Chapter three

    Gwen volunteered to go back to the resort to tell Julian that his sister was alive and well.  She was sure that she would not get any arguments from any of the other people in the room.  Besides, she was beginning to feel uncomfortable.  As she raced back to the hotel she thought about Antonio and wondered if he was still there.  She found Rebecca and Julian sitting with Bruce in the dining room.  ‘

"Guess what?!" she exclaimed.  "Sheridan was found and she is alive!"  Julian spit out his drink.

"S-Sheridan is alive?" he asked "what, where is she?"

"At the hospital. She was found not far from here."

"Are you sure it was Sheridan?"  Gwen nodded her head yes.
"of course it was Sheridan, I saw her myself." She said.  "Gosh Julian. By the way you are acting, you acted like you don’t want it to be her."

Julian chuckled.  "no, no, it just took me by surprise that’s all."  He said. "of course I want my dear sister to be alive."

Gwen eyed him suspiciously. "You sure have a strange way of acting like it."

Rebecca placed a hand on his arm. "Pookie, why don’t we go to the hospital." She suggested "Sheridan must have the best doctors on her case."

"You’re right as usual, Rebecca." He said.

"Aren’t you coming Gwen?" her mother asked.

"No, Mother."  She answers, "I have to buy the perfect dress for a double wedding." She smirked.

Julian and Bruce exchanged glances "double wedding?" Julian asked
"Yes," Gwen replied "Ethan/Theresa and Luis/Sheridan." Rebecca saw the devious twinkle in her daughter’s eyes.

"Okay Gwen." She said "we will see you later." Gwen hummed as she practically danced to the hotel boutique.

    Sheridan regain consciousness later on that night and the first words out of her mouth was "will you marry me Luis?" Luis said yes and as soon as she was well enough they will get married before they go back to Harmony.  When Gwen visited her the next day, Sheridan burst into tears.

"Hey Sheridan, it’s okay."  Gwen whispered as she wiped the tears from Sheridan eyes. "You’re alive and safe and you’re about to marry the man you love."  Sheridan shook her head.

"Forgive me."  She said "Oh Gwen, I have been an awful friend to you."

"Forgive you for what?" Gwen knew what she was talking about but didn’t want to get into it with her.

"For turning my back on you, when you really needed someone to stand by you when Ethan broke your engagement."  Gwen felt a sharp pain in her heart.

"Oh that." She said "that’s water under the bridge honey."

Sheridan clasped her hand around Gwen’s "I forgive you Sheridan." She said softly.

A tear fell on Sheridan hands. "enough about the past, I hear that there is a wedding to be planned." Sheridan beamed.  "you are still my maid of honor." Gwen smiled
"I wouldn’t have it any other way."
"It’s going to be a double wedding." Gwen nodded.
"I can take it." She said

    Gwen and Sheridan heads were together when Luis entered the room

"Hey."  He said, "what’s this all about?"  Sheridan beamed when she saw him "Hello Gorgeous." She greeted "Gwen and I were  discussing our wedding plans."

Luis smiled.  Gwen was so happy to see Sheridan’s face radiant.  She deserved to be happy.  "How about three days from today?"  he asked, " is that good enough for you?"
"Yes it is."

Gwen left the lovebirds to themselves.

    For the days leading up to the wedding everyone was busy with plans, Theresa had to admit that Gwen was being extra nice to her.  Gwen explained that she was doing it for Sheridan; to make sure that this wedding will not be ruined like the last one.   Rebecca had talked Julian into getting married on the same day. Sheridan was released from the hospital the day before her wedding.  Gwen treated her, Theresa and her mother to a small get together for ladies only.  At first Theresa and Whitney refused to go and Sheridan wasn’t sure if she wanted to see Rebecca after all the trouble she caused between her and Luis.  But Gwen convinced the women it is time to put all the bad things behind them and to begin on a new note.  The dinner was pleasant, everyone was civil toward each other, which was a good thing.  No catfights or name-calling.

    "Didn’t you notice how agitated Theresa got every time the word wedding was mentioned."?  Rebecca remarked as she and Gwen were on their way up to their suite.  "It looked as if she was about to break out in hives." Rebecca threw back her head and laughed.
"Really Mother.", she said "maybe it just nerves." She jokes, "after all it isn’t every day a woman is about to commit bigamy." The Hotchkiss women burst out laughing.
 
    Theresa met Julian in the seclusion of his room after everyone went to bed. "Mr. Crane what are we going to do?" she whispered. "if anyone founds out about our so-called marriage we are finished!"

"Don’t you think that I know that?", he whispered harshly "not only will Luis and Ethan kill me, but Rebecca - that woman will skin me alive!"
Theresa began to cry, "Oh, I can’t marry Ethan tomorrow; it wouldn’t count."

"Yes it will Theresa, I already told you that the Justice of the Peace will keep his mouth shut and my attorney will straighten out this mess very discreetly once he gets here."  Julian assured her. "So go ahead and marry ethan."

"Are you sure that your attorney can handle this quietly?"

"Of course, my dear girl." Theresa gave him a quick hug and left.

    She ran into Whitney on her way back to her room.
"Whit, you scared me." She said

"Tell me that you didn’t go to see Julian." Whitney asked. Theresa looked away .

"Well……"

Whitney shook her head. "Theresa when are you going to learn?" she yelled, Theresa pulled her into her room. "Theresa answer me."

"Shhhh keep your voice down Whit, you don’t want to wake up the whole floor."

"Well I am waiting."

Theresa sat down on the bed.
" I just wanted Julian’s assurance that everything will be alright for tomorrow.

" I still can’t believe that you are going through with this wedding, Theresa. It is not right."

" Julian assured me that no one will ever know that we were married. He paid off the Justice of the Peace, so he won’t say anything."

" Theresa, Girl, why don’t you ever think? You know that Ethan is going to find out about this sooner or later."

" But, when he does, we will legally be married by then.", Theresa said. " That’s if he ever finds out, and he won’t because it’s fate for us to be together forever and ever." She began to stare off into space, thinking of her marriage to Ethan. " Everything will be just fine."

Whitney shook her back into reality.  "Snap out of it!" she said "Can’t you not think about Ethan for a few minutes?"

"I can’t help it Whitney, I love him so much…..i’ll die without him, just die."  She began to cry.  Whitney rolled her eyes and handed her a Kleenex.

"Theresa, Honey I know how much you love Ethan, but you have to grow up. Bigamy means jail time sweetheart."

Theresa smiled "Oh Whitney, stop being so negative. It will never happen. Fate will never allow that to happen."

Whitney sighs "I give up Theresa." She said, "you never listen to me in the first place."

"And if I did, I wouldn’t have Ethan would I?" she replied, "that stupid Gwen she could never stand up next to me."

"Well I don’t know Theresa, she came awfully close to taken your head off with that baseball bat."  Theresa closed her eyes and feigned sleep.
"I don’t want to think about that right now." She said "Gwen just didn’t understand fate."

Whitney tucked her in bed "Well, I’ll see you in the morning."

Theresa smiled "I just can’t wait to be Mrs. Ethan Winthrop."

"Uh-huh Honey. Mrs. Ethan, I don’t have a job-no place to stay- broke as can be Winthrop." Whitney whispered under her breath as she closed the door behind her.