The Fine Print - Chapter 16
by yhh
"Mommy, I want to be Nate," Ethan-Martin requested, trying to rouse his
mother from her stupor.
"Huh? What about Nate, honey?" Gwen asked, trying to pretend she had been
paying attention to her son instead of thinking about how his father had
once again left her bed after calling out Theresa's name in his sleep again.
Alexis had asked her if she was ready to move forward with the divorce. A
part of her had been holding off. A part of her was reluctant to leave. She
had fallen in love with this family Eve was working overtime to create. It
was the family she wanted her children to have.
She knew Eve had a tough job bringing all these damaged Crane children
together with her two daughters who were still recovering from the end of
their parents' marriage, but with Sheridan's help, a semblance of a family
was coming together. She had noticed that Regan's tongue wasn't as sharp
as usual. Though she didn't think the younger woman was ever going to be
little Miss Sunshine and Happiness. Regan was the direct opposite of her
Aunt Sheridan though the younger Crane looked to be putting down roots here
for the first time since Ivy carted her off to boarding school at age six.
Quinn had announced her plans to transfer to Harmony University to reacquaint
herself with her siblings, new nieces and nephews, her metamorphosing dad,
and her just-a-matter-of-time step-mother.
If only things were different. She could stay. She would stay. Her children
could grow up knowing all their aunts' and uncles' likes and dislikes. They
could grow up loving their grandpa who had been tamed by their amazing grandma.
They could go shopping and run wild at their Nana's. And go with her occasionally
on her weekly visits to the Crane cemetery to lay flowers on their sister's
grave. Also in that fantasy life, she would have a loving, faithful husband,
who wanted and only needed her. She would be enough for her man. But that
wasn't the world they lived in. It wasn't a world she had truly been familiar
with since Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald entered their lives during her and Ethan's
first engagement. In order to raise happy children, she needed to be happy
and if she stayed married to Ethan, she would slowly but surely die. It
was time. It was- -
"Mom," Ethan-Martin shouted.
"Yes, sweetie." Looking into her son's brown eyes, she apologized. "I'm
sorry, baby. Now tell me about Nate."
"I want to be Nate."
Had she missed a huge hunk of his conversation? See Ethan was even affecting
her time with her children. But not for much longer. "You want to be Nate?"
Ethan-Martin nodded.
"How come, sweetie?"
"Cause the babies got new names," he pouted.
Oh, her little man was jealous. She would have to make a special point
to spend more time with him separate from the twins. "And you like Nate?"
Once again the pre-schooler nodded. "And all the letters are in my name."
"That's right. Who helped you?"
"Aunt Simone. She said when she was younger she wanted a new name, but
only Grandma would call her by it."
"Oh." Gwen would have to thank her new sister-in-law for all the time she
was spending with Ethan-Mart- -oops, Nate. "Okay, Nate. What would you like
to do today?"
Nate's eyes widened. "You're not going to be with the twins?"
"Not right now. We've got to celebrate your new name."
"Can Daddy come, too?"
"Why don't we see if Daddy will join us for lunch, okay?"
"'Kay."
"Wipe your mouth and go get some snacks from the kitchen while I get our
sweaters."
"Yippee! I love you, Mommy."
Gazing into the brown eyes that were identical to Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald's,
Gwen only saw her son, Nate's, love shining through. "I love you, too, sweetie.
Ready, set go!" And they both jumped up from the table to run their errands.
She couldn't live like this for another moment. Every way she turned she
was hurting people. Fox, her parents, Simone, Chad. But Fox most of all.
She lay next to him night after night. She heard the plans he would tell
the baby when he thought she was asleep. Plans of the future, plans of a
family living happily ever after. And it was all fake. They were all lies!
Every word she, Whitney Russell, spoke to the man she supposedly loved was
a lie. Nicholas Foxworth Crane had changed his playboy lifestyle to be with
her. He was the most loving, caring, faithful man she could ever ask for.
In so many ways, he reminded her of her dad. She had always wanted to marry
a man like her dad. Well, minus the temper part. And she had found it in
Fox. But why couldn't he have come along first? Why wasn't he the man she
had given her virginity to? Why couldn't he be the man who was her first
and only lover? Why couldn't she have admitted her feelings to Fox before
things went too far with Chad? Why had she been so stupid and so stubborn?
With all her heart she loved Fox. She loved him enough to set him free.
When you love someone so deeply
They become your life
It's easy to succumb to overwhelming fears inside
Blindly I imagined I could
Keep you under glass
Now I understand to hold you
I must open my hands
And watch you rise
He didn’t deserve to be tied to an incestuous freak and then have to raise
another man's child. He was worthy of so much more and she was going to
give it to him.
Spread your wings and prepare to fly
For you have become a butterfly
Fly abandonedly into the sun
Her mind made up, Whitney walked down the stairs. Her foot slipped out
of her too big high heel and she tumbled the rest of the way down, landing
in an unmoving heap at the bottom of the staircase.
Simone dropped her glass of milk and Pilar's to-die-for chocolate chip
cookies as she watched her sister fall in slow motion. It was unreal. When
Whitney's body hit the ground, the younger Russell jumped into action. "Whitney!
Whitney!" she yelled, as she ran across the floor and slid next to her sister.
Thanking God for their mother forcing them to take CPR and first aid, the
brunette checked for a pulse and found one. She sighed with relief. "Is
anyone else here?" she shouted at the top of her lungs.
A petite maid, whose name escaped Simone at the moment, appeared.
"Call 911! Now!" Simone commanded.
The maid ran to the closest phone and dialed.
"Hang on, Whitney, hang on. You, too, nephew," she pleaded, running her
fingers through her sister's hair. As she moved her hand away, Simone held
back a scream as her sister's blood covered her hand. "Please God. Please."
I can't pretend these tears
Aren't overflowing steadily
I can't prevent this hurt from
Almost overtaking me
But I will stand and say goodbye
For you'll never be mine