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Ethan Winthrop is the oldest child of Ivy Winthrop Crane and Sam Bennette. Ivy was with the two men within a 24 hour period, and Ethan was born exactly nine months later. Sam is his biological father, even though Julian is his legal father, and is the man listed on his birth certificate. He met Gwen Hotchkiss at age 12, and the two immediately hit it off. They even proceeded to go to the same Connecticut boarding school, Choate Rosemary Hall Boarding School. While they had many other opportunities, they were always faithful to each other, not only through high-school but also once Ethan went off to attend Harvard law (while Gwen attended another university). In July of 1999, Ethan had recently turned 24 and graduated from law school, and came home to Harmony to work for Gwen's parents, then spent some time in private practice, but soon went to work for Crane industries.
Ethan has always been in love with Gwen, but he was reluctant to finalize their relationship, until his aunt Sheridan pushed him into it. Knowing that he was proposing for other reasons, Gwen turned him down -- if she couldn't marry for love, she wouldn't marry him. That issue was pushed to the back-burner when Ethan began being the victim of mysterious 'accidents', and became determined to learn who was stalking him. With the help of private detective Frank Lomax, he eventually realised that Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald was his stalker, but decided to give her a second chance, and soon began to believe that Theresa was his friend, not realising that she was really trying to be close to him in an effort to break him and Gwen up and get him for herself. He has never saw her as more than a friend, but she assigned meaning to even the most trivial events. Her dreams almost backfired, though, when all her talk of 'true love' helped Ethan to see how much he loved Gwen, and prompted him to propose to her. The engagement almost didn't happen when Theresa refused to give him the engagement ring (that she claimed was stuck on her finger), but luckily, Gwen and Ethan loved each other enough to work it out.
Plans for the wedding were going ahead as scheduled when Gwen was called out of town on business. Believing she had their best interests at heart, Gwen and Ethan approached Theresa with the idea that she handle the wedding arrangements while Gwen was out of town. Gwen would, of course, still be involved every step of the way through fax and e-mail, and would have final say, but they wanted someone there to do the wedding. Gwen was only out of town for a few days, but Theresa capitalized on that time, and spent as much time with Ethan as possible. While his heart still belongs to Gwen, Ethan has felt stirrings of feeling for Theresa, not realising that Theresa has this whold thing planned out. Knowing that he was feeling conflicted, Ethan begged Gwen to return home. Although initially she was unable to, she quickly wrapped up her business, returning to Harmony the next day.
The real trouble came after Gwen returned home, when Theresa told Ethan she loved him on the prom boat. Ethan had no idea -- and immediately wrote it off as a crush. Theresa had told him about her boyfriend Chuck, who broke up with her, and he assumed she was looking for a rebound love. Theresa couldn't possibly love him -- she was a child, with a teenage crush, and he was a man. Theresa tried to explain that she DID love Ethan, and it wasn't a rebound, but then she would have had to confess that she really was stalking Ethan and had lied all about 'Chuck'. Gwen was immediately suspicious when she caught the two together in a compromising position, but Theresa smoothly lied her way out of that, and is now Gwen's maid of honor!
Since that night on the prom boat, Theresa has made every opportunity to be alone with Ethan. It doesn't help matters that in addition to Theresa manipulating him, Ethan's father Julian is encouraging him to sow his wild oats with Theresa, and Ethan's friend Chad is manipulating things to push Theresa and Ethan towards each other. Ethan continually tells Theresa that it's Gwen he loves and he only thinks of her as a friend, and has tried to tell her that he knows and loves Gwen, and a few months with her can't compare to years of love with Gwen, but Theresa refuses to believe him. Ethan has no idea the lies she has told to land her Crane, or the extent of her obsession. He has finally gotten through to her that he's not in love with her, but unfortunately, an accident (caused partly through her own negligence, partly because of sabotage) has landed her in the hospital, and is leaving Ethan conflicted about his feelings. Is it his long-time love and soul mate Gwen that he wants, or is it Theresa, who he honestly believes to be an innocent young girl rebounding from a broken heart?
Less than 72 hours before he was to marry Gwen, Theresa nearly died in a motorcycle accident. Ethan suddenly realised that he returned her feelings of love, and told her so in the hospital. Less than 12 hours before he was to marry Gwen, in the middle of their engagement party, Ethan informed her that while he was still in love with her, he was also in love with Theresa, and called off the wedding. He did not, however, call off the engagement. On Christmas Eve, while still engaged to Gwen, he took Gwen to Church, then surprised everyone by proposing to Theresa. The next day, Gwen broke off their engagement.
Theresa and Ethan's relationship has hit a snag now though. At his engagement party, Ethan was rocked with the news that his father is not Julian Crane, as he'd always thought, but Sam Bennett. Rather than being the heir to the Crane fortune, he is the illegitimate son of a man he hates. Lost and confused, Ethan goes to Theresa and tells her he wants to call off the wedding...but they decide to go through with it. Ethan immediately turns his back on the Crane family, and walks away from them, dropping the 'Crane' name.
Ethan still plans on moving forward with his wedding to Theresa, but made Ivy a vow that if Theresa lies to him one more time, he will break things off with her forever. Little does he know that Theresa's relationship with him is full of lies...the most important of which is that she was married to his former father, Julian Crane, and is currently pregnant with his child!
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