PART THREE

"You are an amazing person." Nick said with admiration shining in his deep
blue eyes as he looked down at his wife. Gabi, curled up in his arms,
returned the adoring gaze as she ran her hand over his rough cheek, the
stubble scratching her palm. This was the last morning that they would be in
Bermuda, and Gabi had finally finished explaining her sordid history to him.
He now knew everything, from how her father abused her to why she came to
Sunset Beach in the first place, and what Ricardo had done before she left
to make himself feel vindicated.

"No, I’m not." She sighed. "I hurt people everywhere I go, Nick. And I don’t
want to hurt you." She looked up, treasuring the love in his eyes and
remembering the pain in Antonio’s.
 

"You could never hurt me, Gabi. I love you. That’s what marriage is all
about – getting through things together, you and me. This is just one of
many I know, but we can make it, Gabi. I know we can."
 

"I’ve been married before, Nick- it’s not all you make it out to be. Two
rings don’t make all of our problems go away." A forlorn tear slid down her
cheek as she refused to meet his gaze.

"Maybe not…" Nick mused, far from giving up. "But they do give us the
confidence we need in each other to make our way through the problems and
come out stronger, and more in love." He wiped the tear away and kissed her
with a feathery touch of his lips to hers. With his hand on her chin, he
tilted her face up to him, forcing her to look him in the eye. "When I
talked to him – Tony, I mean – you know what?"

"What?" Gabi looked up at him, scared and a little weary and cautious, but
interested in what he had to say.

"I think that if you had let yourself off the hook for some of these things
– Ricardo going crazy, losing control when that building collapsed, I think
you and Antonio could have made it together. I could see how much he loves
you – yes, loves – the other day. And," He kissed her softly, just to the
side of her mouth. "I know you must have loved him a lot."

"Of course," He continued after a pause. "His loss is my gain, but I hate to
see a person like that suffer." Nick looked at Gabi pointedly and she could
see that his little speech was coming to a close. "I think that you and he
should talk."

"Nick-" Gabi protested, unable to fathom what she would say to her long lost
lover when faced with him, alone, no where to run.

"I think that you have to, for your own sake, too. You won’t be able to
really let this rest until you get some closure. Please, Gabi, do it for me
– for us."

"For us?" Gabi repeated doubtfully.

"For us." Nick confirmed. "More than anything else in the world, I want you
to be happy. And for you to be happy, you have to put everything behind you.
I really think that getting things out in the open between the two of you
would make it better." He hugged her tightly to him and ran his hand over
her smooth, warm skin. "I love you, Gabi."

"I love you, too." Gabi responded immediately. "But I don’t know… I mean,
wouldn’t talking to Antonio just make things worse? I’m married now, I can’t
let him think… I can’t…"

"He’s a smart guy, Gabi. He knows this isn’t a fairy tale world we live in.
You just got married, you’re on your honeymoon. I don’t think he would
expect that you were coming to tell him you wanted him to whisk you away and
live happily ever after."

"No… no, Antonio wouldn’t think that." Gabi wiped her eyes again, rubbing
the tears away, and kissed him. "I love you so much, Nick. I never thought
that it could be this wonderful… getting things out in the open, I didn’t
think you would understand any of this. This is… you are so… amazing." She
hugged him tightly again, burying her face in the warm hollow of his
shoulder. "I love you so much."

"I know, sweetie. I love you too." He felt her warm body pressed against his
and he wanted to make love to her again, but he knew that there were other
things she had to do. "You’d better shower and get dressed… check out time
is in a couple of hours and…"

"And… I need to talk to Antonio before he leaves." Gabi finished. She shyly
reached for a robe and stood up, wrapping it around her. Just before she
closed the bathroom door, she turned around shyly and smiled. "Want to join
me?"

Nick’s eyebrows shot up as he tossed back the covers and hurried to take her
up on that offer.
 

---

 

Antonio, fresh from a shower and half-dressed in black slacks with no shirt,
stared out at the scenic view offered from his fourth floor balcony. He was
completely oblivious to the natural beauty around him, and instead just
stared unseeingly, his mind producing images that made him want to hit
something. He had never been more miserable in his life.

Gabi was married to another man. It had been bad when she was married to
Ricardo, but he hadn’t worried about these things – not at first, at least. Ricardo
had been paralyzed, he and Gabi hadn’t – they weren’t intimate. Ad by the time
they were, Antonio had gotten accustomed to thinking of Gabi as his sister in law.
But this… this was very different. Visions tortured him day in and day out, every
night he lay in bed thinking… was Gabi making love to her husband? Were they
kissing at this very moment? Was she saying those three special words that
Antonio longed for her to tell him to another man? Was she-

A knock on the door jarred him out of his sulking, self-indulgent reverie.
He rubbed his eyes wearily and made his way to the door, reaching for the
knob carelessly. He remembered his state of undress, and was about to reach
for a shirt when the knock came again. Figuring it was just room service, he
thought to himself ‘what the hell’ and opened the door anyway.

Gabi was standing there.

"Antonio- Antonio!" She said, feeling like the breath had been knocked out
of her as she took in his perfectly sculpted, tanned skin and well developed
muscles. Her tongue darted out to moisten her lips as she tore her gaze from
his chest to his face. Total shock greeted her. "Antonio…" She repeated for
the third time. "I- we – need to talk."

"Gabi…" Antonio recovered slightly, grabbing a T-shirt and jerking it over
his head. "Why… come in, come in. What do we need to talk about?" He held
the door open as she stepped inside and then shut it firmly behind her.

"Us." Gabi looked up at him and felt the familiar tugging in her heart as
she saw those dark, pain filled eyes.
 

---

 
 

Nick leaned back against the pillow, fully dressed, on top of the immaculately
made bed and thought about everything that had happened
these past few days. The wedding, of course, the most wonderful. It had
been small, his family and friends and a few of Gabi’s friends. But seeing
her in that beautiful dress, walking down the aisle with that ‘I want to run,
but I won’t’ look on her face… thankfully, that had faded when she took her
place next to him, making room for an expression filled with sheer happiness.

Then came the honeymoon… all in all, it was a pretty productive four days. He
had finally gotten through to her that he loved her unconditionally, no matter
what skeletons she had in her closet. And they had certainly been some
skeletons. An abusive father, an ex-husband, a love affair with a priest.

Only one thing weighed down what would be a very good mood.

Gabi knew what kind of guy he was. He loved her more than he had every
loved anything in his life, he loved her more than life itself and he would do
anything to see her happy. Anything, no matter how much it hurt him. Gabi
knew that, and she loved him. But did she love him enough? After confronting
a lost love, and rehashing old emotions… would Gabi choose to come back to him?
 

---

 

"Us?" Antonio mimed unsurely.

"Yes, us." Gabi sat down on the bed and looked at him expectantly until he
sat down next to her. "When I left Sunset Beach, we didn’t exactly get a
chance to talk things through."

She paused, waiting for him to say something and when he didn’t, she
continued. "There was so much that I wanted to tell you, Antonio. I’m sorry
for all of the pain I caused you and your brother, and your whole family. I
hated what happened to you and Ricardo… even before the end, I came between
you."

"Gabi, you didn’t-" Antonio frowned at her derogatory words.

"Shh, Antonio, let me finish. I did come between you, and leaving was the
only way that I could make sure things got better instead of worse. I also
want you to know that I loved you, Antonio. So much, more than I could ever
tell you. You were my best friend, and you were always there when I needed
you. No one had ever cared for me like that. I didn’t do anything to make
you want to be my friend, but you were anyway and you saw things in me
that no one else did. You took the good inside of me and showed me how to
be a better person. I loved you for that, and for just being you." Tears streaming
down her face, Gabi reached over and took his hands. "You are an amazing
person, Antonio, and I will always love you. Part of me belongs to you, now
and forever, and I want you to know that. Never doubt what I felt then, or
what I feel now."

"Gabi…" Moisture in his eyes blurred the vision before him, but Antonio
could see the emotion shining in Gabi’s eyes. "I love you, too."

"I know." Gabi smiled tenderly at him and stroked his face. "I’m married
now, and Nick is a wonderful person. I do love him, he will make me happy.
And because of you, because you taught me how to love like you do –
unselfishly, with everything I am – I know I can make him happy, too."

"I’m glad. All I’ve ever wanted was for you to be happy, Gabi." Antonio
looked down at their joined hands and smiled faintly. "I always imagined
that we would be happy together… that’s the way it always ended in my
dreams… but if he makes you happy, then I’m glad."

"Antonio…" Gabi whispered, closing her eyes. She took a moment to regain
control of her emotions, and then resumed talking. "Are you happy, Antonio?"

"I’m a priest. That’s all I’ve ever been, and even though it's what kept me
from you… the priesthood is still what gives me the most peace in my life."
He answered as honestly as he could.

"Then I’m glad, too." She leaned up and kissed him, what was supposed to be
a platonic kiss on the cheek. But he turned slightly and Gabi was thrown off
course.

Their lips met in a sweet moment, a gentle insistence inside of them forcing
the kiss to linger. He could taste her salty tears as their lips moved
together, the physical contact conveying all the things that they had
already said, but needed to hear again in some form.

Just as passion began to work its way into the embrace, Gabi pulled back. Antonio
wanted to protest the abrupt ending, he pleaded with her to stay with his eyes,
but Gabi knew what she had to do. Her fingers tightened around his hand for a brief
moment before she released his hand. "I have to go now, Antonio, but always
remember… I love you."

She ran her finger over his lips, silently burning the picture in her memory
and then she did what she never imagined she would have the nerve to
do. She walked away from him for the second time.
 

---

 

Nick was waiting with an apprehensive look on his face as he stood near
the front desk, where Gabi had agreed to meet him. He had gathered all
of their luggage together and had it waiting. All that was left was for his
wife to join him, and they would be on their way home. But would she?
His heart pounded as the seconds ticked away.

Gabi saw him there waiting for her and she reached up to wipe the tears
from her eyes. She had kept him waiting so she would have time to pull
herself together after a fierce crying jag. Leaving Antonio had been hard,
but she knew it was what she had to do. A shaky smile formed on her
mouth as she saw him glance down at his watch. Nick loved her. He loved
her, and he would make her happy. He was her future… she belonged with him.
 

---

 

Antonio stood outside the mission in Sunset Beach, looking at the building with
a new kind of scrutiny. His life was contained in this structure. It was his home,
where he lived and served the Lord, where he preached and taught and listened,
gave advice and tried in his own way to make the world a better place. He lived
it and he loved it. Gabi knew that… she knew what a part of him this was.

He was grateful for her strength. Had it been his decision, they would have spent
the rest of their lives on some isolated island, living a dream. But neither of them
would have really been happy, and Gabi had known that. She had let him go so
they could both be where they needed to be… where they belonged.