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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
Disclaimer: The Pretender and its characters don’t belong to me. But since those who do own them won’t use them I’ll just borrow them for a while. I refuse to let Jarod and those he loves stagnate, to wither and die. Who knew anybody actually read these things?
-
The Door of Memory
Part 3 – By Phenyx
11/27/04
“Sooner or later we all discover that the important moments in life are not the advertised ones, not the birthdays, the graduations, the weddings, not the great goals achieved. The real milestones are less prepossessing. They come to the door of memory. “
Susan B. Anthony
-
“How much further?” Miss Parker asked. Her tone was heavily laced with impatience.
Jarod flashed his companion a devilish grin. “Tired of my company already?”
Hard gray eyes glared at him. “I can only listen to you boobs chatter for so long,” she huffed.
“Studies of the effects of urban encroachment upon wildlife have been going on for years,” Sydney said. “But you must admit, Miss Parker, that this new angle is rather intriguing. The adaptation of wolves, as social creatures, versus that of cougars which lead a more solitary existence, should reveal a more accommodating nature among the pack.”
“If you want to watch a bunch of flea-bitten critters eat their own young,” Parker grumped. “Then whoop-de-do for you, Jarod.”
Jarod laughed. “I don’t do the research, Miss Parker,” he explained. “I write the grant applications and raise the funds that pay for it.”
“What will you do once the research starts?” Sydney asked.
“Move on to the next assignment,” Jarod said. “I don’t find them all as interesting as this particular study. Most of the groups that hire us are pretty dull.”
“Then why do it?” Parker snapped.
“I like the challenge,” Jarod admitted. “Finding money for a good cause can be very rewarding.”
Parker sighed. “Still fighting for the little guy.”
“I suppose so,” Jarod said with a shrug.
Sydney reached over the seat and affectionately patted Jarod’s shoulder. “There is nothing wrong with fighting for a good cause.”
“Thanks, Sydney,” Jarod said. “The one thing I don’t like is that, as a consulting firm, we have to wait for the cause to come to us.“
“No freebies huh?” Parker asked.
“The management frowns on it.” Jarod nodded. He turned the car off the state route and onto a narrow, two-lane road that was only barely paved. “But that will change soon,” he added.
“How so?” Sydney asked.
“I’ve been offered a position with another firm,” Jarod went on. “I did some work for them a couple of months ago and they were impressed. They want me on staff. The Phoenix Foundation has a world-renowned reputation for altruistic endeavors. It strikes me as being what Catherine Parker hoped The Centre would become. The difference being that the Phoenix Foundation has an ethics committee. And no sweepers.”
“I’ve heard of them,” Sydney said. “And you’re right, Phoenix is the opposite of everything The Centre came to stand for. I understand that some of their troubleshooters travel around the world for a multitude of reasons.”
Jarod shrugged. “I wouldn’t be troubleshooting. I’ll still be hunting up funds, writing up grant proposals and such. It’s the same job I’m doing now, but with more money and more interesting assignments. I’ll simply be flying to California twice a year instead of Chicago.”
“Well, congratulations on the new job Jarod,” Sydney said with a smile. “I’m sure you’ll be a success. The Phoenix Foundation will be lucky to have you.”
“Oh please,” Parker groaned. “Don’t inflate his ego any more than necessary, Syd.”
Jarod gasped. “I’m hurt!” he cried dramatically. “You know how naturally modest I am Miss Parker.”
Parker scoffed. “Modest is not one of the first adjectives that springs to mind where you are concerned, Rat.”
Jarod’s eyes twinkled mischievously. “The second perhaps?”
Parker’s gray eyes rolled in exasperation. “Not exactly,” she sighed. “Are we even remotely close to our destination?” she added in a sharp voice.
“Just around the next curve,” Jarod said. “Actually, we’ve been on the property since we left the main road.”
Parker cast a startled glance out her window. Row after row of green passed by. “You grow corn?” she asked in surprise.
“No,” Jarod explained. “I rent most of the land out to a local co-op of farmers. We keep a few acres for ourselves, just enough for a couple of horses and plenty of privacy around the house.”
“Is Jack still trying to saddle break that colt you gave to him for Christmas?” Sydney asked.
“Yes,” Jarod admitted with a wry chuckle. “We are hoping he’ll learn a little patience during the process. It’s amazing how different Jack and I are, considering that we share identical genetics.”
“You were raised with kindness and tolerance,” Parker said. “The boy wasn’t as lucky.”
“I know,” Jarod replied, his voice little more than a whisper. For a moment, the silence within the car was deafening. The old tension between them rose up without warning and for a minute, Jarod once again felt like the property these two people owned. Swallowing hard, Jarod mentally pushed aside his anxiety. “There’s the house,” he said, pointing toward the structure as it came into view.
“Just like on Walton’s mountain,” Parker said wryly.
“Where?” Jarod asked with a frown.
“Never mind,” Parker replied. She looked at the farmhouse for a long moment and then said softly, “I’m glad you’ve found your way home, Jarod.”
Jarod stared at her in astonishment and he found himself wondering what she was up to. His suspicions embarrassed him to some degree but he just couldn’t stop himself. Parker sounded sincere. Jarod wanted very much to believe that she was, but old habits are hard to break.
Those lovely gray eyes turned toward Jarod and softened as Parker smiled sadly at him. He felt the familiar wrenching in his heart as he gazed at her. All his life, Jarod had wanted few things more than he had wanted to remove that loneliness from Miss Parker’s eyes.
“What is going on here?” Sydney’s voice snapped Jarod from his reverie. For a moment, Jarod had forgotten that the older man was there.
With a frown, Jarod glanced toward the house. It seemed as if Sydney was right, something did seem to be amiss. As the car pulled to a stop Jarod could see his mother coming toward them. His father and Jack were at the front door, hovering uncertainly. Emily, wringing her hands, was on the porch wearing a worried frown. Ethan stood at the foot of the porch steps with Heather wrapped protectively in his embrace. The girl was crying into her fiancée’s shirt.
No one seemed to be hurt but Jarod felt a stab of panic nonetheless. “What’s wrong?” he asked his mother as soon as he had stepped from the car. Suddenly everyone was talking at once. Through the cacophony of voices, Jarod couldn’t understand a thing.
“Wait,” he tried to no avail. Everyone was going on in rapid excited tones that made no sense. Putting two fingers between his lips, Jarod whistled loudly enough to startle everyone into silence. “Did somebody die?” Jarod asked seriously.
“No,” Jarod’s mother gasped.
“Anyone injured?” he went on.
Jarod’s mother crossed her arms in exasperation. “No,” she answered.
“Then how bad can it be?”
Heather began to cry again as Ethan answered. “There’s a problem with the reception hall. A pipe burst last night, flooding the entire place. The water’s been shut off now but repairs won’t be finished by tomorrow.”
“Everything is wet,” Heather wailed. “The carpets are ruined! The grounds are nothing but muddy swamp from where they pumped water out of the building.” The girl buried her face in Ethan’s chest.
Shrugging helplessly Ethan added, “They won’t even let us get married in the gazebo. The place is a real mess.”
“Is that all?” Jarod sighed with relief.
“Jarod,” his mother scolded. “We won’t be able to find another venue with only twenty-four hours notice.”
“I wanted to get married in that gazebo,” Heather cried. “It was the most beautiful spot. It was perfect.”
“Honey,” Ethan tried to soothe the girl. “It doesn’t really matter where we get married. As long as we are together, nothing else matters.”
Heather gazed up at her beloved with large blue eyes. “I want our life together to be perfect,” she whispered. She caressed Ethan’s cheek with her palm as she spoke. “I wanted our first day as man and wife to be as wonderful as all the days that will follow.”
Jarod smiled as he watched the young couple kiss. Just being around the two lovers made Jarod feel warm inside. Grinning like an idiot, he glanced over at Miss Parker, wanting only to share this moment with her. But the gray gaze that met his was not a smiling one. Neither was it the hard angry glare that Jarod had come to expect over the years. Parker’s eyes were filled with concern and anxiety. She was upset for Heather’s sake.
Inspiration suddenly struck. Whether it had been sparked by Heather’s tears or Parker’s fretful glance, Jarod wasn’t sure. It didn’t matter really. It was a damn good idea.
“Heather,” Jarod said softly. When the girl’s blond head had turned toward him Jarod asked, “Do you trust me?”
She nodded silently.
Jarod held his hand out to her. “Let me show you something.”
The girl took his hand and Jarod led her around the corner of the house. He said nothing to the rest of his family, but they followed anyway. The entire group paraded after Jarod, following him around the flowerbeds and into the back yard.
“Look,” Jarod said. With an affectionate smile, he placed his hands on Heather’s shoulders and turned her toward the scene laid out before them. The red and gold autumn leaves seemed to dance for a moment as a slight breeze whispered by. The magic Jarod had admired at sunrise seemed to settle over their surroundings once more. “You will have your autumn wedding, Heather,” Jarod promised. “You will be married in a gazebo beneath that maple tree.”
Heather sniffed. “There is no gazebo beneath that tree, Jarod,” she said with a hesitant smile.
“I’ll build you one,” Jarod said.
The girl’s eyebrows rose quizzically. “Have you ever done that before?”
“How hard can it be?” Jarod shrugged. With a smile, Jarod gently placed his fingers beneath Heather’s chin and tilted her face upward. “I want you to be my little sister. Please let me do this for you.”
The girl’s answering smile was as bright as the sun. “You are so wonderful,” she said as she hugged Jarod tightly.
“Damsels in distress have always been Jarod’s specialty,” Parker’s wry voice spoke up.
Jarod grinned playfully at her. “The shining armor protects against everything except a pretty girl’s tears,” he said.
“If I find out you have a white horse,” Parker chided. “I swear I’ll puke.”
-
The Door of Memory
Part 3 – By Phenyx
11/27/04
“Sooner or later we all discover that the important moments in life are not the advertised ones, not the birthdays, the graduations, the weddings, not the great goals achieved. The real milestones are less prepossessing. They come to the door of memory. “
Susan B. Anthony
-
“How much further?” Miss Parker asked. Her tone was heavily laced with impatience.
Jarod flashed his companion a devilish grin. “Tired of my company already?”
Hard gray eyes glared at him. “I can only listen to you boobs chatter for so long,” she huffed.
“Studies of the effects of urban encroachment upon wildlife have been going on for years,” Sydney said. “But you must admit, Miss Parker, that this new angle is rather intriguing. The adaptation of wolves, as social creatures, versus that of cougars which lead a more solitary existence, should reveal a more accommodating nature among the pack.”
“If you want to watch a bunch of flea-bitten critters eat their own young,” Parker grumped. “Then whoop-de-do for you, Jarod.”
Jarod laughed. “I don’t do the research, Miss Parker,” he explained. “I write the grant applications and raise the funds that pay for it.”
“What will you do once the research starts?” Sydney asked.
“Move on to the next assignment,” Jarod said. “I don’t find them all as interesting as this particular study. Most of the groups that hire us are pretty dull.”
“Then why do it?” Parker snapped.
“I like the challenge,” Jarod admitted. “Finding money for a good cause can be very rewarding.”
Parker sighed. “Still fighting for the little guy.”
“I suppose so,” Jarod said with a shrug.
Sydney reached over the seat and affectionately patted Jarod’s shoulder. “There is nothing wrong with fighting for a good cause.”
“Thanks, Sydney,” Jarod said. “The one thing I don’t like is that, as a consulting firm, we have to wait for the cause to come to us.“
“No freebies huh?” Parker asked.
“The management frowns on it.” Jarod nodded. He turned the car off the state route and onto a narrow, two-lane road that was only barely paved. “But that will change soon,” he added.
“How so?” Sydney asked.
“I’ve been offered a position with another firm,” Jarod went on. “I did some work for them a couple of months ago and they were impressed. They want me on staff. The Phoenix Foundation has a world-renowned reputation for altruistic endeavors. It strikes me as being what Catherine Parker hoped The Centre would become. The difference being that the Phoenix Foundation has an ethics committee. And no sweepers.”
“I’ve heard of them,” Sydney said. “And you’re right, Phoenix is the opposite of everything The Centre came to stand for. I understand that some of their troubleshooters travel around the world for a multitude of reasons.”
Jarod shrugged. “I wouldn’t be troubleshooting. I’ll still be hunting up funds, writing up grant proposals and such. It’s the same job I’m doing now, but with more money and more interesting assignments. I’ll simply be flying to California twice a year instead of Chicago.”
“Well, congratulations on the new job Jarod,” Sydney said with a smile. “I’m sure you’ll be a success. The Phoenix Foundation will be lucky to have you.”
“Oh please,” Parker groaned. “Don’t inflate his ego any more than necessary, Syd.”
Jarod gasped. “I’m hurt!” he cried dramatically. “You know how naturally modest I am Miss Parker.”
Parker scoffed. “Modest is not one of the first adjectives that springs to mind where you are concerned, Rat.”
Jarod’s eyes twinkled mischievously. “The second perhaps?”
Parker’s gray eyes rolled in exasperation. “Not exactly,” she sighed. “Are we even remotely close to our destination?” she added in a sharp voice.
“Just around the next curve,” Jarod said. “Actually, we’ve been on the property since we left the main road.”
Parker cast a startled glance out her window. Row after row of green passed by. “You grow corn?” she asked in surprise.
“No,” Jarod explained. “I rent most of the land out to a local co-op of farmers. We keep a few acres for ourselves, just enough for a couple of horses and plenty of privacy around the house.”
“Is Jack still trying to saddle break that colt you gave to him for Christmas?” Sydney asked.
“Yes,” Jarod admitted with a wry chuckle. “We are hoping he’ll learn a little patience during the process. It’s amazing how different Jack and I are, considering that we share identical genetics.”
“You were raised with kindness and tolerance,” Parker said. “The boy wasn’t as lucky.”
“I know,” Jarod replied, his voice little more than a whisper. For a moment, the silence within the car was deafening. The old tension between them rose up without warning and for a minute, Jarod once again felt like the property these two people owned. Swallowing hard, Jarod mentally pushed aside his anxiety. “There’s the house,” he said, pointing toward the structure as it came into view.
“Just like on Walton’s mountain,” Parker said wryly.
“Where?” Jarod asked with a frown.
“Never mind,” Parker replied. She looked at the farmhouse for a long moment and then said softly, “I’m glad you’ve found your way home, Jarod.”
Jarod stared at her in astonishment and he found himself wondering what she was up to. His suspicions embarrassed him to some degree but he just couldn’t stop himself. Parker sounded sincere. Jarod wanted very much to believe that she was, but old habits are hard to break.
Those lovely gray eyes turned toward Jarod and softened as Parker smiled sadly at him. He felt the familiar wrenching in his heart as he gazed at her. All his life, Jarod had wanted few things more than he had wanted to remove that loneliness from Miss Parker’s eyes.
“What is going on here?” Sydney’s voice snapped Jarod from his reverie. For a moment, Jarod had forgotten that the older man was there.
With a frown, Jarod glanced toward the house. It seemed as if Sydney was right, something did seem to be amiss. As the car pulled to a stop Jarod could see his mother coming toward them. His father and Jack were at the front door, hovering uncertainly. Emily, wringing her hands, was on the porch wearing a worried frown. Ethan stood at the foot of the porch steps with Heather wrapped protectively in his embrace. The girl was crying into her fiancée’s shirt.
No one seemed to be hurt but Jarod felt a stab of panic nonetheless. “What’s wrong?” he asked his mother as soon as he had stepped from the car. Suddenly everyone was talking at once. Through the cacophony of voices, Jarod couldn’t understand a thing.
“Wait,” he tried to no avail. Everyone was going on in rapid excited tones that made no sense. Putting two fingers between his lips, Jarod whistled loudly enough to startle everyone into silence. “Did somebody die?” Jarod asked seriously.
“No,” Jarod’s mother gasped.
“Anyone injured?” he went on.
Jarod’s mother crossed her arms in exasperation. “No,” she answered.
“Then how bad can it be?”
Heather began to cry again as Ethan answered. “There’s a problem with the reception hall. A pipe burst last night, flooding the entire place. The water’s been shut off now but repairs won’t be finished by tomorrow.”
“Everything is wet,” Heather wailed. “The carpets are ruined! The grounds are nothing but muddy swamp from where they pumped water out of the building.” The girl buried her face in Ethan’s chest.
Shrugging helplessly Ethan added, “They won’t even let us get married in the gazebo. The place is a real mess.”
“Is that all?” Jarod sighed with relief.
“Jarod,” his mother scolded. “We won’t be able to find another venue with only twenty-four hours notice.”
“I wanted to get married in that gazebo,” Heather cried. “It was the most beautiful spot. It was perfect.”
“Honey,” Ethan tried to soothe the girl. “It doesn’t really matter where we get married. As long as we are together, nothing else matters.”
Heather gazed up at her beloved with large blue eyes. “I want our life together to be perfect,” she whispered. She caressed Ethan’s cheek with her palm as she spoke. “I wanted our first day as man and wife to be as wonderful as all the days that will follow.”
Jarod smiled as he watched the young couple kiss. Just being around the two lovers made Jarod feel warm inside. Grinning like an idiot, he glanced over at Miss Parker, wanting only to share this moment with her. But the gray gaze that met his was not a smiling one. Neither was it the hard angry glare that Jarod had come to expect over the years. Parker’s eyes were filled with concern and anxiety. She was upset for Heather’s sake.
Inspiration suddenly struck. Whether it had been sparked by Heather’s tears or Parker’s fretful glance, Jarod wasn’t sure. It didn’t matter really. It was a damn good idea.
“Heather,” Jarod said softly. When the girl’s blond head had turned toward him Jarod asked, “Do you trust me?”
She nodded silently.
Jarod held his hand out to her. “Let me show you something.”
The girl took his hand and Jarod led her around the corner of the house. He said nothing to the rest of his family, but they followed anyway. The entire group paraded after Jarod, following him around the flowerbeds and into the back yard.
“Look,” Jarod said. With an affectionate smile, he placed his hands on Heather’s shoulders and turned her toward the scene laid out before them. The red and gold autumn leaves seemed to dance for a moment as a slight breeze whispered by. The magic Jarod had admired at sunrise seemed to settle over their surroundings once more. “You will have your autumn wedding, Heather,” Jarod promised. “You will be married in a gazebo beneath that maple tree.”
Heather sniffed. “There is no gazebo beneath that tree, Jarod,” she said with a hesitant smile.
“I’ll build you one,” Jarod said.
The girl’s eyebrows rose quizzically. “Have you ever done that before?”
“How hard can it be?” Jarod shrugged. With a smile, Jarod gently placed his fingers beneath Heather’s chin and tilted her face upward. “I want you to be my little sister. Please let me do this for you.”
The girl’s answering smile was as bright as the sun. “You are so wonderful,” she said as she hugged Jarod tightly.
“Damsels in distress have always been Jarod’s specialty,” Parker’s wry voice spoke up.
Jarod grinned playfully at her. “The shining armor protects against everything except a pretty girl’s tears,” he said.
“If I find out you have a white horse,” Parker chided. “I swear I’ll puke.”
