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When Love Returns: Fitzpatrick Family - Becca & Ethan

By judythe morgan

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A brittle silence descended in the dining room, now empty except for the two of them. The sound of water from the kitchen faucet echoed like Niagara Falls.
Becca finished off the last of her coffee and shoved away from the table. As she lifted the saucer to take to the kitchen, Ethan spoke, “We really do need to talk. Why don’t you come out to the farm with me so we can have some privacy?” His eyes never left her face.
The cup rattled on the saucer. She set it back on the table. Panic coursed through her muscles, like a slowly advancing paralysis. Go with him to the farm where they’d spent so much time planning their future? A future that his disappearance destroyed.
She might want answers, to know where he’d been, why he hadn’t contacted her, why he’d returned, but the memories at the Wells’ farm would suffocate her. She needed a more public place.
And being alone with him? Becca wasn’t sure that would be a wise move either. She’d fallen head over heels the moment she’d met Ethan Wells in their kindergarten Sunday school class. The crush had grown through the years and they’d planned a life together after graduation. His disappearance caused a heartbreak that had never completely vanished. A heartbreak she’d never openly shared. Not even with her twin sister. She’d simply put Ethan out of her mind and moved on. Now if he was back to stay, she wasn’t sure what would happen.
“We could go out on the porch swing,” she replied. At least there, if the discussion became too intense she’d have a safety net of her family close by.
His jaw tightened ever so slightly before he stood and pushed his chair under the table. “Becca, what I have to say is for your ears only. There are too many distractions around here. Come to the farm with me. Or I’ll go to your place.”
“I live with Sarah. She and Nick plan to go back to the house to play board games with Rachel. They do that on Sunday afternoons.”
He tipped his head, acknowledging her point. “Okay then, the farm it is. I’ll bring you back here when we’re finished.”
“I’m quite capable of driving myself.”
“I’m sure you are.” He uttered a short, little laugh and headed to the front door. “Don’t take too long. I’ll be waiting.”
Becca snatched her cup and stomped into the kitchen where she pulled Sarah aside. “Ethan wants me to meet him at the farm to talk.”
“Give the guy a chance,” Nick said over his shoulder and placed a dinner plate in the dish drainer.
Sarah gave her a tight hug. “Nick’s right. Go. There may be a logical reason why Ethan never contacted you. I never understood the real reason Nick left me until he came back. Ethan could surprise you too. At least you’ll have answers.”
Becca wasn’t sure what answers she wanted or what Ethan could say to explain his disappearance. For so long, she had hoped and prayed for his return, but hope had only been a tease, preventing her from accepting the reality that he wasn’t coming back.
She refused to consider his return meant anything.

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