Every Memory Repeats

Chapter 20

Tom glanced up from his desk when Marlena entered his office. He closed the file he was looking over, and placed it to the side. Smiling at her, he said, "Marlena, thank you for meeting with me."

"I'm fairly certain, I already know what this is about," she replied, taking a seat across from him. Her hands twined together, and she felt her stomach roll uncomfortably, "Roman stopped by this afternoon, and he insinuated that he had spoken with you."

"He did, and as you know, once questions are raised about certain things...I have to investigate," Tom sighed softly, and said reluctantly. "I don't mean to inquire into matters of such a private nature, but I have too."

"I understand," she said. "As you know, I was staying at your cabin for a few days. I'm not sure what Alice may have told you, but Roman and I argued. He hit me, and Eric saw it happen."

"I didn't want to pry," Tom said, acknowledging the bruise on her face, but it was obvious as soon as she entered that something was amiss.

"Roman somehow found out that John had gone out to Smith Island the night of the storm," she said.

"Roman's concern, when he came to me, was that John was a patient of yours, and that you were—"

"—sleeping with a patient? Roman's motive was to hurt me. The quickest and harshest way for him to do that, is to target my career. I know that, Tom. You know that as well," she said with simmering anger.

Tom sighed, "I still have to know, Marlena."

"John was never a patient. I was helping a friend, but seeing him was never official. He was never logged in the hospital records as a patient of mine. I didn't trust myself...to spend that much time with him. I didn't have faith that I..." she said softly, her voice trailing off while she studied her clenched hands. Finally glancing up at Tom, she said, "I loved John too much, to be that stupid. I knew—I knew there was a chance for things to go badly, so he was never logged as an official patient."

"It still looks...unprofessional," he said slowly. "Even questionable, Marlena."

"I know. I know. I know," she whispered mostly to herself. More loudly she said, "That's true, and I never believed it would go that far, but always, at the back of my mind, I thought...what if? Everything fell apart, Tom. Everything. One moment, I was committed to Roman, to trying to make our marriage work, but he cheated on me. He got another woman pregnant, and then he—he hit me. I went to the cabin to be alone. To make some decisions. Then John..."

Tom suddenly understood what had happened, "John realized that Isabella's baby wasn't his."

Marlena nodded her head once, and whispered, "We were like two broken, destroyed souls coming together. I don't know how else to explain it. I never stopped loving him, Tom. How could I?"

"You're right, I checked the hospital database. John is not listed as a patient, but he was coming to you for regular appointments," he said. "You've got to know how that looks. If Chelsea were questioned..."

"I made sure that Chelsea knew it was unofficial, Tom. She knew that. He was making appointments, but unofficially," she told him shakily. "Tom...I can't lose my job over this. It's John. It's John...you know what we've been through together."

Tom was silent for a moment, before he said quietly, "Marlena...I don't want you to lose your license. Not over something that most outsiders wouldn't understand, but if you have any files, or records..."

She watched him, as his voice trailed off, and he looked away, refusing to say what he was thinking. Marlena finished for him, "...I should get rid of them."