Chapter Two
Two Weeks later
Ethan Winthrop Sr. watched his eldest adoptive children as they packed suitcases, boxes, and furniture into their cars and into the U-hauls they had rented. He wasn't worried about them, not like Gwen was. He knew where they were going and he knew they would be happy there.
Unbeknownst to Gwen, he had known all along where his ex was. He knew that Theresa had gotten married and had given birth to five more children with her beloved husband. And he also knew that she was the tough as nails ADA who had won many cases in her department. She was the one person who had put Lorenzo Alcazar in jail for the rest of his life. She had brought down Faith Roscoe and had helped shove Sonny Corinthos out of Port Charles.
He had hidden the fact that he occasionally wrote to Theresa and Lucky and had sent them pictures of many of the children's major accomplishments. He felt that Theresa deserved to know what was going on in their lives. They were her children, no matter what Gwen believed.
Gwen walked up behind her husband. "How can you allow them to leave like this?" she asked him.
"Because, they are both adults and they need to make their own decisions. They'll learn more this way about life," Ethan told her. And they'll be happy with their mother and the rest of their family in Port Charles, he thought.
"But they belong here in Harmony!" Gwen exclaimed.
"No, they don't, Gwitch," came the voice of their youngest adoptive child Abigail. "They belong wherever they will be happy."
Gwen turned and faced her youngest child. She had adopted Abigail when she was four years old, almost in a very similar situation to Ethan and Jana. Abigail's birth name was Abigail Jean Alcott and she was the daughter of an old friend of Sheridan and Gwen, a friend that ended up an enemy when she supported Theresa in each and every single custody case. When Gwen and Ethan won the final one, Gwen aimed for her old friend and for two years fought her friend for Abby, as she was called, and had done the same thing to her as Gwen had done to Theresa. Abby wasn't about to love the woman that had raised her. She loathed her with every bone in her body and wanted nothing more than to go home to Boston, where her mother still lived.
Abby secretly communicated with her true mother and was awaiting a renewed custody battle which she knew her mother, father, stepmother, and stepfather were ready for and knew that they would win in an instant.
She knew that her elder siblings had been communicating with first their half-sister and finally their mother and stepfather. She knew that the very place they had decided to go was where their family lived. She knew that they would be happy there. It was where they belonged.
"Abigail, how dare you address me in that way! I am your mother!" Gwen yelled at her.
"You are not my mother and I can address you any way I choose. Just like Eth and Jana, you stole me from my true family and one day I will be back with them!" Abby yelled back before she stomped away angrily.
Gwen huffed for a moment before turning back to where Jana and Ethan had finished loading their things into their cars and the u-hauls and they were embracing their uncles. Gwen stepped forward, expecting to be embraced by them as well, but they totally avoided her. They both got in the cars and took off for Port Charles without so much as a second glance to the place they were leaving behind.
Before Jana took the exit to the interstate that would take them south, she pulled over and grabbed an envelope that she had received a few days before. Ethan pulled over right behind her and got out of his car and walked up to the side of his sister's car.
Jana opened the window and handed Ethan a smaller envelope and he and Jana opened the small envelopes to find their new ids and driver's licenses, all with their new legal name on them. Now, officially, they were Lucky and Theresa's children, as they always should've been.
Ethan walked back to his car and placed his new license and other ids in his wallet and for a moment gazed at his new name. Ethan Martin Spencer. Once again, he was a new person. He felt like he had been reborn.
A moment late, he put his wallet in his pocket just as Jana pulled back into traffic. He quickly followed his sister down the ramp and the two siblings quickly sped down the highway, saying a final farewell to Harmony, determined to never set foot in the town again.
Theresa could hardly concentrate on her work at the DA's office that afternoon. She was really excited by the fact that her eldest children were on their way to Port Charles. She was not the only one looking forward to their arrival. Lilianna, Leigh, Liana, Luke, and Liam had been working on special items that could be placed in their siblings new rooms upon their arrival.
Lucky and Theresa had decided to let Ethan and Jana decorate their rooms however they wanted to and she knew at least Jana would take advantage of that. She was still a teenager, after all.
Theresa worked as hard as she could, trying to calm down her feelings of anticipation. Alexis had noticed something different about her that morning when she came to work, but decided to let it go. At least, for a while.
Alexis came into her office at that moment, wanting to know what was going on with the young woman that she considered a daughter. "Theresa, what happened? I've never seen you quite like this."
Theresa's head rose from her work and a bright smile shown there. "Alexis, it is the best news! Ethan and Jana care on their way to Port Charles right now! My children are coming home!"
"That's great! I'm happy for you and Lucky. When will they get here?" Alexis asked.
"Sometime tonight or tomorrow, depending on when they left Harmony," Theresa told her.
"How did you find out that they were coming? Gwen warned you about communicating with them, didn't she?" Alexis asked.
"Lilianna has been chatting with and emailing Jana for over a year now. Two weeks ago, Jana told Lili that they were coming and she told her the truth of who she is and the fact that we live here. They couldn't wait. I'm glad. They don't claim Ethan and Gwen as family at all," Theresa told her.
"That's good. You had an influence on their lives for the time before they were fully taken away from you and you were forced out of their lives," Alexis said
"It wasn't just my influence on them, but Fox's influence on them. Ethan and Jana said Fox was one of the only family members that they claimed. He's had a big influence on their lives," Theresa said.
Later that night, Jana and Ethan rolled into Port Charles with smiles on their faces. They were where they had always belonged.
Jana consulted the address on the envelope and turned onto the correct street and checked each house number before they arrived outside the house where their family lived.
Jana smiled as she placed her hand on the horn and pressed down. A moment later, the front door opened and Lucky and Theresa ran out the door and out to the cars. Luke, Liam, and Lilianna quickly followed.
Jana and Ethan got out of their cars and met their family halfway, crashing into a family hug.
As they all separated, Theresa held her son at arms length, admiring him. She couldn't believe that he had grown to be such a handsome young man.
While Theresa and Ethan just stood for a few minutes, Lucky, Liam, Luke, and Lilianna began to help Jana unload her car and u-haul and carry it inside to her new room. Jana and Lilianna still had the same rapport with each other. But now, there was more to it. They were sisters.
Ethan and Theresa finally joined in the unloading just as Liana and Leigh arrived home from a night waitressing at Kelly's, as Lilianna still did. The boys would begin to help by bussing tables when they turned 14 two years from now.
Everything was unloaded and in place in a few hours. Everyone was tired, or at least Theresa and the men were. The girls seem to be getting a second wind as all four of them gathered in Jana's room and were talking up a storm.
Theresa stood by the door, watching her daughters as they got along, talking about some of the happenings around Port Charles and joking around about Harmony. Jana was good at telling stories about the witches Hotchkiss, as she called them, and about how Whitney had changed through the years.
After an hour, Leigh and Liana headed to their rooms and Lilianna also stood and stretched.
"I'd better get to sleep, Jana. I'm supposed to open Kelly's tomorrow," she said before heading out of the room.
"That's OK. I kind of need to get some sleep too. I want to check out PCU tomorrow. And I wanna see if I can find a job," Jana said.
"No need to go looking, sis. You have one waiting for you already," Lilianna said.
"What job could I have waiting for me?" Jana asked/
"Jana, sweetie, you are a Spencer now and its family tradition that you work at Kelly's. The girls all waitress there and soon the boys will be bussing tables. Mike is our cook and he is excellent. He's put some really good twists on Ruby's chili," Theresa said.
Jana smiled. "Thanks, mom. Who am I to shun family tradition? I'll be happy with that. It sounds like fun. And one question, who is Ruby?"
"Ruby is Lucky's great-aunt. She died over twenty years ago. She ran Kelly's up until her death and Luke and Bobbie now own it, but we all help run it. Spencer family pride will not allow us to let the old place go," Theresa explained.
"I understand. I guess I have a lot to learn about my family, don't I?" Jana asked.
"Yes, you do. And Lucky and I will tell you everything tomorrow. Now get to bed," Theresa said.
Theresa left the room and Jana got ready for bed. She was happy to be home, she thought as she crawled underneath her covers, falling asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Theresa walked down the hall and peaked into Ethan's room. He was already asleep as she gazed into the room. She smiled. She couldn't wait until tomorrow when he would join the team at the DA's office. Two Spencers would definitely be tough to beat.
She walked further down the hall and walked into her and Lucky's bedroom. Lucky was sitting up in bed, waiting for his beloved wife. She smiled at how truly lucky she was. A loving husband of 17 years and 7 amazing children. She hadn't felt that way at all when she had been in Harmony.
She quietly removed her robe and joined her husband, who put down his book and shut off the lamp. He slid down in bed and wrapped his arms around her as they both fell asleep.
Fox Crane woke up the next morning in his family's wing of the Crane Mansion to someone yelling down the hall, someone who seemed to be very angry about something. He got out of bed, grabbing his robe in the process and headed out of the room to see the yelling coming from his wife as she railed at their daughter Nikita, who apparently just got in.
Fox sighed. Nikita was their youngest child and she was a bit of a troublemaker. The night before, he knew she had gone out with some of her friends who had gone to a concert down in Boston. He gave her permission to go, but apparently Whitney didn't know that.
He strode down the hall calmly and place a hand on Nikita's shoulder. He faced his wife as she quieted. "Whitney, I gave Niki permission to go to the concert down in Boston weeks ago."
"But she still shouldn't have stayed out all night," Whitney said.
"Whitney, do you know how long it takes to drive from Boston to Harmony? Hours. That is why she just got here," Fox said.
"I don't know why you didn't take the jet there. It would have been a lot quicker," Whitney said.
"Because grandfather wouldn't let me take it because he and Eve used it to take a trip to Europe," Nikita said.
Julian and Eve had gotten married years before, just days after Nikita's older brother Nicholas was born. The two spent a lot of time enjoying the fact that they had gotten a second chance at love. They were very happy and their love had helped everyone in their family.
"Hey, dad, where's Jana? I checked her room and she's not there," Nikita said.
"Jana and Ethan left yesterday for Port Charles New York. That is where they decided to go after Jana graduated. And that is where their true family lives," Fox said with a small smile.
"You mean Theresa lives there," Whitney said.
"Theresa, her husband, and their five sons and daughters live there. That is why they made sure that they would go there. That girl that Jana was chatting online with, that is her younger half-sister Lilianna Spencer," Fox explained to his wife and daughter.
Whitney smiled. She had a feeling that somehow Ethan and Jana would find their mother and reunite with her. And she knew that they had their little sister to thank.
"Wait until Gwen finds out. She is going to be so angry, but she should've known that they would do that," Whitney said with a smirky smile.
A screech came from down the hall at that moment. They all smiled. "Looks like she just found out," Fox said with a laugh.
"Ethan!" came Gwen's screech from what had been Jana's room.
Ethan came down the hall as quick as he could. He arrived outside the bedroom and saw his wife in a rage. "What's wrong, Gwen?"
"That bitch had contact with Ethan and Jana and she was told no contact! That is why they chose that town in New York, because that is where she is!" Gwen screamed in rage.
"Gwen, they had every right to communicate with her if they wanted to. They are both adults!" Ethan exclaimed. He looked over the copies of the chats that Jana had left behind. "And it looks as though the contact with Theresa was recent. She only began to talk with Jana and Ethan two weeks ago. They communicated with their half-sister a lot longer without knowing that she was their sister," he said.
"And you knew that you could never turn them against their mother, no matter what you tried," Fox said.
"And they chose Port Charles even before they knew that Theresa lived there," Whitney said from where she and Fox stood by the door.
"But they are my children! They are not Theresa's!" Gwen exclaimed.
"Yes, they are Theresa's children. I don't think I ever heard either one of them call you mom. And now, even the Winthrop is gone from their name," Nikita said from beside her father.
"What? What do you mean Winthrop is gone from their name?" Ethan asked.
"They arranged to have their name changed to match their real family, as they see them. Their last name is now Spencer," Whitney explained.
"Spencer?" Gwen asked.
"The last name of their stepfather, Port Charles Police Commissioner Lucky Spencer. He and Theresa have been married for almost 17 years," Fox informed them.
"Why didn't we get to know that during the last two custody battles?" Ethan asked.
"Because only her income was considered. Rebecca blocked anything new from being presented so that you and Gwen would retain custody of them," Whitney said with contempt.
"Oh my god!" Ethan exclaimed as he turned to his wife. "How could you and your mother do this? Both of them should have been with Theresa all along," he said.
"No, they didn't belong with Theresa, they belonged with us! We took them from her because she took Sarah from us!" Gwen exclaimed.
"For the last time, Gwen, Theresa didn't kill Sarah! It was an accident!" Ethan exclaimed.
"It was no accident, Ethan! Gwen caused Sarah's death!"
All five of them turned toward the door to see a very angry young woman with her biological mother standing behind her, her hands supportively on her daughter's shoulder.