Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story

- Text Size +

Disclaimer: Jarod, Lyle, Miss Parker and anyone else associated with the Centre are characters that do not belong to me. Someone else thought them up, pitched the idea for a series and sold them to a bunch of schmucks who didn’t know a good thing when they had it sitting in their laps. I have blatantly stolen the pretender and his associates. I’m not sorry. I won’t apologize. I am not, nor have I ever made any money in these endeavors. But it has been a lot of fun.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Seizing Destiny

Part 1

09/05/04

EPILOG (two years in the future)

Jarod folded his cell phone closed and gazed out the windows. For a long moment, he allowed his mind to go blank, to simply take in the awesome panorama before him. The room was walled on two sides by huge picture windows overlooking the rocky slope that lead to the ocean. Foam topped waves stretched as far as the eye could see, each one dazzling with a slash of color. As the sun dipped into the Pacific, hues of yellow, pink and orange blended together creating a magically golden aura all around.

A weary sigh from behind caught Jarod’s attention. He turned toward the sound, finding this view to be no less stunning, and even more entrancing than the sunset. His beautiful wife lay in the bed, her dark brown hair fanning on the pillow like a halo. He liked her hair long and had told her so on their wedding night. She had let it grow ever since.

It was one of those little clues that Jarod had not failed to notice. She left her hair long, because he liked it. She refilled his Pez containers when he wasn’t looking. She seemed to always know, somehow, when it all was becoming too much for him. She could see it every time, the tension edging up to intolerable levels, even before he recognized it in himself. She always knew when it was time for them to run away for a few days, to escape the life they had built and hide in each other’s arms.

She loved him. Jarod had known that fact for some time but it still amazed him when he thought about it. Miss Parker loved him, though she’d never once said so. She proved it to him every day in dozens of little ways. Today she had proved it in a big way with a tiny bundle of just over 7 pounds.

Some stray part of Jarod’s mind registered that he would have to buy this house. He and Parker had decided to rent it for a number of reasons. The magnificent view had been only one of them. The fact that it was located in a city where home births were all the rage was another. But for Jarod, the main factor in choosing this place had been that this was just about as far from Blue Cove as one could get while still remaining in the continental United States.

All too soon, Jarod knew, he would have to trundle his little family back to Delaware. But this place, this glorious home on the opposite coast, was now a treasured landmark. His child had been born here. He would buy the house so that they could return whenever they wanted.

Parker sighed again, causing a frown from Jarod. “Would you like something stronger for the pain?” he asked with concern.

“No,” she replied. “I’m fine. Tired. A little sore, but I’m fine. Really.” Her eyes remained closed as she spoke. “Has everyone been properly notified?”

“Yes,” Jarod answered as he crossed the room.

“Everyone?” she reiterated.

Jarod smiled tenderly and said, “Well, I have yet to contact the New York Times. But we’ve missed the deadline for the evening edition.”

“Sorry,” Parker answered with half a shrug.

Sitting cautiously on the edge of the bed, Jarod stroked the hair from Parker’s forehead. “That’s okay,” he said. “It will just have to wait until tomorrow.”

Carefully, almost fearfully, Jarod turned his gaze from his wife to the newborn infant at her side. With one finger, he gently caressed the feathery dark locks from the baby’s brow in much the same manner as he had just done for Parker.

“Dad will be on a plane first thing in the morning. He promises not to stay long but he simply has to see his grandchild as soon as possible.” As Jarod spoke, he traced the tiny wrinkled face with his fingertips, measuring the little nose and circling one precious shell of an ear. “Lyle is thrilled,” Jarod said in a low voice. Only a fraction of his mind was even aware of his own words, the rest of his being focused solely on the babe.

“We must never leave our little girl alone in his presence,” Parker said sternly.

“Of course not.” Jarod glanced at her with a frown. “I wouldn’t leave a child with him for even one minute, regardless of gender. It’s just,” Jarod shook his head slowly as a confused look darkened his face. “He seems so excited to have a niece.”

Parker huffed. “His position is less threatened by a girl than it would have been by a boy,” she told him disdainfully. She opened her eyes and looked up at Jarod. “I so wanted to give you a son.”

“Who needs a boy?” It was Jarod’s turn to scoff. “You Parker women run circles around us mere males.”

“Her name isn’t Parker,” Jarod’s wife reminded him gently.

“A rose, by any other name,” he began.

“Still has thorns,” Parker finished.

Jarod nodded. “That’s what makes them interesting,” he said with a smile. The grin spread across his face, lighting his eyes for the first time since he’d sat down. Parker brushed the lower curve of his lip with the pad of her thumb as she admired it.

Slowly, as though losing a valiant struggle to keep it in place, Jarod’s smile faded. The dark eyes became shrouded as the new parents gazed at one another. Looking away, Jarod focused intently upon Parker’s fingers, entwined in his own. He raised them to his lips and kissed them tenderly.

“Do you know what day this is?” he whispered.

Parker nodded. “I was wondering when you would mention it.” She had remembered the significance of this date from the moment she had woken up that morning. A short time later, when the first band of tension had squeezed around her midsection, panic had surged through her. “Not today, baby. Please not today,” she had begged.

When it became apparent that she had indeed gone into labor, Parker had offered up silent prayers, hoping against hope that her child would not deliver until after midnight. But as luck would have it, Parker’s labor had lasted only a little more than six hours. This was, no doubt, due in part to the yoga and relaxation techniques she and Jarod had practiced together for months.

Parker cupped one soft palm around Jarod’s stubbly cheek. Fate had never been kind to this sweet man. She ached for him, knowing how torn he was. His daughter had been born today and he wanted nothing more than to jump for joy. And yet...

“Two years,” Jarod muttered. “Two years ago, today.”

“I know,” Parker sighed.

“It was the worst day of my life,” he groaned softly.

“I know,” Parker said again.

“It changed everything.” Jarod looked down at his little girl, covering her tiny body with one large hand. “Without that day,” he murmured soulfully. “This one would never have happened.”

Jarod continue to stare at the child, fascinated by the contrast of his size compared to hers.

“I feel as though,” he gasped suddenly as tears abruptly sprang to his eyes. “As though I traded one life for another. She was taken so that this little one could exist. Everything I have, everything that brings me joy, I owe to the fact that she died.”

“That’s not true,” Parker said in a scolding tone.

“But it is true,” Jarod argued. “If she were still alive, you and I wouldn’t be together. We’d still be playing the game, running and chasing.” Jarod paused, heaving a deep breath as though trying to prepare himself for what he was about to say. “I can’t even bring myself to wish that things had been different. Because I love my life just the way it is. Her death made this life possible.”

“Oh, Jarod,” Parker grasped her husband’s face in both hands and pulled him to her for a kiss. As they parted, Parker shook him gently. “It was not your fault,” she said.

“I know,” he replied. The pretender gazed at Parker with dark eyes that swam with unshed tears. “My head knows, but my heart can’t help what it feels.”

Parker placed her hand over Jarod’s as it rested on the child’s torso. Together they felt the gentle rise and fall of the babe’s breathing.

“We’ll name her Margaret,” Parker said softly but with conviction.

“No.” Jarod’s response was immediate and sharp enough to startle a flinch from the baby. “Not Margaret or Catherine or even Angel.” His eyes went hard with determination as he spoke. “I won’t have her future colored by our past. It has tortured us long enough.”

“She needs a name Jarod,” Parker urged. They had not chosen names during Parker’s pregnancy. Jarod had gotten it into his head that to do so would be bad luck. He had no desire to tempt fate against them. But now Parker felt a strange urgency to christen their baby.

Jarod gazed lovingly at the child for a moment before answering dreamily. “’Amy’ is a pretty name,” he said. “It means ‘beloved’.”

“Amy,” Parker tested the name on her tongue a few times. “Yes,” she smiled. “Amy.”

Jarod laid down pillowing his head on one folded arm. “My Amy,” he whispered. “Daddy won’t let anyone hurt you. I’ll never lie to you or make you afraid. When you’re big enough, you can come to work with Mommy and me and you will play in the same corridors we grew up in. But you won’t be alone. You won’t be in the dark. Those shadows are all gone now.”

Parker, unable to control her riotous emotions, could only smile happily as tears dampened her cheeks. It was so touching, listening to Jarod make these vows to his daughter. Parker knew how much the words meant to her husband. She knew better than anyone else could.

Parker also understood that, for the rest of his life, this day would be a bittersweet one for Jarod. Sorrow would claw at him just as it did to Parker each April. Yet his grief would be forever contradicted by the joy of Amy’s birthday. The guilt would never completely lift. Jarod had always felt responsible for the lives that had been affected in some way by his own. He would never fully learn to forgive himself for what had been done to him by others.

“Parker?” Jarod called softly, pulling her from her thoughts.

“Hmm?”

With his attention still focused on the child between them, Jarod said, “I think we should make an offer on this place. I’m sure that the owners could be persuaded to sell.”

Parker smiled. “I called the realtor last week,” she admitted.

Laughter bubbled from Jarod. “How did I manage to escape you for so many years?” he wondered. “You seem to always be one step ahead of me.”

“It’s only because you allow it Pez-head,” Parker said as her eyelids fluttered closed. “I caught you because you let me.”

The large hand that had been caressing the infant’s stomach shifted to rest on Parker’s. Rubbing soft lazy circles on Parker’s abdomen, Jarod carefully massaged her tender womb.

“I needed someone to catch me,” he whispered. “I was falling so fast, slipping into a darkness that truly terrified me.”

“That’s all in the past,” Parker replied with a contented sigh.

“Yes,” Jarod smiled. “The darkness is behind us now.”

As the sunlight slipped away and dusk turned into night, Jarod smiled into the gloom. The sound of Parker’s breathing became deep and regular, letting Jarod know that she had fallen asleep. He continued to stroke her middle, a little bemused at how the contours of her body had been changed in the last few hours.

It was true. The evil that had haunted their lives had been subdued. Jarod had walked along the precipice, teetering for a time into the shadows himself. But he had survived. He not only survived but had also prevailed against his enemies. With this woman at his side, Jarod had been able to defeat them.

Together they had created light.

End Part 1

Author’s Note: Yes, this chapter is the end of the story. I put it at the beginning just for kicks. The next chapter will begin on the day two years before Amy’s birth. The sickly sweet sappiness you’ve found so far will not continue. For those of you who like sap, I hope I’ve peaked your curiosity enough to continue reading without it. For those of you who are ready to barf, I’m done with the syrup. For the most part anyway, I won’t make promises.









You must login (register) to review.