CH 38- The Talk

"I can't believe that tomorrow I am going to be Mrs. Nicholas Foxwarth Crane!" Paloma excitedly squealed.

"Isn't there some kind of rule against us talking to each other on the night before the wedding?" Fox laughed into the receiver.

"That's only if we see each other, silly." She giggled. "Besides, I love hearing the voice of the man that I am going to spend the rest of my life with."

"Well, you better tell him that you won't be hearing his voice much longer, because you're marrying me tomorrow." He smiled.

"Fox."

"I'm kidding!" He smirked. "I love you."

"I love you too." Paloma grinned. "That's why I can't wait to marry you tomorrow."

Fox suddenly heard her quietly sigh into the receiver.

"What's wrong baby? You sound upset."

"I'm just thinking about my family and how horrible they're being." She told him. "Except for Mama and Miguel, they have all deserted me when I need them the most. Can't we just get married now?"

"Now?" He shockingly asked. "You mean like elope?"

"Yeah!" She excitedly smiled. "Let's just get it over with! My family doesn't even care about me so why should we go through all this trouble?"

"Paloma, you're family does care about you." He tried to convince her. "Plus I know how much you want a big wedding. Besides, Pilar would be really upset if we didn't get married in a church. To not be able to see her last born get married would break her heart, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I guess it would." She admitted. "Tomorrow just seems so far away!"

"It's not," he laughed. "Just go rest that beautiful head of yours, and before you know it we will be husband and wife."

"I can't wait!" She happily grinned. "I love you."

"I love you too." He smiled. "Goodnight."

As he hung up the phone and placed it back into his pocket, he paused for a moment.

Tomorrow I'm getting married to Paloma.

He thought to himself, staring up at the afternoon sky. The beautiful intertwining colors of orange and yellow cascaded through the remaining clouds, giving the entire Crane garden a magnificent glow. He breathed in the cool spring breeze and closed his eyes, attempting to still his mind.

"You're finally going to get the chance to move on with your life." He said out loud, finally opening his eyes. "So then why do you feel like you're about to make the biggest mistake of your life?"

"That's because you don't love her."

A voice was suddenly heard from behind him.

Fox turned around to surprisingly find Luis standing at the doorway.

"Luis, what are you doing here?

"Well, Sheridan and I were just taking a walk and she remembered she forgot her sweater here at the mansion, so I came back to get it for her." He explained, making his way over to him. "I heard what you just said."

"Well, you're wrong." Fox instantly told him. "I do love Paloma."

"Alright fine, so you love her. But you're not in love with her."

"Ok, you lost me." Fox looked at him confused.

Luis took a deep breath, before glancing up at him.

"Fox, do you know why I don't want you and Paloma to get married?"

"Yeah, because you don't want to accept the fact that your baby sister is growing up and she's old enough to make her own decisions." He quickly said.

"I see you've been talking to her quite a bit." He smirked. "But that's not it."

"So why then?" He looked at him hurt. "Don't you think I'd be good enough for her?"

"Fox, you know that's not it." He seriously looked at him. "You've proven time after time that you're nothing like the rest of your family, and I respect that. You're a good man and any woman who is lucky enough to become your wife would be well taken care of."

"So then why can't that woman be Paloma?"

"Because she's not the one that you want to spend the rest of your life with." He simply told him. "Theresa is."

For a while Fox just stared at him, surprised by his response.

"No." He shook his head, slowly walking away. "I thought she was the one, but she's not."

"You honestly believe that?" Luis doubtfully looked at his back.

"Yes." He turned around.

"Fox, when are you going to stop lying to yourself?"

"Luis—" He began.

"No, I'm serious." He interrupted. "I don't know what's wrong with you but for some reason you're trying to convince yourself that you don't love Theresa when it's so obvious that you do."

Luis watched as Fox frustratingly ran a hand through his hair.

"I see the way you look at her." He continued. "The magic is still there. You two still have that bond. It's the kind of bond that me and Sheridan have. Do you know how many times your grandfather has tried to tear us apart and failed? The old bastard still doesn't get it though. The bond that Sheridan and I have is unbreakable. Nothing will ever separate us and that's why you shouldn't let anything come between you and Theresa."

"Luis, it's not that simple." Fox mumbled.

"Sure it is—"

"No it's not!" He snapped. "She's pregnant with Ethan's children! I'm just supposed to work around that? Give me a break Luis!"

"Look, I know it's a difficult situation but—"

"No, it's not a difficult situation. It's an impossible one!" Fox stared at him. "We've tried this already, remember? When I first found out that Theresa was pregnant you tried to get me to forgive her and work towards getting back together. And I admit, it seemed possible at one point. But then what happened? I thought I overheard her tell Whitney that she was glad that Ethan was the father of the twins, and that she wanted to be with him. So I decided to get involved with Paloma, thinking that it would ease the pain of rejection. But it didn't, because I later found out that I misheard the whole thing and Theresa actually wanted to be with me. So being the mature adults that we were, we decided that the situation was too much to bear and that the best thing to do would be to remain friends, only we just recently found out that that was a little easier said than done. So for a split second we gave into our feelings and reconnected once more, and what happened? Ethan woke up. Are you seeing a pattern here Luis?" Fox stared at him. "No matter what we do, something always happens. It has to be a sign right? Theresa and I were just not meant to be."

Luis just stood in silence as he watched the pain in Fox's eyes.

"I'm sorry man, I guess I never thought about it that way." He quietly said.

"It's been hard, Luis." Fox painfully looked at him. "Nobody knows how difficult this whole thing has been for me, except me. Of course I love Theresa. I'd be telling a boldfaced lie, if I said I didn't. But that's as far as these feelings can go. She's pregnant with Ethan's children. All I'll ever be to those little angels is their uncle. I'll never be able to tuck them in at night or hear them call me daddy and it kills me because I want that more than ever. Before this whole ordeal happened, I used to dream about what it would be like to start a family with Theresa. Believe me, I wish it was me who was the father of those babies and not Ethan. But I know that that's just wishful thinking because that can never happen. It's time that I wake up and accept things for the way that they are, and that's what I'm trying to do. There's no way that Theresa and I can ever be romantically involved again, so as hard as it is, I want to move on. I want for both of us to be happy and this is the only way that I know how to do that; I marry Paloma, and Theresa can settle down with Ethan and raise the twins. I can still be a part of her life and she can still be a part of mine, just not in the way that we hoped."

"But will you really be happy?" Luis looked at him. "Can you honestly tell me that while you are married to Paloma, that you will not occasionally think about Theresa?"

Fox frustratingly dropped himself into the swing and stared up at the sky, listening to Luis's words.

"Marriage is a very sacred thing." He continued. "When the priest announces you and Paloma as man and wife, there will be no turning back. You will have already promised her that you will dedicate your entire life to her and only her. There will be no more room for Theresa in your heart, or at least there shouldn't be. Fox, I understand that this has not been easy for you, believe me. But I still don't think that you're being true to yourself. If you can honestly tell me that you love Paloma unconditionally and you are willing to spend the rest of your life with her and only her without even glancing Theresa's way, then ignore everything I just told you. But if there's even the smallest doubt in your mind about what you're going to do tomorrow, don't marry Paloma. It wouldn't be fair to her, and you'd live to regret it, trust me."

When Fox didn't answer, Luis rose from the swing and started to walk towards the door.

"I'm gonna get going. Sheridan is probably wondering where I am." He said over his shoulder. "Think about what I said. Goodnight Fox!"

"Yeah, goodnight!" He called.

For a moment Fox just sat there completely motionless, Luis' words still floating in his head.

"You'll live to regret it, trust me."

"What if he's right?" He whispered. "What if marrying Paloma isn't such a good idea?"

Fox discouragingly placed his head in his hands and let out a troubled sigh.

Suddenly he felt someone lightly touch his shoulder. As he slowly rose up to see who it was, he instantly felt his heart skip a beat.

"Theresa."