Chapter 3

Two weeks later…

Lopez-Fitzgerald home, Harmony Maine

"Mama, do you think Ethan will like my dress?" Teresa asked her mother, her brown eyes sparkling with suppressed excitement.

"Ethan is going to be floored when he sees you floating up the aisle like the princess that you are," Pilar replied with an affectionate grin.

"I'm so happy, Mama. Ethan and I are going to be married and we're going to raise a houseful of children and I'm going to devote my life to making him happy. And to my sewing of course," she added looking down at the half-completed satin and lace confection in her hand.

"Mija, estoy tan orgullosa de ti, I'm so proud of the woman you've become," Pilar told her daughter.

"I wish your father was here. He'd have been so proud. As proud as Ivy would be of Ethan. Losing her beloved James was so hard on her but she forced herself to go on because of Ethan. I didn't understand her pain until I lost your father. And then we grieved together. Ivy was my rock; I don't know what I would have done without her. When she got sick, I wanted to weep at the injustice of it. She had so much to live for; so many dreams and the cancer ate away at her till she was nothing but a pile of bones. How I railed at God but she reminded me that we were women of faith and then she made me promise that I would take care of Ethan when she was gone. I wish she was here to see what a lovely couple you make," she added sadly.

Teresa rose from the chair and went to kneel at her mother's feet.

"She is here Mama. I know she's watching us from heaven just like Papa is. If I didn't believe that I wouldn't be able to go on," Teresa told her mother and Pilar stroked her daughter's silky hair softly.

"Te amo, mi niña. Now get back to work or that dress will never be finished," she added.

Teresa laughed and went back to the table. When she had laid the dress on the table, she absently picked up her needle and let out a cry of pain when she punctured her thumb. Her surprise turned to horror when she saw that she that she had smeared her lovely gown with blood.

"Oh no," she cried in dismay.

Picking up a handkerchief she blotted the mess until there was no trace of blood on the dress and then let out a sigh of relief when she saw that the gown hadn't been ruined.

Without turning around, she leaned over to grab the glass of water at the edge of the table. The loud crash had her spinning around and a horrified gasp escaped her lips when she looked down and saw that a framed photograph of Ethan and her had shattered.

Her hands trembled as she bent to pick up the glass and she shivered. Something was wrong. She knew it as surely as she knew that her name was Teresa Lopez-Fitzgerald.

A week later…

"Daniel, what the hell am I going to do? Today is my wedding day. In less than 8 hours I'm going to stand in front of a church full of people to marry the woman I've loved my entire life. But when I get back to Boston, Gwen expects me to marry her. Hell, she announced our engagement in front of a room full of witnesses. If I don't marry her I'll lose my job and everything that I've worked for my entire life," Ethan muttered tangling his hands in his light brown hair.

"Ethan, Gwen is the heiress to a fortune. Her father left her a sizable inheritance and she's the stepdaughter of one of the wealthiest men in the city. Marrying her guarantees you a secure future. Forget about Teresa. She's a little nobody from Hicksville. If you worked your entire life you would never be able to accumulate this much wealth. This is a golden opportunity. Don't squander it," Daniel advised his friend.

Ethan paced around the room trying to find a solution to the tangled web he'd woven. Teresa would make him the perfect wife. She was sweet and malleable and she'd be content to take care of him and the children they'd conceive till the end of her days. He enjoyed her hero worship and her innocence attracted him like a moth to flame. Gwen on the other hand was spoiled, willful, and demanding and he had no doubt that if he strayed she'd nail his ass to the wall. But she was also sexy, confident, alluring, and being with her was absolutely exhilarating. And as Julian Crane's son-in-law he'd be part of a world he'd only dreamed of, till now.

"I can't stand Teresa up. I just can't," he muttered but he was weakening and he knew it.

The truth was he had absolutely everything to gain and nothing to lose if he married Gwen. And they both knew it.

Harmony Maine

St. Mary Margaret's

"Teresa, don't worry. Ethan will show up. He loves you. He's just running late. You know how awful traffic can be at this time of day," Whitney soothed her best friend.

"He should have been here an hour ago Whit," Teresa replied dully, her dark eyes shiny with tears.

Unable to bear the humiliation any longer she tossed her bouquet on the floor and lifting the hem of her dress, ran down the steps of the church. Just then a tall, dark haired young man made his way through the crowd, his face pale. When Teresa saw the paper in his hand she felt the blood rush to her face.

"Teresa, I'm sorry. There was a terrible accident. The bus Ethan was on overturned on the freeway and---"

"No, he can't be dead. He just can't be," Teresa, wailed the tears streaming down her cheeks.

"There weren't any survivors," Miguel whispered catching his sister in his arms when she fell into a dead faint.

Boston Massachusetts…that same night

"A toast to the happy couple," the mother of the bride murmured lifting her flute and the guests followed suit.

The estate nearly overflowed with guests. Though this wasn't how she'd envisioned her daughter's wedding, she knew the simple ceremony and the elegant reception her daughter had organized would be the talk of the town. It wasn't every day an heiress got married. Twisting her lips in the semblance of a smile, she made her speech but inside she seethed. She had no doubt at all that her baby had married beneath her. Oh the groom was handsome enough and he appeared absolutely besotted with his bride but she knew, deep down in her heart, that it was all an act. He was a schemer, a gigolo who had married her daughter for her money. His act couldn't fool her because she had run the same scam twenty-five years before when she had tricked her husband into marriage. As the crowd lifted their glasses she vowed that her son in law would pay for his deception. In spades.

"To Ethan and Gwen," the crowd chanted watching the groom bend his head and press a chaste kiss on his bride's waiting lips.