The Fine Print - Chapter 21
by yhh
"So where would you like to go, my beautiful wife," Fox asked, leaning
over to steal a kiss while he waited for the traffic to move.
Whitney softly and gently returned his kiss. She let her lips linger. She
had to just in case. "I just want to ride, holding your hand, and smelling
the ocean water."
"That, my love, can be arranged," he responded, as he made some twists
and turns and drove them onto a two lane highway with a picturesque view
of the water.
"Ethan and Gwen started marriage counseling."
"I always thought she was too good for pretty boy."
"What?" Whitney was surprised.
"He never deserved her. Gwen is good people, like Sheridan. Sheridan found
her mate in Luis. A man who only has eyes for her and vice versa. The times
I was allowed home, I could tell Gwen was hopelessly in love with Ethan.
And Ethan, being Ethan, was totally oblivious. I'm pretty sure she never
dated anyone else. She waited for him to see her as more than his best friend,
Sheridan's best gal pal. She patiently waited for him to be ready to marry
her. If Gwen had had her way, she would have married him the day they graduated
from college. She waited and waited and what did she get? A man, who had
a woman who was in love with him, help plan their wedding. She got Theresa
thrown in her face at every turn- -"
"Fox, Gwen is no saint."
"No, she's not. But she has had the patience of a saint waiting for the
man she loves to love her as much as she loves him."
Whitney couldn't disagree with that fact. Gwen had put up with a lot just
like Fox had. Maybe that's why he could empathize with the older woman.
She had put him through a lot and he deserved to hear the whole truth. If
Ethan and Gwen could finally be completely honest with each other, then
it was time for her to do the same. "Nicholas Foxworth Crane, I love you.
I thank you for not giving up on me. For loving me. And for giving me Nicky."
"I love you, Mrs. Crane. Thank you for making all my dreams come true and
loving me."
"I want to be completely honest with you- -"
"You always have, except for when you were denying your feelings. But I
take partial blame for that. I should have been honest with you from the beginning
about my feelings. Chad be damned. If I had- -"
"No- -" She couldn't let him apologize to her for anything or have any
regrets about anything he had done in their relationship after what she
had done to him. The lies she had told. The secrets she'd kept. "I slept
with you the first time because I wanted you and everyone else to think you
were the father of my baby," the dark-haired woman blurted out.
"Baby, take a deep breath. It's okay. I knew."
"You knew?" She hadn't been able to sleep because of her deeds and he knew?
"Honey, unlike you I've been around the block. I know I'm irresistible,
but your sudden seduction put me on red alert. But I didn't care; I wanted
you in my bed. I knew once we became one that you would be mine."
"But the baby's paternity?"
"I knew there was a high probability the baby might not be mine, but I
didn't care. He was a part of you. I would have loved him for that reason
alone. But I also like kids, so I knew I would come to love him for who
he was. I didn't care who his father could be."
Tears streamed down her face. "The nights I worried. The things I did-
-"
Raising her hand to his lips, he kissed her softly. "I should have said
something. I thought you were still reeling from sleeping with Chad, your
former brother. Had I realized you had one sleepless night because of our
son's paternity, I would have said something. Forgive me."
"Oh, Fox, I don't deserve you." She had almost killed their baby.
"Yes, you do. You deserve better, but you're stuck with me for the rest
of your given days."
Her mind was a mass of confusion. Why had it never dawned on her that Fox,
with all of his experience, hadn't seen her plotting miles away? If she
had been honest, if she had trusted him earlier in their relationship, she
could have saved them both a lot of heartache. She thanked God that Nicky
had escaped her unscathed. She would spend the rest of her life making everything
up to both of her Nicholases. "I love you."
"I love- -" Fox tried to slow down so the speeding car could safely pass
him, but the brakes weren't responding. He continuously pumped the brakes,
but nothing happened. And the next thing he knew, he was throwing himself
on top of Whitney to protect her with his life as everything faded to black.