Everything I Do-Chapter 16

 

"Whoa, calm down," Carly said coming in the living room to find Keesha frantically putting the apartment in order. "You know, the place is always spotless, so there really is no need to worry."

Keesha took a deep breath and sat down. She smiled. "To the untrained eye, this place is spotless, but not to my mother’s and not to mention my aunts and grand aunts, when they come. I’m really excited about my parents coming, but I’m a little scared about it, too."

Carly laughed. "It’s funny how different our families are. Jax isn’t such a terrible guy, and you’re a little hesitant about your family accepting him, and here I am getting married to Jason. Imagine what they would have to say about that."

Keesha rolled her eyes. "They don’t really know Jax nor his family, so we’ll just have to see what they think about him. My parents are still a little upset about the entire situation. I told them on countless occasions to come to Port Charles and meet my friends, but they never can."

"So," she said joining her on the couch. "It’s their fault you’re marrying a corporate shark. Interesting logic there, Keesha."

"Well, it’s true. Jax’s parents have gotten to know me because they actually come here on occasion. Besides, with all my bad luck with my previous boyfriends here in Port Charles, no offense, I can’t really blame them. They seem to think that I fall for the same type."

"Well, when they meet him, they will realize how different he is," she told her. "So, Faith is spending the day with the Quartermaines until the dinner tonight, right? And the rest of your family won’t be here until the night of the rehearsal dinner, right?"

"Yes, the rehearsal dinner," she said sighing. Carly gave her a sympathetic smile. "Monica took her to Wyndam’s this morning to find a dress for tonight. Then, she is having lunch with Lila. They are really trying to make her feel like a part of the family. I’m really grateful for that. She was very hesitant at first about being one of them."

"Can you blame her? The Quartermaines are not exactly the easiest people to get along with. I know that Lila enjoys seeing Michael, and I try to take him over there as much as I can, but sometimes, I just don’t want to go through the hassle."

She nodded. "Understandable. I’m kind of glad that I didn’t marry into the family. At least Jason is removed from them, so they don’t constantly bombard you. How did you ever manage to get yourself in that situation?"

"What situation?" she asked laughing when Keesha began to laugh.

"Your family situation. The Spencers, the Jackses, the Cassadines, and now the Quartermaines. Wow, I hate to be someone on your enemy list."

Carly smiled. She never thought about it that way before. She was protected by some very powerful families; that meant she had nothing to worry about as far as her past was concerned. She would be protected no matter what. Her smile broadened. "You are absolutely right. I’m almost invincible," she joked.

Keesha nodded, "Yeah, key word, almost. Sometimes family connections can be a bad thing, too." She took a deep breath. "Speaking of family connections, mine will be here very soon. Are you still going to come with me to pick them up from the airport and get them settled in over at the hotel. You know what, they are still hesitant about Jax paying for the room. I tried to tell them that he wanted to pick up the tab, but they want to pay their own way. My other relatives weren’t any better about the whole situation, but finally relented when I told them I wanted them here for the dinner."

"Yeah, I’m ready," she said getting up. "One thing about family, they are very proud and stubborn. It’s any wonder none of that rubbed off on you, isn’t it?" Carly said teasing her.

"Be quiet, Carly," she said laughing as she closed and locked the door behind them.

*****

"Good morning, Jaxy boy," Sonny said smiling as he met him as he exited the elevator in front of the Port Charles Grill.

"Good morning, Corinthos," he greeted him.

"I’ve heard that you’ve received a very odd visitor lately. How did you deal with said visitor?" he asked smiling again. Maybe he was really over Brenda, now was the time to tell.

"You’ve heard correctly. I assume you’ve already seen her; Port Charles isn’t a very big place," he noted.

Sonny nodded. "Yeah, actually not too long ago, I saw her on the docks. She looked very disappointed and unhappy. I figured it had something to do with your upcoming nuptials with Miss Ward. Speaking of weddings, I was very surprised to receive an invitation to yours."

He smiled. "You should thank Keesha for that one." Although he and Sonny were no longer enemies, he hardly considered them to be friends either, but Keesha insisted that he be invited at least. It was his choice whether he actually came. "It’s a kind gesture on her part for the help you tried to give to Justus."

He nodded again. "Keesha’s a very unique lady. I only wish that I had been able to help a little more. What happened to Justus was very unnecessary. I’m just glad that Moreno is finally behind bars where he belongs. Now, I’ve done some things that I’m not exactly proud of, and so have you." Jax nodded to answer that indeed he had. "But, I was never involved in the type of things that Moreno was."

"I know you weren’t. Don’t tell anyone I said this, but I think that having you in charge of Port Charles streets is better than having anyone else."

Sonny laughed. "Don’t worry, I won’t. I don’t think anyone would believe me anyway; you giving me a compliment. No one would ever believe that." He looked into the restaurant. "Jason’s already here. See you later," he said as he moved to walk away.

"Corinthos," Jax said prompting him to turn around again. "You never said if you were coming."

"Of course I am; I wouldn’t want to let Keesha down," he said smiling one last time before going into the restaurant.

Jax smiled and shook his head. Who would have thought the day would come that he would be able to have a civilized conversation with the likes of Sonny Corinthos? He checked his watch. He wouldn’t have time to ponder on that very long; he was supposed to meet Keesha and Carly at the airport.

*****

"Hi," Keesha said when he reached them. She gave him a quick hug. "I was beginning to think that you weren’t going to show up. You’re not nervous about meeting my parents, are you?" she asked teasing him.

He shook his head. "Not in the least. I think that I will be able to survive this just fine. Or, at least I hope I will be able to," he amended.

"I don’t know about that, Uncle Jax," Carly started. "Seeing how you fare with Keesha, here, I don’t know if you can handle a bunch of people just like her."

"You know," Keesha said agreeing, "she could just be right about that. But, no time to think about that now. There they are," she said seeing them in the distance before she started towards them.

"The moment of truth," Carly uttered placing her arm through his as they joined the reunited family.

"Mom, Dad," Keesha said practically beaming when they reached them. "This is my roommate Carly, and soon to be niece," she said introducing them as Carly shook both of their hands and returned to Jax’s side. "And this is Jax," she said releasing her father and going over to stand near Jax.

"I have heard a lot about you, and I’m glad to finally meet the both of you," Jax said shaking their hands as well. He didn’t exactly expect a very warm reception from them, and he wasn’t disappointed. He could tell that Keesha was not exactly pleased with her parents’ reaction.

"So, you are the infamous Jax that has carted our daughter to the far reaches of the earth?" David said. "It’s nice to finally put a face to a name."

"Yes," Victoria said smiling. "We are very happy to meet you."

Keesha grew a little tired to the forced conversation. "Well, I’m glad that everyone is glad to meet everyone else," she said a little testily. "I thought that we could go over to the Outback for lunch, you know, get aquatinted."

"That sounds like a good idea," Carly said. "Do you want to go ahead and load your luggage?" she asked David.

"Did you drive, Carly?" Jax asked. When she nodded, he responded, "I’ll just ride over with you and tell my driver to leave. Excuse me," he said walking away a few steps and pulling out his phone.

Keesha saw the looks on her parents’ faces. They were refusing to give Jax a chance. They just needed to get to know him. She rolled her eyes when her father came over and whispered to her, "His driver, Keesha?" He shook his head as he followed Carly with the luggage.

*****

"So," Keesha said sitting next to her mother on the couch in their room at the PC Hotel. "What do you think of Port Charles? The last time you were here, you weren’t able to see much of the city." She was really trying to talk to them. They had remained almost closed mouthed during lunch earlier. Of course they made her upset, but she just chalked it up to them getting to know Jax and Carly.

"It seems like a very nice place," her mother said offering a smile and glanced at her husband who said nothing.

"And Jax, does he seem like a very nice person?" she asked a little sarcastically. That seemed to be the only description she could get out of them on anything.

Her father finally spoke. "What else do you expect us to say? I don’t think that it would make any difference what we thought anyway. You have made up your mind on this. The wedding is already plan, and the invitations are already sent," he informed her.

She sighed and her parents could tell that she was very displeased with them. "Fine," she said standing up. "You’re right. I don’t want your opinion, that’s why I’ve tried to get you to come to Port Charles so many times. You haven’t even visited Gram Mae’s grave or Justus’," said facing her father. "Listen, I’m sorry, but you don’t know him, and you don’t even want to get to know him. Give him a chance, or have you already made up your minds."

"Give him a chance, she says," David mimicked her. "Will he change? I don’t think so. He’s just like the other men you’ve been involved with since you’ve been here. They always hurt you, and he’s no different from them."

"You don’t know that," she bit out. Calming herself, she said, "I don’t want to get into this with you right now. This is your first day in town, and I don’t want to ruin it already. I’m going to go now. I’ll see you both tomorrow. Faith is going to come with me in the morning," she said picking up her purse to leave.

Her mother stood as well and walked Keesha to the door. She threw her husband another weary glance. She wasn’t happy about her choice for a suitor either, but she only wanted her daughter to be happy. "I think that you’re right about us leaving things on a good note tonight. How are you going to get home?" she asked.

Leave it to her mother to ask a question like that. She knew she was just fishing to make sure she was indeed going home. "I’m sure Jax will be happy to take me," she said looking over at her father. "He has a penthouse in the building, remember."

Her mother smiled as she gave her daughter a hug. "Yes," she said pulling away and smoothing Keesha’s hair. She could hardly believe that her little girl was getting married in less than a week. "I remember that you told us."

"Tomorrow will be better," she promised as she took her mother’s hand. "You’ll get to meet the rest of the family."

She nodded. "That will be good. Carly is a very lovely young woman," she added.

"Yes, she is. Good night, Mama, Daddy," she said and when she received the same wishes, she left.

 

 

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