Everything I Do-Chapter 8

 

"Doesn’t she look cute," Jerry said to Bobbie as Carly approached the table.

She smiled and turned around to model her nurse’s uniform for them. "Good morning to you both. I hope that you’re not taking too much time out of your busy schedule to meet with me."

Bobbie smiled. "There’s always time for you, Carly. Now, what is this big news that you have to tell us? I mean asking both of your parents to get together equals big news."

"Yeah," Jerry agreed. "You aren’t going to sign-up for Peace Corps and go halfway around the world, and you want us to keep Michael for you, are you?"

She laughed. Leave it to Jerry to come up with something so wild as that. "No, but it is something life altering." She paused and looked over towards the door and saw Jason coming in. She stood up and waved him over. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and turned back to face her parents. "We’re getting married!" she exclaimed and showed them the ring.

"Wow," Bobbie said getting out of her seat and coming over to give them both kisses on the check. "This is wonderful news, and this is a wonderful ring."

Jerry joined them and gave Carly a hug. He shook Jason’s hand. "Welcome to the family, Jason. You’ve gotten quite a hand full here. I hope you’re up to the challenge."

Jason gave him a small smile and looked into Carly’s eyes. "I most certainly am."

Just across the restaurant, a dark-haired woman sat and watched what was happening. She saw how Jason was looking at Carly with a look that seemed like love. She remembered a time when he looked at her like that, before Carly ruined everything. How could he ever love her after everything she had done?

"Is this seat taken?" a gentleman asked breaking her out of her reverie.

She looked up and upon recognizing the man, smiled at him. "Of course not, please sit down. This is such a coincidence; I was planning to go by the mansion today to visit you and the family."

"Well, it’s a good thing that I saw you here. I don’t live there anymore. I thought that it was time that I moved out on my own for good. How have you been?"

"Great," she said giving him a small smile. "And you?"

"Wonderful," he said in the same tone. "How is Brenda? We haven’t seen her since she has been back."

Robin sighed. "I really don’t know. She’s very unhappy and miserable. I don’t know what I can do to help her. The bad thing is that I don’t think that there is anything I can do to help her. She wants Jax back, and I don’t think that is going to happen." She noticed the look on his face. "I’m sorry, AJ, I know that you and Keesha had a pretty bad break-up, and it must still hurt."

He was silent for a moment. Yes, it did still hurt. He still loved Keesha, and he hated himself for letting the best person in his life go. It was his fault; he realized that now. He pushed her away; he ruined them. "Yes, it does still hurt. I don’t know when it’s going to stop. I look back at our relationship, and I realize that we could have been still together. I don’t want to talk about that right now, though."

"I understand," she said nodding and looking back over at Carly surrounded by her family. That should be her engaged to Jason. They belonged together. "I understand all too well. I let Jason go by my stupid mistakes. I should’ve just backed off of Carly, but I didn’t. I can’t change all that, but I always wonder what would have been if I could."

AJ nodded; he knew that feeling all too well. "Are you planning to stay here for good?"

She shrugged. "I don’t know. I know that Uncle Mac would love it if I were to stay in Port Charles permanently. I really don’t have any plans right now. I just want to be there for Brenda and help her through this. I feel really helpless though."

AJ reached across the table and place a reassuring hand over Robin’s hand. "Listen, you don’t have to go through this alone. Just remember your friends and family is here to help you. Hey, I’m here to help. I don’t have much going on right now except for the gym at the hospital, so whenever you need a friend to talk to, remember I’m here."

She smiled. "Thank you, AJ. I think that I’m going to take you up on that offer. What’s your new number?" she asked pulling out her dayplanner.

*****

"I’m never going to get through all of this," Keesha said closing her laptop and putting her head down on top of it.

"Things aren’t going well, I take it," Karen said coming over to join her friend. "How much stuff do you have to do?"

Keesha sat up again. "Too much. I refuse to work on my thesis on my honeymoon; that’s just going a little too far."

Karen laughed. "I don’t blame you there. Do you need some help with something? I’m off today, and I’m willing to lend a hand.

Keesha sighed. "I wish I could take you up on that offer, but everything I need to do comes from here," she said pointing to her head. She shook her head. "I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I’m not going to complain about it. How have you been? I haven’t seen you in a while."

She shrugged. "Nothing much. The hospital is pretty much my life, so I know exactly where you’re coming from. I’ll bet that your fiancé would not like you putting so much stress on yourself, though," she said smiling.

Keesha laughed. "He doesn’t because I can’t spend as much time with him as we both would like. I’m going insane, and I haven’t seen him over thirty hours, and I won’t be able to see him today. Perish the thought."

"The musings of a woman in love," Karen said. "Well, I’m glad about that. It’s about time that the two of you got together. How are to two of you dealing with Brenda being back?" she asked full of concern.

"Well, it seems that we’re not dealing with it. It’s almost like Jax doesn’t even recognize that she could be a problem. But, I’m not going to let Brenda get to him or me. It may not be the wisest decision that I’ll ever make, but I won’t deal with Brenda until she makes herself a problem, and believe me, I’m ready to deal with her."

"I believe you," Karen said truthfully. "So, do you know what Carly’s planning for the bridal shower?"

She began laughing. "There’s no telling about her. She’ll probably get some hunky Aussie stripper or something like that."

"That sounds like her," Karen said laughing. "But of course, your hunky Aussie is much better though."

"You bet he is," Keesha said laughing again.

*****

"Carly’s getting married," Jerry said walking into Jax’s office.

"Well, that’s great news. So, what do you think about your little girl getting married?" Jax asked smiling.

Jerry smiled as well. "How does your fiancée’s father feel about his little girl getting married?"

"He’s coming to wedding, if that means anything. I really don’t know what he thinks about it. Keesha doesn’t really talk about it. I think that he is a little distrustful of men after what happened with both Jason and AJ. I get the feeling he doesn’t think that I’m any different, but you didn’t answer my question."

Jerry sat down. "I’m happy that she’s happy. I know how important it is for her to have Jason in her life, and he is Michael’s father."

"But…" Jax prompted.

"But, I don’t know how safe she’ll be. I know that by being in our family, she can get into enough trouble, but I really don’t know how to take Morgan."

"Well, it is your prerogative as her father to have your doubts; it’s your job. Just watch out for her as you usually would. I don’t think that Jason would ever do anything to intentionally hurt her. "

"I know that he would never intentionally mean to hurt her, but with the line of business he’s in, I don’t know if that can be avoided. I just hope everything works out for the two of them. I may just have to pay Sonny a visit myself to assure that happens. I want my daughter and grandson to be kept out of anything they may be involved in."

Jax smiled. He knew that his brother would do everything to protect his family. "You know, it’s good to see you enjoying your fatherly role."

He smiled back at him. "Yeah, and one of these days, you’ll be in the same roll."

"Funny, your daughter just told me that same thing. Do the two of you know something I don’t know? If so, please tell me what Keesha’s holding out on me," he joked. "Now, dear brother, back to the exciting manners at hand. I want to buy out this company, so let’s make it happen."

*****

"Wow," Amy exclaimed when she saw the large ring on Carly’s finger. "This ring is gorgeous. Am I to assume this is from Mr. Morgan."

Carly nodded and smiled. "The one and only," she said looking at the ring again, too.

"I wish that he weren’t the one and only. If he weren’t there would some hope that I would get a man like him, too. When’s the wedding?"

"Well, we haven’t talked about that yet. We just got engaged. I think that I just want to enjoy being engaged for a while. You know, you get so many perks that married women don’t anymore," she said organizing her files.

Amy shrugged. "I just figured you would be like your uncle and Keesha. They’re getting married rather quickly."

"Well, depending on the way you look at it, they’re getting married late. I knew that the two of them would be together from the beginning; it just took them longer to realize that. So, I think that they’re overdue for some happiness together."

"Yeah. They’re getting married in less than two weeks. I can’t imagine how they got the wedding put together so fast, because I can imagine it’s going to be a big one."

"Who’s getting married in less than two weeks?" the dark-haired woman asked placing her arms on the counter at the nurses’ station.

Amy looked uneasily over at Carly. Neither one of them knew if they should tell Brenda who was getting married then. How would she take knowing that the wedding was so close? "Brenda," Amy said. "How are you? You aren’t ill, are you?"

She shook her head. "No, I’m just here for a regular check-up. I’ve gotten a clean bill of health. You two seem rather excited about the wedding." She looked over at Carly. "I’ve heard that you are the newest member to the Jacks family."

She smiled. "Yes, I am. I just found out last year that Jerry is my father. Well, I won’t be the newest member for long."

"Yes, I heard that Lucy was having a baby. I’m glad to see that she and Jerry finally got married and are having a baby. I’m going by to see her later."

"We’re all happy about the baby, but that wasn’t what I was talking about. You know that Jax and Keesha are engaged, right. Well, they are the happy couple that is getting married in two weeks. Isn’t that wonderful! I couldn’t be any happier for the two of them."

Brenda closed her eyes and tried to hold back the tears that were beginning to wet her eyes. How could this be happening? Two weeks was not enough time for Jax to realize the big mistake he was making in throwing away their future together. How could she make him see that? "Yes, I am quite aware of their intentions to marry."

"’Intentions’," Carly repeated. "I know they have more than intentions. Well, I have patients to check on," she said taking her folders and rising. "I’ll see you later, Brenda and Amy."

*****

"Lucy! I’m home," Carly shouted coming into the apartment in her worse Cuban accent.

"Hi," Keesha said smiling as she came into the living room from the kitchen. "How was your day?"

"My, my," she said taking off her jacket. "You certainly seem chipper, a complete one eighty than how you were this morning. You must have seen a certain gentleman today."

She frowned slightly. "No, I didn’t, but I did at least get to IM him for about thirty minutes. But, I am certainly in a much better mood. I have just made major headway on my thesis, all that is left is my conclusion. I have proofed the new employee handbook for J&J Jacks, and I won’t have to do work on my honeymoon now."

"You have had an extremely productive day. Mine was interesting," she said joining Keesha on the couch.

She smiled. "So, how did things go this morning with your parents and Jason?"

"Quite well actually. I can still tell that Jerry is a little unsettled about the idea, but I know he won’t say anything. I think that I pretty much have their support, though. At the hospital, though, I ran into a friend of ours."

"Really, who might this friend be?"

"Brenda was there. She heard Amy and me discussing your upcoming nuptials."

Keesha shrugged. "As long as she doesn’t try anything at the wedding, I’m okay with her knowing. Because if she does try anything, I will just have to deal with it, that’s all."

Carly laughed. "You sound the godfather or something. Wow, I think that I should be scared of you."

She patted her on the shoulder. "You have nothing to be scared of me about. You’re safe; it’s Brenda who should be worried, and Miranda, too, for that matter if she tries anything. I think that Michael is hungry, and I am, too. I ordered dinner already; let’s go eat."

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