On Wednesday Jax and Brenda spent the day visiting the spectacular ancient Mayan ruins of Chicen-Itza, Uxmal and Tulum and Brenda was impressed with how much Jax knew about the history of the ruins. He was a walking encyclopedia on the Toltecs and the Aztecs, the Zapotecs and the Mixtecs and he had Brenda utterly fascinated with his knowledge.

     They took a helicopter tour of the many volcanoes, then went to Xcaret to see the dolphins and do some great snorkeling in the crystalline coves.

     The day was exhausting but great fun and they had a leisurely, relaxing dinner out on the terrace of their suite and then capped he night off with a delicious session of lovemaking in every room in the suite, saving the bedroom for last.

     Deep in the dreamy hours of the night they were both awake and Brenda mentioned to Jax how impressed she had been with his knowledge of the Mayan ruins, the specifics of the rich Indian history and even the dimensions, activity and inactivity of the volcanoes.

     "Well you learn a lot when you travel as much as I used to," he told her.

     "Used to, huh?" she said looking a tad bit guilty.

     "Well I’ve slowed down a little bit since I found a much more addictive distraction," he said.

     She laughed. "Well if you mean me, I’ll take that as a compliment."

     "I do mean you, and it was a compliment."

     "Hey, Jax. You know I love the idea of traveling all over the world and experiencing new things and learning all there is to know about everything too. So if you miss doing that stuff then maybe we could do it together, you know? I mean, I know you wanted to go on that Safari with your friends, but how about if you go with me instead? I’d love to go with you and I think it would be incredible."

     "We’re not talking Disney World here, Venus. This would be the true wilds of the Sudan. Jungles, wild animals, bugs, big bugs, snakes, huge snakes, quicksand. Restless natives. Those things can be very exciting but also very dangerous. Wouldn’t you be afraid?" he asked, not accustomed to such fearless females as this one, still too accustomed to the swooning, crying, faint-if-they-broke-a-nail southern belles he’d grown up with and went to school with.

     "Of course not," she said. "I would never be afraid of anything if I was with you," she said as if it were elementary dear Watson.

     He had never come closer to telling her that he loved her than at that point. But somehow they had drifted off into sleep without the words ever having being said.

     The next night was their last in Cancun as they would be leaving early Friday morning. They went into Playa del Carmen and walked along it’s miles of gorgeous white sand beaches, stopped to view the wonderful folk art shops and had lunch at a lively café where Brenda was doted on shamelessly by the strolling Mariachi band, the waiters, the owner and even the chef, who came out to personally see that her lunch was to her satisfaction. They spent the rest of the afternoon souvenir shopping for the family and got back to the hotel at about 7 o’clock.

     "What a great day! What a great three days," Brenda said as she twirled around as they went out to the waterfall pool which the hotel had closed off for their private use only for the evening. Dinner was already set up buffet style and waiting for them as the soothing sounds of the waterfall added to the magical atmosphere of the tropical night. Brenda, wearing a black bikini top and a red sarong skirt tied to her waist was walking along the long balcony section just beyond the pool area, glancing below at the beach.

     "Come here, Brenda," Jax said to her.

     He was sitting by one of the patio tables and she joined him there, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

     "I wish we could stay here forever. I don’t ever want to go back," she said, sliding into his lap.

     "Why not?"

     She looked at him seriously. "I feel like something has changed between us since we came down here. Really changed. And in a good way. I just think if we go back then everything might change again. In a bad way."

     "Some things can’t be changed," he told her, his eyes never leaving hers.

     "Like death and taxes?" she said.

     "Like feelings," he said. "I think once you realize that you love somebody, truly love somebody, there is no going back and . . .you know, you never stop loving them. Wouldn’t you agree with that?" He looked at her, looked down, then looked at her again.

     "Well I think the rate of divorce in this world would contradict that statement," she said with a sigh. "But yeah, I agree with you. Totally."

     They were interrupted by a waiter bringing a box in which he handed to Jax and then left.

     "What’s that?" Brenda asked.

     "Well if you’re going to come with me to the French Riviera next year, you’re going to have to know how to play this game and play it well," he told her as he opened up the box to reveal a monopoly board.

     "You guys play Monopoly in the French Riviera? That's what the big deal is?"

     "We play a lot of games, but that’s the one that relaly counts. You see we play for real property. Say for instance I would put up this hotel and some of the other players would put up their hotels or summer homes or wives -- i would never bet you, however - or islands or castles, things like that."

     Brenda’s eyes widened. "Really? Wow. Yeah, then you better teach me how to play because I’d hate to lose your hotel or god forbid the mansion," She said laughing.

     "Okay. Sit over there," he said pointing to the seat across from him as he set the board up. "Here take this, you’re going to need it," he said taking off his jacket and giving it to her.

     She gave him a cute, perplexed smile. "Why?"

     "You’ll see," he said reaching over to give her an impulsive kiss.

     A few moments later the board was set up and ready to go. Jax had explained the rules to his young wife and they were ready to go.

     "So okay, what property are we playing for?" she asked him as she rolled the dice around in her hands.

     "Properties of clothing," he said with a sexy grin.

     She laughed. "You’re kidding, right?"

     "Not a chance. You better put that jacket on, baby, you don’t have that much collateral as it is," he said taking stock of the skimpy amount of clothing she was wearing.

     She put the jacket on. "I can’t believe this. Strip monopoly? You just know a man had to invent this game," she sighed.

     "A man named Jasper Jacks," he confirmed with a wicked little grin, to which he got the sound of her pretty laughter.

     "Okay, here we go," she said taking a deep breath and rolling the dice . . .

     Back in New Orleans, Ava and Amber were each day dreaming of a life of wealth and fun and passionate nights with Jax after Brenda was gone.

     Iris was day dreaming of a life of excessive luxuries at the Jacks mansion, perhaps even seducing Robert Jacks and becoming the woman of the house. And she was also envisioning Brenda in a drab nun’s habit, her beautiful hair shorn off, her beautiful eyes full of nothing but misery as overbearing nuns screamed at her for having the kind of beauty that would drive the poor, weak willed men of the world to sin.

     Chad was daydreaming of a marathon night of lovemaking to Brenda, whether she was his wife or not. He intended to propose to her as soon as Jax dumped her, but he anticipated a negative response to his proposal from her, in which case he would offer up his friendship and a shoulder to cry on and would parlay that into passion somehow. She would be humiliated, vulnerable, sad and heartbroken to lose her claim on the heart of the much sought after warlock. He was sure that the combination of those emotions would make her succumb to his advances.

     "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. Creeps in at it’s petty pace . ." Chad murmured to himself anxious for the day of reckoning to arrive so that everyone could get their just deserts and all the charades would be exposed at last.

     Brenda was beating the pants off of Jax -- literally -- in their Monopoly game. She was very pleased with herself as she gazed over at him down to his boxer shorts sitting across from her.

     "Well I sure hope you don’t land on anymore of my pro-per-ty," she sang, laughing with glee as she patted the pile of clothing next to her.

     He grinned. "Well you could always give me a loan, you know, Brenda."

     "You mean like give you your shirt back or something?"

     "Right."

     She shook her head. "I don’t think so," she said blowing him a kiss. "I can practically taste my victory – or should I say see it," she said, her hazel eyes roving appreciatively over his barely clothed, fit as fit can possibly be tanned body.

     But the next few turns turned the tables on the previously assured-of-victory Mrs. Jacks, who was stunned by the fact that not only did Jax win all of his clothes back, but had her down to nothing but her bikini too!

     "Oh my God," she said laughing at her predicament.

     "Rule number one. Never count your chickens, sweetie pie," he said to her.

     "Oh yeah . . . I think I have definitely learned that lesson," she said, scratching her head in disbelief at how quickly and drastically things had turned around.

     She rolled the dice and lo and behold landed on another one of Jax’s many properties.

     "Yikes," she said.

     He grinned at her. "Lets see . . ." he said. "One bikini top should cover your rent, seniorita."

     She laughed and shook her head. "Oookay. " she reached behind to undo the strings. "We'd better be alone out here Jax or I will kill you."

     "Well if you go stand beneath that waterfall over there I think that might cover your rent just as well."

     She looked at him skeptically. "Really? You just want me to stand under it?"

     He nodded.

     "Okay, Jax, I just know, you’re up to something buster, but okay," she said getting up from her seat and walking over to the water. She waded through the shimmering pool of blue to the relatively shallow section where the water falls were and she leaned against the side of the pool allowing the water to run down on her, slicking back her beautiful dark hair and leaving rivulets of glistening water all over her tanned body.

     He could not get over how very perfect she was, how she touched his heart in places he never even knew existed.

     She looked at him, at the way he was looking at her, his blue eyes completely mesmerized.

     "Kind of hard to tell who won now, isn’t it?" she said softly.

     He nodded as he took in her appearance with an entranced gaze. She was not going to go poof he told himself. She was real, she was there, and amazingly enough . . . .she was his.

     He went over to her. He touched her face just to make sure she was real. She smiled at the adorable look of wonder in his blue eyes and she stood on her tip toes and kissed him, her wet lips softly brushing against his. "So do you want to take a Siesta with me?" she asked enticingly, giving him another kiss, her wet body brushing against his.

     "No," he said. "I need to say something to you first."

     "I knew it," she said grinning. "You want the bikini top for rent after all, don’t you?"

     He smiled. "Well maybe later."

     He learned back against the wall of the pool and gazed at her for a moment before saying anything. "You know when I was nine I was really into these spider man comic books," he told her, his hands resting on her hips. "Justin was at that bratty age of seven and he would take my comic books and rip them up or color all over them and I never cared really because I could just buy another one."

     She laughed imagining Justin scribbling the holy hell out of Jax’s comics and Jax nonchalantly just letting him do it and not even batting a blonde eyelash.

     "But there was this one time when my father got me a collector’s edition from England," Jax continued. "It was the only one of it’s kind in the world. It was priceless. Justin painted over every single page with his color by numbers paint kit in black, no less, and that priceless comic book became worthless in ten seconds, and suddenly it didn’t mean anything to me anymore so I just let Justin keep it. And when my father found out he wasn’t too happy with me. He told me that if I was willing to let go of it that easily and without any kind of a fuss or any display of emotion then it was never really priceless to me in the first place. He told me that I would never know what priceless was and therefore I would never truly have anything priceless in my life, " he paused and looked at her with nothing but stark blue truth in his eyes, "but I do know what it is. It’s you, Brenda. You are the priceless thing in my life and umm . . .if Justin ever tried to color over you I think I would be very upset with him."

     He hoped she knew what he was trying to say, but Brenda seemed to be in a state of shock. He almost couldn’t even tell if she was breathing.

     "So I’m saying that you are the one treasure I could never have found no matter how far across the globe I trekked because I wasn’t really looking for you," he tried to clarify his earlier statement. "I had my life planned out for the next sixteen years and you weren’t there. You’re the one who found me, really. And . . I didn’t know it at the time, but it was probably the most important day of my life – I’m talking about the day I married you."

     Her state of shock lingered on. He guessed he would just have to say the words now.

     "Ummm . . . so this is me trying to tell you that I’m in love with you in case you didn’t quite get that in the midst of all my other gibberish," Jax said softly knowing that he had now said it and could never take it back. " I love you, Brenda. I just want you to know that."

     Her eyes flew open wide. She seemed momentarily like this beautiful young deer caught in the headlights and then all at once she went crazy. Screaming and yelling and laughing and unable to stand still.

     "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!!!!" she screamed splashing around in the water like a lunatic before leaping into his arms. "He loves me! He loves meeee!" she yelled deliriously with a contagious exultation and beautiful accompanying laughter.

     He laughed too, swinging her around. "Yes he does," he verified. "He loves you a lot." He set her down for a moment gazing at the deliriously happy 19 year old searchingly. "Do you love him?" he asked.

     She was shocked that he even had to ask. "With every solitary fiber in my body," Brenda whispered. "I love you, Jax. I’ve loved you forever! Well okay, maybe not forever, but for a whole month anyway!"

     He laughed. She was so crazy. "Well a whole month – forever - same thing, right?"

     She nodded eagerly and then hugged him close feeling the jubilation running amuck within her. This had to be the happiest day of her entire life! Joy filled her heart, filled her soul and then spilled over to every part of her. She had never felt like this before. Electrified with emotions, jubilant with joy. It was like Christmas day when she was five years old! Her heart felt so wonderfully funny and music danced in her head.

     It’s like you took my dreams, and made each one real
     You reached in side of me and made me feel
     And now I see a world, I’ve never seen before
     Your love has opened every door
     You set me free
     Now I can soar
     Cause someone like you
     Found someone like me
     You touched my heart
     Now nothing is the same
     My heart’s taken wing
     And I feel so alive
     Cause someone like you found me

     "I love you," she said emotionally as she felt the tears of relief and happiness and overwhelming happiness springing forth. "Jax, I love you, I love you." she said as if the words had been bottled up too long and needed repeating.

     "Then, I only ask one thing of you. And I’m only asking because you’re young and you’re so beautiful and you’re like this shooting star that may want to shoot away from me some day. So I have to ask you this. Don’t ever leave me, Brenda," he asked of her.

     "Don’t you ever leave me," she said.

     "I won’t. I couldn’t."

     "Promise me, Jax," she said holding him tighter. "Please."

     "I promise, sweetie. I promise," he said laughing softly at her seemingly dire need to hear him say this.

     She took a deep breath and then pulled away from him. He kissed her and flooded her with his love. Love he had never shared with another woman. Love he had never given to another living soul. Then he kissed away her happy tears and whispered into her ear that she was his first love, his last love, his only love, the love of his life and he had switched his time table around and graciously lost his battle with Cupid all just for her.

     The happiness she felt was so potent, so very nearly make-believe in it’s splendor, that she was terrified that it would somehow disappear if she so much as blinked. She didn’t dare let him go for a solitary second.

     "Did you mean what you told me before?" she asked. "About love. That it never changes. That once you love someone you never stop loving them?"

     He nodded.

     "So nothing could make you stop loving me then, right?" she asked, her eyes seeming slightly distressed.

     "Nothing," he swore, stroking her face. "What’s wrong?"

     "Please remember you said that okay?" she begged him reaching up to touch his hands which were caressing her face, curving her hands around his wrists, just needing to touch him, to feel him.

     "Brenda, I love you. I have never loved any other woman, but I love you. Nothing will ever change the way I feel about you. That’s the truth. I promise. Now, is there something that you want to tell me?"

     She nodded bravely and took another deep breath. "Yes. I have to tell you something now, Jax," she said, her eyes glassy with nervous tears and he noticed that her hands, which absolutley refused to let go of him, were slightly shaking . . .

Song Credit: "Someone Like You" Music by Frank Wildhorn, lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. From the CD "Highlights from Jekyll & Hyde."