The Fine Print - Chapter 4
by yhh
She couldn't stay here any longer. She had to leave. Whitney Grace Russell
threw her favorite pieces into a duffle bag, along with a few interchangeable
articles of clothing. She didn't want the bag to be too heavy, on the off
chance the baby she carried was Fox's, she didn't want to endanger the baby's
life.
Shoving a few items off her dresser into the bag, she took a last look
around her room to see if she missed anything. Memories flooded her all
at once. She had lived in this room for as long as she could remember. In
the photo album in the duffle bag were pictures of this same room decorated
as her nursery. She would be sad to leave it behind, but it was time. The
girl who lived in this room didn't exist anymore. The girl who lived in this
room no longer had parents who slept together right down the hallway. The
girl no longer had a happy, loving sister sleeping next door to her. Instead
this house was filled with anger, hurt, sadness, betrayal, and perversion.
Her father every night took his ex-sister-in-law to bed. She slept with and
was possible pregnant with her brother's- - her former brother's baby.
She couldn't wrap her head around the fact that Chad was no longer her
brother and Ethan was. Ethan, Theresa's Ethan, was her brother. Shaking
her head, she made her way to her bed. Theresa. Her Resa. The mess her best
friend- - sister had gotten herself into blew her mind. She never told Resa,
but she had always thought Gwen and Ethan were cute together. They were the
stuff, her favorite romance books were about, childhood friends who found
their one in each other. She had hoped the same thing happened to her and
Noah, but it was not meant to be. Maybe if she had said something to Theresa
earlier before the crush turned into something more, something uglier, dangerous,
she wouldn't feel guilty now. And maybe, just maybe, Resa wouldn't have
made the choices she made.
Tears wet her face, but instead of wiping them she cried harder. What a
disaster her life turned out to be. Once she was her dad's hope to make it
to Wimbedelon. And now her dad barely spoke to her because of her relationship
with Fox. Her newly discovered aunt was on the fast track to becoming her
step-mother. Her sister didn't know if she should hate their mother or admit
that she still loved her and missed her like crazy. Her best friend was looking
at life in prison, once you totaled up the maximum each of her charges carried.
Her mother was in love, having an affair- - hell, she didn't know what her
mother was doing with the man, she had been taught her whole life not to
like or trust. The man she was pregnant for was no longer her brother, but
the new knowledge didn't make her feel less disgusted with herself. And now
that she thought about it, she had once had a crush on Ethan herself. Shivers
ran through her body. What was she? Some incest freak.
Fox deserved better. He deserved to be with someone who wasn't an incest
whore. Someone who was beautiful, intelligent, and pure. She was dirty.
She was disgusting. He should be with someone who didn't lie to him every
second they were together. Nicholas Foxworth Crane deserved better and she
was going to make sure he was well rid of her. Picking up her bag, she got
off of her bed and left her childhood room behind.
Pausing in the living room, she looked around remembering the good times,
she, her mother, her father, and sister had. The slumber parties with Resa,
Jessie, Kay, and Paloma with Noah and Miguel sneaking over to see what they
were doing. With a sigh, she opened the front door and left that life behind.
So consumed by her thoughts, she ran directly into a rock hard chest.
"Baby, where are you going?" Fox asked.
Accepting his help, she stared into his face puzzled.
"Your bag. We must be on the same page, I was going to ask you to go away
to the cabin with me for a few days just to get away from all this madness.
But you knew me so well, you were all ready to go."
Whitney didn't know what to say. She had this plan. Damn him for ruining
her plan. He was supposed to be at work for another two hours. She fought
to contain her rage and anger. Why couldn't anything be easy for her?
"Whit, what's wrong?" They really needed to get away from Harmony. Maybe
away from their family problems, she would open up to him and tell him what
the problem was.
She had two choices, she could tell him the truth. The complete, unvarnished
truth. Or she could just shake her head and go along with his plans. "I'm
tired. Some time away would be nice." The lies just kept coming, one on
top of another. How had her mother lived all those years like this? She
could feel her mind slowly slipping away. Her breaking point was coming
and she didn't know how to stop it.
Fox looked into the face of the woman he loved more than life itself and
he knew she was lying. Why couldn't she be open with him? Had the scars
from her relationship with Chad made her incapable of loving someone, fully
and completely? If so, what did that mean for their baby? Would she be able
to love him or her? Damn, he shouldn't have played games with her. Or joined
Theresa in that silly jealousy plot of hers. He should have swept in and
took Whitney from Chad, instead of playing the gentleman. Ushering his beautiful,
pregnant girlfriend to the car, he vowed to get to the bottom of the problem
and eradicate any traces of Chad from her life. He was through playing Mr.
Nice Guy.