As the chapter title suggests, this is last installment for this tale
Jordan woke up to find that she was in her own apartment, in her own bed, and that she was very much alone.
She instantly became flooded with memories of Karen, and of her life with Dwight, Lizzie, Zion, and Hanneli. Memories of Audrey and AJ came rushing back, too. She even hold to bite back a sob as she remembered the feeling of Zion kicking and stretching inside her.
It had all felt so real, but it had just been a dream.
"Come on, Jordan." She said to herself. "Time to get up."
Jordan dragged herself out of bed and headed to the bathroom for a shower, passing her wall calendar on the way and making note of how she had a free day.
She spent most of the shower trying to convince herself that everything she was remembering was a dream, but by the time she was clean and was choosing a clean outfit, she didn't know what to believe.
As means of trying to distract herself, she focused on her wardrobe. For a single woman, Jordan Grace McKee had a lot of clothes, but before long, she was wearing her favorite black jeans, a red tank top, red liner socks, and her purple flats. Remembering that this was reality, she chose chose a pair of red leather gloves, the same shade as her shirt. She normally wore her black leather gloves because those were her trademark, but she just wasn't feeling it today.
After Jordan did her and put on her make-up, her eyes fell upon her jewelry box, to the one thing she hadn't worn in awhile: her charm bracelet. She'd always thought of it as her memory-keeper, more than anything else.
DING!
Jordan put her bracelet on and retrieved her phone to see who the text was from. It was from Audrey, followed by a single question.
Do you remember?
Jordan's heart skipped a beat as she typed out her answer and hit send. I do.
Are you busy this morning?
No.
Mama O'Dooley's? 8:30? I'm buying.
Mama O'Dooley's was one of Haven's diners, and they were famous for great breakfast food.
Okay, see you then.
:)
Jordan checked her phone and saw that it was already seven-thirty, meaning that she had an hour to kill.
More and more memories of her most recent adventure with Audrey were combined back even faster now and it was getting a little overwhelming, so Jordan gathered up her things and left the apartment, locking it behind her.
In the real Haven, Jordan lived on the shopping avenue, above the bookstore, and when she wasn't at The Gun & Rose, it was a good bet that she could be spotted in one of the shops on Collingwood Row, browsing.
This morning, Jordan entered The Galleria of Gems, Haven's local jewelry store. It was her go-to place, and one of the few places where she didn't have to put up a front about being the bad-ass pariah of a bartender that everybody knew her as because the shopkeeper, Lottie, was very kind. She was also old enough to be Jordan's mother, and Jordan found solace in that since she'd had a rocky relationship with her own when she was alive.
"Good morning, Jordan!" Lottie greeted her warmly. "How are you today?"
"I'm great. How about you?"
"Just fine, dear. I see that you're wearing your charm bracelet again—have you come to get new charms?"
"Not for myself, no." Jordan found herself saying. "I'm going to give my friend her first charm bracelet today, and I'm going to meet her in an hour."
Lottie smiled. "Well, you know what to do. I'll go in the back and fire up my welding tools."
Twenty minutes later, Jordan had chosen all of the charms she wanted, along with a chain, too, and waited as Lottie took everything to the back to put together. By the time that was done and Jordan paid for everything and left, it was twenty to eight, so she decided to take the scenic route to the diner.
On the way there, she passed by Dwight, who was out for a morning walk, and they exchanged hellos, although he was thrown by her pleasantry because one of the first things he'd learned about her was that she wasn't usually a morning person.
As the two parted ways, Jordan felt her head go way up in the clouds as she seriously considered a future where the two of them were happy together with a family and a dog. She couldn't have that with Nathan because she had to stop kidding herself—Nathan belonged with Audrey, and that was that.
"Jordan?"
The dark-haired woman came back to reality and saw that she'd arrived at Mama Dooley's without realizing it. Audrey was in front of her.
"Audrey, hi. Is it already time?"
"Yup." Audrey held the diner door open for her. "You okay? You looked like you were in La La Land."
Jordan chuckled at the phrasing. "That's what it feels like. Let's go get some breakfast."
Seeing as it was early yet on a Monday morning, the diner was quiet, so the women were able to snag a booth by the window. Mama Dooley herself headed back to the kitchen with their orders, Jordan addressed the elephant in the room first.
"Audrey, just how much do you remember?"
"All of it." The blond leaned back in her seat. "I remember how happy I was being married to Nathan, I remember AJ and watching her sleep, and I remember being pregnant. I miss it."
Jordan sighed. "I miss my family, too, but my question is—was that whole adventure with Karen, her Trouble, Zion's birth, and AJ's help—all a dream, or what?"
"I thought about that, but if we both remember, then it couldn't be? Right?"
"After everything I've been though over the years, I've learned that everything happens for a reason. Sometimes you can't question it."
"Even if you go through something like what we just did?"
"Accept it, and hopefully learn some lessons from it."
Audrey arched an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"
Jordan gave a nod, trying not to think to much about her status as a widow, or of how badly she wished she could have held Maríposa—and Zion—just a little bit longer.
"I am one hundred percent sure. Trust me."
Feeling a little confined, Jordan took off her gloves and flexed her fingers. Audrey was a little taken aback because while she knew what Jordan could do and that she was completely immune to her, she'd never seen her bare hands before.
"Jordan, what are you doing?"
"Trust me." Jordan repeated. "Just trust me."
"Okay."
Audrey watched as Jordan took the gift box from her purse and set it in front of her. Had they just not had serious bonding time on their most recent adventure, she would've been weirded out.
"What's this?" Audrey asked.
"I want to be friends with you, Audrey, because I think that Karen let us remember so that we can have this chance."
Audrey had arrived at the same conclusion before leaving her loft that morning, so she nodded in agreement. She gasped in surprise when she lifted the lid off the gift box and saw the silver charm bracelet inside.
"Jordan, wow!" Audrey smiled at her. "This is beautiful; thank you!"
"Would you like help to put it on?"
"Sure."
Jordan fixed the bracelet on Audrey's wrist and watched her admire it and investigate the charms. There were the letters a and j, a pair of wedding bells, a baby footprint, and curiously, a shooting star.
"I get the letters, the bells, and the footprint, but the shooting star?"
"Karen; she was a little nuts, but in that last moment, she was good."
"She was, and I'm actually going to miss her." Audrey said as she produced a small box from her own purse and handed it to Jordan, smiling. "You weren't the only one who went to the Galleria this morning."
Tickled, Jordan opened the box to find some new charms: a Star Trek insignia badge because Audrey had remembered Jordan's confession about being a Star Trek fan, and there was also an m for Maríposa and a z for Zion, along with a paintbrush as a nod to Jordan's hidden artistry talent, and last but not least, a shooting star identical to the one she'd picked out for Audrey.
"Great minds really do think alike." Jordan observed. "I love these, Audrey. Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Jordan picked up the shooting star in her hand, rubbing it with her fingers. "Do we tell Dwight and Nathan about our trip to the parallel Haven?"
"Yes," Audrey answered at length. "But only them because the whole thing felt personal."
"I'll give you that," Jordan agreed. "And I'll give you something else, too."
"Oh?"
"Nathan."
"I beg your pardon?"
"During these last few days, or however long it was that we were gone in that frame of suspended time, I realized that I love Nathan because he can touch me, but I'm in love with Dwight because I've known him longer and he would stay up with me and hold me when I… cried about my dead family." Jordan flexed her long piano fingers, a habit when she was barehanded because of her poor circulation. "I know he cares about me, too, but I've been pushing him away for so long. He keeps coming back and I used to be irritated by that, but I get it now."
"You're not scared anymore?"
"That's right, and I'm ready to be brave because he holds my heart. You and Nathan? You two have something wonderful, mysterious, beautiful, and electric. I don't want to get in the way of that if it means you can be happy with him, or I can be happy with Dwight. Nathan is all yours."
Audrey immediately rounded the table and slid into Jordan's half of the booth, hugging her. Jordan was a little surprised, but she quickly hugged her back.
"Thank you, Jordan." Audrey whispered in her ear. "Friends?"
"Friends."
Done
Well, this story has come to a close, and I must say—it's been fun ;)
