Ethan followed Antonio downstairs, sat down at the bar, and watched Antonio pour him a drink, wondering what was so important that he needed to talk to him about. Antonio slid Ethan's drink over to him, and looked toward the stairs, making sure nobody was coming down. "I had a talk with Sadie." he said quietly.
Ethan's eyes widened "You didn't..."
"Don't worry, I didn't tell her. But I told her that she needed to let you two be. I did some thinking, and you're right."
"Right about what?" he asked, taking a sip of his drink. Amazed with Antonio, saying he was right for once.
"I thought back to when Sadie, and I first got together, and things do happen when you least expect it. We tried hiding it, but of course that didn't work."
"We both have different circumstances." Ethan sighed.
"Yes, I know, but I mentioned to Sadie that you're both adults, that you can figure things out on your own, and she doesn't need to be telling the both of you, what to do. She may not like it, but it isn't up to her, or myself on what you two do, and what you two do, is none of our business. So, whatever you, and Grace decide, it's up both of you, if you want anyone knowing... after all, it is something private."
"Thanks Antonio, but Grace already made it clear, it wasn't going to happen again."
Antonio walked away from the bar, and over to the stairs, making sure there were no extra ears. "Well maybe you gave her a little more confidence, maybe she will realize that someone will actually like her, for her, and wouldn't be using her for anything else, in which I hope to God you didn't do." Antonio says, finishing his drink, as he sat next to Ethan.
"Don't be thinking that little of me, I would never do that to anyone. It was something we both wanted, and acted on it. I'll be honest with you, it was amazing, and I wouldn't mind doing it again."
Antonio heard enough, and poured himself another drink, "On that note, would you like another?"
"I really shouldn't." he says, covering the top of his glass with his hand. Watching Antonio pour himself a drink was tempting, but wanted to get home, and to get some rest.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm tired, and I still need to drive home."
"Someone isn't waiting for you to get home, is she?" he asked, looking over at Ethan slowly, smirking.
"No, I just need to go home and rest, I've got way too much on my mind." Standing up, he slammed the rest of his drink "Ahhh, I love that burning feeling while it slides down my throat. I would stay, but if I have any more to drink, I don't know if I could refrain myself from your new nanny."
"Why's that?" Antonio chuckled.
"I can see why you wouldn't answer me about if she was hot or not, she's not only damn hot, she's gorgeous... and now I'm in a dilemma... I need to figure out my priorities, wants, and needs." he says, walking towards the stairs "Thanks for the talk, and the drink, I'll be talking to you tomorrow."
"Night."
Ethan waved as he walked up the stairs, and bumped into Ilona. "Oh, excuse me." she said, embarrassed she ran into him.
"WOW, did the sun just come out, or was that you smiling at me?" he asked with a devilish grin. He then realized his hands were resting on her hips, and released his grip.
"Night Ethan." she smiled.
Ethan had a lot on his mind when he went home, he didn't know what to do, and was torn about his feelings for Grace. For years he wanted her, finally got her, and loved every minute of it. He got home, cracked a beer, and sat on his couch debating on what to do.
All that ran though his mind was, Grace telling him they could no longer be together. A little part of him had a hard time believing her, when she came back after their first encounter, wanting another rendezvous with him, after she insisted, they couldn't be together again.
Then there's the dilemma of him wanting kids, his own flesh and blood, in which she claimed she couldn't give him. Sure, they could always adopt, but that wasn't good enough for him. Then he thought, was it a necessity to have kids?... Yes, and no. He sighed heavily, and the more he thought about it, it started giving him a headache. He chugged his beer, leaned his head back against the couch, and stared off into space.
He started thinking about Ilona, smiling at the thought she was recently single. But then quickly thought about Grace, wondering if she would be upset if he were to move on with someone else, or would he feel upset if she found someone else? The struggle is real he mumbled.
He finished another beer, and went to bed; he couldn't think about it any longer, and had to get some rest. All he could smell was Grace on his sheets, which only made it harder for him to fall asleep. He groaned, and got up to lay on the couch. After turning the TV on, and watching some shows, his mind cleared, and finally fell asleep.
******
Ethan had made a promise with the girls, and didn't want to break what he promised. He left his home to pick up the girls, and to take them to see their mom. He knew he had to come up with some sort of excuse, if Antonio, or Sadie were to ask where they were going, and thought about excuses on the way over to their home.
He was about to walk into the house, but noticed the door was locked, and scratched the back of his head they never lock the door during the day he mumbled, then knocked on the door.
A smile crept up his face when the door opened, and saw Ilona answering the door "Well, well, well, here I am, and what would your other two wishes be?" he asked, smiling brightly, and leaned forward "You know... If you rub the magic genie just right, your other two wishes may just come true."
Ilona shook her head, and laughed, opening the door for him "Sadie warned me that you were kind of special, and mentioned that you claimed to be some sort of a comedian, I guess I took it the other way."
"Not only am I special, I'm the man of your dreams." he says, touching her nose, and smiling at her when he walked past her.
"How are you so sure that it was you? It could have been Chris Hemsworth that's been in my dreams." she giggled.
"Think what you want, I'm good at reading minds." he says, moving back over to her, and placing the palm of his hand on her forehead.
"I foresee your dreams, oh wait... it was from last night." he smiled "I see a beautiful naked woman, with her body lying under a naked man. Oh, who is that I see? Wow, can you believe it? I see you and me." he grinned.
"More like that must have been your dream. I told you who was in my dream." she laughed.
"Lies... all lies..." he grinned. He then saw Sadie, and stepped away from Ilona. "Where are the girls?" he asked her.
"They're in their room, why?"
"I'm here to pick them up, we have a date."
"Oh?"
"They asked me last night if I would pick them up, that they wanted to spend the day with their favorite Uncle."
"Oh, I'll let them know that you're here."
Ethan made small talk with Ilona, while waiting for the girls to come down. Antonio walked around the corner, and was surprised to see Ethan talking normal to Ilona, and wondered what was up.
"Morning Ethan, what brings you on by?" Antonio curiously asked. Ilona walked away as Antonio approached Ethan.
"I promised the girls I would pick them up, they asked if they could spend the day with me, so I figured I would take them to a movie, or something, and have some quality Uncle, niece time together."
Antonio drank a sip of his coffee, he could tell something was up with Ethan, but couldn't figure out what it was. Ethan had to laugh when he saw the girls quickly darting down the stairs, and figured it was because he promised them, they could drive. "I'll see you all later." Ethan said, as he opened the door to leave.
Outside, as they walked towards his car, the girls argued back and forth on who was going to drive first. Ethan snickered and stepped in between them "Do I need to flip a coin?" he asked, trying to break up the argument.
"No, she can drive first." Gabriella said, pouting.
"Hey... don't pout, you're both going to be driving wherever we go." he smiled, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.
Isabella got into the driver's seat, and placed her seatbelt on. "Where are we going first?" she asked.
"Wherever you two want to go, we have the whole day remember?" he says, smiling.
"Mom's?" she questioned Gabriella, as she looked into the rearview mirror.
"Yes please, I really need to talk to her." Gabriella sighed.
It broke Ethan's heart hearing her say that, and wished his sister were still alive, but knew she was in a better place. It made him happy Sadie took them in as her own children, and raised them to be good kids.
Isabella drove to the cemetery, and parked by the gate. They got out, and walked over to Harlow's grave. Ethan looked at them, and pointed "I'll wait over there while you two have your moment with her."
While they visited with her, he walked around looking at some of the grave sites, surprised to see how many young people had passed away. Seeing their ages gave him the chills, and walked over to a tree. He stood against it and thought about Harlow when they were kids. Thinking about the time when he had gotten sick, and she told him to eat dirt three times a day, that it would make him survive the sickness. Believing her, he did as he was told, and for days his parents couldn't figure out why he wasn't eating any food. Thinking something was seriously wrong with him, his parents took him to see the doctor. It wasn't until then, they found out Harlow told him to eat dirt if he wanted to survive his sickness. He started laughing when he thought about how much trouble she got in after they got home.
An hour had passed, and saw the girls still standing at their mother's grave. He decided to check on them, and to make sure they were OK. "How are you girls doing?"
"Fine, we're still talking to mom." Gabriella said quietly.
"OK, I'll let you two be, just find me when you're done, I'd like to have a word with her also." He started walking away, then stopped when he heard Isabella, and turned to look at her.
"Wait." Isabella called out "I think we're done; you can talk to her now."
Ethan walked back over, and the girls left to give him his time with her. He kneeled to the ground, and started cleaning the area around her headstone. While talking to her, he pulled out the grass that was growing tall, covering the headstone, and wiped away the dirt that was also covering her headstone. "Damn sis, I wish you were still here; I really need someone to talk to. I know Antonio is there to talk to, but it's your advice that I really need. I'm asking if you could in any way, guide me in the right direction. I'm in a bad situation, and really torn on what to do."
He proceeded telling her about his situation with Grace, how he doesn't know what to do, and wondered If he should move on, or fight to be with Grace "I do find Ilona quite attractive, I'm not so sure what she thinks of me, as I've only met her yesterday, but between her, and Grace I don't know who I should pursue."
He continued talking to her about the pros, and cons between the two, and his biggest concern, how he wanted children of his own. "Please give me some sort of sign that you hear me talking to you, and that you'll help guide me through this." he says, standing up.
A huge gust of wind blew by, blowing leaves around, and as he walked over to the girls, he felt something hit his head. He looked up, and saw a bird flying, and when he touched his head, it felt wet. He looked at his fingers, and shook his head, realizing the bird shit on his head.
He looked up again, and laughed "You little shit... you would do that." he says pointing at the sky. He knew Harlow was listening, and to being funny, had the bird shit on him. "Thanks a lot sis... I love, and miss you too."
Ethan stopped at home to wash his hair, then took the girls out to dinner, and to see a movie, letting Gabriella drive home afterwards.
He was proud to see how well the girls were driving, how they obeyed all traffic laws, and weren't driving crazy, like the first time he drove with Gabriella. He dropped them off, went home, and started thinking about everything he talked with Harlow about.
******
A few days later, Ethan was in his office deeply into paperwork Antonio asked him to fix, and didn't realize Grace had come in, and sat down in the chair in front of him. She had been sitting there for a good twenty minutes, watching him, and not saying a word.
Ethan finally looked up, jumped in his seat, and held his hand to his heart "My lord Grace, are you trying to give me a heart attack? How long have you been sitting there?"
She smiled "About twenty minutes, half hour, something like that."
"Why are you here?"
"I had the day off, and thought I would come in and say Hi, and see how you were doing."
"I could be better, but I'm doing OK. Right now, Antonio has me overloaded with work." he sighed.
He stood up, walked around his desk, and over to close the door. He knew he needed to talk to her, and felt he should tell her Antonio knows what happened between them.
"I'm glad you're here, I've been wanting to talk to you."
"That's why I'm here, I haven't been ignoring you, I've been doing a lot of thinking, and as much as I enjoyed what happened between us..."
"Antonio knows." Ethan says, cutting her off.
"What?"
"He knows."
Grace stood up feeling angry with him, pointed at him, and raised her voice while she got in his face "You promised not to say anything!"
He placed his hands on his hips, and sighed. "He knew before I said anything. He was at the house that morning, and saw your car in the driveway. He's cool about it, and promised he wouldn't say anything to Sadie. At first, he asked for us to tell her, but changed his mind, and says he doesn't blame us if we never tell her."
Grace sat back in the chair feeling upset, upset they were caught, and upset he admitted to it. "I only came by to tell you, that I enjoyed our time together, and wanted to let you know that you made me feel things that I never thought were possible. You made me feel good, really good, but we still can't be together, it'll never work out between us. I've come to ask that you forget about me, and would like to see you move on. I want to be honest with you, and after everything I've been through, I just want to be alone, and I feel I don't need a man in my life."
Ethan couldn't believe what he was hearing, and got upset, holding his hands out toward her "Stop. Just stop for a second!" he insisted "There is something I want to know... what are you so afraid of?"
Hmmm.. what is Ethan going to do?
Hope you enjoyed the chapter.
Is Grace being hardheaded? Or is she being serious.
Please comment your thoughts and I love to see your votes ❤❤