Double Trouble: Twelve; The Six Dwarfs & the Re-education of Ethan C
 by Cariad
 

Double Trouble
~Twelve~
Julia sat in the Book Café, waiting for her sister to finish with Ethan. She nursed a latte, ostensibly reading a Cosmo. In reality, she had her eyes on the crowd, picking out who was worthy of her attention. A crowd of people her age bundled through the door and began shucking their outerwear. She noted Nerdly-boy, another boy—too small and with a vacant look in his eyes—and four girls about her age. She watched them as the greasy vacant boy went to the counter with their orders. Nerdly-boy had put his arm around a strawberry-brunette (for lack of a better description), and she stiffened in his embrace, almost as if something foul was touching her skin. The brunette’s eyes followed the Grease Monkey with single-minded lust. Almost like the seven dwarfs, Julia mused. The small one with a dark hair and bright eyes would be Happy. That strawberry-brunette definitely made a Grumpy. Grease Monkey was undoubtedly Dopey. The glasses on Nerdly-Boy mad him a Doc. That blonde with the stringy hair and dark circles looked like a Sleepy. The last one, the dark girl, caused Julia problems. She did not fit into the stereotype of either Bashful or Sneezy. Julia decided on Bashful for the way she held back with Grumpy and did not interact as fully with the others.

Julia smiled at the characterization. The Six Dwarfs. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Nerdly-boy coming over. She might as well help out Holly on this front so she could have more Johnny Hotchkiss!

“Hi Holly,” he said, once again reassuring Julia that they were truly identical, and only those who knew them well could tell them apart.

“Hello Reese,” Julia said and lowered her lashes coyly. She absently played with her spoon in the tall latte mug.

“Still going to see more stars tonight?” he asked, pushing his glasses up his nose.

“About that,” Julia said on a sigh, watching Nerdly-boy’s face fall. She put a reassuring hand on his upper arm. Nerdly-boy was RIPPED! An evil though flitted through her head about finding out where else Nerdly-boy was rock hard. Julia quelled the thought. Nerdly-boy was for Hollis! “I’m going to have to meet you a bit later than planned. There’s this family thing going on tonight, and they’ll miss me if I’m not there. So I’ll have to sneak out later than I originally thought.” Julia ran her fingers down Reese’s arm.

“Th-that will give me time to get my telescope… up” he stammered.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Julia said and stood to kiss him on the cheek. She moved a hand to ‘steady’ herself on his chest, which confirmed her suspicions. Nerdly-boy was a Muscle-man. He hastily excused himself, and it was only through severe self-discipline that Julia kept from bursting out in laughter. Oh, Hollis, she thought, you’ve got to keep this one! Settling back into her magazine, Julia did not notice the evil glare from the strawberry-brunette.
 

* * *

Holly knocked on the wall to Ethan’s office-area. Her half brother looked up, his face haggard. “Holly?” he asked, “or Julie?” He managed a weak smile. “I can never tell you two apart,” he finished lamely.
Holly dropped a pile of scrap paper on Ethan’s desk as she removed her coat. “Ethan?” she asked quietly, “Do you have some tape I can use?” she asked. “I’d like you to help me put these documents back together.”

Ethan fiddled in his desk drawers and pulled out a roll on a cheap dispenser. “What happened to them?” he asked as he took a corner and laid it out as if starting a puzzle.

“Father took them from me and shredded them,” Holly said sheepishly.

“Why would he do a thing like that?” Ethan asked and ripped off a piece of tape as he found a match.

“Well,” Holly stalled, “I wasn’t exactly supposed to have a copy of them.” She reached for the tape to fix a corner. “And Father wasn’t pleased that I was looking all around his desk. When you were dating Gwen, did Grandfather Crane push you?”

Ethan grimaced. “No,” he said finally. “I honestly thought I loved Gwen,” he confessed. “We met at some society function or other. I don’t know if it was contrived, but I liked being around her,” he said, jabbing another piece into his taped up document. “When I was in college, I was beginning to think she was the one. You know I asked her to marry me several times before she said yes. I think it was mostly coincidence that the Hotchkisses and the Cranes wanted to have a business relationship. Why do you ask?”

“Just wondering,” Holly said.

“Did Gwen put you up to this?” he asked. Holly shook her head. Ethan showed more perceptiveness than she gave him credit for, but just like Julian, his radar was facing the wrong way.

“Don’t think that way about Gwen,” Holly protested. “She still cares about you. But no, she did not ‘put me up to this.’ I put myself up to this.” Ethan gave a blank stare. Any spark of intelligence he showed a moment earlier had vanished. “Ever since you and Gwen parted,” Holly said tactfully. Dumped her on her wedding night for her Maid of Honor like an absolute cad was more like it, Holly thought. “Well, Grandfather has been pushing me…” She thought for a moment. “‘Pushing’ is too light of a term,” she amended. “Basically it boils down to this: Grandfather Crane has ordered me to sell myself to Jonathan Hotchkiss—Gwen’s brother—for the sake of the business relationship.”

Ethan rose up in a whirlwind of tape and scraps of paper. “You don’t have to stand for this, Holly,” he yelled. “When they still thought I was a Crane, and I chose Theresa, they accepted it.”

“Yes!” Holly hissed back, “Because starting from the night before your aborted wedding to Gwen, their contingency plan was for me to marry Jonathan! That is the date when Jules and I got our first call from Grandfather, telling us the wedding was off, not to bother coming to Harmony, and for me to free up my ENTIRE calendar until further notice for invitations and the like from Gwen’s brother!” Holly wiped the heel of her hand against her eyes, not liking the wetness she found there. “I’m not blaming you Ethan,” she continued. “I just wanted to know if you went through what I’m going through. The worst part is that Jules is completely willing to be the Crane part of the relationship. She WANTS to be involved with her ‘Johnny Hotchkiss’ like you wanted to be with Gwen, but Grandfather refuses to let her and forces me to do it, making us both miserable!”

Ethan cradled his little sister, not knowing what to say. She did not cry, which was how he was used to handling Theresa’s moods. He could quell tears. Gwen never cried—just once or twice, but she never hid anything from him (aside from the odd surprise party here and there). When Gwen was upset, she shouted, yelled and broke things—and then she felt better.

“I wish I was a Bennett too,” Holly said finally, and collected herself with near miraculous precision. Ethan could hardly tell she had ever lost her composure, and she was filled with unearthly determination. “We should finish putting these things back together, Ethan,” she said. “They concern you, and unlike some other people, I don’t think they should be kept from you.”
 

* * *

Julia saw the two police officers enter. As they came in, they greeted the Six Dwarfs and shooed the kids back outside. Whatever suggestion they gave was met with unparalleled glee. Even Grumpy softened a bit. She scanned the café once more, becoming quite put out with the locals. One would think that there would be more than a lone male of desirable age and appearance. Obviously the pickings were slim in her own age group. Julia also noted that the college-aged crowd was missing. Immediately-post-college was pretty barren in the town as well. There was that young guy that was Ethan’s friend, but he had eyes only for Theresa’s friend Whitney. Julia tapped her fingers on the café table. The one police officer looked young, but like the Grease Monkey, he looked as if he had not washed his hair in over a month. The man he was talking to looked all right, but was far too long and lanky for her tastes. He might look good with Gwen, Julia thought, if Gwen were to ever get over Ethan. Julia’s eyes settled on the other uniformed man. He was probably old enough to be her father, she thought, but there was something familiar about him around the eyes. A good enough subject as any to practice your flirting, Jules, she told herself.
Julia flipped her hair back and sauntered to the counter where the police officers were standing. A girl has to pass the time somehow, she mused. She leaded against the counter, but before she could nab the waitress’s attention, the sound of a full paper cup hitting the ground with a splat filled the air. Some of the hot coffee splashed onto Julia’s shoe. She whirled to the police officer she had set as her prey. His face had gone white.

“You look as if you’ve seen a ghost,” she said, grabbing some napkins to clean her shoe.

“Sam, you all right?” the greasy cop said.
The lanky man also grabbed several napkins and bent to clean up the coffee mess. “Beth, we need another coffee,” he called. “And a mop!”

“Ivy?” the cop addressed as Sam whispered.

“How do you know my mother?” Julia demanded, and then all the clues clicked into place. Suddenly, she could see Ethan’s features in the officer’s face. “Are you Sam Bennett?”

The greasy cop shouldered in. “Chief Bennett, to you,” he sneered.

“Lay off, Luis,” Sam said. “She didn’t do anything.”

“She’s obviously a Crane,” he ranted. “And we all know Cranes are good for nothing. They killed my Sheridan and drove my father from my home!” The Lanky one was restraining the greasy cop.

Julia threw back her shoulders and stood up to the man her aunt had once loved. “How dare you,” she hissed, “imply that you are the only one who ever loved Aunt Sher. Before you make judgement calls, Officer, think perhaps if some of us might still be grieving from her disappearance. And think also if some of us loved her as much as she loved you.” Julia raked him with her eyes, full of disdain. “God only knows what she saw in you,” Julia spat. Sam helped the lanky one restrain Luis as he struggled after Julia.

“She is Ivy’s daughter,” Sam said in amazement. “Hank, take Luis outside. I’ll be out in a minute.”

“Come on, bud,” Hank said to Luis as he brought the officer outside.

Sam and Julia watched them leave. “Yes, I am Sam Bennett,” he said after the other men were gone. “And I think you know how I know your mother,” he said in a fatherly tone of voice. Julia blushed. “I’m sorry about your shoe,” he continued, “but you look remarkably like your mother did when I first met her.”

“So I’ve been told,” Julia said, very shy and recriminating herself for singling out her mother’s lover for her flirting. “And it’s no biggie about the coffee either. There are no stains.”

“You look to be about my daughter’s age, and stuck here alone,” he said, “Some of the Winter Carnival vendors have opened early. I just sent the kids over so they’ll be playing some of the games if you want to join them.”

Julia smiled. “No, I’m waiting here for my sister,” she said, glad Holly provided her an excuse to avoid the Six Dwarfs.

“You’ve got a sister?” Sam asked.

“My twin,” Julia volunteered. She already liked Chief Bennett. If she and Holly couldn’t get their parents reunited, Julia was ready to accept Ethan’s father as a close second. “Holly.”

“And you are?” he asked, grabbing his replacement coffee.

“Julia,” she said proudly. “Named after my daddy. Holly’s named for…”

“Your mother’s favorite Christmas Carol,” Sam guessed. “The Holly and the Ivy. She always told me,” he said, his eyes taking on a far away look, “that she would name her first daughter Holly.”

“Yeah,” Julia agreed, though the constant sounding of her sister’s name on everyone’s lips was grating on her. “Holly’s the older twin.” Sam reached up and ruffled her hair in a fatherly gesture.

“Tired about hearing about Holly all the time?” he asked, lifting Julia’s sullen chin.

“I suppose,” Julia sighed.

Sam Bennett laughed. “You sound just like my daughter, Kay,” he said. “And keep away from Luis. He’s got a sore spot when it comes to the Cranes.”

“And you don’t?” Julia asked, arching an eyebrow, looking for all the world like the Ivy Sam knew when he was younger. He pushed those memories down. He wanted to reconcile with Grace, he reminded himself. Once she had worked things through with David. His sore spot with the Cranes seemed much smaller when there was another man legally married to his wife.

“I settled my beef as far as condemning the family as a whole,” he said. “You seem like a good kid. Don’t let them beat you down.” Sam Bennett turned and walked out of the door. Julia’s mouth gaped. If I can’t have Johnny, she thought, I want one like him!
 

* * *

“I can’t believe this!” Ethan cried, flipping through the tape-heavy documents. “They imply that Theresa is married to Julian!” Holly tried to stay quiet and insignificant. “The baby!” he demanded, “Is it mine or his?”
“I don’t know,” Holly stammered. She had woken the sleeping dragon, and it seemed as though all the skills the Crane money had purchased sending Ethan through law school came to the front.

“Did she sleep with him?”

“As if I want to picture my father sleeping with anyone,” Holly mumbled.

“Mother was right!” Ethan said, ignoring his sister. “She kept alluding that Theresa was keeping something from me.” He ran his fingers through his hair. There was the start of four nearly parallel grooves from where his fingers kept sliding through. “But I was too blind and stupid to figure it out!”

“You always want to believe the best about people,” Holly ventured.

“First she keeps from me my true paternity, and like a fool, I forgave her, and now she conveniently forgets to mention that she is ALREADY MARRIED! To Julian Crane, no less!”

“I’m sure there’s an explanation,” Holly said. “She must have had a good reason for…” she drifted off. “I’m sure she didn’t mean to…”

“How can you not mean to get married!” Ethan stormed, pacing around his desk. “I saw those annulment papers months ago, and I believed her when she said she thought she was signing loan papers! She’s been playing me for a fool!” he hissed. “Has she been doing it all along? Was Gwen right two years ago when she warned that Theresa was out to snag me as a rich husband? Did Theresa plot from the beginning to get a Crane name for herself?”

“Ethan, I…” Holly started, but Ethan cut her off.

“I need to be alone now, Holly,” he snapped. “I need to think through some things.”

Holly gathered her coat. It’s about time you started thinking, she thought bitterly. Quietly, she closed the door to Ethan’s office and walked the half block to the Book Café. Mission Success!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~