Chapter two

    Rebecca went in search of Julian to finalize their wedding plans; Gwen went up to their room to treat herself to a hot bubble bath.  After her bath she called down to the dinning room to make herself a reservation for dinner.  She put on a sexy black gown that showed off her best assets,  As she put on her grandmother’s pearl choker, she checked herself once more before leaving the room. She smiled.  "oh yeah."  She said to herself "I am looking good."  She picked up her little black purse and left the room.

    Heads turned as she entered the dining room.  She greeted everyone as she strutted to her table.  She ordered a glass of white wine while she waited for her dinner of smoked salmon and asparagus.  Several men at the bar was staring at her and whispering amongst themselves.  Bruce the lech was also at the bar, and was about to approach her when a handsome young stranger with deep brown eyes came to her rescue.  He saw the relieved look in her eyes as he sat down besides her.

"Mind if I join you?"  he asked smiling.  His smiled housed two deep dimples.  Gwen returned the smile.  "be my guest."  She answered.  Gwen glanced at the bar.  Bruce went back to his seat.

"I thought that you wouldn’t want to be bother with that old man." He said.

"You thought right."  She said.  "that’s one of my father leering friends that prey on young women."  The man chuckled.

"With you dressed that way, any man would have leering thoughts."

Gwen began to blush.
"I don’t know if I should take that as a compliment or slap your face." , she said.

The handsome stranger grinned
"take it as a compliment."

  Gwen didn’t know what to say. It had been a long time since a man had complimented her on her looks.

    She didn’t realized how famished she was until her dinner arrived.
"Looks good."  He said.

Gwen wasn’t sure if he meant her or the salmon. "the food."  He said as if he read her mind.  Gwen nodded in agreement.
 

"If we are going to be dinner companions we should at least know each other first names."  he said, he reached out a manicured hand to meet hers "Antonio."  He said "Tony for short."

Gwen placed her hand gently in his and shook it softly.  "Gwendolyn."  She greeted "Gwen for short."

‘Oh God, how corny.’ She said to herself.

Antonio laughed at her joke.  She knew that he was laughing to be polite because that joke was really lame.  Antonio called the waiter over to the table and ordered the same thing Gwen was having and for him to bring over a bottle of the finest white wine the resort has to offer.

"Yes Sir." The waiter exclaimed, knowing that he got a man with money to spend at his station.  He disappeared and came back quickly with the bottle of wine.

    Antonio gave the waiter a hundred dollar tip.  The waiter thanked him and walked away happy.  "I use to wait tables." He explained "so I know what a good tip means to a hard working man."  Gwen tried not to look impressed but she was.  So her mystery man wasn’t afraid to work for a living.  To Gwen’s surprise the dinner with Antonio was very pleasant.  He was very attentive and hung on to her every word.  He glanced at her hands.
"I see no rings."

Gwen looked down at her unadorned fingers.  "no rings on your fingers."
 

"You’re right."  She agreed "unfortunately."  Antonio sensed the hurt in her voice but decided not to ask.

"Well, he is stupid.", he said.

"Who?" she asked

"The stooge that dumped you."  Gwen giggled.
"You are so right."  She agreed and began to giggle harder as she realized that Theresa was married to someone else.

"Wow, it doesn’t take much to make you laugh huh?"  Gwen whole face lit up   She placed a hand over his.
"If only you knew." She said.

    Once dinner was over Antonio asked her if she was too stuffed to go  dancing.  She was about to say no but said yes instead.  She had nothing better to do, her mother was probably with Julian by now and she didn’t want to spend a lonely night up in her hotel room thinking about what Ethan and Theresa were doing.  She grabbed him by the hand.
"Let’s go." She said as they left the dinning room hand in hand.

As they slow danced together she stared intently at his face.  She could have sworn that she had seen him before but she couldn’t remember where.
"Yes?"  he asked.  "Do I have something on my chin?"
"No." she answered, "It’s just that you look so familiar; have we met before?"

Antonio smiled showing off his gorgeous dimples again.
"No."  he replied. "Believe me Gwen, if I had met you before I would have never forgotten a  woman like you."  Gwen felt herself blushing again.

"You are so good for a woman’s ego." She grinned. This time it was his time to blush.

    Late the next day, Gwen was awoken by the bright sunshine in her face.  She smiled as she thought about her handsome stranger.  She hadn’t felt this way in a long time.  After all that time they had spent together, she still doesn’t know his last name.  ‘oh well.’ She sighed ‘its not like I’m going to meet him again.’ She stretched the sleep from her body and smiled.  She was smiling that smile when her mother came into the room.
"that’s what I like to see."  Rebecca said.  Gwen giggled as she went into the bathroom to shower.

    After a late brunch Gwen went into the resort lobby to see if anyone had heard any news about Sheridan.  It was reported that a woman was found on the island about a few miles from the resort and was taken to the hospital.  She hopped into a taxi and went to the hospital where she was greeted with hostile stares.
"Gwen what are you doing here?" Ethan asked.  She held up her head and told him that she has as much right to be there after all Sheridan is her best friend.  Theresa dugged her claws deeper into Ethan’s arm.

"Oh Ethan, hold me."  She whined "I hope that it is Sheridan for Luis’ sake."
"Oh Theresa, you are so caring."  Ethan babbled "no wonder I love you."

Gwen almost gagged as they began to kiss.  She was tempted to spill Theresa’s secret when she saw the gold band on her finger.

"Wouldn’t it be great if it was Sheridan and you can have the double wedding here in Bermuda?"  Gwen asked.  She saw by the way Ethan was acting, he was warming up to the idea.  "After all the wedding party is here."  Gwen smiled as Theresa began to twitch.

"I agree with Gwen."  Ethan said " we can get married here then have a church wedding when we get home, how about it Theresa?" Theresa was struck dumb.  She looked at Whitney.

"Well let’s just wait to see if this woman is Sheridan before we talk about a double wedding." Theresa answered

"Yeah, Theresa is right." Whitney agreed, "let’s just wait and see if this woman is Sheridan."  Gwen saw the worried exchanged between Whitney and Theresa.  "The little bitch." She said to herself.  "I wonder how she will get herself out of this one."

    The doctor came into the waiting room; he told them that the woman was unconscious so he didn’t know who she was.  Luis asked if he could go into the woman’s room; maybe it was Sheridan.  The doctor gave his okay and told him that the woman was in room 43.   Luis took off running down the hall, he took a deep breath before he opened the door to room 43 and braced himself.  In the waiting room everyone said a small prayer.  He opened the door slowly and entered the room.  A curtain surrounded the bed.  His heart pounded in his ear as he pulled back the curtain and looked down at the face of the unconscious woman.  And let out a piercing scream.

    Gwen, Chad, Theresa, Ethan, and Whitney heard the scream and raced to the room. Ethan burst into the room with the rest following closely behind.  There was Luis crying as he held Sheridan in his arms.
"She’s alive." , he cried "she’s alive" tears began to flow from everyone.

"Oh Ethan." Theresa cried, "it must be fate." Ethan held her close to him.
"It looks like we are going to have that double wedding after all." Ethan said. Theresa closed her eyes and smiled.  "Oh yes, Ethan, yes." She mumbled.  Whitney rolled her eyes at her but Theresa ignored her.  Gwen was taking it all in.  It was just a matter of time.