Chapter Twenty-One

The March morning dawned crisp and clear. The day had been perfect. Evening was now creeping along the horizon; its pink, purple, orange and red lights laying a carpet of color through the windows and onto the polished wood floor. Not a sound could be heard as Jerry stood without aid at his brother’s side. Dressed in black as they were, they looked roguish and menacing. Together, they looked down a long white carpet to the closed doors that stood at its end.

Jerry said, "You don’t have to do this. If you’re afraid, we can call it off."

Jax looked at his brother with disbelief and shook his head with gusto. He swallowed as the doors opened. Music swelled from the rafters and Jax experienced a moment of panic as he saw Candace toddle forwards; eschewing her brother’s hand in favor of her newly found balance. Her equilibrium was precarious at best and as she started to tumble, Lucas rushed to help her. Jax glanced back at Jerry who was smiling paternally at his adorable daughter and good-natured son. Candace was wearing a ruffled, russet dress and Lucas looked like a miniature Jerry in black formal wear.

Jax turned to face the carpet again and saw his sister-in-law looking magnificent in a burnished bronze gown, a Chloe Morgan original. Mother and daughter were echoes of each other and Chloe had outdone herself for each of them. If Bobbie’s intelligence and her strength didn’t constantly amaze him, her innate grace and incredible loveliness consistently struck Jax to the core. Her beauty shimmered and winked in the candlelight like tiny stars on her skin. He was very proud to have her as his sister. For that’s how he thought of her. Not just his in-law, but as his true family. He heard his brother take in a quick, sharp breath and let it out on a long sigh. Jax was hoping he and Chloe would be as happy, and as in love, as Jerry and Bobbie were with each other, even when they argued.

Bobbie took her place across from Jerry and raised one eyebrow at her husband as he stood with his hand on Lucas’s shoulder. The scars were fading and some were barely even visible anymore. The pin that had fixed the compound fracture in his wrist remained. Although she loved him for what was on the inside of him, she was happy that he wouldn’t have to live the rest of his life with visible reminders of what had occurred in New Mexico nine months earlier. Not that they’d ever forget it, but it wasn’t something that needed to be revisited daily.

Besides, a more poignant reminder of what they’d nearly lost was clasped around her neck. Nestled on the pearl-like skin of her throat, was a lovely heart-shaped locket. Jerry watched her hand flutter up to touch its warmth as it rose and fell with each breath she took. He had given it to her eight months earlier, on her birthday, coincidentally the first day he’d been able to be out on his own and driving. The locket contained pictures of Jerry and the children and was made of old rose-colored gold that had been melted down and reformed. Everyone had ooh’ed and ah’ed over how beautiful it was and how wonderful the portraits, but the inscription was something only Bobbie and Jerry understood. It read similarly to what had been on the receipt that Bobbie found in Jerry’s wallet just after the accident, with one notable change: B - Love and licorice, fire and ice, now and always… H.B. – J. The pinkish gold took on a scintillating glow, which only added to the molten picture that Bobbie made as she took her place. The dress, her hair and the locket were like liquid copper, fluid and smooth, warm and feminine. To Jerry she looked like a solitary flame on a reed thin candle, although he knew that beneath the fragile appearance lay the cold steel rod of her spine.

Jerry appreciated the fact that his wife was remarkable in many ways, but the strength of her character and the resolve of her courage still took his breath away. She had survived by her wits and her guts for a week of hell, a week Jerry didn’t like to contemplate. A week they never discussed again after the initial telling. Her physical scars had faded underneath a Caribbean tan, but the memory of the ice in her eyes as she described how she had murdered her own father still frightened him. He thought she’d never really recover. But Bobbie made such a good show of okay, that he began to believe she was okay, and the rest wasn’t worth thinking about. So he did not contemplate it, instead he looked at his small daughter and exhaled with relief that the past was just that – past.

Candace was clinging shyly to her mother’s skirt; practically disappearing into her long gown, which was a darker shade of Candace’s little dress. Bobbie sighed then, only her sigh was contentment, not lust. She dropped the locket against her skin and placed her hand on Candace’s coppery ringlets, holding tightly to her bouquet of gardenias with the other. Sheer joy was shining from her face and from every pore. She glowed with happiness and satisfaction. Especially when she thought about her husband chasing her halfway around the church earlier trying to get her to do something they’d both have regretted later. Hospital boardrooms, hotel ballrooms, airplane bathrooms were OK, even fun, but a church was not to be debased that way. Even she, as atheistic as she’d recently become, had her limits. Although, one look from Jerry could send her shivering to heights of need that became torment if unanswered. Maybe she’d leave the children with Lady Jane for a while at the reception, take Jerry and disappear up the stairs of that old Victorian Mansion. There had to be one Victorian tester bed that needed testing somewhere in that house!

Pachabel’s Canon in D minor began and Chloe appeared at the doorway looking more beautiful than any woman had a right to look. Bobbie looked over to Jax and smiled when his jaw dropped. Jerry would have whistled had Bobbie not given him a look that said "don’t you dare." Although he believed in the God that brought his family safely through a horrible experience, Jerry was still unashamedly irreverent. She was trying not to allow Jerry’s bad behavior to rub off on Lucas, but her son was determined to be "just like Jerry." Jerry smiled archly, as if to say, "I was just testing you." She widened her eyes and shook her head slightly; Jerry winked.

Bobbie looked out at Jane and John in the first pew. They were both standing, eyes shining, as Chloe came towards them. Luke was in the front with them, Lucky at his side. V and Simon stood behind them in the second pew, hands clasped. V was dabbing at her eyes with a lace handkerchief, she herself freely admitted, she always cried at weddings. The newest Prentiss, Aphrodite, was at home with her nanny. Simon had named their daughter after the Greek goddess of love, just as V herself had been named for the Roman goddess of love. V was sure that their daughter would live to regret having such an unwieldy and unbelievable name. To expedite an eventual easy passage into kindergarten, they called her Ari. On the far side of the church the Quartermaines were fussing with each other and their apparent ill ease with this marriage. As the ceremony began, Bobbie thought that no one had ever fought harder to be together than Jax and Chloe.

Unfortunately, as joyous as it should have been, Brenda’s reappearance had been an obstacle, but one that became less so once she had been committed to Shady Knoll. The wasting disease that her mother bequeathed her had taken hold while Lorenzo imprisoned Brenda. In the months after her rescue, Jax had been patient and kind, but his heart belonged to Chloe now. And neither the old Brenda, nor the ghost of her former self that she had become, would change that fact.

Once upon a time, Jerry had sat on the stoop of the Brownstone and cursed his inability to "save" Brenda for Jax when she was presumed dead all those years ago. He was elated to have been able to help save Chloe. Jerry had also aided the soon-to-be newest Mr. and Mrs. Jacks in setting up a trust to support Brenda’s care in perpetuity. However, neither of them could bear to visit. Jerry was sure painful memories were not at all what a newly wedded couple needed to begin a life together.

Bobbie looked at Jerry now as he carefully took the ring from Lucas’ pillow and handed it to his brother to place on Chloe’s finger. The smallest act of dexterity was still sometimes difficult, but Jerry managed with help from Lucas. Father and son looked at each other a moment and Bobbie had to turn to fight off the tears she felt gather behind her eyes. They were closer than ever, although Jerry still feared Lucas would someday blame him for Tony’s death. It had been an accident; there had been no way for Tony to know that Jerry was going to open the door when he did. Nor was there a way for either of them to know that there had been C-four plastique, a forceful plastic explosive, attached to the door slide. A final gift from her horrible father. The concussion of the blast had happened so quickly, it threw Jerry like a rag doll to the far side of the chasm, breaking several of his bones. On the inside Tony had been thrown fatally to the wall and crushed by the door itself. After much debate, Bobbie and Jerry had decided it best not to discuss it with Lucas. They would explain it all to him when he was old enough to appreciate how valiant Tony had been in trying to save Bobbie, Brenda, Chloe and Lucky, but how it all went wrong. Bobbie was sure Lucas would differentiate between an accident on Jerry’s part and an intentional act of hate on the part of his maternal grandfather.

The vows had been said and sealed with a passionate kiss as Bobbie mulled over their recent past; now the bride and groom turned to face the congregation of family and friends as husband and wife. They strode down the aisle with Lucas and Candy right behind them. Jerry reached out to take Bobbie’s hand and then tucked her arm through his. The gaze they shared as they followed their children from the altar could have melted the strongest steel or warmed the coldest ocean. Theirs was a love that was undiminished by time -- it only grew stronger and hotter, like the surface of the sun. The flames of it reached out and embraced them as they walked towards the future.