Jax pulled himself to a sitting position next to her. "I said, Brenda……why did you kill our baby?"

"Kill……." She was breathing so hard that she thought surely her lungs would explode with the effort. "You think……." Brenda covered her eyes with her hands and then slid them into her hair to push it back. "You think that I had an abortion?" she finally whispered.

Jax’s face was cold. "I don’t think it, Brenda. I *know* it." He rolled away from her and faced the opposite direction as he started to pull his peasant trousers back on.

"Well, your psychic abilities are lousy, Carnak!" she spat, punching his bare shoulder with her fist. "Because I didn’t have an abortion! I had a miscarriage!"

Jax sighed but still faced away from her. "When I called you that night, Brenda….."

She grabbed his shoulder angrily and spun him around before he could finish, forcing him to face her. "…..when you called me that night, I was so distraught that I could barely talk about it!" He tried to turn away but she pushed at his right shoulder angrily. "H*ll, I could barely talk about anything! They put me on anti-depressants because I was so upset over losing the baby!"

Jax smirked cynically at her. "Yeah, right. You were so upset and doped up on anti-depressants that you managed to clear out your closets in record time and leave me high and dry." Tears came to his eyes. "No note, no phone call, no nothing. Just gone." He waved a hand in the air casually.

Brenda clutched the rough blanket to her chest and her fingers trembled with the force of her emotions. "I stopped taking the anti-depressants because I wanted to try to handle it on my own." She took a deep breath. "Then day after day went by, and I thought I would lose my mind if I had to wait much longer for you to come home. I thought that you’d contact me as soon as you got back, and then we’d straighten everything out."

"Contact you?" Jax was incredulous. "Did it ever occur to you that I might have a little difficulty doing that if I didn’t know where the H*LL you were?" Brenda buried her face in her hands again and Jax swore under his breath. "D*mnit, I knew this wouldn’t work. You always insist on talking everything out…..getting our feelings out in the open…..but we only end up arguing and hurting each other more."

Jax got up from the floor and went to a small window on the south side of the hut. Pulling the makeshift curtains aside, the moonlight gleamed on his bare chest. Brenda watched for a few minutes, the ache in her heart palpable. "Who told you…..that I had an abortion?"

He turned back from the window and sighed loudly. "It doesn’t matter."

"No, I guess not." She shook her head and shoved back the blanket with a snort of disgust. "You’d just rather believe some nameless "someone" than me." She shoved her feet into the legs of the peasant trousers angrily and wiggled to yank them up her hips. Jax remained at the window, but he was surprised when she looked back up at him. "Well, I’ve got news for you, Jax. *I* was the one who sat on our bathroom floor, crying hysterically cause I was bleeding! *I* was the one who had to call 911, and then have some strange doctors poking and prodding me in the ER!" She leaned forward and hissed, pointing at her chest. "*I* was the one who was *by myself* when the doctor told me that I had lost our baby. That it had died inside me."

Jax listened to her soft sobs with eyes downcast. Brenda was putting her tunic back on and barely heard him when he spoke. "It was Harlan."

Her head popped through the opening of the tunic. "What??"

Jax walked slowly back to where she still sat on the floor. "Harlan -- your father –he told me that you had an abortion." She barely moved but started breathing harder again.

"But why……why would my father lie to you like that?"

Jax crouched down next to her on the floor. "My thoughts exactly." He shifted his weight and sat down next to her. "I moved heaven and earth trying to find you when I got back, Brenda. I called Lois, I cruised Rodeo Drive……I didn’t know where else to look." He took a shaky breath. "Finally, I called your father at work to see if he had heard from you. He told me that you had come to your senses and done the best thing for all parties involved and had an abortion."

Brenda seethed with a combination of disbelief and anger. "But I just don’t get it. I mean, I know he didn’t like you because you weren’t part of your father’s business, but why would he be so cruel……I just…..I don’t….."

Jax nodded. "Now maybe you understand why I believed him. I couldn’t think of any motive he would have for lying. He said you were worried about being a good parent, and I know you had mentioned it before I left……"

"But those were just normal doubts, like all pregnant women have!" She suddenly reached out to take Jax’s wrist in her hand. "You do believe me, don’t you? That I didn’t have an abortion? That I lost the baby?"

Jax’s eyes glittered in the night with tears to match Brenda’s as he laughed softly. "God, Brenda – I don’t think I know *what* to believe anymore. I’ve been shot at, beaten up, almost flogged to death – and now this." She bit her lower lip and looked down at the floor but he covered her hand with his. "But yes – I *do* believe that you didn’t have an abortion."

Brenda nodded quietly. "How much farther is it to Lontak?" She picked at a thread on the blanket, not meeting his gaze.

Jax looked up at the ceiling, his raw feelings causing him to be equally evasive. "Well, if these peasants come through with the horses, it shouldn’t take more than two hours."

She sighed. "Then I guess we should get some rest." For the first time in thirty minutes, she cracked a small smile. "After all, you still owe me that Extra Value Meal, you know."

Jax finally looked at her. The corners of his eyes crinkled in a familiar way. "Super-sized. I remember." He reached for the blanket and when Brenda looked hesitant, he reached for her arm and pulled her down next to him on the floor. Jax covered them both with the blanket, but there was at least six inches of space between their bodies --- and light years of uncertainty between their hearts.

*^*^*^*

"Geez, Jax….is that *all* you can think of to talk about? Baseball?"

Brenda laughed loudly as they rode at a leisurely pace toward the Lontakian border. Neither one had slept much after their discussion the night before. As soon as Jax smelled the peasant women cooking breakfast, he woke Brenda and instructed her to get her things together.

"You’re just angry with me for waking you so early this morning." Jax pulled back gently on the reins of his horse, rose in the stirrups to get their bearings, and then pointed to the left as they continued.

"Well, I never was a morning person," she replied, easing her horse into a canter next to his. She was about to tease him about his early rising habits when there was a loud "crack" about ten feet to her left.

They both pulled back hard on their reins. "What was that?" Brenda looked around fearfully as Jax’s keen eyes scanned the horizon. "Is someone after us?" Before Jax could answer, there was another popping noise, this time to the right of Jax’s horse’s feet. "Who are they?" she cried, right before Jax slapped her horse hard on the rump.

"The gang that couldn’t shoot straight!" He kicked his horse with his heels and slapped her horse again, urging him into a similar pace. "Now let’s just get the h*ll out of here!"

Brenda leaned forward and stabbed her heels into the sides of her horse. They galloped as fast as the horses could manage towards a fork in the road. As Brenda’s horse pulled into the lead, she glanced back at Jax just in time to see a large red stain blossom on his left shoulder. "JAX!!!!"

He winced in pain but managed to hang onto the reins with his right hand. "Keep going, Brenda!! Veer to the right up ahead!!"

Brenda followed his command but still kept glancing back to make sure he was following close behind her. She vaguely registered the sound of a bullet whizzing past her right shoulder and leaned farther forward on the horse. Yanking on the reins, she guided the horse towards the right as Jax had instructed and looked back again to make sure he had done likewise.

She was relieved to see him gaining ground on her mount. The red stain was growing in size steadily. "Jax – can you make it? How much farther to Lontak?"

"I’m OK, Brenda!!" he wheezed as his horse pulled even with hers. "It should only be another eighth of a mile or so!"

They both spurred their horses again when they heard the sound of galloping pursuers. Brenda chewed unconsciously on her lower lip when a wooden gate and primitive guardhouse came into view. "That’s it, love!" Jax shouted. "Kick it into high gear if you really want that Big Mac!"

When a sleepy guard heard the commotion and stuck his head out a window of the guardhouse, his eyes widened in shock. He turned to shout to his fellow border guard and they lifted the wooden gait just as Brenda and Jax came galloping across the border. She reined back on her horse and turned sharply just in time to see Jax slump down on the horse’s neck.

"HELP US!!" She jumped down from her horse, screaming wildly at the single border guard who came rushing up to help. His fellow officer had gone inside the shack and was already on the telephone and when Brenda glanced up, she could see him speaking frantically into the mouthpiece. She looked at the remaining guard, who had helped Jax down from his horse and was lowering him to the ground. "You have to help him! He’s been shot!" she screamed, crouching down next to Jax and pulling him into her arms.

Jax’s eyes fluttered open at the sound of Brenda’s voice. She sobbed in relief when he gave her a crooked smile. "They don’t understand English, duchess." He swallowed hard and then turned to face the guard as he lay in her arms. Jax managed to growl some words in a dialect Brenda didn’t realize, but she heard her name mentioned and the word "WSB" when he referred to himself. She saw the guard’s eyes widen and then his fellow officer came up to them, speaking rapidly in the same dialect.

"What’s going on?" Brenda pushed the hair back off Jax’s forehead and looked between them. "You need a doctor, Jax," she wept, "you’ve been shot."

Jax swallowed hard again and cupped the side of her face lovingly. "It’s not serious, love. I’ve had worse." He glanced up at his shoulder. "I think it just caught the very top of my shoulder and didn’t hit anything vital."

"But it’s bleeding so much….." Brenda’s voice was frantic and her tears wet Jax’s hand. "After all we’ve been through, I can’t lose you now that we’re finally safe……when there’s still so much I wanted to say to you……"

"Ssshhhhhh….we’ll get a chance to talk," Jax whispered. He paused for a second and then smiled at her. "Hear that?" She could barely hear anything with her heart pounding so hard in her ears, but then the faint sing-song sound of sirens reached her consciousness. "Help’s on the way. We’re going to make it."

"Yes." She held Jax tightly to her and rocked back and forth on the ground as the sirens got closer. "We’re going to make it, Jax. Everything’s going to be alright."

*^*^*^*

The next two hours seemed to pass in a blur for Brenda. An ambulance arrived at the border and Brenda clutched Jax’s hand as they traveled the bumpy distance to the Lontakian capital city. He drifted in and out of consciousness. But she was somewhat reassured by the fact that medical personnel now were monitoring his wound and giving him something in an IV drip.

There was a flurry of flashbulbs and reporters shouted questions when the ambulance doors opened. A distinguished man who introduced himself as the American ambassador in Lontak took Brenda’s arm to assist her out of the ambulance. She reluctantly let go of Jax’s hand as more white-coated medical personnel hovered around him and then moved his gurney away from her. "Where are they taking him?" she asked the ambassador, growing frantic again.

"He’s getting the best care available, my dear," Ambassador Keithley crooned. "Now why don’t we let them do their job and you can see him a little later?" She frowned and shook her head, straining to see where they had taken Jax, but the ambassador refused to be swayed. "He’ll be fine, really, Miss Barrett," he insisted. She finally looked him in the eyes and he took her by the shoulders. "If you’ll just come with me, I’ll have a doctor check you out and you can freshen up a little after your ordeal." Brenda tried to see around the ambassador’s shoulder, but he pulled her back to him firmly. "You won’t be any good to him if you collapse from exhaustion yourself, you know."

Finally, she nodded once in acquiescence. "I understand. I think a shower does sound pretty good to me right now."

Ambassador Keithley took Brenda into the embassy’s medical wing. "Now, Miss Barrett," he explained as he led her to a small waiting room. "Why don’t you just try to relax? I’m going to have my own personal physician give you a quick once-over to make sure you weren’t injured in your dash to freedom."

"I want to see Mr. Jacks." Her chin lifted a notch as Brenda’s defiance returned.

"Actually, I think the doctors are busy taking care of his shoulder wound right now," Ambassador Keithley replied. There was a knock on the door, and a young man in a white coat with distinctly Oriental features entered the room. "This is Dr. Trong," he continued. "Why don’t you just relax and let him give you a quick check-up? By that time, I’m sure the doctors will have finished and you can go see Mr. Jacks."

She considered his words for a few moments and then nodded. "I need to get back to my office and contact Mr. Barrett and the WSB," Ambassador Keithley said to Dr. Trong. "I want to be informed of her condition as soon as you’re finished – and also Mr. Jacks’ condition." He smiled once more at Brenda and then left the room.

The doctor went to wash his hands but Brenda spoke before he could even turn back to her. "Is Mr. Jacks alright?" He took a paper towel to dry them and then faced her with a smile. "I mean, you’re not all trying to hide something from me about him, are you?" Her lower lip began to quiver. "Because if he…….if he’s worse, or if he die……"

Dr. Trong was at her side in an instant as she covered her face with her hands and broke down. "He’s *fine*, Miss Barrett. I saw him in the examining room a few moments ago and he was conscious, un-cooperative,

and quite …..vocal."

She laughed a little and wiped the tears with the back of her hand. "That sounds like my Jax alright."

The doctor put his hand on her arm. "Actually, he was quite concerned about you. He kept mentioning an injury to your knee."

"Ohhhh, that….." Brenda sniffed a little. She couldn’t help but feel hopeful. Everything was out in the open now. Jax knew the truth about the miscarriage and was worried about her. As soon as she saw him, she’d tell him she loved him and they would be together for the rest of their lives.

"Why don’t you slip those awful clothes off and put this on so I can check your knee?" the doctor said, pulling out a cotton shift. He turned away for a few minutes and then came back when Brenda told him she was ready. "Which knee was injured?"

"The right one." Brenda crossed her legs so that the doctor could examine her knee more closely. "I don’t think it was dislocated or anything, but it was sprained pretty badly."

The doctor frowned. "It looks fine now."

"When we were captured by some of the Drakarian peasants, one of them gave me some kind of tea with a strong kick to it, if you know what I mean," she joked. "I don’t know if it just made me not care about the pain, or if it really took away the inflammation, but after that it didn’t bother me."

Dr. Trong quirked an eyebrow and made some notes in her chart. "Well, herbal therapies are gaining more and more acceptance around the world." Then he smiled at her crookedly. "And as my ancestors used to say, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!"

He completed the rest of her examination in about fifteen minutes, pronouncing that other than some exhaustion and signs of not having eaten properly, she was healthy. "Now," he said, offering her his arm, "why don’t you let me show you to one of the rooms here in the medical wing so you can get some rest?"

"I thought you were going to take me to Mr. Jacks." Brenda couldn’t help the feelings of fear that caused her chest to constrict.

"He’s probably still in surgery, Miss Barrett," the doctor answered, opening the door and again offering his arm. "I promise you that as soon as he’s awake and alert, I’ll have someone take you to him."

"Surgery?!" Her voice rose a notch and her lip quivered. "Can you do that here? I mean, maybe he should have been transported back to the United States before they did anything that ….. critical……"

Dr. Trong placed his hands on Brenda’s shoulders. "Miss Barrett, we have a full-service medical center here at the embassy. Our doctors are just as competent as the doctors in the United States. These *are* American citizens we’re caring for here at the embassy, you know….."

The strain of the day was beginning to take a toll on Brenda. She blushed a little and then lowered her head. "I’m sorry. It’s just that we’ve gone through so much in the past few days….." She gave the doctor a quick nod. "All right. Maybe I will take just a little nap. And a shower."

"Ambassador Keithley was checking into some clothing for you." Dr. Trong led her down a long hallway to a small, private hospital room. "Now, you go take that shower. I’ll have the ambassador’s maid bring you a change of outfit and then you can take a short nap until Mr. Jacks is able to see you."

Brenda took the doctor’s hand and squeezed it warmly. "Thank you, Doctor. I really do appreciate all you’ve done, and I’m sorry if I seem to be less than …… co-operative."

"Totally understandable under the circumstances, Miss Barrett." Then Dr. Trong raised an eyebrow at her. "I *am* going to prescribe a sedative for you, though. And I want you to be sure to take it after your shower. Mr. Jacks isn’t going anywhere soon, and you need your rest."

She saluted him sharply. "Yes, sir. Will do, sir." Brenda took her time in the shower after he left, shampooing her hair and feeling totally decadent as she let the warm water cascade over her tired body. When she emerged from the bathroom, she found a pair of blue jeans and a polo shirt waiting for her, along with a glass of water and two pills on the nightstand with a note from the doctor. He explained that Mr. Jacks had survived the surgery and was doing nicely, but was sleeping off the anesthetic they had given him. With the doctor’s promise to come get her as soon as Jax awoke playing in her mind, Brenda put on the clothes, climbed into bed, took the pills, and fell asleep within minutes.

*^*^*^*

Jax felt like he was in a fog. It was so difficult to open his eyes, but somebody kept calling his name – and it wasn’t Brenda. "Mr. Jacks – Mr. Jacks – can you wake up for us?"

"If I’m going to wake up," he finally growled, "I’m bloody doing it for *me*!" He opened one eye to see Dr. Trong standing next to his bed. "Who the h*ll are you?"

Dr. Trong smiled and made some notes in his chart. "Ahhhh, yes. Recuperating nicely, I can see." He extended his hand. "I’m Dr. Trong, personal physician to Ambassador Keithley. I saw you briefly when you first came to the embassy."

"Riiiight…..you were the first guy who poked at my shoulder." Jax winced as he tried to move his left shoulder.

"The bullet’s out now, Mr. Jacks. You should make a full recovery." He opened Jax’s chart again, but gasped aloud when Jax grabbed his wrist.

"Brenda…..Brenda Barrett. I want to see her." Jax closed his eyes and swallowed hard. "How is she? Where is she?"

"Miss Barrett is resting comfortably as well, Mr. Jacks. Other than suffering from exhaustion and slight malnutrition, she appears to be in excellent condition."

"Take me to see her." Jax grimaced and winced again as he flexed his bandaged shoulder. "I’ll even ride in one of those bloody awful wheelchairs if it’ll get me there any quicker."

Dr. Trong opened Jax’s chart again and took a deep breath. "I appreciate your willingness to cooperate, Mr. Jacks, but there’s……"

Jax gripped Dr. Trong’s jacket. "Is there something wrong with her? Something you’re not telling me?"

Dr. Trong slowly removed Jax’s hand. His face still somber, the doctor pulled a chair over closer to Jax’s bed. "It’s not Miss Barrett that concerns me, Mr. Jacks." He flipped open Jax’s chart again. "When we advised the WSB that you had arrived and needed surgery, they faxed us your complete medical records."

"And?"

Dr. Trong took another long deep breath. "And I think there’s something in here that we need to discuss. At length. Before you go anywhere."

*^*^*^*

It was dark outside when Jax finally pushed the door to Brenda’s room open. He was walking on his own, dressed in jeans and a pale green polo shirt, his left arm in a sling. As he came to the bed and saw her, the moonlight casting shadows over her face that made her look ethereal, he caught his breath.

Jax chewed on his lower lip for a second, deliberating what he was going to do, but then he wiped at his eyes with the back of his right hand. He approached her bed on cat’s feet, something that wasn’t difficult considering his background. When he saw her chest rise and fall in the gentle motions of sleep, it took all of his willpower not to reach out and touch her.

"Well, duchess, it looks like you came through it all none the worse for wear." He chuckled a little. "I can hear you now – when you find out I’m welching on buying you that Value Meal." His face became somber. "But this is the way it has to be, Brenda. I just hope you’ll forgive me someday."

He was about to turn and leave but she shifted slightly in her sleep. Jax held his breath, praying that she wouldn’t wake up. For a change, God seemed to hear his prayers and Brenda quieted. "I’m sorry, duchess." Jax raised his eyes to heaven and wiped at them again with the back of his hand. "You’ll *really* regret not being able to have heard me say that one," he snorted sarcastically. "But I really am sorry for so many things." He reached out a hand and pushed the hair back off her face gently. "For not being more honest and open with you about my feelings while we were together. For not staying with you and ignoring the WSB on that last mission. For not asking more questions, and blindly believing your father when he told me you had an abor……"

Jax’s words caught in his throat and he almost sobbed aloud. The tears were flowing down his cheeks freely now. "But the truth is, Brenda, you deserve a man who can be all that you want him to be. Someone who can be honest and open with you. Someone who has a solid career and won’t go jetting off to the four corners of the earth at a phone call’s notice. Someone who’ll be around when you need him. Someone who can offer you more of a future than I’ll ever be able……"

Jax looked away from the bed and swore softly under his breath. He managed to regain his composure and then turned back to her again, clearing his throat softly. "You looked so beautiful on that magazine cover, Brenda." He smiled at her, reaching down to stroke her hair ever so gently. "You were born to wear tiaras ……you deserve a Prince Charming, Sleeping Beauty." He sighed shakily. "And that sure the h*ll ain’t me."

He dropped his head and walked slowly towards the door. He opened it, but then turned back to face her once more in the darkness. "Good-bye, Brenda. I love you……I’ll always love you. Never anyone else. Only you." When the door closed softly behind him, Brenda frowned in her sleep. She swiped at her nose with her hand, rolled to her side, and fell once again into a deep slumber.

*^*^*^*

"Brenda……wake up, Brenda."

Brenda rolled to her other side, trying to ignore the voice that kept drawing her back to consciousness. Suddenly, a smile crept across her face, and she rolled back to the source of the sound. Her eyes closed, she sighed aloud. "Jax?"

"Brenda……" The voice’s owner reached out a hand and shook her shoulder. "Wake up, Brenda. You’ve been asleep for over 18 hours."

She sighed again dreamily, still not opening her eyes. "Jax…….I wanted to come see you but they wouldn’t……"

"It’s not Jax, Brenda." Her eyes opened slowly and when her vision cleared, she frowned. "Hello, honey."

"Daddy?" Brenda rubbed at her eyes. "Daddy? Is that you? What are you doing here?"

"Ambassador Keithley called me and I took the next available flight over here, Brenda. You can’t imagine how worried your mother and I have been about you."

Brenda pushed herself up to sit in the bed, looking around Harlan. "Is momma here?"

"No, Brenda. I told her I would bring you home as soon as you felt well enough to travel. How are you feeling this morning?"

The last thing Brenda needed at that point was Harlan Barrett making polite small talk. She heard the sound of her door opening and reached out to push Harlan aside to see who it was. "Jax? Is that……"

"Good morning, Miss Barrett," Dr. Trong sang happily. "How are we feeling this morning?"

"WE," she spat angrily, "are feeling mad as h*ll that you slipped me a mickey! What was in that pill you gave me, anyway? Knock-out drops?"

Dr. Trong shook his head and opened her chart. "You were exhausted, Miss Barrett. You needed the rest. Now, if your father would just give us a minute of privacy, I can give you a last check-up and we’ll get your release papers signed….."

"Where’s Jax?" Brenda started to swing her legs out of the bed. "I want to see Jax right now!" She gripped the sides of the bed, seething at the doctor. "You promised you would take me to see him!"

Dr. Trong suddenly became very somber, staring into her chart and refusing to meet her gaze. "Mr. Jacks left the embassy hospital late last night….."

"LEFT!!??" Brenda shot off the bed but Harlan caught her by the shoulders before she could get to the doctor. "What do you mean, left? Where did he go?"

Dr. Trong flipped her chart closed. "I believe he was headed back to the United States, Miss Barrett."

"But you said he was in surgery yesterday! How could he be well enough to be released?"

"He mentioned something about continuing his recuperation at a WSB facility," Dr. Trong replied icily. "They were quite emphatic about getting him out of the country and into their debriefing center as quickly as possible."

Brenda shook her head, tears gathering in her eyes, as her father helped her sit on the bed again. "Jax wouldn’t have done that. Not after all we’ve been through. Not after we just found out……" Suddenly, she looked up at her father, the rage and venom barely concealed in her eyes. "I want to speak to my father alone, Dr. Trong."

"You’ll have plenty of time for a family reunion once I process your release, Miss Barrett. Now why don’t you just….."

"I SAID I WANT TO TALK TO MY FATHER! ALONE! NOW!!!"

Dr. Trong and Harlan both stepped back a few steps. "Of course, Miss Barrett," the doctor said in a small voice. "I’ll just step down to the office and get that paperwork started……"

The door had barely closed behind him when Brenda turned to Harlan, her face red. "What did you say to him?"

"Who? The doctor?" Harlan looked down at the floor, embarrassment flushing his cheeks.

Brenda grabbed his arm roughly. "No, daddy," she sneered. "What did you say to Jax? What did you do that made him leave so suddenly?" Harlan sputtered but Brenda cut him off before he could utter a word. "What lies did you tell him *this* time?"

Harlan’s eyes lifted to meet Brenda’s. "Lies? What are you talking about, Brenda?" He protested innocence, but Brenda could see his guilt lurking just below the surface.

"I’m talking about lies, daddy," she growled. "Like the one you told him when I had the miscarriage." Harlan sighed and tried to turn away from her, running his hands through his hair. But Brenda held him fast. "The time you conveniently forgot to mention to me…..when he called looking for me, and you told him I had had an *abortion*!!"

Harlan pulled himself up to his full height and took a deep breath. "I did what was necessary under the circumstances, Brenda."

"Necessary?!" She almost shrieked the word.

"Yes, necessary……I did it to protect you, Brenda." Harlan managed to escape her grip and walked to the foot of her bed.

"Protect me from what? Spending the rest of my life with the man I love?" Brenda’s voice broke as sobs erupted.

Harlan spun back and gripped the foot of the bed. "I protected you from making the biggest mistake of your life, Brenda!" he spat, suddenly just as angry as she was.

"Mistake? Why, daddy?" Brenda asked tearfully. "Because he wasn’t a member of the Good Old Boys Network? Because he didn’t live and breathe the Wall Street Journal? Because he wasn’t *worthy* to take over Barrett Industries when you died?" Her words were caustic.

But Brenda wasn’t prepared for the change in her father’s face as he leaned over the bedrail. "No, Brenda…..although I have to admit I wasn’t pleased at the thought of having a spy for a son-in-law." Brenda crossed her arms and grabbed a tissue angrily to wipe her eyes. Harlan surprised her when he continued. "What did your precious Jax tell you about his older brother?"

Brenda’s face paled slightly as she held a tissue to her quivering lips. "An older brother?" She cleared her throat softly. "Jax never mentioned an older brother."

"Probably something he never got around to in the year you lived together, huh?" Harlan returned with equal sarcasm.

"So Jax never told me he had an older brother," she replied defensively. "That didn’t give you the right….."

"And obviously he never told you how his older brother died, then…..did he Brenda?" Brenda’s audible gasp answered Harlan’s question. He shook his head and smiled ironically. "No, I didn’t think he did."

"Was he……was his brother an agent…..like Jax?" Brenda’s voice was so quiet that Harlan almost didn’t hear her question.

"Would to God it was that simple, Brenda," Harlan replied gently. He came around to sit next to her on the bed, reaching for her hand. "Jax has……had," he amended, finally managing to snag her hand and hold it tightly, "a brother named Jerry. He was born about five years before Jax was."

Brenda’s face was as pale as the bedsheet. "How did Jerry die, daddy?"

Harlan inhaled deeply, holding Brenda’s hand even tighter. "There’s a genetic defect that runs in the Jacks family, Brenda. It causes a mental disorder that leads to severe dementia, disorientation, and eventual…..death." He raised pained eyes to meet Brenda’s. "Jerry had that gene, Brenda. He died about six years ago."

She could barely form the words. "And……Jax?"

Brenda saw the tears in Harlan’s eyes. "It’s more than likely that Jax has the gene also, Brenda. That’s why I had to lie to him……to break the two of you up. I knew that if you stayed together, losing him would only break your heart."

To be continued…….

Author’s note: I am taking MAJOR liberties with the original novel with this latest turn of events. In the original, "Jax" isn’t wounded in the escape. He leaves "Brenda" while she is sleeping, but only gives the excuse that he isn’t good enough for her. When "Brenda" finds him gone, she goes back to the United States to confront her father. "Harlan" tells her he lied to "Jax" because alcoholism runs in the family and he was afraid that "Jax" would turn out to be a drunken bum. By using the "dementia gene" plot, I think it gives Jax more of a motive for leaving her, it redeems Harlan a little, and it certainly made this chapter a lot easier for me to write!!