by Jan
Good morning! Thanks as always to all the readers who have been so wonderful about feedback. There is only one more chapter and an Epilogue to “Torn,” and I hope to post that tomorrow or Friday. I hope you enjoy the chapter! --------------- Jan
TORN
Chapter 26
“Oh, Brenda,” Julia sobbed, sitting on the couch in the living room, “I’ve made such a mess of things. I just know the marriage is over!”
Jax raised his eyebrows, and Brenda just shook her head in disbelief. She reached around to hug Julia’s shaking shoulders, but could have strangled her at the same time. Just when she thought her life was perfect, leave it to her sister to come and ruin things.
Jax came over, not sure of what to do to help. “Look, it’s late. Brenda’s exhausted from a dinner we had to attend tonight. You look like you’re tired from the cross-country trip, Julia. Why don’t you get some sleep in our guest room for tonight and maybe things won’t look so bleak in the morning?”
Julia sniffled a little, and rose from the couch. “Thanks. I really didn’t want to stay in a hotel tonight.”
Jax carried Julia’s suitcase upstairs and Brenda followed slowly behind them, turning off the lights as she went. She couldn’t help but notice the way Jax was trying to help Julia feel better.
As they reached the guest bedroom, Jax came back out from putting her suitcase inside. “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to let us know. We want you to feel welcome here,” Jax added.
“I think I’ll take your advice and just go to bed. Maybe things will be clearer in the morning.” She came over to hug Brenda, who stood in Jax’s loose embrace. “Thanks for letting me stay, Bren.”
Brenda hugged her back, but with guarded enthusiasm. “No problem, Jules. We’ll see you in the morning.”
As Julia’s door closed, Jax opened his mouth to speak, but Brenda held her finger up to her lips. They went to their bedroom, and as soon as the door was shut, she gave him the OK to speak.
He pulled his tie off and dropped it on his dresser. “So, what do you think that’s all about? Did Julia tell you she and Bill were having problems?”
Brenda sat heavily on the bed. Jax came over to massage her feet while removing her shoes. “No. Not a word. I can’t imagine what the problem could be.” Then, as Jax stared up at her, Brenda looked down at her hands and sighed.
He sat next to her on the bed. “What’s the matter, sweetie?”
Brenda leaned into his hug, relishing his arm around her. “Oh, I just feel a little guilty. With all the problems we had been having, and then with all the excitement about the baby, I haven’t really been paying too much attention to Julia. I guess the last time we really had a chance for some girl talk was when she and Bill came to town for daddy’s birthday party.”
Jax had opened his shirt, and the sight of his naked chest made Brenda draw a long breath. He looked at her and gave her his most devilish smile. “You mean, the night I decided to get you to fall in love with me?”
She smiled weakly in return, rubbing her hand up and down his chest. “Oh, I think I did that long before that night. I think I fell in love with you when you were eight years old, and you hit me with that water balloon just as I was all dressed in my finest for the first day of school!”
Jax chuckled. “And here I thought I had made an enemy for life!” He turned her around to unzip her dress. As she turned back, expecting him to gather her into a sizzling kiss, he patted her shoulders instead. “Why don’t you go change into your nightgown, and then I’ll give you a backrub. You must be exhausted from standing for so long tonight. It might help you go to sleep.”
Brenda smiled at him, but inside she was dying. Before Julia’s arrival, Jax had been ready to make passionate love to her. Now, with his first love in the house, he just wanted to get her to go to sleep.
He did as he promised, and soon Brenda listened to Jax’s even breathing as he slept. She, however, laid awake for over an hour. Jax told her every day that he loved her. But, would that change, now that Julia appeared to be available?
The next morning, breakfast was strained, to put it mildly. Brenda sat and
stirred her yogurt, making patterns with her spoon. The thing she had secretly
dreaded for so long had happened – Julia had left her husband, making
her free for Jax.
Brenda stole a glance at Julia, who was pushing her sausage and eggs around on her plate. Apparently, she was upset, too. She probably needed comforting. And who else would she come to, but her old friend, Jax? And once Jax started comforting her, what would be more natural than for his old spark of desire for Julia to flame to life again?
Jax, in typical male fashion, was the only one who was eating with any appetite this morning. He saw Brenda playing with her yogurt, and then peeked at Julia, who was stacking her sausages in a geometrical pattern. His glance bounced back and forth between the two sisters for a few minutes like a ping-pong ball. {Hmm. Must be something genetic. Barrett women like to make designs with their food. Certainly a waste of good nutrition.}
Brenda fought back tears. She couldn’t stand around and watch the inevitable happen. She had to get out of the house, out of the path of the approaching storm that would take away all the happiness she ever wanted.
She pushed back her chair as Louise came to check if anyone wanted refills on coffee. “I think I’ll go into the office for a few minutes this morning.”
Jax choked on his coffee. “Brenda! I thought I cleared your schedule with Keith yesterday, and he said you were free until after the baby was born! Why today?”
She covered his hand with hers, trying to act nonchalant. “I just remembered a few things I want to brief Lucy on.” She looked at Julia. “Lucy’s the person who’s going to be taking over my duties while I’m on maternity leave.” She looked back at Jax. “I promise it will only take a few hours, and then I’ll come home and play couch potato for the rest of the day.”
Jax squeezed her hand, and Brenda felt the squeeze all the way into her heart. “OK, I guess if it’s inevitable. But make sure you have Chris drive you -–I don’t want you taking any extra chances at this point.”
She kissed him lightly and then briefly looked at Julia. “Sorry about this, Jules. I’ll try to be back as soon as I can.”
As she left the room, Julia raised a hand in a half-hearted wave. “’Bye, Bren. I’ll see you later.”
Jax looked back and forth between the two sisters again, and then leaned back to scratch his head. “Well, that’s odd. I thought she had everything taken care of at the office.”
Julia smiled and raised her coffee cup so Louise could refill it. “I’m not really surprised, Jax. You two have such a wonderful life here together, and I’m sure she just couldn’t stand being around a sad sack like me this morning.”
Jax nodded. “I guess she’s extra-sensitive to feelings like that right now, with being pregnant and all.” He gave Julia a serious look. “I couldn’t help but notice that you hardly touched your breakfast.”
“It was all I could do not to be sick just at the sight of it.”
“What is it with you Barrett women? When Brenda gets upset, she doesn’t eat either.” He rose and extended his hand to Julia. “Come on. Why don’t we go to my study and sort things out.”
Julia slowly rose. “OK. I guess I need to talk to somebody about things.” She looked at him slyly. “As long as you promise not to get me with one of those water balloons again!”
He chuckled as he motioned for her to follow him upstairs. “Ahhh, the dreaded water balloon desperado threatens society again, even in his old age!”
Julia went with Jax to the study that he also used for a studio. She gazed out the wall of windows, and then down at the drawings on the drafting table. “These are very good, Jax. I never knew you could draw. You’ve really captured the spring flowers at their peak.” She paused for a minute as he sat at his desk watching her. “Did you decorate this room, or did Brenda?”
Jax shook his head and looked at her intently. “Julia, you know as well as I do that you didn’t come 3,000 miles across the country to talk about my drawing talents and furniture. What’s the problem?”
Julia plopped herself down in an easy chair across from Jax’s desk. “You always did know me too well. It’s Bill. We had a terrible fight – well, fights, actually.”
“What did you fight about?”
Julia picked a piece of lint off her skirt. “A video.”
Jax laughed out loud. “A video? You two are divorcing over a video? Must be a heck of a movie.” He looked at her closely again. “Come on, Julia. Give me a little credit here.”
“Well, the video was what started it, I guess,” Julia said slowly. “Actually, Bill has been a bad mood for some time now. The canneries have been having problems, and the fiscal picture hasn’t been too bright. So, like a dummy, I tried to help him feel better by reminding him that I could always draw on the trust daddy set up for me years ago.”
“Sore point, eh?”
“That’s putting it mildly. Bill doesn’t want to have anything to do with Harlan Barrett’s money. So, then I thought maybe if we just rented a video and spent some time together, we could work things out. I rented the movie, made the popcorn – the whole set-up. I thought it was a cute romantic comedy that would lighten his spirits, but he told me in no uncertain terms that he thought it was dumb and shallow.”
Julia moved to look out the window as she spoke. “Then, I finally realized how insensitive I’ve been to Bill’s problems lately. I felt really low for not realizing how much pressure he’s been under, but I didn’t know how to tell him that. So, the next morning, I tried apologizing to him for being such a bad wife and so insensitive. The next thing I knew, we were fighting again!” Julia looked back at Jax with tears in her eyes. “It was like we were slugging through quicksand, and the more I tried to get out, the further I sank. Finally, Bill just screamed, “I need to get outta here!” and slammed out the door and took off in the jeep.”
Jax looked down at his lap, remembering the fight with Brenda that started their reconciliation. “Sounds normal to me Julia. Many intelligent men have been known to storm out, only to come to their senses and return later.”
“Yeah, well, I wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t come back. I’m such a failure as a wife, Jax.” She turned back to the window. “I can’t even get pregnant,” she said in a soft voice.
“And Bill is angry with you about that?”
“He says he’s not, but I know deep down he’s disappointed. Oh, we’ve had all the tests and they say there’s no reason why I can’t get pregnant, but I’m not.” Julia came and sat by his desk again. “I’m ashamed to admit it, but do you know I was jealous when Brenda called and said she was pregnant? We’ve been trying so hard, and all I could think was “Why couldn’t it be me instead?”” She took a deep breath. “Actually, that was what we were fighting about when he left. I was apologizing to him about us not being pregnant yet, and he started screaming that he didn’t care if we ever got pregnant. He got furious, and started saying I was obsessed with it. But I know he does care, Jax. I know he’s disappointed in me that I can’t give him a child.”
Jax swiveled in his chair and put his fingers to his mouth. “Hmmm, that’s interesting.”
“What?”
“Well, I only met Bill that one time – at your father’s birthday party – and he didn’t impress me as being a liar.”
Julia’s face reddened. “He is not a liar! How can you say that? You don’t even know Bill! He never lies!”
Jax looked at her and spoke in an even tone. “Then why don’t you believe what he’s telling you now?”
Julia suddenly realized she had fallen into the trap Jax had set for her. “Well, I still don’t think he would lie, but I don’t think he would deliberately hurt me, either.”
Jax started ticking the points off on his fingers. “So, either Bill loves you so much that he’s willing to convince himself he doesn’t want a baby, or he loves you so much that he really DOESN’T care if you’re a baby factory or not.” He looked her in the eye. “I’d say that’s what I’d call a win/win situation.”
Tears started welling in Julia’s eyes. “When did you get so smart, Mr. Jacks?”
He tapped the tips of his fingers together. “Probably when I decided that I loved your sister, Mrs. Eckert. Now why don’t you go call that husband of yours and get yourself back to California.”
Brenda tried to read the file on her desk for the third time, and then glanced
up at the clock. {Just exactly how much time do you allow for a marriage
to end and a new love affair to begin?} She closed her eyes and tried to
put things in perspective. She could think positively and hope that Jax
wouldn’t want Julia, even if she were free. Maybe all those time he
told her he loved her, he was actually serious. But then she decided she
had to be realistic. She was only setting herself up for a big disappointment
if she didn’t. After all, how could a handsome man like Jax not be attracted
to a beautiful, SLIM woman like Julia?
The buzzer on her desk suddenly interrupted her thoughts. “Mrs. Jacks, your sister is here to see you.”
Brenda took a deep breath. She was probably here to break the bad news to Brenda herself. {I just hope she doesn’t gloat.} “Send her in, Keith.”
Julia breezed in through the double doors, and Brenda began to fear that her worst nightmare was coming true. This Julia was nothing like the Julia she had left at the breakfast table with Jax. Something had to have happened.
“Hi, Brenda. Hope I didn’t interrupt something important.”
{Not at all, Julia. Just my marriage.} “No, Julia. Would you like some coffee?”
“No, I just came to tell you thanks and say good-bye. Brenda, are you OK? You look kind of pale.”
{Good-bye? Jax had packed that quickly?} “Good-bye? Are you going somewhere?”
Julia giggled, and Brenda almost swallowed her tongue. “I’m going back to California. Jax and I had a long talk this morning, and he made me realize how stupid I was acting. So, I called Bill and told him I was coming home, and after he burned my ears with every kind of lecture about coming here on the spur of the moment, he told me he loved me and wanted me back! Isn’t life wonderful?”
“Jax? Jax convinced you to go back to Bill?” Brenda said in astonishment.
“Well, of course, Bren.” She looked carefully at Brenda for a minute. “Oh my go…. You thought that Jax was going to leave you for me, didn’t you?”
Brenda played with her pen. “Well, can you blame me? He’s loved you ever since I could remember.”
Julia laughed. “No, Brenda, he didn’t love me. He had a CRUSH on me. He LOVES you. Can’t you see it, girl? It’s SO obvious. He looks so contented and happy. Do you know what he said to me when I was leaving today? He thanked me for never taking him up on his marriage proposals. That way, he was free to marry you. Does that sound like a man who’s unhappy with his wife?”
Brenda couldn’t believe it. “No, but sometimes what Jax says and what he does are two different things.”
“You know,” Julia continued, “you have a very insightful husband, Brenda. He said that we Barrett women always think the worst of our men, not trusting them, wanting to shelter them – probably something we learned from being around daddy. We have to learn to believe in the men we love, to allow them to share our problems, and to trust them.” She looked Brenda squarely in the eye. “YOU have to believe in Jax, Brenda. He loves you. Only you.”
Brenda’s eyes filled with tears as she came around the desk to hug Julia. “Oh, Jules, I’m the most terrible sister in the world! All I could think of was myself, and I didn’t even ask you why you believed your marriage was ending!”
Julia hugged her back. “Don’t worry about it, Bren.” She patted Brenda’s stomach. “Just take care of that little one, and call me when it’s born. I’m going to be the happiest aunt there is, and I’m going to spoil it rotten!”
After Julia left, Brenda took one look at the files on her desk, grabbed her purse, and buzzed Keith. “Would you please have Chris bring the car around? I want to go home.”
Brenda walked slowly up the stairs to the study, and could hear Jax humming
softly as she came close to the door.
“Busy?”
“Never too busy for you, Mrs. Jacks.” He walked over to the door, and pulled her into his arms for a welcoming kiss that made her toes curl.
When he pulled away, he got a cheshire grin on his face. “You know, if I don’t go into the baby furniture and diaper business, maybe I should go into the marriage counselor business. If this whole corporate raider thing doesn’t work for me anymore, that is,” he laughed.
She looked into his beautiful blue eyes, a soft blonde curl hanging down on his forehead like a little boy. “You’re really mine. You didn’t want Julia anymore.”
“Why would I want Julia? You didn’t believe I still loved her, did you?” He pulled her over to the couch so she could sit down while they talked.
“I don’t know, Jax. You told me so many times that you loved me, but it was just so hard for me to believe. When did you stop loving Julia?”
Jax sighed. “I don’t really know that I ever LOVED Julia. I think all we ever were was very good friends. I don’t think I really knew what love was until I fell for you, Brenda. Once I met you, anytime that I was apart from you I felt restless, dissatisfied, and unhappy. You complete me, Brenda. I realized that once I went to North Carolina. Then, when Lois let me know you were considering marrying Corinthos, I knew you were all I ever wanted in the whole world. What I felt for Julia pales in comparison to what I feel for you every day of my life. You do love me, don’t you Brenda?”
Brenda was crying, but they were tears of joy. “Of course I do, you idiot! I’ve told you that all along!”
“Then I’m just about the luckiest man in the world. I have a beautiful home, a baby on the way, and the most wonderful, beautiful woman in the world who loves me.” He suddenly got a devilish twinkle in his eye. “You know, Mrs. Jacks, I believe we were interrupted by your sister last night when we were in the middle of some very delicate negotiations. Would you like to continue that discussion today?”
She smiled back at him. “To quote a very wise woman I know, absu-dam-tively, Mr. Jacks.”
About 10 PM that night, Brenda was curled up in front of the TV in the living
room, watching a tape of her favorite soap opera. Jax came in from the kitchen
to join her.
“I finally found where Louise keeps the microwave popcorn! Want some?” He offered Brenda the bowl, and as she reached in for a handful, he began watching the tape. His smile quickly turned into a frown.
“Ah, no! Wait… she’s not going back to that short, black-haired guy again, is she?” he asked with disgust, pointing at the television.
Brenda munched on her popcorn. “Yep. I’m afraid so.”
Jax shook his head and chewed while Brenda looked at him. “What’s the matter, don’t you like the short guy?” she asked.
Jax gestured at the TV. “Well, any idiot can see that the tall, blonde guy would be a much better match for her.”
“You think so?”
“Well of course!” He paused for a minute, and looked at her in surprise. “Why, do you think she should be with the short guy?”
She munched for a few minutes. “I don’t know. I think that’s why they call this a triangle. Keeps viewers interested in watching.”
Jax got disgusted again. “Well, not THIS viewer. Hand me the TV guide. Maybe there’s a submarine movie on cable.”
Brenda sighed and started to hand him the book and remote, but suddenly the doorbell rang. “Who could that be at this time of night?”
Jax sighed and got up from the couch. “I don’t know, but you stay here. I’ll take care of it.” He walked to the front hall, then stopped and looked back at her. “And don’t you dare put a different video in the machine! I’m NOT going to watch “Sleepless in Seattle” with you one more time, pregnant or not!”
Brenda giggled, and grabbed some more popcorn. She heard Jax open the door, and then heard a muffled thump, followed by an angry voice.
“What the hell did you do with my wife, you kangaroo Cassanova?”
Brenda quickly got up from the couch, and when she got to the hallway, she saw Jax on the floor, rubbing his jaw, and Bill Eckert standing over him.
As Jax rose to continue the fight, Brenda intervened. “Stop it, both of you! What’s going on?”
“You tell me, sister-in-law of mine! Julia calls me today to tell me she’s coming home and she loves me, and then she never shows up at the airport!”
Jax looked at Brenda in alarm, and Brenda’s face went white. He jumped up to embrace her. “Now, Brenda, don’t get scared. Let’s check things out first before we jump to conclusions.” He led Brenda back into the living room, and motioned for Bill to come in and close the door.
“Would somebody tell me what’s going on?” Bill demanded.
“Where’s your wife’s bodyguard?” Jax said tersely, picking up the phone and dialing quickly.
Bill’s face paled, and he sat down on the chair. “Oh, my god. I didn’t think. As soon as she didn’t show up on her flight, I just hopped a plane and got here as quickly as I could.”
Jax spoke into the phone for a few minutes. His face was grim. “I see. Yes, I understand. Thank you.”
He sat down by Brenda, taking her hand. “When Julia left here, I got worried. I didn’t see her guard with her since she got here last night, so I asked that somebody watch her until she got back to California.”
“AND????” Bill shouted.
Jax took a deep breath. “And, when she got to the airport in Port Charles today, somebody bushwhacked him. Apparently he’s been checking, and there is no record of Julia ever boarding the flight to go back to California.” Brenda gasped, and Jax hugged her hard. “I think we have to assume that Sonny Corinthos has Julia.”
To be continued….