Chapter 34:
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"After much deliberation," Glenn's father spoke on the council's behalf, his hands on either side of the podium facing the Sons of Ipswich. "The council has decided to bless the marriage of our son James Danvers to our adopted daughter Beatrice Foxx. May your lives be long and happy together."
Beatrice, whose presence had been requested pending the decision of the council on her engagement to James, could only look over her shoulder to Wayne, sitting to the right of her. Wayne in return gave her a pained, scrunched-up look that said: "this is how you wanted it, so I'm forcing myself not to flip out here…"
James immediately took Beatrice's hand possessively, then gave it a quick, hard kiss, his eyes also on Wayne as he did so.
"As for the matter of Covenant leadership," Glenn's father went on, jerking James's attention back to the Elders. "Due to Joe's humble change of heart and recent actions to appease his father's will, we gladly grant him back his rights as firstborn and return the role of leadership back to him."
James grit his teeth and hissed in dismay, but his reactions didn't matter to the rest of them. Glenn even clapped in happiness, patting Joe on the back proudly. Wayne just paid his respects to the council, and was among the first to walk out. Beatrice quickly ran after him, instructing James to let her have a moment to talk to Wayne. James was too distraught at his dethroning, too jealous of the undeserving Joe, to protest.
"Wayne!" Beatrice called, running down the porch stairs of the Danvers's colony house. "Look at you," she scoffed. "You're already jealous!"
"Engaged?" Wayne spat out, whirling around furiously to face her. "You're going to let yourself be engaged? How will the time ever be right to James about us if you're engaged? How far are you going to let it go? Are you going to move in with him too? Sleep with him?"
"Wayne, don't be dramatic. You said you could handle this. 'Anything for me'-- wasn't that what you said just last week?"
Wayne began to shake his head fervently no, in more disbelief than disagreement, but was at an utter loss for words.
"James is happy with me," Beatrice explained. "The council thinks I may be his last hope to keep him on the right path. You've waited this long for me, Wayne. You can wait a bit longer."
With that, Beatrice turned back into the colony house, leaving Wayne alone with the gathering clouds above him.
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Six Months Later…-
Nicky's had gotten slow on Saturday nights, a thing once highly uncommon, now turning into the norm. One could walk clear from one end of the bar to another without bumping elbows with any other person. A few older adults sat at the counter, while Beatrice and James took up the games corner with Joe, Glenn, and Rosalind.
Joe had let his hair grow out, so the black was almost completely gone and the blonde shined through in all its white glory. Through Joe's varying states of depression, his eyes had gone forever dark, while his skin paled even in the approaching summer. He didn't see much of the light of day, not if his new wife had anything to say about it. He had become a prisoner in his own home, to his own duties. It had taken a firm stand to convince her to let him out tonight.
Glenn had made up with Rosalind very quickly after they had broken up. Rosalind was due any day now, in fact, she was starting to be rather late.
"Why won't you come out?" Rosalind complained to her large stomach. She took another glob of Nicky's hottest salsa, and shoved it into her mouth, having heard the spicy food would help.
"Patience, hon," Glenn commanded. "The kid obviously likes it inside you."
"Can't say I disagree," Damien announced his presence loudly, as he and his two cronies, Sean and Blake, entered their side of the bar.
"Ew," Rosalind shuddered, hugging herself to shake off some bad memories. James lit up at the sight of fond faces.
"Boys! Come on, have a seat!" James called out, much to everyone's confusion. Glenn immediately sprang up and hissed into James' ear:
"Com'on, James. You know how Damien bothers Rose, and the rest aren't the coolest with the rest of us either."
"So, take your girlfriend and scram," James provided a snotty solution. "Otherwise, shut up and relax for once like everyone else."
Glenn was silent, but shook his head and expressed his abounding annoyance at the entire situation. He hated being reminded how much James was starting to fit among the Concordats. Over the past few months they had been hanging out together relentlessly, and it got old before it even started. Everyone knew he was just trying to one-up Joe, who had done the same thing a few years back… only James didn't seem to get that Joe's fighting records could never be broken, and James would never have the respect that Joe had earned in his time.
"Joining in this round, boys?" James offered, holding out a pool stick to Sean, who took it gladly.
As Damien made a flirtatious pass at Beatrice, she huffed in disgust, and even more frustration that James did nothing to protest. She all-too-willingly gave up her place in the game to Damien and his lackeys in exchange for a seat next to Joe.
Beatrice sat up straighter when she spotted Wayne walk through the door. He smiled and nodded at her as he honed in on the group, while she rolled her eyes and sighed.
"The good times just keep on comin'," she muttered in easily faked annoyance.
"Hey there, good lookin'," Wayne greeted Beatrice first, as he always did. He nodded at the others, frowning a bit at Damien among them.
"Since when are we friends with the Concordats?" Wayne asked Joe, who simply shrugged a reply and sipped his wine.
"We're not," Joe said at length. "James is. We are simply enduring their unwanted presence for the sake of our friend, whom we are trying not to upset."
Joe threw a glance at Wayne at this, looking him dead in the eye for only a moment, passing along a silent but strong hint.
"I'm going out for a smoke," Wayne declared, then left the way he had come.
He bee-lined quickly through the tables, past the bathrooms and straight out the back door. The alley it led to was completely empty, a bit of rain coming down through the misty dark. He was alone for mere moments, long enough to light up and take one hefty drag of his cigarette.
Soon, the door opened again, to reveal Beatrice rushing through it.
"We have to be quick," she hurriedly explained. "I only told James that I was taking a bathroom break--"
She was cut off by Wayne flicking away his almost untouched cigarette to grab her face in both of his hands and claim her lips as his own. He melted his passionate kiss into her, only parting for the sake of oxygen.
"Quick?" he replied, nodding breathlessly, reaching for the button of her pants. "I can do quick…"
"Ugh-- were you smoking?" Beatrice gagged, before her mouth was attacked once more. She let herself comb her nails in his long hair, as she felt him do the same. As she felt him trying to undo his own pants, she immediately stopped.
"No," she protested, pushing Wayne away by a firm hand on his toned chest. "We can't do this here… James… he's too close…"
"Screw James," Wayne smiled, fighting her shoving to get back to her sweet kiss.
"You always say that…" she chuckled.
"The divorce to Desiree was finalized today," Wayne finally connected with her mouth again. "I'm a free man, and you're officially no longer my affair."
"Though, if James has his way you might soon become mine," Beatrice retorted. Wayne disconnected only to groan his frustration of the matter.
"You guys set a day yet?" Wayne asked as he trailed his mouth down her neck.
"I don't know," Beatrice admitted, panting to catch her breath. "I keep managing to convince him to push it back, but I'm running out of good ideas to keep that up for much longer. He's eager to seal the deal with me."
Wayne's breath audibly caught in his throat as he froze.
"You're not really going to marry him, are you?"
"Of course not, Wayne," Beatrice chuckled again. "Our time is coming soon… and it'll be fantastic. No more lying, no more sneaking around--"
"Ahh!" Wayne clenched his temples suddenly, wincing in pain.
"What's the matter?"
"It's Joe," Wayne explained with a tight voice. "He says James is getting up to look for you."
"I'd better go," Beatrice breathed, heading for the door quickly, but Wayne grabbed at her hand just before she could go beyond reach.
"I hate this," Wayne stated. Beatrice stroked his cheek fondly with her free hand.
"I know," she replied. "But it's still you and me, babe."
"You and me," Wayne agreed with an assuring nod.
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After Beatrice returned to her seat, James quickly spotted her and reunited at their table. Her hair was a bit tousled, her cheeks a bit rosy, making Glenn, Joe, and Rosalind take notice. No one spoke as James made his way back to them, though Rosalind tried to make casual gestures to get Beatrice to fix the bed hair she was obviously sporting unknowingly.
"Where were you, honey?" James asked gently, scooping up Beatrice's hand. "I checked the ladies room, but I missed you."
A bit breathless, Beatrice tried to shrug it off.
"I told you, I was taking a break. You know how Damien pisses me off, James. One can only take so much."
James saw Joe and Glenn being strangely quiet, but didn't consider them for long, before Wayne had helped himself to a seat with them. That's when James noticed that his hair was messy, and that Beatrice's was too. Her face flushed even more at the sight of Wayne, even though she tried to feign irritation at his presence, it was a feeble attempt. James also noticed that Wayne smelled nothing of cigarette smoke, and, in fact, was sucking on a red lollipop as they spoke. James had been sure that he didn't sense anyone in that women's restroom. If Beatrice wasn't in the bathroom, and Wayne wasn't having a smoke…
"Ohh!" Rosalind moaned very suddenly, grabbing at her large round stomach. "OHH!" she yelled again.
"What's the matter?" Glenn jumped to his feet. "Is it your water breaking? Huh? Honey?"
"OHH!!!" she screamed so loud the whole of Nicky's was watching now.
"Glenn," Joe commanded loudly. "Just go get the damn car."
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Signed,
--RedRogue