Amazingly, despite her excitement over Jax’s unexpected kiss, Brenda slept through the night with pleasant dreams to accompany her. When she awoke the next morning it was to brilliant sunlight filtering through the yellow curtains. She bounced out of the bed and threw open the windows to see what kind of a day it was. It was warm and sunny -- a shorts day, she decided. She put on blue denim shorts and a red and black striped top and went out into the hallway. Everything was silent. She walked across to Juliet’s bedroom and knocked. There was no answer so she walked in and saw Juliet still asleep. Brenda checked her watch. 8:30 a.m. She did seem to remember Juliet mentioning to her that she normally didn’t wake up until 10.

     Brenda went back out into the hallway and down the center spiral staircase. She wondered where the other two staircases led to? Probably Justin and Jax’s wings of the house, she surmised. She wandered about downstairs and made her way into the kitchen where there was life in the silent house. Vince was there with breakfast items neatly laid out on the immaculate counter tops and to Brenda’s amusement he was singing O’ Solo Mio as he whipped up some omelets.

     Brenda’s laughter gave her away and he turned around and gave her a smile. "Well, if it isn’t little Miss Barrett the tango queen. An early riser huh?"

     "Yep," she said taking a seat opposite him on one of the leather stools. "It seems I’m the only one. Well . . besides you."

     "You think so, eh? Well Niles is up and about somewhere. And I’ll have you know that Jax and Justin are both the roosters of this house. They get up with the sunrise."

     "Really?" Brenda asked with interest. "So then where are they?"

     "Oh they’re probably hiking along the trail that leads to the private bayou. It’s two and a half miles. A nice little walk. They should be on their way back by now."

     Brenda nodded. "Hey, is your wife really a fortune teller?" she asked as she began to chop up some green peppers for him without asking if he needed help, which made him smile.

     "The best in the business," he replied.

     "Where is she?"

     "Visiting her mother in Baton Rogue. She’ll be back tomorrow. Are you thinking of asking her what the future holds for you?"

     Brenda shrugged. "Well, you know, I don’t believe in that fortune telling stuff."

     "Course not," Vince said eyeing her in amusement.

     "But, you know, Julie seems to think really highly of your wife and so I thought I would just see what she has to say. You know, just for a kick."

     "Anything in particular you’re wanting to find out?" Vince queried.

     "No. Just this and that," she said evasively.

     They both heard the Westminster Abbey chime of the doorbell announcing an early morning visitor. Brenda walked into the entry way, curious to see who it was. It was some elderly woman and a younger woman with brown hair and pale blue eyes who were asking to see Jane. Niles informed them that Mrs. McAlister was unavailable at the moment and if they would like to leave word that they had come calling. The woman said that her name was Lilith Taylor and the young lady was her granddaughter Ava and they wanted to talk to Jane about hosting a charity function for the Orpheum Theater. They left their address and phone number and then left. No sooner had Niles shut the door than the bell rang again. This time it was Amber Stanton which made Brenda fold her arms and look cross. Was this woman ever going to give Jax any peace whatsoever? Amber wore a lovely summer dress and Brenda immediately felt young and inadequate in her jeans shorts and red shirt. She raced upstairs to change and therefore did not see that behind Amber was her brother, Chad, who were both invited in by Niles.

     Changing into a short, white summer dress with sexy criss cross back and flattering neckline, Brenda made her way back downstairs. As she was descending the center spiral staircase, someone was ascending the far left spiral staircase. She glanced over and saw Jax, who had obviously come home from his hike. He had on black shorts, black combat boots and a black mesh shirt which gave a tantalizing view of his muscular chest and arms. His dark blonde hair was damp and the entire image was so incredible that Brenda missed a step and fell on her rear.

     Jax turned around and went back down the stairs two at a time and went over to her to assist her as she got to her feet.

     He had this semi-smile on his face as he helped her up. "Are you okay?"

     "Yes, thanks," she said embarrassed and trying not to show it.

     "Are you going to make it habit of falling every time you see me, do you think?" he asked matter of factly. "Because we may have to take out an insurance policy on that."

     "Oh please, ha ha ha, this has nothing to do with you, Jax," she lied. "I’m just not used to spiral staircases, that’s all. All the staircases I’ve ever known just go up and down, they don’t turn in a spiral direction like the ones in this house."

     "Oh yes. Such a hazard," he said. Despite his light sarcasm, she liked the way he was looking at her and it made her feel pleased with herself for changing her clothes. "Maybe you need a walking stick. Or better yet an escort every time you go up and down the stairs?" he said.

     "Please, don’t trouble yourself," she said sarcastically.

     "Oh I wasn’t talking about me," he assured her, "I was talking about Chad. He’s here to see you, you know."

     The surprise in her hazel eyes alerted him to the fact that she did not know.

     "To see me? Why?" she asked.

     Jax looked at her. "Why do you think?"

     "Well I . . ." Brenda narrowed her eyes as she looked at him. Was he somehow attempting to give her a compliment? Lord she could never tell with him. "But I don’t even know him," she said.

     "Well, I think that’s the whole idea. His intention is to get to know you better," Jax said as he indicated for her to proceed down the stairs while he walked behind her to make sure she didn’t take another spill.

     "Oh," Brenda said sounding uncomfortable.

     "You have an objection to that?" Jax asked her.

     Brenda just shrugged.

     "You don’t want to be alone with him, is that is?" Jax guessed.

     "I don’t understand why he wants to get to know me better. What do you think he wants to do?" she asked.

     Jax rose an eyebrow. He had a pretty good idea. "I’m sure it’s nothing earth shattering, Brenda. He probably just wants to show you around New Orleans."

     She looked less than enthused, and it wasn’t because she didn’t like Chad. He was very nice. But she didn’t want to waste the day sightseeing with him when she could be somehow making herself a nuisance to Jax instead. She would only be here for three months and Jax was the most exciting thing about New Orleans in her opinion. Memories of his lips upon hers last night were as fresh in her mind as if it had happened only moments ago.

     "What are you doing today?" she asked.

     "Why?"

     She shrugged. "Well Chad is your friend. I thought I might feel better about going out with him if you were with us and . . ."

     "Sorry, I have a date with a Lear Jet," he said dismissively.

     "Oh, you fly?"

     "No, but my plane does."

     She laughed. "Well where are you flying to?"

     "You are the most inquisitive person I’ve ever met," he told her. "Do you always just ask whatever you like, of whomever you like, whenver you like?"

     "Yes. How do you expect to get answers if you don’t ask questions?" she asked logically.

     "No one I know asks as many questions as you do."

     "Does that mean you’re not going to answer me?"

     "That’s right," he said.

     "Going to go get yourself another harem?" she said as he began to walk away from her.

     "Maybe two," he responded as he began to go back up the stairs to his wing of the house.

     Brenda watched him disappear up the steps and frowned as she pondered how to arrange a way to be able to spend time with him today. She peered into the living room where she saw Amber and Chad talking. She backed out and went back into the kitchen where Vince was now working on apple cinnamon pancakes. He noticed her change of outfit. She was a remarkably pretty little thing, you could just stare at her for hours on end. Jax certainly had his work cut out for him if he was determined to ignore this one.

     "Is Jax back?" he asked, assuming that was the cause of her change of clothing.

     She nodded. "Hey Vince, what do you know about Jax’s friend Chad?" she asked as she once again sat on one of the leather stools by the counter he was working at.

     "Chad Stanton?"

     "Stanton? You mean that woman Amber is his sister?"

     "Yes she is. The Stanton’s have been neighbors of the McAlister’s for many years. All of the kids grew up together, Amber has set her cap for Jax since they were 16 years old much to his aggravation. Chad is a pleasant fellow, although he always seems to be in competition with Jax in some way or another. Are you interested in Chad?"

     Brenda shook her head. "No. Not like that. But Jax seems to think he wants to get to know me better."

     "I’m sure that Jax is right," Vince said. "Chad has been asking a lot of questions about you ever since last night. He’s definitely interested."

     Brenda shrugged as if it were not that important to her. "Do you know where Jax is flying to today?" she asked. Now this was something important to her.

     Vince thought about it. "I think I heard Jerry mention that Jax and Devon were going Shark tagging over the weekend -- that would be today."

     Brenda’s eyes widened. "Shark tagging? That sounds dangerous."

     "It can be. But they’re pretty darn good at it. They don’t actually capture the sharks, they just tag ‘em and let ‘em go."

     "Why?" Brenda asked in confusion. It seemed like a silly sport to catch a shark and just let it go.

     "Well Devon and Jax are both licensed deep sea divers and a couple of years ago they became part of a free lance marine biology crew that tracks certain sharks throughout the year. God only knows why those boys are interested in that sorta thing – foolin’ around with sharks of all thins, but I believe it’s environmental. They’re trying to monitor the sharks to make sure they aren’t in danger of extinction or some such thing. They go on these shark tagging expeditions every summer."

     "Around here?"

     "Oh no, I’m sure they’re going to the Jacks Island in the Caribbean like they always do."

     "They have their own island?" Brenda whispered incredulously.

     Vince nodded and then leaned closer to her. "You have no idea how wealthy this family is, because they don’t act the way people who have tons of money would act, you know what I’m sayin’? But mark my word even ole King Midas would have been envious of the wealth that Mr. Jacks has built up for his family."

     Brenda crossed her legs and spun around on the stool. "The Caribbean...wow. You know I’d love to go shark tagging and see exactly what they do. You don’t suppose they would take me if I asked them to, do you?"

     "Not a chance. Not unless you ask them in front of Mr. or Mrs. Jacks, that is. If you really want to go, just make sure you ask Jax in front of his parents. He won’t be able to refuse you then," Vince told her with a wink as if it were some secret.

     "Really? Why not?" Brenda asked grinning.

     "It’s one of the Jacks golden rules about not refusing requests of guests. The boys break the rule all the time, of course, but never in the presence of their parents. So if you want to get him to take you, that’s the ticket. Just ask him in front of his mom and dad. He’ll be mad as hell at your cleverness, but he won’t say no," Vince said with a smile.

     Brenda was smiling with glee. "Thanks Vince," she said, and then she jumped off of the stool and raced back upstairs to wake up Juliet and tell her about her plan for the day.