Disclaimer: I do not own these Passions characters. They are property of JER, NBC, and Passions. I’m just borrowing them for awhile. However, I do own the characters of Lily, Jonah, Caroline, and Emily Crane, as they are my creation.

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“Honey, where are you?” a male voice, groggy with sleep, groaned as he noticed the absence of his wife’s warm body beside him. “It’s barely eight o’clock in the morning.”

With a smile, Whitney hurried in from the adjoining bathroom and bent back over the bed, brushing her lips gently over her husband’s face. “I’m here, sweetie,” she replied softly, reluctantly backing away and buttoning her gray silk shirt. “I didn’t want to get up, but you and I both know how important this day is to Lily. I don’t want to be late and disappoint her.”

“I know,” her husband mumbled, stretching his arms and propping his head up to watch her through heavy-lidded eyes. “But I wish you didn’t have to start getting ready so soon. I had plans for us this morning.”

Whitney closed her eyes, thinking of the delicious things he had obviously planned. Then, with a sigh, she opened them and reached for her comb. “How about this?” she suggested. “We’ll spend tonight alone, just the two of us. I’ll take the kids to Mom’s for the night.”

With a huge grin, her husband sat up in bed and reached out for her. Tugging her into his arms, he covered her neck with kisses until she squealed for breath.

“You promise?” he asked, nibbling on her ear.

“Of course I do,” she replied breathlessly, moaning as shivers of pleasure raced down her spine. “I love you…Ethan.”

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Forty-five minutes later, Whitney Crane made her way down the empty hallways of her daughter Lily’s elementary school. Her black heels clicked with every step she took, as her chocolate-brown eyes scanned every door for Room #472. Finally, she arrived at her destination. She could see Miss Krittenden’s entire class of students through the door, and easily found her daughter in the crowd.

Lilian Eve Crane, Whitney and Ethan’s first child, had been born six years before in Harmony Hospital, eleven months after her parents were married. Whitney could still remember the feeling she’d experienced at hearing her daughter cry and then the emotions that swamped her as she held Lily for the first time. Ethan had been with her through the entire delivery, holding her hand and helping her through the contractions. Her mother, Eve, whom Lilian was named after, had also been present at the birth, for which Whitney was grateful. It had helped her immensely to know her mother was there for her.

So many people still wondered how Ethan Crane, son of Ivy Winthrop and the powerful Julian Crane (as was eventually proven by a DNA test), came to marry Whitney Russell, tennis-star daughter of local coach TC Russell and Dr. Eve. And for a long time, Whitney had wondered if she’d done the right thing in marrying him, considering his past with her former best friend, Theresa. But Theresa had turned her back on Ethan years before, and Whitney had been there for him when he needed someone. And on that cool October day, holding her newborn daughter, Whitney suddenly didn’t care if anyone thought she had betrayed Theresa, or that she and Ethan were mismatched. Lily had made them a family.

Suddenly, Whitney’s thoughts were interrupted when the door to Miss Krittenden’s room swung open and her daughter whispered excitedly, “Momma, you made it!”

Whitney leaned down to kiss her cheek. “Of course I did, Lil,” she whispered back. “I told you I would come talk to your class today, and here I am.”

Lily’s face broke out into a huge smile as she tugged Whitney into the room. Immediately, all talking and movement ceased as twenty-five pairs of eyes turned to watch them.

“Mrs. Crane, thank you so much for joining us this morning,” Miss Krittenden said as she crossed the room and shook Whitney’s hand. Then she looked at Lily. “Well, Lily, why don’t we let you introduce your mommy to the class?”

Lily, fairly bouncing with energy, took her place at the front of the room as Whitney moved off to the side.

“This is my mommy, Mrs. Whitney Russell Crane,” she began earnestly, a proud smile splitting her cheeks. “She decorates houses for a living, but she’s going to tell us about what it was like to play tennis when she was a little girl.”

Whitney found herself chuckling as she listened to her daughter’s speech.

“Actually,” Lily went on in a confidential whisper to her classmates, “I’ve already heard the story a million times. Her and Daddy talk about it all the time! Daddy says he’s so proud of her ‘cause she won some im’ortant game called Wibbleton.”

Whitney laughed out loud and kissed Lily on the forehead. “Actually, it’s WIMBLEDON, honey, but that’s close enough.” Clapping her hands, she sent Lily back to her seat, then turned to face the class as a whole. “So, are you guys ready to learn a few of the basics of tennis? Who knows, maybe the next Pete Sampras or Steffi Graf is in this room…”

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Three hours later, exhausted from her tennis demonstration, Whitney collapsed behind the wheel of her car. Checking her watch, she realized that it was barely noon, which was way too early to take Lily out of school, go pick up the other kids at daycare, or go home and wait for Ethan. She had taken the entire day off from work, and she didn’t think she could handle four hours of shopping at the mall. She could think of only one place that she wouldn’t mind spending an hour or two.

Cranking the car, Whitney put on her seatbelt and shifted into gear, then merged smoothly with the flow of traffic. Absently, she reached down and turned on the radio, humming along with it until she reached where she was going, the Harmony Free Clinic where her mother worked.

The interior of the small clinic was blessedly cool compared to the warm May afternoon, and the waiting room was deserted. Only her mother’s secretary, Darlene, was present to acknowledge her entrance.

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Crane,” she greeted warmly. “Would you like me to get your mother for you?”

“Hi, Darlene. Is she with a patient right now?” Whitney asked, smiling at the older woman.

Darlene shook her head. “No, her last patient left twenty minutes ago. Right now she’s in her office, transcribing records.”

Whitney nodded. “I think I’ll just go back and say hello, if that’s all right.”

Moments later, she rapped softly on her mother’s office door, and was greeted by Eve’s cheerful voice. “Come in!”

“Hi, Mom,” Whitney replied, pushing open the door and entering the small, tidy space that was her mother’s office.

“Whitney, what a pleasant surprise!” Eve exclaimed as she rounded the corner of her desk and hugged her daughter. “What brings you by?”

Whitney shrugged and lowered herself into a chair. “I had a speaking engagement at Lily’s school, and I decided to come by and chat with you for a while instead of going home to wait for Ethan.”

“I’m glad you did,” Eve said, beaming. “We don’t get to see each other nearly as often now that you’re a mother of four.”

Whitney laughed. “You always said being a mother was one of the hardest, yet most rewarding jobs there is,” she acknowledged. “That’s definitely the truth, at least in my case.”

Eve sat down in the chair opposite hers and crossed her ankles. “How did the speech go with Lily’s class?” she asked.

Whitney sighed. “Suffice it to say that I’m just glad I only have four kids, and not TWENTY-four,” she answered. “I don’t know how Miss Krittenden does it.”

Eve smiled.

“Speaking of kids,” Whitney said a moment later, “would you mind if I brought Lily, Jonah, Caroline, and Emily to your house for the night? Ethan and I really need some time to ourselves tonight.”

“Mind?” Eve exclaimed. “I wouldn’t mind at all! I would love to see the kids tonight.”

“Great,” Whitney said with a grin. “I’ll have them over there as soon as I can pick up everyone from school and daycare.”

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At exactly four o’clock that afternoon, Whitney was sitting in her car outside the Little Darlings daycare center. Lily was sitting beside her.

“Ok, Momma, it’s four,” Lily announced with a grin, pride evident in her voice as she checked her pink Minnie Mouse watch.

“You’re getting so good at telling time,” Whitney praised as they got out of the car and made their way up the walk. “Let’s go get your brother and sisters.”

Inside was a mess. Crayons and coloring books, cookie crumbs and toys lay scattered across every surface. Whitney carefully avoided the worst areas, pulling Lily along behind her.

They found Miss Sarah, director of the Little Darlings, in the kitchen, cleaning up where a little three-year-old had spilled a pot of spaghetti. When she noticed Whitney, she jumped up and wiped her hands on a towel. “Mrs. Crane, I guess you’re here to pick up the kids,” she said breathlessly. Spotting one of her workers, Sarah raised her voice. “Martha, please find Jonah, Emily, and Caroline Crane. Their mother is here to pick them up. Emily should be in the baby room, and Jonah and Caroline in the paint room.”

Several minutes later, the woman called Martha returned, with little one-year-old Emily Katherine Crane (named for Julian’s mother, her great-grandmother, Katherine Barrett Crane) in her arms. Trailing behind were Whitney and Ethan’s four-year-old twins Jonah Chandler Crane (named for Whitney’s father, Thornton Chandler Russell) and Caroline Helena Crane (named for Ivy’s mother, her great-grandmother, Helena Revere-Mott-Beaton Winthrop). Both Caroline and Jonah were covered with paint.

“Look what we made for you, Mommy,” Caroline said proudly, holding out a piece of paper covered with still-wet paint. “It’s me and Jonah and you and Daddy and Emily and Lil.”

“It’s beautiful, Carrie,” Whitney said sincerely as she reached out to take Emily from Martha.

“Did you help too, Jonah?” she asked a few moments later as she and the kids stepped into the bright sunshine.

Jonah nodded.

“Well, I’m sure your daddy will love it too,” Whitney replied, settling Emily into her car seat and then helping the twins fasten their seatbelts. “I’ll make sure he sees it first thing when he gets home this afternoon.”

“Won’t we be there?” Jonah asked in confusion.

“Actually, you guys are going to see Grammy Eve,” Whitney answered as she pulled out onto the street, heading for her mother’s house. “To spend the night at her house tonight. You know she misses you guys, and she hasn’t seen you in almost a week.”

“Will we get to jump on the trampoline?” Lily asked excitedly.

“And will she make us homemade pizza for dinner?” Caroline chimed in.

Whitney laughed. “I’m sure she will do whatever you want, sweethearts,” she said. “But don’t you three be abusing her sweet nature.”

Just then they pulled into Eve’s driveway, the house at the edge of Harmony she had bought after the scandal of her and Julian broke and TC divorced her. Almost before the engine had stopped, doors were opening and Lily, Jonah, and Caroline spilled out into the driveway. Immediately, the front door opened and Eve appeared, scooping the kids up and kissing them in turn. Whitney followed more slowly with Emily.

“Thanks so much for watching the kids for us tonight,” Whitney said quietly as she handed the baby to her mother. “It means a lot.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Eve replied as she settled the baby on her hip. “You and Ethan deserve to have some quality time together.”

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At five-forty that evening, Ethan turned his key in the lock and pushed open the front door, only to be greeted by sultry saxophone music playing quietly on the stereo. Chuckling to himself, Ethan shrugged out of his suit jacket and stripped away his tie, dropping them, along with his briefcase, onto the sofa. So she had remembered, he mused to himself. This night was going to be a LOT of fun.

On the coffee table, he discovered a note, written in his wife’s sexy, loopy handwriting.

Come on upstairs when you get this note, stud. Don’t keep me waiting…I’m in the mood.

Ethan’s eyebrows quirked upward. She hadn’t called him stud in a very long time—he’d forgotten how much he liked it.

His body already humming at the thought of being alone with his delectable wife, Ethan took the stairs two at a time. Pausing at the door of their bedroom, he could hear the saxophone music building to a crescendo. How appropriate, he thought with a small smile.

Reaching out, he sent the door swinging open and his jaw nearly hit the floor when he saw the scene before him. Whitney, dressed in a very sheer purple silk negligee, was lying on the bed with her head propped in her hand, watching him with smoky eyes. Red rose petals were scattered on the bed and on the floor, and candles lit every corner of the room.

“I got your note,” he said as he came closer to the bed, his arms already itching to hold her.

“Good,” Whitney whispered as she moved into a sitting position and finally stood up, no more than a foot away from him. Reaching up, she began unbuttoning his dress shirt.

“Honey, you really shouldn’t cover up this fantastic body of yours,” she pouted.

“I could say the same for you,” he whispered, his fingers moving to the spaghetti straps of the negligee. Pushing them aside, he bent his head and let his mouth seek her warm neck and smooth, creamy shoulders. Whitney moaned as his lips then traveled up her neck to the sensitive spot behind her ear, then drizzled kisses over her cheeks and jawbones until he reached her mouth.

Once, twice, his tongue stroked her lips, asking her permission. Instantly, Whitney gave it, feeling the electric shock that raced through her as his tongue dueled with hers.

Still wearing his slacks and shoes, as well as his hanging-open shirt, Ethan swept her into his arms and lowered her to the bed. Again, he covered her mouth with his, and used his hands and fingers to show her incredible heights of passion. And, in that moment, Whitney knew without a doubt that, although their love and marriage had been an unexpected development, she wouldn’t give it up for anything in the world.

After it was over, and the two of them were dozing sleepily in each other’s arms, Whitney kissed Ethan’s neck and sighed.

“Happy, love?” he asked, softly running his fingers through the black curly hair at her temples.

“Ecstatic,” she whispered back. “You are the best thing that ever happened to me, Ethan Crane.”

She could feel, rather than see, him smile, and he wrapped his arms more securely around her. “Ditto,” he said with a chuckle. “I couldn’t ask for a better person to share my life with than you.”