"You know, I really admire them. Henry and Grace. They found a way to make it work." Zane's gaze on Jo was steady. She looked up and spoke hesitantly, "Maybe it can work…".
Zane spoke quickly. "I want to talk to you after the ceremony—". "Shhh, it's starting!" Vincent stage-whispered, shooting Zane a warning glance which he ignored. "Jo—".
"Um, there's the reception we planned, and I, well, I have to help Vincent clean up, so…" Jo refused to meet Zane's eyes, her face filling with the all too familiar panic that so often appeared when their conversations turned personal.
Before she could finish the thought, the strange little officiant's voice cut in from the front of the room. Henry and Grace were standing in front of the canopy that Jo had strung over Henry's worktable. The wedding had begun.
"Welcome, friends…or should I say, acquaintances?"
Jo let her eyes wander over the twinkling lights strung around Henry's garage. "Perfect, just perfect…for them," she thought. Involuntarily, her eyes moved to Zane, standing beside her, before she forced them away. He wanted to talk—for what? To say "goodbye" again? So he liked their recurring private farewell parties. What guy wouldn't?, Jo thought ruefully. Truthfully, she'd initiated the first "farewell" herself—the idea of him leaving for good had made her want to wrap him around her, inside her, as tightly as possible. But she couldn't lose sight of the fact that, however drawn out their goodbyes, Zane planned to put his newfound freedom to use. He wouldn't stick around long enough to try making them work together. Jo was losing Zane again, and it would be so much worse if he knew the gasp-inducing pain that knowledge caused her.
If he caught her looking at him during a wedding with what she was sure was a dreamy expression, he'd assume she was imagining herself standing before a white canopy. With him, or at least with the other-him. Jo couldn't—wouldn't-risk letting Zane suspect just how often that image came to mind. As it was, she cringed at the memory of him catching her playing dress-up with the wedding gown she borrowed for Grace to consider…and such a beautiful gown it was, with beading that would catch the light…
Enough. This was Henry and Grace's moment. Jo forced her attention back to the ceremony.
"Respect for the past, joy in the present, and commitment to the future."
Zane frowned. "Zero for three," he thought. He glanced quickly toward Jo. She looked as delighted as any little girl with the vision of sparkly romance surrounding them, notwithstanding the occasional pile of tools pushed to the corners of Henry's garage. He remembered seeing a flash of the same look in her office as she swayed with a wedding dress, before the walls she locked her emotions behind sprang back into place. Sex was the only sure way he'd found to wipe that polite distance from her face. It should have been more than enough—what guy wouldn't love a relationship built on incredible, commitment-free sex? But it wasn't…not right for Fargo and, apparently, not enough for Zane.
He found the thought disturbing. And frustrating—despite her softening toward him over the weeks since he'd returned from space, Jo continued to hold him at arms' length. In the isolation chamber, she said that she had begun to trust him—encouraging, even though she took that small concession away in the next breath. Still, the woman gave him a gift he couldn't yet wrap his mind around, his life back. The pardon Jo had fought for him to be given meant the world was no longer closed to him by his past mistakes. Freedom…Zane's line of thought stopped short. He was free to leave Eureka…and Jo, by all appearances, was willing to let him go.
A hopelessness fell over Zane that was at odds with the happy setting where they stood. With an effort, he forced his attention back to the ceremony.
"Now, by the power vested in me by the United States of America, I pronounce you husband and wife."
Henry and Grace kissed—their first kiss of this marriage—and the room exploded with applause.
EUREKA EUREKA EUREKA EUREKA
The next morning, Jo woke with a smile and sense of accomplishment. It had been a wonderful wedding, even if it hadn't been anything like the wedding she would have planned for herself. And Zane….Zane. By playing hostess through the evening, she'd once again avoided a discussion that could reveal her growing attachment to this-Zane, who'd shown little interest in moving beyond the truce they'd forged into tentative friendship.
Avoidance had made for a comfortable night, but left her with a vague sense of unease. In the end, they'd only had a moment together before Zane left the wedding reception for home. His face swam into memory…had he seemed a little down as he said good night? Or just ill at ease with the intimacy of a celebration among friends in a group he'd never been welcome in before?
She replayed the memory in her mind. Zane had seemed, well, serious. And he hadn't said good night.
He'd said goodbye.
Jo felt a cold chill run through her.
EUREKA EUREKA EUREKA EUREKA
A quick drive-by of Zane's place confirmed that his motorcycle wasn't parked out front. By itself, not such a surprise since he often arrived early to his lab at GD. Jo rushed on to work, telling herself she was letting Zane's pretend good-byes undermine her better judgment. No doubt he'd be at his desk, delighted that he'd managed to ruffle her feathers yet again.
"Jo….Jo!" Jo stopped her near run through GD's rotunda and turned to face Allison.
"Jo, I wanted to give this to you myself. I just got it this morning." Allison looked into Jo's eyes, and her own softened. She took a breath and slowed her speech. "I'm sorry, Jo. I was hoping…well, I guess I was hoping that more than just one of us would get a happy ending in this…". Allison waved her hand, meaning, but unable to say, timeline. She extended a piece of paper to Jo. "If you want to talk…". With a small smile, Allison walked away.
Jo stared after her, unwilling to see whatever revelation was waiting for her on the paper. She had a brief, if irrational, impulse to crumple it and leave it behind, to leave GD and begin the day again. Instead, she dragged her eyes downward and began to read.
TERMINATION OF OCCUPANCY, Form 1441-B
Department of Defense Facility: Eureka, Oregon
Type of Occupancy: Employee residence
Name of Former Resident: G. Zane Donovan
Effective Date: Immediate
Zane's scrawled signature—the one he'd placed on pages of the pardon that had made this paper possible- was at the bottom of the form.
He was gone.
