The Long And Winding Road

Notes: The usual disclaimers apply.

Chapter 63 - A Change Is Gonna Come

"Higher!"

"Okay, but only a little."

"Aw…"

Such was the sibling dialogue Sunday morning at the park as young Jack Simpson sat on a swing, with Emma standing in back pushing him along. She remained careful when it came to her brother's safety, though he would have preferred to be more daring.

"If you swing too much higher," she cautioned, "you're going to go flying over the top of this swing set."

"Cool."

"Yeah, until you land on your head and go Splat!"

"Let's try!" Jack responded enthusiastically.

Emma smiled, recalling from years earlier that the possibility of crashing down on one's head never seemed to deter JT either.

"You know, me and JT used to come out here lots of times. Mom brought us when we were just a little older than you are now. And when we were old enough, we'd come here on our own. Manny, too, sometimes. But mostly the two of us.

"We always had so much fun here. I'd try to get him to go down the slide like a normal person, so of course he always tried to climb up it. This was a much taller slide than the one that's here now. Half the time he'd get almost to the top but end up losing his grip and slide right back down to the bottom.

"And see over where the slide is? There used to be monkey bars right there. We'd climb up on top of them and stay there for the longest time. I don't know how we could have so much to talk about at such a young age, but we never seemed to run out of things to say. Sometimes we'd hang upside down on the bars. His idea, but I'd go along with it. Mom said all the blood was going to rush to our heads. That only made JT want to see if it meant blood was going to start leaking out of our eyes at any moment.

"We both had our competitive side, though, when it came to the big swings. We liked to see who could swing higher, him or me. If you ask him, he'd say he always won. I'd like to say I always won. But the truth is, we were pretty evenly matched.

"JT and I have made so many different kinds of memories over the years. And now I have this chance to make even more memories with him. A chance that's exciting and scary all at the same time. I must have been up half the night thinking about it. The pros and the cons. What it would mean if I said 'Yes.' What it would mean if I didn't.

"Jack, you must think I'm talking like a crazy person."

"Higher!" he requested simply.

Emma laughed, realizing that she'd been thinking out loud more than actually talking to Jack and that he had basically tuned her out.

"How about we take a break from the swings and I can watch you go down the slide," she then suggested.

"Okay," he replied excitedly.

She gradually brought his swing to a complete stop, removed him from the swing and then took his hand. With her free hand, she picked her purse up off the ground. Then they started heading over toward the slide.

"Em?" Jack looked up at his big sister while they continued walking.

"Yeah Jack?"

"Where's JT?"

"I don't know. Right now he could be at home still asleep. Or he could have gone out for breakfast. He could be lots of different places."

"Oh."

"Next time we can invite him to come with us," Emma offered. "But we're having fun, just you and me. Right?"

"Yeah," he answered, looking as though it should be obvious that this was a fun morning.

"It's just that you also like it a lot when all three of us get to do things together," Emma added knowingly.

"Uh-huh," Jack said while nodding his head in agreement. "A lot."

"I know just what you mean."

They soon reached the slide and Emma let go of Jack's hand.

"Hold on just a moment," she instructed while reaching into her purse.

She pulled out her cell phone and punched in a number. While waiting, she noticed Jack – eager to get on the slide and growing impatient – was making a face at her. Emma made a similar scrunched-up unhappy face back at him. This, as she had hoped, made him laugh. Moments later her call was picked up.

"Morning," Emma greeted. "I didn't wake you up, did I? Good. I'd really like to talk. Can you come over to the house this afternoon? Maybe around four? Great! See you later."

After ending the call, Emma returned her attention to the boy standing in front of her.

"Ready to climb the ladder and slide down?" she asked.

"No," Jack said as he walked toward the bottom of the slide. "I wanna go up from here."

Emma rolled her eyes and laughed.

"Even when he's not around," she remarked, "the JT Yorke influence is unstoppable."

At the Mason home, meanwhile, Spinner was in the garage where the washing machine and dryer were kept. He was tossing damp clothing into the dryer when his sister Kendra approached.

"You know," she spoke up, "the last time I was over at your apartment, I saw that your complex has a perfectly good laundry room. Ever think about using it?"

"But if I did that, my baby sister would miss seeing me every Sunday morning. I know how much you worship me. I couldn't put you through all that suffering."

"The only suffering would be you missing out on Mom fixing you a big breakfast. And of course, there's the free detergent, no charge for using the washer and dryer… Should I go on?"

"I bet you could. But never mind all that. Have you wised up and dumped that loser boyfriend of yours yet?"

"Clifford is NOT a loser," Kendra protested.

"Well, he's got a dumb name," Spinner reasoned. "That's close enough."

"That's true; not everyone can have a classy name like you, Spinner," she countered sarcastically, placing extra emphasis on the name.

"I'm just saying…"

"…That you only gripe about the people I date because you care, and you don't want to see me get hurt."

"Yeah," he responded while putting one final shirt into the dryer and shutting the door. "And because I know it gets on your nerves."

His sister shook her head, but then smiled slightly.

"It's like I was saying to Liberty the other day," he continued, "there's…"

"Hold it," Kendra again interrupted. "That's Number 3."

"Huh?" Spinner asked, looking confused.

"The third time this morning you've mentioned Liberty's name," she elaborated.

"Oh," he responded, not understanding. "What's wrong with that?"

"Not a thing. I just think it's interesting."

"Oookay…"

"It's nice to see you showing an interest in a woman who's more than just a pair of pom-poms and a head filled with nothing but empty space."

"Paige wasn't like that."

Kendra rolled her eyes. While Spinner was involved in that relationship, she had kept her opinions about Paige to herself. She knew from personal experience that her brother could sometimes get on one's nerves. From her viewpoint, however, she never believed Paige fully appreciated the good guy that he was capable of being.

"You're right," she then offered. "Paige was perfect in all ways. She sent weekly memos out saying so and everything."

"I'm serious," Spinner argued. "Paige is a good person. Sure, it took a long time to get over her. But that doesn't mean I want to hear anything bad about her. You should have seen the big Get Well card she sent JT the other week. One of those giant things that's about three or feet feet tall. I bet the mailman was complaining all day about having to make that delivery."

"I take it you're the one who called up Her Royal Highness and let her know what happened to JT."

"No," he said, surprising her. "The two of them have stayed in touch, but I haven't talked to her since last Fall when I called and tried one last time to work things out with her. I don't know. I guess Ashley told her about what happened."

"That makes sense."

"I'm glad someone got word to her. If I'd have thought of it, I would have called her myself. It's strange. For a long time, Paige was always in my head. And now all that feels like a lifetime ago."

"Complaining?" Kendra questioned.

"No. From what I hear, Paige is doing okay. I'm glad about that. But now I'm doing okay, too."

"I've noticed," she remarked. "If I was someone other than your sister, I might say something about how I was never worried because I always knew that you'd do all right for yourself. I might also say something about being proud of you. But thankfully I AM your sister, so I don't have to say anything of the kind."

Spinner laughed, understanding what she meant.

"Yeah, thankfully is right."

"Instead, I'll simply ask if you plan on ever turning the dryer on," Kendra then said in a more teasing tone, "or if you're just going to stare at the machine all day like some sort of nut."

Spinner promptly turned the dryer on.

"Hey, the last time you and Liberty talked…" Spinner began, hoping to sound casual. "When was that, by the way?"

"I was over at her place the other night."

"Okay. Great. I was just…curious. About if MY name got a mention. You know, since you seem to be keeping track of how many times I said her name."

"Forget it," she said quickly. "I'm not going to tell you what my friend and I may or may not have discussed."

"What are you? Her priest? Was it more than once?"

Spinner saw from his sister's expression, though, that she wasn't going to reveal anything.

"Fine," he then said as the pair started walking toward the door to leave the garage. "No big deal. Like I said, it was just a case of curiositicity."

'I was right before,' she thought to herself. 'This is definitely getting interesting.'

"But you can still be helpful and take my clothes out of the dryer when they're done," Spinner suggested.

"There is no way I'm touching your clothes," Kendra declared as they were on their way out. "Even if they ARE clean."

That afternoon at the Nelson-Simpson home, Emma was walking downstairs into her basement bedroom.

"I'm glad you were able to come over," she said as she reached the bottom of the stairs. "I was hoping you didn't already have plans."

"I've been wanting to talk to you, too," Manny said as she followed Emma into the room. "Before I heard from you this morning, I'd thought about calling. But I figured you'd be busy with JT all day."

Manny then sat down on Emma's bed.

"So what's up?" she asked.

"A lot," Emma replied, standing near the bed. "I wasn't going to say anything to anyone just yet. But I need a sounding board."

"Okay," Manny responded, watching as Emma began to pace back and forth.

"Now normally JT would be the one I'd use for this kind of thing," Emma prefaced. "But obviously I can't in this situation. And as open as me and my mom are, I don't want to talk to her about all of this right now."

She stopped and looked at Manny, who appeared increasingly curious.

"Manny, you and I… It's funny. Despite all those months when we either argued or barely said two words to one another, since last winter I feel like we've become as close now as we used to be when we were kids. Closer. Everyone was great, but I know I couldn't have gotten through that first night JT was in the hospital if it weren't for you. So, aside from needing a sounding board right now, I've also been really eager to tell you."

"Tell me what?" Manny asked, growing more anxious.

"Last night JT proposed."

"Proposed?" Manny repeated, wanting to make sure she heard Emma correctly.

"Proposed," Emma confirmed.

"Oh my God!"

"That was my basic reaction, too," Emma kidded her.

"You're serious?"

"See for yourself," Emma said, pointing toward the ring box on the nightstand next to her alarm clock and a picture of herself with JT.

Manny turned her head and saw the box.

"Oh my God!" she again shouted, her initial shock turning into excitement. "Can I…?"

Emma nodded, knowing that Manny wanted to see the ring.

"Oh my God!" Manny once more exclaimed upon opening the box and looking at the ring.

"Manny, you're becoming a woman of very few words," Emma teased.

Carefully putting the box back down, Manny then quickly got up from the bed and zoomed toward Emma.

"Congratulations," she said, hugging her friend. "The two of you are going to be so happy. Well, you two are already really happy, but you know what I mean."

"Manny…"

" I can't believe it," Manny continued while releasing Emma from the hug. "Well, no. This is JT we're talking about so I CAN believe it. I just didn't expect it. I'm so happy for you."

"Thanks, but…"

"What are we doing standing up?" Manny then asked, again not noticing that Emma was trying to say something. "We're supposed to be figuring this all out."

She sat back down.

"The first thing you're going to want to do is get your wedding organized. The racks at the bookstores are filled with all sorts of magazines and books on the subject. There's 'Brides,' 'Young Brides,' 'Modern Brides,' 'Young Modern Brides,' 'Wedding Planning For Dummies.' And probably a dozen others. We could figure out which one would be best. Or we could just get all of them and mix-and-match ideas."

"I haven't accepted," Emma interjected.

"Well naturally I didn't mean just relying on books and magazines," Manny clarified, misunderstanding what Emma meant. "I'm sure you've already thought up a lot of good ideas so far all on your own. Those are just things to help. And I'm sure if we gave Liberty five minutes, she could find a thousand websites with expert advice for brides-to-be."

"I haven't accepted the proposal."

Her mind still filled with thoughts and ideas, it took a moment before Emma's words finally sunk in.

"You said 'No?'" Manny then asked slowly. "But you have the ring right here."

"No, I didn't say 'No,'" Emma responded calmly. "But I didn't say 'Yes' either."

"I don't get it."

"I said that I needed time to think before I could give him an answer."

Upon hearing this, Manny rolled her eyes.

"Emma, why do you try to complicate life by thinking?"

"I'll work on that," Emma joked. "I promise."

"I only mean that you've already gone over most of the concerns I'm sure you're having. You must have, because it was only a few weeks ago that you were sitting right across the table from me at Ryan's and hinting about wanting to propose to him. You said the only reason you weren't going to was because he'd already made a major life change this year by buying TMD. Well now that's not a problem because obviously he WANTS this next major change this year."

"I remember," Emma responded. "And then a few hours after that conversation, we were waiting to see if he would live through the night."

"The one doesn't have to have anything to do with the other," Manny said gently.

"But it could. Manny, I didn't just ask for the time so that I could think. I want him to think, too. Now, can I go over what's on my mind?"

Later on at TMD, Amanda entered JT's office to answer his phone.

"The Movie Difference. Can I help you?" she greeted. "No, he's not. But he'll be in tomorrow. Oh… I could take a message. I see. Well can I tell him who's calling? No, if it's personal, I can understand. Goodbye."

Back at Emma's, the two friends had been talking for over an hour.

"So you see, I couldn't just start jumping up and down. Even though the setting and the proposal were perfect. It's not a question of 'Do I love him enough?' We're talking about motivations, as well as understanding the repercussions and responsibilities involved."

"I still think you're over-thinking," Manny said, "but you made some good points. And a romantic setting isn't the place for the two of you to get into all those details. But do you really want to wait until tomorrow to talk to him?"

"No. Last night and today, I've given everything a lot of thought and know what we need to talk about – at least from my point of view – before I can give him an answer. I'd love to talk to him right now, but I just want him to have enough time to be certain of things before that happens. Anyway, it's been less than 24 hours since he asked me to marry him, so it's not like waiting until tomorrow to have a discussion is turning this into a long drawn-out process. Maybe I'll say 'Yes' tomorrow. Maybe we'll both decide we need to discuss things further. It's not as though we're playing 'Beat the Clock' and have to hurry."

"You're right," Manny admitted.

"Thank you."

"But part of me thinks you're still going to go over there sometime tonight."

That made Emma laugh.

"So…do you want to get out of here for awhile?" Manny then asked. "Maybe get something to eat?"

"Not until you tell me YOUR news," Emma said.

"News?"

"You said before that you almost called me. That you'd wanted to talk. I assumed it's about something in particular."

"Ah. Yes. Well, it's not up there with a marriage proposal…"

"Just tell me."

"Yesterday…me and Sean…I love you's. He said it to me. I said it to him. The first time either one of us had said it to each other."

"Manny, that's great," Emma responded enthusiastically.

"It was right, Em. It didn't just feel right; it WAS right. Well, not counting the wall."

"The wall?"

"Don't ask."

"Oh no you don't. I want to hear all the details. You mentioned food before. I'll drive, you talk."

The pair walked upstairs and into the living room. They saw Spike sitting on the couch thumbing through the pages of a magazine.

"See you later, Mom," Emma said.

"Bye," Manny added.

Spike didn't respond. Her attention was still on the magazine.

"Mom?"

This time Spike heard the voice and looked up.

"What? Oh, hey girls."

"We're taking off," Emma told her.

"Yeah. You two have fun."

Emma and Manny left through the front door. Moments later, Snake came downstairs.

"I heard the girls leave. Guess it's just the three of us for dinner tonight. You want to go out? Or we could order some take-out."

Rather than answer, Spike let out a deep breath.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She slowly put the magazine down on the coffee table in front of her, and then she looked up at her husband.

"I…was going to ask if Manny wanted to stay for dinner. A few minutes ago. I only got two, maybe three steps downstairs when…"

"When what?" Snake prompted as Spike paused to take another deep breath.

"I wasn't trying to eavesdrop or spy," she explained. "Emma's a grown woman, and even when she was younger I didn't believe in doing things like that."

"Whatever you overheard…it was an honest mistake," Snake tried to reassure her. "I'm sure Emma wouldn't be mad at you. You don't need to get worked up about it."

"It's not that. I heard her say… They were discussing how… It seems that last night, JT asked Emma to marry him. Marry him."

Much later on that night JT pulled into his driveway while talking on his cell phone, checking in to see how things were going at TMD that evening.

"I don't know, Amanda. It could have been anyone. When you're as beloved as I am, everyone wants some of your time."

He then started to laugh listening to his employee's response to his sarcasm.

"No," he replied, "I won't fire you for saying you want to laugh hysterically at that statement. So is there anything else of interest happening over there tonight? That's good. No, I didn't get as much done today as I thought I would. But I'll get it figured out. As always, feel free to call if there are any problems. And if you can't reach me, call Spin. But I'm sure the rest of the night's going to be just as uneventful. Night."

Ending the call, JT reached over and grabbed the almost empty soft drink bottle from the cup holder and then got out of his car. He reached into his pocket for his house keys while walking toward the front door.

"It's about time you got here," a voice remarked, startling JT. "You've got a nice stoop, but I was getting bored."

Having left home that morning, his outside house light wasn't on. The nearby streetlight was helpful, but JT hadn't noticed the figure to the right of the door coming out of the shadows on the stoop. Until now. JT was surprised to see who his visitor was.

"When they said you weren't at work, I knew you were probably going to come here. Don't look so shocked. You HAD to expect a meeting like this sooner or later."

It took JT a moment before he could finally speak.

"Alex…"