Chap 6 Aftershocks

Theresa woke up in Chad’s bed. She looked at him sleeping on the floor. Sure her situation was terrible but she did bring part of it on her self. Chad did nothing to deserve the cards that he had been dealt. He was an innocent victim of a lie told 22 years ago. It was then that Theresa had her first revelation.

He looked up at her watching him. " I am not sleeping. I was listening to you snore and when it stopped I figured you were awake."

He smiled rolling over on his back his hands behind his head. He caught the pillow she threw at him before it hit him in the face.

"Nice aim." He half smiled.

"I do not snore." Theresa giggled.

"If you say so." He digressed

"Chad listen I want to." He cut her off.

"No need to thank me. You just take care of yourself and remember you are worth living for. I am always here when you need a friend and I will watching you." He threw the pillow back at her.

"Well I better go mama is probably worried sick. I will call you later ok." She gets up fixing her appearance.

"Ok I will see you later." He walks her out and they see Whitney who was leaving her house. She approached them feeling a tinge of jealousy that made her ashamed. He looked at her looking at her feet scolding himself for the love he still felt. The love once thought to be true.

"Well what is this. A new Crane prince and suddenly Cinderella has lost her shoe. Again."

"Whit please it is not like that. Chad saved my life that’s all."

Whitney looked at her. She could use her best friends ear right now.

"What?" was all she could manage.

"If you walk me home we can talk about it."

Whitney agreed mainly because the tension was so thick it was suffocating all of them. She could not even look at him. She sat on Theresa’s bed listening to her tale.
"I felt like that last night. I must have been on the ground for hours before Ethan spotted me. Yes Ethan."

She watched Theresa’s face light up. The light faded once the questions started rushing into her head but she continued to listen.

"He listened to me rant and rave. Then we talked about you. He is really hurt and feels betrayed. He still loves you but I do not know about forgiveness." Whitney spoke honestly.

"Seeing you and Chad together stirred up envy in. That’s really sick. I hate myself for still having feelings for him. How can I even look at him again? We will never be a normal family." Whitney bit back her tears.

"Whit you are human. You cannot just turn your feelings off as if they never existed. I wish I could say things will work out but only time will tell. The events have to play themselves out."

Theresa hugged her friend not knowing what else to say.

TC turned the key to his home. He found Eve on the bed sleeping with a picture of the four of them in her hands. Tears stained her cheeks and he wanted to comfort her but he was conflicted.

"Oh sweetness" His voice a whisper.

"There is a great part of me that does not want to give up on us, on our family. The girls need us now more than ever. If only you would have given me the chance with the truth. You are the love my life Evelyn and you will always be."

"And you will always be mine baby." Eve sat up looking at him.

"TC I could not relive those memories. The shed and its meaning are very painful for you. I still do not know the meaning after 20 years of marriage. I know that you are hurting and angry. You may not want to forgive me but you still love me. Know this TC I refuse to give up on us. Keeping the truth from you was wrong and I wanted to tell you but I could not risk losing you. I knew I did not deserve you but I spent the rest of my life trying to." She sniffed wiping away her tears. She got up to go to him. He stood there letting her read his emotions.

"I I it’s just hard for me to look at you the same way. I have been haunted with visions" He clenched his Jaw.

"Eve I do not even know you anymore."

"I am the woman you got to know and love. Yes I had a life before I met you. One that I was not proud of and I spent time in the gutter. I did not want to go there Again TC I refused to. For a while I felt cold. Like I did not deserve to be loved or could love for that matter. My heart was empty until I met you, you helped me find that part of me again."

She hugged him crying and he hugged her tightly his own tears flowing into her hair.

"TC I just can not lose you. Can’t our love be strong enough to survive this? It can if you let it." He pulled away.

"I just don’t know if. I just don’t know. I came to see the girls but I can see they are not in. I will come back later."

He left wondering if their love was strong enough. Eve on the other hand knew it was. He saw Grace on the way out.

"How are you TC?" She looked at him eyes full of concern.

"As good as can be expected." He said more to himself.

"She loves you TC. You and the girls are her life. I know how you feel; I have been through it. I loved Sam enough to accept that he had a life before me. I was able to forgive him for deceiving me. One mistake, is it really worth all the years spent loving each other? Just think about that. She walked into the house noticing that it was dim. This family had a lot of struggles ahead