Thanks for the review, sveta!

Here's Chapter Nine. Enjoy!

Chapter Nine

Whitney pulled up to the cottage a few hours later, just as Theresa pulled up from another day at the PCPD. A day without any clues as to where Nikolas could be.

"Hey Whit! Nice car!" Theresa shouted in greeting to her good friend.

"Hey Theresa! Hey EM! How was daycare?" Whitney asked as she approached the two of them.

"Daycare was fun. I like going there because mommy can visit," EM told her.

Whitney looked at Theresa for a second. "Where does he go to daycare?"

"There is one at the PCPD. It's nice because I can check in on him when I have the time, even though, it's hard these days, with the search for Nikolas going on," Theresa said.

"Any clues to where he is yet?" Whitney asked.

"None so far. We don't know where he could be. They've checked the river downstream but they've found nothing, which points to him being alive, but maybe he's wandering somewhere without any memory of who he is," Theresa said as she unlocked the door.

The trio walked in the door and EM ran upstairs to his room. "Whit, your room is upstairs, first door on the right. EM is just down the hall and I'm at the end of the hall," Theresa said.

"Thanks. I'll go get my things," Whitney said, heading back out to her car and grabbed some of her things and began to take them inside while Theresa walked upstairs to her room and changed out of her work clothes.

She came back downstairs just as a very familiar car pulled up outside. Whitney was just heading back outside for more boxes as Lucky got out of the car. "Hello Resa! Hey Whit!"

"Hey Lucky! Good to see you!" Whitney greeted as she stood on the porch before heading to her car for more boxes. Lucky and Theresa began to help and soon all of Whitney's things were in her room. She set about to unpacking her things while Lucky and Theresa headed back downstairs.

Theresa noticed that Lucky had a smile on his face. "Is that an 'I love you' smile or a 'something extra special happened' smile?"

"Resa, we think we might have found Nikolas. We have a clue that someone called in that they saw someone drag him into their house. The person said the someone they saw was a widow," he said.

"That's great! I'll help check it out tomorrow. I hope that it all pans out," Theresa said.

"Hey Fox! Get down here!" came a very familiar female voice from the entryway of the Crane Mansion.

Fox smiled when he heard the voice. It was really a good omen whenever she set foot in Harmony. He launched down the stairs and embraced the young woman standing there. "Hey, Anna, welcome home!"

"Thanks, bro," Annaliese Victoria Crane said from within the embrace. Annaliese was the youngest of all the Crane children, being only four minutes younger than Isabella, her twin sister.

"Where's Izzy? You two are usually joined at the hip," Fox said with a laugh.

"She'll be here in a few days. She couldn't get away right away like I did," Annaliese said before slugging her brother in the arm.

"Ouch! Man, you're tough today," Fox said as he rubbed his arm.

"That was for breaking theresa's heart the way you did," Annaliese said. "I thought you knew better than to listen to Andrea."

"I know. And I can't believe that today is the day, finally," Fox said with a relieved smile.

"The day? What day?" Annaliese asked.

She was answered by Gwen's shriek of refusal coming from upstairs. "Oh, Ethan is finally kicking that witch to the curb. I understand why. She did that to him."

"Yeah. Who knew that looking through Andrea's old journal would reveal the truth," Fox said.

Upstairs, Gwen sat on the bed, arms crossed stubbornly as she watched Ethan pack her suitcases. "Ethan, I love you! I did it for you!"

"Gwen, you knew I loved Theresa! You knew that she was innocent all along and you never revealed the truth that it was you and Andrea that had ruined my life. And plus, you knew that you were to blame for Sarah's death. If you hadn't left the hospital, Sarah would still be alive today. And you used her spectre in getting your revenge against Theresa, revenge that you did not deserve!" Ethan yelled as he finished packing her two suitcases he was allowing her to take. "Now sign the papers and get out!"

"No!" Gwen shouted as she threw the pen and the papers across the room.

Ethan produced another pen and set of papers from his suit pocket. "Sign the papers, Gwen. You cannot change my mind! Now get out!" he shouted.

Gwen bent her head in defeat and signed the divorce papers. Ethan grabbed them and put them on his desk before he slammed shut her suitcases and grabbed her arm. He quickly marched Gwen down the stairs and out of the mansion to where a taxi was waiting.

"Goodbye, Gwen! And don't even think about coming back!" he shouted as he handed the suitcases to the driver. Gwen got in the cab and slammed the door shut before Ethan went back into the mansion where his two siblings were applauding him.

"Thank you. I am so glad that she's gone too. What I still can't believe was that she was the one responsible for ruining my life and she allowed everyone to believe that Theresa was the one," Ethan said.

"Gwen didn't car who she hurt, just as long as she was the one who had you," Annaliese said.

"Yeah, and she knew damn well that you loved Theresa no matter what Gwen did to her and no matter how much you tried to deny it and tried to love Gwen, Theresa was the woman you loved," Fox said.

"I will always love Theresa, but she has moved on and so have I. I know I'll find happiness with someone else," Ethan said.

"And I'll be happy once I find where Theresa is so I can ask her for forgiveness," Fox said.

"That is, if she can find it in her heart to forgive you," came Chad's voice at that moment.

"Chad is right, Fox. She may not want to forgive you. That is truly up to her," Annaliese said.

"I know. But I at lease deserve the chance to try to make it up to her," Fox said.

Whitney gazed out the window of her room at the cottage thinking about everything that had happened. Her family had been destroyed when her mother had finally decided to divorce TC, then finding out that Chad was her half-brother was the final straw.

Thank goodness I left Harmony before Simone could gloat about me losing Chad, she thought. Her own sister would do anything she could to gloat over that fact.

Whitney grabbed her sweater and decided it was time to get on with her life. She quickly left the cottage and drove into town, heading straight for Luke's.

She walked into the club and she let the blues music flow over her as she headed to the bar and sat down.

"Hey Whitney! What can I get for you?" Luke asked.

"Long Island iced tea to start. I need a little strength so I can get on with my life," Whitney said.