Secrets

If you had read The Los Angeles Train Crash story then this story will mostly be the history of Chester, Sam, Talinda, and Rob and how things got to be between the four of them before the train crash. But mostly this story will be on Sam and Talinda and there past with each other. But there won’t be any mention of a train crash in here because that was mostly a side story to this story. Talinda won’t die, and Anna won’t have a big traumatic birth, yes baby Jennifer will be in here.

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July, 2005

‘What the…’ Sam thought as she pulled up to Chester’s house. She saw that his girlfriend’s car was in the driveway. She came to pick up their son since it's her week to have him. ‘…he’s breaking our agreement’ she kept thinking to herself as she got out of the car and walked up to his door.

“What is she doing here?” she asked when he answered the door.

“She's my lawyer, Samantha, you know she has to get our case ready” he said not looking foreword to arguing with his ex-wife.

“With Draven here? You know our agreement Chester” she hissed at him.

“Do we really have to get into this right now?” he asked.

“No, just bring me Draven and I’ll go”

“Fine” he said walking away from her as she came inside to get her son. When she walked into the living room, she looked over into the dinning area and saw Talinda putting something’s way.

“Hey buddy, you ready to go with mommy?” she asked Draven when she saw him sitting on the ground playing in the living room with his plastic car toys.

“No!” he shouted which shocked her since he was always happy to see her.

“What’s wrong buddy? How come you don’t want to come with me?” she kneeled down in front of him.

“I want to stay with daddy” he said not looking up at her as he was still playing with his car toys.

“I know you want to but I promise that you’ll see him next week” she said hoping that that would work on him.

“Really?” he asked finely looking up.

“Yeah”

“Okay I go with you mommy” he said picking up his car toys.

“Okay” Sam got up and walked pass Chester taking a quick glance at him. She then went up the stairs going into Draven’s room getting his bags to take with her. “Are you ready buddy?” she asked when she came back out into the living room.

“Yep” he said.

“I’ll get his carseat out of my car for you Samantha since I’m leaving to see the guys” Chester said as she saw his girlfriend standing next to him.

“Okay” she said picking up Draven and carried him out to her car as Chester and his girlfriend followed her. They went to his car were Chester got the carseat out. He then placed it next to her on the ground, walking back over to his girlfriend. She put Draven down and then put his carseat in her car as they watched her. As she was doing that she heard his girlfriend saying that she would see him later and then she walked over to her car. Before she put Draven in his carseat Sam picked him up again and walked over to Chester so he could say goodbye to his son.

“Bye buddy. I’ll see you later” he said to Draven when he took him out of her arms and into his.

“Bye daddy” Draven said wrapping his little arms around Chester’s neck giving him a hug.

“Okay it's time to go with mommy” he said pulling Draven away from him. He then handed him back to Sam and turned around walking to his car where he got in.

Sam turned around and went to her car putting Draven in his car seat. She got in, driving off to her place. When she got there, she got Draven out and put him down as he ran off to her front door waiting for her to come. She finished getting his stuff and walked up to her front door, unlocking it so they both could get in.

“Mommy could I have my cars?” he asked the minute they got inside.

“Sure” she said putting his bag down so she could get them out for him, “Here you go buddy. You can play with them in the living room” she said giving them to him. He didn’t say anything to her and just ran off to the living room. Sam picked up his stuff and went into his room that was in her house, putting the bag on his bed. She walked out to the living room where Draven was playing with his car toys on the coffee table. When she got in there she had to sit down on the couch as she started to feel a headache coming on, but the sound of Draven running his cars together was making it worst.

“Draven can you not run your cars together” Sam asked him but he wasn’t listening and keep doing it, “Draven please” she said in a calm voice putting her hand on top of his cars, stopping him, “Mommy’s not feeling well right now. Why don’t you go and play in your room, okay?”

“Okay” he said taking his car to his room.

When Draven was out of the living room she lay down on the couch and closed her eyes….

The sound of a car horn going off in the background…

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh” Sam saw herself screaming, standing next to a car that was smashed in the front. In the car she saw someone lying against the steering wheel and that person was her best friend Sandra Grace.

“Noooooo” Sam said sitting up.

“Mommy okay?” she heard her son ask.

“Yeah” she said.

“Have bad dream?” he asked coming up to her.

“Yeah, I did” she said pulling Draven onto her lap.

“I wanna be with daddy” he said softly to her.

“You’ll see daddy soon. Why is mommy boring?” she asked.

“No I love you mommy but when I with daddy Linda not there. She was not to be there today, but she was” he said. When he said that she started wondering who 'Linda' was but then she knew that he meant Talinda since he couldn’t really say her whole name.

“Buddy? Do you know why she was there today?” she asked.

“Yeah. She wanna talk to me about you” he said looking up at her.

“What about me?” she asked.

“She wanna know if you a good mommy and who I wanna be with” he said.

“And who did you want to live with?” she asked.

“Daddy, but I wanna to be with you to mommy” he said getting off her lap, “Don’t worry mommy you and daddy will get together again” he said before running off again to his room leaving her sitting there in shock.

‘How are me and Chester going to tell him that were not going to be together anymore? When we only told him that were taking a break’ she thought to herself ‘maybe I should talk to my mom about this since I’ve been in the same situation’ she kept thinking as she went to pick up the phone and dialed her mom’s number.

“Hello” her mom said.

“Mom. Hey it's me Sam” she said.

“Oh! Sam what’s wrong you sound upset?” she asked “It not about Chester is it? Cause if it is I’ll hunt him down”

“No mom it's not about him. It's about Draven. He thinks that me and Chester are going to get back together” she said.

“Have you and Chester sat down and talk to him about it?” she asked her daughter.

“Yeah before we got the divorce. We only told him that were taking a break cause we didn’t want to upset him”

“Maybe you and Chester should sit down with him again and tell him the true Sam. If you guys keep lying to that little boy it’s only going to damage him more in the future” she said

“Maybe your right mom”

“Oh boy! Now I have more things to worrier about” her mom said to herself but Sam heard her.

“What things? What's to worry about?” she asked.

“Oh! Nothing. Don’t you worry about it”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yes. You know what I have to go. I’ll talk to you later okay”

“Alright, bye mom” she said and then hung up. Once she was done talking to her mom she walked into her son’s room.

Chapter 2

Sorry for any double posting. I'm updating like this caused no one reviewed . I not giving up on this story. But it's nice to know that people are reading it, just to bad there's no review. Review's would be appericated.

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“Okay I’ll see you next week…bye” Talinda said before hanging up the phone. She then wrote down the appointment for next week on her schedule. ‘I should get going before it gets too late. I still have to go over to Chester’s. Hopefully Draven is still there so I can start working on there case’ she thought to herself as she put some files in her brief case. She then got up from her chair and walked out of her office, locking the door.

“Bye Jennifer. I'll see you tomorrow” she said to her receptionist.

“See you tomorrow Talinda” Jennifer said.

After staying bye to her receptionist she walked out of the building going over to her car. She got in and drove off to Chester’s. When she pulled up to his house she got out and grabbed her brief case and then walked up to his door.

“Hey Chester” she said when he answer the door.

“Uh…Talinda what are you doing here? I still have Draven with me” he said/asked.

“I’m not here to be your girlfriend. I’m here to be your lawyer. We need to go over the custody case and talk about what’s to be expected at the hearing. And I need to talk to Draven also” she said.

“Samantha is going to kill me if she found out that I let you talk to Draven”

“Chester, her lawyer is going to be talking to Draven too. Will both be asking the same questions. And since this is a custody battle the judge will be talking to him before the hearing”

“Alright” he said moving out of the way, letting her come in. He then walked her into his dining area, “We could talk here”

“Okay” she said putting her brief case down on the table.

“Do you want to talk to him now?” he asked.

“If it's okay with you” she said.

“Let me go get him then” he said. Before he walked away to go and get Draven, he gave her a kiss on the cheek not knowing that Draven was watching them, since the dining room was open enough to see through from the living room, “I’ll be back” he said.

When he walked away, going down the small steps, Talinda pulled out the paper work to the custody case. She then pulled out a small tape recorder, so she could record what Draven said as she read off the questions she wrote down in advance.

“Okay buddy, Talinda wants to talk to you” she heard Chester said as he walked back into the dining room with Draven. He sat him down in a chair that was in front of her.

She pressed the record button on the tape recorder before she spoke to him, “Hi Draven. How are you?” she asked the little boy.

“Okay” he said. She then looked at the questions she had written down.

“Do you have fun being with you mommy?”

“Yeah. I love being with my mommy and daddy” he said.

“Okay. This is my last question for you and I don’t want to upset you by it, okay?” she said.

“Okay”

“Who would you like to live more with?” she asked him.

“My daddy” he said.

“Okay that's it Draven. You can go and play now” she said stopping the tape recorder. Once he was out of the room she looked up at Chester, “Are you shocked by his answer?”

“No, not really” he said sitting in the chair that Draven had sat in.

After she asked him that, they started going over the case. Half way through the door rang.

“That’s probably Samantha” he said getting up.

“You know what? We could call it a night and I could come back tomorrow”

“Yeah that would be good. I have to go anyway and meet with the guys” he said before leaving the dining area.

While she was putting the files away she could hear them talking and from the sound of it Samantha knew she was here. She turned her head to looked into the living room and saw the Sam was already in there. She looked back at the files and continued putting them away. While doing that she heard Sam asking Draven if he was ready to go and heard him say ‘no’ to her. Once she was finished putting her stuff away she walked over to Chester and stood next to him as Sam walked out of the room. When she came back out Chester told her he would get Draven’s carseat out of his car since he was going to see the guys. 'No that can't be her, the last I heard about her she was still in Arizona’ Talinda thought about Samantha since she really never met her before and she reminded her of an old best friend who’s name was Samantha too. As she saw Sam put Draven’s car seat in her car she told Chester that she would see him tomorrow. She went to her car and sat in it waiting for Sam to leave since her car was park behind Talinda‘s. When she left Talinda turned on her car and back out of Chester’s driveway and drove off to her place.

Once Talinda got in her house, she saw some boxes that she hadn’t had time to unpack them since moving from New York. Being busy opening up her second law firm has prevented her from finishing unpacking the rest of her stuff. Setting her keys down she went right to the box were she had her high school yearbook at. She pulled it out and turned to the page were her and Sam were sitting side by side in cheerleading uniform posing for the yearbook. She took the book over too her computer, that was already on the internet, and typed in what use to be Samantha’s married name to get a picture of her. She was doing this to see if it really was the same girl in the yearbook. When the pictures loaded she couldn’t believe it, it was really her. ‘She’ll really be pissed if she found out that I'm with a guy that she probably still loves’ she thought thinking back to the first time it happen…

“I can’t believe you did that to me Sandra. You knew I liked him why did you have to go and do that” Sam yelled at her.

“If you would listen to what I said in the first place, I wasn’t trying to take him away from you” she yelled back at her.

“I don’t want to hear it Sandra. I don’t want to be your friend again!” she said to her before slamming the door in her face.

After that happen she knew there was no way in talking to her again. So Sandra got into her car and drove off not knowing that would be the last time Sam ever knew she was alive.

When she was done thinking about that time she closed the yearbook before tears started to fall. She knew if she told her secret to anyone it would end up hurting a lot of people. She wasn’t really sure if she should be mad at Sam for her accident or not. Talinda then got up from her computer desk and went to put the yearbook back in the box. After she put it away she opened another box that was right next to the one with the yearbooks and pulled out a lockbox. Walking over to the dining table, she set the lockbox down and opened it with the keys that she had with her. Once she got it open she saw all the picture she had of her and Sam when they were in high school before she was in her accident. Only taking a glance at the pictures she closed the lockbox and put it back in the box. She then walked back over to her computer and started working on some of her cases.

Chapter 3

A couple days later

It’s been two days since Sam had gone and picked up Draven from Chester’s. She was still having the same dream about her best friend. The day before, Sam’s mom called her and finally told her want was going on. What was happening was that her real state company is in a big lawsuit. The people that were suing the company were also threatening to take everyone’s license away. Not knowing that her mom already has a lawyer she decided to help her out by calling her own lawyer. Luckily he also did civil practice and agreed to help her mom out. They set the date to go to her mom's office for today. When she got to her mom’s office, she saw her lawyer already waiting outside. Once she reached him they walked inside the building going up to the receptions desk.

“Hey Emily, is my mom in?” Sam asked her mom’s receptionist.

“Oh hi Sam. Yeah. She's in her office” Emily said.

“Thanks” she said before she walked over to her mom’s office. When she reached the door she knocked, letting her mother know she was here.

“Hi Sam! How are you?” her mom asked. She got up from her chair and walked around her desk giving her daughter a hug. When she pulled away she saw her lawyer behind her, “Sam. Thanks for trying to help me out, but I already have a lawyer”

“You do? Who is your lawyer? And how come you didn’t tell me?” she asked her. Then Sam heard a knock on the door and turned around not believing who it was. ‘What does this woman want from me?’ she thought to herself when she saw that it was Talinda.

“Yeah. Here she is” her mother said letting her come in.

“Mom please tell me she's not your lawyer?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, she is Sam. Is there a problem?” her mom asked.

“Yes there is! She’s Chester's girlfriend!” Sam exclaimed.

“Sorry Sam. I’m not going to tell her that I don’t want her to be my lawyer just because you don’t like her”

Sam sighed and rolled her eyes, “Fine mom. I just hope you win the case” she said before walking out of her office. When they walked out of the building Sam faced Rick, “I’m really sorry about that Rick. I didn’t know she already had a lawyer” she apologized.

“It’s okay Samantha. You didn’t know. At least she does have a lawyer. Oh and don’t forget that we have a meeting in a couple days to go over the custody case. You have to bring Draven with you to the meeting so I could talk to him okay” Rick said before walking off to his car.

“Okay” she said. She then walked off to her car and drove home.

When she got home, after walking in, she found her son and his baby sitter playing with his car toys in the living room together. She walked further into the room and sat on the couch watching them.

“Hi, Mrs. Bennington. I didn’t see you there” Leticia, Draven’s baby sitter said to her when she got up off the floor.

“Hi Leticia. Just call me Sam” Sam said as she got up. They then walked out of the room and stood by the entrance so Draven couldn’t hear them talking.

“I’m sorry about that. It’s going to take a while getting use to not calling you Mrs. Bennington” Leticia said.

“That’s okay Leticia. I'll let you go now. Thanks for watching Draven"

“Okay. And it's no problem watching Draven” she said. They walked back into the living room so Leticia could get her stuff and say bye to Draven.

“Bye Lesha” Draven said since he really couldn’t say Leticia.

When she left, Sam walked back into the living room and sat down next to him, “Hey buddy, what do you want to have for dinner?” she asked him.

“I want daddy to cook for us.” Hearing Draven say that broke her heart.

“Draven” she said moving some of his hair to the side, “I know that you want me and daddy to be together, but you know that were taking a break right?”

“Yeah. I know you and daddy told me already” he said in a little sad voice.

“Okay. So what do you want for dinner?” she asked him again hoping that would cheer him up.

“Pizza!” he said really happy.

“Okay, will have pizza tonight” she said laughing at how happy he said it.

After Draven had told her that he wanted pizza for dinner, she got up and went to order the pizza. When she got to the phone, she saw that there was a message. She decided that she would listen to it later after putting Draven to sleep. Once she finished ordering the pizza, she went back into the living room where Draven was playing at. A few minutes later after playing with Draven, the pizza came. Draven went to sit in his chair to wait for the pizza while Sam went to go and cut Draven’s piece smaller so he could eat it. About an hour later after they had dinner Sam got Draven ready to go to sleep. As soon as she got him down she went and listened to the message.

‘Hey Sam it’s me Anna. I know we haven’t talked in along time, but Mike and I are throwing a party for his solo album that's going to be coming out soon. Where inviting everyone over and I want you to come to the party. Don’t worry about Chester. You can just hang out with me and the girls okay? It’s okay for you to call me later to night, Mike’s at the studio. Alright talk to you later. Bye.’

After she heard the message she started debating weather or not she should go. ‘I won’t let Chester stopped me from having fun’ she thought to herself. She picked up the phone and dialed Anna‘s number.

“Hello” she said after she picked up the phone.

“Hey Anna. It’s me Sam”

“Hey girl. You got my message right?” she asked.

“Yeah, I did”

“So, do you want to come or not?”

“Yeah I do. It’s good to get out once in a while. I shouldn’t let Chester not make me want to go”

“It's about time you got out Sam. But listen I want to warn you, Chester is going to bring Talinda with him”

“I don’t care about her. So when is this party?” she asked so she could know if she had Draven or not.

“In two weeks. All of us are going out to eat and then were going back to Chester’s since it was his ideal to go to his house for drinks. Oh and the place where going to eat out is pretty nice, so dress up nicely”

“Okay. Well I’ll let you go Anna. See you in two weeks” she said.

“Alright. Talk to you later” she then hung up.

‘Why did I agree to go to the party? Were all going to end up at Chester‘s, a person I’m really not looking forward to seeing, especially his girlfriend’ she thought to herself after finishing talking to Anna. After sitting there for a little while, she got up and went to get ready to go to sleep. The minute she closed her eyes the image of her best friend flooded her head…

The sound of a car horn going off in the background…

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh” Sam saw herself screaming, standing next to a car that was smashed in the front. In the car she saw someone laying against the steering wheel and that person was her best friend Sandra Grace.

“Sandra!” she called out sitting up straight. She looked around the room trying to calm herself down. When she did she slowly lay down and tried to go back to sleep…

“Sam” A voiced called out. The voice sounded far away to her, “Sam, wake up” she heard the voice again, “Sam, please wake up. I need you to stay here. Don‘t leave me” the voice got louder and she realized that it belong to her mom.

“Mom?” she said only to find that it came out softly. As she opened her eye she closed them quickly because of the bright light. She slowly opened them again to find the light off.

“Sam, your wake.” She turned her head and saw her mom next to her. Then she looked around the room and saw that she was in a hospital room.

“What happen? Why am I in the hospital?” she asked softly.

“When you called the paramedics, they asked you to see if she was still breathing. Then they said all they heard was screaming and a car horn going off. When they got there they found out that you had passed out from screaming to long. Sam! You could of cause real damage to your vocal cords” her mom said in a stern voice, “Oh Sam, I’m really sorry to have to tell you this” her voice turned from stern to soft.

“Tell me what?”

“Sweet heart, Sandra didn’t make it“

“Noooooo!” she sat up straight again. This was the first time she had two nightmares in a row about Sandra. After sitting there for awhile she got up and went to get something to drink. When she finished, she went back to bed. She laid there afraid to close her eyes again thinking that she would have another nightmare about Sandra again. After a while of keeping her eyes open, she closed them not long to have another flashback again, but this one wasn’t about Sandra…

“I will” she heard a man’s voice say. A voice that sounded a lot like Chester’s.

“Samantha Cardossa will you take Chester to be your lawful husband, will you love him, honor and keep him in sickness and in health and forsaking all others keep only unto him so long as you both shall live?” a different voice asked.

“I will” she heard herself said.

“By the power vested in me and according to the laws of Arizona I now pronounce you to be husband and wife. You may kiss the bride” the second voice said again.

Right before the kiss happen in the dream she woke again. Now she was scared to fall back asleep because she didn’t want anymore dreams or nightmares. She also wanted to know why she dreamt about marrying Chester and why she kept having nightmares about Sandra. There was something about them. It was like the nightmares were trying to tell her something about Sandra. But she wasn’t sure what they were telling her.

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Review's are appreciated.

Chapter 4

It's been a couple days later since Talinda went to Chester’s, to go over the custody case. It was also the first time she saw Chester’s ex-wife who happen to look a lot like her old best friend. That was until she went and looked in her high school yearbook to see if it really was Sam and it was.

Later in the day, Talinda was going to go back over to Chester’s, after she met with her newest client. When she showed up to the meeting, she walked into the building and asked the receptionist if her client was in. The receptionist told her that she was and where her office was.

“You do? Who is your lawyer? And how come you didn’t tell me?” Talinda heard a voice asked. She knocked on the door. The woman who asked the questions turned around and Talinda saw that it was Sam. ‘Great. Just who I really wanted to see’ she thought to herself.

“Yeah. Here she is” The older woman said letting her in further into the room. Talinda knew that she had to be her client.

“Mom, please tell me she's not your lawyer?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, she is Sam. Is there a problem?” her mom asked.

“Yes there is! She’s Chester's girlfriend!” Sam exclaimed.

“Sorry Sam. I’m not going to tell her that I don’t want her to be my lawyer just cause you don’t like her”

Talinda then heard Sam sighed, “Fine mom. I just hope you win the case” she said and walked out of the office.

The older women turn to face Talinda, “I’m really sorry about that. I don’t know what’s gotten into my daughter. By the way I’m Lily Cardossa” Lily said shaking her hand.

“Talinda Bentley”

Lily walked back around her desk, sitting back down, “I really want to thank you Ms. Bentley for taking on my case”

“No problem. I don’t think it's right that there suing just because they couldn’t get the house they wanted” she said taking a seat. They then got started on the case, going over all the paper work.

A couple hours later, Talinda finished the meeting with Lily and left her office. She then headed over to Chester’s since she had told him that she would be coming over later. When she got there she walked up to his door. After ringing the door bell, she waited for him to answer.

“Hey Talinda” he said when he opened the door, letting her in.

“Hi Chester” she responded and walked into the house. Chester closed the door behind them.

“I want to ask you something” he said to her as they made there way into the living room. They went over to the couch and sat down.

“Sure ask away” she said.

“Well, Mike and his wife Anna are having a party for his upcoming solo album. They went to take all of the guys and their wives out to dinner. I offer to let everyone back to my house for some drinks. What I really wanted to asked you, is if you would go with me as a date?”

“When is this party?” she asked before saying yes or no.

“In two weeks”

“But wouldn’t you have Draven then?”

“Yeah. I’ll just get Leticia to watch him” he said.

“Leticia?” she asked not knowing who she was.

“She is Draven’s nanny/baby sitter. Whenever I brought Sam and Draven on tour with me, Leticia would come along to watch him for us” he said, “So do you want to go with me?” he asked.

“Sure. I’ll go with you” she said before taking a big step in there so call relationship. Talinda looked down, “Chester?” she said looking back up, “Would you like to go back to my place and stay the night with me?”

“Yeah” he said. He got up and went to pack some stuff to take.

When he was finished, they left to go to Talinda’s place. Once they got there, Talinda pulled out her keys and opened the door. She walked in turning on the lights forgetting the boxes that she still hadn’t unpacked yet.

“Did you just move here?” she heard Chester asked. She turned to face him, setting her keys down.

“No. I moved here two years ago. I just haven’t had time to unpack the rest of the boxes yet”

“If you want I could help you tomorrow”

“If you really don’t mind helping out, I wouldn’t mind” she said. They sat down for a little while to talk, but that didn’t last long as they ended up making out. After they stopped, they got up and went into Talinda's room where they retired for the night.

The Next Day

When Talinda and Chester woke up, they started unpacking the rest of her boxes, after they changed into regular clothes. They divided the boxes up so Talinda would get half to unpacked and Chester would get the other half. Everything that Chester would unpack he would ask her where she would like it at until he got to the one box Talinda had completely forgot about.

“Talinda where would you like this book at?” he asked holding up her yearbook.

Talinda turned her head and looked at him. She looked at his hand to see the book and saw that it was her yearbook, “I’ll take it” she said and walked up to him.

“Wait! You went to Greenway High?” he said looking at the cover of the book.

“Yeah. I did” she said trying to get the book away from him, but he wouldn’t give it to her.

“Hold on a minute, Talinda. I’ll give it to you, but only if you show me your picture. I’ll show you mind since it's the same year I went there” he said.

“No. I can’t”

“Why not? Is your picture that bad? You won’t feel bad when I show you mine because I looked geeky back then” he asked/said.

“No. I just can’t show you. Not yet”

“Why not? I promise I won’t laugh at the picture”

“Chester I said no!” she said raising her voice a little which left him standing there shocked.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you upset” he said apologizing handing back her yearbook.

“No. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to raise my voice like that” she apologized. She took the book from Chester and walked to the box that had her lockbox in it. She opened the box up putting her yearbook in it. Then she grabbed the box and walked off to her room so she could put it somewhere she could find easily if she still wanted to look at it. When she went into her room she put it in her closet. Once she had put it away, she walked back out into the living room as if nothing had happen between her and Chester. They went back to unpacking the rest of her boxes.

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Review's are appreciated.

Chapter 5

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Two weeks later

Last week, before Sam had to give Draven back to Chester, she went and met with her lawyer so they could go over the case. Rick talked to Draven just like Talinda had done. When he asked Draven who he would like to live with more Draven said both his mom and dad. It surprised Sam, but then kind of didn‘t, because she thought he would say Chester, like he told Talinda. Since the day Sam had two nightmares about Sandra and the dream about her and Chester’s wedding, she hasn’t been having as many as she had that night. She was still trying to figure out why she kept having nightmares about the night of Sandra’s accident.

The day of the party, Anna had called her. She told Sam that her and Mike would be glad to take her to the restaurant so that way she wouldn’t get lost trying to find the place. After she was finished getting ready she headed over to their house. They were already waiting for her and after saying hellos they left. Once they got to the restaurant they found out that their table wasn’t ready yet. So they sat down in the waiting area and waited for everyone else to show up.

Sitting there for a little bit, Sam turned to face Anna, “Are you sure you and Mike don’t mind me being around you guys?” she asked her.

“No, no we don’t mind at all. Were actually glad that you decided to come” Anna said. The restaurant's door opened and they turned to see that it was Brad and Elisa.

“Hey Brad” Mike said standing up. He did the guys hug with Brad and gave Elisa a normal hug.

“Am I like seeing who I think I’m seeing? Is that like really you Sam?” Sam heard Brad asked.

“Yep, it‘s me” she said.

“Are you like here with Chester?” he asked.

“No. She’s here with me and Mike” Anna said jumping in.

“Oh! Well Sam if like they ditch you” he said regarding Anna and Mike, “You could like always hang out with like me and Elisa”

“Thanks” she said.

“Gees Brad! Instead of standing in the doorway, why don’t you move out of the way?” Sam heard Phoenix say to Brad.

“Well, maybe I like don’t want to move” he joked back when he faced Phoenix.

“Sam?”

Sam looked up and saw that it was Linsey, “Linsey!” she said and got up to give her a hug.

“Hey what are you doing here?” Linsey asked when they pulled away.

“Anna and Mike invited me to come” she said sitting down again as Linsey sat down next to her.

“Hey are you guys waiting for us?” Sam heard someone asked as they came inside. She saw that it was Joe, Karen, Rob and Vanessa.

“No, our tables not ready” Mike said.

“Who are we waiting for?” Rob asked.

“Chester and Talinda” was Mike’s responds.

“Typical” everyone said except Sam.

Anna nudged Sam. She turned to look at her, “There coming” Anna said. She realized that she did that so Sam wouldn’t have to face them right now.

“Sorry were late” Chester said when he came in with Talinda behind him.

Everyone mumble that it was okay. Mike told them that there table wasn‘t ready yet. A few seconds later the hostess called out for them.

The hostess had called out for 13 people, “13? I thought that there were only 12 of us” Sam had heard Chester asking Mike as everyone was walking to the table.

“Yeah there are 13 of us. Me and Anna invited Sam” Mike said pointing to her. Chester took a quick glances over his shoulder.

After dinner, everyone drove to Chester’s for drinks. When everyone got inside, Sam looked around seeing that not much has change since she left. As the drinks were being passed out Sam saw that Talinda was standing off to the side holding a glass of champagne. She decided to go and talk to her as everyone else was talking among each other.

“Can I ask you something?” Sam asked when she walked up to Talinda.

“About what?” she asked.

“What you want from me”

“What do you mean Sam?” Talinda questioned her.

“What do you want from me? You’re trying to take everything that’s mine. You have my ex-husband. You’re trying to turn my mom against me. And my son --”

“Okay now you have a couple things wrong. Yeah I may be with your ex-husband, but I’m helping defend your mother in a law suit. I also have no intention of making your son hate you”

Sam rolled her eyes at that, “Yeah right. You’re just saying that to make me feel stupid because what I’m accusing you of doing is true”

Talinda tipped her drink in front of her, getting it all over Sam, “Oops I’m sorry” she said trying to act like she didn't mean to do it.

“Uhh…” was all Sam let out of her mouth as she stepped back. She looked at Talinda and felt like slapping her, but Chester step in between the two before it got out of hand.

“You can use one of the bathrooms to clean yourself up Samantha” Chester said.

Sam had to hold her anger back as she turned around and walked off towards the bathroom. As she was wiping the front of her dress off there was a knock on the door. She turned her head around and saw Chester standing there.

“What happen back there?” he asked.

“Nothing. We exchange some words and she dumped her drink on me” she said as she continued to wipe off her dress.

“Why did you even go up to her Sam?”

“Because…” she started out, setting the washcloth down and turned to face Chester, “I want to know what she wants from me”

“What do you mean?” he said thinking she was crazy.

“She has you. She's trying to get to my mom and Draven” she said getting upset.

“You’re just mad that we divorced. You’re going to be mad at anyone I date”

“That’s not true!”

“Sam, you don’t need to get worked up on my girlfriend because we need to get along for Draven sake” he said walking closer to her.

“Yeah. Maybe your right” she said calming down.

“Chester? Are you ready to go back to the party” he turned around and Sam saw Talinda standing there in the doorway.

“Yeah. Let’s go back” he said walking over to Talinda. They walked off leaving Sam standing in the bathroom. She waited a couple seconds before heading back out to the party.

A couple minutes later, after Sam came back out, Sam saw Leticia come up to Chester. She told him something and he got up. Then he and Talinda followed Leticia out of the room. When she saw them walking off she felt like following them to see what was going on.

“Sam you should go up there to see if anything’s wrong with Draven. After all he is your son too” Anna told her seeing the look on her face.

“I think I’m going to do that” she said getting up. She slowly walked up the stairs, looking towards the master bedroom seeing Chester’s back in the doorway.

“You’re really good with him. He seems to like you too. You’re going to make a great mom some day” she heard him say as she walked up closer to the room. As she got closer to the room, she could see Talinda holding Draven in her arms while he was holding a stuff animal.

“Like hell she ain’t” she said walking into the room, “Can I have my son?” she asked Talinda. She didn’t really let her answer cause she took Draven out of her arms.

“Sam? Let me take him back into his room” Chester said taking Draven out of her arms before she could say or do anything. He then walked out of the room.

Once Chester was out of the room, Sam turned around and faced Talinda, “Leave my son alone!” she said.

“Sam I had no intentions of doing anything with your son” Talinda said getting up and walking to the door but she stopped her.

“Don’t you walk out on me bitch” she said grabbing her arm to stop her.

“Don’t touch me.” Talinda yanked her arm out of Sam’s hand as she turned around. The force of Talinda yanking her arm out of Sam's hand made Sam stumble back a little. But she lost her footing and fell backward, hitting her head on the TV stand landing flat on her stomach only to be surrounded by darkness.

Chapter 6

******

Once Sam landed on the ground of Chester’s bedroom, Talinda rushed over to her to see if she could wake her up.

“Sam, wake up” Talinda said softly putting her hand on her back, “Sam” she said again…

The sound of a car horn going off in the background…

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh” Sam saw herself screaming, standing next to a car that was smashed in the front. In the car she saw someone lying against the steering wheel and that person was her best friend Sandra Grace.

Sam opened her eyes. She looked straight at Talinda since her head was facing her “Sandra?” she called out.

“Talinda? What’s going on?” Chester asked walking back into the room. He stopped when he saw his ex-wife laying on the ground and his girlfriend kneeling next to her.

“I can’t believe your Sandra” Sam softly said to Talinda still not moving her head.

“Sam what happen?” Chester asked kneeling beside her.

“Chester…there’s something I need to tell you” she said softly to him.

“What is it Sam?” he asked her. She didn’t respond back. She closed her eyes slipping back into unconsciousness.

“Chester, we shouldn’t touch her” Talinda said to him as he went to touch Sam’s head.

“Talinda? Go call the paramedics. We have to get her to the hospital” he said when he saw some blood on his finger tips.

Talinda didn’t say anything after seeing the blood. She got up and ran out of the room.

Downstairs

Talinda came running down the stairs and ran into the kitchen. Everyone that was in the living room and dining area stopped what they were doing. They weren’t sure if something bad happen or if Talinda and Chester had a fight.

“I’ll go see what's going on” Rob said getting up. He walked towards the kitchen where Talinda ran into.

“My friend, she just fell and hit the back of her head. She’s unconscious. There’s also blood coming from where she hit her head…Yes she still breathing…” after that Talinda gave the address to Chester’s house. She hung up the phone and turned around to see Rob standing there.

“What happened Talinda?”

“Sam and I got into another argument. She lost her footing and fell backwards hitting her head on the TV stand”

“Is she okay?”

“I don’t know, but she’s unconscious. Chester, he’s up there with her right now” she said.

“Okay. She‘ll be okay. Um, I‘ll go tell everyone else what happen” he said and then headed back to the living room. Talinda left the kitchen and headed back up stairs to see if anything improved with Sam.

“Has she woken up again?” she asked Chester when she came to the room. Chester was sitting next to Sam holding a washcloth against her head to sort of control the small amount of bleeding.

“No. Talinda tell me what happen?” he asked her.

“She yelled at me, telling me to leave Draven alone. I told her I wasn’t going to do anything to him. I was going to walk out but she grabbed my arm stopping me. I told her not to touch me. I pulled my arm out of her hand which made her stumble back a little. She lost her footing falling backward hitting her head on the T.V. stand” she said.

“She called you Sandra. Do you know why?” he asked remembering his ex-wife saying that when he came into the room.

“No. I don’t know why” she said.

“The paramedics are here” Talinda turned around and saw Rob as the paramedics came into the room. Chester got up and the paramedics took over, getting her ready so they could take her to the hospital.

“Which one of you is related to her?” one of the paramedics asked, after they got Sam on the stretcher.

“I am. She’s my wife” he said.

“Alright. You can come with us”

Chester turned looking at Rob, “Tell Leticia what happen to Sam. Tell her I’ll be back late, so have her stay here until I get back” he said to Rob.

“Sure” he said and walked out of the room.

“Stay here. I'll call you when it’s okay to come down to the hospital. I don’t want anything else happening to Sam” he said a little upset to Talinda. He then followed the paramedics out of the room.

Talinda walked out of the room and stood at the top of the stairs watching Chester and the paramedics. Rob came out of Draven’s room and stood next to Talinda after Chester was gone.

“What happen before Sam came up here?” he asked Talinda.

Talinda turned her head to look at Rob, “Leticia came down to get Chester because Draven had a nightmare. He brought him into his room and I asked Chester if I could hold him. When I was holding him Sam, she came in and got pissed off that I was holding him. She took Draven out of my arms. That’s when Chester took him from her and brought him back to his room. Once Chester was out of the room that’s when she yelled at me. And you know what happen after that” she said.

“Did you try to provoke her?” Rob asked.

“No. I tried to walk out but she grabbed my arm to stop me. I pulled my arm out of the grip she had on my arm. That then cause her to stumble back making her lose her footing and that’s how she fell backward”

“What are you going to do when she wakes up, remembers and thinks that you caused her to fall? What if she wants to press charges against you?” he asked her.

Before she could answer, she heard her cell go off. She went back into the bedroom and grabbed it off the nightstand, “Hello” she said answering it.

“Talinda, I want you to know that I’m sorry that I blew up like that on you. It’s okay now to come down to the hospital. Tell the rest of the guys to come to” Chester said.

“That's okay. I’ll see you soon” she said before hanging up. She walked back out into the small hallway, “That was Chester. He said it’s okay to go down to the hospital” she said to Rob. They walked down the stairs to let everyone else know.

Hospital

After Chester had called Talinda, he went and sat down in the waiting room. When everyone got there they found Chester. They walked into the waiting room waiting for him to tell them how Sam was.

“There's a couple things I need to tell you before we go up to her room. The doctor thinks that the reason Sam fell is that she could be pregnant. Why he thinks that is because I told one of the paramedics that she still my wife. So there running some tests on her. She needed stitches on the cut as it was a pretty good size”

“You’re just going to play along that she still your wife and that she could be pregnant?” Rob asked.

“Yeah. I’m doing this because I don’t want Talinda to get in trouble for something she didn’t cause”

“But she’ll be alright, right?” Anna asked.

“Yeah. She’s out of it and might be like that for a couple of days.” Once explaining what was going on, everyone sat down as Chester and Talinda headed to Sam’s room since the hospital only let two people in at a time.

“I’m sorry for letting this happen to her” Talinda said when they reached Sam’s room.

“Don’t be. You didn’t cause her fall. She lost her footing” he said, “Hey you okay?” he asked seeing that she was hesitating on something.

“Yeah. I’m fine” she said while looking at Sam.

They talked for a little while and then went back to the waiting room to let everyone else go and see her. When everyone else finished seeing Sam they left. Chester took Talinda back to his house so she could go home and he could check on Draven. After he checked on his son he went back to the hospital.

Chapter 7

Of course I posted it here X...Re-Arranged...X, hehe. Thanks ChazzyChazRoxs for the review. Hope you stick around to reading my story. A fair warning about the usage of language. You've been warn.

******

Two Days Later

As Sam slowly woke up she felt that her head was throbbing. At the same time she was wondering where she was at. When she looked around the room she realized that she was in the hospital. She looked to her left and saw Chester sleeping in a chair. She looked down and brought her hand up to the back of her head where she felt the bandage from the stitch. She then heard Chester move around in his chair and turned to look back at him. Chester looked at her and was glad to see Sam wake.

“Sam, your wake” he said moving his chair closer to her bed.

“Chester? Why am I here?” she asked.

“You don’t remember why?” after he asked that, it hit her why she was here.

“I do now. It’s was after me and Talinda got into a argument that I lost my footing and hit my head” she said, “How long was I out for?”

“Two days. Um…Sam there something else in need to tell you”

“What? What is it?” she asked afraid that something else happened.

“The paramedics came while you were unconscious they asked me, Talinda and Rob which one of as was related to you and I told them that you are my wife so I could go with you. When we got here, the doctor came out after getting you all set up. He told me that reason you fell could be that your pregnant”

“What!” she exclaim, “Why would you let the doctor think that?”

“So they wouldn’t think you were in an argument and that was the cause of your fall”

“But it wasn’t” she said.

“What wasn’t?” Sam looked straight in front of her and saw Rob and Talinda standing in the doorway.

“I was telling her what I told you guys two days ago”

“Oh” was what they said.

“There’s another thing I want to ask you, now that Talinda is here” Chester said looking back at Sam.

“What is it?”

“Do you remember calling Talinda, Sandra?”

“Sandra? Sandra Grace? No why would I call Talinda Sandra? She was my best friend who died in a car accident back when I was in high school”

“I’m asking you this because you spoke a little bit while you were unconscious”

“I did what else I said?” she asked.

“You called me Sandra and told Chester you had to tell him something that was it” Talinda said

“I don’t remember any of that” she said still looking at Chester.

“Sam, its okay if you don’t remember, it probably wasn’t important” Chester said.

“Does Draven know about me?” she asked.

“Yeah and he wants to see you. I told him when you wake up, speaking of him I’ll go call Leticia and have her bring him here” he said getting up leaving her, Talinda and Rob in the room.

“Why are you even here?” Sam asked Talinda looking at her coldly.

“Let’s not start another fight Sam” Rob said mostly warning her.

“I just come here to see how you were doing” Talinda said.

“Well I don’t need your fucking sympathy!”

“Sam! Don’t start” Rob said.

“It’s okay if she doesn’t want me here. I’ll leave” Talinda said about to walk out of the door.

“Oh! No you don’t” he said stopping her before she left the room, “You’re staying here”

“Rob, she doesn’t want me here so why stay?” was all that Sam wanted to hear Talinda say. After a few minutes she saw her walk over to the chairs that were in the corner of her room.

“Hey Sam, are you okay?” Sam heard Rob asked her. She turned her head and saw him on the side of her bed.

“Yeah. Rob? How long has Chester been here?” she asked.

“He’s been here since you came to the hospital. He only went home a little while just to check on Draven. Then he would come back. He even slept in your hospital room”

“Why? Why did he do that? He doesn’t care about me anymore?”

“He will always care about you Sam, because you’re the mother of his son”

“That's all I’ll ever be to him. The mother of our son” she said trying not to let some tears fall down.

“You still love him don’t you?” Rob asked her.

“Still have and always will”

“Then why did you guys get a divorce if you still love him?” he asked.

“Because things just didn’t work out” she said. After saying that, Chester came back into the room. He walked over to Talinda where he said something to her. He walked back over to his chair that was still near her bed.

“Draven will be here soon” he said then heard a knock on the door. Sam looked and saw it was the doctor.

“It’s good to see you awake Mrs. Bennington” the doctor said. Sam let it go not saying anything about the doctor calling her by her use to be married last name, “We had a pregnancy test done to see if that was the cause of your fall. The test result came back and your not. The stitches will stay in for a week. We would also like to keep you here for one more day just for observation. You’ll be able to go home tomorrow. Is there any thing else you would like to know?”

“No. I’m fine”

“Okay, I’ll come back and check on you later” the doctor said leaving the room.

A few minutes later, Sam heard someone talking outside just before they came into her room. When the person came in she saw that it was Leticia. She was holding Draven. Once she set him down, he ran over to Chester so he could lift him up onto Sam’s bed.

“Mommy!” Draven said wrapping his little arms around her when he finely got on to her bed.

“Hi buddy” she said and wrapped her arms around him too.

“When are you coming home mommy?” he asked when he let go of her.

“Tomorrow”

“Does your head hurt?”

“Not anymore, but I’ll have my stitches in for a little while”

After that he didn’t ask her anything and stayed in her arms for awhile ending up falling asleep, since it was around the time for his nap. She let him stay like that for a while, just wanting to hold him. She then let Chester pick him up so Leticia could take him back home. When Draven and Leticia left, Rob took Talinda home since they both came together leaving Sam and Chester alone.

******

Review's are appreciated.

Chapter 8

Thanks everyone for the review to make up for the wait on the updates, as I was lazy, I'll be posting two chapters.

geeko - As to how Talinda and Rob get along so well, well right the guys will do anything to help Chester out. But to really find out how there relationship started you'll have to read on more, hehe. .

******

Ever since Sam’s fall Talinda has been worried about her since she didn’t want her to wake up and blame her for the fall. She also hoped that when Sam wakes up that she won’t remember calling her Sandra Grace, her old best friend that supposedly died in a car accident and almost telling Chester her secret. Talinda called Rob to see if he was going to the hospital. He told her he was and would be more than glad to take her to see Sam. She wanted to see how Sam was doing, since she hasn’t seen her since she was admitted.

After talking to Rob, she grabbed her keys and waited for him to come. A couple minutes later he came up to her door. On the way there Talinda asked him about Sam and Chester.

“Rob? Do you know what really happen between Chester and Sam?” she asked him.

“Well, to tell you the truth I really don’t know. It was a shocked to the hold band when Chester told us that they were getting a divorce. We all thought they would be married for a long time. Sure they had there fights when they were married but none of them were serious. But when they were going through the divorce they had big fights. Some of them even got to the point were they wanted to punch each other out, but they never did”

“Do you think they still love each other?”

“I’m not sure. I'm sure Chester doesn’t, because after all he's with you” he said to her which left her silence. That comment made her start thinking if Chester really likes her or is he trying to make his ex -wife jealous by being with her?

When they finally got to the hospital, Rob and Talinda walked up to Sam’s room. Once they reach the door of Sam’s room the both of them heard Sam’s voice say, “But it wasn’t”

“What wasn’t?” Rob asked. Sam looked straight in front of her seeing them.

“I was telling her what I told you guys two days ago” Chester said.

“Oh” was all they said.

“There’s another thing I want to ask you, now that Talinda is here” Chester said looking back at Sam.

“What is it?”

“Do you remember calling Talinda, Sandra?” 'Oh, no please stay you don’t remember calling me Sandra' she thought to herself.

“Sandra? Sandra Grace? No why would I call Talinda Sandra? She was my best friend who died in a car accident back when I was in high school” after she said that Talinda looked down feeling ashamed that Sandra Grace was alive and standing right in front of her.

“I’m asking you this because you spoke a little bit while you were unconscious”

“I did? What else did I say?” she asked.

“You called me Sandra and told Chester you had to tell him something. That was it” Talinda said

“I don’t remember any of that” she said still looking at Chester.

“Sam, its okay if you don’t remember, it probably wasn’t important” Chester said.

“Does Draven know about me?” she asked.

“Yeah and he wants to see you. I told him when you wake up. Speaking of him I’ll go call Leticia and have her bring him here” he said getting up leaving her, Talinda and Rob in the room.

“Why are you even here?” Sam asked Talinda looking at her coldly.

“Let’s not start another fight Sam” Rob said mostly warning her.

“I just came here to see how you were doing” Talinda said.

“Well I don’t need your fucking sympathy!”

“Sam! Don’t start” Rob said.

“It’s okay if she doesn’t want me here. I’ll leave” Talinda said about to walk out of the door.

“Oh! No you don’t” he said stopping her before she left the room, “You’re staying here”

“Rob, she doesn’t want me here so why stay?” she asked.

“Yeah well you came with me. So how are you going to leave?” he asked her

“I would have just gone to the waiting room” she said then walked over to some chairs that were in the corner of her room. When she sat down, she saw Rob going over to the side of Sam’s bed to talk to her. As she watched them talking, she saw the look on Sam’s face. ‘There probably talking about Chester, she must still love him’ she thought to herself. A couple minutes later Chester came back in and walked over to her.

“Hey are you okay?” he asked her kneeling down in front of her.

“Yeah. I’m good” she said and smiled lightly.

“I wanted to tell you thank you for coming and checking up on Sam. I also want you to know that this isn't your fault that she's hear”

“I know that” she said. Then he got up and walked over to the chair that was near Sam’s bed, “Draven will be here soon” he said then heard a knock on the door. Sam looked and saw it was the doctor.

“It’s good to see you awake Mrs. Bennington” the doctor said, “We had a pregnancy test done to see if that was the cause of your fall. The test result came back and your not. The stitches will stay in for a week. We would also like to keep you here for one more day just for observation. You’ll be able to go home tomorrow. Is there any thing else you would like to know?”

“No. I’m fine”

“Okay, I’ll come back and check on you later” the doctor said leaving the room.

A few minutes later, Talinda could hear someone talking outside just before they came into Sam's room. When the person came in she saw that it was Leticia. She was holding Draven. Once she set him down, he ran over to Chester so he could lift him up onto Sam’s bed.

“Mommy!” Draven said wrapping his little arms around her when he finely got on to her bed.

“Hi buddy” Sam said and wrapped her arms around him too.

“When are you coming home mommy?” he asked when he let go of her.

“Tomorrow”

“Does your head hurt?”

“Not anymore, but I’ll have my stitches in for a little while”

After that he didn’t ask her anything and stayed in her arms ending up falling asleep, since it was around his nap time. She let him stay like that for a while, just wanting to hold him. She then let Chester pick him up so Leticia could take him back home. When Leticia left with a sleeping Draven in her arms, Talinda got up from her seat and walked over to Rob so that he could take her home. Once they got out of the room leaving Sam and Chester alone they walked to his car.

Continuing Chapter 8

As soon as Talinda was home, she went to her room and opened her closet up. She pulled out her box that had her yearbook and lockbox in it. She took out the lockbox and sat on her bed opening it up. Pulling out all the pictures, she started going through them until she got to a picture of her and her husband on there wedding day. As she looked at the picture she felt like crying. She felt like she was betraying her husband for being with Chester. Then she started to think about how she met him to the last time she saw him.

(Flashback)

When Talinda recovered from her accident, she packed her bags up and moved to New York. That was where she was going to go to law school. She got a scholarship and was accepted to New York Law School before her accident. Before she moved, her mom had wanted her to call Sam and tell her that she was alive. But Talinda was scared. She thought that if she did call Sam, Sam would yell at her since they had gotten into a fight and she told her never to talk to her again. So she never called her. She left to New York. When she got to New York, she changed her name from Sandra Talinda Grace to Talinda Sandra Grace. She did that because if she ever did see Sam again she wouldn’t know who she was. On her first day to school, she got to class and sat next to a guy. He turned around and introduced himself.

“Hi. I’m Matthew” he reached his hand out for her to shake it.

“Hi there. I’m Talinda” she said shaking his hand.

They became instanced friends. After a year of being really good friends to each other, Matthew and her finally started to date.

(End of Flashback)

(Flashback)

After a year of dating, Matthew took Talinda out to a nice restaurant. When they got there, they were seated at there table. Matthew ordered two glasses of wine for them. When the drinks came, Talinda picked up her glass. Before she took a sip she saw something shining in it. So she put the glass down and picked up a fork to get what was in the glass out. Once she pulled it out and set it on her napkin she was shock to see that it was an engagement ring! Talinda slowly looked up excepting to see Matthew sitting across from her but he wasn’t there. She turned to her side and saw Matthew kneeling on one knee. Shock ran through her system.

“Talinda, we’ve been together for two years. You're the greatest thing that has ever happen to me and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Have your children. I want to grow older with you. What I’m trying to ask is will you marry me?” Matthew asked.

“Yes!” she said throwing her arm around him as she heard the people that where around them clapping.

When they pulled apart, he put the ring on her finger. He went back to his seat and they ate when there food came. The next day she called her mom to tell her the news. Melinda, Talinda’s mom, was happy for her daughter. She then asked Talinda if she ever called Sam. She told her mom no and that if she did Sam wouldn't believe her. Then her mom told her that Sam’s mom knows she's not dead. But never told her daughter because she thought it was something Talinda should tell Sam herself. Lily doesn’t know what her daughter’s supposed to be dead best friend would actually turn out to be her lawyer. Her looks have change since the accident. No one would recognize her. Her mom even told her that Sam had gotten married about a month ago but she never knew who Sam’s husband was. Talinda always thought she married Josh the guy they fought about before she got into her accident.

(End of Flashback)

(Flashback)

“Matthew Bentley will you take Talinda to be your lawful wife, will you love her, honor and keep her in sickness and in health and forsaking all others keep only unto her so long as you both shall live?” the Pastor asked.

“I will.” Matthew said.

“Talinda Grace will you take Matthew to be your lawful husband, will you love him, honor and keep him in sickness and in health and forsaking all others keep only unto him so long as you both shall live?”

“I will.” she said.

After the vows were read the Pastor asked that the rings should be presented. Once the rings were asked for Matthew’s brother and nephew stepped forward and his brother helped his son take the rings off the ring pillow and gave them to the Pastor where he gave Talinda’s ring to Matthew and Matthew’s ring to her.

Then the Pastor asked for Matthew to follow along with him and repeat after him “Talinda, with this, I thee wed.”

“Talinda, with this ring, I thee wed.” Matthew said following along with the Pastor and slipping the ring on her finger.

The Pastor then turned to Talinda and asked for her to follow along with him and repeat after him “Matthew, with this ring, I thee wed.”

“Matthew, with this ring, I thee wed.” she said following along while slipping the ring on.

“By the power vested in me and according to the laws of New York I now pronounce you to be husband and wife. You may kiss the bride” the Pastor said.

As soon as the Pastor said that Matthew brought her closeer to him and gave her a light kiss.

“I now introduce you Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Bentley” the Pastor said.

Before her and Matthew started planning there wedding, they talked about opening up there own law firm. So two months after there wedding they finely opened there business.

(End of Flashback)

(Flashback)

Five years after Talinda and Matthew opened there law firm they talked about packing up and moving to California to open up a second law firm. But then there were a change of plans. One weekend Matthew collapse and was rushed to the hospital where they did a CT scan and found cancers cells in his lungs. When they found out about his cancer Matthew told her that he was going to fight this as hard as he could. Six months later just as his chemotherapy was ending they found that the cancer was gone. Sadly it showed back up three or four months later back into his lugs again. Then the same thing happened, it went away and came back again coming back real strong this time. The cancer went from his lugs going to his brain. That was when he asked her to have him die in his own home.

Matthew passed away on the night of May 24, 2003. Before he die he told her to still open up the second law firm and if she had ever found anyone else to love her that he would be okay with it. So after his funeral, she moved to California and did what he wanted her to do.

(End of Flashback)

Talinda wiped the tears that had fallen down. She put there wedding picture back in her lockbox wiping more tears away. Before closing the lockbox something caught her eye. She pulled it out and saw that it was her engagement and wedding band. Then she closed her lockbox and put her rings on. She put the lockbox back in the box and put it back in her closet.

******

Review's are apprecited

Chapter 9

Next Day

“Are you ready?” Chester asked Sam coming back into her room after she was finished getting dress.

“Yeah. You know you really don’t have to do this. I could have just called my mom” she said sitting on the hospital bed.

“I wanted to”

“Why? You don’t have to worry about me anymore”

After she said that he walked up closer to her grabbing both of her hands that were resting in her lap, “I will always worry about you Sam. You’re the mother of our son” he said to her.

“That’s all I’ll ever be to you” she mumbled so Chester couldn’t hear her.

“Did you say something?” he asked letting go of one of her hands.

“No. I didn’t say anything”

“Okay. Let’s go” he said and helped her off the hospital bed not letting go of her other hand, which he still was holding.

When she and Chester walked out of the hospital room, he took her up to the nurses’ station so she could discharge herself. After signing herself out, she and Chester walked out of the hospital going to his car where he drove to her place. Once he got there she saw that there were a couple cars parked near her house.

“Chester? Is there anyone here?” she asked turning to look at him.

“I don’t know. You’ll have to fined out yourself” he said as he parked the car in her drive way. After he stop the car, she was about to get out but Chester stopped her, “Let me get the door for you” he told her.

“You don’t need to help me anymore Chester. I’ve got it” she said and got out of the car as Chester did too, “I’ll get my stuff then you could leave”

“No Sam, I’m not going to leave you. There something I want you too see. It’s inside”

“Fine” she said walking away from him to go to her door as he followed her.

As soon as Sam got her door open, both she and Chester walked in. He told her that her surprise was in her living room. She walked into the living room and found all the guys along with there wives in there. She also saw that Leticia was there too holding Draven. When they all saw her, Leticia set Draven down. Once he was on his feet he ran over to his mom. Sam kneeled down so she could give him a hug.

“Mommy guess what?” he asked when she let go of him.

“What buddy?” she asked him.

“I going to stay with you for awhile” he said really happy which made her smile.

She looked up at Chester, “For awhile?” she questioned him.

“I’ll tell you later” Chester mouthed to her.

She got up when Mike along with Anna came up to her, “It’s good to see you Sam”

“Thanks Mike” she said.

A Couple Hours Later

“Bye guys” she said before she closed her front door which left her, Draven and Chester alone. Draven was in his room so Sam thought that it was a good time to talk to Chester. She walked back into the living room, “So Chester what did Draven mean by staying awhile?” she asked him.

“You know that so far we agreed on every two weeks with Draven, right?” Sam nodded her head, “Well my two weeks are up with him. I told Draven that he's going to be with you for two weeks. Being at the age he is he probably thinks that two weeks is awhile. Sam, I wasn’t going to ditch him if that’s what you thought”

“That did enter my mind. That you were going to leave him with me for a month or so and go and be with Talinda. But I wasn’t going to jump to conclusion by what he had said”

“And I wouldn’t do that to him Sam” he said.

“I know you wouldn’t. Wasn’t looking to start a fight with you”

“That’s okay Sam. I think that I’ll go now. I’ll see you in two weeks” he said walking slowly to the door.

“Alright” she said as he closed the door, ‘Wow! That’s actually the first decent conversation that we’ve had since our divorce’ she thought to herself.

One Week Later

It’s been a week since Sam came home from the hospital. She had Draven with her for one more week before it was Chester’s turned to have him for two weeks. When the mail came Sam went outside to go and get it. As she walked back inside she sorted through the mail and came across a small letter address to her. She saw that the sender was from her dad. She sat down on the couch when she got into the living room and opened it up. She pulled out a card and saw that it was an invitation to a high school reunion.

Dear Samantha Cardossa,

Greenway High School is throwing a High School Reunion for the Class of 1993. The Reunion is going to be on August 23, 2005 at the Bella Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona. We are looking foreword to seeing you there along with the whole Class of 1993. Please R.S.V.P as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Greenway High School Reunion Committee

After reading the invitation she set it down on her coffee table. She got up to go to Draven’s room to get him up from his nap. On her way to her son’s room the doorbell rang so she went to answer it and saw that it was Mike.

“Hey Mike, come on in” she said moving out of the way to let him in.

“Hi Sam. I just came to see how you were doing” he said walking in.

“Thanks. How is Anna?” she asked as she closed the door.

“Great. She's working on a children’s book right now”

“That sounds great. You could go in the living room so we can talk more. I was just about to go and get Draven up from his nap”

“Go ahead and get him. I’ll wait” he said.

“Thanks Mike” she said turning around and walked towards Draven’s room. When she got in his room, she saw that he was awake still lying on his bed, “Hey buddy! Do you want to get up? Mike is here. You want to go and see him?” she asked her son.

Draven only nodded. He sat up on his bed only to want his mom to carry him. Sam picked him up and carried him out of the room. They walked into the kitchen and got his snack for him. She walked into the living room where Mike was waiting at. She had Draven sit near the coffee table so he could eat his snack.

“So what’s going on Mike?” she asked him when she sat down.

“Oh, I just finished my album which is going to be coming out soon” he said as he looked at the coffee table picking up her invitation.

“That's good” she said as she watched him.

“Hey Sam, I didn't know you and Talinda went to the same school” Mike said.

“What do you mean the same school?” she asked.

“Talinda has the same card you have for your high school reunion. It has the same logo on it and everything”

“I don't remember anyone named Talinda going to my school. If she did go there it must be another year. Maybe Greenway is joining two school years together. Did you get to see what was in the card?” she asked thinking to herself ‘how could Talinda get the same invitation to my high school reunion’

“No. Talinda left her purse at Chester's and the invitation was sticking out of it” he said.

“Oh okay” she said.

They then changed the subject talking about different things. After awhile Mike left and Sam watched Draven playing. Sam kept thinking about what Mike had said about Talinda. Suddenly she couldn't take it anymore and picked up her phone and dialed a number.

“Hello” a voice said.

“Hey Leticia it’s me Sam. Can you come over and watch Draven for me...”

******

Review's are appreciated

Chapter 10

“...I have to go and do a couple errands. You know how Draven gets when I take him shopping with me” she said talking to Leticia.

“Sure Sam. I’ll be over soon” Leticia said and then hung up.

It didn’t take long for Leticia to get to Sam’s as she only lived a couple blocks away. Sam grabbed her keys and purse along with the invitation and head out. When she got in her car she pulled her cell out before starting her car up. She then dial Chester's number and waited for him to pick up.

“Hello”

“Hey Chester it's me Sam. Listen is it alright with you if I can come over to talk to you? But I won't if Talinda's there” she said/asked him.

“No, Talinda’s not here. Uh, sure you can come over” he said.

“Okay. Then I’ll be there in a little bit” she said and then hung up. She started her car and drove off to Chester's.

After Sam had called Chester, he was wondering what she wanted to talk to him about. Probably about Draven he guessed. A few minutes later, he heard the door bell go off. So he got up from his couch and went to answer it. He saw his ex-wife standing there and let her in.

They walked into the living room where Chester spoke up, “So uh,...would you like something to drink?” he asked her not sure what to say.

“Sure. Just water please” Sam said.

“Alright. I’ll be back” he said walking out of the room.

Sam watched Chester walk into the kitchen. When he walked in, she started looking around the room for Talinda’s purse. She looked at the coffee table and saw it lying there. Sam walked up closer to the table to see if there was an invitation. As she got closer she saw it sticking out of her purse, just like Mike said it was. Before Sam reach for the purse, she looked to see if Chester was coming back. He wasn't. Good. Sam reached down and grabbed the invitation and then put it in her own purse. After she had put it in her purse Chester came back out.

“Here you go” he said handing her a glass with water in it, “So what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?” he asked as they sat down on the couch.

“I wanted to talk to you about this” she said putting her drink down, then handed him her invitation card that she has been holding, “I thought that maybe since we went to the same school especially that year that you would like to go with me” she said. Chester took that card from her and looked at it seeing that it was a high school reunion invitation.

“Go with you?” he asked looking back up at her.

“Yeah. Only if you want to” she said.

“Are you sure about this? With me going with you? Even after everything that’s happen between us?”

“Yeah”

“Why? You could all ways go by yourself” he asked/said.

“Maybe you would like to see some old friends or possibly see your dad” she said.

“I see my dad enough. And I really don't think I would like to see my old friends”

“Sorry. I didn't really think about that. I jumped to conclusion that you would like to go with me”

“No. It's okay. I would like to go but I just -- I just don't want the memories of my past to come up again” he said.

“I shouldn't have even asked you in the first place”

“No, it's okay” he said. They sat in silence for awhile. Then he asked her something that he hadn’t asked her for awhile, “Sam? Do you still think about the first time we met?”

Sam smiled and looked at him, “Yeah. I always do”

(Flashback)

“Hey call this number out” one of Chester’s co-workers said to him handing him a bag with food.

“Sure” he said under his breath. He walking up to the front of the counter, “Order number 137” he called out only to find that there was a beautiful girl waiting for her order. He was mesmerized by her looks. He didn’t know that it was her number that he had called out until he blinked and realized someone was waving there hand in front of his face. He then realized that it was the girl that caught his attention and that he was still holding on to her bag, “Sorry about that” he said and then handed her the bag, “Would you like ketchup?”

“Yes please” she said and smiled. He reached down below the counter and grabbed a handful for her and put them in her bag. As she was about to walk away he called her back noticing that she had order drinks and that she didn’t have any cups with her. After he handed them to her, he walked back to where he was. Then his boss told him to take a break. As he was walking out he notice the girl was walking out too. He got the courage to go up and talk to her, “Hi I’m Chester” he said to her when he reached up to her.

The girl stopped walking and turned to face him, “Samantha, but you can call me Sam” she said.

“Um...I was wondering if you would like to go out with me sometime?” he asked Sam.

“Really? Am I the only one of your customers that you ever ask out?” Sam asked.

“Yeah. You’re the only one” he said starting to feel embarrassed.

“I would say yes but I would like to get to know you better before we went out” she said “You could call me. Give me your number so when you call I’ll know who it is” she said taking her cell out after she sat her bag down on a table that was close to her.

“Uh...I don’t have a cell phone” he said.

“Oh! That’s okay, here” she said and turned around tearing off a piece of her bag. Then she went in her purse and grabbed a pen out writing something down. She turned back to him and handed him the paper, “Hope to hear from you soon” she said and grabbed her stuff and walked away to her car.

When she drove off, he looked down and saw that she had given him her phone number. He slightly smiled to himself and put it in his pocket.

(End of Flashback)

“I still have that paper you wrote your number on” he said to her.

Sam slightly turned her head to look at him and smiled lightly, “You do?”

“Yeah I do” he said. He slightly moved a little closer to her. He reached his hand up and moved some of her hair back behind her ear. Slowly he leaned down and pressed his lips against her’s. He felt Sam tense up. She then relaxed and respond to the kiss by kissing him back. He moved his hand into her hair deepen the kiss a little more. His other hand found the way to the hem of Sam’s shirt. She realized where he wanted to take this to. She quickly pulled away.

“We can’t do this Chester” she said. She murmured something under her breath but Chester didn’t hear him. She quickly got up and walked to the door. ‘Great going Chester’ he thought to himself, ‘what the hell did I go and do that for?’ He sat there for a while just thinking. He looked at his coffee table and saw that Talinda’s purse was on it so he decided to call her.

“Hello” Talinda said when she answered.

“Hey Talinda. It’s Chester. I wanted to see if you would like to do something with me, say tomorrow?” he asked her.

“Yeah. Sure I love to” she said “Oh Chester did I happen to leave my purse there?”

“Yeah you did. I was going to asked you about that”

“Okay. That’s good. I’ll get it tomorrow. See you later” she said and then they hung up.

******

Review's are appreciated

Cool..I was just thinking though,what if these stories are true?I know that in real life situation,Chaz and Sam really met at the fastfood restaurant he was working at,but I never knew the way of how they exactly met.

It's cool Rashell..keep up the good work!

Oh thanks everyone! geeko - I try to put some stuff that happen in the past in my story. I like to make them as true as possible to real life. X...Re-Arranged...X - Thanks for the compliant!

It's been awhile since the last update, well I don't have a excuse just being plan lazy, hehe.

I do want to let you all know that I'm starting my third semster in college next week (Monday). So update may not happen to much.

*****

Sam quickly walked to her car and got in. She sat there calming herself down before she started her car. Finally she started it after sitting there for awhile. She backed out of the drive way and drove back to her house. When she got there, she walked up to her door. She heard her son and his nanny talking and followed the voices walking to the living room. Stopping in the door way she saw Draven on the floor play with his car that he really loves. She saw that Leticia was watching him from the couch. Leticia turned to look at the doorway and saw her standing there. She got up and walked over to her.

“Sam are you okay?” she asked when she reach up to her. It took Sam a few seconds to respond to her. When she did Leticia could tell that she wanted to cry.

“No. Um, Leticia do you mind staying here longer?” Sam said turning her head to look at her.

“Sure Sam. I don’t mind staying longer”

“Thank you” she said. She turned around and walked to her room. When she got to her room she closed the door behind her and walked to her bed. She laid down on it turning on to her side. She buried her head into her pillow and cried as she thought about what just happen at Chester’s. ‘Why did he kiss me? We’re divorce. He should hate me since I’m the one who filed for it. I know he’s only with Talinda to make me jealous of her. There's no way he really loves her. I know he still loves me. Why would he have kissed me if he doesn’t? But then that means he was willing to cheat on her. He wanted to go further then just that kiss. If I do give in to him will he do the same thing to me he was willing to do on Talinda. Cheat?’ She thought that all to herself. Thinking of Talinda made her think of the invitation. She sat up and grabbed her purse at the end of the bed. She pulled both her’s and Talinda’s invitation out. She opened Talinda’s card up and looked at it when some handwriting on the top corner caught her eyes. Carries as to what it said Sam started reading it.

Sandra,

Hope you can come and check to

see what the old gang has been

up to. Don’t worry your secret

is safe with me.

Charlotte

“Sandra? Charlotte?” she said out loud to herself after she read the small note, “The only Sandra I knew would be my best friend Sandra Grace. Charlotte I knew was the captain of our cheerleading team. But why would this Charlotte call Talinda Sandra?” Sam set the invitation down and went to her closet to get her yearbook out. She found it and pulled it out walking back over to her bed. She sat back down and opened the yearbook up. She flipped through the pages going to the senior class section. She turned the page until she got to the G's. She looked for Sandra’s picture. When she found her friends picture she looked at it closely. She thought of Talinda trying to remember all the details of what she looked like. As she thought about Talinda, Sam looked back at Sandra's picture. She thought she was kind of seeing the same person. She dropped the yearbook in shock realizing what just happen. 'No this can't be happening Sandra's dead. She died in a car accident that was all my fault. If I would have listened to her then she would still be alive. But she's not dead after all, she’s Talinda’

(Flashback)

Two girls in cheerleading uniforms ran up to the bench laughing. “I'm so glad are schools football team won Sam" Sandra said really happy.

"Yeah. Me too Sandra" Sam said setting her pom-poms down on a bench that was next to them. Sam then grabbed her friends’ hands and they jump up and down excitedly.

"You’re still coming over aren't you" Sandra asked her after they stopped jumping.

"Yeah. Just let me go tell my mom were leaving"

"Okay I'll wait right here for you” she said as Sam walked off. When she came back to get Sandra she stopped walking. She saw Sandra and the captain of the football team, her crush, hugging looking like to her more than just friends. She just stood there feeling tears wanting to fall down. When Sandra turned she saw Sam and waved her hand for her to come over. Sam didn’t move a first but then turned around and ran to her car. Her parents had to come by themselves since Sam had to be there early. As she ran to her car she could hear Sandra calling her name. Once she got to her car she drove off to her house.

(End of Flashback)

After she thought about how her and Sandra's fight got started, she picked up her yearbook. She looked at Sandra's picture and all she could think of was Talinda's face. So she closed the yearbook thinking that she was just imagining things, but then she thought about how she never went and saw Sandra's grave site.

(Flashback)

A year after Sandra's death, Sam still hadn't gone to see her grave site. She didn't even go to her funeral since she was in the hospital right after her accident had happen. One day she asked her mom if she could go and see her grave site. She would have gone herself but she didn’t know where Sandra was buried at.

"Hey mom. Um, is it okay if I can go and visit Sandra's grave site?” she asked.

"No Sam. I don't want you getting hurt” Lily said.

"Why mom? Why don't you want me to go?”

"Because I said so. That's why”

(End of Flashback)

Thinking about that time, she realized why her mom never wanted her to go and visit her grave site. She didn’t want her to visit because there was no grave site. 'Why couldn’t my mom tell me that my best friend wasn’t dead when I woke up’ she thought to herself. ‘And why didn’t Sandra call me and tell me that she was alive? Why did she make me think that she was dead all these twelve years?’ She looked at her clock on her night stand and saw that it was late. She decided to forget about Sandra and let Draven’s baby sitter go home. Leaving the yearbook and the invitation on the bed, Sam got up and walked to the living room. When she reached the living room she saw neither Leticia nor Draven in there. She then walked into the kitchen/dinning room area and saw both of them were sitting at the table. As she walked further into the room, she saw Draven was eating something since his back was facing his mom. She could see him pick something up with a fork and putting in his mouth.

Continuing Chapter 11

Leticia got up and walked over to Sam, “Hey Sam. I didn’t know if you were going to come back out so I gave Draven something to eat” she said.

“Thanks Leticia for doing that” she said.

“Are you okay? You seem kind of down when you came back?” Leticia asked her.

“No. I’m not okay”

“Did something happen?”

“I guess you could say that. Actually when I called you I told you that I was going to do some errands, well I lied. I went to Chester’s”

“Chester’s?” she asked wondering why she would go there.

“Yeah. Before all this happen Mike came over to see how I was doing and saw an invitation to my high school reunion. He told me that he saw that Talinda had the same one as me”

“She went to the same school as you?”

“Not that I remember. Mike told me that she had left her purse at Chester’s and that the invitation was in there. I was wondering why she would have the same invitation as me. So then I called you so that I could go over to Chester’s and take it. While I was outside I called Chester to see if I could come over. I thought that maybe if I show him my invitation since we went to the same school that he would like to go with me. Once I got there he left the room getting me a drink and that’s when I took Talinda’s invitation. When he came back we talked and I asked him about coming with me. He told me that he wouldn’t want to go. He asked me if I still think about the first time we met. I told him that I always do. He then pulled me into a kiss”

“He kissed you?” she widened her eyes in shock, “Did you kiss him back?” she asked.

“Yeah I did”

“Do you still love him?”

“Yes”

“I shouldn’t be telling you this but he still loves you to”

“Then why he'd get with Talinda?” she asked more to herself.

“He just realized that he still loves you when you were in the hospital. He never said it but I could tell he still does when he was talking about you”

“Thanks for letting me talk to you about this”

“It’s no problem. I'm a really good listener. Have to be with Draven”

“Really?” she asked looking pass Leticia to see Draven sitting in his chair looking at them.

“Oh, yeah he’s a big talker. He’s always telling me how he thinks you and Chester will be together again”

“Yeah. He tells me that too” she said.

After Sam and Leticia talked about what happen between her and Chester, she left to go home. A couple minutes later after Leticia left, Sam put Draven down for the night. She walked into her room seeing the yearbook and invitation she left on her bed. Sam walked over to her bed and picked up the yearbook. She sat down on the floor leaning her back against the bed. She flipped through the yearbook stopping at the pages that had pictures of her and Sandra/Talinda. When she came to the last picture of her, she looked at it. It was a in memory page for her since her whole school thought she was dead too.

(Flashback)

“I can’t believe you did that to me Sandra. You knew I liked him why did you have to go and do that” Sam yelled at her.

“If you would listen to what I said in the first place, I wasn’t trying to take him away from you” she yelled back at her.

“I don’t want to hear it Sandra. I don’t want to be your friend again!” she said to her before slamming the door in her face.

After that happen that was the last time Sam saw Sandra alive. She got a call from her telling her that she didn’t know where she was at and then the line went dead…

(End of Flashback)

“I’m so sorry Sandra for everything. I hope that you could forgive me for what I did to you” she said to herself out loud as she held the yearbook closer to her, “What if Talinda is really Sandra and she never tells Chester or anyone? Especially me. Am I just going to go up to Chester and say to him, ‘Hey Chester? Your girlfriend is a liar and happens to be my presumed-dead best friend Sandra Grace.’ If I said that to him he’ll think I’m insane” she said out loud. Then she shook the thought out of her head and put everything away.

Chapter 12

So sorry about the wait. School has been crazy, especially with a night class. Good thing I have about a few chapter written out. I just have to fine time to post them. Hopefully I'll be posting some more, if I'm not to busy. Enjoy this update.

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The Next Day

For the date that Chester and Talinda agreed to go on, they ended up going to the movies. Chester couldn’t concentrate on the movie as all he could think about was Sam and when he kissed her. After the movie was over they went back to Chester’s place to enjoy each others company. This was something that they really didn’t get to do as much as they would of like to. As they were relaxing with each other, Chester could sense some hesitation from her. He leaned in and kissed her cheek, then moved to her neck to see if that would make her relax a little, which it did. When there lips met all Chester could think about was Sam and the kiss. He deepened the kiss a little more imagining that Talinda was Sam. He started to slide his hand under her shirt and Talinda pulled him closer her which made him call out Sam’s name instead of her’s.

“We can’t do this” she said pulling away from him as they tried to catch there breaths. Talinda then looked at him.

“Talinda I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to call her name out like that” he said feeling like an idiot that he just did that.

“Maybe what I’m about to tell you may change your mind about me” she said.

“Whatever it is that you have to tell me won’t change my mind about you”

“Before I started working on your custody case, I--I--I knew Sam” she said hesitating.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“I’m not really who you think I am” she said taking a deep breath. She got up and walked behind the coffee table giving them some space. Maybe she was scared that he would hurt her after what she told him, “First of all, my name is it Talinda Bentley. My real name is Sandra Grace. I was Sam's best friend back in high school”

“There’s no way you can be Sandra Grace. Sam told me she died in a car accident” he said shocked at what she was telling him but he didn't show it.

“It’s true Chester. I was in that accident Sam told you about and I survived it. Everyone thought I died. My parents knew I didn’t die in the accident, but they weren’t sure if I was going to make it. When I did wake up, I begged my parents not to tell any one” she said as tears came down her face. Just telling Chester her biggest secret made her regret ever keeping to herself.

“Why didn’t you want to tell anyone?”

“Because I wanted a fresh start in life. I didn't want to worry about the people I had left behind” she said wiping her cheek with the back of her hand. This was a lie. She didn’t really know why she didn't tell anyone herself.

“What happen that cause your accident?” Chester asked.

“It all started because of a fight me and Sam got into over a guy she liked. He happened to be the same guy I was really good friends with. When she told me that she liked him I wanted to help her get with him. I never saw him more then just a friend. But she thought it the other way around”

“She thought you liked him when she saw you talking to him?” he guessed out, “But what was it that caused you to get hysterical and get behind the wheel of the car?” he asked.

“It was the last football game of the season, me and Sam were there cheering. The game happened to be on a Friday night and me and Sam plan to go over to my house after the game. Sam walked away for a little while, to tell her mom she was leaving. When she was away, Josh, the guys she liked came up to me and we started talking. I gave him a friendly hug congratulating him for winning the game. When I turn I saw Sam standing a little further away from us. I wanted her to come up to us so I could get Josh and her to talk but she run off” she said as more tears came down her face.

“Did you try to go after her?”

“Yes I did. I followed her all the way to her house. I stopped her before she went inside telling her that it wasn’t what it look liked and that I knew she liked him. I told her I was trying to help her get with him but she wouldn’t listen to me. She started yelling at me about how I could do that to her and that I knew she'd like him. I tried explaining myself to her again but she told me that she didn’t want to hear it. Then that’s when she told me she never wanted to see me again and that we weren’t friends anymore. Then she slammed the door on my face” she said pausing for a little bit.

“Once she slammed the door on my face I knew that there was no way in talking to her. So I walked back to my car. At that point, I was crying hysterically from the thought of losing our friendship over some guy. While I was driving I had my cell with me so I called Sam hoping that she had calm down. She had picked up and I started explaining to her that what happened wasn’t what she thought had happened. My vision was blurry from all the crying I was doing and I started to freak out. I heard her calling my name. I started telling her that I didn’t know where I was at and right after I said that I lost control of my car. I crashed it and everything went black” she moved so now she was sitting down on the second couch.

“What happen after you crashed your car?”

“That’s all blank. From what my mom told me, Sam was the one who found me. She ended up having to be in the hospital since she passed out after finding me. My mom ended up telling Lily that I survived. Lily never told Sam thinking that it was my place to tell Sam the truth”

“Since you survived the accident how come Sam and Lily didn’t recognize you?”

“They won’t because I don’t look like anything I did before my accident. I was in the hospital for a year recovering. I had a lot of work done to fix the damage that my accident cause me”

“Why didn’t you…” Chester started to say but didn’t finish as the door bell went off. Chester got up from the couch as Talinda wiped some more tears that fell down her face. He walked over to the door and opened it seeing Sam standing there, “Uh…Sam what are you doing here?” he asked her.

Continued Chapter 12

“I wanted to talk to you about yesterday” she said. ‘And also see my dead best friend’ she thought to herself.

“Talinda's here you know that, right?” he said.

“Yeah I know. I also want to talk to her too. I’m not looking for a fight” Sam said.

Chester sighed, “Sure. Come in” he said and moved out of the way. When she came in he closed the door behind her. He then walked back into the living room going over Talinda. She got up as he signaled for her to come with him. He walked with her into the kitchen, “Are you going to tell Sam your secret or are you going to pretend that you never told me?” he asked her.

“No. I should tell her and that's what I’m going to do” she said. They then walked back into the living room. Chester stood near the small steps that led up to the dining table as Talinda walked further into the living room, “Sam there something that I need to tell you” Talinda said.

“What is it?” She asked. Chester could sense a different tone in his ex-wife’s voice. It was like she knew already and that she wasn’t mad.

“Um…do you remember when we asked you if you remember calling me Sandra Grace your best friend?”

“Yeah”

Talinda took a deep breath before she continued, “My name is it Talinda….” she started out, “My name is Sandra Grace”

After Talinda said that Sam didn’t look shocked, all she said was, “I know”

Now Talinda was the one with the shock look instead of Sam, “You know? How did you find out?” Talinda asked.

“From you're reunion invitation” Sam said pulling it out of her purse. She then handed it back to Talinda, who took it.

Talinda looked down at the invitation. She opened it up when she noticed Charlotte’s hand writing. She closed the invitation and looked back up at Sam, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for everything Sam”

“You don’t need to be sorry. I’m the one who should be apologizing to you. I was the selfish bitch who…” Chester didn’t finish hearing what they had to say to each other. He walked up the small steps and made his way over to the stair case. He walked up a couple steps and sat down just in case they didn’t forgive each other and a fight broke out between them. Seemly an hour and a half later, Chester woke to someone shaking his shoulder. He opened his eyes and found Talinda standing in front of him, “Chester could I talk to you” she said.

“Yeah. Sure” he said getting up and walked up the rest of the stairs, going to his room incase Sam was still there she wouldn’t hear them talking. Once they got up his room, Chester sat down on his bed and waited for her to start talking.

“This is going to be hard for me to do but it's for the best, especially after lying to you. You should hate me for that. Chester, I really don’t think that were going to work out” she said.

“No. Don’t say that” he said getting up walking closer to her. He put both his hands on her shoulder looking into her eyes.

“It wouldn’t anyways. Why stay and get more attached when we both know it won’t work.”

“You’re not doing this because of your secret?” he asked.

“No. I’m doing this because of my husband”

“You’re married?” he asked shocked. ‘She had another secret as well? How many more is she keeping to herself?’ he thought to himself.

“I was. I’m a widow. My husband passed away from cancer”

“Sorry about that”

“It’s okay. It’s been a couple years since his passing”

“But why break it off? I mean you’ll have nobody to be with you” he asked/said.

“I will, soon” she said smiling “Anyways, Sam need’s you more than I do. I know you still love her Chester” she said and then paused, “We can still be friends right?”

“Of course so, Talinda. Did you guys forgive each other?”

“Sort of. It’s going to take awhile before were like we use to be. I’m going to go so you and Sam could talk” she said walking out of the room and out of his life leaving him to reconcile with Sam.