Salem Church –

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in the sight of God on this beautiful day to witness the joining together of two souls. This man and this woman have a deep, abiding love for each other that will last into the eternities.

“Before we continue, I must ask if anyone has a just reason why these two should not be wed.”

The congregation was quiet. EJ watched Carrie and silently willed her to stop the wedding.

When no one spoke, the priest moved on. “Samantha and Lucas have prepared their own vows –“

“Wait!” Carrie shouted from the back row.

“What are you doing here, Carrie?” Sami demanded.

Carrie hurried up the aisle. “I am very sorry to interrupt but I have something important to say.”

Some hospital -

Shawn was brought in by ambulance. The doctors immediately pulled him into a cubicle and Belle tried to follow. “You can’t come in here,” the nurse said.

“But I’m his wife,” Belle lied.

“Wife or not, the operating room is no place for non-hospital staff or a baby.”

Belle nodded and went to the waiting room. She was carrying Claire in her arms. The toddler was chewing on her thumb.

“Poor baby, you haven’t eaten today, have you?” Belle asked. She found a vending machine and got Claire some chips. “I know it’s not the healthiest stuff for you to eat but it will do in a pinch.”

There was a TV in the waiting room. A female reporter was discussing the war in Iraq. “Same old, same old,” Belle said.

Then the reporter changed topics. “Local police are searching for a young man who yesterday tried to steal a car on 4th Ave. The man was shot in the shoulder by a police officer while resisting arrest. Unfortunately, he got away. Crime Stoppers are offering a $2,000 reward to anyone who has information that would lead to the young man’s arrest.”

Belle was horrified to see a sketch of a young man that looked just like Shawn. “Oh my god,” she whispered. “What are we going to do now?”

***

“You want to ruin my wedding,” Sami said. “To get revenge on me for interrupting you and Austin’s ‘special day’.”

“No Sami. Believe me – I don’t want to hurt you,” Carrie said.

“What is it that you want to say?” The priest asked Carrie.

Carrie took a deep breath. “This ceremony can’t go on because Lucas is still married – to me.”

The congregation made a collective gasp.

***

Shawn made it through surgery successfully and was moved to a room in the ICU. They asked Belle who had shot Shawn and she said he was hunting and one of his buddies had accidentally shot him. It was a weak story but no body questioned it.
Shawn was asleep when Belle walked in. She sat by his bedside and fed Claire macaroni and cheese she had gotten from the cafeteria. The toddler was eating happily.

Shawn awoke eventually and turned to Belle. “What happened?” He asked drowsily. “I feel like crap.”

“You got an infection from the bullet wound. I called an ambulance and they brought us to the hospital. They had to do emergency surgery,” Belle replied. “They say you’ll be okay.”

“Good,” Shawn said. He tickled Claire’s feet gently. She stopped eating her macaroni and cheese long enough to giggle.

“Shawn, I have some bad news,” Belle said.

“More bad news?”

“There is a sketch of you on the news.”

“What do you mean?”

“I guess the police officers who shot at you had a sketch artist take their report and turn it into a picture of you. There is no denying that it’s you so we have to be on our toes. We may need to leave here before you’re healed.”

“Damn,” Shawn said. He reached for his bedside remote control. A new reporter was discussing the war in Iraq with an expert. Then they flashed to Shawn’s picture.

“Oh [!@#$%^&*] – that does look like me,” Shawn said.

Before Shawn could turn off the TV, a nurse walked into the room. She looked at the sketch and looked at Shawn. If she noticed the resemblance she didn’t say anything. She just fluffed Shawn’s pillows and gave him some medicine. “This will make you drowsy,” she said. “You’ll probably sleep for a few hours. That will be good for you.”

Shawn kept the pill in his cheek and spit it out when the nurse left. “I need to be alert. We may have to leave at any time.”

Shawn heard the nurse in the next cubicle. She was trying to whisper but they still overheard the walls were so small. “Yes? Hello, I know where you can find the car thief you are looking for. He’s here at the hospital I work at. He had a gun shot wound in his shoulder and looks just like the man in the picture on the news. I’m pretty sure it’s him. If I’m right I get $2,000, right?”

Shawn pulled himself out of bed. “Get my clothes,” he whispered in Belle’s ear.

“What are we going to do, Shawn?” She asked.

“We’re going to get the hell out of here,” he replied.

***

Sami tensed even more. “Carrie, you must be desperate to come here and claim Lucas is still married to you.”

“I have proof,” Carrie said.

“What proof?” Lucas asked, frowning.

“Mickey sent me this letter,” Carrie said, handing Lucas the paper she had been clutching.

Sami read the letter over Lucas’s shoulder. “It says that the annulment papers were never filed – for whatever reason,” Lucas said.

“If this is true, why didn’t Lucas get a letter? Or why didn’t Mickey just tell him?” Sami demanded.

“I don’t know,” Carrie said.

Sami scanned the congregation and her gaze came to rest on Mickey’s puzzled face. “Mickey, is this true?”

“I think so,” Mickey replied, shrugging his shoulders.

“What do you mean you ‘think so’?” Sami snapped. “You either sent the letter or you didn’t.”

“It’s true – what Carrie is saying is true,” Mickey decided. “I did send her that letter.”

“Why didn’t you call me?” Lucas asked.

Mickey shrugged. “It didn’t occur to me.”

Sami turned back to look at Carrie. “What about Austin? Are you two still legally married?”

“No. The marriage is invalid.”

“So you’re a bigamist on top of everything,” Sami sneered.

“I didn’t know. Not until a few days ago. I immediately booked a flight and came here.”

“Why didn’t you just call me?” Lucas asked.

“Because she wants you back – isn’t that right, Carrie?” Sami sneered.

“No, it’s not true. I just thought it was news best delivered in person.”

“Why didn’t you tell me when you came to the apartment yesterday?” Lucas asked.

“I tried but you two didn’t give me a chance to say anything,” Carrie said.

“You know what, Carrie?” Sami said. “I think you’re a needy, desperate, pathetic WHORE!”

“There is no need for name-calling,” the priest interjected. “Can we settle this in my office?” No one seemed to hear what he said.

Sami suddenly took a swing at Carrie. Skin connected with skin and Carrie fell to the floor. “I’ll kill you for this, Carrie,” Sami roared, yanking her sister up by her hair.

“Sami, stop!” Lucas shouted, trying to break up the fight. But Sami had anger and adrenaline on her side and broke away.

“I interrupted your weddings to Austin so this is my payback – right, Carrie?”

Sami slugged Carrie right in the eye. Carrie wobbled but didn’t fall down again.

“Sami, stop. Get ahold of yourself,” Carrie said.

Sami grabbed a heavy vase to knock over Carrie’s head but Roman, Max, and Lucas pulled her back, kicking and screaming. “You !@#$%^&*] – I hate you, Carrie! I’ll never forgive you for this – never!”

“I’m sorry, Sami, I never meant to hurt you,” Carrie said.

“Go to hell,” Sami said. She broke away from the men and ran down the aisle, sobbing. Roman and Marlena followed her.

“Lucas, I’m so sorry,” Carrie said. “Please forgive me.”

Lucas didn’t reply. He took off running down the aisle after Sami.

***

Shawn dressed quickly despite the great pain he was in. He peeked out into the hallway to see if anyone was coming. No one was there. “C’mon,” he said to Belle.

They headed for the elevators but then saw two police officers walk in. “New plan,” Shawn said. “We’re going to have to take the stairs.”

They turned their backs to the police officers and the minute the men were out of sight, Shawn led Belle (with Claire in her arms) to the door that opened into the stairway. “Hurry,” Shawn said.

They were two flights down when they heard voices above. “They could be down there,” one man said. “I’m going to check.”

Belle and Shawn hurried down the stairs as fast as they could. “Hey, Bobby, I think they’re down there. I hear footsteps. I’ll try to get them from here and you go outside in case they run out.”

“Those little puke faces aren’t going to get away,” police officer Bobby said.

***

As guests were leaving, many of them turned to frown at Carrie and shake their heads in dismay. Carrie felt sick.

Billie walked over. Carrie smiled. Billie would be sympathetic.

“Hello, Billie,” Carrie said.

“Carrie, I just wanted to tell you how shocked I am about what happened today,” Billie said. “I am really disappointed in you. You broke Lucas’s heart – he really wanted to marry Sami - and probably Austin’s too. Does Austin even know about this?”

“No,” Carrie admitted.

“Of all the time you had to tell my brothers about this, you didn’t and that’s just criminal,” Billie said.

“I’ve only known for a few days, Billie.”

“A few days are enough time to tell your supposed loved ones something that important. You don’t just crash a wedding and spill the beans the way you did. That is something Sami would do and you are supposed to be better than that. I actually feel sorry for Sami this time and that’s amazing in its self.”

Before Carrie could plead her case, Billie had turned away.

“That really sucked, mom,” Chelsea said. “Carrie is a !@#$%^&*].”

“Watch your language,” Billie chided her. They walked out together.

“Is it over?” Alice asked Maggie who was sitting beside her.

“Yes its over – for now,” Maggie said. “We have to pray that Lucas, Carrie, and Sami can work out the kinks in their relationship so Lucas and Sami can marry like they want to.”

“I’m disappointed in Carrie,” Caroline said, leaning over the pew to talk to the Hortons.

“Me too,” Maggie agreed.

“I’d better go talk to her,” Caroline said.

Caroline walked over to Carrie.

“Hey, Grandma. Are you going to tell me how disappointed in me you are – because I already heard it from Billie.” She had tears in her eyes.

“Carrie, your behavior today was very unexpected. But I won’t judge you; you had your reasons whatever they are,” Caroline said. “What you have to ask yourself is why you did what you did.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean did you have a desire to keep Lucas from marrying Sami?” Caroline asked. “Ask yourself why you felt the need to stop their wedding.”

“I wanted to tell Lucas earlier but I didn’t have a chance to really talk to him.”

“You could have picked up the phone and saved yourself, and Lucas and Sami, a whole lot of trouble.”

“I’m sorry, Grandma, I don’t know why I jumped up today in the middle of the ceremony. I guess I just didn’t want them to be married under false pretenses.”

Caroline nodded. She took her granddaughter’s hand in hers. “Carrie, the best advice I can give you is to go home. Be with Austin.”

“I don’t have a real home anymore,” Carrie said. “It’s just a cold, empty space. Austin left me – he said it was business-related but I could tell he was upset with me. All we’ve done is fight practically from the moment we got remarried.” Carrie sighed. “I mean the wedding wasn’t legal but we did love each other. I don’t know if he still loves me or not.”

“I believe he still loves you very much,” Caroline said. “He always has. Feelings like that just don’t go away over night.”

“You are right about that,” Carrie said.

“Carrie, work things out with Austin. Try to make it work.” Caroline kissed her granddaughter’s cheek. “I love you, Carrie.”

“I love you too, Grandma.”

Caroline left Carrie’s side and Carrie walked out of the church.

***

In the bridal room, Sami put her back to the wall and slid down to the floor. She buried her face in her arms while she sobbed. Marlena and Roman entered. They both hurried over to her side.

“Sami, everything is going to be okay,” Marlena said, touching Sami’s smooth hair.

“How can you say that, mom?” Sami asked. “Nothing will ever be the same again.”

“Lucas and Carrie’s marriage will be dissolved and you and Lucas can finally marry. You can have a bigger and grander wedding than this one. You can have the wedding in Hawaii or even Paris.”

“Yes,” Roman said. “We’ll take you anywhere you want to go.”

Sami didn’t reply. She looked up when Lucas entered the room. He rushed over to her and sat on the floor beside her.

“Its okay, Sami,” Lucas said. “Carrie can’t come between us.”

“I don’t even believe she would,” Marlena said. “When she talked to me about this she was really remorseful about the situation.”

Sami’s head snapped up. “You talked to her about this?”

“Yes …”

“When?”

“Yesterday.”

“Oh my god, Mom. You knew and you didn’t tell me? How could you do that to me?”

“Sami, it wasn’t my place to tell you,” Marlena said. “Now calm down. This can’t be good for the baby.”

“Don’t pretend to care. Your deception proves that you do love Carrie more even though she’s not even your real daughter!”

“That’s not true,” Marlena said.

“Yes it is, you – you witch!” Sami spat.

She got to her feet. “I hate you!” she shouted in Marlena’s face. “As of this moment we are no longer mother and daughter. We’re enemies.”

“Sami, I’m very sorry things turned out this way –“ Marlena started to say.

“Bull [!@#$%^&*],” Sami said. “I will make you sorry for this. I will make you wish you had never given birth to me. I’ll take away what you love most.”

“Samantha, don’t talk that way to your mother,” Roman snapped.

“Don’t defend her, Dad – you know what she did was unforgivable.”

Sami yanked open the door and rushed out. Lucas followed her. “Where are you going, Sami?” He asked, running through the parking lot to catch up to her.

“I just need some time to myself,” Sami said. “Please don’t follow me.”

She got into the limo and shut the door. “Take me to the hospital,” she told the driver.

Lucas watched helplessly as the limo pulled out of the parking lot. He spotted Carrie opening a car door (it had to be a rental). Just as Carrie was getting into the vehicle, Lucas grabbed her arm and pulled her up.

“You’re not leaving yet,” he said angrily. Carrie shrunk under his intense gaze.

Marlena and Roman watched everything from the front steps of the church.

“Sami’s angry. When she feels betrayed she is reckless,” Roman said.

Marlena nodded. “Yes she is. I pray she doesn’t do anything she’ll regret later …”

Coming up on “Salem Fantasies”:

~ In an act of revenge, Sami tries to kill someone
~ Lucas reams Carrie out for ruining the wedding
~Belle and Shawn are trapped inside the hospital
~ Kayla sees a different side of Steve