Chapter Four: Kings and Pawns

It's choice - not chance - that determines your destiny. -Jean Nidetch

Two weeks passed with not much happening to Kendall Hart in Pine Valley. Which was odd because after her run in with Ethan at the Buy n Go she'd expected to have been bombarded with questions and inquiries but she hadn't, and that suited her just fine. However, Binx refusing to speak to her had been something she had been completely expecting and it was breaking her heart.

She could see where her sister was coming from, being stuck so unjustly in the middle of two people she loved, but it hurt Kendall none the less when her sister would walk around her at breakfast with not as much as a "Good morning" to greet her. She knew what Bianca wanted, what would stop this silent stand off but she couldn't do it. She wouldn't do it. She loved her children too much.

Kendall pushed the thought to the back of her mind as she rubbed the fluffy white towel over her daughter Hannah's sun kissed arms. It was only April but already both of her children had complexions that would be envied by the most devoted tanorexic. While their pale green eyes and headstrong attitude were undoubtedly inherited from her and her kin, that easily tanned glow had come from their father's English bloodline, which had surprised Kendall as Britons weren't exactly known for their dark skin.

Despite the overhead heater that was running in her mother's bathroom, Kendall felt her skin break out into goose bumps. She couldn't think of Ethan right now, not as she sat on the wide basin of her mother's bathtub and dried her daughter off. She needed to keep moving in the right direction, being pro-active and sticking to the schedule that had run her and her children's lives for so long, which meant stage two of their bath-time ritual: getting a q tip and cleaning out her daughter's ears.

Kendall searched her mother's bathroom, but to no avail. The woman had bloody jasmine infused rose petals and stress releasing lavender fizz balls but not one freaking Q tip in the entirety of her pale pink rose garden-inspired bathroom. How was that possible? What kind of person didn't keep Q tips? But Erica Kane would always be a strange creature to Kendall.

Groaning, Kendall surrendered and wrapped the spa inspired towel around Hannah, making sure to pull loose her daughter's thick black braid so it would dry quicker. There was a small container of Q tips in the kit she kept in her purse for emergencies and she would just use them.

Kendall welcomed the cool air that hit her as she opened the bathroom door into her mother's sunlit bedroom. She ushered a disgruntled Hannah in and sat her down on the antique settee that was next to the bed so she could watch the game of My Little Pony memory that was unfolding between her brother, cousin and auntie Maggie.

Looking down at her lousy two matches Maggie felt disappointed. How was it that a couple of kids were twice as good as she at a game that didn't require that much thought? It wasn't fair really. They were barely in elementary school and she had a college education darn it!

Ramsey was beginning to flip over yet another one of the heart adorned squares when Kendall's voice pulled her eyes away from the cards.

"I'm going to get my purse from the livingroom. I'll be right back," she said, leaving a very pouty Hannah on the settee'.

"Did you want to come play, Honey?" Maggie asked, hopping to earn a smile or at least a disappearance of the narrowed eyes.

"No, thank you," she answered, crossing her thin arms as she continued to pout.

"Oh, come on," she coaxed. "Getting your hair washed couldn't be all that bad. Could it?"

"For Hannah Kane it is," Ramsey piped in. "She cries er ererytime, Mama get the brush."

"Shut up!" Hannah shot back, her bright eyes now focused solely on her brother.

"Hannah Kane Montgomery," came Kendall's voice from the hall. "Young ladies don't use words like shut up do they?"

"Ramsey stawted it," she retorted in way of defensive.

"Ramsey, stop teasing your sister. What's gotten into you?" Kendall asked, kneeling down by her daughter but addressing her son.

"Sorry, Mama," he said.

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to, am I?" she asked.

"Sorry, Hannah."

Hannah just huffed.

"Hannah accept your brother's apology." This time Kendall didn't phrase it as a question.

"S' okay," Hannah replied, but Maggie could hear the insincerity. Kids were growing up way too fast.

"Now, come here," Kendall said to Hannah as she turned her daughter's head to the side, pushing a thick black curl behind her ear.

"Ethan don't know how to use ," Miranda said unexpectedly.

Maggie nearly cringed at the words and put her hand on Miranda's shoulder steadying her. It was a critical time in Miranda's life that she remembers to use correct English. She and Bianca knew it was going to be somewhat difficult raising her into different parts of the world, but they thought they could manage if they remembered to teach her the correct pronunciation and the correct usage of each word

"Ethan doesn't," she corrected.

Miranda sighed and started over, "Ethan doesn't know how to use them right "

"Ethan doesn't know how to use those correctly."

"Maggie, I don't mean to be rude but could you give the grammar lesson a break," Kendall snapped and when Maggie turned to look at her she noticed Kendall looked as if she had just seen a ghost. "Now, Miranda," she continued her voice almost shaking. "What do you mean Ethan doesn't know how to use one of those? Do you mean one of these?" she asked, holding up the Q tip she'd been holding in her hands.

"Yep, I told him you're supposta put it in your ear but he put it in Hannah's mouth," she replied.

Maggie turned to her daughter. "Miranda, I don't want you cleaning your own ears "

"Seriously, Maggie. If you don't give it a rest, I'm going to throw you out the room," Kendall said. She was on her feet now, her eyes blazing and the hand holding the cotton on a stick was trembling. "Is this true, Hannah?" she asked, not looking down at her daughter.

"Yessum," she answered.

"I have to go," she stammered, grabbing the purse she had set down next to Hannah. "I have to go," she repeated.

Confused, Maggie moved off the bed to follow Kendall down the hall into the sitting-room. "Kendall, what's wrong?"

The tall brunette didn't answer Maggie as she stayed seated on the coach and continued to buckle the straps of her shoes. Her heart-shaped face obstructed by her mass of unruly curls.

"Kendall, are you okay? What happened?" Maggie asked, moving around the coffee table to get a better look at her.

"Nothing," she answered, rising to her feet. "I-I just have to go see someone right now. If they aren't too much trouble, would you mind bringing the twins to the hospital with Miranda. I was getting them ready to go, but something's come up and..."

"Yes, absolutely," she answered, unsure whether or not she should let Kendall go at all. "Are you sure, you're okay, Kendall?"

"Yes, I'm fine," she said, taking a set of keys out of her purse. "We're going to be just fine." And with that statement she walked out the door.

The Sun was moving into midday as Ethan stood by the windows of his office, staring out at the city through the tinted glass. Oddly, he felt no sense of satisfaction, he thought he would. The envelope of evidence and the bound booklet of thick papers that were laying on his desk was supposed to make him feel great, they were all he needed to give Kendall what she deserved but the warmonger that had been coursing through his veins for the last two weeks and the elation that he'd felt after conjuring his plan now seemed to have drained within him and taken all of his energy as well.

He couldn't even muster any anger towards his father at the board meeting that morning. He was nearly ready to call his PA Jasmine and tell her to postpone all of his appointments for the day but as he laid the Styrofoam cup of awful Earl Grey on the corner of his desk the double-entry-doors of his office were flung open and a very irate brunette stood in the threshold.

In the four years she'd been gone, she'd let her hair grow long and now her curly locks hung past the shoulder-blades that the striped cotton voile blouse she had chosen left bare. There was undeniably anger in the flush in her cheeks, but it did nothing more than enhance the bright green in her eyes. Ethan had lost count as to how many times he'd seen her in the last two weeks but it never failed that for just a moment he couldn't breathe.

"Good afternoon, Kendall," he greeted, suddenly feeling his anger and something else stirring inside him once again.

From the form of her lips and the narrowing of her pale eyes, he'd expected her to unleash a string of words that no lady should hear much less speak, but what actually happened he would suspect, surprised them both.

It was luck that Ethan had chosen to set down his cup of hot tea, because as the afternoon greeting left his lips, Kendall Hart threw herself at him.

Her hands were balled fists and the right one hit him squarely in the chest as she brought her left around to box him in the shoulder. Surprised, he stumbled backward, his rear sliding along the edge of his desk as he attempted to manoeuver away from her. But his tactic did no good as the petite brunette continued her assault, her knee barely missing a part of his body that would have certainly sent him crashing to the marble floor.

She was saying something to him, nearly screaming it between gasps for breath as her fists continued to land against his chest. She had nearly knocked the wind out of his lungs, when she had left Ethan with no choice but to grab her wrists and trip her into a nearby wing chair.

Laboured breathing mingled between them as Ethan stared at her in amazement. He would always reserve at least two hours out of his day to run, it was one of the few things that kept him sane and fit but as he tried to hold a struggling Kendall still in the simple armed chair he found that they both were nearly out of breath.

"Mister Cambias, is everything okay? Do you want me to phone Security or the police?" it was the worried voice of his secretary and for a minute Ethan feared that she might have already done it.

"No," he replied, watching the reaction on Kendall's lovely face. "That won't be necessary."

She stared up at him unflinching in her vulnerable position and Ethan waited until he heard the sound of the doors being closed before he addressed Kendall again.

"What in the bloody hell is this all about?" he asked.

"What did you do, Ethan!" Her voice was far from being calm and for the first time since she'd walked in Ethan sensed a shadow of fear over Kendall. But what could she possibly be afraid of? Surely, not him.

"Whatever do you mean?" he said mockingly, unsure of what she was speaking of.

"You know exactly what I mean," she spat back.

" Sorry, no. Could you be a bit more specific?"

"You shoving a Q-tip into my daughter's mouth ring any bells?"

Ethan felt himself smile faintly. He couldn't help it.

"Oh, yes. I almost forgot about that," he lied.

"You had no right, Ethan," she said, her wrists squirming beneath his hands. "None what-so-ever."

Ethan chewed on both his lips as he stared down at her caged in the office chair. He'd felt a sudden flaring of his hostility at her words and he forced himself to look away as he gathered himself.

"Actually, Kendall," he began his voice coarse. "I have every right and if you promise not to attack me I'll show you the paper that proves it."

Kendall agreed not to move as he reached over to his desk and snatched a white envelope off the top of a black binder and handed it to her with a shaky hand.

Ethan watched Kendall as she ripped it open and her bright eyes searched the paper.

"So?" she asked, as she reached the end. "This stupid piece of paper proves absolutely nothing."

"It proves that Hannah Kane Montgomery is my daughter and yes the one behind it proves that indeed Ramsey Hart Montgomery also happens to be my son."

"How am I supposed to believe that this isn't a series of forgeries? With the right stationary anyone could've printed this up. It wouldn't be the first time you've done it."

"It's the real thing, Kendall. You know it, now stop trying to deny it."

She sat with her head bent over the paper for a long moment, once again only their laboured breathing breaking the tense silence of the office.

"They're my children, Ethan. I gave birth to them, I raised them, I love them. I won't let you take them away from me."

"Then I think you'll be very interested in what I have to show you," he replied, handing her the thick booklet from his desk.

"What's this?" Kendall asked, head bent to the black title-less cover.

"A proposition," He answered.

They say power does funny things to your head but this was ridiculous. He was being ridiculous. What kind of arrogance had grown inside Ethan Cambias for him to believe that this was going to work? Or that she would actually agree to it? The gall he had. He couldn't be serious.

He'd finally left her to look over the pages and withdrew to the Chippendale chair behind his desk when she'd barely finished the second page before she'd recognized exactly where he was going.

"I don't know how you chaps do it on the other side of the pond but here in America you can't blackmail a woman into marrying you."

"Who said anything about blackmail?" Ethan asked, raising his eyebrows in a manner of mock innocence.

"Well, what else would you call what you're doing? Extortion?"

He stared at her for a moment, boyishly chewing on his bottom lip, "Actually, I'm just giving you a very kind ultimatum."

"If you think, I'm going to sell my children. You're sadly mistaken."

"I'd never dream of it," he answered, easily.

His light manner made it clear to Kendall that he knew he had the upper hand in this situation and was going to exploit it for all it was worth.

"Then, what is this garbage," she said, waving the thick booklet in the air.

"This 'garbage' as you so eloquently put it is merely a contract, a betrothal really, but much less romantic. Now, am I going to be getting your signature or not?"

"You want me to sign this now?"

"Preferably," he answered.

"But it's like a million pages of legalese."

"How very observant of you?" he said, dryly.

"And I don't have a lawyer," she continued.

"Don't need one," he answered. "I've had mine look over it with a fine-toothed-comb. It's quite generous really and I would even daresay that Lady Justice would agree that it's quite fair also."

"And you just assume I'm going to trust you? I don't think so," she said, throwing the thick booklet onto his desk, it slid across a few loose papers and landed in front of her ex-boyfriend with a thump and shuffle.

He didn't make any movement in his red leather chair but his dark eyes rested on the cover for a moment before he dragged them up to meet her own, "Then off to court we go."

For the last four years this nightmare had plagued Kendall and suddenly it was playing out in her mind: a vision of Hannah and Ramsey being pulled from her arms by faceless bailiffs and handed to Ethan and his army of nannies and lawyers.

"I think we're done here, Kendall," the sound of his voice just as abruptly brought her back to his study as it had forced her into her subconscious courtroom.

Kendall couldn't believe what she was about to ask but something inside her couldn't stop, "How long?"

"Oh, I presume we'll get a court date rather quickly. Probably around-"

"No, you ass, how long would our marriage last? I know you don't plan for us to be stuck together until deaths do we part... Unless, your planning on croaking soon," she said, pushing her self to end her sentence with an inquisitive and hopeful smile, even though she felt like doing anything but laughing.

"So now, you've decided to entertain the idea, have you?" he asked, his eyebrows lifted and his head tilted curiously.

"Just answer the damn question."

"No- no, sorry to disappoint you but I don't plan on dying anytime soon," he answered, casually threading his long fingers behind his head.

"That wasn't the question, Ethan and you know it. Stop playing dumb!"

"Four years," he said, and his voice as dry as autumn leaves.

"Four years!"

"Yes, four years," he repeated.

"Four years!"

"I think we both understand the time-line Kendall. No reason for us to play Echo any longer."

"You can't be serious?" she asked, her mouth open with astonishment.

"You keep saying that, but you know I am so why do you keep asking?"

"You can't actually believe that I'll stay married to you for four years," she answered, ignoring his bait.

"And why not?" he asked, bringing his hands down from behind his head and pressing his lips into a thin line. Kendall could see the playful manner that he had adopted had completely vanished from his tone and his demeanor. " It's just four short years, Kendall. You know the same amount of time that you kept my children away from me."

Kendall said nothing. What did she have to oppose that? He was right. She'd intentionally kept him away from his children and had done so without remorse. If it hadn't been for Jackson she would have never come back to Pine Valley, and in Florida she would have never made any effort to tell Ethan that they shared a beautiful daughter and son.

"I would never have hurt them, Kendall. I would have rather died before bringing any harm to either of them. So why- why did you do it? Why did you think you had the right to just nick what belonged to me and take it across the bloody east coast?"

"You claim you'll do anything for them but that's just not true, is it Ethan?" Not even close."

"Who are you to tell me what I would or would not do?"

"Because you made the same pledge to me, remember. You claimed you would do anything for me once. You swore never to hurt me, remember that? You swore on our love that you'd never lie to me. But you did."

"I thought that was something we'd worked through, Kendall. I thought you'd forgiven me."

"Forgiven you for what, Ethan? For lying to me when you said that you saw Zach kill Edmund or when you stood up and swore it on your supposed love for me, or perhaps it was the humiliation I suffered trying to stand by your side as you continued to lie to me and everyone else."

"I apologized then Kendall. I've apologized to you a thousand times. I bought you-"

"I bought you this. I bought you that," she mimicked. "You can't even all your debts with gifts, Ethan."

"And why shouldn't I?" he asked, leaning back in his chair once. "You seemed to enjoy it quite a bit if I remember. I certainly wasn't forcing you to accept that Chinchilla."

"I know, Ethan. I was very stupid then."

"Yes, and I was very blind," he answered.

"Still are," Kendall snapped, but suddenly a tiny worm of guilt creeped into her heart. "Why? Why do you so desperately want this, Ethan?"

He sighed. "The board has been wanting me to settle down for quite a while and now that I have two children they'll be demanding that I wed someone. I can see no reason why it shouldn't be the mother of my children and that would be you, Kendall."

"What do my children have to do with how you run Cambias Industries and the stupid board?"

"Now, now Kendall," he said teasingly. "If we've learned anything from certain domestic divas it's that scandal always affects stock."

Kendall shook her head. "I don't believe you, Ethan. You could've picked any one of the high-profile skanks you've been dating, they wouldn't have exactly been Super-Mom material but that doesn't really matter these days does it?"

Ethan lifted both his dark eyebrows as he looked at her. "Then please enlighten me with your wisdom and insight."

"I think you're scared," she answered, sitting up, her hands sliding onto the edge of his desk.

His dark-eyes looking down at her hands and then back to her, he asked, "Scared of what?"

"You're scared that if you do drag me into court that you'll undoubtedly lose," she said, sitting back and crossing her thin legs. "And don't think that I wouldn't be asking for full custody."

He watched her for a moment as he chewed on the well-manicured nail of his middle finger. He was turning something over in his head, she could see it. He brought the finger down and grabbed the book once more pushing it closer to her.

"I wouldn't take them away from you, Kendall. I've seen the way they look at you and I won't be responsible for breaking my own children's hearts. That would certainly be my last resort."

"What makes you so confident that a judge would give you custody anyway?"

"It seems that you've forgotten that I'm a Cambias, Kendall. If I can get a judge to hand custody to that sadistic little bastard, JR. I'm pretty sure I can accomplish anything."

His voice was so flat and matter-of-fact that Kendall knew he was far from threatening her, he was simply stating the facts. She was letting this threat roll over her when Ethan spoke again, "Kendall, it's a simple question with an even simpler answer: Yes or no?"

Feeling that she was out of options, Kendall locked her eyes onto his dark brown, knowing that it was time to think like a Kane. "When we divorce, I want alimony and Fusion," she demanded.

"Naturally," he answered.

"I don't want a custody battle, even then, I don't want to put our children through that. I want everything to be very cut and dry. I want everything written in the pre-nump."

"I agree," he answered, sitting up in his chair and running his long fingers through his black hair. "So do we have a deal or not?"

Kendall continued to stare at him. How could he be so calm about this, so collected. She felt like the freaking Little Mermaid, that somehow her soul was going to pulled out of this.

"Will you marry me, Miss Kendall Hart?" he asked, mockery tainting not only his accent but the proposal itself.

Kendall bit deep into her bottom lip until she was certain she'd drawn blood. She'd always wanted to hear those words and she had before, however coming from Ethan they seemed malicious and tarnished. She took a deep breath composing herself once more.

"Yes, I'll marry you."

Good? Bad? Tell me what you think.