The Convenient Wife
by Kelly

chapter 60

An hour later, the answer came to her heart before it came to her
head. She closed her eyes and called up every ounce of the Cassadine
reserve that had helped her to survive each and every other thing
life had thrown at her in the past.

Resolutely she stood, her mind made up. She had more packing to do,
she decided. But this time for a very different journey.

She had made her decision. She would stick to it. She would make it
work. No matter what.

***

Impulsive. Vengeful. Mean-spirited. Self-centered. Short-sighted.
Ignorant. Evil.

Carly was tired of the labels people pinned to her chest. She was
tired of being told how wrong she was…of being told what to do…what
to think…how to react. Yes, she had made mistakes, but contrary to
popular belief some of them had actually been a result of caring too
much about another person…not about the self-concern everyone thought
ran her entire life.

Jason…he had hurt her so very deeply last week. The wound had only
festered; aching each time her mind revisited it. He was her best
friend, her conscience; the one man who could look honestly at her
flaws and still accept her. But he'd not done that. He'd turned on
her…confronted her with past wrongs she hadn't believed he still
thought of…and the accusations had hit her like weapons. Like the
unerring blows of a soldier attacking an enemy. It had hurt more than
anything had in a very long time.

It had also made her stop and think.

Her boys…they meant everything to her. They were the only two people
on this earth who truly trusted that she had good inside her…whose
eyes lit up every time they saw her…whose arms opened to welcome her
no matter what she had said or done. Their love was without
condition, and so was hers for them.

Sonny, Jason, even her mother…they all had too many conditions. They
each sought to control her. To make decisions for her because they
didn't believe she had the capacity to make the right ones for
herself. But she did. She knew she did. And she would prove that to
all of them. She'd make them sorry they judged her…She'd make them
all sorry.

She lugged another suitcase onto her bed and began to fill it with
her sons' clothing. This was her chance to show them all. She would
make them see what she was made of…none of them could control Carly
Corinthos. None of them.

She knew exactly what she had to do. She had made her decision. She
would stick to it. She would make it work. No matter what.

***

Sonny opened the door with one hand and balanced his sleeping child
in the other. Max stood behind him at the door with one rather large
and colorful shopping bag in his hand. He smirked as he slid it into
the apartment just inside the door.

"Never thought I'd see the day that you went shopping for little girl
swimsuits, Boss," he quipped.

Sonny fixed him with a sharp stare. "Gotta problem with that?"

Max shrugged lightly and wiped the smile off his face. "No, sir."

Sonny nodded. "Good," And with that he shut the door and felt free to
grin against his sleeping daughter's curly hair. It smelled sweet
like Ivory soap and he breathed in the scent until it filled him with
a peace and contentment he seldom felt. But lately, those two
emotions had come to him more often…because of his child and her
mother.

Max was right; he had changed. For the better, he mused. So much for
the better.

He only wished that his sons could share this peace with him…

"So how was your day?"

The soft voice of his wife had him spinning towards her. He hadn't
noticed her there at the dining room table, sitting behind a lace-
covered table setting complete with silver domed dishes and tall,
elegant candles. Lit and burning in the dimness of the room, a
fragrant and enticing scent wafting across the space to him.

Sonny smiled, noting that she was wearing his nightshirt…the black
one she'd worn the morning after they'd made their little girl. He
sensed a seduction was afoot.

"What's this?" he murmured huskily, his head tilting quizzically.

"Well," she replied, " I know you said you were going to take Krissy
shopping then out to dinner for your Daddy and Daughter day. But I
thought I'd be the one to provide your dessert."

Sonny's smile widened as he bobbed his head in understanding, his
sexy dimples coming out to play. "And what's on the menu?"

"Oh, you'll have to go put our daughter down and then come see," she
said suggestively.

"Right away, ma'am," he promised and went off to do just that.

Alexis rested a hand on her chest as she watched him walk away. She
breathed in deeply in an effort to calm herself. She had to hold it
together. She had to do the acting job of her entire life. Pretend
everything was normal. He couldn't know what Jason had told her. It
would ruin everything.

They would have tonight, this one perfect night. And tomorrow she'd
tell him what she'd decided. Tomorrow she would do what she had to
do.

She squeezed her eyes shut as pain, searing and sharp, sailed through
her breast. Tomorrow, somehow, she'd do it. She only prayed that
she'd have the strength.

chapter 61