Unexpected Love

Chapter 14

The room was filled with awkward silence. Matt closed his eyes, "Gabby." He whispered. He knew when he turned around that his wife was going to be angry and pissed off. Those are two things he hated facing. She wasn't going to understand why he was going along with his dad's plan; she wasn't going to like that he knew his dad was gambling again, and he gambled the house. His mom and Kelly were going to be upset too, but they were all going to be upset that he was standing by allowing his dad to purposely hurt Stella, to break Kelly and Stella up. What kind of brother does that, or worse, what kind of father does that?

"Matt, what the hell is going on?" She repeated herself.

Matt slowly turned around, looking at his wife, who was standing with her hands on her hips, and seeing a look of disgust on her face mixed with the anger in her eyes. "Baby, it's not what you think; I don't know exactly what you heard or what you thought you heard, but...

Gabby narrowed her eyes at him. "Matt, in the twelve years I've known you, you have never lied to me. Please don't disrespect our marriage by lying to me now."

"Dad got himself into some trouble financially."

"What do you mean?"

"He's gambling again, and this time he went a little too far." Matt grabbed her hands. "I promise I will tell you about everything; right now, we need to go make sure Dad doesn't do anything else stupid."

"Like what?"

"Dad's intentions for tonight are to pretty much destroy Stella, so she starts second-guessing her relationship with Kelly and hopes that they break up."

" Why? Why would he do that? What has she done to him? She seems pretty great to me; I like her, and Kelly loves her. Why would he want to hurt his son?"

"I like her too, and I know how much Kelly loves her. I've tried talking him out of this all week...

Gabby's eyes widened. "What the hell, Matt? You knew this was his intention all week and never said anything to us."

Matt rubbed the back of his neck. "I wanted to Gabby; I wanted to go to you, Mom, and Kelly, but you know how dad is, and...

"Matt and Gabby, come on, we are waiting for you," Jennifer yelled from the dining room.

"Coming, mom," Matt yelled back. "I know you're pissed, and you have every right to be pissed at me, but I promise you, let's just get through this dinner and ruin his plan to try to upset Stella. I will tell you everything that I know, I promise. I like Stella, and Stella doesn't deserve this; neither does Kelly."

Gabby shakes her head. "Fine, but piss doesn't even describe what I'm feeling right now, Matt; it's like I don't even know you." She walked away, leaving him standing there, filled with regret.

"So, Kelly was a troublemaker when he was little, I see." Stella joked.

"He was a handful," Jennifer told her.

"Who was a handful?" Gabby asked, walking into the room and sitting down.

" Kelly."

"Oh yes, from what I heard, they wanted to put him up for adoption." Gabby laughed.

" Wow! That horrible, huh?"

"It's a good thing you came along and straightened me up."

"A very good thing." She pecked his lips. "Gabby, this looks delicious." She says this as she passes the chicken to Benny.

"My wife is an expert in the kitchen," Matt said as he was entering the room.

Benny eyed Stella's rings. "Is that your engagement ring?"