Part 11: The End of the Dream
by N.R. Levy
Jarod added wood to the blaze in the stone fireplace of the Wyoming cabin that was for now, his home. Their home, he corrected. He, Parker and Thomas had been here for nearly six weeks now. It frightened him to think that never in his life had he been as happy as he had during those six weeks.
He had been forced to move his little "family" just three days after Thomas’ birth. Spencer had been working in the ER when Matthew appeared, four other sweepers in tow. Something about the men had unnerved her and she had approached.
"Can I help you gentlemen?" Matthew reached into his pocket and pulled out two pictures. One was of Jarod, the other of his wife.
"Have you seen these two people?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I have." Spencer looked up from the photo at Matthew, staring him directly in the eye.
"I treated this woman for a back injury, oh, about two weeks ago or so. But she was released after 48 hours. She said something about visiting family in California."
"Have you seen the man?"
"Mm-hmm. He showed up about two days later. I told him the same thing I told you."
Matthew grabbed the photos from her hand and smoothly returned them to his jacket pocket. He directed the sweepers to check around the hospital – just in case. It had taken all of Spencer’s nerve to return to her desk and not run to Catherine’s hospital room. Instead, she wrote a note and handed it to Angela, who quickly headed off on a long, winding path to where the Russelers were enjoying some time with their baby.
After reading the note, Jarod had acted swiftly, using his scrambler to place a call to the Centre that would easily be traced to a dummy number he had set up in California nearly two years earlier. Less than five minutes after he placed the call, he saw the sweepers fly out of the parking lot in their ever-present black sedans. Jarod still didn’t know how or why Spencer had said California, but he thanked God that she had set up a story he could verify so easily.
Still, he had decided it was best to move Parker and Thomas just in case Matthew became suspicious and returned. Remembering his earlier plan to take the new mother to Wyoming, he phoned Father Moore who quickly made arrangements for a place for them to stay.
Thinking back to the day he had made those plans, Jarod had to smile. He had been so afraid that he would hurt Parker, terrified he wasn’t well enough to be around her. He’d been so foolish. Taking care of Parker had been the thing that had healed him. He was strong again, focused, and it was all because of the strength she had fostered in him by letting him care for her.
Yet despite his overall feelings of contentment, the trip to Wyoming had caused a great deal of turmoil for Jarod. With Parker well on the road to recovery, and the intimacy of their little room in the Delaware hospital shattered, he wondered just how their relationship would unfold in new surroundings. He desperately wanted to believe that they had permanently turned the corner. He couldn’t imagine going back to the days of cat and mouse, friend and foe – it had taken too much out of both of them.
He’d had no idea that Parker shared those same concerns. She, too, had seen the change in their relationship and realized that she had only two choices – fight it or surrender to it. She’d glanced over at her son, sleeping soundly in his car seat, and decided she no longer wanted to fight it. Jarod was her friend. He had shared the most important and difficult times of her life with her, and she wanted him around for whatever else might be coming.
They’d settled into the little Wyoming cabin, and for several days, Jarod had done little more than care for his two charges. Father Moore became a frequent visitor, and Jarod couldn’t miss the joy it sparked in Miss Parker to hear the old priest recount stories about her mother.
Once Parker was back on her feet, he had contemplated working at the hospital as he’d originally planned. But something inside him told him to enjoy the time he had with her and the sweet little boy who now held a firm grip on his heart.
Jarod turned away from the refueled fire and looked over at the two sleeping forms on the couch. Parker had drifted to sleep after nursing Thomas, and the infant lay snuggled against his mother’s chest, a look of pure innocence on his face. ‘God,’ he thought, ‘how am I ever going to let them go?’
He knew he would have to. Not immediately, of course. Lyle and Brigitte still posed an enormous threat to Thomas and until they were neutralized, Parker could not return to Blue Cove. But he knew that the end to this amazing time in his life was coming, and he had begun trying to prepare himself for its eventual arrival.
It wasn’t as if he hadn’t thought of trying to convince her to stay. Many times, he had prepared to sit down and do just that. And then he imagined what it would be like for Thomas to never have a home, never be able to trust that he had one place where he belonged. That’s would life would be like if they had stayed with him, and though Jarod knew he wanted better for both of them, he still didn’t know how he was going to handle watching them walk away.
Thomas began to squirm on Parker’s chest and Jarod walked over and carefully picked the little boy up so as not to wake his mother. Snuggling the baby close, he wandered to one of the windows, and the two watched the sunset as Jarod spoke quietly to the baby boy.
"Thomas, sometime soon, I’m not going to be able to be with you all the time. That’ll be okay for you because you have yourself one heck of a mother there. And she’ll always love you and protect you and make you feel safe. But wherever I am, I’m going to be loving you, too, and if you ever need me, I promise I’ll know and I’ll come and find you wherever you are."
Lying on the couch, Parker fought to keep her eyes from betraying the tears that had welled up inside of them. She’d woken the moment Jarod had taken the baby, but knowing her son was safe, she had tried to go back to sleep. Then she’d heard his voice. And the tears had started to come.
Why was life always so damn unfair to them? First, Thomas had lost his father before he’d even been born. Now, he was going to lose the only one he knew because there was no way the three of them could stay together indefinitely. The Centre would see to that, they always did.
So often in these past weeks, she’d been forced to battle some of the strongest emotions she’d ever faced in her life. Her regret over her two Thomases never knowing each other, her intense gratitude toward Jarod, her hatred of her brother – each of these things had plagued her. But now she knew that the hardest thing she would have to face would be walking away from Jarod, and, with her going, taking away the only family he had truly ever been a part of.
She couldn’t bring herself to open her eyes and face him, and Jarod kept his back to her, his eyes also filled with tears as he held Thomas closer and watched the sun sink behind the mountains.
_________________________________Brigitte gave birth to a baby boy three weeks after Thomas Kyle Gates’ arrival. Master Parker, as he was known, was a healthy if not attractive baby, and his father beamed with pride over the new arrival, and outwardly appeared to have everything a man could want – a new baby to carry on the family name, a beautiful young wife and a position of enormous power. But there was a hole inside of Mr. Parker, and nothing around him could fill it.
He missed his daughter terribly. He never mentioned her anymore other than to ask Sydney if there had been any news in the search for her, but he had stopped expecting to hear good news. Something told him that he might never see her again. He knew that most of the people who knew him thought he was getting what he deserved. So often, he had dismissed her in favor of something or someone else. He had always forced her into a lower place in his life.
Did any of them, he wondered, any of the people who thought he didn’t deserve her realize that he felt the same way himself? Loving Catherine and being his Angel’s father were the only two good things he had ever done in his life, and no one was more aware of that than he. Yet he had squandered that good fortune, and now he was left surrounded with the consequences of those actions.
He had everything all right -- a beautiful young wife? – A deceitful viper who was probably thrilled by his daughter’s absence. And Lyle – it was funny how he never thought of Lyle as Catherine’s son, but as his own – almost as if the man had sprung from him fully grown – twisted into the image of the perfect child to be heir apparent at the Centre.
But he wasn’t the perfect child – she was.
Sam’s generally placid expression had these last two months been replaced by one of sadness. He missed his boss more than anyone would imagine – well, anyone but Sydney or Broots. They would understand. Hell, they probably felt the same way.
He knew most people didn’t get Miss Parker, but that just made her all the more important to Sam, because he did. And he was beginning to wonder if he would ever see her again.
He knew she was with Jarod. Sydney had told him as much. And though he had devoted most of the last three years of his life to helping her catch Jarod, Sam knew she couldn’t be in better hands.
But life at the Centre was – well, it wasn’t a life without the person he’d focused on for so many years. His loyalty had always been to her, never this place, and it was becoming unbearable to search for Jarod and his family under the malicious direction of Mr. Lyle.
He was on his way to yet another strategy meeting with the new search coordinator, but Sam knew all their efforts were useless. Miss Parker had been the only one smart enough to catch Jarod, and they were all just chasing their tails now, waiting for the Triumvirate to lose patience with Lyle and change leaders. Unfortunately, they all knew that probably meant working for Brigitte, and that was an even worse possibility.
The ringing of his cell phone broke his chain of thought, and Sam flipped it open to answer the call.
"This is Sam."
"Working hard." A smile broke out across Sam’s face at those words that nothing could erase, except his fear that someone would see it and know instantly whom he was speaking with. He forced himself to resume his earlier mask, and moved into a corner of the hallway.
"Miss Parker, are you all right?"
"I’m fine, Sam, but I need your help." After weeks of purposelessness, Sam felt re-energized. Had he been looking in a mirror, he would have seen his body straighten up, his shoulders squaring as he answered.
"Tell me what you need."
___________________________________They had fought for the first time in months, and it had unnerved them both. This wasn’t their usual banter or an angry word or two, but a real, full out argument.
Jarod didn’t want her to contact her father, and she felt she had to. It was the central point of the disagreement, though both knew there was more to it than that.
He didn’t want her to go and she didn’t want to go, but she had to and they both knew it. Unfortunately knowing it didn’t make it easier to accept.
"Jarod, I need him on my side if I’m going home."
"When has he ever been on your side, Parker? I can’t believe after everything he’s done, you’re still willing to trust him."
"I didn’t say I trusted him. I said I needed him. Those are two different things if you hadn’t noticed." At that Jarod threw up his hands, storming out of the living room towards the kitchen.
"Fine, do what you want. You always do anyway."
Angrily, Parker stood and followed him into the kitchen, stopping in the doorway while he continued to the stove where he checked on dinner, slamming the lids of the pots down as he did.
"Jarod, I have to go back. You know that. Thomas needs to be at home and I have a life to get back to."
"And such a great life it is, Parker. Are you going to start taking Tommy to work with you right away? You know, the heir apparent training program at the Centre is such a terrific way to raise children. Look at how well you turned out."
His words stung her and it took all her energy to fight down the urge to lash out at him. He wasn’t angry with her, he was angry at the situation. The fact that she knew him well enough to know that frightened and thrilled her all at the same time.
Jarod turned his back to her and leaned against the sink for support. For her part, Parker was tired of fighting a battle that couldn’t be won. She had to leave, and they both had to accept that.
She walked over to him, her right hand coming to rest gently in the middle of his back.
"Don’t you think that if it could work – don’t you know I would stay? But it won’t, Jarod. Anymore than my moving away with Thomas would have worked, I know that now. The only way I – we can ever be free from the Centre is if we find the truth about all the secrets it holds over us. Then we can take back control of our lives."
He hated hearing the words, but knew they were true. There was still so much they both had to do before the Centre could be completely cut out of their lives, before the people that they loved would be safe. And though he knew that, it still seemed damn unfair.
He turned toward her, his eyes showing his surrender.
"All right, Parker. What is it you want to do?"
Parker sat in the hotel lobby in Maine, her heart pounding as she saw her father walk through the doors. She couldn’t read his face, and wondered if he was angry that she had called Sam to arrange their meeting. In fact, her father hadn’t even known where he was headed when the two men left the Centre. Keeping Sam the only one that knew meant that no other Centre personnel would be showing up unannounced.
He walked up to her and she stood, not certain how to greet him. Her uncertainty was momentarily pushed aside as her father stepped closer to her and wrapped her in an embrace. The shock of his actions made it hard for her to react, but eventually she had pulled her arms up from their slack positions at her side, and returned his embrace.
"Angel, it’s good to see you."
"It’s good to see you, too, Daddy."
He held her a moment longer, then stepped back, his attention immediately turning to the stroller beside her chair. He moved so he could get a better look at the tiny figure inside.
"Angel, he’s beautiful. Definitely a Parker."
Parker smiled half-heartedly at his comment, her nerves still a little frayed from seeing him again. She sat down in her chair, afraid that he might notice her legs shaking – they were actually shaking.
"Actually, he’s a Gates, Daddy."
"Wha--, oh, well, yes, of course. Named him after his father then?"
Parker nodded. Anxious to break eye contact with her father, she reached over and picked Thomas up, cradling him close to her. He smiled a big, toothless smile as she did so, and this finally brought a smile to her face as well.
"You really are doing well, aren’t you, Angel?"
"Yes, Daddy. I am, but there are some things we need to talk about."
For the next hour and a half, Mr. Parker sat in stunned silence as his daughter told him about the attack on her, about who was responsible. He had thought to defend his son, but she had evidence to support her claim, and as he looked at the lab report showing that her attacker had clearly been her twin, Mr. Parker decided to simply sit back and for once hear his daughter out.
She told him about the will, about her suspicions about Lyle and Brigitte working together, about how close she had come to losing Thomas. She never mentioned Jarod, and though the Chairman might have suspected the Pretender was in some way responsible for helping his daughter get out of Blue Cove, at this point, he couldn’t let himself be upset.
Finally, she finished with the details. Then she squared her shoulders and looked him in the eyes.
"Daddy, I need you to change your will. I realize you were only trying to do what you thought was best for us, but I can’t have my son caught in the middle of some war over an inheritance I don’t even want for him."
"But Angel, those shares will guarantee his future."
"Daddy, I want you to hear me when I say this to you, and no matter what I want you to believe me. My son will never, never be a part of the Centre, and anyone that tries to make him a part of it will be cut out of his life forever. I need you to do this for me, not because it’s expedient or because it’s what anyone else wants, but because it’s what I need you to do."
And there it was – the challenge to him. Could he finally do the right thing by his daughter by protecting her son? Just days earlier, he had been thinking how much he had let her down. Now here she was, giving him a second chance.
"You’ll come back to work?"
"As soon as I get home and get settled. I’m not living under the illusion, Daddy, that I can ever be free of that place, not anymore. But my son will be – I owe his father that."
For a long while, Mr. Parker sat there, looking at his daughter as she held his grandson. God, she looked so much like Catherine.
"I’ll take care of it. I promise you, Angel."
"Dad, you wanted to see me?" Lyle entered the atrium a little hesitantly. Each time he had been summoned in recent weeks, he couldn’t help but be terrified that somehow his father or the Triumvirate had discovered his betrayal. He was no fool. Spilling his guts to Tommy Tanaka had saved him for the moment, but if the Centre ever found out what he’d done –
"Yes, son. I wanted to let you know that your sister is coming home." Mr. Parker studied the shocked expression that passed over Lyle’s face, then observed the careful way his son changed his expression to give the appearance of familial concern.
"Really? When did you hear from her?"
"Yesterday. Oh, that son of hers is something else, too. I can’t wait to get them back home."
Lyle moved a little, walking in a careful, measured circle. He didn’t want to let his father see how anxious this news made him. Now he would be able to fix things, given the right opportunity. Clearly the child had been born prematurely, and premature babies could die easily, couldn’t they?
"Where has she been? I mean, she did realize we were all looking for her, didn’t she?"
"Yes, yes. Apparently she had an accident and needed some specialized medical care. So, she went to a hospital where she could get it. With so much going on, she just – well, she didn’t want to worry any of us."
"Well, that’s, uh, great, Dad. Be sure to tell her to let me know if she needs anything." Lyle gave his father a winning smile of sincerity, and turned to leave the room.
"Lyle, there’s just one more thing." Lyle started to turn back but never completed the movement. Instead, he was struck by the still-powerful arm of his father in full swing. The blow sent him flying back toward and eventually slamming into the wall. He felt his father grab him by the neck, and shock mixed with a suddenly real fear of this man held him still.
"You got your wish. I’ve changed the will." Lyle’s eyes went wide with panic as he realized that his father knew of his attempt to kill Thomas. He opened his mouth to defend himself, then, thinking better of it, stood silent.
"I’m not entirely certain yet why you did what you did, but understand this – If any harm comes to my daughter or my grandson at your hands or anyone working for you, son or no son, I’ll kill you myself."
Mr. Parker released his son a moment after he finished his words, and stepping back, straightened his suit and started to walk from the room, stopping in the doorway.
"And don’t think anyone can stop me." With that, the older man walked from the room as if nothing had happened.
Lyle stood stunned, unsure of what his next move should be. His father could easily have killed him but hadn’t, which meant he still had time to plan a counter-maneuver with Brigitte. But they had to be careful, more careful than ever now or all of their plans for the Parker dynasty would be ruined.
‘Damn it,’ he thought, why couldn’t his sister have just died at the damn airfield when Willie shot her. It certainly would have made his life easier.
------------------________________________________The cab honked its horn for a second time, and Jarod threw open the door to the cabin, letting the driver know they were aware of his presence. Then he turned back inside and headed in the bedroom to get Parker’s luggage.
He was still smarting from her refusal to let him drive her and Thomas to the airport. Part of him understood that she couldn’t handle saying goodbye to him in a public place. Part of him couldn’t help but want to fight for every minute he could get with them before they went back to a life that would force them apart.
Parker was just finishing dressing Thomas, and she looked up as Jarod walked in. He looked at her, asking with his eyes if he could take her things. She nodded yes, looking down at the baby to keep herself from falling apart.
Satisfied that they were finally ready to go and that she hadn’t left anything behind, Parker picked up Thomas’ bag and then the baby and headed outside. Jarod had already placed her luggage in the trunk, and had secured Thomas’ car seat as well.
She handed the baby to him, and Jarod held the baby boy in his arms for a moment, then he made Thomas giggle by tickling him under the chin. He placed a soft kiss on the baby’s cheek, then on his head, and then he turned and put the infant into his car seat.
All that was left was for them to say goodbye. But neither one of them could say anything. They just stood there, looking at each other, until finally Parker moved forward, her arms wrapping around him. Jarod clung to her, wanting to hang on for just one more second.
She stepped back from him, her right hand raising and coming to rest on his cheek. Then she took her hand away and climbed into the cab, quickly telling the driver to go.
Jarod stood there as they drove away, continued to stand there for several minutes after they’d gone. After what seemed like forever, he turned back toward the house, his heart heavy with a sadness he sensed was now a permanent part of him.
It was hours before he saw the picture she had left on the mantle. Father Moore had taken it one day while they were all out enjoying an unusually warm Wyoming winter day. The photo showed Miss Parker holding Thomas as she smiled at Jarod, who sat right beside her.
He picked up the picture and held it, unable to take his eyes off of it. Then, as if guided by something he couldn’t explain, he flipped the photo over. As his eyes filled with tears, he sank onto the couch as he read the words again.
"No matter what happens, Jarod, we will always be your family."
go to part 12