Steven and Daniel Fillmore sat behind the locked doors in the library at their grandfather’s Cocoa Beach home, whispering about the pros and cons of various plots to be rid of their sister. They were both in agreement that they wanted the deed done before their grandfather returned.
“It has to be something that will never be traced back to us,” Daniel said.
“And something preferably not too gruesome. The less media coverage, the better.”
“She’s connected to Jax. There will be media coverage no matter what,” Daniel pointed out. “Especially with the wedding just a few days away now.” He tapped his pencil along a bookcase. “I still say we just hire a professional to do this for us. And he should do it after the wedding. There’s too much attention in that town on this Jacks wedding right now. We have to wait until that fades.”
“A hit man is out, Daniel. Have you already forgotten that we can’t trust Billy and Alec to be with us on this? If she is murdered in some professional manner, those two will suspect us. No, what we have to do is do this in a way that no one would ever suspect. A way that looks like no one killed her at all. A way that looks like an accident. I was thinking poison…”
Daniel gave him a look of incredulity. “Oh, sure, she accidentally poisons herself,” he muttered.
“No, not like that. I mean like a bit of cyanide in her Tylenol, or something like that. Something deadly, accidental-looking and untraceable.”
“Tall order,” Daniel said. “We still need a professional. If not a hit man, then some kind of corrupt doctor who can tell us what drugs can and can’t be detected in an autopsy.”
“Keep in mind that the more people we involve in this, the more chances we have of being found out. The less people who know, the better.”
Billy, who had planted a listening device in his grandfather’s library five days ago, was in his grandfather’s bedroom listening to his brothers so casually discuss killing someone. Killing their own sister, who had never done anything to them but be born and be obsessed over by a tyrannical grandfather she didn’t even know about. He was sick to his stomach listening to their morbid discussion and realized that Steven’s promise not to hurt Brenda and to allow him to take care of it wasn’t worth spit.
As they continued their discussion, Billy kept recording it while picking up the phone to call his brother Alec, who was in Sydney trying to block JE from getting their hands on a coveted microchip company up for grabs. Billy intended to foil his brothers’ sinister plans, even if he had to go to Jasper Jacks himself. That would only be last a resort, he promised himself, as he was certainly no fan of Jax’s, but it was a last resort he was willing to take in order to ensure that no harm came to his little sister.
Even now he could so vividly remember the joy of her contagious laughter when he’d seen her in that parking lot with Jax. That laugher had touched his soul - had somehow freed his soul, he felt. He vowed his brothers would never silence that laughter. He vowed they would have to kill him first.
Unfortunately, he now believed that was very much within the realm of possibility.
The night before the wedding day, Jax’s Uncle Ian arranged an early family supper at the Jacks mansion to allow Brenda’s family to meet Jax’s entire family and also to help ease a reluctant and nervous Katherine back into Jax’s world.
Katherine, sure that Jax really didn’t want anything to do with her, didn’t want to force herself into his life again at this juncture, when one of the happiest days of his life was the very next day. It would only make him hate her more, she’d mumbled miserably. But Uncle Ian had reminded her that it was Jax who had asked that she be in attendance at the wedding and be the family member at the checkpoint to admit the guests.
“Jax didn’t ask me, he asked you,” she pointed out.
“He asked me ta ask you,” Ian corrected.
“You see that? He still can’t even bring himself to speak to me,” she pointed out dejectedly. “And god only knows how Brenda must feel about me.”
“Your brother said that havin’ you at the wedding was Brenda’s idea as well. It seems ta me that Jax’s happiness is more important ta that sweet lass than any lingering ill will she may have towards you for your plottin’ and schemin’.”
That only made Katherine feel worse. Tears swam in her blue eyes. “Jerry was right about me, about my motivations, about how empty my own life is, about what it would cost me if I didn’t stop. He was right about it all. My father would be so disappointed in me. I don’t think I would have been like this is he were alive though, Uncle Ian. I know that sounds like a pathetic excuse, but I was never like this before he and Jane were killed… was I?”
“No, child, you weren’t. Now look here,” Ian said sternly, “you just stop this feelin’ sorry for yourself bit o’ nonsense, Katie. I’ve had my fill o’ your mopin’ and whinin’, lass. Your brother is bloody angry with you, yes, but he loves you and he wants you at his weddin’, and you’re goin’ ta bloody well be there. Is that understood? You’re not goin’ ta disappoint him due ta your own shame about your foolish schemes. You’re goin’ ta make your heartfelt apologies ta Jax and Brenda for your bad behavior, and then we’re all goin’ ta move on. We’re a family and nothing canna be forgiven amongst us,” he said more gently. “Especially when anyone with a workin’ eye can see that you’re as sorry as sorry can be for what you’ve done.”
“I am,” Katherine had nodded jerkily, as she burst into tears. “I’m so sorry, Uncle Ian. I’m so sorry.”
He had taken his teary-eyed niece into a hug then. “Don’t tell it ta me, Katie. Tell it ta your brother and his bride. And you’ll have plenty o’ time to tell them because you’re comin’ ta that wedding with me.”
And that had been that. Ian and Katherine had been on a plane to Los Angeles the very next day, arriving one day prior to the nuptials.
And now the entire Jacks clan was gathered around the dining table at the Jacks mansion in Beverly Hills, talking, laughing, reminiscing. And Brenda was sitting next to Jax, in the midst of his large family, smiling over the lyrical combination of Aussie, Scottish and British accents, and trying to remember all of their names when she had been introduced to them earlier.
There was Uncle Terrance, who was Uncle Ian’s cousin. Uncle Terrance was married to Aunt Sophia and the two red-haired girls sitting between them were their daughters, 19-year-old Nicolette and 11-year-old Kelsey. Next to Uncle Terrance was Aunt Lindsay, Uncle Terrance’s younger sister who lived in Africa with her husband, Uncle Geoff. They had a 12-year-old son, Geoff Jr., and a daughter, 15-year-old Mia, a studious young girl who was a female Doogie Howser and was already in medical school at her young age.
Next to her were merry Uncle Roddy and his 30-year-old son Bryant, who was a cameraman for the show “Survivor.” Then there was Uncle David, Uncle Garrett - neither of whom were married or had any kids - and Aunt Monica, who was a famous tennis instructor in Australia, and her sons Noah and Nicholas, who were the same ages, respectively, as Jax and Jerry. Nicholas, a psychiatrist was married to Debbie, and they had a five-year-old son, Miles. Noah was a research scientist for a marine aquatic center in Sydney.
John Jacks may have had no siblings, Brenda thought, but he sure had plenty of cousins.
And as Brenda had met the family earlier, she’d noticed right away how all the members were on the Jacks side of the family, none from Jax’s mother’s side of the family. Jax had quietly explained to her that his mother’s family had vehemently objected to her marriage to John, having wanted her to marry a British Lord, who was also a long-time family friend. Jane had tried to reconcile with her family after Jerry was born, and then again after Jax was born, but the disparaging remarks her family would make about John and his daughter from his first marriage, Katherine - right in front of the boys, no less - had infuriated Jane beyond endurance and had ended all interaction with that side of the family for good. So it had been then and was ever after. They had not even attended their daughter’s funeral.
That kind of family rift made Jax and Katherine’s short estrangement seem like nothing in comparison. And thinking of Katherine made Brenda gaze over at her. She sat quietly near the end of the table, in between Jerry and Uncle Ian, looking as if each swallow of food was painful for her. Looking as if being at the table in the midst of the family cheer was daunting.
And even from the distance across the table Brenda could see the guilt and sorrow hanging heavy around Katherine Jacks.
Guilt and sorrow and fear.
Fear that she might do or say something wrong. And so she didn’t say a word. Just sat there eating the meal slowly and acting as if she deserved not to be spoken to - although she did occasionally speak to her family who engaged her in conversation. She carefully avoided eye contact with either Brenda or Jax though. Even though she had already given them her sincere apologies for her behavior when she had returned yesterday and they had accepted her apology, she didn’t seem convinced that she was wanted.
It was strange for Brenda to see Jax’s self-assured older sister acting like a skittish mouse fearful of doing anything that would cause her to be back in Jax’s doghouse.
Brenda excused herself from the table in the midst of dessert and asked Katherine to please join her out on the terrace. It was early in the evening, not even six o’clock yet so the sun was still out, although beginning its slow descent over the lake.
Katherine followed Brenda out onto the terrace while Jax, Jerry, Holly, and Uncle Ian all covertly watched the women walking away.
“What’s that all about?” Jerry whispered to his uncle. “I thought all the amends were made yesterday?”
Uncle Ian nodded. “So did I,” he murmured, looking perplexed. Then his brows lifted. “Perhaps your sister just needs a bit o’ convincing of that. And your brother’s bonny sprite saw that need and is seekin’ to fill it. She’s an intuitive one, that little lass is.”
Brenda sat down on one of the lounge chairs, gazing out at the lake. “I love this view,” she said, turning to Katherine with a smile.
Katherine had yet to sit down as she watched Brenda nervously. “Have I done something to upset you?” Katherine asked softly, and the strain in her voice made Brenda really sad.
“Yes,” Brenda said. “You have.” And then she patted the seat next to her for Katherine to sit down. “I’m upset that you don’t seem to believe that Jax and I have forgiven you for what you did, Kat. We have. We really have.”
Katherine ran her hand nervously over the cushion of the lounge chair. “I wouldn’t blame you if you couldn’t. Brenda, I know how much you love my brother. I know you would accept me for his sake and not because you really have any desire to do so.”
Brenda nodded. “Yes, Katherine, I would do that for Jax. I would do anything for him. But please don’t think I was just paying lip service to you in saying I had forgiven you for what you did. I meant that. I have forgiven you. I saw what pushing you out of his life was doing to Jax and I know how much he loves you. And for him to love you that much there’s got to be a lot of good in you. And so I chalk up what you did to bad judgment and misguided intentions. Maybe control issues as the oldest. Basically I’ve written it all off as a mistake. A bad one. And one I don’t expect you’ll ever make again.”
Katherine shook her head. “Never again.”
“So then there should be no awkwardness between us, should there? You’re sorry, I know you are. I forgive you, you know I have. We can move on from here now and try to be a family. We are going to be part of the same family now, you know, and I’d like us to really feel that way. Do you think that’s impossible?”
Katherine laughed. “No, I… actually think it’s very possible.” Her eyes filled with tears. “You really do know how sorry I am, don’t you? I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart. And I do have one, you know.”
Brenda nodded and smiled. “I know.”
“I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”
“You don’t have to do that. Just promise me that you won’t interfere with Jax and me like that ever again.”
“I promise.”
“And promise me that you’ll support Jax in the things that are important to him, like running your father’s company.”
“I promise that, too.”
Brenda nodded. “Then that’s good enough for me. You know, Kat, I probably really owe you a debt of gratitude in a strange way. All your efforts to push Jax and my sister together in the past did manage to keep Jax in my family’s sphere. And that ultimately led him to me. And for that, I think I could forgive you anything.”
A teary-eyed Katherine gave Brenda a quivering smile and held out her hand to clasp that of her future sister-in-law. “You are quite remarkable, Brenda Barrett. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such graciousness from an eighteen-year-old. You humble me,” she whispered in a broken voice and then leaned forward to give Brenda a quick but fierce hug and then hurried from the terrace, uncomfortable with being so emotional.
Jax saw his sister run inside and up the stairs, obviously fighting to control a flood of tears. He excused himself and went out on the terrace to find Brenda.
“Hi,” he said, sitting across from her in the seat Katherine had vacated. “Everything okay?”
He looked so worried that Brenda had to laugh and then leaned across and kissed his cheek. “Everything’s perfect. Your sister didn’t seem to believe we had forgiven her, or, more correctly, didn’t believe I had forgiven her. She thought I was just doing it for you. I wanted her to know that I really had forgiven her, Jax, because I have. And I wanted her to know she’s going to be my family now, too, and she didn’t have to walk on eggshells around me.”
Jax smiled at her. “You’re remarkable.”
Brenda grinned. “Yeah? Well, your sister said the same thing.”
Jax laughed, and then his eye caught the evening edition of the paper, which was blown open to the middle section due to the breeze. He reached for it, having seen the words WARNER in a small article heading on the page.
Brenda made a comment about applying for the U.N. peacekeeping committee since she seemed to be pretty good at making peace, but Jax just said, “Mmm hmmm,” distractedly as he read the paper.
Noticing her fiancé’s distraction and that he was faking listening to her, Brenda began a bizarre conversation to see exactly how distracted he was.
“And then I was thinking you could wear my wedding dress, and I’ll wear your tuxedo,” Brenda said.
“Mmm hmmm…”
“Or better yet, we can just walk stark naked down the aisle. We can put a sign on the church door that says nudity is mandatory for all guests. What do you think?”
“Okay,” Jax murmured.
“The reverend would have to be naked, too, of course.”
“Yes.”
Brenda giggled and got up and sat on his lap. “Jax, you’re not listening to a word I’m saying. What’s so interesting?” she asked, peeking at the paper.
Jax was reading up on the Warner World problems in Bangladesh and how CEO Will Warner’s grandson, Alec, would now oversee it so that his grandfather could return to the States.
“Oh, the dreaded Warner,”’ Brenda said, seeing the small article.
Jax glanced up at her and laughed. “The dreaded Warner?”
“Well, he is your adversary, right?”
“Yours, too,” Jax said, looking at her. “My enemies are your enemies, aren’t they?”
“Yes,” Brenda said, with a firm nod of assent. “Especially because of any part he may have played in what happened to your mother and father.”
Jax looked at her for a long time and then just pulled her into a tight, wordless hug.
But Brenda didn’t need any words. She and Jax seldom needed words between them to describe what they were feeling. Brenda knew without his telling her that he was thanking her; thanking her for being his partner in all things, the best friend he ever had, and for loving him as much as she did.
The latter he did voice out loud. “Thank you for loving me,” he said, kissing her cheek and then brushing his face against the silkiness of her hair.
“You’re welcome, honey. So does this mean you’ll walk naked down the aisle with me?”
Jax pulled away from her, staring at her. “What?” he said in a laughing voice.
“You missed my entire conversation about a nude wedding while you were reading about your - our - adversary,” Brenda informed him.
“How could I have missed that?” he murmured. “Did this one-way conversation happen to include you walking naked down the aisle as well?”
“Yep. And all our guests.”
Jax laughed and kissed her. “All our guests walking naked down the aisle with us?”
“No. Seated. But naked.”
“Hmmm.”
“Hmmm?”
“Yes, hmmm. As in hmmm, I’m trying to see if this would put my cousin Bryant at risk of being arrested for videotaping the wedding.”
Brenda giggled. “Oh, right, they might arrest him for pornography.”
“Or perhaps just making a really bad horror movie. You know, this might be great fun for you, sprite, but I do not relish the idea of seeing my entire family buck naked, all in one sitting.”
Brenda laughed. “I was just trying to show you how distracted you get over business,” she teased. “When you’re concentrating on the CNN financial report or the paper or reading over a contract or an acquisition sheet, I could be doing cartwheels naked in front of you and you wouldn’t even notice me.”
“Try me,” he said with a wolfish smile. “Try me right now,” he added with a wicked little laugh, as he slid his hands beneath her top.
They heard a chuckle behind them, and Jax’s hands fell from their sensual quest up along her tummy.
The chuckler was Brenda’s father. “I don’t even want to know what that conversation was about,” he said, holding up his hands. Then he turned to an attractively blushing Brenda. “Honey, your grandmother and I are ready to go now. She ordered me to come out here and drag you with us, claiming you need to have a nice long sleep before the big day, plus she’s got some apple tarts waiting at home for you.”
“Plus your father and grandmother want to enjoy having you with them on your last night as a single young lady,” Jax added.
“Nicely put,” Harlan agreed. “I want to enjoy every last minute before my little bird leaves her nest,” he confessed, with a sad look in his eyes.
Brenda smiled at her father. “Okay, I’ll be right there, Dad.”
“We’ll wait for you outside by the car. See you tomorrow, Jax,” Harlan said, as he shook Jax’s hand and went back inside to bid everyone else goodbye and collect his mother.
Brenda snuggled up to Jax. “I have to go.”
“I know.”
“Well?” she said, nudging him.
“Well, what?”
“Aren’t you going to kiss me goodbye?”
“No. I won’t ever kiss you goodbye. I will kiss you good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good luck, good will hunting…” He felt her body shaking with laughter against his. “But I will never kiss you goodbye.”
“Me, too,” she said softly.
“I have something for you, Bren,” he said, kissing her forehead.
She tilted her head back and looked at him expectantly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny, red velvet box and dropped it into her hand.
Brenda looked at it, looked up at him with a grin, and looked back at the box in her hand. She sat up straight in his lap and opened it. Inside was a pair of small, delicate gold earrings with a gold sun and white-gold crescent-moon kissing at the top and a brilliant diamond star dangling at the end.
Brenda fingered the exquisite little earrings lovingly. “Jax, they’re beautiful,” she whispered.
“When I was watching you at our engagement party last weekend,” he began, “it hit me then that you are the sunlight, the moonlight and the starlight all combined. You’re that dazzling and that beautiful and that unpredictable and that warm and that loving. Everything that I need, you have, Brenda. Everything that I want, you are. And I love you very much and would be honored if you would wear these on our wedding day,” he finished.
Brenda’s hand brushed along his jaw as she whispered, “I would love to.” Then she blew him away with a dazzling smile. “And I love you. You’re everything I ever wanted, too, you know. And more.” Her eyes held his in an intense gaze. “I’m never letting you go.”
A smile touched his lips. “Good. I intend to hold you to that.”
“Good,” she echoed, as her hand curved behind his neck to pull his head down to hers and guide his lips slowly down onto hers.
It was a kiss that held every promise that love could possibly offer.
Our kind of love
Our kind of passion
Burns with a heat so hard to bear
It’s not a game
No fad or fashion
Our kind of love’s for those who dare . . .
The white limousine made the turn onto Wilshire. The bells of St. Paul’s could be heard in the distance, as they were only three blocks away now.
“Well, folks, it’s a gorgeous day here in the city of angels,” the radio disc jockey said. “And while many of you are probably hitting the beaches and the surf or picnicking in the park, the place to be today is at St. Paul’s, where Beverly Hills own favored son, corporate whiz-kid, Jasper Jacks, is taking a bride today - Miss Brenda Barrett is the lucky girl. Hey, you think it was love at first sight of double initials? Well, all our good wishes go out to the happy couple today - hey, save us some cake, will ya? Our invitation must’ve gotten lost in the mail. Seriously, folks, don’t count on seeing these nuptials in the tabloids or on TV, as my station manager tells me the security for the Jacks-Barrett affair is airtight. Let’s send out a song to Beverly Hills’ very own crown prince, who’s officially off the market today. Sorry ladies. Here’s the Smashing Pumpkins’ version of The Beatles’ “She Loves You” going out to Beverly Hills’ own Jasper Jacks.”
Brenda laughed as the chauffeur assisted her out of the limousine and then assisted Holly and Brenda’s grandmother. “I had no idea the Smashing Pumpkins did a version of that,” Brenda said, still laughing. “Oh, my God, that was wild.”
“It was perfectly hideous,” Ruby snorted, still unable to get those wailing guitars out of her head. “Sacrilege to the Fab Four.”
Brenda giggled. She’d thought it was pretty cool herself, but she decided not to horrify her grandmother by telling her so.
They stood in front of the church for a moment as Brenda gazed at the beautiful structure, even more beautiful on this gorgeous Saturday afternoon with its banisters decorated with white roses, and silver vases overflowing with more white roses were on each step of the short, wide front stairs. The fountain in front of the church cascaded water prettily in clear, sparkling arcs amongst three harp-toting cherubs. And colorful butterflies zipped in and out of the flowers that surrounded the base of the fountain.
Brenda inhaled the fragrant essence of the warm summer day and let out a sigh of utter contentment, and then she smiled brilliantly. “Okay, it’s official. This is going to be the most perfect wedding in the history of the world,” Brenda announced.
“Not if we don’t get inside before the groom’s limo pulls up and he gets out and sees you,” Holly said. But she felt Brenda was quite right. The wedding, Holly suspected, would be as perfect as the weather.
“I really don’t believe in that superstition,” Brenda pointed out.
“I taught her not to,” Ruby confessed.
Holly shrugged. “Well, I don’t believe in it either,” she grinned, twirling in her blue-ice bridal attendant’s gown. “But, Brenda, you look so unbelievably stunning. I just want Jax to have his breath stolen from his very lungs at the altar. And so he’s not getting any previews,” Holly insisted, linking arms with Brenda and Ruby. “Now come along, ladies, let’s get inside. The guests are already arriving, and I want them all to have their breaths stolen, too. No one is seeing you.”
Brenda laughed and nodded agreeably. “Okay,” she chirped happily and began to walk forward. Ruby immediately stopped behind her to hold up the train of Brenda’s shimmering gown as they walked up the stairs and entered the church. “Wow,” Brenda whispered in a hushed voice as they stepped inside. “It’s so beautiful.” She had been here only yesterday for the rehearsal and the decorating had already begun then, but the finished job was breathtaking. The organist was also practicing a chorus of “Air” from “Water Music” with the choir, and the effect was heavenly.
“It still pales in comparison to you, my sweet girl. You look… oh, Brenda, you look glorious,” Ruby said, tears in her eyes. “Simply glorious,” she choked.
Brenda’s wedding gown was made for beauty and for comfort on a warm summer day. It was made of cool Italian white matte satin-silk with spaghetti pearl straps and a full solid satin skirt with a chapel train. The bodice was appliquéd with beaded lace of crystallized iridescent pearls that shimmered in dazzling majesty when hit by the light and looked quite smashing against the sun-gold complexion of her bare arms, graceful neck and the attractive cut of the neckline.
Her headpiece was a pearl-and-crystal tiara with a two-tier, elbow-length veil that sat perfectly amidst the rich, dark splendor of her hair done in a beautiful, elaborate French Braid that hung down her back and literally sparkled due to the tiny, glittering crystal roses that Laura and Jackie Templeton had applied for the finishing touch. Soft wisps of dark hair framed Brenda’s face, accentuating her striking, young face to veritable perfection. Brenda’s bridal bouquet was also a dazzling alternative to the traditional sort. Laura had suggest Brenda have a handcrafted Austrian crystal bouquet, which was a breathtaking work of art, featuring 150 silver stems crowned with over 250 fire-polished aurora borealis crystals, interspersed with fresh cut white roses throughout, and all tied together with a gorgeous silvery-white ribbon.
“Oh, Grandma, no,” Brenda said laughing. “Don’t cry. Not yet anyway,” she giggled.
“Yes, Mrs. Barrett, we really should wait for the ceremony,” Holly added with a teasing smile.
Ruby snatched a tissue from out of her purse and dabbed at her eyes. “I’m never one to cry at weddings,” she insisted. “It must just be my allergies acting up. Now come along, ladies. We can’t stand here in the aisle. To the church office we go to await our cue to make our grand entrance,” Ruby said, leading Brenda and Holly through the door to the left of the last back pew.
Outside, the black Jaguar limousine pulled up to the church and out exited the groom, the bestman, ushers Uncle Ian, Ned, and Devlin, and the father of the bride.
“Oh, hell, I forgot the bloody ring!” Jerry exclaimed, clapping his hand to his forehead and jumping back into the limo.
Jax shook his head, but there was a smile on his face. Nothing could spoil this day for him. “Did you really, Jer?”
Jerry nodded apologetically with a sheepish grin. “Not to worry, baby brother. I’ll be back in a flash,” he swore, instructing the driver to take him back to the house.
Harlan patted Jax on the back and said, “It wouldn’t be a wedding day, son, if the bestman didn’t forget the ring. Just be glad your brother realized it before the ceremony started.”
“Looks like the family’s arriving,” Ian said, noticing the steady flow of cars pulling up now. “I’ll go ta the checkpoint and see how Katie’s doin’.”
Jax took hold of his Uncle’s arm. “No, I’ll do it, Uncle Ian,” he said. The checkpoint was only two blocks away, and it looked like most of the guests had made it past the checkpoint by now.
Ian smiled. “All right, but you’ve only got twenty minutes, Jax, so hop to it,” Ian reminded him. “Harlan, Ned, and I will go on inside and begin seating everyone. Devlin, you stay out here and greet the folk and direct everyone inside while you wait for Jerry ta come back. When he shows up, the both of you hurry on in now,” Ian said, as he turned to follow Ned and Harlan into the church.
Jax leaned by a telephone pole, watching his sister as she was giving a TV crew from E! Network a hard time and basically telling them to get lost and threatening them with all sorts of legal action if they dared to try to pass the police line. The four officers who were there assured the fired-up Katherine that no one would be getting past them and if she was sure that every guest on the list was accounted for, then she should just go on to the ceremony and have a good time.
Katherine glanced down at her list and nodded as she confirmed that all the guests were indeed accounted for and had come through the checkpoint. “Oh, except my brother, Jerry,” she said. “He forgot the ring, that bloody, little numbskull.” The officers chuckled and so did Jax. “But you all know what he looks like, and he’s the ONLY person to be let past. He’s in a black Jaguar limousine, and he should be here at any moment. Thank you gentlemen.”
She turned to head for the church and smiled as she saw Jax standing a few feet behind her, leaning against the telephone pole.
“Well done,” Jax said, grinning and giving her a spattering of applause.
Katherine laughed and pulled him into a hug. “Have I mentioned how grateful I am for your forgiveness? How grateful I am to be here with you on this wonderful occasion?”
“Several times,” Jax said.
“Jax, I love you. And I swear that I will never give you cause to cut me out of your life again.”
“I believe you, Kat. I really do - I just want to forget about all that now okay? Especially today. I am happy you are here.”
She gave him a shaky smile. “Our parents would be so proud of you, Jax. So very proud. And they would have been filled with joy if they could be here today. I feel them though, you know, I really do. In spirit.”
Jax nodded. “I do, too,” he said, and his expression reminded her so much of the little ten-year-old she had taken under her wing.
“They just wanted you to be happy. And you are. Jerry is, too,” she sighed.
“And you will be as well,” Jax insisted. “You will, Kat. You’ve just got to let yourself be, all right? Believe it or not, that’s all Jerry and I have ever wanted for you. For you to be happy. And for you to butt out of our lives,” he added with a cheeky grin.
They walked in companionable silence for a bit and then Katherine laughed suddenly. “I was just thinking that if Jane and Dad had ever met Brenda, they’d have loved the bloody dickens out of her, there’s no doubt about that.”
Jax shot her a devastating smile. “Jerry said the same thing last week.”
“Yes, I regretfully have to admit that Jerry is turning out to be very wise. Although he’s a bloody numbskull for forgetting the ring.”
At that moment, Jerry returned, the police letting the limo through and then closing off the street to anyone else.
Jerry popped out of the car, choosing instead to walk the two short blocks with his brother and sister. “Got it!” he said, patting the pocket of his tuxedo as he flashed a triumphant smile at them.
“About bloody time,” Katherine muttered, tapping her watch face.
Jerry just rolled his eyes at her. “What are you talkin’ about? I’ve got fifteen minutes to spare, woman.”
Katherine laughed. “God, Jerry, you always have to have the last word.”
“Me? Look who’s bloody talking.”
“You see that? You just did it again!”
“Ahh, just like old times,” Jax grumbled good-naturedly, throwing an arm around each sibling, as he walked in between them as they headed back to the church.
Will Warner sat in the first class section of a flight headed for the Orlando airport. He was sipping some bourbon and watching the TV, which, due to atmospheric conditions, could get no reception, although the audio portion worked fine.
“Stewardess!” he snapped. “Is anyone going to fix these g*ddamned televisions?”
The stewardess held her temper at the surly passenger, who’d been making the flight miserable from the moment he’d set foot on the plane. “As I already explained to you, sir, there is nothing we can do. Due to atmospheric conditions…”
“Oh, can it, lady. I don’t want your damned excuses; I want it fixed,” he grumbled. “I’m a man who appreciates action, not excuses. I need to know what the hell’s going on in the world, you know. I’m an important man, damn it!” He snatched up the newspapers he’d brought onboard but stopped midway though glancing at the first one when the audio on the TV mentioned that Jasper Jacks was getting married today and then went into a story about a leak on the street that was hinting that the voting for a new CEO for JE was just a formality and that Jasper Jacks was all but assured the position. By summer’s end.
Will nearly choked on his drink. “What the hell!” he shouted.
The stewardess, who was losing patience, came over to him. “What is wrong now, sir?” she asked through gritted teeth.
He waved her away dismissively. “Was anybody talking to you, trout face?” he snapped and slid his credit card into the slot to unlock the phone. He then proceeded to call his office and scream at everyone there and then he called his house, ordered his grandsons to get into the library and put the phone on speaker, and then proceeded to thunder at them all as to why no one had informed him of these events regarding their adversary - especially the leak that it looked like Jax being named CEO was basically a done deal.
He took a breath, which was the only period of blessed silence the Fillmore brothers were allotted, as he began to scream anew, telling Steven that he’d better be at the airport on time to pick him up when his plane landed tonight, called them a bunch of useless idiots who didn’t deserve any of his money, and unceremoniously hung up with a loud crack that echoed around the library from the speaker phone, followed by the loud, hollow sound of the dial tone.
Steven slowly reached over and clicked off the speakerphone. Both he and Daniel were stunned that their grandfather was literally in the air this very minute, on the way home. They’d had no idea he’d even left Bangladesh! And how could he leave with the work stoppage mess still going on there?
“Where is Alec?” Steven asked suspiciously.
“He had to go out of town,” Billy responded.
“For what? He just got back from Sydney two days ago.”
“Business.”
“What business? Where’s he headed?”
Billy shrugged.
“How come the old tyrant didn’t ask for him?” Daniel asked, eyes narrowing. “When I answered the phone he told me to get Billy and Steven and go in the library. He never mentioned Alec.”
Billy gave them both an enigmatic look and just shrugged again. “Maybe he knows where Alec is.”
“How the hell would he know that, Billy?” Steven snarled.
It was obvious that someone had gotten word to their grandfather, but who? Steven and Daniel both glanced over at Billy, who looked stoically at them in return.
Steven was suddenly furious. “You didn’t!” he hissed.
“You?” Daniel thundered. “You’re responsible for his being on a plane back here right now?!”
Billy’s response was to retrieve a micro-cassette recorder from his pocket and press the play button. What Daniel and Steven heard was themselves going over plans to do away with their half-sister.
“I don’t want him back here any more than the two of you do,” Steven said, calmly, “but I won’t let you hurt her. And neither will he.”
“Why you little bastard…!” Steven lunged for the tape recorder and hurled it against the wall, smashing it to bits and banging his hand along the side of the marble coffee table in the process.
“You’re standing around plotting the murder of your 18-year-old sister and I’m the bastard? I have copies of that, Steven,” he said, nodding towards the smashed cassette recorder. “So I suggest you find another way to keep Grandfather in the dark and protect your inheritances, because you’re not going to touch our sister. You swore to me you wouldn’t, and you obviously lied. So just know that if anything happens to her, you two will pay the price for it. I’ll make sure you do - whether I’m dead or alive. I trust you know what that means?” And then he left the room.
Steven was too angry to speak, as he stood in the library, heaving deep breaths.
“Maybe we want to kill the wrong sibling!” Steven finally yelled.
“Shut up!” Daniel spat, motioning for them to exit the library. Then quietly he said. “He obviously had a listening device in there, and who knows where else. Do you want to give him more ammunition by catching us threatening him as well as the girl?”
“Where the hell is Alec!” Steven demanded. “Is he in on this with him?”
“I think it would be safe to assume that,” Daniel said dryly, quite certain that the two middle brothers were in collusion on this, as much as he, the eldest, and Steven, the youngest were in collusion on the matter of disposing of Brenda.
“Well, what the hell are we going to do now?” he asked, as he made his way to the bathroom to run his swelling hand beneath the faucet.
“First things first,” Daniel said, following him. “It was obvious from Grandfather’s conversation that although he knows Jax is getting married today, he has no idea what the girl looks like or anything else about her. We have to keep it that way. Right now the old man is a bigger threat to us than Brenda Barrett. If he gets one look at her, Steven - one look - it won’t matter if she’s dead or alive. If she’s alive, he’ll give everything to her, if she’s not, he’ll crack over having finally found her, but not finding her alive and will probably piss all the money away to some church to try to buy his way into heaven or some cryogenics lab to try to bring himself back to life in the year 3000 or something. Either way, he will cut us out - you can count on that. All of us, including that bleeding heart, Billy. But he doesn’t seem to care anymore. I do, Steven. And I know you do, too. So while I ponder what to do about Brenda, Billy, and Alec, you just make damn sure that the old man never lays eyes on the girl.”
Steven nodded. “I’ll take care of it,” he said in a dangerously soft voice, as he eyed his grandfather’s heart medication in the medicine cabinet
Brenda was in the church office, awaiting her cue to walk down the aisle, when her father entered the room.
She whipped around at the sound of the door opening. “Is it time?” she asked with a nervous excitement.
“Not yet,” he said, smiling over her anxiousness. “My God, you look positively breathtaking,” he said. And yet that seemed like an inadequate compliment because she always looked breathtaking. The only time she didn’t was when she woke up in the morning with her long hair mussed up and her eyes squinting with sleep - at those times she looked merely beautiful. She possessed the rare beauty of her mother. A beauty that was ageless and timeless and constant. A beauty that was mesmerizing and startling, yet so warm and approachable, and utterly, utterly unique.
But his Brenda’s beauty was even more profound because the child literally sparkled from the inside out. Her mother had had those moments, too, but they were all too few and far between. Grace’s life had not been a happy one, and while Harlan knew Brenda’s had not been perfect, he had tried his very best to give her happiness. And he thought he had done fairly well. Despite Veronica and Alexa, he had done fairly well.
Not well enough though, he would be the first to admit. Jax would do better. It was already clear that Brenda’s happiness was Jax’s first priority. Even from when the boy had first met her, when he was sixteen years old, that had somehow come across. In retrospect it was all quite clear to Harlan now. And in retrospect, he supposed, this day really was inevitable.
“Nervous?” her father asked.
“Mmmm. Not really,” Brenda said. “I think I’m too happy to be nervous.”
Harlan watched as she twisted her engagement ring around and around. He laughed. “You are nervous.”
She grinned. “Okay, maybe just a little bit,” she confessed as she glanced in the mirror at her earrings.
“It’ll be a piece of cake,” her father promised her.
“Is Jax there, Dad?”
“Yes, he is. Waiting at the altar for you, as scheduled.”
She let out a deep breath and nodded. “Good. One less thing to be nervous about.”
“Did you think he wouldn’t be?”
“I don’t know. I kept having these visions of Alexa barging into the church with a bunch of thugs and kidnapping Jax.”
Harlan laughed. “I think your sister’s got enough on her plate with her own sudden, bizarre marriage and her new home on the range. Hey, before we get our cue to take that stroll down matrimony lane, I have something I’d like to give you now, Brenda. It’s your wedding present,” her father explained, handing her a slender, rectangular box wrapped in silver.
“Aww, Dad. All the wedding presents are at the house. Jerry’s going to take them over to our new house while we’re away, and Jax and I are going to open them all when we get back”
Harlan nodded. “I know, but I want you to open this one now. Indulge your poor, old dad.”
She laughed and kissed his cheek. “Hey, there is nothing poor or old about my dad,” she insisted, as she excitedly unwrapped the gift. She opened the box to find inside a beautiful gold certificate/scroll holder, handcrafted in India and sitting on a wonderfully detailed little stand.
“It’s for you and Jax to keep your marriage certificate in. A beautiful container to be kept in a place of honor in your new home, as you embark on your new life.” Brenda bit her lip as tears stung at her eyes. “Because I know that this marriage was meant to be and that what you and that groom of yours have is something rare and precious. Perhaps I always knew it and was simply afraid to see it because I knew it would lead to your embarking on a life with him and leaving me behind someday. Someday came along sooner than I expected, that’s all.”
Brenda swallowed and shook her head. “I’m not leaving you, Dad. I’m not. I’ll only be an hour’s drive away.” She hated the idea of her father being all alone. “I can come and see you everyday, or you can come and see me everyday. We can…”
He smiled and quieted her. “Okay, Brenda Elizabeth Barrett, all of this pity is getting downright embarrassing. Do you think I want my daughter showing up at my doorstep everyday? What if I’ve got a girlfriend over?”
Brenda laughed and nodded. Her father was telling her that he would be just fine and she needn’t worry about him.
“Sweetheart, I could not be more proud of you, nor more happy to walk you down the aisle today and into the arms of one of the finest young men of my acquaintance. You’ve got yourself quite a catch there, my baby girl. Of course, I will always think he got the better end of the bargain,” he added, bending forward to brush a fatherly kiss to her temple. “I love you very much.”
“Oh, Daddy, I love you,” Brenda said hoarsely as they exchanged a long, teary hug.
A knock on the door preceded Laura Templeton’s entrance into the room. “Okay, you guys, the “Bridal Chorus” is almost done - two minutes. Oh, yikes, Brenda!” Laura laughed. “No tears, no tears!”
Brenda laughed, too, and said, “Oh, my gosh, two minutes?!”
Brenda slid the scroll holder carefully back into its box and then slid the box into her wedding pouch (which contained her white leather ballet shoes for the reception and some fancy decorative hair clips and combs, in case she wanted to put her hair up at the reception) and handed it off to Laura.
“Okay, come here, come here,” Laura said, hustling her over to the mirror and giving her a last minute touchup. “Thank god that your eyelashes are so gorgeously long that you never need mascara or else you’d be looking like a raccoon about now with all those tears I saw when I came in here!”
Brenda just shrugged and smiled, wiping away the last of those tears.
Laura took the pouch from the table, gave Brenda a kiss for happiness, and raced back into the church to take her seat just as the prelude to the “Wedding March” began, signifying that it was the bride’s turn to come on down.
Harlan looped his arms through his daughter’s. “Okay, Brenda, it’s show time,” he said.
Brenda squeezed his arm and smiled, feeling a few butterflies floating about in her tummy. “Whoo. Okay, Daddy, let’s go,” she said, taking a deep breath as they left the room together.
Holly was not at all disappointed by Jax’s reaction to seeing Brenda on her graceful walk down the aisle of St. Paul’s. The man was utterly spellbound. There was no other word for it.
The wedding march from A Midsummer Night’s Dream filled the church, and all eyes were on the breathtaking young lady in white making her way down to the altar, but no one’s gaze was more fixated than Jax’s. His spectacular blue eyes literally did not budge from her, and he looked as if he could not remember what to do to breathe, Holly noticed with glee. He may as well have been hypnotized. Yes, it was a triumphant moment for womankind, Holly decided with a pleased smile.
When Brenda reached Jax, her father kissed her cheek, placed her hand in Jax’s, and took a seat in the front pew.
Brenda thought Jax’s hands were so warm and so strong. And she loved the way they kind of swallowed up her own hands. He thought hers were soft and exquisite - just like she was. Good God, he could not take his eyes off of her! He hoped to God that he would be able to repeat the vows as instructed by Reverend Kentish. Right now he didn’t think he could recall his own name.
The choir sang a short song as the reverend lit the altar candles and then he directed Jax and Brenda to turn to him. Brenda did, but Jax remained staring at her. The church stirred with warm chuckles.
“Jax!” Jerry hissed, behind him.
Jax did not move.
“All right now, son. Look at me now. That’s it,” Reverend Noel Kentish said, his eyes twinkling, as he physically reached out and turned Jax’s head forward. The girl was a vision beyond compare; he certainly did not fault the young man for being unable to look away.
“All right then, let’s begin. Dearly Beloved: We are gathered here, in the presence of God and of this company, that Jasper Ian and Brenda Elizabeth may be united in holy matrimony. We are here to celebrate and share in the glorious act that God is about to perform - the act by which He converts their love for one another into the holy and sacred estate of marriage. This relationship is an honorable and sacred one. It is designed to unite two hearts and two souls who have realized that they alone complete each other.
“May it be in extreme thoughtfulness and reverence, and in dependence upon divine guidance, that you enter now into this blessed relationship. Being assured that your love and your choice of each other as lifelong companions are in God's will and that you have your families’ blessings. I now ask: Who gives this woman to be married to this man?”
Harlan stood up. “I do,” he said, and then he was seated again.
"Jasper and Brenda, I read to you now from 1 Corinthians 13:4-8: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails... This kind of love enriches each part of life, and marriage enriches love. Two lives, shared with this kind of love, can hold more fulfillment and happiness than either life alone. Jasper Ian, are you ready to enter into this marriage with Brenda Elizabeth, believing the love you share and your faith in each other will endure all things?”
Everyone stared at Jax, wondering if he would still be too spellbound to speak.
“I am,” Jax said, and both he and Brenda exchanged smiles over the audible sighs of relief they heard ricocheting throughout the church at Jax’s clear, lucid and immediate answer. He may have been spellbound by his bride’s bewitching beauty, but not enough to do anything to delay his being legally wed to her.
Reverend Kentish turned to Brenda. “Brenda Elizabeth, are you ready to enter into this marriage with Jasper Ian, believing the love you share and your faith in each other will endure all things?”
“Yes, I am,” Brenda responded, her smile deepening.
“All right, children. The time has come to pledge your faith and exchange your vows. Brenda, you may go first.”
Brenda nodded and slid her hands into Jax’s, as she turned to face him. Once again the warmth and strength and familiarly of his hands over hers took away the residual butterflies zipping around inside of her.
“I, Brenda,” she began, “take you, Jax, to be my husband, secure in the knowledge that you will be my constant friend, my faithful partner in life, and my one and only true love.” Jax saw her eyes begin to water and gave her a look that said ‘no don’t do that; you know if you start to get tears in your eyes, I will, too’. Which was exactly what happened. “You are a part of me, like no one else could ever or will ever be. And I will thank God for giving me you every single day of my life. On this special day, I give to you, in the presence of God and our family and our friends, my sacred promise to stay by your side as your wife in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, as well as through the good times and the bad. I promise to love you without reservation, comfort you in times of distress, encourage you to achieve all of your goals, laugh with you and cry with you, give my last breath for you, grow with you in mind and spirit, always be open and honest with you, and, most of all, to cherish you with everything I have in my heart for as long as we both shall live.” She then raised his hands to her lips and pressed her lips gently to them.
Jax felt his deep love for her rocketing throughout his bloodstream like an elixir just kicking his entire being into glorious life.
Holly passed a tissue over to Brenda’s grandmother, who was a veritable running faucet.
“And now your vows please, Jasper,” Revered Kentish said, nodding towards Jax.
Jax nodded and took a deep breath, as he linked his fingers with hers. “Brenda, I love you,” he began softly. “Today is a very special day for me because once you were just a dream I had. A dream I kept secluded in my heart, hoping - and praying - that you could be more than that to me one day. And today you are - today you are truly mine. I’m standing here with you, and I still can’t believe it,” he confessed with a small shake of his head. “You are my joy, you are my happiness, you are my best friend and partner in all things, and you are, above all else, the absolute love of my life. And I thank God, Brenda, for the honor of being able to go through time with you.” Brenda burst into tears. She couldn’t help it. Jax gave her ‘the look’ again, as he felt his own eyes watering. They were hardly alone, as he heard her grandmother, his sister, Holly, and every last one of his Aunts either sniffling or all-out bawling. He swallowed a bit to ensure his voice would not waver. “Thank you for being what you are to me - which would be… everything. I promise to take care of you, to honor and protect you. I promise to lay down my life in a heartbeat for you. You are my closest friend and my dearest love. And I will love, honor and cherish you always. Always.” The intensity of his gaze made her sway a bit, but Jax held her. “In sickness as in health, in poverty as in wealth, in sorrow as in joy… Always.” And then he closed his eyes and raised both of her hands to his lips and pressed a warm, lingering kiss to her knuckles.
The Reverend waited several moments for the sniffling and muffled sobs in the pews to die down and for Brenda as well to become more composed, as it was clear how deeply affected the young girl was by her groom’s pledge of love.
“I love you so much, Jax,” she whispered in a hoarse, shaky voice, her lip trembling.
“I love you, too, sweetheart,” he said, stroking her face, soothing her. “Let’s finish this, okay?” he teased, trying to help her regain her composure, as she couldn’t quite seem to stop the flow of emotional tears.
No one had ever loved her the way Jax loved her. And she never knew that more than she did at this moment.
Holly stood up and handed Brenda some tissues, waited until Brenda had blotted her tears and taken several deep breaths, then took the discarded tissues from the young bride and returned to her seat.
“Are you ready, my dear?” the Reverend asked kindly.
Brenda nodded, murmuring an apology to him.
“That’s quite all right, my dear,” he assured her. “It is now time to exchange rings as a symbol of love,” the Reverend directed. “As the rings have no end, so your love should have no end. As the rings are made of gold, symbolizing purity, so should your marriage have purity. As often as either of you sees them, you will be reminded of this moment and the endless love you promised. Jasper Ian, what token do you give that you will perform your vows?"
Jerry gave Jax the ring and Jax gave it to the Reverend.
“Brenda Elizabeth, do you receive this ring in token of the same?”
“I do.”
The Reverend handed the ring back to Jax. “Jasper, please repeat after me: ‘this ring I give to you in token and pledge of my constant faith and abiding love. And with this ring, I thee wed.’”
“Brenda, this ring I give to you in token and pledge of my constant faith and abiding love. And with this ring, I thee wed,” Jax said, as he slid the ring on her finger, sending her a smile that made her heart melt to total mush.
Brenda felt as if she were about to rocket right through the roof - they were almost there - almost really and truly married! She had to really bite down on the urge to scream with anticipation.
Reverend Kentish turned towards her. “Brenda Elizabeth, what token do you give that you will perform your vows?”
Holly stood up and gave Brenda her ring for Jax, and Brenda in turn handed it to the reverend.
“Jasper Ian, do you receive this ring in token of the same?”
“I certainly do.”
Brenda laughed softly and the Reverend smiled at them both.
The Reverend handed the ring back to Brenda. “Brenda, please repeat after me: ‘this ring I give to you in token and pledge of my constant faith and abiding love. And with this ring, I thee wed.’”
“Jax, this ring I give to you in token and pledge of my constant faith and abiding love. And with this ring, I thee wed,” Brenda said, as she slid the ring onto his finger.
Yes! Yes! Almost there!!!!
“The candle represents the joining together of two individuals to live together as one in spirit,” the Reverend said, as he placed the unlit unity candle between them on the altar. “Jasper and Brenda, the candle yet to be lit represents the new family which is being created today. Jasper and Brenda are leaving their families to make a new life together.”
Reverend Kentish nodded, and Jax and Brenda lit the candle together. They then signed the wedding license, and Holly and Jerry got up and signed their names as the witnesses and then sat back down. Brenda shot a dazzling smile over to her father, as she recalled the beautiful gold certificate holder he had given to her to keep her wedding certificate in a place of honor.
“I’d like to say a brief prayer for Jasper and Brenda and this blessed union now. Dear Lord, as you have heard these words of promise just spoken, may they deepen in the mind of this man and this woman the sense of the sacred and binding power of their vows, that they not take them lightly and abide by them faithfully. And as these words were spoken to make these lives one, may your rich blessing be added. Give them Your grace and guidance that they may loyally fulfill the vows they have taken. May Your joy abide with them always, that thus they may be a blessing to each other and to those about them, finding in the happiness of their new life together here on earth a sample of the happiness of the heavens. Amen.”
He turned to Jax and Brenda once more, noticing once again that the young man appeared spellbound. “Please join hands, children,” Reverend Kentish instructed before realizing they had never let go from the time they had exchanged rings.
“What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. Forasmuch as Jasper and Brenda have consented together in holy matrimony, and have witnessed the same before God and this company and have pledged their love and loyalty to each other, and have declared the same by the joining and the giving of rings, I, therefore, by the powers vested in me, pronounce that they are husband and wife.”
“The Groom may now kiss the Bride. If he is able to move,” the Reverend added with a chuckle that was echoed in the pews.
“Oh, he’ll move for that,” Jerry murmured to his Uncle Ian.
Jax slid his arms around her and pulled her to him, as Brenda slid her hands to his shoulders and stood up on her toes to meet the descent of his mouth with a passionate kiss to his lips.
“I love you,” he murmured softly against her mouth.
Brenda just let out a soft, happy little “mmmmm” as their lips slowly pulled apart.
“Jasper and Brenda,” Reverend Kentish said, getting the attention of the lovestruck pair, “I would like to leave you with these final words: Give the highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness and kindness that your connection deserves. When frustration, difficulty or fear assail your relationship - as they threaten all relationships at one time or another - remember to focus on what is right between you, not only the part that seems wrong. In this way, you can ride out the times when clouds hide the face of the sun in your lives - remembering that even if you lose sight of it for a moment, the sun is still there.”
Reverend Kentish then instructed Jax and Brenda to face their guests.
“Ladies and gentlemen, dear family and dear friends, I now present to you Mr. and Mrs. Jasper Jacks.”
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOD, YES!!!!! Brenda screamed in her mind. But the raucous laughter in the church let her know she had unfortunately said it very much out loud.
Jax kissed her again, then grabbed her up into a hug and spun her around, laughing along with everyone else as their guests broke out into spontaneous applause to accompany the joyful laughter as the church was filled with the uplifting sound of Vivaldi’s “Autumn - Four Seasons” as the organist and choir began the recessional.
Jax and Brenda left the church to a shower of birdseed (as Jax was an environment lover and Brenda, knowing he was, had insisted on using birdseed in lieu of rice) and arrived at the reception at the Beaurivage restaurant to yet another shower of birdseed.
As Jax and Brenda greeted the reception line, they were set upon with hugs and kisses and enthusiastic avowals of how beautiful the ceremony was. The studious, serious 15-year-old Mia even admitted that she, too, had cried.
Jax and Brenda posed for pictures, stopped by the buffet to steal a stuffed shrimp, and then stopped to wave at Bryant, who was zooming in on them with the video camera and jokingly wondering if they had gotten all the birdseed out of their hair.
Then, while Jax got pulled away by his cousins, Brenda excused herself to run to the ladies room and change out of her shoes and slip on her ballet flats, so she could dance up a storm and run around greeting and talking to everyone without her feet killing her.
And just in time, too, as the moment she reappeared, Jerry was clanging his fork against his champagne glass, insisting it was time for the bride and her father to share a dance. Brenda flitted about the room like a gorgeous butterfly, as she sought out her father, who was having a ball, laughing over some tale Jax’s Uncle Roddy was relaying. She laughingly informed the group that she needed to borrow her father and pulled him out to the center of the dance floor, where they danced to Paul Anka’s “Times Of Your Life.”
Moments later Jerry’s fork was clanging once again, as he now said it was time for the bride and groom’s dance and said that Jax’s best friend, JE attorney Ned Ashton, had picked out the song and would, in fact, sing it as well, and so everyone should please feel free to use the complimentary earplugs that were provided.
Everyone laughed, and Ned made a face at Jerry as he went over to where the band was and whispered to them what he wanted them to play, as he took the microphone from the lead singer.
“Jax told me once,” Ned began, “that for him Brenda was like the starlight, the sunlight and the moonlight combined.”
Brenda smiled up at Jax in adoration, and he smiled at her in return as he tapped the dangling diamond star on one of her earrings.
“And to me that pretty much covers everything. Thus, I came to the conclusion that Brenda is Jax’s everything. And I feel it’s safe to say that he is her everything as well… right, Brenda?” Ned called out, grinning over at her and waving to get her attention.
“Right!” she said, laughing.
“And that’s why I picked this song. Jax, Brenda, will you take your place in the spotlight please?” Ned bade them, as Jax dutifully led Brenda out to the center of the dance floor and she slid eagerly into his arms. The lights were dimmed very low so that Jax and Brenda were bathed in a silver spotlight.
And then Ned began, with a humorous admonition to “have pity on the singing attorney.”
I’ll give you the moon at night
I’ll give you the stars to light your eyes
I’ll give you the sun to make just one more dawn
So another day may come
I’ll give you my heart and soul
I’ll be there to catch you when you fall
When you ask me what I’ll give to you
I will give it all
The loneliness of nights so long
The search for strength to carry on
My every hope had seemed to die
My eyes had no more tears to cry
Then like the sun shined from up above
You surrounded me with your endless love
And all the things I couldn’t see
Are now so clear to me
You are my everything
Nothing your love won’t bring
My life is yours alone
The only love I’ve ever known
Your spirit pulls me through
When nothing else will do
Every night I pray on bended knee
That you will always be
My everything
As Jax and Brenda danced in a slow intimate circle, the love between them was shooting off in their eyes like fireworks. Then Brenda rested her face against his chest and he stroked her hair and kissed it and closed his eyes, as he rested his chin atop her head and slid his arms even more closely around her.
Now all my hopes and all my dreams
Are suddenly reality
You’ve opened up my heart to feel
The kind of love that’s truly real
A guiding light that’ll never fade
There’s not a thing in life that I would ever trade
For the love you give and won’t let go
I hope you’ll always know
“All right, everybody help me out now,” Ned said, encouraging everyone to sing along.
You are my everything
Nothing your love won’t bring
My life is yours alone
The only love I’ve ever known
Your spirit pulls me through
When nothing else will do
Every night I pray on bended knee
That you will always be
My everything
You’re the breath of life in me
The only one that sets me free
And you have made my soul complete
For all time
For all time
“Okay, it’s the big finale everyone,” Ned said, gesticulating to Jerry and Holly, who were hurriedly passing out some small, slender object among the guests.
Jax and Brenda burst out laughing, as everyone pulled out those tiny concert lights and held them in the air as they swayed back and forth, singing along with Ned.
You are my everything
Nothing your love won’t bring
My life is yours alone
The only love I’ve ever known
Your spirit pulls me through
When nothing else will do
Every night I pray on bended knee
That you will always be
You are my everything
Nothing your love won’t bring
My life is yours alone
The only love I’ve ever known
Your spirit pulls me through
When nothing else will do
Every night I pray down on bended knee
That you will always be
My everything
My everything
Oh, my everything
Jax and Brenda were caught up in a kiss as Ned finished and they broke apart only when they heard the ‘whoops’ and applause, and then Ned handed the microphone back to the bandleader, who began to sing “The Way You Look Tonight” as other couples now began to dance around the bride and groom.
Later, Jax watched Brenda as she took a break from the festivities to sit down and have some girl-talk with Laura, Jackie and Holly. He could still not believe that she was his wife now. That she was his. Forever and ever. Things were so perfect already and to think, their life together had only just begun.
He felt his Uncle Ian clap him on the back. “I’m about ta gag your brother,” Ian said, “if he makes one more bloody toast!”
Jax laughed out loud, as Jerry was getting a bit carried away with his bestman duties.
“Lord, but you do look happy there, lad. It does my heart good ta see you like this,” Ian said. “That girl has changed your life.”
“That she has,” Jax concurred.
“All I’m wantin’ for you now is many years of happiness with your bonny sprite. You take Reverend Kentish’s advice ta heart, do you hear me, Jax?”
“Yes, sir,” Jax said, with an indulgent smile for his favorite uncle.
“Life is no bed o’ roses, my boy, but you can cultivate yourself quite a splendid little garden in spite of that - as long as you remember a little word called compromise. And another little word called understanding. And one more little word called communication. A marriage canna survive without those, lad.”
Jax nodded.
“And I just got through tellin’ Brenda the same thing, if you’re wonderin’.”
Jax smiled. “I wasn’t wondering. I already figured you had.”
“Well, hell’s bells, would you take a look at your sister over there?” Ian exclaimed. “She seems ta be quite smitten with that bartender!”
“Paolo,” Brenda said, sneaking up behind her husband and wrapping her arms around him as she flashed a mischievous dimpled smile up at Uncle Ian. “The bartender is Paolo, and let’s just say Katherine has been over there for a long time!”
“You sent her over there, as I recall,” Jax said, reaching behind him to pull her in front of him and then gently pull her back against him, locking his fingers together at her waist. “To get you a cranberry juice cocktail.”
Brenda just shrugged innocently. “Did I? I don’t remember that.”
Jax laughed and bent and brushed his lips against her face. “Liar,” he murmured.
“Matchmakin’ 101, eh?” Uncle Ian said, raising a brow in Brenda’s direction.
Brenda attempted another innocent shrug. “I maybe did notice her looking his way on several occasions. But you know Katherine. She’s never going to go over and introduce herself to a bartender. So maybe I asked her to get me that cranberry juice cocktail to get her over there. The point is, gentlemen, I never got my cranberry juice cocktail, did I?” she whispered with a sly wink. “And Kat is having a very good time.”
“Who isn’t?” Uncle Ian said, gazing around at the festive atmosphere.
All at once Jerry was clanging his glass again. Uncle Ian groaned out loud.
“My lovely wife informs me that it is time, people,” Jerry announced, “to cut the cake!”
The wait staff wheeled out the cake Uncle Ian had ordered to hushed “oohs!” and “ahhs!”
“Uncle Ian, that is gorgeous!” Brenda breathed.
“Isn’t it now, lass?” he agreed with a flash of white teeth. “My dear friend, Mavis Tillery, made that cake and tells me to wish you every happiness, by the way.”
“Aww... Well, please tell her thank you for me, when you see her again,” Brenda said. “She always was an exceptional cook. I remember she loved to try out these funky recipes. Some of them looked kind of scary,” Brenda recalled. “But this… this is perfect!”
The wedding cake was a remarkable 5-tier, gift-box style cake, with each layer decorated like an extravagant white wedding gift box, with embellishments of silver and gold hearts, ribbons and bows - all deliciously edible - and the cake was topped off with a keepsake bride-and-groom heirloom figurine on the top, surrounded by tiny, white-chocolate doves. The figurine was made of Lennox fine porcelain and the carved figures, who looked remarkably like the real bride and groom, were locked in a romantic embrace, their lips headed towards a kiss.
Jax laughed as he saw the figurine that topped the fabulous cake. “That’s great,” he said, impressed by the likeness.
“It’s a keepsake, I’ll have you know,” Ian said. “Somethin’ for you to show off to your kiddies in the future when you’re tellin’ them all about your weddin’ day. I had it made special for the both of you, and I have the lovely glass box for you ta keep it in as well.”
“My goodness, Uncle Ian, the cake looks fabulous!” Holly declared.
“Yeah, it looks way too amazing to eat,” V agreed, gawking at the detailing.
“Ah, but eat it we must, my dear,” Ian said with a chuckle. “Because it happens to be a moist and delicious angelfood cake with chocolate chips and layers of whipped white chocolate mousse.
“Oh, yes! That definitely must be eaten,” Brenda agreed, rubbing her hands together. “Hey, somebody give me that cake cutter!”
A laughing Laura handed Brenda the sterling silver cake cutter. And as the band sang “How Sweet It Is (to be loved by you)”, Jax and Brenda cut the cake together, as camera flashbulbs went off, one by one, when family members took pictures preserving the memory on film.
Uncle Ian had not been kidding about how delicious it was either. Unlike a majority of wedding cakes that were made for looks rather than taste, this one was truly as sumptuous to the palate as it was to the eye.
Jerry then got the room going with more champagne toasts, while Uncle Ian murmured, “Oh, for the love o’ Pete, Jerry!” But Jerry smilingly explained that Jax and Brenda were about to take their leave, and so he wanted everyone to be able to toast them before they departed. Even if that took all night.
Many, many, many toasts later, Jax and Brenda were finally set to head out and begin their honeymoon, the destination of which was still a complete mystery to the young bride.
Holly poked Brenda in the side to remind her that she had to toss the bouquet before she and Jax left.
A pretty pout made its way to Brenda’s lips. “But… I love my bouquet,” she said, “I don’t want to give it away. Do we have to do this toss thing?”
“Oh, stop pouting,” Holly laughed. “You don’t throw your real bouquet, luv. In your case, yours might put an eye out with those aurora borealis crystals. Here,” she said, handing Brenda the bouquet she was to toss. “This is the one you toss to the single ladies.”
All the single women gathered for the traditional toss - all except Katherine, who was back again chatting flirtatiously with Paolo by the refreshments.
“Okay, everybody ready?” Brenda asked, as she turned her back and prepared to toss. When the women responded with a resounding ‘yes,’ Brenda let the bouquet fly and it sailed right into the hands of Laura Templeton, who squealed in delight.
Her boyfriend Joel groaned audibly, and Laura promptly frowned at him and whacked him on the arm with the bouquet, which got a lot of laughs.
Brenda ran over to Laura to rib her about it, and Jax allowed her a few moments with her friend before going after her. When he finally did approach, he bent to place a tender kiss to her lips. “We have to be going, sweetie,” he told her.
“Okay,” Brenda said. “Let me just go find my dad and grandma to say goodbye,” she said, kissing him and dashing off again. He wondered, with a smile, if his Brenda would ever master the concept of walking, as opposed to racing about the way she did?
While Brenda was getting in her hugs and kisses goodbye, Jax huddled with his siblings by the quickly disappearing wedding cake, wanting to take a moment to privately discuss this Will Warner matter.
“He is returning to the States,” Jax said, “perhaps as soon as today. And therefore he will very shortly be able to put a face to my wife, if he hasn’t already.”
“Jax, you have to tell Brenda!” Katherine insisted. “You can’t keep this from her.”
“I don’t intend to keep it from her,” Jax maintained, filling his sister in on his intention to tell Brenda the truth about who her grandfather was on their way back from the island. “What I need is for you and Jerry to ensure that if Warner finds out beforehand and comes knocking on the mansion door, he is unable to track us down on the island. It would be just like him to attempt to do something like that, and I won’t have anything interrupting us there.”
“He’ll never find you there, don’t worry,” Jerry swore. “We’ll just slam the door in his bloody face if he shows up. Just be prepared to deal with the guy when you get back though. Because by that time he’ll likely be fit to be tied.”
“I’m already ready for him,” Jax said, unconcerned. “And by the time we get back from the island, Brenda will know everything. So she’ll be ready for him, too.”
Several minutes later, Jax and Brenda finally left the Beaurivage restaurant to a spectacular send-off of colorful, retractable streamer-ribbon throws by the guests.
From there, Jax and Brenda passed by their new house, at Brenda’s insistence, since she wanted to see it at night. They then left Malibu and went back to the Jacks mansion to change clothes, collect their luggage and take off on their sail to the island.
Finishing placing their luggage on board his yacht, Jax extended his hand to help Brenda down from the pier in back of the house and onto the yacht. She slid down into his arms and laughed, kissing him several times.
“Jax, we’re really married!” she said, holding him tightly.
“Yes, we are,” he said, steering her lips back to his.
“I can’t believe I screamed like that in the church,” she said, laughing.
“I loved that you did that,” Jax said with a sexy smile, as he walked over to the wheel and they set sail away from the house.
“Still not going to tell me where we’re going?” she asked, gazing out at the ocean and then up at the stars in the night sky and then walking back to stand next to Jax.
“Nope.”
“Well, is it going to take a long time to get there? Because this is our wedding night, you know.”
Jax laughed and reached over to cradle her face and give her a very steamy kiss. “You really think I could forget that?” he asked huskily, with a raise of an eyebrow.
“Well, what are you going to do about it?” she asked him, sliding her hands beneath his shirt and licking her lips slowly over his.
His smile was thrillingly rakish when he whispered, “You’ll see.”
At the same time, Will Warner was landing at the airport in Orlando, where the airport TV monitors were all tuned to CNN, and, unlike the reception in the plane, were working just fine.
He was pointing impatiently at the skycap to retrieve his bags when he saw a picture of Jax and a picture of Jax’s wife appear on the TV screen. CNN was using the high school graduation picture of Brenda Barrett-Jacks, since they could get no more recent photos, either from the wedding or any other way.
With a choking sound of shock, Will Warner dropped the carry case containing his laptop, stunned by the face he saw on the screen before him.
“Grace… My Grace!” he croaked, as the color drained from his face and his heart began to beat in a strange, very off rhythm. His chest felt tight, suffocating.
He gasped and frantically reached for his heart medication in his pocket. But in the next moment, his body jerked violently and he was hurtling like a stone towards the cold, hard floor.
Song credits: "Our Kind Of Love” written by Andrew Lloyd Webber. "My Everything” written by Nick Lachey, Justin Jeffre, Anthor Birgisson, Anders "Bag" Bagge and performed by 98 Degrees.