The camera crew was ready and the lights were shining brightly on Erin Ward and Reese Corelli. The director's voice yelled, "And we're filming in three, two, and one."

"Reese Corelli has lived in three countries, figure skated competitively in both ladies and pairs events, modeled for Victoria's Secret, gotten married, and divorced, all by the age of 26. I have had the privilege to spend some one-on-one time with her and to see her at her home with her friends. She is no ordinary young woman, and today we'll talk about her extraordinary life. Welcome, Reese."

Why did they have to include married and divorced? Reese wondered, shielding her distaste at the comment. She had been extremely nervous about the televised interview after her agent had finally convinced her to accept the interview with Erin Ward. Reese had a strong dislike for reporters after being hounded by them after her disastrous 1998 competitive figure skating year, then being chased all over France by them when she was modeling. Making the best of it, Reese smiled calmly at the camera and Mrs. Ward.

"So, Reese, let's start at the very beginning. You had stardom in your genes; it seems, both athletic and academic. Your grandparents were champion figure skaters and your parents are world renowned archaeologists. Gliding on ice was more to your liking than archaeological digs, though, and you followed the athletic line of success in your family. When did you first know you wanted to skate?"

"I don't think it was a matter of knowing I wanted to skate. My mother had, my grandparents had, and I started skating as soon as I could walk because it was such a crucial part of their lives. It seemed entirely natural to me, like everybody else did it, too," Reese explained as best she could. She was a little uneasy, but managed to convey a relaxed composure.

Erin nodded. "You received a lot of media attention early on because of the fame of your family. How did the pressure differ between pairs and singles, and how did it change as you got older?"

"I felt more pressure as a pairs skater because my grandparents were World Champion pairs skater, I had a cousin who was an elite pairs skater, and my partner was also very demanding," Reese explained, recalling the grueling practices with Galina and Misha. "I felt there was a lot more expected of me because it was supposedly in my blood. Singles was a lot more relaxing. The only battle there was with me."

"Sounds like a lot of pressure on you. How did you cope with it?"

"Normal teenage stuff," Reese replied ambiguously, shooting Erin Ward a look for her eyes only that clearly meant, 'don't expect me to elaborate.'

"But it was frowned upon because you were in the public eye?"

"Of course, figure skaters are meant to be perfect ice princesses and that I clearly wasn't," Reese laughed.

"And what happened when you quit pairs skating to focus on singles?"

"It’s difficult enough skating one discipline, but skating two at the elite level is practically impossible. You can't wholly focus on either one, so you tend to come up short in both. I didn't want that. I was having difficulty with my partner," Reese explained as she thought of her painful relationship with Misha. "Singles inevitably seemed more my style. Independent."

"Would you attribute any of your off-ice behaviors as a result of the relationship you shared with your partner?"

Practically everything she did off ice was merely to upset Misha, Reese thought bitterly. "To an extent, yes." Years of this eventually taught one how to answer a question like a politician. "Both my grandmother and my partner demanded a lot of me, they didn't care that I was also pursuing singles on the same elite level as pairs. I knew that I would be unhappy if I continued to skate pairs with Misha, so I chose singles for my own personal sake," Reese felt herself explaining, though she had previously had no intention to, when she had gone over in her head some of the questions she might be asked. "It was a difficult partnership, no matter how stellar it had been on the ice, it was too difficult off the ice." There she admitted it. It had all been too difficult and she realized now that that was okay. Reese had been beating herself up for years over her unrealistic expectations of herself and this was the time she was going to realize she was merely human. Reese smiled, hoping she had not zoned out there for a minute. Though she felt a near overwhelming sense of emotion approaching she masked it with her smile and swallowed hard.

"What were some of the incidents you experienced with your partner, Misha that made the working relationship so difficult?"

"He didn't like me skating singles because it distracted from pairs, he was very demanding, we would skate a program over and over till it was done without a fall or a stumble. Misha ate, drank, and breathed skating, and he expected the same from his partner. That's why he and my grandmother got along so well," Reese laughed, though old, lost memories were tearing open like unhealed wounds. Forgotten pain was rising again, but Reese maintained a steely demeanor. Once it was all over, she could go to her corner and cry, but not now.

"And once you left that pairing and focused on your singles skating, not only did your performance on the ice improve, but your behavior off the ice also did?"

Not exactly, but she managed to keep it out of the spotlight. "It improved," Reese answered.

"Would you attribute that to being happier?"

Reese laughed with self-deprecation. "No, not really."

"Then what would you say was responsible for the change?"

Nothing, because Reese wasn't any happier. She sighed and ran her hands through her hair. This had been an awful idea. "I did have a lot less pressure and that definitely took a lot off my mind," Reese replied evasively.

"Tell us a bit about the singles success you had before you returned to pairs skating. And what prompted the return to pairs?"

"I won junior worlds, and then I decided to take the test for senior level as a singles skater. Then I won silver at US Nationals, and fifth at Worlds. So it looked like choosing singles had been a good choice. Then 1998 was running perfectly smoothly, I had a mildly consistent triple axel, but I kept having problems with my knee throughout the year, and other problems, and it finally culminated at US Nationals, I barely missed the Olympic team, which actually was good because I might have continued skating if I had even with my injury, so after that I took the rest of the season off to nurse my knee. I came back the next year and did okay, and I found out a former coach of mine had opened up a training facility in Colorado, so I moved there, and he wanted me to try out a new partner, and I did, it worked well, but I didn't want to give up singles. I wanted to get back to where I was in 1997."

"That's rare for a woman to have a triple axel," Erin noted. "Your partner, Perry Wisham, died in a car accident and his sister was murdered. How did you react to those losses?"

Reese felt her eyes tear up, no matter how hard she tried. She laughed in an attempt to lighten the matter and wiped tenderly at her eyes. "Perry and I had broken up as pairs skater prior to the accident; in fact we were still mad at each other when that happened..."

"You were involved him with off the ice, as well, correct?"

How the hell did reporters find this stuff out? "Yes, we were," Reese replied curtly, managing to pull herself back together.

"What kind of toll did his death take on you? As an ex-girlfriend, a skating partner, and someone with unresolved feelings?"

"Well, how do you think you would feel if someone you were close to died while you were in the throes of being angry with one another," Reese replied defensively.

"Lost. And were you?"

Lost worked for her. "Yes."

"Explain the journey which led you to find yourself again. On the ice, leaving the ice."

Reese heaved a great sigh and moved one of her legs under her. She felt more comfortable now. "Mental and physical reasons, just weren't allowed me to come back. I no longer had the body for a figure skater, obviously," Reese laughed as Erin did with her. "I just couldn't take it away. Skating held few positive memories for me, so I decided to give it up, and see where I ended up."

"And that was in a Victoria's Secret show. How did you arrive at modeling?"

"I was looking for work and my agent found some modeling for me in France, then that eventually led me to Sports Illustrated, which led me to Victoria's Secret."

"Was the life of modeling more suited to you than that of skating?"

"Both had a lot of similarities, but with modeling, there seemed a lot less pressure, because I had already been through the media scrutiny and all that." Actually modeling had been great except for the rift it drove between her and her husband.

"And media scrutiny played a part in your marriage. You met your ex-husband while you were still skating."

Reese nodded. "Yes we met at Yette."

"What was your relationship like in the early stages?"

"Well, we were both teenagers when we met. Jay was a skater as well," Reese explained with a small smile, recalling some of the havoc and heart attacks she and Jay had given her former coach Marcus Demmelmaier. "It was pretty typical."

"How did that change after you stopped skating?"

"It didn't change till I started modeling, which was after we got married," Reese explained. Minus the clashing tempers, Reese and Jay's relationship had been good, great even, until they moved to France. Until the modeling career. Until he began resenting her and her greater success. Until her different friends. Until Donovan.

"What changed?"

"We had completely different lifestyles and different interests. Our schedules clashed. I was more successful in my career than he had been. I had an entirely different group of friends," Reese explained. Yes, she had gone over in her head a million times the things that had led to the destruction of her marriage. They had been two dumb kids who married on the spur of a moment, then weren't able to make it through when things changed. "Our marriage couldn't adjust to change," Reese added.

"Do you feel like he grew to resent your success?"

"Yes, I felt that was one of the bigger problems in our marriage," Reese said, not desiring to divulge into some of Jay's weaker points on a televised, public network. She was sure he and the Corelli's would be watching it after all.

"And yet somehow, you have persevered through it all, Reese. How have you been able to move on with your life?"

"Life is going to move on without you whether you choose to or not," Reese replied with a tight-lipped smile. "So you can choose to go without it or not." She hoped this was going to conclude the interview, because Reese didn't think she could take much more probing.

"Thank you very much, Reese. You have shined a lot of light on a complicated life, filled with trying situations and successes."




Scene 2

Small town or not, Josie had gotten lost on the way to her mothers house three times already. She had spent most of her young adult life in New York and London where public transportation was the most common mode, so in Josie's opinion this whole driving herself thing really was not working for her.

201, 203, 205....thank God, Josie thought to herself as she scanned the small house and pulled into the driveway. As she turned off the car, Josie began to mentally prepare herself. As the Corelli children liked to call it, 'setting the mom shield in mode.' Being the youngest, Gina Corelli and Josie Corelli tended to have the most run ins of the family. Josie signed, ran a hand through her hair, smoothed her clothes, and knocked on the door.

Gina answered the door with her arms open, enveloping her youngest in a motherly embrace. Georgia watched from the living room wishing for a moment that Gina would greet her that way and knowing it wasn't likely to happen any time soon. She exchanged a quick glance with Jay who leaned lazily against the wall. Somewhere, each of the Corelli children assumed another was the favorite. Right now, it seemed obvious that Josie was the golden child.

"Josie! It's about time you got here," Gina scolded lightly pulling her into the room. "I've been waiting dinner for you and your brother and sister are here too!"

"Oh, goody," Josie replied flatly. She gave a smile to her siblings. Georgia was still as thin, willowy, and beautiful as ever, and Jay...was...Jay. The brother whose life she had intentionally made a living hell as a child. She knew they would all notice the significant amount of weight she had put on and then at dinner time they would stare even harder at the way she shoveled down that food. And Gina would secretly think, 'I knew it was a good thing to get Josie out of dance.' All this suddenly made dinner rather unappetizing....

With her arm still wrapped around Josie, Gina led her into the house towards the kitchen. "Jay, go get your sister's things from her car," she ordered sending him a scathing gaze. Honestly, Gina thought, what was Jay doing with his life just hanging around here? He should be out doing something with it. God forbid he should be successful at something. Oh, there she went again. Being critical of him. She had to remember to go easier on him. On all of them, she added silently taking in Georgia's pale complexion. Something was definitely not right there.

"Now, Josie, sit down and tell us about your trip."

Josie gave a look that said, 'what's there to tell?' She had made it here in one piece, which spoke volumes for someone who failed her driving test twice.

"Um...it was fine," was about all Josie could say. "Jay doesn't need to get my things, Mom. I already have an apartment ready for me," Josie rushed out quickly, leaving out the fact that Georgia had helped her find it. She knew her mother would be annoyed, but Josie knew if she stuck around her mother's home, she would stay longer than she intended. Facing the wrath, then scurrying to her unfurnished apartment, and sleeping on the floor would be a far better option for the both of them.

"Oh really?" Gina raised an eyebrow skeptically. "I don't think that is such a good idea, Josie. In fact, I really think you should stay here with Jay and me."

"Mom, is that necessary?" Georgia interrupted from her place on the sofa. "She's not a child."

"No, she isn't," Gina agreed turning an unpleasant gaze on Georgia. "Neither are you and look at what living on your own has gotten you!"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You know perfectly well-"

"Could you two save that for later?" Jay asked quietly. "Let's just eat dinner like a normal family for a change, okay? Sound all right with you, Jo?"

Josie wanted to say, 'wake-up, Jay, we are a normal family,' but she decided to keep mum in order to preserve the sanity of the evening, so she merely nodded in agreement.

"Sounds great, Jay." She followed the rest of the family into the dining room. Gina was huffy and Georgia miserable looking. Well, this was going to be a fun dinner, Josie thought sarcastically, I should have just gone to my apartment, ordered take-out, and watched Harry Potter.

Gina paused in the doorway, waiting for a split second, her head turned toward the front door. "Oh, you know, I think I hear a car in the driveway," she said as the others settled into their places at the table. "Oh, yes, there it is. I must have forgotten to tell you, we have another dinner guest."

"Oh not Kevin again," Jay muttered under his breath getting himself a solid elbow from Georgia.

"Um, no. Not Kevin," Gina replied distracted. "I'll just go let them in," she added and headed back to the door.

"Okay, so if it isn't Kevin, who the hell did she invite?" Jay demanded, staring at Georgia.

"How should I know?" Georgia replied.

"Who's Kevin?" Josie asked suddenly in a low whisper, her curiosity piqued. "Is he the boyfriend?"


Scene 3

Reese slid out of the silver Mercedes and she could not help, but smile with warmth at Gina, her former mother-in-law had been more of a mother to her than her own mother. Most women did not have the luck of having a mother-in-law they liked. "Gina, hi, how are you?!" Reese gave the smaller woman a warm embrace. "Is Josie here yet?"

"She just got here. We were just about to sit down to dinner," Gina replied returning Reese's embrace. "Look at you! How long have you been in this town and not come to see me? You should be ashamed of yourself. Even Georgia says she hasn't seen much of you. What have you been doing with yourself?"

"I was here before you, so shouldn't that mean you are supposed to come see me," Reese laughed, "besides I hear you've been rather busy yourself." When Gina's eyes widened, Reese grinned even more. "I heard from Jamie Mason who heard from Jude Fontaine who of course heard from Maura Conlan. I may have only lived here till I was five, but I do know a few names."

"Maura. Yes, she doesn't like me very much," Gina admitted. "I'm sure you heard a few not so nice things about me too if it came from Maura Conlan third hand." She smiled and waved off the topic. Maura was the last person she wanted to talk about tonight. "So, come in. Lasagna and salad for dinner tonight." She led the way to the dining room, hoping that this reunion would go well. If not, she would have some seriously angry children on her hands, angrier than the Conlan brood, if that was possible. At the door, she paused and waited for Reese to catch up. "Well, I promised a surprise and here she is!"

Reese hurried to catch up with Gina's short, brisk steps, her heels clicking against the pavement. She was eager to see Josie who she probably had not seen since...well...the...wedding. Gina had not mentioned if the oldest Corelli would here today, but Reese hoped so, she had only seen Georgie the few times they briefly crossed paths in the Glen. Reese rounded the corner, but once she did, the smile quickly fell from her face. She should have known better when it came to Gina Corelli. A meddler in the best sense.

"Reese!" Josie cried, leaping from her chair. So what if this was going to make her brother horribly uncomfortable, she had not seen Reese since the wedding when she had paid for Josie to come see them in the south of France. Reese quickly tore her shocked eyes from her ex-husband to her former sister-in-law.

"Josie!" Reese embraced her in a hug and focused her eyes anywhere, but on Jay. She pulled Josie back to eye the younger woman. "Wow, you look great!" Gina might have been right in having Josie quit dance, she looked much healthier these days.

"Reese, I cannot believe you let Mom talk you into this!" Georgia exclaimed with a laugh. Gina beamed at the welcome Josie and Georgia were giving Reese. Leave it to her girls to be supportive. She glanced at Jay who looked sullen and stared at his plate stubbornly. Jay, of course, could spoil everything if he felt like it. Somewhere she had gone a little wrong with him.

"Well, aren't you going to say something Jay?" Gina asked, turning a simmering gaze on him.

"Hi," he muttered in return.

Through her smile, Reese silently thought if Gina had mentioned her ex-husband would be there, she wouldn't have come. Georgie seemed to sense that by her look and Reese felt relieved that Georgie could understand her on a certain level. Reese smiled at Jay, feeling a little breathless; she gave Jay a quick, but soft kiss on the cheek in greeting, wondering how quickly she could think of an excuse to leave. She could already feel the tension in the air, neither she nor Jay had really confronted one another since the divorce.

Georgia smiled, trying to ease a tense moment. "Well, that went over well, Mom. Let's eat. I'm starving."

"I haven't had a real meal with all of my family in ages," Gina announced, taking her seat. "This is a special dinner. Could we all be nice for a change?" She added looking squarely at Jay.

"I can be nice," he muttered stabbing a piece of lettuce with his fork. "You look good Reese."

"Thanks," Reese replied softly. She was still offered small modeling jobs from old friends and people who she had worked extensively with, so maintaining her looks was still a top priority, not that any of that was going to stop her from diving into this lasagna. "So Josie, what do you plan to do here in the Glen?" Reese asked. "It’s quite different than New York."

"Gawd, you're telling' me," Josie replied. "I'm going to major in journalism." Reese nodded, "I didn't even know you liked writing, Josie." "Well...I like being nosy and journalists get to do that," Josie laughed, "I definitely inherited that trait from Mom."

"Very funny, Josie," Gina returned. "I am not nosy. I simply like to know what is going on. Like Reese for example, I have no idea what you have been doing. Why don't you tell us?" She added knowing full well what Reese had been up to. Jay on the other hand, did not and she meant to make Jay see what he was missing.

Reese looked up from diving into her lasagna. "Oh...well...I've been working at the admissions office at Hope and doing some shoots here and there," Reese replied, not bothering to say she doubted she would keep the job at Hope much longer. It bored her to tears, apparently finding a 'normal' job was not in the cards for her. "And once in a while, I stop by the local rink to help out."

"Jay has stopped skating completely. But then, you know he stopped after his coach died."

"Could you not talk about me like I wasn't here, Mom?" Jay interrupted. "She knows I don't skate anymore."

"Does she know that you own your own bike shop?" Gina returned triumphantly. That had been Jay's closely guarded secret and not even Georgia, who he told everything to, knew about that one. His sisters turned to him simultaneously with mouths open.

"Jay! That's wonderful!" Georgia exclaimed.

"Really! When did this happen?" Josie inquired. There was no surprise in Reese's face. Most people thought he was a going-nowhere-slacker, but she had always known he was capable of so much more, and a bike shop was something he had been talking about since they lived in France. She made no comment, instead waiting for him to respond, her eyes on him, and not wavering.

"About a month ago," Jay replied meeting Reese's eyes. "I've been saving for a while. And I met this guy at bike show who needed a partner and...Well, that's pretty much it."

Gina laughed, "So modest! I'm so proud of Jay; I couldn't believe it when he told me. I just wish he had someone to share it with. You know, someone like you Reese."

"Mother," Georgia said in a warning voice. "Don't."

"What? I just don't understand why you two had to get a divorce. Things were tough, I know, but young marriages are always hard. But you work through them. That's what marriage is all about-"

"Knock it off, Mom," Jay said in a cold voice. The last thing he wanted to do was rehash his divorce.

Reese felt her throat tighten up. She broke her gaze with Jay. Josie gave her leg a sympathetic squeeze from under the table and she smiled at her ex-sister-in-law with warmth. Reese wanted to say it. She wanted to say that she had given up, which led Jay to give up in frustration, so it was her fault. All her fault. Her divorce had been entirely her fault. Not Jay's jealousy or Jay's miscellaneous attention-getting acts of rebellion, but her inability to confront an issue when it arose, and her ostrich handling of it. "The divorce was my fault," Reese blurted out, causing a sudden silence to hover over the table. Everyone looked at her. She had not meant to say it, but it she had needed to say it for so long so that she could no longer deny it. It was all her fault.

Jay remained silent, seething with anger at Gina for dredging up the past that he had worked so hard to put to rest. The divorce, the one thing he had always regretted, was history but Gina couldn't resist trying to relive the past. He still had feelings for Reese, he probably always would. But their divorce was probably the one thing they had done right.

"Oh no, Reese, don't say that," Gina murmured.

"It's true," Reese responded. Her voice a whisper. "I'm sorry, Jay." Reese slid the chair back. "I didn't mean to upset the dinner, I think its best if I go." She silenced any protests with a wave of her hand, but she looked directly at Jay. "That's the first time I've ever admitted it aloud, though I've known it even before it all happened. I'm sorry Jay," she said again, this time tears welling up in her throat and spilling over. She grabbed her things and then dashed towards the door.

"Nice going, Mom," Jay snapped getting to his feet and following Reese. He caught up to her at her car, reaching out for her arm. "Reese, wait. I'm sorry about all that. Mom still blames me for...us. She didn't mean to hurt you." He paused, meeting her eyes for what seemed like an eternity. "I didn't mean to hurt you," he added quietly.

"I know that, Jay," Reese said as she wiped at her tears. "I never meant to hurt you either."

Jay smiled bitterly. "See? We still have something in common after all."

Reese released an airy sort of laugh, "I think having too much in common was never good for us. She felt a dull, aching pain in her heart standing here in front of Jay discussing the who’s and what’s of the end of their marriage. "I'll always love you, Jay."

"You don't have to say that," he replied. "We were kids, you know? Besides, I think you're always supposed to love your first. I'll always love you too."

"Yeah, I do have to say that and I guess I have to hear you say it, too," Reese replied softly.

Jay nodded and opened her door for her. "I'm sorry about Mom. She just doesn't get it."

"Her heart is in the right place," Reese responded, using the old cliché. "Even if ours aren’t."

On the next Episode of Secret Horizons...

Episode 167