Chapter one – Doubts(2)

Her sister glanced in her direction, a rainbow of emotions flashing across her face. Much like her husband, Valerie read the situation carefully. Her sister walked up to her and wrapped her arms tightly around her.

"What happened?" Her sister quietly asked her, "Thought you were having dinner with Ethan's family?"

Remembering the disastrous dinner she had with Ethan's family made her want to cry again. She tightened her hold on her sister, hating that those hurtful words were echoing through her mind. She wanted to forget, she wanted to forget about everything.

"Why don't you talk to Rachel while I make you some tea?" Gabriel's voice came from right beside her, but she paid him no attention. She couldn't face him when she was a mess because of his closest friend.

"Thank you," Valerie told her husband and then grabbed Rachel by the hand, leading her to their bedroom.

Rachel took a seat on the bed while Valerie closed the door behind her. Valerie quietly approached her and took a seat beside her. She could tell her sister was hesitating to ask anything, but she couldn't keep quiet either. Valerie was worried and she couldn't blame her sister. If the roles were reversed she'd behave the same way.

"Rachel?"

"I'm not going back there." Rachel wanted to be firm about that, yet her voice sounded weak and begging, "I'm not going back there." She repeated, hoping she managed to sound more confident that time. The fact that she was sniffing didn't make her sound believable though.

Rachel looked up when she felt Valerie's hand wrap around hers, her sister tightly holding onto her, "Rachel, I'm not forcing you to go back there. If you want to stay here then that's fine. I don't need you to explain anything to me."

She knew she could talk to Valerie about anything, her sister would listen and have her back. Especially since lately things weren't going that well between Ethan and Valerie either. She wanted to share everything with Valerie, yet the words never came out. They remained silent.

After a while, she got comfortable in Gabriel and Valerie's bed. She was apparently curled up on Gabriel's side of the bed while Valerie laid down beside her. They remained quiet, she was grateful Valerie was just being there for her. She remained motionless underneath the sheets when Gabriel entered the room to serve them their tea. Seeing him looking at Valerie like she was his everything caused her heart to ache again. Everyone always assumed he could care less about anyone, but he was even more affectionate than Ethan who was known as the charmer.

Gabriel brushed his fingers over her sister's cheek. It was a gesture Ethan had done to her when she ran away from his family dinner, yet Gabriel's gesture was completely different. She looked away not being able to witness their intimate moment without feeling the urge to cry again. Her tears were all dried up, she had nothing left to give. Gabriel left the room to join his family, giving them the space they needed. Rachel just laid there, staring into space while she tried to forget everything, trying to block out the hurtful words of Ethan's family. Valerie quietly stayed beside her, not pushing her at all. The fact that Ethan didn't burst through the door and asked her to come home was probably because Gabriel didn't give her location away or he ordered Ethan to stay away. Either way, she was so grateful to him. Her sister was one lucky woman having met Gabriel at some random bar or whatever.

When her tea was cooled down enough to drink without burning her tongue, she sipped it. When she finished her tea she felt so much better, all warm and comfortable. She slipped back between the sheets and slowly drifted off, having a dreamless nap.

***

Opening her eyes, Rachel felt like crap. She was hungry while her body ached all over. Glancing aside her she noticed her sister still peacefully sleeping. Leaving the bed, Rachel took Ethan's jacket off and tossed it on the edge of the bed. It landed with a soft thud since his things were still in there. Rachel opened the closet door and grabbed one of Valerie's sweaters, pulling it over her head to keep herself warm.

On bare feet, she left the bedroom and quietly closed the door behind her. She quietly walked through the living room and entered the kitchen. She moved to the cupboard to grab herself a glass. She wanted to drink her concerns away with a bottle of wine, but she filled her glass up with water instead.

"Feeling better?"

The hushed voice belonging to Gabriel startled her. She turned around to face him. He was dressed in some comfortable clothes, approaching her without hesitation.

"You want something to eat? We have plenty left over from yesterday."

"I'm actually hungry." She admitted to him, her cheeks burning up in embarrassment.

Gabriel didn't seem to mind though. He opened the fridge and grabbed a plate filled with delicious looking snacks. He grabbed a bit of everything and filled up a plate for her, heating it up in the microwave.

"Ethan called." He let her know, "I told him to give you some space."

So he did order Ethan to stay away. She couldn't be more grateful.

"Thank you."

"You shouldn't take their words at heart." Gabriel told her, "They don't even show kindness to Ethan. I have my doubts about them being able to care about someone other than themselves."

She shook her head at that, "Their words were like bullets, true. But what hurt the most was the fact that Ethan did not once stand up for me. He just sat there letting them throw one insult after another. Then when I walked off and accused him of not caring about me because he still loves Tiffany he didn't flat out tell me I was wrong. The one who hurt me the most is Ethan."

He remained silent for a while, he took her plate out of the microwave and handed her the plate along with a fork.

"He's been off ever since Tiffany tried to have Valerie killed."

Rachel forked up pieces of well-seasoned potatoes and stuffed her face. It was delicious, the fact that she had eaten close to nothing made her want to eat everything in one go if that was possible. She leaned against the counter while she ate a very late dinner.

"He still loves her." Rachel eventually told Gabriel who poured himself a glass of wine and handed her one too, "I needed that." She admitted to him.

"You deserve a glass of wine after yesterday's drama, even if it's like four in the morning."

He put a smile on her face, "This is great."

They changed the subject to food and wine, she knew Gabriel did that because she didn't have it in her to face reality just yet. Later that morning Ethan was coming over to pick her up. She'd face reality then. She'd enjoy delicious food and a rich glass of wine at four in the morning while her brother-in-law kept her company.