Part 3:
At 1:00 am Jude was still awake, sitting at the dining room table in her childhood home looking over last minute seating arrangements and confirming that all the flower and catering orders were correct. She sighed loudly. Why did he have to come back now? I was fine. I was happy. I had finally started to enjoy life again. Why did he have to ruin it for me? She couldn't help wondering, though, if she had actually been that happy without him, would he have been able to ruin anything?
She readjusted her focus back to the papers in front of her. She kept telling herself that she was getting married. Today. And it was going to be great. She was going to be happy. Gabriel was sweet and stable and he loved her. What more did she need?
Sadie and her dad were both asleep upstairs, both offering to stay up with her while she did the last minute checks, but she refused both of them. She had sent Gabriel home after he dropped her off after her confrontation with Tommy. She had needed the time alone to process all that had happened. She had just finished telling herself again, for the millionth time, that she would be happy married to Gabriel when she heard a car pull into the driveway. She rushed to the window, hoping her suspicions weren't correct about who would be coming over this late. She looked out and the window and her hunch was confirmed; she saw the Viper, and Tommy getting out to walk to the front door.
She heard the quiet knock on the door and contemplated pretending she wasn't awake. But knowing Tommy, he'd find a way to climb in the window or something equally drastic. She walked to the door and opened it.
"What are you doing here?" she asked brusquely, purposely not giving him a polite greeting.
"Why, Jude Harrison, I'm here to see you, of course," Tommy said brightly, ignoring her rudeness and walking by her into the living room. She followed, thrown off a little by his curiously happy demeanour.
"It's a little late for a visit, Tommy," Jude said, crossing her arms.
"Well, see, there's something I need to talk to you about before tomorrow," Tommy said, glancing at his watch, "or, I guess it's later today actually. Besides, I knew you would be awake, you never did go to bed before two am."
Jude ignored the comment and asked, "What do you want to talk about Tommy?" Suddenly, Tommy's expression changed to one of determination and he strode purposefully to her and took her hands.
"Remember that time you took me to the church by your old farmhouse to get the sample for your third record?" Jude nodded in reply, too wrapped up in the contact of their skin to verbalize anything. "That day I told you that many times I had thought about asking you to leave with me. Well, I'm asking now."
Jude's opened her mouth to speak, but was too shocked. "What?" she asked, saying the only word she could spit out.
He narrowed his gaze and stepped even closer to her so that their foreheads were almost touching. "Leave with me, Jude. I'm finally asking what I should have asked you two years ago. When I left to sort myself out, the biggest mistake I made was not asking you to come with me. See, what I didn't realize is that without you, I'm not me. I'm a mess; I've always been a mess. And that's why I stayed away for so long. I finally saw the chaos that surrounds me and it scared me. It scared me even more that I might pull you into that chaos and something might happen to you like it did to Angie. I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you. So, I decided to stay gone, hoping that you would move on, just like you've done."
Jude looked up into his focused gaze, surprised to hear him say that. He continued, "But, see, one day I woke up and realized how stupid I had been. I had lived without you for two years and where had it gotten me? I was no better. I'm still a walking time-bomb who could very well hurt you. I don't want to, believe me, it's the last thing I want. I love you Jude, and I can't live without you anymore. I just hope I'm not too late," he said, his voice growing soft with emotion.
"Tommy…" Jude started, pulling her hands out of his and backing up. "I'm getting married. TODAY," she said, trying to be strong and remember Gabriel. But, for the first time since she met him, she couldn't conjure an image of him in her mind. Tommy was the only one who existed there now.
Tommy's face fell, "Look, Jude, you can marry him. And I can't really stop you. I can try, I can come to the wedding and object and cause a scene. And you'd hate me for it. But I'm not going to do that. But I am going to give you a choice, and I want you to think hard about it. If you want him, if you've really moved on, then I offer my congratulations and wish you luck. And this will be goodbye, for good. But if it's me you decide you want, I'll be waiting at that church you took me to two years ago, the one where we decided for the first time to make a go of our relationship. If you want to try again, I'll be there until 2:30, and if you don't come, then I'm leaving town for good. Because I can't watch you with him, Jude. It will kill me, physically and emotionally," he said, his voice growing hoarse with sadness. He smiled weakly at her, kissed her gently on the cheek and walked out the door, without looking back.
Jude wiped away the few tears that had escaped her eyes while he spoke. She watched his Viper pull out of the driveway and speed off. She sat down on the couch, laying her head against the soft backing, her eyes wide open. She had a lot to think about.
