Somehow I Will Ch.57 Matters At Hand
 by Faith81

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Matters At Hand

He stood in the kitchen staring at his son, eyes glancing at the floor quickly trying to find words to use. The young man in front of him crossed his arms and arched is eyebrows, annoyed at the silence.
"Tell me Chad, who’s going to win the super bowl?" Julian said in a nervous tone.
Chad chuckled and looked at his father, "Football ended a couple of months a go Dad."
"Oh." Julian frowned.
Chad shook his head, "So do you want to tell me what’s going on, because we both know you know nothing about sports."
Julian lowered his head. "Son, we need to talk about Justin."
"Justin?" Chad questioned. "What’s that boy done now?" He sighed.
"Oh no, he hasn’t done anything wrong son." Julian spoke quickly. "He’s a great young man."
"Yeah most of the time he is." Chad agreed. "So if he hasn’t messed up, why do you want to talk about him."
Julian smiled, for the first time in his life, finding words seemed impossible. "Well, I suppose I should just tell you."
"Tell me what?" Chad asked crossing his arms. "What’s going on with Justin.
"Chad, I thought your brother was a year older than he actually is." Julian began. "I was shocked to learn otherwise."
"Yeah so?"
"Chad, I have reason to believe that Justin is my son." He spewed quickly staring his son in the eyes. "In fact I almost know he is." Seeing Chad’s eyes become wide Julian swallowed. So much for being subtle, he had just dropped a huge bomb without even preparing Chad for it.
"Your son?" Chad questioned. "You think Justin is your son?"
"Yes, you see your mother lied to me about his age the last time I saw her. When I found out Justin’s actual age and his birthday, it all added up to the last time I was with your mother. "
Chad let out a whistle. "Man, I can’t believe this."
"I know its quite a shock, but Chad, if this is true, I want you to know, I am very excited about having Justin as my son." Julian said with a honest smile.
"You know, I used to tease Justin about being your son, but to think it could really be true, that would be the best!"
"So this makes you happy?" Julian questioned.
Chad nodded his head, "Happy? If Justin is your son, it would mean so much. We’ve both always worried about some dude coming into the picture calling himself Justin’s father and taking him from me. To think he’s not just my half brother but that we share both parents? Of course it makes me happy."
"How do you think Justin will feel about it?" Julian questioned.
"How will I feel about what?" A voice bounded as they turned around. "What are you two talking about?" Justin asked looking over at his brother.
~*~*~*~*~

Gwen walked up to the house, taking a deep breath she knocked on the door. Waiting with a frown on her face.
The front door opened and she looked up, into a pair of blue eyes that held her stare. "Ivy told me I might find you here." She spoke looking at Beth’s home. Then looking over his shoulder she forced a faint smile. "So is your wife home."
"No, Beth is working." Ethan Bennett said still staring at her. "I’m surprised to see you here."
Gwen nodded. "I expected you would be, but I need to talk, and you have answers to my questions."
Moving from the door Ethan watched as Gwen walked in the house. The woman was still as classy as she was the day he met her. "So what’s this about?" He spoke.
"I need to know why Ethan." She sighed keeping her head up. "I know it sounds crazy, but I need to understand how you did what you did."
With a confused look on his face Ethan shook his head. "Could you explain what you mean? Did what I did?"
Gwen frowned as years of pain seeped back into her mind. "You married Beth after three months, but you couldn’t marry me after ten years. I guess I need to know, what’s wrong with me, how you could let me go so easily, yet marry her so quickly."
Ethan studied Gwen for a moment. "You still haven’t let this go." He moved over to the sofa and sat down, Gwen following sitting in a chair near him. "Gwen, I broke up with you years ago. I assumed you had moved on."
Gwen moved her head her eyes drifting away from Ethan’s. "I got over you Ethan, but I always wondered what I did wrong. I blamed it on Theresa, because that was the easy thing to do." She explained. "And then when you left her, I just decided something was wrong with you." She admitted with a hurt laugh.
"Gwen I’m sorry."
"Don’t." Gwen said quickly. "Don’t pity me." She told him. "You know I hate that."
"Gwen, I don’t know how to answer your questions, but I can tell you this, nothing was wrong with you."
"So why couldn’t you marry me? And don’t you dare say it was because of Theresa, our problems started before she came along."
Ethan lowered his head, running his hand through his hair. "I never thought we’d break up Gwen. Honestly I believed we would be together forever, but it wasn’t meant to be. I felt that way for almost a year before I met Theresa, but I couldn’t admit it."
"I see." Gwen swallowed. "And you and Theresa, you weren’t meant to be either?"
Ethan smiled. "Have you looked at her when Chad walks in the room? Her face just glows, they belong together Gwen. Just like I belong with Beth."
"So it wasn’t me?" Gwen said moving a strand of hair from her face. "I didn’t do anything wrong?"
"No Gwen. You’re a wonderful person, we simply didn’t belong together. If we had of gotten married, I wouldn’t have met Beth, and you, you wouldn’t have had a chance with Miguel. We would have became unhappy with each other, and I think you know that."
"Miguel’s a great guy." She smiled. "He really cares about me."
"But you can’t let him in, can you?" Ethan questioned. "Because of me."
Gwen wiped a stray tear from her cheek. "I’m afraid he’ll leave me too. What if he sees some girl his age and wants her instead? You dumped me for a younger girl, someone more exciting, what if he does the same?" She choked out.
Ethan touched her arm gently with his hand. "Gwen he won’t do that. I’m so sorry I hurt you like this. Miguel can be trusted, those Lopez-Fitzgerald’s love with everything in them." He smiled.
"I just feel so bad. He’s taking his time with me, and all I can do is shut down on him." She sobbed.
"Its my fault." Ethan sighed.
"No, its not just you." Gwen said shaking her head. "Daddy used to break his promises all the time. I don’t know how to believe in Miguel, because no one ever believed in me."
"Is there anything I can do?" Ethan questioned. "Because if there is, name it."
With a forced smile Gwen looked up at him. "No. You gave me answers to my questions, I just don’t know if it actually helped me." Standing up she looked down at Ethan. "I hope you and Beth have a wonderful life together."
"Do you really mean that?" Ethan questioned.
With a grin Gwen nodded. "I’m not my mother Ethan, I can be happy for others."
"And for the record, I’m rooting for you and Miguel." Ethan said standing up to give his former fiancée a friendly hug.
"Yeah well we’ll just have to see where it goes. One day at a time, ya know." Gwen spoke. "I’m not going to run out and marry him today, I mean I wouldn’t want to still your thunder." She joked.
"I’m glad you stopped by Gwen." Ethan said a grin appearing on his face.
She shrugged. "I had questions, you had the answers." As she walked out the door, she looked back to see Ethan waving. Her Ex was happy, his Ex was happy so why couldn’t she be happy? With a heavy sigh she climbed in her car hoping to find her own understanding.
~*~*~*~*~*~

"You know we used to play like that." Theresa called out as she walked over to her brother. He sat on a park bench, watching as Kendra and Jada chased each other around a tree.
Miguel laughed as his sister sat down next to him. "Yeah, but you’d always tackle me and start punching me."
"Hey!" Theresa grinned. "I had good reason, you used to take my doll, I was defending them!"
"If you say so." Miguel smirked. "So why aren’t you with you’re husband to be?"
"I wanted to talk to you." Theresa smiled. "I had a few things on my mind."
"What things?"
"Papa hit a nerve with you didn’t he?" Theresa asked.
"I don’t know what you’re talking about." Miguel frowned.
"When he said he was going to give me away."
"Oh." Miguel sighed. "That."
"Yeah, that." Theresa nodded glancing over at the girls. "You don’t agree with it do you?"
Miguel shrugged. "Your wedding, I can’t stop him."
"But you’re my brother, and I want to know how you feel." She said with a soft voice. "You and Mama have been there for me, so its important that I know how you feel."
"He’s just walking up to Chad, its not a big deal." Miguel lied. The truth was he didn’t think Martin had any right to give Theresa way. He understood that he was her father, but he hadn’t been there.
"Miguel, you really don’t think its no big deal. Now I want you to be honest with me, or I’ll go to Gwen."
"That’s low Resa." Miguel groaned.
"Yeah but I’ll do it." She warned. "So talk to me Miguel."
Miguel took a deep breath, "The idea bothers me." He admitted. "Maybe its because Luis should be here giving you away, or maybe its because I can’t accept the reason’s Papa gave for not getting in touch with us."
"I figured as much." Theresa nodded. "And I understand."
Miguel smiled. "But you’re still going to let him give you away."
"Honestly I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to hurt Papa, but its like I don’t know him. I know you, and Mama, you’ve been there and he hasn’t." With a heavy sigh she frowned. "But he’s my father, and he says he wanted to be here."
"Resa, weddings are suppose to be happy." Miguel grinned with a wink. "So stop worrying and be HAPPY!"
"But." She began as Miguel shook his head stopping her.
"No but’s. You have time to figure all this out. Stop worrying about everyone else. This isn’t Papa’s wedding, or mine. Its going to be your day, yours and Chad’s."
"Yeah I know." She whispered.
"So why don’t you go home and start planning? I’ve got the girls, Mama has Matt, you just take care of yourself." Miguel said wrapping a arm around her.
She slowly stood up. "I guess I’ll go then."
"You do that." Miguel laughed. "And if you do see Gwen, will you tell her I’ll call her tonight? This Ethan thing has bummed her out."
Theresa smiled. "No problem." She said turning to walk away.
"Hey sis." Miguel called.
"Yeah?"
"I love ya."
"Love you too." She laughed watching as her brother jumped up to chase Kendra and Jada. Happy, she was suppose to be happy, so why did she feel like her wedding was going to be harder to pull off than she had ever imagined?
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