-1Thanks for the reviews Beatrice and rltsweetie22591.

Chapter 50

"She was pretty cute." Betty told Hilda reaching for one of the empanadas on her plate. "She didn't have much hair but she had pretty blue eyes."

"Did you get a chance to hold her?" Hilda asked.

"Well, no but I saw her in the nursery. Henry took me to see her there. Charlie was resting when we went to see Daphne."

"Oh." Hilda nodded. She looked at Betty. "So…have you thought more about what you are going to do about Henry's proposal? Now that Daphne is here, he will probably be going back to Tucson soon and well he probably is going to want an answer soon."

Betty sighed and took a bite of her empanada. After she finished chewing and swallowing the bite, she put the rest of her empanada back on her plate and looked at Hilda.

"I know that Henry and Charlie and Daphne will all be going back to Tucson soon, but I'm still not sure what to do. I'm not sure if I want to marry Henry or not, marriage is such a big step and I don't know if I'm ready for that. Plus I would be giving up my life and future here in New York and I'm not sure if I want to do that either."

"And there's Gio and your feelings for him." Hilda interjected.

Betty nodded. "Yeah, I saw him the other night at the hotel party and we talked. We were both honest with each other about how we felt, and he was very sweet about everything. He told me that he would be here for me as a friend, or maybe as more. And he apologized for kissing me again."

"Really?" Hilda asked.

"Really. He said that he shouldn't have kissed me again, when I came to see him at his deli. But he said he was so excited that I had romantic feelings for him and that is why he kissed me…"

"Gio kissed you?" A voice asked from behind Betty. Both Betty and Hilda's eyes widened when they recognized the voice.

Betty turned around to face the person that had just come into the kitchen. "Henry!" She exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"I came by to talk to you. Your dad told me you were here in the kitchen and told me to come in here and see you. And get some empanadas and lemonade. So I came in here ready to do that. But now I'm no longer in the mood for empanadas and lemonade." A confused and hurt look was plastered on Henry's face.

"Gio kissed you?" He asked again. "And you have romantic feelings for him?"

A worried look came across Betty's face. "Henry I can explain…"

Hilda rose from the table. "I just remembered I have to wash something. I'll let you two talk." She gave Betty a concerned look and left the kitchen. Betty and Henry were alone and they stared at each other for a few moments, before Betty spoke again. "Henry, I… about the kiss between me and Gio… it was… I…"

"I heard you tell Hilda he kissed you again. So he kissed you more than once?" Henry probed.

Betty sighed. "Yes." She admitted. "He kissed me twice on two different occasions." Henry frowned, the hurt look still on his face.

"Henry I… I should have told you…"

"You have feelings for him." Henry stated sadly. "Are you in love with him?" He asked point blank.

Betty paused, surprised at the bluntness of Henry's question. "I… I do have feelings for him, but I wouldn't say I am in love with him." Betty replied as honestly as she could.

Henry nodded. "Wow." He adjusted his glasses on his face and took a deep breath. He wasn't sure whether to go or stay after learning about this revelation about Betty and her feelings for Gio. He thought for a moment and decided to sit down at the table with her. After he sat down, he looked into her face. "Why didn't you tell me about this before?"

Betty shook her head hopelessly. "I didn't realize that I had feelings for him until after you proposed. I went to see him the night that you proposed to me. I asked him for advice about you. I wanted him to tell me what to do, help me decide whether I should marry you or not. He gave me some good advice and basically told me to follow my heart and then he kissed me and told me that he was in love with me."

"Shocker." Henry commented, a note of sarcasm in his voice. "I knew he had feelings for you, I even suspected he might be in love with you and unfortunately I was right…"

"Henry… I…" Betty wasn't sure what to say.

"So I guess that's a no huh?" Henry asked with a sad expression on his face.

"A no to what?" Betty asked confused.

"A no to my marriage proposal. You don't want to marry me, one reason being because you have feelings for another man."

Betty looked down at her plate for a moment thinking and then she looked back up at Henry. "Henry… I think… I don't know…I mean.. I don't…" Betty looked flustered and was floundering her words.

A moment of clarity hit Henry. He reached over and lightly grabbed Betty by the shoulder. "You're not ready." He stated. "You're not ready for marriage. It's not what you want... I should have known better than to throw a marriage proposal at you… That was so stupid of me." He let go of Betty's shoulder and stood up.

"Henry, you're not stupid." Betty declared. "You're one of the smartest men I have ever known."

A hint of a smile came across Henry's face. "Yeah." He uttered half heartedly. "So smart, that I couldn't recognize the turmoil that my own girlfriend was going through." An apologetic look came across his face. "I'm sorry Betty. I'm so sorry. I understand now that I should let you go…"

A worried look came across Betty's face. "Let me go?!" She got out of her seat and went to stand closer to Henry. "Henry what are you saying?"

Henry stepped closer to her and gently stroked her cheek. "I'm saying that we should probably end things." He clarified unhappily.

"Henry maybe we should…"

"I've already given Mode my two weeks notice. I gave them that four days ago, Betty. Charlie and the baby are going back to Tucson this weekend. I won't be too far behind them." At this moment tears started streaming down Betty's face, and Henry started to wipe them away.

"Don't cry." He told her softly. "I think it's for the best. I think that this is what should happen. I want to be near my child and you… you have dreams Betty and a future here in New York. This is where you want to be. This is where you belong with your family and friends."

"And without you?" Betty asked, the tears falling harder.

Henry nodded, a pained expression in his eyes. "And without me." He wiped away some more tears with his hand. "But you Betty you're going to be fine. Because you're strong and smart, and.. Beautiful… you're going to be okay…" His voice trailed off.

He stepped closer to Betty and hugged her tightly. He hugged her like that for a while and she held onto him, cherishing every moment of their hug. He finally released her and kissed her on the lips. It was a tender and sweet kiss filled with love and Betty realized that it was also a good bye kiss. They kissed for a while longer and then Henry let her go. She stepped back a little and looked up at him.

"I'm going to miss you Henry. You're a wonderful man, one of the best men I have ever met." She told him honestly and genuinely. Henry smiled at her sincerity and touched her cheek again. "And you are one heck of a woman Betty Suarez. I know that you are going to do great things in the future and you will capture your dreams." He predicted.

"You really think so?" Betty asked hopefully.

"Of course, I do." Henry assured her. "It's just something I know."

Henry smiled at Betty, and she returned his smile, her eyes still wet with tears. "I'll call you before I leave and I'll write you. I would like to keep in touch, to keep track of all of the dreams that you capture, if that's okay, with you?"

Betty nodded. "Of course it is. And I want to see pictures of how big Daphne gets." Henry nodded. He smiled at her one more time. "Bye Betty."

"Bye Henry." He turned to walk away and Betty ran to hug him one more time. After they hugged again, they released each other. "I'll keep in touch." Henry assured her and then he left the kitchen.

Once he was gone, Betty sat back down in her chair absorbing all that had just happened. She rested her hand on her head and closed her eyes, thinking about Henry and all of the good times that they had together. She thought about how she had fell in love with him, all of the time they had spent together, all of the things they had done together, and finally how much she would miss him. The tears started flowing again, and Betty sat in the kitchen by herself for a while longer, resting her hand on her head and letting the tears flow.