Thanks for all the reviews! I know a lot of you don't like my short chapters and I'm sorry but usually these chapters just occur to me and then after awhile I run out of things to write about. I'm sorry but I don't really have a muse and I run out of ideas and I have to wait for the next inspiration to strike. So sorry guys and I will try my best!

Chapter Nine

Elizabeth waited, feeling on the edge of a bottomless chasm. Jason's tall form filled her vision. A button looked loose on the front of his denim shirt, she noticed, and felt the urge to scream rise inside her.

"You can have Alexis Davis represent you if you want," he said. His voice was low. Husky. "She's right here in town, so it'll be convenient for you. I'll find a lawyer from over in Port Charles."

Had she ever felt this cold in her life? Only by clenching her jaw was she able to keep her teeth from chattering. "Lawyers. You . . . want a divorce, then. That's what you're saying."

He didn't answer immediately and she felt a quick dart of hope. But then he silently inclined his head. Just once. And hope died.

Jason no longer wanted her as his wife.

Maybe later she'd appreciate the irony of the situation. Unwanted by both brothers in one lifetime. But right now, right this minute, she could barely draw breath. "And Cameron?"

Finally, Jason showed some emotion. His jaw cocked to one side and he shoved one hand through his hair, leaving it in disheveled black waves that made her fingers long to stroke back from his brow. "You can have anything you want, Elizabeth. But I won't lose my son."

No, you'll just throw away your wife. The cry went unspoken. One thing was clear. If she didn't leave his presence right this second, she was going to break down. "You built this place," she said stiffly. "You'll stay here."

Then she turned on her heel and went into their bedroom. She pushed the door closed, hearing it latch very, very quietly. Her vision blurred as she leaned back against the door panel. After a long moment, she heard the creak of a floor board. The scrape of a boot.

And then . . . nothing.

She slid down the door and buried her face in her hands, tears slowly scalding their way down her cheeks.

"What do you mean you and Cameron have moved into Rebecca's old apartment?"

Despite the horrified question from Emily, Elizabeth continued sorting mail into the post office boxes. She tried to have the mail in the boxes by 10:00 every morning. The townspeople counted on it. "I mean we've moved. As of yesterday."

"But . . . but why?"

She wouldn't cry. She just would not. She'd spent all last night in tears, muffling them in her pillow so she wouldn't disturb Cameron in the next room. He'd made no secret of his confusion of the turn of events that had them hastily packing some of their clothes and moving from their wood-surrounded ranch house to the apartment that had once been Dr. Rebecca's home before she'd married Sawyer Clay.

Elizabeth was confused, too.

And surely by now there weren't any tears left inside her.

"Ask Jason," she told her friend. "He's the one who decided it." She slotted the last letter and slammed shut the hinged metal door.

"Nikolas hasn't said anything to me. He and Jason are best friends but I don't think Jason's told him a thing." Emily's brown eyes were shocked behind her delicate gold-framed glasses.

She followed Elizabeth back out to the front counter of the small — and mercifully empty — post office. "I don't understand this. I thought you guys were the perfect couple."

So much for not having any tears left. "You and Nikolas are the perfect couple," Elizabeth corrected. She dashed her fingers across her damp cheek and blindly began straightening the mailing supplies stacked on the counter. "You love him and he loves you."

Emily frowned. "What are you saying? Don't you love him?"

The slippery express mail envelopes scattered all over again. "Yes, I love Jason. But he doesn't love me, Emily," she admitted miserably. "He never has. And I need to start facing the fact that he never will."

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