Part III
"Janine, I'll explain later, but I need to go after Courtney!" Jax said as he grabbed his keys off his desk.
"No, you'll explain now. If Courtney doesn't want to see you, then I'm not going to let you get in her face. Now let me ask again, what did you do to my daughter?" Janine asked firmly, standing in Jax's way to prevent him from leaving. "Why would Courtney want to call off her wedding?"
Jax sighed but figured it would be easier to just explain, and perhaps giving Courtney some time to think would not be such a bad idea. "My mother told Courtney that I saw my ex-fiancée in London. She got jealous. But nothing happened!"
"If nothing happened, then why would she take off running?"
"It's complicated…I think it might have something to do with my mother not liking her…" Seeing that Janine still looked unsatisfied with his explanation, he continued, "Look, I need to go after Courtney!" he exclaimed agitatedly. "I'll apologize and we'll straighten it all out. But I have to find her first…so if you'll excuse me…" he said sidling past her.
He opened the door to find his mother standing there with her hand poised to knock. "I didn't come at a bad time, did I?"
"Yeah, you kind of did," Jax said, allowing her in. "Mum, this is Janine Matthews, my future mother-in-law. Ms. Matthews, this is my mother, Jane Jacks," Jax introduced.
"Nice to meet you," Janine said extending her hand to shake. "But I won't be your mother-in-law if you don't go out there and find my daughter."
"What do you mean find her? Has she gone running back to Jason already?"
"Mother!"
"My daughter wants nothing more to do with that illiterate thug!" Janine exclaimed, slightly offended.
"Oh, really? I got the distinct impression that she was still in love with him when I first met her," Lady Jane said, matter-of-factly.
"That buffoon was never good enough for my baby girl! He was nothing but a no good hoodlum. I'm so glad she's found someone like your son."
"I wish I could say the same about your daughter."
"What are you trying to say about Courtney? She's beautiful and smart. She always got good grades in school."
"If that's so, then why was she a stripper?"
Jax was about to say something in Courtney's defense when Janine chimed in first. "Hey! You don't know anything about her circumstances. Courtney never grew up rich. A job is a job to her. She had to make ends meet and so she found something flexible. There's nothing wrong with that. She and Jax are going to be married as soon as he finds her. So you need to start showing her some respect."
Ignoring Janine, Lady Jane focused her attention on Jax. "You should just let her go, Jax. She's not worth it."
"Mother! That's enough! If you say one more ill word about Courtney I will take you back to the airport myself! I love Courtney! I never thought that I would be able to feel this way about someone after Brenda, but I do. She is worth it. She is everything to me, and you are just going to have to accept that she is my life now, or you will no longer be a part of mine."
For the first time Lady Jane began to see the depth of her son's feelings for Courtney. This clearly was not just a game or a challenge to him, like she had originally thought. Jax seemed to be genuinely sincere and earnest in his feelings, although she could not understand why. She still had a sense of foreboding…that her son was setting himself up for heartbreak. But even if that was the case—and there was still a chance it might not be—Lady Jane knew it was not worth losing Jax over. Jax had survived Miranda, Brenda, Chloe, and Skye…he would survive Courtney too. So she decided to play nice. That way if something did happen she would be there to console her son.
"All right," Lady Jane agreed. "I promise to be nothing but supportive from now on. And if I can't say anything nice, I won't say anything at all."
"Thank you, mother." Jax sighed. With relief and then reached out to hug her. Pulling back, he said, "Now I really need to find Courtney. I think knowing we have your support, albeit begrudging, will help my case. I gotta go." Noticing that Janine still seemed to have her hackles raised, he asked, "Will you two be all right here together?"
"We'll be just dandy as long as your mother refrains from insulting my daughter," Janine replied, slanting her eyes at Lady Jane.
"I give you my word of honor that I won't say another word against Courtney."
Jax thought he heard Janine mutter something under her breath about not trusting a rich person's sense of honor, but decided to ignore her. Then he was out of the door and after Courtney.
Courtney drove aimlessly. She did not want to return to the loft where memories of Jax permeated every inch…from the bed to the kitchen sink to the shower…Nor did she want to go to Kelly's for the same reason. Once they had even snuck upstairs to one of the empty rooms…and they had gone dancing one night at The Cellar…he was all over her and she did not want to wait, so they went into the ladies' room and he stuffed his tie in her mouth to muffle her screams of pleasure. To be honest, there was not a single place in Port Charles she could go to find solace. Even the backseat of her car had been christened with their love-making—she had to stop torturing herself!
But she and Jax had spent so much time together getting to know each other and falling in love. He had bared his soul to her and she had been so afraid for so long to let go of the past. She was obviously still struggling with it or she never would have lied to Jax.
Courtney felt so guilty. When Sam told her that Jason had risked his freedom to try to rescue her, she felt grateful. And she still felt bad that she had not been able to help Jason adopt baby Hope, especially since she lost their own. So she gave Jason an alibi. But she also knew Jax would be furious, so she lied to him too. Only he knew about it! He knew, but he was polite enough not to say anything. And then she got mad at him for keeping his meeting with Brenda to himself! Courtney could not stand the insecurities she felt just at the mention of Brenda, and yet she was doing the same things with Jason constantly. Courtney was such a fool! When she heard that Jax had seen Brenda…perhaps in Hyde Park where Jax had seen that old couple and thought of marrying her…Courtney immediately felt a flare of jealousy. She knew in her mind that Jax would never cheat on her—he knew she would go off on him like he was a punching bag—she also knew in her heart that Jax loved her. But just the thought of Brenda Barrett made her unusually insecure.
She did not know much about her only having met her maybe once or twice, but she knew enough. Courtney thought she was perhaps one of the most beautiful women in the world, or at least that is the way men behaved around her. Men would fall at her feet the way they never did for Courtney. She could remember at one time feeling jealous of the petite brunette's relationship with Jason. And with Jax it was even worse because she knew that Jax had loved that woman whole-heartedly. He had forgiven her for so much, and they had tried to get married so many times, but stuff kept getting in the way. If Jax couldn't make it work with a woman like Brenda, how could he ever make it work with her when she was constantly messing up her relationships, and letting Jax down? And how could he trust her when she was doing the same things that Brenda had done? She could certainly understand why Jax would want nothing more to do with her. So it was just best for them not to be together. Since she could not give him what he deserved, she would let him go to find someone else, even if she happened to be his former love.
The thought of not being with Jax made her sick to her heart, though. They had made so many plans. After their wedding they would do some more traveling. Then they were going to buy a house and try to start a family. Since they both knew it might be difficult for her to get pregnant, they did not think they should wait, but start as soon as possible. They had both even gone to see Dr. Meadows so that she could begin some preliminary tests to see if Courtney's condition had changed any over time. Now all of those plans were shot to hell and Courtney had no one to blame but herself.
It started to rain hard, but Courtney continued her fast and furious pace. Pools of water formed quickly in lows parts of the road mixing with the oils and gases on the pavement creating treacherous conditions. But Courtney was not thinking about that. Her only concern was Jax. With the rain blurring her windshield, and her tears blurring her vision, Courtney did not see the deer until it was too late. She slammed on her breaks. The watery conditions caused her to hydroplane and she lost control of her car.
The last thing she remembered before she lost consciousness was the smell of fresh cut grass mixed with gasoline, the feel of rain softly peppering her body and the taste of something warm, salty, and slightly metallic.
