Unexpected Happenings, Chapter 20
 
 

Gwen sat on the bed, and watched as her mother brought more and more of Julian's clothes out of his close. She had gotten some bleach out of the storage closet and was pouring it on the clothes. Then, she was tossing the clothes out the window, when she wasn't taking a pair of scissors to them.

Once his closets were empty, Rebecca found herself a bat, and began smashing up everything in Julian's room.

" How…dare…him…that sonuvabitch…he's…gonna ….wish…he..had never been born!", Rebecca yelled in between bashes.

Rebecca was like a tornado. She left no stone unturned in Julian's room. His drawers were tossed. His furniture, overturned. Every mirror smashed by the bat. The beautiful glass covering his enormous shower? Too big for a bat, but, a gun did the trick as Rebecca discovered when she shot out the window and door to the shower.  There wasn't anything of worth left in Julian's room when she was finished.

As she stood in the middle of her destruction, she began to weep.

" Why, Gwen? Why would he do this to me? Why would he humiliate me like this? Why? How could he think that I would stand for it? I am going to destroy the man. What am I if I don't become Mrs. Julian Crane? I…I'm a nobody!"

Gwen gets up and hugs her mother. " Mother, you're not a nobody. You're my mother. You're one of the strongest women I know. You don't even know the truth, Mother. Maybe Julian got an important business call and he had to attend to it. "

" Gwen, it was our wedding! If it was business, I would have had the minister cut it short, and we would have had a quickie. I understand all about money. No, this is Julian Crane trying to humiliate me. Well , he won't get away with it. I risked everything to become his wife. He is NOT going to be rid of me. I WILL be his wife."

Gwen looked at her mother. She knew that she was hurt. More hurt than she would say. She knew her mother had flaws, but, she hated seeing like this. She would be so embarrassed by all her friends. Gwen knew what that was like after Ethan had dumped her; she had gotten through it, by realizing that those people didn't mean much anyway. Plus, she had a career that helped her through the darkest times. Her mother's entire world was wrapped up in being a 'Mrs.'. She used to be Mrs. Jonathan Hotchkiss. Then, she was going to be Mrs. Julian Crane. Now, she was a 'nobody' in their world. Gwen knew this was painful for her mother, and just held her and let her cry.
 
 

Pilar and Theresa were in the kitchen, eating some dessert and listening to the radio.

" Mama, do you believe it? Julian stood up Rebecca?"

Pilar laughs. " No. I never thought this would happen. I have to say, couldn't have happened to a nicer person."

" Amen, Mama. I know that it must have been hilarious. Rebecca was counting on becoming Mrs. Crane."

" She certainly was. She destroyed many lives in order to do it."

Theresa nodded sadly. " I know. That woman is evil."

Theresa doesn't get to continue with her thought because the backdoor opens and Whitney comes in. Pilar and Theresa can see that Whitney is crying. They immediately go to her.

" Whitney? What's wrong?", Theresa asked.

Whitney just continues to cry, and they lead her to the Lopez-Fitzgerald living room. They all sit down on the couch, and Pilar hugs Whitney. She holds her to her bosom for a long time. Finally, the tears subside, and Whitney separates herself from Pilar. She looks into Pilar's eyes and asks, "  You know about my mother and father, don't you?"

Pilar sadly nods. Theresa looks at Pilar confused.

" How could he, Mrs. Lopez-Fitzgerald? How could he? How could MY father sleep with another woman and get her pregnant?"

Theresa's eyes nearly pop out of her head. " Your father did that?"

Whitney nodded and burst into tears once again. Pilar let her cry some more.

" I….I can't believe he did it. How could he hurt us like that?"

" Whitney, your father loves his family."

" Don't say that? People who love their family don't commit adultery."

" People make mistakes, Whitney."

" Mistakes? Forsaking your marriage vows. Throwing away your family? Getting another woman pregnant? Our family is over. "

" Have you talked to your mother?", Pilar asked.

Whitney shook her head. " She wasn't there by the time Simone and I returned.  I don't know where she is. I hope she's ok." Whitney got a very worried look on her face, that Pilar noticed.

" Whitney, I'm sure your mother just needed time alone to get over the shock. She's fine." Pilar said a silent prayer to try and reinforce what she had just told Whitney.

" I…..I can't go home. I can't stay in that house? May I stay here?"

Pilar hugged Whitney. " Of course you can. You can stay here to get your bearings. Don't worry about anything. You can depend on us for support."

Theresa nodded, " Of course you'll stay here, Whit. How many times have you been there for me? I'll be here for you. I promise."
 

Julian Crane stood at the toaster. It had been ages since he'd actually cooked for himself. He almost thought he'd forgotten. The only time he had actually learned how to cook for himself was during his time with Eve, and they used to share meals in her little apartment. He realized then that the omelets were one of the best inventions of man. Once Eve had fallen asleep, Julian went down the mountain to the store and asked the grocer what would be needed to stock up for a few days. He had bought the groceries and had even unpacked him. He waited for his toast to come up. He did know how to use the coffeemaker, thanks to Suzanne, and he was drinking the fruits of his labor. Once his toast came up, he took them both and sat down on the couch in the living room that he had moved  directly in front of the fireplace.  The fire was roaring.

Nibbling on his toast, Julian thought about the events of the past night. They had driven to the cabin in silence, apart from Eve's quiet sobbing. Once inside, Julian knew that she needed some rest. He looked through the closets, and found her an old sweatshirt of Ethan's and some thick socks. He made her put them on, and then put her in bed. She didn't say anything, but, cried, and held onto his hand. So, he sat by the bed, holding her hand, until she drifted off to sleep.  He slept in another bedroom.

In all of the time he had known Eve, he'd never seen her like this. She couldn't speak about what had upset her. He knew that he had to give her  time and space.

He then thought about what he had left: Rebecca at the altar. Julian thought he would feel something about it, but, to be honest, he didn't. He knew that she was furious, but, he didn't care. He was going to marry her, but, he didn't love her. And, she certainly wasn't more important than being there when Eve needed him. He would talk to Rebecca when he got back to town; it wasn't like she was going anywhere. He knew she would never leave the Crane Mansion. She would claw her way, tooth and nail.  He knew Rebecca's ego was bruised, but she wasn't nursing a broken heart. She wanted his money; not his heart. She wouldn't even care if he didn't have one.

Julian sipped on his coffee, and then saw a figure appear in the doorway.

" Well, good morning." , he said, slightly smiling at her.  " I have some coffee and toast ready for you. If you want it, an omelet too."

Eve shook her head.

" Ok.  I'll be right back."

Julian disappeared in the kitchen and returned with a cup of coffee. " Heavy on the cream, light on the sugar? Did I remember right?"

Eve took the coffee and nodded. She sat down on the couch across from Julian.

" Do you want to tell me what's going on? What happened, Eve?"

Eve thought about it for a long time. She sipped her coffee quietly. She looked into the fire. Julian put a blanket on her, and she gave him her coffee as she cocooned herself in the blanket. She took back her coffee, and stared some more into the fire.

" My life fell apart, Julian.", she said quietly.

" Last night I found out that my family was a lie. That I had been fooling myself. That I had twisted myself in and out, and it didn't make a damn bit of difference."

Eve was silent for a few more moments and then began again.

" TC had an affair."

There was silence and Eve looked up to see Julian genuinely shocked. He shook his head and said,

" No, Eve. There must be some mistake. Your pious, self-righteous husband? I think he's a boor and borders on insane, but, have an affair? That's not his style. You just misunderstood something that some gossips said."

Eve laughed. " I'm sure TC would get a chuckle out of listening to the one man he hates most in the world actually defending him. Julian, if it had been gossip, I WOULDN'T have believed it. I found out when TC told me."

" Told you? What kind of man TELLS his wife he's had an affair if he hasn't been caught?" Julian rolled his eyes. " Idiot."

" Actually, Julian, I don't think it has anything to do with stupidity. I think it has everything to do with the fact that he got the woman pregnant, and you can't hide that."

Eve looked over and saw Julian shocked again. " Not only was he stupid enough to cheat on YOU, but, he couldn't even be careful?" Julian shakes his head. " What a rank amateur."

Eve laughed. " This is hilarious. You look down on TC, not because he cheated on me, but because he was careless?"

" Eve, I do look down on him because he cheated on you. I didn't think TC was THAT stupid. I know I was foolish enough to let you go. I never dreamed that anyone lucky enough to have your heart as he's had would throw it away for a roll in the hay."

" Well, that's how it is."

" No wonder you were so upset. I'm sorry, Eve. I really am."

" You see, I'm sitting here wondering what I did wrong? How couldn't I have seen that my husband was so dissatisfied with our marriage that he felt he had to sleep with my best friend."

" What did you say?"

" Oh, I guess that is the best part. The woman TC had an affair with and impregnated is my best friend, Grace."

" Tomato Soup Cake Grace? Come on, Eve. She probably doesn't even watch 'R' rated movies!"

" She doesn't have to. She's living one. Yes, it's Grace."

Julian shook his head. " I'm trying to envision two of the most morally superior acting people I've ever met involved in committing adultery."

" Well, in less than 9 months, the proof will be here.", Eve said bitterly.

" I'm sorry. This must hurt like hell. I never took TC for a moron. An idiot. I had my problems with him, but, the one thing I was always sure of was that he hadn't made the mistakes I had made: he had never hurt you."

" Well, the two of you are on an even keel right now, because he's hurt me in spades." Eve began to cry. Julian held her in his arms and let her weep. Once she pulled out of the embrace, she looked up at Julian. " I have no idea what I'm going to do."

" Are you going to forgive him?"

Eve shook her head. " I can't. It's one thing for him to have had an affair. I don't have it in me to forgive him since there's a baby on the way. This hurts on so many levels. My marriage and family have been destroyed. A friendship that I've counted on for 20 years is over. And, I realized when I woke up that I had been so wrapped up in my own pain that I didn't even remember my girls. And, my pain has now doubled. Simone and Kay have been friends since they were put in the same playpen when they were a few months old. This is probably going to destroy their relationship. Plus, TC's relationships with his daughters. Kay is my goddaughter. That relationship will never be the same. I can't believe it's all gone. And, I know that Sam and TC's relationship is over. A relationship they've had since they were in kindergarten. So, a lot of things have been destroyed by this one act.  So, no Julian. I can't forgive him. I don't see a way to forgive him."

" What are you going to do?"

" I think I have to get a some more rest, and then I'm going to go back to Harmony. I left my children in the lurch, and right now, I'm the only parent that they will think they can depend on."

" I'll offer you the use of my jet. You could take the girls anywhere you want."

Eve smiled and reached out to touch Julian's face. " That's kind of you, Julian. But, now isn't the time to run away. I have to make sure that they are stable. Even if I'm not, I have to be a rock for them."

" You really are a terrific mother. Our son missed something special in you."

"You think? I…I was so young back then, Julian."

Julian shook his head. " No. Doesn't matter. You fought everyone for our son, Eve. Including me. You would have cherished our son. He would have been so lucky."

" Thank you, Julian. I'm going to get some more rest. When I get back to Harmony, all hell probably will break loose. I want to thank you, Julian. Thank you for being here for me when I needed it the most."

" It's about time that I finally got it right, don't you think?"

Eve left the living room and went back to the bedroom, while Julian stared into the fire, trying to process what he'd just been told.