"I cannot believe this!" Iris wailed. "So she gets her money and she gets my Ava’s Jax? That imbecile Hamlish should be shot!"

     "The worst news is that they’ve consummated the marriage," Chad said bitterly as he sat on the lumpy Sofa in Mrs. Taylor’s living room imaging Jax and Brenda entwined in the most intimate of ways and the vein in his neck throbbed in jealous fury.

     Chad and Iris were alone in the small, hot townhouse. Ava and Amber who had been bickering for days on end over Jax had been ordered by an irritated Iris to go to the French Quarter and occupy themselves.

     "No, the worst news is that the Jacks family now loathes you and you no longer have access to the house," Iris said, giving him an irritated glance. "You were pretty damn stupid to let that nosy butler overhear your conversation."

     "Who cares about that? Jax made love to Brenda, Iris. He touched what was mine!"

     "Please, it isn’t Jax’s fault that that marriage was consummated," Iris disagreed, "Brenda undoubtedly threw herself shamelessly on him like the little tramp she is."

     "She is no tramp," Chad snapped. "Jax seduced her, plain and simple. He flashed her those baby blues and whispered sweet nothing in her sweet, virginal ears. He wanted her from the very beginning. I knew he was not to be trusted! I always saw the way he would look at her . . ."

     "Ha!" You are so drunken with your lust for her that you can’t see the forest for the trees, can you?" Iris said. "The truth is that she wanted him from the very beginning. She always wanted Jax, Chad. That is obviously what she came here for. He was her goal from the moment she stepped foot in that mansion, perhaps even from the moment she conned her way into becoming Juliet Jacks’ friend."

     "Brenda did not come here to get Jax," Chad disputed. "Had it not been for that idiot police officer pulling me over Brenda would be my wife right now and in my bed making love to me. "

     "Oh please! She was never going to marry you, you fool!" Iris proclaimed with a laugh. "You were merely a decoy for her to get to Jax. She wanted to marry him all along."

     "That is not true," Chad growled.

     "Well I’m sure it’s a blow to your ego, Doctor, but it is true. My step-daughter has a very devious nature when it suits her. I’m sure she had this all planned down to the last detail."

     "Well she couldn’t have planned on me getting arrested so there goes your whole asinine theory," Chad said dismissively.

     Iris laughed, humorlessly. "You think she couldn’t have planned your arrest that night? Well then, you really don’t know her at all do you."

     "Brenda, you can’t be serious!" Juliet laughed as the girls walked along St. Anne’s towards the French Market.

     "Oh it’ll just be a tiny one on my ankle," Brenda said, speaking of the tattoo she wanted to get.

     The girls had awoken earlier to find the house devoid of male Jacks who were all at the office trying to reign in a merger gone wild. Brenda and Juliet had eaten their breakfast alone together up on the deck in Jax’s wing and had decided to spend the day hanging out together and catching up. With Brenda and Jax getting closer all the time and Juliet and Devon seemingly going in a similar direction, it seemed that Brenda and Juliet hardly got to spend as much time together as they normally did. So today was their day.

     "Well please don’t get anything hideous like a devil’s head or something," Juliet begged.

     "A devil’s head? Julie, please," Brenda laughed. "I was going to get a butterfly."

     Juliet smiled. "Oh that’s pretty."

     "A butterfly with a devil’s head."

     Juliet laughed and pretended to choke Brenda. "You are insane. You’re kidding right?"

     "Of course. I’m just getting a butterfly. A tiny one. Hey you should get one too," Brenda suggested.

     "Oh no, my dad would kill me. So any news from Mr. Hamlish yet? It’s been a week already."

     Brenda bit her lip. "I got a letter from the insurance company yesterday. Niles gave it to me."

     Juliet looked at her carefully. "And . . .?"

     "They believe that Jax married me because he loves me. They’re not going to contest anything."

     "Well that’s great!" Juliet looked at Brenda’s concerned face. "Isn’t it?"

     "I haven’t told Jax any of this," Brenda revealed.

     "Why not?"

     "Well something else was in that letter. They sent me my check, Julie," Brenda sighed.

     "Brenda! That’s fabulous! Now you are really and truly free of the troll forever! I don’t understand why you seem so put out by all of this."

     "Don’t you see? If Jax knows that I got my check then he’s going to want to go ahead with the divorce," Brenda explained glumly.

     Juliet nodded. "And you’ve fallen in love with him, haven’t you?"

     Now it was Brenda who nodded. "I don’t know how it happened, all I know is that I can’t live without him now. I really can’t. I love him, I mean really love him – the kind of love you read about in fairytales, you know? The kind of love that makes you crazy and makes you so happy. The kind of love that’s never going to go away. I don’t want this divorce, Julie. I can’t let it happen. It’s not right" Brenda said shaking her head.

     "Well Brenda maybe he doesn’t want to divorce you either. I mean, I think it’s pretty obvious that he’s become extremely attached to you lately."

     Brenda looked at her. "Yeah but he doesn’t want a wife. Everybody and their mother knows that."

     "True," Juliet had to confess.

     "Do you think he loves me . . . maybe?" Brenda asked, biting on her lip again.

     "Definite, definite possibility," Juliet said.

     "Well an alien invasion is a possibility too, Julie. I have to know for sure," Brenda sighed. "Then I would know what to do."

     "About aliens or about Jax?" Juliet asked, confused.

     "About Jax," Brenda said laughing and touching Juliet’s forehead as if to feel her temperature for signs of illness.

     "You could just ask him," Juliet suggested to which Brenda looked at her as if she were a complete mad woman and they entered the little tattoo shop.

     While Brenda and Juliet were out and about in the French Quarter the Jacks men were returning home from their day of rapid fire business. Jax ran into Vince’s wife on her way out of the kitchen.

     "Hi Sherra," he said.

     "Well hello darlin’. Where is that gorgeous little wife of yours? She is still your wife, isn’t she?"

     Jax smiled. "Yes she is. At least until her check comes," he said straddling one of the dining room chairs backwards.

     "Then what?" Sherra asked, sitting next to him.

     Jax shrugged. "Then it’s over. That was the deal."

     "Over. I never liked that word. It’s so final," Sherra said, her gray eyes boring into Jax’s soul to seek out the truth.

     "I know," he said quietly. "Can I tell you something? Do not repeat this to anyone, but I’m not sure . . what I mean is, I don’t know if . . well I don’t think I can . ." he paused. "I don’t think I’ll be able to let her go when the time comes," he said.

     "Why not?" Sherra asked.

     "Well, see there’s this thing that happens to me when she . . . nevermind, the fact is, I need to be able to let her go. I don’t want a wife, for God’s sake, and I don’t want to feel this way anymore."

     "What way?"

     Jax hesitated trying to explain it to her succinctly. There was only one word and he hated to say it out loud. "In love," He said.

     "Ahh," her smile indicated she had already known this.

     "But I don’t want to feel this way," he added emphatically. "I want it to go away, so how can I do that?"

     Sherra tapped her fingernails along the table top. "Well Jax, there are some thing that we cannot undo in this life. Love is one of them."

     "People fall out of love all the time," Jax disputed.

     "Not when the love is so pure that it blinds you. Not when the love is so deep that it runs like a river within you. Not when the love is so passionate that it shatters your very soul."

     Jax rolled his eyes. "I never said I loved her that way."

     "But you do."

     "I never said that," he repeated.

     "Have you made love to her?"

     "Yes."

     "And. . ?"

     "And what?"

     "Did it shatter your very soul?"

     "It surprised me, that’s all," Jax said refusing to confirm Sherra’s suspicion as to extraordinary nature of the passionate event. "I feel like she put a spell on me," he murmured, blue eyes a million miles away. "And I don’t even mind it, which is what really bothers me."

     "You think Brenda is a Voodoo priestess then?" Sherra teased. "You think it has to be something she has done and not merely something that happened to the both of you?"

     "Look, I don’t know, I don’t care. I just . . .I have to reverse all of this somehow. I’ve tried everything and it just isn’t going away. I feel this thing and it’s like this force and . . . how do I stop this?"

     "You can’t," Sherra told him.

     "Can’t? Hello, you’ve known me long enough to know that that word is not in my vocabulary," Jax reminded her.

     "All right, Sherra sighed at his stubbornness. "Why don’t you try this? Move her out of your bedroom for a week. Live apart from her as much as you can during that week. If you can make it through that you will have no trouble letting her go when the time comes. If not," she said smiling, " well then perhaps you are fighting a battle you should not be fighting at all," she said mysteriously as she rose from the table and left him alone with his thoughts.

     Jax thought about what she had just said. It sounded easy enough. Move Brenda into a separate bedroom now, something he should have done the minute Hamlish had left, and yet he had not made any attempt to do any such thing. But now he would. And he would try to live as he had before she had come into his life. If he got back into his old swing of things and tried not to make Brenda such a thing of importance then things might just fall right back into place. Then she would hopefully soon get her money and they would end the marriage and he could move past this infuriating stage of being in love.

     Niles passed him and Jax called out to him.

     "Yes Master Jax?"

     "I would like you to move Brenda’s things into another bedroom in my wing, please. Preferably one as far away from mine as possible."

     Niles rose an eyebrow. "Problems sir?"

     Jax shook his head. "No. I just need some distance."

     "Is Miss Brenda becoming a bother?"

     "No. She’s perfect," he said softly. "That’s the problem."

     Niles smiled knowingly. "Things touching the heart a bit too closely, eh sir?"

     Jax glowered at him. "Please just move her things, all right?"

     "And what shall I tell her sir? She is out with your sister at the moment, but you know she will be hopping mad when she returns to find that you have done this and I fear for my life."

     "Niles, must you be so melodramatic? Don’t worry, I’ll explain it to her. How bad can it be?"

     "God be with you sir," Niles murmured as he crossed himself and went upstairs to move Brenda’s things.

     Ava and Amber were quarreling over which one of them would get Jax once they managed to extract him away from Brenda when they saw the object of their jealously walking out of that tattoo parlor with Juliet.

     "Oh my God, how barbaric!" Amber exclaimed. "She gotten a tattoo!"

     Ava saw the beautiful, delicate multi-colored butterfly tattoo and it in fact looked quite lovely and rather sexy, but despite what she really thought of the tattoo, Ava agreed wholeheartedly with Amber.

     "So uncouth," Ava said. "Maybe Jax will dump her all by himself without us having to help him see the light."

     "Oh Jax is so blinded by her big ole sparkly eyeballs," Amber said disagreeably. "What color are those eyes of hers anyhow? They’re all clouded up with colors, you can’t even tell. I think they’re so ugly."

     Ava thought that Brenda’s gem-like dark hazel eyes were the most beautiful, most unique color she had ever seen, but again she agreed with Amber.

     "Ugly," she said, nodding her head.

     "Of course I suppose her little barbie doll face makes up for her ugly eyes," Amber drawled, fanning herself.

     Ava thought that a barbie doll would kill to look like Brenda and that her step-sister much more resembled some ravishing mythology figure than a cute plastic doll, but once again, she agreed with Amber.

     "She does look a barbie doll doesn’t she?" Ava sad.

     "Yes indeed. The brunette version. All fake and phony with nothing but good looks and an empty head."

     "Let’s follow them," Ava suggested as she and Amber followed the laughing Brenda and Juliet in and out of various stores and then to the limo where they gave Lionel their packages to hold for them. Then they went to the Jax Brewery so that Juliet could show Brenda how funny it was that the famous brewery and Jax had the same first name. Then they went from there to the Toulouse Street Wharf across from Jackson Square where they got on board the Natchez Steamboat for the lunch cruise.

     As they sat down to their meal Juliet leaned forward to whisper to Brenda. "Did I tell you that Devon asked me to be his date for the opening of his riverboat restaurant in a couple of weeks?"

     Brenda squealed in delight. "He did?! So then this is like a real date then?"

     Juliet nodded laughing. "Can you believe it? I nearly fell down the stairs when he asked me yesterday!"

     "Yesterday?" Brenda frowned. "Why didn’t you tell me then? Where was I?"

     "Well it happened right after dinner and you and Jax weren’t there. I think Vince said that the two of you were out on your private terrace having dinner? Anyway you two never did surface last night," Juliet noted with a playful smile touching her lips as she stirred her iced tea.

     Oh yes, Brenda remembered with a smile of her own. Jax had been really moody and preoccupied with something last night – he’d said it was because of this pending merger the family was working on that had a lot of ways to go wrong. To soothe his strange distress she had convinced Jax to have a private romantic dinner with her on the terrace as opposed to the usual rambunctious, always entertaining family dinners downstairs. When Niles brought up the food and set it in front of them, Jax had said "I hope to God you didn’t cook this, Brenda" which had her giving him a cross look and had Niles chuckling with mirth as he arranged the food and took his leave.

     "Well I didn’t. But you don’t have to say it as if it’s a worse fate than death, Jax," Brenda had responded with a pout. "So I can’t cook? Is that the end all and be all of life? Julie can’t cook either. So should we be arrested and thrown in handcuffs and forced to go to cooking school at gun point?" she complained melodramatically.

     Jax had given her a sexy smile. "Well I do like the handcuffs part. But I’m afraid no cooking school would take either of you," he had told her as he swirled his linguine and shrimp around on his fork.

     "You know by some people’s standards I can cook," Brenda had insisted.

     "What people would that be, Venus? Dead people?" he’d asked with a wicked little smile that zinged her heart as much as her return smile had zinged his.

     The conversation had been alternately hysterical and wildly flirtatious all throughout the meal.

     Then they had gotten to a very nice moment where Jax asked her what it was that she wanted to do with her life.

     "You mean like a job?" Brenda had asked.

     "Whatever," Jax said with a shrug.

     "Well I know this probably sounds lofty and ridiculous but I want to be a singer."

     He nodded. "Like Whitney Houston?"

     "No, more like Barbra Streisand. I want to sing in Musicals on Broadway and all over the world."

     "That’s what the pest wants to do too."

     "I know. Julie will definitely make it. Her voice is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard."

     "Yours is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard," he told her. Really, Brenda, I think you’re phenomenal. You shouldn’t underestimate your talent."

     "You really think I’m good?" she asked smiling happily.

     "I think you’re amazing. I don’t like plays and operas and musicals or any of that stuff, but I would go to see anything that you were in," he said. "If only to just look at you," he added with a wink.

     She had felt a growing closeness to him as they talked. "What about you? Have you always wanted to do what you’re doing now?" she asked him.

     "Eating linguine? Yes it has been a life long dream of mine since I was four."

     She laughed. "You know what I mean."

     "Corporate raider?"

     She nodded.

     "I love it. There’s nothing like it. But no I didn’t always want to do it. Actually when I was younger I was obsessed with becoming, a pirate, then a coast guard, then a ship’s captain – anything having to do with the ocean. Then I went into my flying stage where I wanted to pilot the Concorde, which I actually have done twice. And then I wanted to pilot the space shuttle. I think that was kind of my heart’s desire for a while. To pilot people to the heavens."

      "You pilot me to the heavens every single night," she had told him her hazel eyes carrying the soft glow of desire as they flirted outrageously with his.

     "Feel like taking a ride now?" he’d asked her with a sexy lift of his blonde eyebrows.

     Her answer had been to lean across and plant a warm, lingering kiss on his lips and from there it had been passion eruptus. Incredibly passionate, incredibly romantic. They were swept away by it and it lead them to the bedroom where sweet, fabulous love was made twice. Before they made love for the second time Jax had asked her what was the one thing in the world she wanted more than anything else.

     "You," Brenda had responded without even thinking about it. She could tell from his eyes that her answer had startled him and confused him to some degree.

     "What do you want more than anything else?" she had asked in return even as she had felt herself getting caught up in the rapture of their feelings one more. He had taken so long to answer her that she had almost forgotten she had asked him a question.

     "You," he had finally responded nearly sending her into cardiac arrest. Then they had made unrestrained, unforgettable love. It had been absolutely perfect both times and they had not ventured downstairs for the rest of the evening, thus Brenda missing out on Devon asking Juliet to be his date for the restaurant opening.

     "I’m sure your absence at the dinner table was umm . . .worth it," Juliet said, looking at Brenda’s hazy reminiscent gaze.

     Brenda snapped out of it and grinned. "I’ll say! But hey, I am so happy to hear about you and Devon. It’s about time. Doesn’t that man know what a hot commodity you are?"

     "I could say the same about my brother," Juliet said. "I’ve already told him that if he lets you go someone will snatch you up in a heartbeat and he will be miserable."

     Brenda bit into her chicken salad pita. "Do you think I should tell him?" she asked.

     "Tell him what, that you’re in love with him?"

     "Yes. And also that I tricked him into marrying me."

     "Are you feeling guilty about it?"

     "A little. I don’t like lying to him, Julie. He’s too important to me."

     "Well you’re not lying anymore."

     "Yes I am," Brenda groaned. "I didn’t tell him about getting my check, remember? I almost told him last night, though. We had some really close moments and I was looking into this eyes and I really, really thought that maybe he loves me too – you know? Maybe he would understand and forgive me and even be happy that I tricked him into the marriage because he loves me. But I’m not sure if he does. . .it’s so hard to tell with your brother. He’s very flirtatious and I never know when he’s being serious."

     "Well why don’t you sort of feel him out tonight and see what kind of a vibe you get from him and then either tell him or not depending on how you think he’ll take it?" Juliet suggested. "Whatever you want to do I’ll back you up. And so will Niles."

     "Okay," Brenda agreed. "This makes me too nervous to think about it. Let’s talk about something else, like . . .what are you going to wear to the restaurant opening?" she asked excitedly.

     At the table behind Brenda and Juliet, Ava and Amber were barely able to contain themselves. The minute the Natchez docked back at the wharf they were the first ones off the boat as they made a mad dash for the Taylor townhouse on Poydras Street. They could not wait to give Iris and Chad this new ammunition to use in their campaign to bring Brenda down and turn Jax against her once and for all.

     Iris was positively giddy over Ava and Amber’s news. Chad was angry to realize that Brenda had indeed never had any intention of marrying him and was only after Jax from the get go and Iris gloated about that.

     "I told you," she said. "You were nothing but an annoying speed bump in her race to get to Jax ."

     "Shut up!" Chad spat out.

     "Well perhaps now you will stop defending her and see her for the tramp she is and help us bring her down off of her high horse."

     "What do you have in mind?" Chad asked.

     "Well I think we need to gather up some proof – preferably that check she’s been hiding – and reveal her entire scam in front of the Jacks family. She needs to be humiliated as well as stopped. I want them to lash out at her to turn against her an then throw her out on her backside!"

     "But Juliet is aware of what Brenda has done and she supports her," Ava reminded her mother.

     "Yes well they’re friends. But I’m sure the rest of the family won’t be so supportive, especially Jax. And once he dumps the little trash, well then if you still want her she’s all yours, Chad."

     Chad hated Brenda at this moment. But he did still want her, if only to satiate his overwhelming lust for her which had gone unsatisfied for nearly a month now, and also to deprive Jax of such a bewitching creature – to take away from Jax something that he suspected Jax truly did want and dare say . . .love.

     "Yes I still want her," Chad announced. "My intention is to have her."

     "Well Jax is mine," Ava shot out.

     "When hell freezes over," Amber said. "You are far too homely for a man like Jax."

     "And you’re far too stupid," Iris shot at her. "Besides the Jacks family can’t stand your brother now so what makes you think they want anything to do with you?"

     "Jax would rather marry a cow that hook up with your beastly child!" Amber shot back.

     "Will you three stop it!" Chad shouted.

     "Yes, the doctor is right. We must stop this in-fighting," Iris agreed. "We all have a shared goal and nothing must get in the way of that. We’re going to bury the little goddess in a pile of her own lies . . ." Iris said with an almost giddy smile. And once Brenda was out of the picture she planned to get rid of these annoying Stanton siblings too.

     "Jax!" Brenda said cornering him in his gym. "How could you?!" she demanded.

     Jax leapt from the rock climbing wall and approached her. "Okay, I think I know what it is that you’re ranting about. Just let me explain . . ."

     "Why?!" she said. "Why would you move my things out of our room?"

     "My room, Brenda."

     "It’s has been our room for over two weeks now," she said her hazel eyes flashing with anger. "And after last night I thought . . I thought . . ."

     "I wish you would just calm down for a second, I can explain this, all right? Look at you, you’re going to start hyperventilating in a second," he said as he sat her down. "Okay, now the reason I had your stuff moved into another bedroom . . ."

     "Another bedroom way down at the other end of the hall!" she interrupted.

     "Yes, well, the reason I did that was because I need to be . . I need some space from you right now, all right? I know that you won’t understand this but I need to try to get back things that were taken from me when I married you."

     Brenda looked ready to sock him. "Taken from you? What would that be?" she asked her voice deceptively calm.

     "That came out all wrong," he murmured shaking his head. "What I meant is – well I actually don’t know. I just feel . . see you have this ability to make me umm. . look, you just need to let me do this right now." he said completely unable to explain this to her without telling her the very words he did not want to say.

     "Are you mad at me?" Brenda asked him.

     "No."

     "Did I do something ?"

     "No. This is not about you, Brenda this is about me. I need this distance right now."

     "Well maybe if you need so much distance I should just move into the Stanton house!" she said turning to leave the room.

     Jax reach out to grab her to prevent her from leaving him. "Don’t you even joke about that," he said feeling a weird panic overtake him. "Look, Brenda this is only temporary, okay? It’s just something I have to do for the sake of my sanity."

     She looked up at him and sulked prettily. "So I’m driving you insane then?" she asked looking miserable.

     "Yes," he said. "Although . . .I’m not sure it that’s a bad thing," he confessed.

     She smiled. "You’re not?"

     "No. But I need to find out. That’s why I need to spend my nights alone for a few days."

     "How many days?"

     "Seven."

     "I’ll die without your for seven days!" she groaned slumping into a nearby chair.

     He looked at her with bemused blue eyes. "You will?"

     They were interrupted by John calling Jax into the den to discuss business. Before he left, Brenda held onto his arm. "Do you really have to do this?"

     "Yes."

     "I can’t change your mind?"

     "No."

     "How will you sleep without me? You’ll toss and turn all night. You’ll have nightmares. You’ll get the chills. You’ll probably fall out of the bed."

     He rolled his eyes and left to go see his father.

     Very late that night it was storming wildly outdoors. Blinding streaks of jagged lightning flailed across the skies followed by crashing thunder. Brenda was beneath the covers in her bedroom all the way down the hall trying to ignore the rage of the storm outdoors when all of a sudden a deafening clap of thunder caused her to leap from the bed and race down the hall to Jax’s room.

     Jax!" she said pounding on the door. "Jax are you in there?"

     She opened the door and went inside just as another loud crash of thunder shook the windows. She screamed and leapt into the bed awaking Jax who had just been drifting off to sleep after tossing and turning, as Brenda had predicted, for the past four hours.

     "Brenda? What’s wrong?"

     "Can’t you hear it? The sky is falling!" she said huddling close to him.

     "The what . . . is what?"

     Lightning lit up the room. The subsequent thunder was jolting.

     "Whoa," Jax said as Brenda slid beneath the sheet in fear. Jax moved the covers from over her head. "Hey, are you afraid of thunderstorms?"

     "This is not a thunderstorm. This is world war three!" she said pulling the covers back over her head.

     He laughed and removed the covers again. "Brenda, this is a common summer lightning storm around these parts," he informed her as the rain pounded harshly against the windows. "They get really bad, but they don’t last very long," he promised.

     The lightning flashed. Brenda covered her ears and closed her eyes until the scary boom of thunder had passed.

     "I’m not going back to that other room until this is over," she said, refusing to endure this nightmare storm alone.

     Okay," Jax said. "Come here, scaredy cat," he teased pulling her into his arms.

     Big mistake.

     She felt better than anything on earth. Anything. How was he supposed to go six more nights without her? This was indeed problematic . . .

     "Don’t they get bad storms in New York?" he asked her.

     "Not this bad," she said shuddering against his warm body as another roar of thunder boomed across the night.

     "Well didn’t you ever watch – what was that sappy show? The Sound of Music. My mother made us watch it ad nauseum when we were little. Isn’t there some rather idiotic song you’re supposed to sing if you’re scared of thunder storms? Something about raindrops and roses and whiskers on kittens . . .?"

     She giggled. "Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens. Brown paper packages tied up with strings, these are a few of my favorite things," she sang prettily.

     He laughed softly, trying to remember the next line. "Ummm . . . Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels . . ."

     "Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles. Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings. These are a few of my favorite things."

     He smiled at her as the storm abated. "That was beautiful," he said softly. "Your voice is really pretty. You can sing me to sleep anytime. But the question is, do you feel better now that you’ve sung the absurd tune?"

     She looked up at him with a dazzling smile. "Yeah, actually I do," she said nodding. "Thank you for that," she whispered as she leaned over and brushed her lips softly against his. It was like being kissed by something utterly angelic.

     All was quiet outside now, as, just as Jax had told her it would, the terrifying storm was over quickly.

     "Well," she said reluctantly. "it’s over so I guess I can go back to Siberia now." She climbed out of the bed.

     She was stopped by the touch of Jax’s hand grabbing a hold of hers. The look in his beautiful blue eyes was puzzling. It was a strange mixture of dread and relief, annoyance and happiness, defiance and surrender. She didn’t know what to make of it.

     "I couldn’t even go one day," he murmured incredulously to himself, thinking that Sherra would have a good laugh over this one.

     Brenda looked at him, puzzled. "What, Jax?"

     He tugged on her hand to pull her back onto the bed. "I don’t want you to go . . ."

     "But I thought you said you needed space from me? Distance, you said?"

     "That might be what I need, but it isn’t what I want," he told her.

     "What do you want, Jax?"

     He kissed her. "I want Brenda," he whispered. He kissed her again.

     "You want me to move back in here with you?" she asked kissing his warm lips and tasting the passion.

     "Uh huh," he said, pulling her into his arms as they relaxed against the bed together.

     She smiled. "Awww. Did you toss and turn without me?" she teased him.

     "As a matter of fact I did," he admitted, sliding his arms around her belly and breathing in the delightful scent of her.

     "Did you have nightmares?"

     "Don’t think so."

     "Well did you get the chills?"

     "No," he laughed.

     "Did you fall out of the bed."

     "Nuh uh."

     "Did you miss me?"

     "That I did," he said, kissing her glossy hair and closing his eyes, feeling a peaceful sleep coming upon him now that he had her back here with him.

     "Jax?" she said.

     "Mmm hmmm?" he said sleepily.

     "I . . don't be shocked by this okay? But I don’t want a divorce from you. I know that’s what we said we’d do, I know the only reason you married me is because you knew it was only temporary and that it would end but . . . I’m sorry I just . . I don’t want it to." There, she had said it. "Jax? Did you hear me? I said I don't want a divorce. Are you mad?"

     She felt his blonde eyelashes against her cheek. "Neither do I," he murmured just before he fell asleep feeling her warmth against him, the scent of her honey and coconut shampoo lingering like a heavenly fragrance in the air. In his world of slumber everything was perfect again.

     Brenda shot up in the bed. "What?! What did you say, Jax?! Netiher do you what? Neither do you want a divorce??? Jax! No, no, no, don’t go to sleep nowwww. Jax!"

     But he was fast asleep.

     As she sank back into his arms, her brow was furrowed in thought as she tried to figure out if he had said what she thought he had said and more importantly, if he had meant it . . .