Brenda snuggled closer to Jax as she felt drowsiness overtaking her. "So which side of the bed do you sleep on?" she asked him.

     He slowly stood up with her in his arms. "Left. But it doesn’t matter because you’re not sleeping in my bed," he told her as he carried her into the room directly next to his.

     "I’m not?"

     "No," he said depositing her on the bed. "You can sleep in here. I’ll go get your things."

     He went out in the hallway to take her things into the room and while he was gone Brenda slipped out of the wedding dress, too tired to hang it up, so she tossed it on a nearby chair. She kicked off her shoes, peeled off her shimmering white stockings, removed her earrings, her watch and her necklace, stopped a moment to gaze at her rings, and grin. Went into the bathroom and removed her make-up with Noxzema and then brushed her teeth. Then she went back into the bedroom, reached up and took off the tiara-like hair ornament from her hair allowing it to fall freely about her shoulders. With a yawn she climbed back up on the bed wearing only her white satin Teddi just as Jax came back into the room with her things.

     She saw him and smiled. He let out a slow breath as he looked at her. "I think this is everything," he said softly.

     "Thanks," she said as she propped herself up on one elbow. "So it wasn’t so bad, right? Getting married I mean?"

     "Too soon to tell," he told her, sitting on the edge of the bed next to her. "But the wedding part was okay. I didn’t want to run away screaming or anything."

     She tousled his dark blonde hair. "Why Jax you say the sweetest things."

     He just smiled at her.

     "Hey, do you think now that we’re married you can ditch Mrs. Taylor’s granddaughter and take me to the party instead?" Brenda wondered, trying to stifle a yawn.

     Jax arched an eyebrow. "Possessive little thing, aren’t you?"

     She laughed, yawned and nodded. "So do you think that’s possible?" she asked him.

     "We’ll work something out," he promised her. "Now, go to sleep. We have a big day tomorrow."

     But Brenda struggled to fight off her drowsiness. "I’m really nervous about tomorrow," she told him, stretching her arms back and looking absolutely perfect.

     "Why?"

     "Well I’m part of the entertainment portion of tomorrow night’s big shindig, you know. I’m going to sing and dance in front of all of those important and famous people."

     "You’ll be perfect," he said, his eyes inadvertently wandering to her lips.

     "You think?" she asked furrowing her brow in that adorable way as her hand automatically slid over his.

     She was going to have to stop doing that. Touching him all the time. He suddenly needed an excuse, any excuse, to kiss her. "How about a kiss for luck?" he offered.

     She smiled in surprise at his offer. "I’d love one," she whispered.

     Jax bent forward and touched his lips to hers. She moved her lips against his as they shared an absolutely sumptuous kiss that lasted a good, long time and left them both craving another.

     "You know something," Brenda murmured as she eased back onto the pillows with a very satisfied smile on her face. "You must be the best kisser in the universe."

     "Easy for you to say. I’m the only one you’ve ever kissed," Jax reminded her and even though he teased her about it he was glad that he was the only one.

     "It doesn’t matter. I could have been kissed by a gazillion men and still . . .nothing would ever compare to the way you kiss me," she said with certainty, her pretty eyes looking as if the sandman were calling her.

     "Well thanks," he said kissing her again briefly. "Now go to sleep. I’ll see you in the morning."

     He got up from the bed as Brenda hugged the pillow.

     "Your mom is so funny," she said as her eyes closed, the tips of her long, dark lashes touching her face. "After she got me those two amazing dresses she goes and makes the party a roaring 20’s theme and so now I’m wearing a totally different outfit."

     Jax smile. "Yeah my mum is off the wall. We love that about her."

     "I love that about her too," she said in between a stifled yawn. "Jax, do you really have to still take that woman to the party?"

     "Go to sleep, Venus."

     Her breathing was slowing down and he knew that the sandman was about to grab her. "But isn’t that kind of like cheating on me?" she said drowsily, managing a cute little frown even in her near sleep.

     Her eyes were closed but she heard him laughing softly. She loved the way he laughed.

     "I told you I’d work something out," Jax promised her. "Now for that sake of what little is left of my sanity, please go to sleep, Brenda."

     "Thank you for marrying me," she murmured just before sleep claimed her.

     Jax was silent for a moment and only answered when he was sure she was asleep. "It was most definitely my pleasure," he whispered.

     He gazed down at her for a long moment and that annoying thing happened to him. That thing where he felt kind of a funny zing sort of thing hitting his heart. He had mentioned the thing to Justin a couple of days ago and his younger brother had insisted that it was the prick of Cupid’s arrow that Jax was feeling. Jax shook his head. No way. He was not going to be falling in love with anybody, especially not some crazy teenager with raging hormones who drove him insane. He didn’t care how gorgeous she was, or how funny, or how cute, or how perfect her lips felt against his or how she was now invading his dreams as well as his waking thoughts. He didn’t care about any of that. Cupid could just go stick that damn arrow somewhere else.

     Jax looked away from her and then looked back at her and the thing happened again. He leaned against the door in aggravation. "I don’t want to fall in love," he muttered.

     And he meant it. But, on the other hand, he would be the first to admit that he was very glad to see that Brenda was safe and with him as opposed to being married to the likes of Chad. He would have done anything to stop that ridiculous wedding.

     As he left Brenda’s room he forced himself to dismiss this cupid nonsense and instead began wondering about Brenda’s stepmother and when he would ever come face to face with the dreaded woman?

     The next day was so busy and hectic that the Jacks family was very much dispersed. They did not have their usual family breakfast since everyone was far to busy preparing for the big night while also trying to conduct business as usual. Things were so busy in fact that no one noticed Brenda going up and down the left staircase instead of the center one, and no one noticed the dazzling rings on her finger nor the gold wedding band on Jax’s. No one except Dorie of course, who didn’t know what on earth to make of all of this and chalked it up to the fact that she was losing her mind.

     Chad arrived at the mansion around noon and he felt as if he had entered Grand Central Station. People were everywhere doing everything, barking out instructions right and left, scurrying back and forth. It was a madhouse! He spotted Justin and asked for Brenda but Justin had no idea where she was or where anyone else was for that matter. Chad worked his way though the zoo that was the Jacks mansion today in an effort to locate his would-be bride but it was impossible. He did, however, run into Niles.

     "Well, well, well!" Niles said as if delighted to see him. "Out of the big house are we? Meet any Big Bubba’s that caught your fancy, sir?"

     "I hope you realize you have made an enemy for life," Chad spat angrily at him.

     "Oh dear. Pardon me while I go and cower in the corner," he said with a roll of his eyes.

     "I want to know what you thought you were doing by deliberately not giving Brenda my messages!" Chad said menacingly, breathing hard in Nile’s face.

     Niles turned behind him and grabbed the sterling silver candy holder. "Breath mint, sir?" he asked, indicating that Chad needed one.

     "Oh, so you think this is funny?! I ought to slap you silly!"

     "Whatever turns you on, sir."

     Cad was turning red. "Don’t you even care that Brenda was probably very upset not knowing where I was?"

     "She wasn’t upset at all. I would say she was greatly relieved," Niles said with a "so there you horse’s behind" look as he abruptly walked away from the bothersome boy.

     Not upset? Relieved? No that made no sense! Niles was being an inflammatory imbecile as usual, Chad decided. He made a mental note to try to get he man fired. He then gazed around the hectic house and sighed. He obviously would not find Brenda in this madhouse now. He would speak to her at the party later where Lady Jane had promised him they would be seated next to each other. Then they would get things back on track.

     Half an hour before the party’s official start-time, limousines were arriving left and right and filling the enormous driveway. Outside, the media caught glimpses of all of the notable arrivals as they entered the Jacks mansion, all the men in elegant black tuxes, all the women dressed magnificently in period costumes from the Roaring 20’s.

     Jax was on his way downstairs to pick up Ava from the Taylor townhouse when he spotted Brenda, dressed in her sexy little roaring 20’s outfit complete with bangles and a string of long white pearls, walking up the center staircase with Juliet. Jax shook his head at the sight of her. This marriage had better end soon or he would lose his bloody mind.

     When he arrived at Lilith Taylor’s home to pick up Ava he was introduced to her mother, Iris. Jax recognized her right away. This was that woman that he and Jerry had bumped into in Manhattan about a month or so ago. Jax remembered her because she had been so pushy, inviting herself along to lunch with them and giving them her phone number which they had immediately discarded after lunch. And so that meant that this girl Ava must be that girl . . what was her name? Something that sounded like Gasoline . . . oh yeah, Avaline. Was this a coincidence that they were here? He somehow doubted it, for he wouldn’t have put it past this aggressive woman Iris to have followed him and Jerry home and set out to foist her daughter upon one of them.

     "Lovely to meet you, Jax," Iris beamed at him. Obviously she was not going to own up to that first meeting in Manhattan, he realized.

     "You too," Jax said, playing along, not really caring. "So, are we ready?" He went to open the door for them and both Ava and Iris reeled back when they saw the gleam that resulted from the ceiling light hitting something gold on his ring finger. Ava looked about to faint. Her mother pinched her arm and whispered. "Keep your composure. There must be a perfectly logical explanation for this!"

     Downstairs, Jax held the door open as Ava and her mother climbed into the limousine. Then he went to help the elderly Mrs. Taylor into the car. Alone for a few moments in the limo, Avaline, grabbed her mother’s arm. "It was a ring, mother, you saw it too!"

     Iris shoved her daughter’s arm off of her. "Calm yourself Avaline! Yes, I saw a ring on his finger but I’m assuming it’s merely jewelry and certainly not a wedding band. After all, if a member of the Jacks family got married every newspaper in town would have printed it. So don’t get frantic over this. Panic is so unbecoming."

     They grew silent as Jax and Mrs. Taylor entered the car and they headed for the Jacks Mansion, but neither of them could tear their eyes away from that band of gold that had never been on Jax's hand before today.