by Susan C.
hi everyone. Here's the end of Intrigue and Passion.
Hi everyone. This is the end of Intrigue and Passion. I hope you all enjoyed it, and I want to thank everyone for all the feedback I've gotten. Thanks again. Susan
*************************
"So, " Jerry raked his hands through his hair. "It was your father all along.
"
Marlee nodded, tears spilling down her face.
"I should have known, should have helped you. "
"You couldn't, Jerry. You were in the hospital ‘
Realization dawned in his eyes.
"The car accident two days later...."
"My dad found out about us. "
"It's crazy Marlee, all these years lost. Why didn't you come sooner? "
Jerry took Marlee's hands in his after wiping tears off her cheeks. His heart was so full he thought he would burst. All the questions left unanswered, answered, the love he thought unrequited, requited.
"All the trouble you've gotten into Jerry, the kidnappings, the other accidents. They were times I tried to contact you. "
He must hate her. Marlee knew he had to, but she finally had to face him, to face Jax and his parents again.
"I don't hate you Marlee. "
Her thought had popped unbidden into his mind.
Eyes wide open, Marlee finally smiled up at him.
"I love you. Even after all this time. Don't you know that Marlee.? You're the other part of my soul that's been missing for so long. All the adventure, hell even the WSB, it was all a way for me to escape you. The same way Jax tried to escape Miranda, the same way Brenda tried to forget what she had done to Jax. We're none of us complete without the other. Jax won't live without Brenda, I won't live without you. We're all empty shells without someone to love. And maybe I knew, deep in my heart, in that place where only you've traveled, that you'd come back someday, and that we'd be together forever. "
Nothing could have prepared her for this reaction from Jerry. She had expected anger, betrayl, hell, she had even expected hatred. But this, this unquestioning, unrestrained proclamation of love. Marlee hadn't been prepared for it. The tears started to fall all over again.
"Jerry..."
Jerry looked up at the intruding voice to find his mom and dad smiling down at him.
"You might need this son. "
His father handed him a little black velvet box.
"What? "
"Your father and I have been saving this for you Jerry. It belonged to you grandmother Jacks, Jax gave Brenda the ring from my mother. "
Jerry opened the box and smiled. His parents knew him too well. He wondered how long they had been standing there.
Marlee watched the transaction between parents and son, unable to fully comprehend what was happening. Then Jerry knelt on his knees before her and opened the box so she could see the ring inside. It was a gorgeous platinum set diamond, flanked on either side by alexandrite. She gasped.
*******************************
Jax looked at Brenda not daring to hope. He knew he had lost her to Sonny
again, and it was worse know that their daughter had lost her too. He didn't
know what to think.
"Jax? "
The question within the question. The tone of her voice. It sounded like
his Brenda. Not the Brenda who had been screaming at him for the last few
days that he had killed Sonny.
‘Yeah. "
He looked hurt again. There was that fear in his eyes that there had been so long ago when she had told him about what had happened in the cave. Brenda heard a soft snore and smiled when she saw Callie curled up on a rollaway bed in her room. She knew she was in a hospital and she knew why, but what she didn't know was the reason for Jax's fear. The last few days were a blur to her.
Some music piped in through speakers and Brenda half listened to the words. She reached out for Jax and he almost reluctantly took her hand. What had she done to him this time.
**I may know the word
but not say it
I may know the truth
but not face it*****
"What have I done to hurt you this time Jax? "
"You know me? "
"Of course. ‘
Brenda ran her finger along the side of his chin. He felt so good to her. So real. So alive.
**I may hear a sound
a whisper sacred and profound
but turn my head indifferent*****
He didn't want to feel anything. Didn't want to believe that she had really come back to him, because he knew if he did, something else would come along and take her away from him again.
"Did I forget you Jax? "
He nodded. A tear spilling down his cheek.
She felt her heart break a little. How many times could she hurt him? He had always been there for her and yet she always wound up forgetting his love.
**I may know the word
but not say it
I may love the fruit
but not taste it
I may know the way
to comfort and to soothe
a worried face
but fold my hands indifferent*****
"I'm sorry. It wasn't by choice Jax. I love you. "
**If I'm on my knees
I'm begging now
If I'm on my knees
groping in the dark
I'd be praying for deliverance
from the night into the day*****
He just nodded and glanced over at Callie. She was still asleep.
‘How Brenda? After everything how could you forget our love, the life we created and only remember, him at a time when you needed my love the most. To help heal you. To bring you back to me? "
"I don't know Jax. But it wasn't by choice. "
**but it's all grey here
it's all grey to me*****
"Will it happen again Brenda? "
"No Jax, no it won't. "
"Because I couldn't handle it. I won't loose you to a corpse. You're my wife.
"
"I love you Jax. "
(Please hold me)
Jax's arms ached to reach around Brenda. To take her in his arms and just forget everything. But could he?
*****************************
"Jerry what are you doing? "
Marlee's heart was beating a frantic rhythm in her chest. Her sense were going on overload. Everything was happening all at once.
"I'm proposing to you Marlee. I want to wake up with you in the morning every day for the rest of our lives. I want to change diapers with you. Make love to you until dawn. Be your last vision in the evening and the first thing you see when you wake up. I want you to complete me."
The breath whooshed out of her and she looked up at Jane and John.
"Don't look at us dear it's your decision. "
*********************************
**I may know the word
but not say it
this may be the time
but I might waste it
this may be the hour
something move me
someone prove me wrong
before night comes
with indifference*****
"Hold me Jax. I can't breath without you. "
And suddenly Brenda wasn't lying, Her breath caught in her throat and her heart started racing. What if he didn't want her now? She felt a pain pushing against her heart. A cloud of grey sneaking up behind her. Jax's voice speaking to her as if from a distance. Callie calling out to her in a dream., or, had she woken up. Her little angel. The best parts of both her and Jax.
Jax saw Brenda's eyes roll back and he freaked out. He flew to the door and started screaming for help.
(No, no, no, no, no, he had just gotten her back. This couldn't happen. He wanted to love her forever. He wanted to have more children with her, a brother and a sister for Callie. He wanted her love. He wanted her soul with his. )
**if I'm on my knees
I'm begging now
if I'm on my knees
groping through the dark
I'd be praying for deliverance
from the night into the day****
**********************
"Well? "
"Yes. "
The answer was out of her mouth without a thought and Marlee laughed. Throwing her arms around Jerry.
"YES!!! "
Jerry took her shaking hand and slipped the ring on her finger. He laughed and kissed her. Jane smiled at John and kissed him before they heard the commotion coming from Brenda's room, the crying, Jax's screaming. The rushed in behind a slew of doctors. The scene before them shocked them all.
***********************
Jax knelt beside Brenda's bed his arms wrapped around her trying to pull
her into him. He dimly heard a doctor shouting at him. Felt them pulling
him away from her, but he wouldn't let go. He couldn't. Callie was sobbing
in the background, calling out for him, calling out for Brenda.
*************************
She felt his love through the pain. Through the haze of grey she saw him
holding her to him. Saw the doctors trying to pull him away but he wasn't
budging.
**but it's all grey here
but it's all grey to me*****
And she felt it all receding. The pain, the grey, everything, Jax's love was pulling her. Dragging her away from the forces trying to separate them.
**I recognize the walls inside
I recognize them all
I've paced between them
chasing demons down
until they fall
in fitful sleep
enough to crawl
into my head
with tangled threads
they riddle me to solve
again & again & again******
"Jax.. "
He looked down and saw her eyes wide and lucid. The pain was gone.
"Brenda. I'm sorry, I love you. I have no life without you. "
"Mommy, daddy? "
"Come here sweetie. "
The doctors all stood around taking in the sight before them with amazement.
Callie leapt into her mother's bed and snuggled herself in between them.
"I love you too Jax,. "
"Are you okay mommy? "
Brenda kissed her daughter and looked into Jax's eyes. She saw the love shining there, and knew that they had passed some kind of a test.
"Yeah sweetie, ,mommy's okay. What do you say we go home? "
She smiled at Jax. And he smiled back at her. Turning, she saw John, Jane, Jerry and some woman she didn't know in his arms. They all looked happy and complete.
"I say yeah mommy. "
"Jax? "
He leaned over and kissed her and then Callie.
"I triple the motion. "
Brenda laughed and held the two loves of her life to her. With all the Intrigue and Passion in life held there was only one thing that mattered and had the power to pull it all together. Love.!
************
let me know how you all liked it. Susan