Chapter XIV: Grand Finale Part 2

The second time Jarod entered in the room, Erin didn't threw anything at him; instead, she jumped up sitting on the bed, her back against the headboard, and flashed him a burning glare.

"In what language must I tell you?" she asked through clenched teeth, "Leave me alone!"

Beneath her rage, Jarod perceived her pain clearly, and his heart became heavy with sorrow.

"You can ask me everything, Erin", he said, quietly, "but not this. Not now, not ever."

Erin's shoulders dropped.

"Why are you tormenting me?" she asked, barely able to keep her voice steady, "It's obvious you love Miss Parker much more than me, so why don't you go back to her? I give you both my blessing..."

Her voice trailed off and Jarod saw her fighting stubbornly against her tears. The immensity of her love for him took his breath away: she was willing to give him up, as long as he was happy.

Only that apparently she still hadn't realised where his happiness was.

He came up to the bed and sat on the edge. She withdrew as far as possible.

"No, Erin, love...", he murmured, "I told you that Parker means much more to me than a friend, much more than a sister... but she is and always will be much less than you."

Erin didn't reply and simply looked at him with a distressed expression, showing plainly her mistrust.

"Sweetheart", he tried again, in a soft tone, "how can you consider, after all that we've had together, that I don't love you more than her? Parker means a lot to me, that's true, but you mean everything! It's only thanks to you that I've found the strength to get rid of the Centre once and for all..."

"You mean thanks to my father!" she retorted, in a sour tone.

"He gave only the means", Jarod replied, calmly, "but as I already told your father, you are the reason why I finally decided to tear up the Centre."

She shook her head, obstinately. Jarod realised that her stubbornness came from her fear, the fear she had been able to defeat thanks to him, but that had remained always lurking from a hidden corner of her mind, ready to jump on her at the first sign of weakness. He realised also that logical talk was useless: as Miss Parker had suggested, he didn't have to speak to Erin's mind through words, but to her heart through her body.

He stretched over the bed to touch her, but she withdrew. He tried to reach her, but again she backed until she even fell from the bed on the carpeted floor.

In a flash, he was upon her.

"Let me go!" Erin yelled, wriggling wildly. As he didn't want to hurt her, Jarod simply grasped her wrists, crushing her to the floor with his weight.

"Damn, Erin, I'm not your enemy!" he cried, desperate, "Don't you understand that I love you more than my own life?"

Erin looked at him wide eyed, as if she couldn't believe her own ears, and suddenly she stopped squirming. He bowed his head and seized her mouth with his. At first, Erin didn't respond, simply enduring his kiss; but her body was already reacting, feeling the familiar, welcome weight of Jarod's: her lips parted, allowing him to explore with his tongue the warm depths of her mouth, and she spread her legs, so she could feel his hot desire against her lap. She sighed, and her body surrendered to Jarod's.

But her mind was into open conflict with her body.

"What are you trying to do...?" she panted when he left her mouth. Jarod kissed her on the side of her neck, under her ear, tickling gently with his tongue her sensitive skin.

"I'm trying to make you understand how much I love you", he whispered, breathing into her ear and making her shiver, "Your body already knows it: accept it, you too..."

Erin writhed weakly, trying to fight the waves of yearning that were irresistibly overwhelming her. Her hardened nipples pushed against her clothes, plainly visible through the bra and the light fabric of her dress. She moaned, feeling Jarod's lips closing around one nipple and biting it gently.

"Just an automatic reaction", she tried to protest, "It's a traitor...!"

Using his teeth, Jarod had managed to open the first two buttons closing her dress on the front.

"It isn't a traitor", he murmured, brushing his lips on the soft mounds of her breasts, "It knows the truth."

It was that last line that caused her sudden capitulation: Jarod was right, all of her being was screaming it aloud, and she coulnd't help but yield to the power of her feelings.

Jarod sensed her surrender and let her wrists go, withdrawing just enough to look into her eyes. Promptly, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him again to her, pressing her lips on his in a greedy kiss. She needed reassurance; she needed the physical expression to feel sure about his love for her, and wanted him to take her on the spot.

Jarod didn't need more encouragement: in a few seconds, he undid completely her dress, almost ripping its buttons, and lifted her bra. He cupped her soft mounds, pressed them together and licked avidly her stiffened nipples. Erin gasped in pleasure, clawing his shoulders as she caught fire. A moment later, she felt his fingers in her panties, searching and teasing her, and with a groan, she pushed her pelvis eagerly forward to allow him touching her better. Her depths pulsed in longing, while waves of heat shot through her.

A frenzy he had never felt in his life was possessing Jarod. Not a single thought crossed his mind, dimmed by yearning; he tore off Erin's panties, lowered his slacks and boxers along and, with a single fluid movement, he plunged in her warm deepness.

Possessed by the same irrepressible hunger, Erin welcomed him inside of her gasping with relief, enjoying the feeling of his hard male shaft, filling up her wet female cavity. They needed only a few minutes before coming together, in an almost brutal orgasm that wringed high cries of pleasure from them and left them exhausted in each other's arms, their breaths broken.

Afterwards, Erin laughed. A crystalline laugh that warmed up the heart and that affected Jarod, too, making him laugh hard. The shaking movements of their bodies caused more spasms of pleasure, so a few moans interposed the laughing.

"We fucked like two rabbits", Erin giggled. Jarod grinned briefly, then he became earnest again and kissed her long and deeply.

"We do not fuck", he told her under his breath, "We make love: frantically, quickly, even wildly, but we'll always and only make love, because we love each other."

She felt tears welling up in her eyes.

"Gosh have I been stupid!" she whispered, "How can I make it up to you?"

He raised a little and looked at their still joint bodies, wrapped in their messy clothes.

"I could say you started well..." he said mischievously. Erin stuck her tongue to him, and Jarod tried immediately to seize it with his mouth. Both burst into laughter again, but in a short time, their laughs faltered, replaced by the soft sounds of kisses. They began to make love again, this time steadily and with immeasurable tenderness.

OOO

They went downstairs for dinner. Their radiant faces were so eloquent that Sydney had to restrain a large smile, and Miss Parker, too, not being compelled anymore in her Ice Queen role, as she was nicknamed at the Centre, let her amusement show. Broots instead, thinking of his daughter's imminent arrival, didn't notice anything.

Shortly after, they heard the sound of an approaching helicopter and went outside to see the landing. The aircraft touched ground at a few hundred yards from the building and stopped the rotor; a pretty girl of about fourteen came out, throwing herself in Broots' open arms, followed by two smiling female FBI agents.

"It's fantastic, daddy!" the girl cried, very excited, "I want to learn driving 'copters!"

"It's called flying, Debbie", her father corrected her smiling, hugging her heartily, "And if you really want to, when you're grownup I'll send you to a piloting school, okay?"

Debbie hugged then Miss Parker, who, to Erin's great surprise, returned her hug warmly. Seeing her face expressing a real love for this girl, at once Erin changed her mind about the woman she had believed to be a rival: she wasn't at all as cold and merciless as she had looked to her, but she was instead full of warmness and compassion. All of a sudden, she wished they would become friends.

After dinner, they went back to the drawing-room to chat: nobody was sleepy, they were all too much excited about the news arriving from the Centre: Mr. Raines had confessed, Lyle had rebelled and had therefore received a harsh lesson, and the FBI and NSA agents had found so much evidence in the computer files, they wouldn't even need Raines' admissions to incriminate them all.

"I hope they'll lock them in the Centre cells", Jarod commented with a certain fierceness, "This would be very ironic."

At that moment, his cell phone rang and he left the room to answer it without disturbing the others.

He stayed away quite a long time, and when he returned, his face had an incredulous look.

"Parker", he called.

Miss Parker, who was having an interesting conversation with Erin, turned to look at him slightly annoyed.

"What?" she barked, than chuckled, remembering that she hadn't to play anymore the tough-at-any-cost role, "I mean… what's up, Jarod?"

"You won't believe what I'm going to tell you", Jarod began, walking to sit down next to her on the couch, "The agent who's in charge of the operations at the Centre has the task of informing me if they find any classified file referring to you, Sydney, Broots and the others. Well, they found one about you… and Thomas Gates."

Miss Parker turned pale. They had killed Tommy over four years ago, but the pain for his death was still unbearable.

"What's in it?" she asked in a thin voice. Erin wondered how she could possibly have judged her heartless. Gosh, appearance can really deceive!

"Parker… Thomas is not dead. He's alive…"

"What?!" she cried, placing one hand on her throat as if she was about to choke, "How's it possible? It can't be true… I found him dead, murdered in front of my house…"

"I know, I know…" Jarod interjected, taking her other hand to calm her down, "The truth is that they couldn't kill him and get away with it. How do you think they'd cover up everything in such a short time? Only by eliminating the few witnesses? Not even they are really dead, everything has been made up…"

"But… but he didn't breathe, his heart didn't beat… Christ, they've shot at his head!"

Believe it, baby, said Catherine Parker's voice in her mind, Believe it, because it's true.

"You, too, know that there's some stuff capable of simulating death perfectly", Jarod replied, "The blow on his head was bad, but not mortal, and he survived, as they had planned. Then they had the coroner paid to sign the death certificate."

Miss Parker had accepted the news by then, however she asked all the same:

"But why would they do something like that?"

"If you'd rebel again, they'd disclose to you he was still alive and would threaten to kill him for good this time, if you wouldn't do what they wanted you to…"

Miss Parker nodded slowly:

"Yeah, this would be perfectly their style… and I'd accept, so they wouldn't hurt him… Curse them!"

She drew a deep breath to calm down and asked:

"Where is he, now?"

"He's in a psychiatric clinic controlled by the Centre, in California."

"A psychiatric clinic…?"

"Yes, because of the blow on his head, he lost his memory", Jarod explained, "All his functions are normal, but he remembers nothing about himself, not even his name. They call him John Doe there."

"And… is there any hope he'll recover from his amnesia?"

"Doctors think that maybe a strong shock could help him in recalling his past. Who knows, maybe seeing you…"

"I must go immediately to him!" Miss Parker cried, urgently.

"I'll arrange it", Jarod said, standing up and leaving the room.

If ever Erin had still had doubts about the real nature of their relationship, now they would have been swept away: the love they shared was absolutely brotherly.

"I'm happy you found your partner", she said in a low voice, "I know how it is, losing the man you love."

She was indeed perfectly sure that the pain for a forced separation is no different at all from the pain for the death of the beloved person: in both cases, your heart splits and you feel crushed, annihilated.

Miss Parker looked at her with a faint smile:

"Thank you, you're nice."

Her reaction convinced Erin that they would become friends.

August

In the following weeks and months, everything found his best conclusion.

The Centre executives were all sentenced to life imprisonment, save Raines who, much to Miss Parker's annoyance, died of a striking leukaemia during the trial; the organization's noticeable resources were put under control of a government corporation specially created by the President, who would formally lead it and would make periodic checks on its activities.

They found Mr. Parker in the Virgin Islands; he was arrested and taken to the United States, where he confessed everything and was convicted like everyone else.

Jarod and Erin moved in in her house at Santa Lorita.

Miss Parker joined Thomas, who, as the doctors had hoped, thanks to his love for her, which had never died, began to remember his past. When he was discharged, they moved in in a nice house at Sausalito, in the outskirts of San Francisco, and took with them little boy Parker, who soon grew attached to Thomas as he were his father.

Broots followed the example of the two couples and purchased a detached house at Berkley, to the north of the metropolis, where he settled down with his daughter.

At this point, Sydney thought about to move to those neighbourhoods with Michelle and Nicholas, and he, too, opted for Berkley, where Nicholas would achieve his degree and maybe seek for a chair in that renowned university. He took with them Angelo, who settled in a small flat over their garage, so that he could be independent but, at the same time, stay under the psychiatrist's affectionate eyes. A male nurse called for him every day, and soon the two of them became friends.

Meanwhile, Jarod contacted again his father, Major Charles, who in a short time came to Santa Lorita with Jay and Emily, where they found and purchased a nice house. They gave a regular identity to Jarod's clone, as it had already been done with Jarod: both were said to be sons of Charles and Margaret Russell.

With the help of the FBI, within a few weeks they found Margaret, and so, a family that the Centre had destroyed was finally reunited.

And at last, when they had almost given up hope, they found even Ethan, who through his father was Jarod's brother and through his mother, Miss Parker's; a very weird relationship, but as at the Centre had happened even weirder things, none of them was amazed, less than ever scandalized. Ethan was welcomed in the Russell family, which adopted him formally, but the young man chose to live by himself in a flat not far from his father's house: they would need much time to build up the confidence that characterises a family relationship, and maybe not even a whole life would be enough, but there was good will from all parts, and so there was hope.

Saturday, August 31st, 01.15 p.m.

That very morning, Jarod and Erin had received two excellent news. The first one came from Lloyd Darnell, the publisher friend of Jarod, who told them the publication date of Erin's book and invited them to the gala for the official launch, in New York, early in October. The second one was an invitation to a wedding: Thomas Gates and Miss Parker announced their marriage, which would take place at the end of the following month. Jarod and Erin had been very happy to accept the invitation, even more when Miss Parker had told them they wanted Erin as the bridesmaid and Jarod as Thomas' best man.

They had just finished to lunch in the garden, under the gazebo, and they were sipping coffee. Both wore bath-suits, having spent the morning swimming and sun soaking.

"I cannot believe it yet", Erin said, her gaze as bright as stars, "I'll see my novel published for good!"

"I know you hate this line, but this time I tell it to you all the same", Jarod said laughing, "I told you so!"

S he uttered a threatening grumble, but she was giggling and so she wasn't convincing at all.

"Okay, I admit I deserve it", she acknowledged, then took Jarod's mug, now empty, stood up and put away the last crockery in the basket she used to carry them back and forth from the kitchen.

"I'm really happy for Parker", she stated, changing subject, "Because of the Centre, her life hasn't been less sad and loveless than yours, and she deserves all the happiness on Earth."

Jarod stood up in turn, placed his hands on her shoulders and made her gently turn to him. Then his hands slid down, stroking her arms, until he clasped her wrists; eye to eye, he wrapped her arms around his neck.

"You, too, deserve happiness", he told her in a low voice, "Are you happy, Erin?"

She looked deep in his dark eyes and read in them all his love for her.

"I never thought it was possible to be so much happy", she answered softly, brushing the nape of his neck, "And you, Jarod?"

Her touch, as light as a butterfly, made him shiver.

"I never thought it was possible to be so much happy", he stated quietly.

His words, as it happened often, reached directly her heart; Erin crushed her body against his and kissed him. Jarod returned passionately her kiss and, as usual, she felt the flame of desire flaring up inside of her. With the tip of her tongue, she caressed his lips, which he promptly parted, and Erin plunged her tongue in the warm deepness of his mouth in a searing kiss.

Jarod gasped; every time Erin responded this way to his prompts, he felt his head swirling. His hands began to wander all over her body, going through the curves of her elegant back, down to the bottom. He gently squeezed her buttocks and then, caught by a sudden impulse, he grasped and lifted her, sitting her on the edge of the table, now empty, and pressing himself between her spread legs.

They made love passionately, moving together, waving in the eternal, primitive dance of love, pushing and withdrawing at an ancestral rhythm, climbing together to the topmost pleasure, giving and taking at the same time, expressing through their bodies what their souls felt, in the most complete way that is allowed to human beings. When at last they reached the peak, they felt the deepest and most prolonged pleasure they had ever experienced in their lives, so that they almost fainted and had to cling to one another in order not to drop.

Trembling and stunned, they supported each other until they regained strength, then they looked at one another in the eye, in wonder and amazement.

"I… think I've just come and gone from Paradise", Jarod declared in an undertone. Erin nodded:

"I, too…" she whispered, still dazed.

Jarod searched for her mouth; they kissed desperately, and then held each other tight for a long time, exchanging soft caresses full of tenderness.

At least, their stiffened bodies forced them to pull away, reluctantly, and they got dressed again.

"It's time to uncork that bottle we have in the fridge, don't you agree?", Jarod exclaimed unexpectedly; seeing Erin looking at him slightly puzzled, he explained smiling, "It turned out all well: the Centre has been destroyed, my family lives just a few blocks away, my best friends live within a few miles, they, too, reunited with the people they love and, above all, I have you… There's nothing on Earth, nothing, that I could still wish. All this deserves to be celebrated, don't you agree?"

Erin nodded, and a bright smile, that smile of hers that always thrilled him, curved her beautiful lips:

"You are perfectly right."

While Jarod was looking for the champagne bottle in the kitchen, Erin took two crystal glasses out of the cupboard in the drawing room and placed them on a silver tray. Jarod arrived with the ice bucket, where he had placed the bottle, and together they returned to the gazebo. Here, Jarod uncorked the champagne and poured it in the glasses, inclining them to avoid too much froth; he handed one to Erin.

"Slàinthe mhath!" she cried, in the typical Gaelic toast, "To the end of a nightmare."

"And to the beginning of a dream", Jarod returned with a tender smile, which she returned.

They sipped the wine; then Erin looked at him in the eye, solemnly, and said:

"I love you, Jarod."

Like every time she told him so, he felt moved to the most hidden deeps of his soul; he stooped and kissed her softly, tenderly.

"I love you too, Erin", he murmured on her lips, before kissing her again, "You make me the happiest man on Earth."

Erin wrapped her free arm around his neck.

"I think indeed that, from this moment on, making you happy will be my favourite job", she announced him, her serious expression denied by her laughing eyes.

"You won't need to work hard", Jarod stated, holding her, "Just love me forever."

"Forever is a very long time", Erin pointed out earnestly, and smiled, "Who knows if it's enough…"

Their eyes locked; in this bright late summer Californian afternoon, both recognised in the other one's gaze the awareness that the feelings they shared would have the strength to resist at the passing of time, until the end of their lives, and further on, into eternity.

The End