reality.

“No, this is not happening,” Chris groaned in frustration.
Eve moved across the bed and reached over Chris to pick up the phone, “This could be important, Chris.”

“It better be,” he lay there on the bed with one arm covering his eyes, disappointed by the fact that he and Eve had been interrupted.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you later,” Eve winked as she handed the phone over to Chris for him to answer it.

Chris sat up and answered the phone, “Hello,”

“Chris, hey, it’s Shelly, is Eve anywhere around? I need to speak to her.”

“Yeah Shelly, she’s right here as a matter of fact,” he handed the phone back to Eve and got out of the bed, “it’s for you.”

“Thanks,” Eve mouthed to him as she took the phone back, “Hey Shelly. How’s my baby girl doing? I’ve missed her terribly.”

“She’s missed you too, I’d let you talk to her right now, but she fell fast asleep after we ate dinner tonight. I’ve kept her pretty busy running around everywhere she wanted to go or rather she has kept me pretty busy. I was just calling to see how things were going with you and Chris and that ever important fact of when you are planning to return home from your little adventure.”

“Oh Shelly, things are going better that I ever imagined they would, Chris is absolutely wonderful,” Eve enthusiastically spoke, rising up from the bed to venture into Chris’ closet to snatch a shirt to wear. “I need to talk to Chris about it, but I would like for us to come back to Port Charles sometime Friday after he gets off from work.”

“Needing to talk to Chris about it, huh? Sounds like things must have worked out fairly well between the two of you,” Shelly mused, thinking that her sister sounded so happy talking to her over the phone.

“You are never going to believe all that has happened since I got here. I want to thank you for making me realize that I needed to go to him and get things straightened out between the two of us.”

“You’re quite welcome, although I want details now,” Shelly demanded in a joking tone.

“I’ll tell you everything when I see you Friday.”

“That’s two days from now,” Shelly complained.

“Sorry about that, this is something I want to tell you in person, so I can see the expression on your face,” Eve hinted to her sister. “Just know this, you are the best sister in the whole world and I owe you big time.”

“Now I really want to know all the juicy details,” Shelly sighed realizing that Eve wasn’t going to divulge anything to her over the phone, “I’ll remind you of that sister statement in future years to come. Well if you are going to be mean and not tell me anything over the phone, you better get back here as soon as you can.”

“Only if you promise to kiss Madison for me and tell her how much her mommy loves her when she wakes up.” Eve insisted.

“Will do, see you Friday sis.”

“Bye Shelly,” Eve hung up the phone and walked into the kitchen to find Chris rummaging through the sacks he had brought home earlier.

“Go on Eve,” Chris ordered her, “I don’t want you to spoil the rest of your surprises for tonight.”

“Chris,” Eve grumbled, “come on and let me see what you’ve got over there.”

“No can do,” he answered with a slight chuckle and motioned for her to return to the bedroom with his hand, “now scoot.”

“Okay, I’m going,” Eve rolled her eyes and went back to the bedroom to wait on Chris to return to her.

Cheri paced around her apartment, furious at the latest turn of events concerning Chris. While when they had had their discussion Sunday night, she thought he was just playing hard to get, now it looked like there was more involved in this situation than she originally thought. Who in the hell was that woman who had been over at Chris’ house and how did she figure in to this whole scenario? 

She picked up the phone and called her brother, “Johnny, I need your help, can you come over here?”

“Sure thing little sister, I’ll be right there,” Johnny answered her sensing something was wrong with her by the tone of her voice. “Something wrong?”

“I’ll let you know when you get here,” Cheri replied tersely, “just hurry up.”

“Okay, I’ll be there in about ten minutes,” Johnny hung up the phone wondering what in the world his sister was up to now.

“I got here as quickly as I could,” Johnny replied, going over to the bar to pour himself a drink, “so tell me, what was so important you had to see me about tonight?”

“Well, I’ve had a little situation come up with Chris that I really need your help with,” Cheri cast an anxious glance over at Johnny as he took a sip of his drink.

“I thought you told me last week everything was going wonderfully between you and the good doctor,” Johnny commented to her as he went to the couch to take a seat upon it.

“I thought everything was wonderful too,” Cheri wistfully said, “then Sunday night after Chris got back into town from his trip to his brother’s wedding, he called me to meet him at the park.”

“And that was a bad thing?” Johnny asked, trying to figure out why his sister seemed so upset.

“At first I thought Chris wanted to surprise me with something by suggesting we meet at the park,” Cheri twirled a strand of her hair around her finger as a dreamy look came on her face before her face darkened with dismay, “then after I got there the only surprise I got was Chris telling me that things were over between us.”

“Why would he want to break things off with you? You said it looked like Chris and you were getting pretty serious.”

“We were, at least I was serious about Chris and I really think he was about me until that other woman showed up.”

“What other woman? You mean to tell me he has be stringing you along these past few months all the while he had someone else on the side?” Johnny questioned his sister.

“I don’t know, but I need you to help me find out all about this mystery woman that I met today at Chris’ house,” Cheri implored of her brother, “one minute I think the man is mine and the next think I know is this bimbo shows up in his life and he’s telling me that it’s all over for us.”

“Cheri, maybe this is a blessing in disguise,” Johnny tried to comfort her, “you could have any man you want and you want someone who is trying to blow you off to be with another woman. You deserve better than this treatment he is dishing out to you.”

“I want Chris Ramsey and by god I’ll have him too,” Cheri declared passionately, “no one takes what is mine without a fight.”

“Maybe Chris wasn’t yours to begin with,” Johnny tried to reason with her, “this woman whoever she is could be what he is looking for….”

“No, I refuse to believe that after all Chris and I have shared with one another over the past few months our relationship was nothing more to him than a fling,” Cheri cried out as her anger began to overtake her, “we belong together and I’ll make him see that I’m the only woman for him.”

“How are you going to do that?” Johnny curiously asked.

“You’re going to help me find out who this woman is and how she ties into Dr. Chris Ramsey,” Cheri patiently explained to Johnny. “No woman has ever beaten me out when I wanted a man and this woman won’t know what hit her by the time I am finished dealing with her.”

“Cheri, I don’t think this is a good idea,” Johnny began with a slight frown crossing his features, “sometimes you just have to let go of things if they don’t work out for you.”

“I’ll not let go of Chris, I love him and he loves me,” Cheri replied, “this woman is not going to take the man of my dreams away from me. We have the resources to handle this situation and I need your support on this Johnny. Dad told you to always look out for me.”

“Which is why I’m saying to you that you need to let this go,” Johnny sighed, “where is your pride? Our family doesn’t have to grovel and beg for what they want in this life.”

“I know that,” Cheri cut him a deadly look, “and anyone who is smart doesn’t mess with our family unless they want to reap the consequences of their actions. So are you going to help me with this or do I need to go to Dad instead?”

“No, you don’t need to drag Dad into this,” Johnny wearily replied, “I’ll start on this tonight, although I hope you don’t live to regret trying to do this Chris. I mean trying to hang onto someone who wants to let things go can end up backfiring on you. Trust me I know.”

“Well, I’ve never lost a fight yet and I don’t intend to start doing it now,” Cheri stated, “just let me know what you find out.”

“Okay, I’ll touch base with you sometime tomorrow,” Johnny told her as he got up and headed out the door.

“I thought you might be getting hungry,” Chris placed a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket to chill it, then turned back to work on the meal he was preparing for the both of them.

“I am,” Eve confirmed realizing it was way past dinnertime, “you are going to spoil me by doing all of these wonderful things for me.”

“Being spoiled is something you better get used to and believe me you haven’t seen anything yet,” Chris promised turning around to kiss Eve before turning his full attention back to cooking.

Eve hopped up onto the countertop to watch Chris cook, “I have one small request to ask of you though,” she said with a sweet smile to him.

“What do you want?” Chris leaned against the bar to look at Eve while she swung her legs playfully off of the side of the kitchen countertop.

“Would it be too much to ask of you if we went back to Port Charles Friday afternoon after you finished working at the office? I can’t stand being away from Madison any longer.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing Madison myself,” Chris offered up to Eve as he moved in closer to her, “It’s still hard to believe that sweet angel is my little girl too.”

“Oh Chris, I’m so ready for us to start being a family, for all three of us to do things together, to start building precious memories with one another,” Eve replied, her eyes starting to mist up as she thought of all that the future held in store for them. 

“Hearing you say that you want us to be a family is a dream come true for me,” Chris moved in front of Eve as she pulled him in for a kiss.

“Me too,” Eve hugged Chris close to her, “I also need to give Alan my letter of resignation from GH.”

“Eve, are you sure you are ready to do this? Are you ready to give up your job, say goodbye to your friends in Port Charles and move Madison and you in here with me? I don’t want you to make any rash decisions that you will regret later on.”

“The only regret I have is knowing the time we have already lost with one another, but I promise you from now on that is in the past,” Eve looked deep into Chris’ eyes, “I want to make my life with you and this is the place where we need to be at to begin our life together.”

Chris placed a kiss on her forehead, “Eve, I’m going to do everything I can to make you the happiest woman alive, to keep you and Madison safe, protected and most importantly feel all the love I have in my heart for you both.”

“I’d have to say you already have a great start on it because I’ve never been this happy before. I love you,” Eve pulled him closer to her for another heated kiss.

“Don’t get me started again or I’ll end up burning dinner,” Chris half teased her as he slowly backed away from her embrace.

“I’ll let you go for now, but tonight you’re all mine,” Eve proclaimed as she climbed down from the countertop to begin helping Chris finish making dinner.

“I’ll do your bidding with pleasure,” Chris winked at Eve as they started to work together in the kitchen.

Shelly heard a knock at the door and wondered who could be at the door at this hour. She made her way to open the door and opened it, frowning when she saw who was on the other side of the doorway.

“No hello Jack, glad to see you comments for me?” Jack questioned wryly as he pushed his way into the door since Shelly obviously wasn’t going to invite him in.

“No,” Shelly crossed her arms in front of her after she shut the door behind Jack, “If I recall correctly we said all we needed to say to one another the last time we spoke.”

“You may have thought we were finished talking about things between us, but you were wrong,” Jack spun around to face her with a defiant look upon his face.

“No, you’re wrong Jack,” Shelly argued with him, “we have nothing more to say to one another.”

“I have some rather interesting news to share with you,” Jack countered back to her, “that is if you want to know who ended up getting the detective position in the narcotics division.”

“How could you know that?” Shelly asked irritably, “Andy said he wouldn’t make his final decision for a couple of more days.”

“Oh, that’s what he told you,” Jack circled around Shelly, “it wasn’t what Andy told me.”

“You’re lying,” Shelly’s anger grew the longer Jack taunted her with this information he supposedly had from Andy.

“Am I?” Jack asked with a smirk upon his face, “then take a look at this and let me know what you think,” Jack held out a piece of paper stating his new status at the police department as detective effective date starting Monday morning.

Shelly took the paper from Jack and quickly scanned over it, “You bastard, you knew how much I wanted that job and you went in there and stole it right out from under me.” She raised her hand to strike him when Jack caught her by the hand and stared her down. 

“Is that the best you can do? Shelly, you are losing your touch,” Jack laughed while he still gripped her arm within his tight grasp refusing to let her strike him.

“Let go of me, I hate you,” Shelly spat out at him with sparks of fury dancing in her eyes.

“Sure, no problem,” Jack complied as he dropped her arm and moved out away from her, “by the way, Andy wanted me to bring this to you since I told him I was coming by here before I went home tonight.”

“What could he want to give me? Evidently he gave you the job that I have wanted for ages,” Shelly questioned Jack with contempt in her voice.

“This,” Jack handed her another paper that he pulled out from his back pocket which Shelly grabbed away from him wanting nothing more than for Jack to leave her alone so she could deal with the fact that he had gotten the job instead of her.

Shelly read the paper and turned back to Jack with a puzzled look upon her face, “How is this correct? I thought I just read you had gotten the job over in narcotics.”

“Seems like Langley decided to transfer to the Manhattan precinct, his wife got a big promotion with the clothing company she worked for and they are moving closer to her work,” Jack informed Shelly with a smile, “so that left two openings within the department.”

“So this means…”

“Looks like we will be working more closely to each other than you originally thought,” Jack grinned at Shelly’s obvious dismay as she took in the fact they were both going to be assigned to work in the narcotics task force, “Don’t tell me you can’t handle us working together.’

“I can handle anything you can dish out Jack.”

“Well, let’s see about that,” Jack quickly drew her in for a kiss before she knew what he had planned. For an instance before Shelly could gain control of her senses she responded to Jack’s hungry kiss upon her without realizing it. She kissed him back with an intensity that surprised them both, then she pushed angrily Jack back away from her.

“I told you there’s nothing left between us,” she shakily replied trying to catch her breath.

“I think you’re the one who is lying about things and living in denial in this whole scenario,” Jack huffed, tired of this game she was playing with both of their lives.

“Get out now,” Shelly demanded as she strode over to the door to sling it open for Jack to exit.

“The only thing you need to do is get over yourself,” Jack smugly informed her wiping his mouth off with the back of his hand, “I know I’ve sure gotten over you.” He quickly made his way to the doorway never giving her a second glance as he walked down the hall furious at how stubborn she could be when what they had was so important and she was throwing it all away because of her stupid pride.

“Good, then we are both in agreement about not wanting to be around each other,” Shelly hollered out to him, noting Jack never turned around to even acknowledge what she said to him. She turned and slammed the door, her heart pounding within her chest, Jack made her so mad and he had another thing coming if he thought he was going to out best her in this situation. Damn him, she would show him who was over who even if it killed her to do it.

Kathleen was talking to Kyle about some of the events that had occurred around the office today with her and Chris when she noticed how distracted he seemed to be at the present moment, “Kyle, is something bothering you? You act like you’re a million miles away from here.”

“I apologize for not being more attentive,” Kyle shook his head trying to get back into the conversation they were having with each other, “so you were saying?”

“Kyle, I know you have been busy trying to prepare for this case you are working on,” Kathleen told him giving him an understanding look, “and if you need to get back to working on it then I can go on home and we will see each other tomorrow. Just don’t get so busy with your work that you forget we are planning to have dinner with Chris and Eve tomorrow night at the country club if everything goes as planned.”

“Would you mind Kathleen?” Kyle asked her hesitantly, “I mean, I honestly didn’t realize how tough it was going to be when I took over being the assistant to the District Attorney for the county. Travis has had me working the research on this big case we are hoping to prosecute in the near future and I’m not anywhere near close to being finished with coming up with all of the pertinent facts that he needs to start laying out the groundwork for the grand jury next month.”

“Honey, I don’t mind you working late,” Kathleen informed him, “I’m proud you got this position and if it means us having to sacrifice a few nights along the way before I officially become Mrs. Kyle Wallace then I can accept it.”

“I don’t know how I got so lucky to have you in my life,” Kyle took Kathleen by the hand and kissed it gently.

“You must have done something incredible to impress the man upstairs,” Kathleen teased him with a smile as Kyle looked up to her.

“I’m just glad that Chris found the woman of his dreams too,” Kyle said as he walked Kathleen to the door, “Cheri Williamson is nothing short of trouble and it’s a good thing Chris broke off his involvement with her when he did. I had been trying to subtly hint to him for the past month or so that she wasn’t all that she seemed to be, but you know how Chris is, he shrugged off my warnings by telling me he wasn’t serious about her in the first place. He told me she was fun to go out with and what problems could that cause for him.”

“I had told him that too,” Kathleen gave Kyle a puzzled look, “but now you have me wondering why you would say something like that to Chris too. I thought you got along with the Williamson family, you and Cheri always seemed to get along well when we all went out with one another. Kyle, please tell me you are not investigating their family, you know how dangerous that could end up being for you.”

“I can’t reveal anything to you other than I am in the midst of working on a case for Travis,” Kyle solemnly told her. “You know the oath I have taken with this job and this case is too sensitive for anything to slip out before the timing is right and I have all the evidence that I need to back up our case.”

“You know I wouldn’t say anything to jeopardize your case,” Kathleen reminded Kyle, “but please be careful, I couldn’t stand it if you got hurt because you were trying to do the right thing.”

“I’m a big boy and I can take care of myself,” Kyle hugged her close to him, “don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.”

“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow night,” Kathleen kissed him before going out into the dark night alone.

“I’ve really missed your cooking,” Eve said, finishing off the last bite of her meal that Chris had prepared for them and wiped her mouth with a napkin.

“Is that all you’ve missed?” Chris raised a curious brow, eyeing her from across the table.

“Of course,” Eve teased, getting up from her chair and walking towards Chris, “no one can cook like you do. What other possible reason was there for me to travel so far to see you?”

“I should have known all you wanted from me was a taste of my fantastic culinary skills,” Chris sighed, pulling Eve into his lap. “I guess it’s safe to assume there is no way that you could have missed my kisses at all,” he began to place kisses along her slightly exposed shoulder since his shirt was slipping off of her.

“None whatsoever,” she murmured, shifting in his lap to kiss him better. They enjoyed this newfound intimacy that was growing between them steadily ever since they had admitted their true feelings for one another.

“I knew it,” Chris ceased his kisses upon Eve to look at her closely for a moment. “Are you up for an adventure this evening?”

“I told you earlier you were all mine,” Eve reminded him as she leaned in to kiss him once more.

“I’m not talking about that,” Chris informed her with a knowing look. “ I want to know if I can take you somewhere that is very special to me.”

“Sure you can, if you let me know where this special place is,” Eve traced her finger down his chest, “although I was kind of hoping we could stay in tonight and finish up what we had started earlier before Shelly’s phone call interrupted us.” Eve gave him a sexy smile as she brought her finger back up to trace the outline of his lips.

Chris gently nipped at the tip of her finger, “Don’t worry about us not finishing what we started earlier Lambert, we will definitely pick up where we left off after we get back home.”

“So where are you planning on taking me to?” Eve inquired while she moved so she and Chris could both get up from the chair they were sitting in.

“All I’m going to tell you is that it isn’t too far from here,” Chris mysteriously told her, piquing Eve’s curiosity even more so than usual. “You need to go put on some warm clothes since it gets kind of chilly out on the beach at night during this time of the year.”

“I bet you’re taking me for a romantic stroll along the beach,” Eve smiled thinking she had figured out Chris’ plans for them.

“It will be something along those lines,” Chris evasively replied to her assumption, not revealing anything more to her.

Eve went into the guest bedroom as she tried to decide what she needed to wear for their so called adventure as Chris had put it. She rummaged through her belongings until she found a sweatshirt and her favorite pair of jeans to put on. She came back into the living room to see that Chris had already changed his clothes and was waiting on her.

“Are you ready to go?” Chris grinned taking Eve by the arm and leading her out onto the deck. They walked down to the beach and held hands under the blanket of stars that shown brightly in the darkened sky. The calming sound of the ocean waves crashing on the shoreline as the night tide came in was soothing to them both as they continued to walk along the beach in companionable silence. This night was perfect Eve thought to herself as she felt safe and secure with Chris walking along by her side. She slowed her pace somewhat, bringing Chris to look at her questioningly for attempting to slow down their late night walk on the beach.

“Don’t slow down now,” Chris continued to pull her along with him, “we’re not there yet. If you won’t be so impatient, you’ll see this is worth the time and effort that it takes to get to where to we are going.”

“Which is? Come on Chris, all you have to do is give me a little hint about our destination.”

“No way Lambert,” he shook his head in response to her, “you have to trust that I know what I’m doing on this one.”

“I do trust you,” she replied, “I just want to know…”

“And you will know in time,” he tugged at her gently to make her catch up to him, “good things come to those who wait. I definitely am a firm believer in that saying now.”

“Alright, I’ll wait to see it for myself,” Eve agreed after she realized Chris wasn’t going to give her a clue about where they were going.

They walked a while longer until there were no houses dotting along the beach and they came up a stand of trees that took the place of where the houses had previously been. Then finally in the midst of the moss draped trees there was a narrow path that opened up in between the grove of trees. The night sky seemed darker by the trees and the only light upon the path was a sliver of the pale moon glowing to dimly illuminate the way for them.

Eve looked doubtfully to Chris when he started walking towards the deserted pathway.

“I can see your lack of faith here in my guiding abilities,” Chris half teased her. “Please don’t doubt me Eve,” he insisted seeing her initial reluctance to follow him.

“Chris, are you sure about this?” Eve asked looking about the landscape that lay before them. “It’s not that I doubt you, it’s just that it’s kind of spooky looking.”

“I think you have read too many ghost stories. I thought you used to be the fearless one out of the bunch of us interns that started out together at GH,” he joked to her. “Just keep holding my hand and I promise you that you’ll be amazed by what is waiting for us at the end of the path.”

“Okay, I guess here’s to taking the road less traveled,” Eve continued to let Chris led her by the hand as she started to get more curious to see exactly what Chris had been talking about to her all evening.

Kathleen pulled into the driveway of her condo, still mulling over what Kyle had said or rather what he hadn’t said to her before they had parted ways tonight. She had a sinking suspicion that Kyle was investigating Cheri’s family and if he did that there was no telling what he might find out. He couldn’t be doing that she reasoned to herself. She had made a clean break from that family years ago and she sure didn’t need anyone to go around trying to dredge up the past secrets of the Williamson family. Her involvement with them was a thing of the past, she grimly thought to herself as she walked up to the porch and reached into her pocketbook to find her key to open the front door.

“Damn it, now where is my house key,” she muttered to herself having no luck finding the key in her purse.

“Need a light?” a deep voice questioned her out of the dark as a match was stuck to light his cigarette and he brought it to his lips.

Kathleen jumped back from the spot where she was standing at to meet the piercing eyes of man she hadn’t seen in such a long time as her fear began to overtake her. 

Chris and Eve made their way carefully along the pathway walking until they came to a clearing and Eve could make out a small structure in the moonlight. Chris walked over to the building to open the door when Eve tried to stop him, “Chris, what exactly do you think you are doing?”

“Opening the door and going in,” Chris pulled Eve up alongside him while he opened the door, “we didn’t walk all the way out here to see the outside of the building.” 

Chris let go of Eve’s hand once they were inside the darkened room to reach for some matches that he had in his pants pocket. He struck one match and moved over to the windowsill to light a candle that was situated in a candleholder in the middle of the sill. He proceeded to the next window to light another candle and so on until he had made his way across the entire room, bringing light to dispel the darkness that had been present only moments earlier when they had arrived.

Eve stood still in the doorway, looking at the enchanting room that had suddenly been revealed to her curious eyes by the soft glow of the candlelight from the many candles Chris had lit. She admired the simply adorned chapel that had appeared before her eyes, “Oh Chris, this is beautiful.”

“I thought you’d think so,” Chris replied coming back to stand closely beside her. “When I found this place during one of my many excursions on the island, it captivated me completely by its simple charm. I come here sometimes when my world gets so hectic and crazy and it helps me get my perspective back to focus on what’s important in my life. This place has become one of my favorite places to retreat to when I need to get away from everything and I wanted to share it with you. I thought you might like it here.”

“I definitely like it, I never would have thought that a place like this would exist out here in the middle of nowhere. Does it belong to anyone you know?” Eve asked, looking around the room with awe.

“Legend has it that the first settlers on the island built it as a place of worship and for a place for them to gather together for meetings with one another. The building is well over two hundred years old, over time it had fallen into a state of disrepair until the historical society had it restored to its original condition. The chapel is a landmark that belongs to the island,” Chris explained then added, “I was hoping that maybe after you saw this place you might consider marrying me here one day since you accepted my proposal.”

“This would be perfect,” Eve exclaimed with tears shimmering in her eyes as she thought of becoming Chris’ wife in this special place, “I would be honored to become your wife here. You know I never fully realized how much of a romantic you really are.”

“We have a lifetime to learn so many things about each other and I’m looking forward to spending each and every day with you Eve,” Chris told her with such sincerity in his voice as he slipped his arms around her slender waist. “I’m ready to begin our lives together. I’ve waited so long to have you back in my life, to have you love me as much as I love you.”

“I do love you Chris,” Eve reached out to gently caress his face, “I want the same thing you do, for us to share our lives with each other from now on.”

“I’m glad you came out with here with me tonight,” Chris hugged her tightly, “knowing that one day we will stand here before our family and friends and vow to love each other forever, never to be apart again, will be one of the happiest days of my life.”

“Our days of happiness are just beginning,” Eve added turning towards him to kiss his lips gently, “we are going to have such a wonderful life together. I hope you know how much you mean to me Christopher Ramsey.”

“I have a feeling, but it wouldn’t hurt my feelings if you wanted to tell me,” Chris lightly teased her. 

“Chris, you captured my heart long before I was able to admit it to myself, much less to admit that fact to you,” Eve quietly said as she looked upon the man she loved with her heart, “You were the one who broke down the walls I had so carefully built around myself to keep from getting hurt ever again. You have set me free to give into my feelings, to not be afraid of the depths of my emotions you bring out in me. I promise you that you have my heart forever from this night forward.”

Chris carefully wiped away the stray tear from Eve’s cheek that had fallen upon it, “Eve, you make me think anything is possible as long as you are by my side. I promise I’m going to do my best to give you all the love you so richly deserve, you are the flame that resides deep within my heart. There is nothing I wouldn’t do in this world for you if you needed me to. You’ve had my heart for years, there’s no one on this earth that can separate us if we believe in each other and in our love.”

“I do believe, you've made that possible,” Eve honestly admitted never taking her eyes off from Chris as he lowered his lips to hers.

“What are you doing here?” Kathleen managed to get out after the initial shock wore off her from seeing Johnny standing there in the dark, knowing that whatever he had come by her place for tonight would end up tormenting her for her past mistakes she had made where he was concerned.

“Can’t a man come by to see an old friend and catch up with what is going on in her life?” Johnny asked Kathleen, knowing full well how his presence was affecting her, noting the shakiness her voice presented to him after she finally had spoken to him.

“I’ve told you to leave me alone,” Kathleen tersely replied, “so why would you come here tonight?”

“Don’t you think you’d rather have this conversation inside without the prying eyes and ears of your neighbors?” Johnny asked with a touch of amusement in his voice. “It really doesn’t matter to me, but seeing as you have your fine reputation to uphold in this community you might want to go to a more private place, especially since you’ve become engaged to that high and mighty lawyer.”

Kathleen shook her head, “The only thing you are doing is leaving here because we have nothing to say to one another.”

“That’s what you think,” Johnny grabbed her by the arm and led her to the front door, “unless you want all of your friends to know just how close we were associated with one another sweetheart.”

“I hate you,” Kathleen hissed to him as Johnny held up a key to her. “Where did you find my spare key?”

“Evidently you have forgotten who you are dealing with,” Johnny offered up to her a sly grin as he placed the key in the lock and opened it up for her, motioning for Kathleen to step inside her apartment, “after you.”

Kathleen walked into her apartment dreading whatever Johnny was scheming up for her now. She had been free of him for years and suddenly here he was popping back in her life just like he had left her only yesterday. She turned to face him, “What do you want from me?”

“There’s plenty I want from you Kathleen,” Johnny informed her with a wicked smile as he started his game with her as the night began to unfold.