Grace looked at Ethan, and pulled away from him. She had to get out of there, and fast. She knew if she stayed in his arms any longer that she would take him up on his offer, and break all the rules that she had set between them.

"I have to go, I'm happy for you, really, I am." Grace said, and quickly got inside her car.

Ethan leaned in the door, and looked at her "I wish you would quit running away from me."

"Ethan go back inside, and continue whatever you have going on with Ilona. I told you to go out, and find whatever you're looking for. I want you to be happy, you won't have that with me, and I don't want a relationship that is a secret either. It's not right, and it's not fair to you, or I."

"It doesn't have to be."

"I have to go; I feel like I'm about to be sick again." Grace pulled on the door to shut it, causing Ethan to jump back. He stood in the driveway, and watched her leave, wondering what the hell she was talking about.

Ethan walked back inside, and plumped his ass down in the chair at the table "How's my mom, is she feeling better?" Sadie asked, sounding worried.

Ethan rubbed his face hard, frustrated with his situation with Grace, and wanted to finally admit to Sadie what happened between them, but because of Grace, and her asking him not to, he kept his mouth shut "I'm not sure, she said she was about to be sick. I didn't know she was sick?"

"She was fine earlier, when you were with Antonio, she was here talking with Ilona and I, and she took off to the bathroom. When she came out, she was white as a ghost, and said she had to get going. She thought maybe she had food poisoning, or a bug that was going around." Sadie left the room to gather all the kids, and brought them upstairs to get ready for bed.

Ethan looked at Ilona and noticed she was being quiet. He then started talking to her about Faith, and how Melissa was going to allow him to have her on Thanksgiving. "That's great." Ilona smiled "It's a start, so that's good."

"I'm curious as to how she will handle being around a bunch of strangers. She doesn't know any one of us." Ethan looked down at the papers that Melissa had signed, and scanned through them. He knew he didn't have to read them since Antonio was the one that drew them up, and knew Antonio would never screw him over with anything.

"Maybe you should have her come over tomorrow for a few hours, that way she can get to know everyone. Plus, you have Aria, Carina, and Matteo here that are close in age, they should get along, and would play well together." Ilona says, giving him an idea.

"That's not a bad idea."

"I can help, Carina warmed up to me quickly, and I'm sure I could get her to as well." Ilona smiled, as she touched the top of his hand.

"Thank you." He looked down at her hand, and smiled "I better get going, I'd like to go over these papers."

Ilona sighed "I guess I'll see you whenever."

Ethan went home, and decided to finally look at the papers that Antonio drew up, he liked what he read, but couldn't believe this was Melissa's doing. He felt she had something up her sleeve, and that this was almost too easy. He called Antonio, asking for him to get things set up for a DNA test. He wanted to be sure she wasn't going to screw him again, even though she denied wanting any child support. In which he thought was strange, and believed that if she was his kid, he felt he should at least help somehow.

He smiled as he sat on the couch remembering Faith's face, seeing her long dirty blonde hair, her green eyes, and her smile. He knew it was late but called Melissa's phone number that she had listed on the paperwork. Melissa answered, and was quite civil on the phone with Ethan, she agreed to bring Faith over to Antonio's the next day, so she could get to know him, as well as the others.

"Thank you, you have no idea what this means to me." He tells her, before hanging up.

******

Luca answered the door, and didn't recognize who was at the door with a little girl, and called out for his mom. Sadie came from the kitchen, and saw Melissa, waving for her to come in.

"Luca, let them in please." she said, as she walked towards the door, when he wouldn't let them inside.

"Ethan isn't here yet."

"I'm sorry, we're a little early anyway." Melissa said as she took Faith's jacket off. Aria, and Matteo ran into the room, and saw Faith.

"Come play with us." Aria smiled, excited to see someone new, and took her hand bringing her into the playroom where Carina was playing.

"Wow, they're getting big. Last time I saw them they were just babies." Melissa smiled.

"They are, that was Aria, and Matteo, Carina is probably playing in the other room, she's extremely shy, but warms up rather quickly to other kids. When it comes to adults, not so much." she giggled.

"Faith is pretty outgoing, I don't see a problem with her not getting along with others. She is exactly like Ethan in that department, actually, she is a lot like him in so many ways."

Sadie had Melissa come further into the house, and brought her over to the table so they could talk, Melissa again apologized for what she had done to Ethan, mentioning it has haunted her over the years.

"I'm not the one who you should be apologizing to, you need to apologize to Ethan. The last four years was a hard time in his life, he never got over you, and never got over how you left him hanging at the altar."

"I know it was mean to do, I just couldn't face him. I knew I was pregnant, and I knew how much he had wanted to start a family. At the time I was scared, and I had no clue who the father was between Ethan, and James, and when I tried figuring it out, the timing lead to with her being James child, and that was the reason why I couldn't go through with marrying Ethan."

Brandon walked over to Sadie, and sat on her lap, looking at Melissa curiously, and wondering who she was "You must be Brandon, I haven't seen you since you were about four years old." Melissa says as she smiled at him "Wow, all your kids are just cutie pies."

"Thanks."

Ethan pulled into the driveway, and saw a vehicle he didn't recognize, his heart started beating faster when he figured it was Melissa dropping off Faith. Ethan walked inside, and saw Sadie talking with Melissa, and looked around for Faith. When he didn't see her, he walked over to them "Where's Faith?"

"She's playing with the kids." Sadie smiled, she then told Brandon to go play with the other kids, so that she could talk to Melissa, and Ethan.

Melissa pulled out a list that she had wrote out for Ethan, and handed it over to him "What's this?" he asked, taking the paper from her hand.

"It's a list about Faith, what she likes, doesn't like, foods that she isn't allowed to eat as it upsets her stomach, and letting you know that she has no allergies to any foods or medications."

"Thank you." Ethan's hand shook a little as he was nervous about getting to know Faith, as well as being in front of Melissa "I also brought a bag with her, with a change of clothes, and whatnot, just in case you would like to just keep her for the night. You don't have to, I just figured to bring them just in case."

Ethan still didn't trust her, and was still unsure what her change of heart was, and what her motives were. Melissa left the room to find Faith, and to bring her over to Ethan, she explained to her who he was, and told her to behave herself.

Melissa was leaving, and Ethan followed her, stopping her as he walked in front of her "Melissa... I want to thank you for this, but what I don't understand is why you are doing this?"

"First of all, you're welcome, and secondly, I thought about everything, and knew it wasn't right. You never did do anything to hurt me, and if anything, I was the one who hurt you. She deserved to know the truth, as well as you. I thought about had she been lied to throughout her life, and found out the truth later in life, she would end up hating me, and I don't want that to happen."

Ethan smiled, and gave her a hug "Thank you again, just know that I would never hurt her, and that she will be well taken care of by me."

"I know."

Ethan walked back into the house feeling as if he was on cloud nine, it still hurt him knowing he missed the beginning years of her life, but was happy to start being in her life now. He watched her play with the kids, and watched how she was personality wise, and noticed how much she was just like him.

The kids liked the thought that Faith was spending the night, and made themselves a fort downstairs for them to all sleep in, they grabbed pillows, and blankets, and made their own beds inside their fort.

Ethan slept on the couch near them, wanting to keep an eye on everything, even though Ilona slept in the room down there, he still ended up sleeping on the couch wanting to keep an eye on them.

******

Ethan woke up the next morning to a pair of beautiful green eyes staring at him. He smiled, and started running his hand through her hair "Are you hungry sweet pea?"

She shook her head yes, and pulled on his hand to help get him up off the couch. Ethan looked inside their fort, and saw the other kids were all wide awake "Are you all hungry too?"

They all shook their heads yes, and had Ethan crawl inside their fort. Faith crawled onto Ethan's lap, and turned around to study his face. His heart melted as he looked back at her, giving her a hug "I love you." he said to her.

"Love you." she said back to him, kissing his cheek. Ethan didn't know what to say other than he felt his heart grow even bigger, and never wanted to let her out of his sight.

"Come on, I'll make you kids some breakfast." he smiled, helping them out of the fort.

Ethan made the kids some breakfast, while Sadie was preparing the turkey, and ham "How did the kids do?" Sadie asked.

"Good, none of them woke up in the middle of the night." he smiled "I think they had fun."

"We did." the kids excitedly said at the same time, while eating their scrambled eggs.

Ethan walked over to Sadie, and gave her a hug "What's this for?"

"I just wanted to hug you, and to thank you. For you finding Faith, and for asking Antonio to find out about her. Had you not run into Melissa, and Faith that night, I still wouldn't know about her, and she wouldn't be here right now."

"You're very welcome. I know you are doing a paternity test, but there is no doubt in my mind, we know she's yours, look at her, she's identical to you." Ethan turned to look at Faith, and knew in his heart she was his.

"Oh, she's mine, I know it. There's no denying her one bit." Ethan grinned "I'm still in shock that I have a child."

"I'm sure you are, and I had a nice talk with Melissa, she was pretty upfront about everything, and explained everything to me. She even tried apologizing to me, I told her she needs to apologize to you, and not me, but I know she meant it."

Ethan sighed, he then thought about Grace, how badly he wanted to tell Sadie about his feelings for Grace, and how they hooked up. He knew he owed Sadie that, being she helped him, and is always there for him. He didn't like hiding anything from her, and didn't want to ruin her day, or her upcoming vacation with Antonio, since they were leaving the next morning.

Ilona walked over to Ethan, he was playing with the kids, and sat down next to him "Looks like she's doing good with the other kids." she smiled while rubbing his back.

"She is, she's doing really well, she talks to me like she's known me her whole life. I love it."

"I'm happy for you."

"Thank you." He looked at Ilona, and smiled, he liked how she was always sincere with everything, and always wanting to talk to him, and always trying to get him to open up. He could see she was a good person, and deserved someone who could give her what she was looking for. He felt like a piece of shit for always making up excuses to not talk to her, or hang out with her. He just didn't know what he wanted, and didn't want to hurt her any more than he has.

He cupped the side of her face, leaned towards her, and gave her a kiss "Happy Thanksgiving." he said sincerely.

She kissed him again, wishing him a Happy Thanksgiving as well, and started playing with the younger kids with Ethan. Antonio's parents finally arrived, as well as Sadie's dad, and step mother. The only one that hadn't shown up yet was Grace.

Sadie was getting nervous, since Grace was the one who was preparing all the side dishes, and whenever she called her mom, it went straight to voice mail.

Sadie went to find Antonio; he was in his office, and on the phone. Sadie gave him the look, and he quickly got off the phone. "Antonio, something isn't right." Sadie said sounding worried.

"What do you mean?"

"My mom isn't here yet, and she was supposed to be here an hour ago, whenever I call her, it goes straight to voice mail, I'm worried."

Antonio sighed, and saw Ethan walking by, calling him in his office. Ethan quickly turned around, and walked in.

"Ethan, have you talked to Grace?" Antonio asked. Ethan looked at Sadie, then over at Antonio wondering what was going on.

"No, last time I saw, and talked to her was the other night when she was here, why?"

"I can't get a hold of her, and I'm getting worried." Sadie says scratching the back of her head, nervously.

"Did you want me to go look for her?" Ethan asked.

Antonio stood up, and looked at them both. He looked at Ethan frustrated, and shook his head thinking it has something to do with him. He looked over at Sadie, wishing that the two would just tell her what the hell happened. He didn't like the worried look on Sadie face, and felt bad that he too was hiding what he knew.

"I'll just go look for her, Sadie you finish making dinner, and you Ethan..." he paused, thinking that he should come with, but since his daughter was over, he figured he should stay here "Never mind, you just stay here, I'll find her."

Antonio left looking for Grace, hoping she was OK. Sadie stayed behind to finish with dinner, and kept their parents entertained. Ethan started worrying about Grace, and hoped she was just running late. He too tried calling Grace himself, and received the same message as Sadie.

Antonio drove to Grace's home, and saw that her car was still in the driveway, shit he groaned, sounding worried. He knocked on the door, and when she didn't answer, he checked to see if the door was unlocked. The door was unlocked, he pushed the door open, and called out her name.

"I'm in here." Antonio barely heard. He walked inside, and looked for her, finding her laying on the bathroom floor.

His heart stopped "Grace are you alright?" he asked, as he ran over to her.

Hope you enjoyed this somewhat mellow chapter!❤❤😍😍❤❤😍😍

Is Melissa being sincere or is she up to no good? 🤔🤔🤔🤔

Hope to see your comments and let me know what you're thinking 😁😁😁😁
Votes are a plus. Love those too😜😜😜😜😜😜