by Marcie
Chapter six
A couple of weeks later Brooke was at the Pine Valley Inn with Jason having dinner. They had settled into a nice routine and she was beginning to feel comfortable with him. Every Thursday night he would drive to Pine Valley to work on their research. He would spend all day Friday in her office or they would go interview people. On the weekends he would do things with her and Jamie or just her if Jamie was away. They had even kissed once, although it had been too soon for her and she had stopped him. It had just made her want Edmund more and she just couldn't pretend to have feelings for Jason. But he said he would be patient and so far he had been.
She'd had her first ObGyn appointment and everything seemed normal so far. Her age was a factor and she was debating whether to have the amniocentesis. Having Edmund's baby, especially at her age, seemed like such a miracle she didn't want to risk anything going wrong. The nausea hadn't disappeared, but was manageable, but her clothes didn't fit very well anymore and she was starting to have to wear maternity clothes. So far she hadn't told anyone about the baby, but she was going to have to soon.
Jason looked up suddenly and then looked at her. She couldn't see what he was looking at without turning and when she did she saw Edmund and Maria being seated at a table nearby.
"We can go somewhere else if you like," he said.
No. It's a small town. We're bound to run into them often. I'm not going to run away every time I see them. I've just got to learn to live with it."
"You're the boss," he said with a grin.
She smiled back and said, "Yes I am." She moved her chair closer to Jason so her back was to Edmund. She didn't want to admit to Jason how much it hurt her to see them together and if she couldn't see them that would help a little.
Edmund had seen her and Jason the minute they walked in and had thought about leaving, but didn't know what to say to Maria. It's not like he could tell her it drove him crazy to see Brooke with Jason. But it definitely put a damper on his mood and his evening. He saw Brooke move her chair so her back was to him and wished he could do the same. He looked over and saw Jason lean in close to talk to Brooke, he brushed her hair out of her eyes and Edmund wanted to deck him. He dragged his eyes away to look at Maria. She was staring at him with a funny look on her face. '"Who's the handsome guy Brooke's with?" she asked.
"Do you think he's handsome?" Edmund asked.
"Yes, very. He's sexy and distinguished looking. I'm glad Brooke's found someone to be with."
"She's not WITH him," he snapped. "He's here working on a story with her. He's the police chief from Pittsburgh. He wants her to help him investigate Proteus."
"They look like they're doing more than working on a story together. Aren't you happy for her Edmund?" she wondered.
"I think she's going to get hurt. You know she's not had good luck in the past with men and I don't want to see her get hurt. She's vulnerable right now and I think he's taking advantage of her."
"I think Brooke is perfectly capable of taking care of herself. Remember when you and I met, you were on the rebound too," she reminded him.
"Yeah, well, that was different."
"How?"
"You weren't trying to take advantage of me," he said.
"Well, I think Brooke looks happy for a change and I think if he's making her happy you should be glad."
"Let's talk about something else," he said angrily.
"Okay. I didn't mean to make you angry."
"I?m sorry, it's been a bad day. I shouldn't take it out on you."
Fridays were always bad for him. Jason spent the whole day shut up in Brooke's office with her or they spent the day out doing investigative work, or so Brooke said. He imagined them spending time at the Pine Cone together like he and Brooke had and it nearly drove him to drink. In fact one Friday night he had gotten drunk just to try to forget about her, but it hadn't worked. Now here he was watching Jason touching her hair and holding her hand. Every now and then Jason would look over and smirk at him when Maria wasn't looking. He hated that guy! In fact he felt like getting up and going over and starting a fightl with him, but of course that would piss Maria off and he didn't want to risk that. So he tore his gaze away and tried to concentrate on enjoying his wife.
Maria noticed that Edmund couldn't take his eyes off Brooke and Jason. She also understood from the conversation they just had that Edmund was jealous of this sexy police chief from Pittsburgh. God how she hated Brooke sometimes. She felt just like she had all those years ago when Edmund had wanted Brooke, and there were nights like this one, where no matter what she did he would only have eyes for Brooke. Maria knew there was something missing in their marriage, but she couldn't figure out what it was. Once she got her memory back she thought things would just naturally fall into place, but they hadn't. She and Edmund were still strangers, so much time had gone by, and now she realized he was probably still in love with Brooke. No wonder she felt like there was a wall between them. Part of him belonged to someone else.
She wondered what had gone on between them all those years she had been away. He said they'd only been friends, but Hayley told her they had always had a special bond that Hayley felt had gone beyond friendship. She had been surprised it took them so long to get back together. So probably he had always been in love with Brooke. She looked at him and said, "Are you still in love with Brooke?"
Brooke was beginning to fade. It had been a long day and they had spent a lot of time outside the office and she was tired. "Jason, would you mind taking me home? I'm really tired," she said.
"No, not at all. You do look tired," he said. He was getting sick of watching Edmund watching them. He felt sorry for Edmund's wife, she must be able to tell what's going on. He wondered what Brooke saw in this jerk. He was glad Brooke had missed it all, it would've just depressed her and he felt that through their friendship she was beginning to get over her depression. He didnt want anything to ruin that or to come between their friendship, which he was really enjoying.
He drove her home and she invited him in for a beer, she had a cup of tea. He had never seen her drink alcohol. They sat on the couch and talked for a while and then she said, "I need to get my beauty rest."
"Okay," he said. I'll come by in the morning to pick you up for Jamie's game."
"That sounds great. Thank you for dinner, I really enjoyed myself. Even with Edmund and Maria there I was able to have fun because of you."
She hugged him and they stood together like that for a while. Then he pulled away and said, "Good night Brooke. See you in the morning."
After he left she began cleaning up and listening to her phone messages. She called Laura and they talked for a while, and then she started turning lights off. The doorbell rang.
She opened the door and said, "What did you forget?"
But it wasn't Jason it was Edmund. "Can I come in?" he said.
"Edmund, it's late. I was just going to go to bed." She really didn't want to talk to him right now.
"I won't stay long. I promise. I just need to talk to you, please."
"Alright, come in," she said.
They went in and sat on the couch. "Are we alone?" he asked.
"Yes," she said.
He turned and looked at her and she noticed he had tears in his eyes. "Brooke my life is a mess. I just had a huge fight with Maria. Things just aren't working out."
She was furious. How dare he come to her and talk about his marriage to Maria? She jumped up and screamed at him, "Why are you telling me this? Why are you torturing me like this? Wasn't it enough that you dumped me for her and then I helped you find a cure for her amnesia? Now you want to come here and use me as a marriage counselor to help you put your marriage back together?" She was shaking she was so mad.
He stood and put his hands on her shoulders. He waited for her to look at him and then he said, "We fought about you. Maria thinks I'm still in love with you."
Well, I don't know why she would think that. It's pretty obvious you're in love with her not me. She's married to you, living with you, what more proof does she need?"
"Ever since we got back together things have been strained. We've both changed so much, the children are having a hard time adjusting. And I just never dealt with my feelings for you."
"I thought it was pretty clear you had no feelings for me," she said bitterly.
"That's the way it felt. When you betrayed me I was so hurt I just buried any feelings I had for you. And I was so focused on Maria and getting her love back. For some reason I thought I could replace your love with her love. But it doesn't work that way."
"Edmund, please I don't want to hear this. It isn't going to change anything. Maria is the love of your life, nothing will ever change that. You just need to give it time. This is a big adjustment for your family, just go home, make up with Maria and have some patience. You've always wanted things to happen yesterday."
He thought he had never loved anyone the way he loved her. He looked into her eyes and saw how much she loved him too. He leaned down and kissed her and then wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him.
As soon as she felt his lips on hers she knew she was lost. Her knees felt weak and they both sank to the couch. He started kissing her neck and she felt shivers run through her body. They were both lost in the moment, she was unbuttoning his shirt and he was pulling up her baggy sweater. He pulled it over her head and let it fall to the floor. He started kissing his way down her chest while he pushed her down on the couch. She pulled his shirt off and caressed his chest and his back with her fingertips and he moaned.
"Brooke. I love you," he said. "God I never stopped loving you." And he kissed her again.
"I love you too," she said.
Somewhere in the far reaches of her mind a little voice was telling her this was not a good idea. "You're going to get hurt again," this little voice said. But Brooke wasn't listening, wasn't able to form a coherent thought in her mind between Edmund's kisses. He was kissing her everywhere and now he had her bra off. She couldn't have stopped him if she'd wanted to, and she really didn't want to.
He picked her up and carried her up to her bedroom where they struggled out of the rest of their clothes and made love until they were exhausted. Then they fell asleep wrapped in each other?s arms. T
o be continued.