"So what’s going on with you, Jax-rabbit?" Justin asked Jax the next morning as they were coming back from their morning hike along the bayou trail.

     "What do you mean?"

     "I mean Brenda. Haven’t you been trying to come to some sort of decision about her over the last couple of weeks?"

     "Oh, is that what I’ve been doing?" he murmured thoughtfully.

     "It looked that way to me and I think I know you better than anyone else. So have you made any decisions?"

     "Well, I couldn’t even go one day without her. I tried and I couldn’t do it -- can you believe that? That is so totally not like me."

     "I think you’re in love with her."

     Jax said nothing. No denial, no admission.

     "And I think you should tell her that," Justin suggested.

     "Oh you do, do you," Jax said gazing meditatively out at the horizon.

     "Well it can’t hurt. And once you say the words everything will just fall into place," Justin predicted.

     "But if I say it, I can’t take it back."

     "So?"

     "So I’m not ready for this, Justin."

     "Jax, nobody’s ever really ready for love, if you ask me. God knows I wasn’t. Jerry practically ran screaming from it to no avail. It just happens. With you and Brenda it just sort of happened by accident."

     Jax shook his head. "It’s a funny thing but I don’t believe in accidents," he said gazing down curiously at the band of gold around his finger.

     "Well then fate, kismet, a plot from her father Zeus or the curse of Cupid, I don’t know. The thing is, she’s in love with you, you know," Justin mentioned as they stopped by the Lake, skipping stones into it as they had often done as children.

     Jax nodded. "I can sort of tell."

     "No I mean really genuinely, purely from her sweet little goddess heart in love with you, Jax. Not like all the other women who fall all over you all the time telling you they love you."

     "I can tell the difference, Justin," Jax assured him.

     "Has she told you how she feels about you?"

     "Not exactly."

     "Well then you have to tell her, Jax," Justin said.

     Jax rose an eyebrow and looked at his brother as if he were crazy. "Why?"

     "Well she doesn’t know you the way I do. She can’t just figure it out by watching you the way that I can. I knew that you were falling for her the minute you stopped trekking all over the globe in favor of spending your time here with a certain very inquisitive young brunette. Let’s face it, Jax, most summers you are totally scarce around here and we’re lucky if we see you for five minutes. But this summer, so, far, you haven’t left to go anywhere. Not to mention you actually set foot on my soundstage just because she was there, not to mention you gave up your coveted status as a single man, your safari into darkest Africa and your unbeaten paintball championship title all for her. Now for me, your brother who knows you so well, that adds up to the fact that you’re obviously in love with her and it’s got you going around in circles trying to ward it off somehow. But to Brenda, you probably just seem like some kind of lunatic," he said with a shrug.

     "So you think I should just give into this thing, don’t you? Because that’s what you did, and what Jerry did and what Devon seems to be on the verge of doing where Julie is concerned. Well, just because all the rest of you just caved in to that emotion doesn’t mean that I have to do that too."

     "Hey, you’re the one who just said you couldn’t even go one day without her. I would say caving in is inevitable. Just remember to yell Timber before you fall."

     "I’m not falling."

     "Jax, you’ve already hit the ground," Justin enlightened him with a pat on the shoulder.

     "Justin, you do know me better than anyone else. You know the things that I want in my life, and you know that a wife is not one of them," Jax insisted as he leaned against the stone railing that cordoned off the lake. "But, having said that," he shook his head "I still for the life of me can’t let her go . . ."

     "Well then don’t"

     "I don’t intend to," Jax said matter of factly.

     Justin grinned. "Does she know this?"

     "She will. Eventually."

     "Oh, like when her check comes and she files for divorce and you throw the papers in the fire and tell her over your dead body?"

     Jax laughed. "Well I think I might say something to her before it gets to that point."

     "When?"

     Jax shrugged. "Whenever."

     'Oh that pins it down' Justin thought, thinking that his brohter Jax was the epitome of the stubborn male.

     Justin nodded as they left the lake and proceeded back to the house. "So what are you doing today?" he asked.

     "They have that surfing competition in Baja. I thought I would go down and check it out."

     "You’re competing?"

     "Probably."

     "Are you taking Brenda with you?

     "I wasn’t planning on it . . why?"

     Justin put his arm around Jax’s shoulder. "You know, Jax, you’re like a brother to me . . ."

     Jax laughed.

     "And so although I may be two years younger than you, I’m going to give you the benefit of my astonishing wisdom."

     "Well wake me up when you’re done."

     "Hey, I’m serious now. Listen to me. Forget about Baja, okay? Go somewhere where your thoughts can be at peace so you can have clarity in your head and in your heart. Take Brenda to the hotel in Cancun. She’ll love it."

     "Why would I want to do that? I’m trying to pull this blasted arrow out of my heart, remember? Not push it in deeper."

     "Jax, answer me this. You keep saying how you don’t want to be in love, you don’t want a wife, yadda, yadda. But is that really true? Or are you just saying that because that’s what you’ve been saying ever since you were ten years old and you don’t know how to say anything different?"

     Jax considered this. "Maybe it’s not so much the marriage thing that bothers me, " Jax admitted. "I mean, I think I’m actually getting very used to that, God help me," he murmured. "Maybe the problem is that I never in my wildest dreams thought my wife would be a nineteen year old girl in possession of an allure the likes of which could start a war," Jax said to him. "And maybe it’s that I never thought that anybody, let alone a nineteen year old girl, could ever do this Thing to me so effectively."

     "Ah yes, the thing. The dreaded thing," Justin nodded sympathetically.

     "It’s instinctual for me to resist this thing," Jax explained.

     "Oh yes, I know. It’s instinctual for all men, Jax, but it’s a waste of time. The female will always get you in the end," he sighed. "If I were you I’d just take her to Cancun, confess your feelings and surrender quietly and blissfully and preferably horizontally. I don’t think you’ll regret it or what to take it back."

     "I’m hardly the surrendering type, Justin," Jax reminded him.

     Justin nodded. "Absolutely not, which is your biggest problem right now, by the way. The women always win, Jax, trust me. It’s like some unwritten law of the universe or something. Especially in your case. You know when you look at Brenda you get this look in your eyes like you’ve just seen your first Porsche. It’s really quite touching, in a barbaric, guy sort of way."

     "I do not look at her that way."

     "Yes you do. You look at that girl with more wonder than you’d look at a hail storm in July and -- now this will shock you -- with more desire than you’d look at the top secret quarterly profit statements of Microsoft."

     "Now, that can’t possibly be true."

     "Oh no? Ask Jerry or Julie. Ask Dad or Mum. Or ask Niles, he notices everything," Justin suggested as they approached the house and heard music, laughter, screaming and the sound of the garden hose. The music was Juliet, Halle and Brenda singing "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" while they were washing Brenda’s Lexus Jeep, and the screaming and laughter was that they kept throwing sudsy water at each other in some kind of bizarre water fight.

     Jax’s eyes immediately went to Brenda wearing light blue denim shorts and a short black t-shirt.

     "Mi-cro-soft," Justin whispered to him as he saw the look in Jax’s aquamarine eyes.

     Jax knocked Justin’s black "New Orleans Saints" hat off of his head and the two brothers approached the out of control girls. A duel between the water hose and the sudsy bucket of water was ensuing with Juliet in possession of the hose and Halle and Brenda ducking from her on the opposite side of the jeep. Just as they were getting ready to toss the bucket of sudsy water at Juliet, Niles made a most inopportune entrance and got a face full of soapy water for his trouble.

     "Oh Niles! Sorry!" Brenda said laughing. "Oh my God, I’m so sorry!" Then she grabbed the hose from Juliet and sprayed it on Niles to wash the soapy water off, the result of which had the poor butler sopping wet and looking very much like a drowned rat. "Oh, no . . " Brenda murmured, biting her lip as her husband and brother-in-law had a good laugh over the whole thing. "I can not believe I just did that," she apologized shaking her head.

     "Oh, you needn’t look so mortified, Mrs. Jacks. After just getting off the phone with Dr. Stanton, I do feel the need for a bath," Niles said wiping his face.

     "Chad called here?" Jax said approaching the soggy butler. "What did he want?"

     "Well he was looking for you, sir. He’s such a tiresome fellow."

     "Tell me about it. What did he say?"

     "Well he would not elaborate. He claimed it was an urgent matter, that he was extremely anxious to speak with you, that it would behoove you to call him back, etc. etc. He was extremely adamant. I suggested if he had that much anxiety he ought to take some Motrin to get the bloating down. For some strange reason he then proceeded to hang up on me." Niles said with a shrug as he went back into the house to change into dry clothing.

     Brenda was standing next to Jax now. "Hi," she smiled, kissing his cheek. "Hey look at this. I meant to show it to you yesterday. What do you think?" she said showing him her butterfly tattoo on her ankle.

     Jax smiled. "Wow that’s nice. Where’d you get it?"

     "At the French Quarter yesterday. The artist wanted to paint my whole body . . ."

     "It wasn’t just one artist, Jax. It was like seven of them! They were following her everywhere," Juliet added.

     Jax was not surprised.

     "Well it doesn’t matter, I said no to all of them," Brenda said "I told them that I was married to you and the only person who could do any body painting on me was you. And they scattered like the breeze at the mention of your name. Are you that powerful?" she asked smiling at him.

     "Well they probably heard about that poor fellow who was here two days ago," Justin said. "he was a visiting artist from Paris who saw your picture in the paper, Brenda, and he came here because he wanted permission to paint you. I thought it was a fabulous idea, myself, but Jax had a little problem with the title Nude Venus. Go figure? Jax sicked the Rottweilers on him and I think the poor guy must have run all the way back to France."

     "I’ll bet he’s still running," Jax murmured.

     Brenda looked at Jax, laughing. Justin shoved Jax, "Cancun," he whispered.

     Jax shoved him back and then took Brenda’s hand. "Can I talk to you for a second?" he asked as he pulled her off to the side somewhat away from the others.

     "You really sicked the dogs on somebody?" she asked amused at the imagery of some skinny Frenchman with a beret on his head and paintbrush in his hand running across their lawn shouting "Sacrez blue!!!" as the digs nipped at his hindquarters.

     "Oh he deserved it. Listen, I’d like to ask you something."

     "Sure."

     "Would you like to go to Cancun with me today?"

     "Cancun? Where’s that?"

     "Mexico."

     "Mexico? You’re going to Mexico?"

     "I was considering it."

     "Today?"

     "Yes."

     "You mean like now?"

     "Well maybe in an hour or so."

     "Why?" she asked.

     Jax shook his head. The day would not be complete if Brenda didn’t ask at least fifty questions.

     "Do you want to go with me or not?" he asked her.

     "Well yeah, of course I do but I’d like to know why we’re going," she said remembering that Mexico was a place where one could get one of those quickie divorces and worrying a bit about that connection.

     "Well maybe we’re going because I owe you something."

     She looked mystified. "Like what?"

     "Like a honeymoon," he whispered.

     She screamed with delight. "A honeymoon?! Jax, do you mean it?!" she asked jumping up and down.

     "Shh. Not so loud. Yes I mean it. So how fast can you pack anyway?"

     "Fast! So fast! Oh, this is sooooo great! You are the best! Thank you!" She gave him an enthusiastic kiss and the rest of the family, especially Justin, looked on with interest. "Can we go sailing and jet skiing?" Brenda wanted to know as she took a small notepad and a pencil from her pocket and leaned it against his chest as she wrote down all the things she wanted to do. "Oh and parasailing too? I always wanted to do that."

     "Sure."

     "Will you teach me how to scuba dive?"

     "Okay."

     "Can we go look at a volcano?"

     "Mmm Hmm."

     "Will you let me try Tequila?"

     "No."

     She laughed and scratched that off of her list. Then she got closer to him and whispered, "Can we make love on the beach?" her lips touched the side of his face.

     "Absolutely," he whispered back to her, his lips brushing against her cheek in return.

     She laughed again and hugged him happily, loving the way his arms wrapped around her like being held by the sunshine.

     "I can’t believe you’re giving me a honeymoon. A real honeymoon with beaches and tropical nights and everything," she said dreamily, walking around him in a circle as she clutched her little notepad to her chest. Then she stopped in front of him, laughed and hugged him, her head resting against his shoulder. "Hey, does this mean that you don’t want to divorce me? I mean, I think you said something like that in your sleep last night." she couldn’t resist adding.

     "What did I say?"

     "That you didn’t want to divorce me."

     "I said that?"

     "Uh- huh."

     "I . . no I don’t think so. I don’t remember saying that." he said shaking his head.

     "Well I’m pretty sure you did, Jax."

     "Well that’s news to me, Brenda," he said feeling strangely vulnerable as he did suddenly have a vague recollection of saying such a thing.

     "So then you’re saying that you do want to divorce me?" she asked with a worried frown.

     No, he absolutely did not want to and had no intention of divorcing her, but he didn’t put it quite that way.

     "Well, the plan was to annul the marriage after you got your check, right? Obviously an annulment is no longer an option given the nature of our relationship now. And obviously you didn’t get your check yet. So why are we even talking about splitting up?" he asked diplomatically.

     She chewed on her lip anxiously. "Well what if I did get my check?"

     He looked at her curiously. "Did you?"

     She was about to tell him yes but then thought she’d better wait until after they got back from Cancun. Maybe if she waited just a little bit longer he would tell her that he was in love with her and that it didn’t matter what she had kept from him.

     "No, not yet," she said. "You know processing all that paperwork probably takes a while."

     He looked at her. "Mmm Hmm. So then we shouldn’t be talking about divorce, should we?"

     "You’re right. You are so right. Really, you are," she agreed. "Let’s not talk about divorce."

     "Good. So, let’s go pack. We should try to leave soon."

     "It’s just that, I think that since we’re going on a honeymoon, now, then it kind of makes the whole concept of divorce seem kind of ridiculous, don’t you think?"

     He slid his hands along the side of her throat. "Why are we still talking about this?"

     "We’re not. We’re not. I just want you to at least agree with me that its crazy for us to even consider divorce when we’re planning our honeymoon. I mean, if we wanted to be apart so badly why would we even go on a honeymoon at all? Obviously we kind of like being together you know?"

     "Well I don’t deny that. But the thing is that I promised you a honeymoon, Brenda and I don’t break my promises."

     Brenda was instantly perturbed. "So this is like just some fulfillment of a promise for you? You’re just taking me to Cancun because you promised and for no other reason?"

     "Well no. I also need to be alone with you."

     She looked at him suspiciously. "Why?"

     "There are some things I need to work out and possibly, as a result of that, there may be some things I need to tell you – to say to you, I mean," he said choosing his words carefully.

     She looked concerned. "What kind of things?"

     "Private things."

     She swallowed. "Bad things?"

     He looked somewhat confused that she would jump to that conclusion. "Well . . no . . .I mean I don’t know – I hope you won’t think they’re bad things . . ."

     Now she was the one who looked confused. "Why would I think that? Should I think that? Do you think I would think that? And why would you think that?!"

     He looked more confused than before. "Well I’m not saying you would, or that I think you would or should but" He was beyond confused now "Brenda, I don’t know, okay? I’m not sure how you feel and I’ve never done this before."

     "Done what?!" she asked, panicked. ‘Tricked a wife into going to Mexico with you so you could get a 10 minute divorce and be rid of her for good?’ she thought dismally.

     He was thoroughly confused by her agitation. What had he done to upset her? "I don’t understand this. Why are you sounding so distraught? You don’t want to go with me?" he asked, clearly puzzled.

     "No," she decided.

     "No?" he asked incredulously.

     "I mean, Yes! I do want to go, but no maybe I don’t because maybe you’re going to -- Oh Jax, you are just confusing me!" she said putting her hand to her head and pacing in front of him, as was her way when she was agitated.

     "No, you’re confusing me." Jax said taking a hold of her waist to stop her pacing.

     "Well you’re both confusing the bloomin’ dickens out of me." Niles said. "Sorry to interrupt this dizzying exchange, but sir, Miss Stanton is on her way up the walk, I just buzzed her in. You know how er . . persistent she can be. But the good news is that she is alone."

     Niles went back inside as Brenda gazed at Jax trying to figure out what she should do.

     "Brenda, okay let’s try this again. Are you going with me?" he asked her.

     His eyes were so confused and bewildered that she realized she had to be wrong about his wanting to take her to Mexico to divorce her. She knew Jax better than this, he would never do such a thing. Not ever. Her heart was warm with her love for him.

     "How much stuff should I pack?" she asked, smiling at him, carefree and happy once more.

     He smiled too glad that their strange exchange was over.

     "Well we have to be back by Friday for the opening of the restaurant so we’ll be there for three days," he said.

     "I can’t wait," she said softly.

     "Are you sure? Because just a minute ago you said . . ."

     "Forget what I said," she laughed, giving him a flirtatious series of kisses, just as Amber walked up.

     Jax looked thoroughly annoyed to see her. "Brenda why don’t you go inside and start packing. I’ll be right there," Jax promised.

     Alone with Amber Jax turned to face her. "What do you want?" he asked her.

     "Going somewhere?" she asked not able to conceal her envy or obvious hatred of Brenda.

     "Did you come here for a reason or not?" Jax asked with a tolerant blue-eyed gaze.

     "Why haven’t you returned any of Chad’s called?" she asked.

     "Because I don’t like him."

     Justin snickered at the way his brother said that.

     "Well put your feelings aside, Jax because you have got to talk to my brother."

     "Well if that’s all you have to say you can just turn around and leave right now. And don’t come back either."

     "Jax please! Chad is in possession of some very important information regarding that teenaged wife of yours. I know that you’re angry with him right now but you’ve got to hear him out."

     "Forget it."

     "Jax, we have proof, do you hear me, proof that that girl tricked you into marrying her!"

     "I don’t believe you."

     Amber was incredulous. "You don’t even want to see the proof?"

     "No. I’m not interested in anything that you or Chad have to say. I will tell you this, though, the both of you had just better lay off of Brenda once and for all. I’m sick of you trying to put her down or upset her or bad mouth her. And you sure as hell had better not do anything to hurt her or you’ll be sorry. I won’t be appreciative, Amber. I won’t be thanking you for looking out for me and showing me the light. Whatever you think this is going to achieve – you’re going to be disappointed. Now I suggest you take that message back to your brother and tell him to get over his fixation on my wife," Jax said and then he headed upstairs to pack his stuff for Mexico.

     Amber was shaken by his unrelenting defense of Brenda and his refusal to hear one negative thing against the hazel-eyed teen. Not only that, but he even seemed willing to pardon her if she were proven guilty of what Amber was accusing. What on earth! Could it be? Was Jax really and truly in love with that infuriatingly beautiful 19 year old? Suddenly Amber was not so sure about this plan of Chad and Iris’. Suddenly she was not sure that anyone would get what they wanted.

     Niles had overheard most of the frigid conversation between Jax and Amber and he was concerned by Amber’s fervent claims of having proof against Brenda. Niles made a mental note to have a chat with Jax before he left for Mexico. But as it turned out, Niles was busy when Jax and Brenda left and he missed them.

     "Oh drat," he muttered as he saw the limousine pulling away. "I’ve got to talk to Master Jax!"

     He vowed to have a word with Jax the moment he returned from Cancun.