Chapter 26: Realizations and RegretsRating: PG
Theresa felt her chest rise and fall as Ethan’s kiss slowly drained all the breath out of her body. Her hands sat on his chest while his arms gripped tightly onto her waist. Breathlessly, Theresa pulled away and leaned her forehead onto his chest and felt him rest his chin on top of her head. With her eyes closed, Theresa tried to memorize every detail of that moment so that she could always remember their last moments together.
The smoothness of his shirt; the slight musk his skin emitted; the prickle of his stubble against her skin that gave her goosebumps… all of these features were burning slowly into her mind for safekeeping. Even if she couldn’t have him, she could always have the memory of him.
Theresa peeled her body slowly off of his without looking him in the eye and went over to the window. She looked out at the sleeping town of Harmony and realized that in a few short hours she would be getting married. And it wasn’t to the man she stood in the room with at that moment.
“Theresa?” she heard Ethan say as he took short, slow footsteps towards her, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Theresa replied still with her back towards him, “And everything.” she added with an ironic laugh.
“I know what you mean,” Ethan said as he stood behind her and put his hands on her shoulders.
“Ethan, you have to stop.” Theresa said, gently brushing his hands off her shoulders and turning to face him, “I don’t know why you came here or how you knew I’d be here but you have to go.”
“I didn’t know you’d be here.” Ethan replied solemnly as he stared deeply into her eyes.
“What?” Theresa asked as she struggled to take a breath.
“I didn’t know you’d be here, it was just luck I guess,” Ethan said pausing and looking at his hands, “Or fate.”
“Fate.” Theresa laughed as she rolled her eyes, “Well this is a cruel twist of fate if you ask me. But what else is new?”
“Theresa--” Ethan began.
“No, Ethan. You know it’s true. Don’t even try to deny it.” Theresa said as she felt the tears building up in her eyes, “Fate has dealt us some pretty horrible blows in the past so why should it be any different now?”
“Fate had nothing to with what happened between us Theresa,” Ethan said sighing deeply, “What happened between us came down to the choices we made.”
“No.” Theresa said as she swallowed hard, “It came down to the choices you made.”
“Theresa you aren’t being fair.” Ethan said closing his eyes in defeat.
“I’m being perfectly fair, Ethan.” Theresa said walking over to the bed as she felt the tears well up in her eyes, “You are the one who made vows to another woman, you are the one who chose her over me time after time,” she paused and inhaled deeply, “And you were the one who told me to move on.”
“What about your part in this?” Ethan said feeling a knife stab into his gut and twist, “You were the one who didn’t tell me about Sam being my father and then had the audacity to e-mail that information to the sleaziest tabloid magazine you could find!”
Theresa scoffed as she felt the lump in her throat double in size at the mention of the tabloid incident. She knew for a fact it had been Gwen who sent the information about Ethan’s paternity to the tabloid and it killed her to think that he would never believe her about it; he didn’t have that much faith in her.
“My God.” Theresa laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Ethan asked angrily.
“You.” Theresa answered bluntly as she turned around and faced him.
“That’s really great Theresa,” Ethan said sarcastically, “Laugh off the most traumatic experience of my life.”
“I’m not laughing at what happened, Ethan,” Theresa said straight into his eyes, “I’m laughing at the fact that you still think it was me who sent the information.”
“Not this again,” Ethan said as he began to rub his temples.
“Yes, this again. Maybe this time I can explain in a way you might understand.” Theresa said walking towards him, “Please, just think about the situation for a second, Ethan. What did I have to gain from sending that information to the tabloid? We were engaged to be married and you would have been my husband had that story not been printed.”
“But it was printed.” Ethan said coldly, “And I’m not your husband.”
“Exactly.” Theresa said, “Why would I destroy your life and ruin our chances of getting married when that was all I wanted in the world? What motivation would I have had?”
Theresa watched as Ethan furrowed his eyebrows and his eyes searched her face up and down. She saw his eyes get misty and watched as he wiped the corner of his eye with his thumb.
“You didn’t send it, did you?” Ethan said quietly, looking at the floor.
“I could never do that to you.” Theresa said as she reached for his hand and held it in her own, “What happened that night didn’t just ruin your life Ethan, it ruined our life together.”
Silence hung in the air as their hands intertwined and they held onto to one another for dear life, still not looking each other in the eye. Ethan leaned his head forward and rested it on her shoulder and she felt the warmth of his tears seep through her shirt and heat the skin underneath.
“I just don’t know who could have done it then,” Ethan murmured.
“Your wife.” Theresa said plainly.
“There’s no proof of that.” Ethan said raising his head from her shoulder and looking into her eyes.
“And if there was?” Theresa asked hopefully.
“There isn’t.” Ethan said with a deep sigh, “I made vows to her Theresa and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“Of course there isn’t.” Theresa said bitterly, “Bending your vows by being here with me is fine, but breaking vows that are based on lies is completely unheard of! I must have forgotten, how
of me.”
“Theresa, I just….” Ethan stuttered, “I made vows to her in a church and I can’t forget those because you have a feeling she’s been lying to me all along without any solid proof. I can’t forget my vows, Theresa.”
“You’re right.” Theresa said taking her hands out of Ethan’s, “And I won’t forget mine after I say them to Fox in a few hours.” Theresa said coldly as she walked away from him and left Ethan standing by the window as the sun slowly peaked over the horizon and a new day began.