MIRACLES

CHAPTER 8

As Jax waited at the front door of the gatehouse; he was so caught up in his thoughts that when Brenda opened the door he almost forgot to breathe.
“Hello Jax.”
“Brenda… you look --”
“I look…. what?
“Nice” he said as he quickly walked past her.
“Nice? “
“Where are Ned and Lois?” he asked as he uncomfortable paced the room.
“They’re getting Brooke ready for dinner.”
“Oh… well I guess I’ll just wait here then” he said as he took a seat in a near by chair.

The next few minutes Brenda and Jax sat silence and with every passing moment the tension in the air grew thicker. This was exactly what he didn’t want, to be stuck in a room with her looking so beautiful and so sad. It was the sadness that always got him, he always wanted to make better for her, but it was something that he never succeeded at and in the end the sadness took him over.

“Jax, I think we should take some time and talk.”
“In all honesty Brenda, talking is the last thing we should do right now. It gets us no where and I don’t want to fight.”
“And you think I do? Listen, I’m going to be staying in Port Charles for a while and I thing we are going to have to learn to deal with whatever this is between us.”
“No, we’re just going to have to learn how to stay out of each others way!”

His last statement struck Brenda like a knife to the heart and she struggled to breathe. All she wanted was to win him back and it seemed as if he couldn’t get far enough from her.

“Hey Jax! Glad you could make it!” Lois said as she walked in and gave Jax a hug.
“Well Ned and I have some business to discuss and you know I can’t say no to your pasta.”
“Good, I like having something to hold over your head, makes me feel powerful.”
“So where is Ned?”
“He’s in the office, you should go join him and get that business stuff out of the way before dinner.”
“Yeah that’s probably a good idea.” He said as he took one last glance at Brenda.

As Brenda watched him leave the room it took everything she had not to collapse in defeat. How could she have been so foolish to believe that she could get him back?

“So …. what happened?”
“Oh Lois, this isn’t going to work! Jax doesn’t want anything to do with me and I can’t say that I blame him.”
“So you’re just going to give up, just like that?”
“It’s not just like that! You didn’t see the way he looked at me, the way he talked to me. He’s still so angry with me and I don’t know if he’ll ever be able to forgive me.”
“You’re right he is still angry but that means he still cares and if that’s true then you still have a chance.”

Brenda tried to think of some kind of argument, something to justify cutting her loses and running back to London, but there were none. She loved Jax and there if there was any chance in getting back then she had to try.

The next hour was difficult as Jax spent the whole dinner avoiding Brenda’s stares from across the dinner table. Brenda tried not to let it bother her and simply participated in a light conversation with Lois. Sporadically Brooke would interject with crazy stories about her Quartermaine family and her friends. After dinner Ned and Jax excused themselves from the table to discuss more business, leaving Brenda and Lois to discuss the best plan of action.

“So what now? He wouldn’t even look at me all throughout dinner how am I going to get him to admit that he still loves me?”
“Well how did you do it last time?”
“I swept him off his feet. I was relentless with him, he didn’t have a chance” she said with a smile.
“Then maybe that’s what you should do-“
“Mommy?”
“In a minute baby, I’m trying to help your Aunt Brenda with something.”
“But mommy I have an idea.”
“Not now Brooke, you’re supposed to be getting ready for bed.”
“But I have an idea.”
“Ok baby what is it?”
“Have Aunt Brenda tuck me in.”
“You want me to put you to bed tonight?”
“Yeah, and you could tell me a story too.”
“I guess I could do that. Why don’t you go upstairs and I’ll be up soon.”
“Yippee!!” she screamed as she scurried out of the room.

**********************

Ned peered silently across his desk at his preoccupied friend Jax. Someone whom he had always admired in the business sense, but never when it came to his love life.
“So what’s the real reason why we came back to my office? We finished talking about this deal before dinner.”
“I just needed some air, I couldn’t breathe in there.”
“Well that usually happens when you hold your breath like that. At least that’s what it looked like to me all throughout dinner.”
“Ned, I don’t feel like talking about this – “
“Well you better get used to that feeling then because she’s not going anywhere anytime soon.”
“I’m dealing with it, but it’s not easy when she’s always around and she looks–“
“Gorgeous?”
“More like amazing! Damn it! Just when I think I’m making some kind of progress, life throws me another curve ball.”
“Do you still love her?”
“I’m afraid to answer that.”
“Why?”
“Because if I speak those words out loud, then it’ll be true and I’ll have to deal with it and her.”
“Maybe it’s about time you did both Jax – “

KNOCK – KNOCK – KNOCK

“Daddy? Uncle Jax?”
“Hey sweetheart! What are you still doing up?”
“I came to ask Uncle Jax to tuck me in.”
“I would love that Brooke! Besides what kind of date would I be if I didn’t see my date home.”
“You head on up and I’ll be there in 5 minutes.”
“Perfect!” she said as Ned watched her run out of the room all the while wondering what his daughter was up to.”