"So let me get this straight," Dan Whitehorse started, pacing the front yard of the trailer. Ethan had just told him everything and he could not believe it. He could not believe his brother had gotten mixed up in something so crazy, "Sutton has an identical twin sister named Emma and she's the one you've been dating? You're kidding, right? This is some lying game you're pulling on me."
Ethan shrugged, "I wish it were, but Sutton is exactly who you thought she was. She never planned on taking us public. She didn't love me, but Emma…Emma is a completely different story. She was the strong one. She was the one that stood by me through everything. She's the one, Dan, and I don't think she'll give me a second chance."
"Why would you need one? What did you do?"
"I kissed her sister," Ethan admitted awkwardly, "Sutton came with me to the ranch. It was supposed to be Emma, but she was pretending to be Sutton and the cops got to her before we could make the switch. Sutton helped Dad and I work out some problems and things got out of control. I let my guard down and she took advantage. She's the manipulative bitch you always suspected her to be."
"But Emma's not?"
"No," Ethan scoffed, "not even close. She's honest and kind. She doesn't judge you for where you came from or what happened in the past. She sees you for who you are now. When I met her I found something I didn't even know was missing. She's my other half and I couldn't let her leave without a fight."
"So you drove to Las Vegas to bring her back," Dan clarified, taking a step toward his brother, "Now what? What's going to happen with all of this?"
"Emma and Laurel are telling Ted and Kristin right now while Mads and Thayer distract Rebecca."
"Why are they distracting Rebecca?"
"Because Sutton has been working with Rebecca behind our backs. I have a feeling it was the two of them that led us to the evidence against Alec, which means there's a chance that Alec isn't the one that killed Derek. Mads and Thayer are doing everything they can to keep Rebecca from finding out Emma's back so when Emma confronts Rebecca she doesn't have a chance to prepare."
"Sounds like you've got it all figured out."
"Except one thing," Ethan stated, taking a seat in one of the lawn chairs, "I have no idea how I can make what I did right."
"Only one thing you can do, brother," Dan responded, taking a seat next to him and taking a long pull of beer, "Prove to her that Sutton means nothing to you and you would do anything for her. Prove to her that you'll be there for her even when she doesn't want you to be. Don't give up on her. If it's right she'll come back."
"And if it's not?"
"It is," Dan responded, getting up and heading for the trailer door, "I see the way you look at that girl. In the months you dated Sutton, the real one, you never looked like that. Sutton never looked at you the way Emma does. The two of you are perfect for each other. You just have to remind her."
Mads and Thayer stepped into their living room, feigning surprise with the fact that she was there, "Rebecca," Mads greeted, "What are you doing here?"
"Waiting for the two of you to get home," she explained, standing up, "Where have you been?"
"Thayer and I wanted to get away from all of the drama with our dad and Derek's murder. We're sorry we're so late, but Thayer's car got a flat and it took us a while to change it."
"Can you tell me where you went?"
"We went out to this overlook Ethan and Sutton told us about," Thayer explained, taking a seat on the couch. Mads quickly followed him, "We just wanted to get away from the scrutiny. Our dad did just go to prison for murder."
"And they'll eventually realize they have the wrong guy," Rebecca assured, "You guys want to talk about it? I mean I am your stepmother now. You can trust me."
Mads and Thayer smiled at each other. Everything was going to plan. If they kept Rebecca away from her phone and Laurel and Emma kept Sutton away from hers the two could not communicate. Rebecca would remain in the dark, allowing Emma to confront her without giving her a chance to compose herself. Everything was working out perfectly. They just needed it to go the same way on Emma and Laurel's end.
"So Rebecca's not our mother," Sutton clarified, "Why would she say that she is? Why would she lie to me?"
"Sutton, she played you," Emma stated, " Think about it, Sutton. We know that Alec bullied her. Now he's in jail. We know she loved Ted and she tried to destroy his marriage. She needed someone on the inside to help her, so she chose you."
"I'm sorry Sutton," Ted whispered, "I never meant for you to get hurt, for anyone to get hurt. If I knew then what I know now, I would've been honest from the beginning. I wouldn't have let the two of you be separated. I wouldn't have let anything happen to either one of you."
"Why did you separate us?" Emma questioned abruptly, "Why did you take Sutton, but not me?"
"It wasn't my choice. You were already gone by the time I found out there were twins. The Websters got to the hospital before I did. By the time I knew you existed, you were already in their arms. I tried to keep tabs on you, but Annie got you back and disappeared. I tried to find you, but I was too late. You were gone for good."
"So that's why you lied to me about having a twin," Sutton stated, "because you thought it would hurt me to know she was gone. What about how much it hurt to know you'd lied to me? What about when I found out she did exist?"
"You weren't supposed to find out. No one was supposed to know the truth."
"You lied to me," Sutton cried, getting more and more upset, at this point she was on her feet, her shoulders shaking with anger, "I have felt so alone and so lost for years, because I had no clue where I came from. When I found out I didn't have to feel that way it felt like someone had ripped a hole in my chest. I was so angry with all of the wrong people, because you couldn't just be honest with me."
"I'm sorry," Ted pleaded.
"You think that's enough," Sutton spat. She was two feet away from her father, trying to contain the tears that were threatening to scald her cheeks, "You took the one thing I had the right to know, the one thing I needed to know. Sorry isn't enough, Dad. Nothing will be."
Sutton stormed out of the room and made a beeline for her own, slamming the door closed for emphasis. She tried to maintain her composure. She took a deep breath and then another, but it only made her more furious. The paced the room, trying to contain the rage boiling inside her. She spotted a picture of her and Ted and wrenched it from its place and threw it in the trash. Beside it was her first tennis trophy. Her dad had been waiting for her after the match. It was the first time she'd ever heard him say he was proud of her. She threw it in the trash as well.
Finally, she pulled every single photo of him off of her wall and slammed it into the trash can as well. He was basically dead to her. She didn't want anything in her room that reminded her of him. She came to the last one and paused. It was two years ago during the family ski vacation. She'd come down with the flu two days after they got there and spent the next four in the lodge. On the fourth day of the trip her dad had offered to stay with her so her mom could go skiing with Laurel. At one point, she'd fallen asleep and buried herself into her dad's chest as if she was five years old again. In the picture, he was looking down on her brushing a strand of hair out of her face as he wrapped his arm around her.
Though she never admitted it aloud, she had always loved this picture. Her hair was a complete mess. She was dressed in sweats and a long sleeve sleep shirt and she had the flu, but the picture itself was perfect. It was the very essence of their relationship before she started to learn the truth. She had trusted him more than anyone else in her life. She had felt like she could be vulnerable with him. She had thought he would always be there for her.
Staring at the picture caused something to break inside of her. The dam that had been holding back the pain and anger she was feeling burst and she was consumed by more emotion than she could ever remember feeling. She dropped the picture on her bed and went to work. She went back to the pictures she was throwing out and started launching them across the room, listening to the glass shatter as it connected with the opposing wall, feeling herself let go with each release. They all landed in a heap of broken glass on the opposite end of the room from her, but it wasn't enough. She grabbed one of the tennis racquets off of her wall, remembering how he'd shown her a backhand. She stepped over to the bookcase, the one he'd spent hours trying to assemble on his own, and was about to slam the contents on the top of it to the floor when something stopped her.
Her racquet had hit something on the backswing. There was a thud behind her and she lowered the tennis racquet and slowly turned around. Lying on the ground was her twin sister with a cut on above her eyebrow where the rim of the racquet had connected with her forehead.
Emma felt the tennis racquet connect with the right side of her face and immediately dropped to the ground. Sutton had a ridiculously good backswing. It was her fault for getting too close to her sister, but as soon as she'd grabbed the tennis racquet she felt like she needed to make her presence known. She'd slipped into the room when the first picture had hit the wall and was about to call her name when another went flying across the room. Then another and another. Emma had realized that this was exactly what Sutton needed to do and had let it happen. Picture frames were easy to replace. The glass could be cleaned up. Then she saw her grab the tennis racquet.
She'd hurried forward, trying to stop her from doing serious damage to either the room or herself, not realizing just how close she was to Sutton. The racquet had connected with her right temple and sent her crashing to the ground.
For a few moments Emma was unconscious, but then her eyes began to flutter open. She had a splitting headache and she could feel blood trickling down her forehead. It wasn't the first time she'd been knocked unconscious, but she really hoped it would be the last. She hated how disorienting it was when she first woke up. She hated how far everything seemed to be from her. She forced her eyes open, reorienting herself with the situation.
She was on the floor of Sutton's bedroom, staring down the hallway toward the entrance. Sutton had hit her with a tennis racquet, but it hadn't been intentional. She'd been caught in the backswing. It was her fault, not Suttons. She suddenly became aware of the sound of sobs coming from behind her.
Sutton was leaning against the foot of her bed, crying uncontrollably, well as uncontrollably as Sutton would allow. Her knees were pulled up to her chest and her head buried in her hands. The pain had finally begun to sink in for her and she was letting it happen.
"Has anyone ever told you that you have a mean backswing," Emma joked, pushing herself onto all fours. Sutton glanced up and showed Emma her tear-stained face. She raced over to Emma and helped her to her feet. Sutton would not let go of Emma's arm and Emma couldn't help but smile. Maybe Sutton had a heart after all.
"You're bleeding," Sutton stated.
"You hit me with a tennis racquet," Emma retorted.
"I didn't mean to," Sutton defended.
"I never said you did, Sutton," Emma responded with a smile.
"What are you even doing in here anyways?" Sutton deflected.
"Making sure my sister is okay," Emma explained, sitting down on the bed, "That is allowed, isn't it?"
"Why?" Sutton questioned, "I have done nothing to show you that I want, let alone deserve your concern. For God's sake, Emma, I just hit you with a tennis racquet. Why are you still doing this? Why are you still acting like you care about me?"
"I'm not acting, Sutton," Emma stated.
"Oh sure," Sutton retorted, "After everything that's happened, all of the things I've done to you, after everything I've done to all of the people in my life, you're going to try and tell me you still see the good in me. Save it, Emma. You're not fooling me."
Sutton turned away from her for emphasis. Emma was hurt by the venom, but she was used to it from Sutton. She looked around the trashed room. Every picture of Ted was missing from the wall, assumedly on the floor in the pile of broken glass. Then she spotted a frame sitting untouched on Sutton's bed. She grabbed the picture. It was one of her favorites. She'd always thought it was the perfect example of a father-daughter relationship. It's what she'd always wanted in a father. She didn't know the story behind it, but she'd always smiled when she saw it.
Sutton turned back to see Emma sitting on the bed. Emma glanced up at her, "This is one of my favorite pictures of you and Ted."
Sutton stepped over and stripped the picture out of her hands. Then she launched that one across the room as well.
"What the hell, Sutton? I know you're mad at him, but it's no reason to destroy a perfectly good picture."
"That," she stated pointing, "doesn't exist anymore. He ruined it when he lied to me. You know he used to be the one person I knew would never let me down. He used to be the one person I could be absolutely honest with. I trusted him and that whole relationship was a sham. I can't stand that picture anymore. It reminds me of..."
She choked on her tears and Emma felt her heart break a little. The pain Sutton was feeling ran deeper than just betrayal. It was like a jagged piece of glass had cut her and she was slowly bleeding out. She watched Sutton force herself to regain her composure by taking a deep breath.
"What, Sutton? What does it remind you of?"
Sutton remained silent, refusing to let herself be open with Emma. She bit her bottom lip to hold back the tears. She looked away from Emma. Sutton had been burned so many times that she now refused to be open with anyone.
"Alright, then let me guess," Emma stated, standing up slowly and moving toward her sister, "It reminds you of the pain you felt when you first discovered the truth. It reminds you of how alone you've felt, because no one could possibly understand what you're going through. More importantly, that picture is a constant reminder of the fact that everyone is capable of hurting you and the closer they are the more it hurts."
Sutton choked on a sob and Emma knew she was right. She pulled Sutton into her arms and let her cry. At first she wouldn't reciprocate. She just stood there stiffly, crying into Emma's arms. Then finally she felt Sutton's arms on her back and she smiled. She squeezed her sister tighter, letting Sutton know she wasn't going anywhere.
