When she arrived at home, she thought that she was alone. Hammer blows in the garage, made her change her mind. She directed her steps toward there. Sam was in the garage installing some shelves. She was uneasy. She didn't know how to tell him the news.

-Hi, darling! -Diane greeted nervous- Wow! You are here... I thought that I was alone. And Samuel?

-Hello! No, I'm here...I´m installing some shelves… Samuel said me that he would come to dinner -then he stared at her and he perceived something strange in her eyes- Something wrong? What face you have!

-My face? -answered Diane more nervous yet- What's wrong with my face?

While Diane was thinking how to tell her, she watched how Sam enjoyed with his job. It was obvious that he loved woodworks, was enough to see how he managed with tools and the care he treated the material. Finally she decided to tell him gradually.

- All right, Sam! You win… You have plundered me!… Ha ha ha… -Diane laughed nervous- It was going to be a surprise… Er… You'll see… Tonight we have a special guest to dinner… Sss… Sss… Someone you don't even imagine…

-Oh.., Don´t tell me! - Sam said distracted while he was pounding with the hammer a tenterhook- And who is the mysterious person?

-Derek! -Diane said as if she was releasing a hot potato.

-Ough! -Sam complained when having struck himself in his finger with the hammer.

-0-0-0-0-

Sam and Diane were in the kitchen of their home. Sam had an ice pack wrapped in his injured finger and he had angry face. Diane was trying not to laugh in order that Sam wouldn´t be more angry .

- What the hell Derek does in LA? - Sam asked in angry tone.

- What's wrong with that? This is a free country... -Diane said of mocking form.

Sam looked furiously to Diane because she mocked him. Diane approached him and, caressing the oval of his face with a finger, she said to him in a conciliatory tone:

- Come on, Sam! Do not be angry. It's just a dinner. Also, think that Derek is your brother. I know that deep down, you love each other.

- Leave me alone! - said Sam somewhat disagreeable.

Diane kept silence a little time for he would calm down a bit more. Sam was looking out the window absorbed in the recollections of his childhood together with Derek. She seemed to guess them. She approached behind Sam and hugged him lovingly by the waist while she rested her head on his back. Sweetly she started saying to him:

-If I have forgiven your notepads, you must forgive to your brother. Do not you think you are older ones to continue with this old enmity?

- You don't understand ¿Right? -said Sam with pain to remember old histories- Derek was bright, almost dazzling. My father was forcing me for I would be like Derek. If I couldn't get it, he punished me in my room without dinner. My mother brought me a little of dinner to my room. God bless her! -in this moment, Sam had to do a pause for the emotion recalling his mother- She knew that my father and her would discuss if he discovered her. When that came to happen, Derek come to my room, he insulted me, and he told me that all this was my fault for being so stupid.

- Oh, Sam! -Diane said trying to console him.

- Once we went on holidays to the beach. I bound with some girls. Derek saw me and he wanted to spoil me the plan. He approached us. He tried to steal those girls, but as he couldn't get it, he tried to ridicule me. Girls went away, and they left us discussing Derek and me. His tongue was very sharp, but I was stronger. So I gave him a punch and I broke him a tooth.

- Oh, the picture that you showed me! -Diane remembered.

- Yes, this photo! -Sam repeated- How they were scolding me that day!. He was in the University when I left for play with the Red Sox. Then, I met Debra…came the wedding… the divorce… Guess what? I have to admit that Derek was very elegant stepping him aside, so my problems with the drink won´t splashed his most expensive shoes.

-Leave it Sam, don´t torture you any more - Diane begged him.

- I see that you continue without understanding. Derek has made me feel so bad, that, somehow, he was the reason why I left you go , the first time when we almost marry in 'Cheers' - Sam confessed her.

- What do you say? -Diane was perplexed.

- My father and my brother have made me feel always less to others -Sam explained- When I divorced Debra, Derek told me that I was not worthy of any woman, not even of that tart, as he called her. With you, everything was fantastic and wonderful, so much that, when we were getting married, I was afraid of not being worthy of you, of not being good enough for you. Thats why I decided to let you go… with all the pain of my heart.

-And why did you marry me six years later? -Diane asked him at the edge of the tears.

-The second time I thought that ,perhaps, I wasn´t so bad guy if someone as wonderful like you was fixed in me. If God has put you in my way, sure it was for something good. Also this life is very short, and I didn't want to spend it without the love of my life.

Diane, moved for Sam´s words, embraced and kissed him passionately. Sam had opened his heart as he had never done before. She knew perfectly why she married with him. Her husband was wonderful and she was very proud of him.

After hearing his declaration, now she was who had to talk to him. She felt a fervent need of approaching to Sam and to try help him:

-Look honey -Diane started to say- I understand that you have spent very badly since your childhood with this matter, and I have to say it was very unfair what they did with you. And I say "they did", because Derek didn't have all the blame. In my opinion, your father was the maker of the whole conflict. Derek was a child like you, and at that time he was dragged.

I think that, logically, the preference that your father showed to him, flattered him, and he no thought in the damage that it could do to you.
-Yes, Diane -refuted Sam- I can understand that, but then we grew…
-Yeah, but keep in mind that he was successful in his work -Diane continued arguing- and that fed his ego and became the vain man he was when I met him...-Diane looked to Sam with tenderness and said:..- One day you asked me why I preferred you, not him. Yes, he was handsome, intelligent and cult, but you have human values much higher than him, and that for me is the most important.

Sam staring at her and Diane continued:

- Really Sam, I think you have nothing to envy him. You're a lucky man, with a past which you can be proud. You're remembered as a sportsman, and although you had problems with the drink, you proved enough manhood to overcome this serious problem. You are a successful businessman, you have two bright business opened, and, if that were not enough, you have a wonderful son and a wife who adores you. Derek has only money and power... he is who must to envy you.

Sam ,smiling attracted Diane to him and hugged her . They remained in silence for a while, until finally Sam dared to say:

- I love you, Diane. You know how much I love you, although I don't say it often. You're the best wife that a man could have and, you're right, Derek shouldn´t bother me.
Diane was smiling widely without saying anything, satisfied, looking into his eyes, with her arms around Sam's waist and she kissed his lips.
Suddenly the sound of a few knuckles knocking on the door brought them back to Earth. He was Samuel.

- Well, well. Here my parents are kissing and caressing... -he said smiling.

Sam and Diane laughed.

- Hi, son! -said Sam.
- Well guys - Diane interrupted- I would have to prepare something for dinner tonight.
Diane approached to kiss Samuel.
-Dad tells you who's coming to dinner.

Diane left the kids alone for a while.

...Attentive to the outcome