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Nick stayed silent as he held Elisabeth close; the kiss they had just shared still lingered on his lips and mind. Then, as suddenly as the moment had happened, he pushed himself away from her and cursed himself for being so weak. He avoided Elisabeth’s gaze, failing to see the hurt that flashed in her brown eyes.

“Wh-what’s the matter?” there was a quiver in her voice.

“This is wrong,” Nick replied harshly. “You…me…it’s just not right. You’re getting married in a few weeks and here we are kissing for the whole world to see.”

Elisabeth sighed, wearily dragging a hand through her hair. “That never stopped you before.” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them and she never missed the anger rising rapidly in Nick’s eyes.

“Oh, so that’s how it goes.”

“Nick, I didn’t mean it like that. I-”

“Really? Well, tell me. How did you mean it? Because, and excuse me if I’m mistaken, but it seemed to me that you were saying that it’s my fault you were married to an asshole. Or that you left me and now you’re getting married again to someone that apparently doesn’t make you happy enough.”

“Don’t bring him into this okay? And who are you to judge whether or not Ben makes me happy? You don’t know anything about him.”

“That’s right, I don’t. But I do know that I have enough respect for him to say that what you’re doing isn’t right.”

“What I’m doing?” Elisabeth asked incredulously.

“Yes. Running back and forth between the two of us. What’s happened to you, Lizzie? Now that you’re not married anymore you think it’s okay to carry on relationships with numerous men?”

As quickly as their kiss had taken place, Elisabeth’s palm fiercely met Nick’s cheek causing his eyes to water. With tears shining brightly in her own eyes, she sucked in a breath to steady herself then turned a hard gaze back to Nick.

“You have no right to say anything like that to me. None at all, Nick.”

Nick watched Elisabeth as she loaded herself into her 4 Runner and sped off. Her tires squealed as she drove out of the parking lot. Nick shook himself from his slightly stunned stupor and got into his car; still too stubborn to feel bad for the things he’d just said.

***

“Daddy! Daddy! Look what Grams gave me!” Madelyn pounced on Nick as soon as he walked through the door eager to show off her new music box.

“Wow,” Nick grinned broadly despite the fact that he didn’t much feel like smiling. “Munchkin that’s great! Did you thank Grams?”

“Of course she did,” Winnie appeared in the doorway wiping her hands on her apron. “She has manners, you know. Unlike someone I know when they were growing up.”

Even though she was teasing, Nick couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt. Winnie had taught him to be polite and courteous as he was growing up, especially towards women, but he had chosen to ignore his upbringing. Now the things he’d said were starting to sink in and he didn’t like it at all.

“So, did you have a nice time at dinner?” Winnie asked as she went back into the kitchen. “I didn’t expect you to be home this early.”

“Oh, yeah, I had a great time,” he answered absently and took a seat on the couch. He watched Madelyn for a few minutes as she wound the music box and stared at it, seemingly mesmerized.

“Nickolas, is everything all right?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, Gram, everything is okay. Uh…do you think you could watch Maddie for a little longer? There’s something I’ve gotta go do.” Without waiting for an answer Nick abruptly got up and placed a kiss on Madelyn’s forehead and one on his grandmother’s cheek before heading out the door.

***

Elisabeth was still reeling when she pulled into her driveway. So much so that she didn’t even notice the additional car parked beside her mother’s. She got out of her SUV and slammed the door mumbling under her breath as she made her way up the walkway. Her eyes were puffy and she was sure there had to be mascara running, but at this point she was so angry that she could have cared less.

Until the front door opened…

Looking up, she couldn’t help but gasp in surprise and try to wipe her eyes and make her appearance a little more suitable.

“Ben?”

“Hey, baby,” his voice was like silk. “Miss me?”

“More than you know,” she smiled and tried not to look upset, but it was no use.

“What’s wrong?” a frown quickly replace the smile on Ben’s handsome face as concern filled his voice.

“Nothing,” she replied quickly and tried to think of an excuse that both he and her mother would buy. “I just saw a really sappy movie. You know how I am.” Desperate to change the subject she quickly added, “What are you doing here? I thought you were still in New York?”

“Well,” the smiled returned to his face. “I was actually at the airport when I called you earlier. I thought I would get down here early and help out with the wedding as much as I can.”

“That’s great, honey,” Elisabeth forced a smile as Ben pulled her into his arms.

***

Nick stood in the line at the grocery store impatiently shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He had only come in to get one thing and of course the line was ten customers long. He let out a frustrated sigh and watched as the cashier began to take items out of a shopping cart that was rounded over with groceries. Couldn’t someone else come out and open one of their registers to help get some of these customers? There were three additional people already standing behind Nick.

Checking his watch, he sighed again and the man in front of him turned to look. Nick heard him mumble something incoherent under his breath, but was too rushed to care about finding out what.

After a few more minutes of heavy sighs and foot patting, Nick finally gave in to the fact that no one was going to come help this poor cashier in the next decade. “Damn it, I don’t have time for this,” he said angrily and fished in his pocket, pulling out a twenty. Walking past the other customers in front of him, he handed the bill to the stunned teenager behind the counter and forced a polite smile. “Take this and keep the change, okay? I’m in a hurry.”

Pulling out onto the street, Nick grumbled to himself. “If I had waited any longer, these damn flowers would have wilted.”

A few minutes later, Nick was sitting in his car in front of the Butler residence debating whether or not he was doing the right thing. He wanted more than anything to go back to earlier that evening and do things differently, but he knew it was no use to want to do the impossible. So, now he was staring up at their home, not sure if he should attempt to apologize to Elisabeth (he didn’t really want to get slapped again) or just throw the flowers out the window and go back home. He decided to go with the former and chance it…

Taking a deep breath to try and calm the butterflies, he got out of his car and went up to the door. Now all I have to do is knock, he told himself. Slowly, he lifted his hand and knocked lightly. He was beginning to wonder if maybe he hadn’t been loud enough, but finally heard someone walking in the foyer. A man’s voice rang out in laughter. Finally the door opened. The man on the other side was not Robert Butler…

“Can I help you?” Ben asked looking expectantly at the blonde man on the front doorstep.

Nick stupidly stepped back and checked the house number even though he knew it was the right house. 416 Ocean Breeze Drive… “Uh…well…I…” he continued to stammer on as the man just looked at him with an expression mixed with amusement and confusion.

“Do you have the right house?” Ben smirked.

Nick finally stopped bumbling and looked at the tall, broad man. “Yeah, I have the right place. Who are you?”

Ben was a little taken aback at the question and smirked again. “I’m Benjamin Hyatt; who might you be?”