Subj: Fiery Forbidden Love: Burning Embers Chapter 2
Date: 1/2/99 7:33:10 PM Central Standard Time
From: msann

Burning Embers: Chapter 2

For an unknown amount of time, Maggie listened at the door to the sounds of Nicholas and Mrs. Stoddard's lovemaking. Maggie felt a jealousy and rage build up in her that she had not felt before. As the cries of ecstasy grew louder and louder, Maggie quickly left Collinwood to attempt to collect her thoughts.

Roxanne lay in the darkness staring out into space contemplating the night's events. She had almost slept with her husband's cousin and best friend. Her husband was locked up against his will in a mental institution suffering from the aftereffects of his encounters with Laura. And above it all she felt alone and lonely. Roxanne cried silent tears for a while wondering if life would ever be like she had dreamed it to be, even if it were for just one night. She wanted Barnabas back in the Old House making passionate love to her over and over until they passed out from sheer pleasure and exhaustion. She wanted to make Barnabas forget the pain of his past and look forward to the joys of the future.

"Oh Barnabas, I wish you could be free of this. I wish for all of us to be together again," cried Roxanne to the darkness as she gave in to her sorrows and cried herself to sleep. Unnoticed by Roxanne, however, the crescent moon pendant began to glow, then briefly flash before the room was once again filled only with the sounds of Roxanne's gut wrenching sobs.

Back at Wyndcliffe, Barnabas was preparing for bed, confident that his plan to make Quentin pay for his betrayal was working. He only hoped that he could convince Julia and her psychiatrists that he wasn't insane so he could get back home as soon as possible to personally supervise his triumph. Walking over to the barred window, he gazed out at the countryside bathed in the light of the nearly full moon.

Barnabas reflected upon the last time that he and Laura had been together, taking a moonlit stroll. Lost in thought, Barnabas continued to stare heedless of the soft glow that had briefly engulfed his body before he went to bed that night.

"Oh, Barnabas, you didn't have to go through so much trouble! This is too much!"

"Nothing is too much for you, my love. Now come out here and let me see it on you."

A door opened and in stepped Roxanne in a sexy new nightgown, much to Barnabas' delight. "What do you think?" she asked hesitantly.

"Oh, Roxanne, you look absolutely beautiful in that," Barnabas said rising to kiss her. "But that isn't the only surprise I have in store for you tonight."

"Really?"

"Yes, my love. I am going to make up for all the nights I was away from you starting right now," said Barnabas as he picked up his wife and kissed her passionately as he headed for their bedroom.

"NO!" said Barnabas as he awoke from his dream. "I shouldn't be thinking of Roxanne that way. It is Laura that I loved. Not Roxanne. Roxanne is a nuisance that shall be dealt with when I get home. And yet, I dreamed about her so vividly. Could I love her too? No. That's impossible. I just need to calm down. Then my thoughts will return to where they should be."

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your school of thought) for Barnabas, he spent the remainder of the night dreaming about how much he loved Roxanne and not Laura.