By Victoria L.
Okay, don't kill me for how I end this, but this will be the last chapter until I write
the sequel. Just so you know, that song from the last chapter was "Where Are You
Now" by Britney Spears' CD "Oops...I Did It Again." Enjoy it!
Victoria L.
Epilogue
{Eight years later, Jax and Brenda are still married. Brenda has managed
to get on with her life, and get back to her work. She no longer works on
serial killer cases though. Jax has always searched for his son, but it’s
been with little leads, and little checks here and there. He hasn’t been
able to maintain the search the way he wanted to, and after the first
three years, he’s basically given up. He and Brenda rekindled their
marriage, and life is good for all of them, but there is the hole in all their
hearts where Will used to be. Their children, Jessica is 14, Jacob is 12, and
the twins, Joseph and Joanne, are now 9. The story takes up a few weeks
before what would have been Will’s 18th birthday.}
Brenda came down the stairs, first up in the mornings, as usual. It
was a typical Monday in the Jacks’ household, except that it was the first
day of school. The sun was just coming up, and the rays coming in
through the blinds gave the room a gloomy sort of feel. Brenda turned
on the lights, and stepped over the dog, who was waiting at his dish. She
filled it, and then moved to turn off the back porch light. She looked out
over the back yard, as she had many times over the years, and felt
nothing. There was nothing out of the ordinary about the day. The pool
had been cleaned up, the porch light long ago fixed, and for everyone
except Jax and Brenda, the memory of Will had all but faded.
She started breakfast, scrambled eggs, and a few pieces of bacon,
for herself and the twins. She put the cereal on the table for Jessica and
Jacob, and started coffee for Jax. He hadn’t eaten breakfast since
before she could remember. Joanne was the first to join her downstairs,
followed shortly, as usual, by her twin brother, Joseph. Light and dark,
they were, Brenda thought as they sat next to each other at the table.
“Good morning you two,” she said, laughing as they mumbled
good morning, but ate with their eyes half closed.
“I’m not used to being up this early,” Jacob said, coming down the
stairs and sitting down with a thump. “There should be a rule against
going to school while it’s still summer,” he complained, as he poured his
cereal.
“Summer’s over,” Brenda said, patting him on the head and sitting
down to eat.
“Technically,” Jessica said, coming in and grabbing an orange off
the island in the middle of the kitchen, “Summer’s not over for another
two weeks.”
“Well thank you so much for the clarification,” Brenda said. “But
whether summer is over or not, you all are going to school.” Jax came
down the stairs then.
“What’s with all the gloomy faces?” he asked, when Brenda joined
him in the kitchen, a few feet away from the table. “All of my children
look like zombies.”
“They were used to getting another four or five hours of sleep, that’s
all,” Brenda said, leaning into his embrace, and resting her head against
him. “I’m sleepy myself.”
“Well there’s no time to be sleepy in this house! We’re going on a
trip!”
“What?!” everyone said, all the kids turning around to face Jax, and
Brenda looking up at him in surprise.
“You didn’t tell me about this,” Brenda said, her voice lowered.
“What are you planning?”
“A trip to the lake,” Jax said. “I’ve been promising for two years now
that we’d go, we haven’t been in forever, and we didn’t make it at all
this summer, because mom and I have been really busy,” he said,
pouring himself a cup of coffee, and sitting at the head of the table.
Brenda sat back down and finished her breakfast in silence.
“What about school, daddy?” Jessica said, as she threw a long
blonde braid over her shoulder. Her voice had taken on a perpetual
tone of sarcasm that everyone had come to learn to live with.
“What about school?” Jax asked cavalierly. Jessica rolled her eyes.
“Come on dad,” Jacob said. “We start school today, and we never
go the lake for less than a week. All we’d have time for is a weekend trip,
and that’s no fun.”
“True,” Jax said. “Which is why we’re going for two weeks.”
“Jax,” Brenda said, nearly choking on her orange juice, “the
children cannot miss two weeks of school!”
“They don’t learn anything in the first two weeks, do you guys?” Jax
asked, looking around the table.
“Oh no,” Jessica protested, “I won’t even get all my textbooks in
the first two weeks.”
“That’s right,” Jacob added, “some of the teachers don’t even get
here until the third week!” Everyone stopped their conversation to look at
him. He blushed slightly, and Jessica threw her napkin at him. He then
retaliated with a piece of toast.
“All right you two,” Brenda said sternly, as she picked up her plate
and took it into the kitchen.
“Hey kids,” Jax said, lowering his voice, “go and convince your
mother.” Sly smiles were on all their faces as the four of them all jumped
up and went to tackle Brenda in the kitchen. Jax smiled to himself when
he heard Brenda’s shriek. He nodded, knowing that soon, she would
agree.
“All right,” she said, coming out of the kitchen with one arm around
each of her twins. “If everyone gets their assignments, because I know
you have them, and your father can somehow work it out with the
principal, I’ll agree to it--”
“Yay!” was the universal response.
“BUT,” she said over all the noise they were making, “you still have
to go to school today. We’ll leave tomorrow, if we can work it out.” As
they all celebrated, Jax came over to Brenda, and leaned down, kissing
her. Their children had scattered to finish getting ready for school, so they
were alone in the kitchen. Jax continued his sensual assault on Brenda’s
body, but she stopped him when his hands roamed a little too low. She
laughed, and held them in place. “You want to tell me what this is all
about?” she asked, sighing as he nuzzled her neck.
“The kids have been here practically all day every day for the past
two and a half months. We haven’t had much time to ourselves, I
thought a family vacation would be nice. We’ve both been working
really hard.”
“And this is the first chance you’ve had to be off,” Brenda said
knowingly, “when last month, you gave up your two weeks of vacation to
put in overtime. Right?”
“Fine, fine,” Jax said, “So I’m a workaholic. So are you. How many
weekends did you work this summer?”
“We have a round the clock job, my friend,” Brenda said, moving
to clear the table.
“Which is the perfect reason to take a vacation,” Jax pleaded.
“Come on, these are going to be the hottest two weeks of the year,
Brenda. What could be better than going up to the lake, letting the kids
splash around, ride a few horses, and play in the dirt?”
“Ew,” Brenda said, “you’ve just convinced me to lock them in the
school.”
“Come on,” Jax said, wrapping his arms around her. “Do it for me.
Please?”
“Fine,” Brenda said, “but when Jessica starts complaining about it
being too hot, and getting a sun burn, and not being able to stay on the
phone all day, and when Jacob starts trying to show off, and inevitably
injures himself severely, and the twins get into an argument over any and
everything, don’t complain to me, when we could have been rid of them
for at least 8 hours a day.” She was laughing by the time she got to the
end of her statement, and so was Jax. He pulled her into his arms, and
sighed.
“Thank you for this time,” he said. “I couldn’t do it without you.”
“I just love you too much to say no,” she said, patting him on the
back. “Now come on, tell me the truth. What’s this trip really all about?”
“What do you mean?” Jax asked. “I told you, a family vacation.”
“Are you sure?”
“Well what else would it be about, love?” Jax asked.
“Could it be about Will’s birthday coming up? Going to the lake is
always such a huge undertaking, a real distraction with all the packing
we have to do, and airing out the house up there. If your mind is on that,
you won’t have to think about this day. I mean, he’s had seven other
birthdays over the years, but this one is special, Jax. He would have been
18.”
“You’re right,” Jax said. “He would have been 18. But that’s not
why I’m doing this. I just want to be with you and the children, and get
away for a while. We weren’t able to do it all summer, and I want to
have a vacation before they start getting involved in all their clubs and
stuff, and quit having time for us altogether, as they do every year. Our
kids are growing up, Brenda. Pretty soon they won’t be with us anymore.”
“You make us sound ancient,” Brenda groaned, leaning against
him. “I’m only 35, pal, and you’re only 38. I don’t think we should
start
picking out grave plots yet.” Jax sighed.
“Are you sure you’re all right with this?” he asked.
“As long as you’re sure this is about the family, and not about Will,
and you’re sure that you’re going to be okay, I’m fine with it.”
“Thank you,” Jax said, “for always supporting me.”
“You got it.”
When Jax and Brenda got to work, they went their separate ways,
and usually didn’t see each other for most of the day. Though Jax had
inherited Sonny’s position, he maintained the office he had on his own
floor, so as not to be too territorial over Brenda. He believed that the
people in charge were there for a reason, and Brenda didn’t need him
hovering over her. Brenda appreciated the independence. When she’d
come back to work eight years ago, her nerves had been frazzled, but
not having Jax there to watch her every move helped more than it hurt.
Now she was back in the swing of things. Lois had left the office to home
school her kids, and as far as Brenda knew, things were pretty much over
with between her and Ned. Brenda was glad, because Jerry had been a
great husband to her, and she didn’t want to see their relationship turn
out the way Jax and Brenda’s had. Jax was definitely the more forgiving
of the two brothers, that was for sure.
Brenda sat at her desk, typing furiously, and trying to get a week’s
work done in a day. Blair knocked on her door just then. Brenda looked
up, and her jaw dropped. “What are you doing here?!” she asked,
moving around the desk to hug her.
“I’ve been overseas, as usual,” Blair said. “I can’t believe it’s
been
three years.”
“Wow,” Brenda said, shaking her head. “You look great. Come in
and sit down, tell me all about your trip! All three years of it!”
“Actually, I can’t stay,” Blair said, coming in and closing the door
behind her. “But I do need your help with something.”
“Sure, what is it?” Brenda asked.
“I met someone,” Blair began. “This really great guy from Ireland.”
“That’s incredible Blair, I’m so happy for you.” Blair nodded.
“I’m pregnant,” Blair said, “and he’s asked me to marry him.”
“Oh my gosh!” Brenda exclaimed. “That’s the best news I could
have gotten. This is just wonderful. So what do you need my help with?
The wedding? Baby things? Anything you need--”
“It’s work,” Blair said. “I need to take a leave of absence. This last
case really took everything out of me. I want an uncomplicated
pregnancy, and I want an easy wedding, and then I want to relax,” she
said, waving a hand.
“And you need my help to do that?” Brenda asked.
“Well, I’ve got a couple of cases on my desk, and I’ve been able
to spread it out pretty easily to some of the other Marshals, but there’s
one case in particular that I want you to handle.”
“Sure,” Brenda said, “whatever I can do, I’ll be glad to. I’m
going
on a vacation with my family, but I can start on it right after I come
back.”
“Thank you so much,” Blair replied. “I’m going to be at work for the
next two weeks getting things settled, so it’s perfect timing, really.”
“Do you have the file with you?” Brenda asked. “I’m going to be
taking some work up to the lake with me, so I could give it a bit of a look
over.” Blair actually held the file in her hands, but was afraid to give it to
Brenda. “Come on,” Brenda said, holding her hand out. “You want to
give it to me?” Blair sighed, and handed her the file. Brenda took it, and
began to flip through it. Her jaw gaped slightly, and Blair said,
“Don’t be in a rush to say no to it, Brenda.”
“Uh yeah, I am in a rush. No way, Blair. No.”
“Why not?” Blair asked, standing up, and following Brenda to her
desk. Brenda tossed the file down with a sigh.
“Because I don’t handle these types of cases any more, you know
that, I’ve told you that, end of story. Serial killers don’t come across my
desk. Give it to someone else, Blair.”
“But Brenda, you’re the best that I have.”
“Give it to Jax,” Brenda said. “I’m sure he’d love to put another
animal behind bars. But not me, I’m not touching that case with a ten
foot pole.”
“Brenda, Jax’s desk is swamped. It always is. He did take on one of
my cases though.”
“Was it a serial killer?” Brenda asked.
“No.”
“Fine, then I’ll just switch with him.”
“You don’t have the jurisdiction to handle that one, Brenda. That’s
why I gave it to him, and that’s why I’m giving this one to you.”
“Well give it to somebody else,” Brenda hedged. “Or put it in the
unsolved pile until someone gets a free hour.”
“Do you hear yourself?” Blair asked. “Put it on the unsolved pile?
This person could go on hurting and killing people, just because you
won’t--”
“Don’t put that off on me, Blair. This isn’t even my case. It’s not my
responsibility, and I’d be doing you a favor by taking it. Don’t do the guilt
trip thing, please.”
“All right, fine you’re right, and I’m sorry. Brenda, next to me, you’re
the best.”
“Oh, thanks,” Brenda scoffed.
“And I can’t do this right now. I need some time to try and see if I
can build my life back again. This is probably my last chance to fall in
love, and have a family and a life. Can’t you please just break down just
once and do this for me?”
Brenda took up the file and moved it back and forth in her hands.
She glanced up at Blair then.
“You’ll get someone else to make the arrest?” Brenda asked. “And I
don’t know how much on hands I can be, but I’ll look it over.”
“Fair enough,” Blair said, knowing that once Brenda got involved in
this case, there was no way she’d be able to let it go until it was solved.
“I don’t know why I’m agreeing to this, but I am,” Brenda said.
“Right now, though, I just want to go put my arms around my husband,
and get the h#ll out of here.”
When Brenda got home that evening, Jax was already there. In
her living room there were bags galore, along with any and everything
they could need for their two weeks at the cabin. She realized then that
she hadn’t been to the grocery store, and she’d probably need to take
both their trucks for all the “snacks” her children and husband couldn’t
live without.
As she stepped over the large mounds of luggage, she ran into
Joseph on the stairs.
“Where’s your father?” she asked.
“He’s upstairs,” Joseph said. “On the phone, I think.”
“Okay,” Brenda said, “well will you go ask your brother and sisters
what they want from the store for the trip? I assume it’ll be me going to
the store tonight, okay?”
“Sure, mom,” he said, turning on his heels and going back upstairs.
Brenda followed him, and went into the bedroom. She changed into
some jeans and a more comfortable blouse while she waited for Jax to
get off the phone. She noticed that he had a photograph out of Will. It
wasn’t really him, just a computer enhanced photo of what he might look
like now, eight years later. Brenda thought to bring it up, but he just
pushed it into his desk, and turned to face her.
“Hey good lookin’,” he said, kissing her and plopping down on the
bed. “Ready for our adventure into the great outdoors?”
“Yes,” Brenda said, “but not quite. I still have to go to the store
tonight, and that’s going to be a huge undertaking.”
“Well I’ll go with you,” Jax said.
“There will be even less room for all the food you people consume
if I take you all with me,” Brenda said. “And I don’t want any arguments
at the store, so I’d rather go by myself. Joseph’s collecting a list of what
everybody wants.”
“Okay then,” Jax said. “Sounds like you’ve got it under control. I’m
going to wait until tomorrow morning to pack up the truck, if that’s all
right with you. I know you hate clutter in the living room.”
“Yeah, it’s okay,” Brenda said, “I actually have something else to
talk to you about, though.”
“Shoot,” Jax said.
“Okay, well, Blair put this case on my desk this morning, she asked
me to help her out with it.”
“Yeah I know,” Jax said. “She came by my office earlier to tell me
her good news. It’s great, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Brenda said, “but the case she gave me,--it’s a serial killer
case. Sort of with a stalker twist, though.”
“Are you going to go for it?” Jax asked. “You haven’t worked one
of those since--”
“I know,” Brenda said, “and I am concerned about it, but she said
she’d take these last two weeks of hers to get someone else to handle
the on-site stuff and to make the arrest. So I guess I can do it, right?”
“I have complete faith in you,” Jax said, nodding. “You’re going to
do great.”
“And there’s just one more thing,” Brenda said. “I think that I’m
going to have to take just one more day at the office. Handling this case,
it took too much of my time today, and I didn’t get anything done. But I
promise, I’ll come up tomorrow evening. It’s only a four hour drive,”
Brenda shrugged. Jax looked at her, exasperatingly.
“Are you sure you want to do that?” he asked. “You know you’re
not good at directions.”
“Hey,” Brenda said, slapping his arm playfully. “I do just fine with
directions, thank you.”
“We haven’t been to the cabin in two years, Brenda, and every
year before that, we go so early in the morning, I usually drive while you
sleep.”
“So write the directions down for me,” Brenda said, “I’ve been up
there a dozen times, I can handle getting up there on my own, just fine.”
“If you say so,” Jax said. “I’ll just be a phone call away though, so
if
you get lost, just call me on my cell, and I can find you and come get
you.”
Downstairs, Jessica and Joanne were lying on the living room floor,
playing with their c*ckerspaniel.
“Why do you think dad’s going to the cabin now instead of when
we were off school?” Joanne asked her older sister.
“I don’t know,” Jessica said. “Who cares. We get to miss school, two
whole weeks, and that’s a plus in my book any day.”
“Isn’t it William’s birthday or something soon?” Joanne asked.
“You remember that?” Jessica asked. Joanne nodded.
“Dad always gets real sad around the time we go back to school. I
was just wondering, he doesn’t ever talk about it.”
“Well, I think you’re making too much of it,” Jessica said, ignoring
her sister’s comment.
“I’m smarter than you, that’s all,” Joanne said. “I notice things
and
you don’t. You’re too busy thinking about boys.”
“I can still beat you to the Rocky Road ice cream though!” Jessica
said, getting up off the floor and pressing down on Joanne’s head to
keep her on the ground.
“Watch out you two,” Brenda said laughing, as she bumped into
Jessica. “I’m off to the store, one of you want to come help me?”
“I will,” Jessica said.
“I thought you wanted ice cream,” Brenda said.
“I’d rather go with you,” Jessica said. Brenda smiled at her
daughter and put an arm around her.
“All right then. How about you, Jo?”
“Pass,” she said. “I want some ice cream!”
“Okay,” Brenda chuckled. “We’ll see you when we get back then!”
In the store, Jessica casually pushed the cart while Brenda checked
things off the list, and piled them into the cart. “Can I get a little help
here?” Brenda asked, her arms full of junk food. Jessica crinkled her nose.
“You and dad really should watch your cholesterol more,” Jessica
said.
“Thanks for the tip, but trust me, you won’t care once you get to be
my age.”
“You’re not that old,” Jessica said, leaning against the car. Brenda
just laughed.
“Honey, can you go and get some sodas, please? You know what
your dad and your brother like. Get something you and Jo like too,
because you’re not drinking water every day, I don’t care what you say,
and I don’t want to hear you guys complaining.” Brenda paused and
checked more things off her list, and then looked up at her teenage
daughter. “Hello in there,” she said. “Did you hear me, baby?”
“Uh yeah, mom,” Jessica said, putting the drinks on the bottom of
the cart. “Hey mom,” she said, “do you think dad’s really okay?”
“Of course he’s okay, what makes you think otherwise?”
“Well, some really bad stuff happened to you guys a long time
ago, right? Something with work? No one ever talks about it, and I know
it hurts you guys and all, whatever, it’s fine if you don’t want to talk about
it, I just want to make sure you and dad are okay.”
“We’re fine, Jess,” Brenda said, coming to stand beside her. “It’s
good of you to notice, though.”
“See, there you go,” Jessica said. “Always brushing it off, acting like
it doesn’t matter. Dad does the same thing. I tried to ask him about Will,
because I remember stuff, you know? And I know that it’s his birthday
soon, and dad gets all said. I just want to make sure everything’s all right.”
“Everything is fine, Jessica,” Brenda insisted. “If your dad and I don’t
talk about it much, it’s just because we don’t want to bother you guys.
We’re the parents, and it’s our responsibility to be here for you guys. We all
miss Will, and it’s true, we don’t really know what happened to him, but
we had to move on with our lives, and that’s what we’re doing.”
“You’re sure you’re okay?” Jessica asked again, and Brenda
nodded.
“I promise, I’m okay.”
The next day, Brenda hurried through her work, and by six o’clock
that evening, she was ready to join her family up at the lake. She didn’t
have anything except her own bags, and a few snacks for the drive. Jax
had taken the dog up with him. Brenda walked through the house,
making sure was everything was turned off, since they would be gone for
the next two weeks. She noticed the picture of Will, the one that Jax had
made to depict what he’d look like now. She took it with her, something
told her she should have it, if only to be with someone on the long drive
up. Once she was satisfied she hadn’t forgotten anything, she left the
house.
The drive up was bumpy, as usual, but Brenda blasted the radio to
keep herself company. That, and the picture of Will that was on the seat
next to her. Pretty soon, she knew she was lost. She took a look at the
directions Jax had given her, as well as the map he drew. Her cell phone,
also on the seat next to her, was very tempting, but she was determined
to get there on her own. She was sure she could find her way once she
got back to a particular road she remembered passing, but the obstacle
would be getting to that road. She had passed a few cabins a few miles
back, that much she knew. She’d just drive back down and ask someone
how to get back to Heritage Road.
Brenda pulled into the driveway of a very nice, quaint looking
cabin. She could see inside the windows, and there was a woman and
man sitting, watching television. She rang the door bell, and heard a dog
bark. The woman came to the door.
“Hello,” the woman said, opening the door wide. “Can I help you?”
“Yes,” Brenda said, “I was wondering if you could tell me how I can
get back to Heritage road.”
“Oh I’m not too good at directions,” the woman said, “but my son
can tell you. Grant, would you come to the door, please?”
“Sure, mom,” a deep voice answered from upstairs.
“You know,” Brenda said, “I’ve got a map in my car. If your son
could look at it, or even draw me another one, it’d be great.”
“Sure thing,” the woman said, stepping aside as her son came
down the stairs. “Son, would you go on out there, that woman needs
some directions.”
“Okay,” the boy said. “Need some help?” he called after Brenda.
Brenda turned around to look at him, and her heart practically stopped.
“Oh my God!” she exclaimed. “William?!”