CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

SONNY’S PENTHOUSE:

Carly: Why did you bring me home. We should have headed straight for City Hall to get ourselves a marriage license so we can get married as soon as possible.

Sonny: Exactly what happened with Larkin to spook you like this?

Carly: He gave me this(she hands him the subpoena.) He said he’s going to make me testify against you in court and say how he found drugs in one of your coffee bags. Sonny, if I do that, they’ll send you to prison for the rest of your life. The only way I won’t have to testify against you is if I’m your wife.

Sonny: He planted drugs in my warehouse. The charges will never stick.

Carly: You don’t know that.

Sonny: I’m willing to take the risk.

Carly: Well, I’m not. What’s the matter, Sonny. Now that the baby is dead, you no longer want to marry me.

Sonny: Carly, it’s not that.

Carly: Then what is it? (she begins to tug at Sonny’s engagement ring as she tries to pull it off her finger)Do you want this back? I only continued to wear it because I was under the impression we were still engaged.

Sonny: Carly, don’t you dare take that ring off. We’re still engaged.

Carly: That’s good(she stops trying to pull it off)When you put it on my finger you must have put a drop of Crazy Glue on it so I could never get it off, again. So, Sonny, if we’re still engaged and you claim to still want to marry me, why won’t you marry me, now.

Sonny:(takes her hand in his)Will you come and sit down on the couch with me. (once they’re sitting on the couch he continues to hold her hand in his)When I was with Hannah, I was just going through the motions as I tried to recapture what I once had with two women who were dead. But when you moved in here, you brought me back to life. You’ve given me a reason to look forward coming home at night. You make me laugh. You make me feel alive. You make me happy.

Carly: Then why don’t you want to marry me.

Sonny: Because that’s not the way it is with you. You reluctantly agreed to marry me because you were going to have my baby and now you want to marry me to protect me.

Carly(held her face in his hands)Sonny, you’re wrong. It wasn’t just because of the baby that I wanted to marry you. If that were true, I would have agreed the first time you brought marriage up. Do you remember my reaction when you brought Father Coates over and tried to railroad me down the aisle?

Sonny: You packed your bags and moved out. You only came back because you had no place to go.

Carly: And when I came back did I agree to marry you?

Sonny: No, it wasn’t until after the first time we made love and even then you refused to wear my ring.

Carly: When I finally agreed to wear your ring it was because in my heart I knew we could make a marriage work together. Until you, I’d never been made love to by a man. Sure, I’d had sex with a lot of men, but you were the first one to ever care enough about me to truly make love to me. Until Robin came back to town Jason, Michael and I were a real family, but it was never really the same between us from the moment Robin returned to town. I fought and I fought dirty to try and get back what the three of us had together, but I never could. I kept thinking if I fought hard enough I’d be able to get it back, but I don’t think I could have ever really gotten back what Jason, Michael and I had before I shot Tony and got sent away to Ferncliffe. Then when I wasn’t even looking and when I least expected it I got my family back, only it wasn’t with Jason. It’s with you.

Sonny: Carly, I’m sure you mean all that, but from the moment you walked into this penthouse and found me holding a chard of glass in my hand you’ve been determined to protect me. You knew Hannah was no good and out to hurt me and no matter how rotten I was to you it didn’t stop you from getting the goods on Hannah and exposing her for what she was. You wouldn’t let anything stop you. Not even Jason telling you to butt out. I know you claimed you were only doing it to protect Jason, and I thought you were just using me to try and score points with Jason, but now I know better. You did what you did to protect me. Just like every time you think someone is trying to harm me you jump in the fray to protect me. It’s something you do instinctively without even thinking about it. If you see me in some kind of danger, you jump in front of me and act like a mother lioness protecting her cub. You did it when AJ tried to swing a bottle at my head, when the Q’s attacked me at the Grille, when your mother attacked me in this penthouse and you’re doing the same thing now. That’s why I can’t marry you. When we get married it’ll be because you want to marry me and spend the rest of your life being my wife. Not because you have some weird desire you can’t control to protect me.

Carly: And is that your final word on this.

Sonny: It is. I‘m sorry, Carly, I can‘t marry you. I won‘t marry you like this. Marriage is sacred. I got married the first time because another woman was trying to protect me from being sent to jail. I won‘t do it again. We may not love each other, but when we get married I want it to be for no other reason than we both want to get married and are committed to each other for the rest of our lives.(he gets up and starts walking towards the stairs)

Carly: Well, here’s my final word. You won’t let me marry you to save you from going to prison. What about you marrying me to save me from being sent to jail.

Sonny: (turns around to look at her in shock)What are you talking about?

Carly: If I refuse to testify against you, they’ll throw me in jail. Well, I’m refusing. I will not be the person that helps Larkin send you to jail, even if it means I’m thrown in jail, myself. I’ve seen the way you get when you get locked up. You’d never survive it. So, do you care enough to marry me so I won’t be sent to jail for refusing to testify against you. What’s it going to be, Sonny. The ball’s in your court.