In her bedroom suite in the Quartermaine Mansion, Brenda Barrett selected a tube of lipstick from her dressing table and applied it to her lips.
"I guess you can wear that shade with impunity now," Keesha Ward said with a laugh as she sprayed conditioning mousse into her hair.
"What?" Brenda asked.
"I seem to remember you rejecting that same tube of Lipstick roughly ten months earlier because it was a Jacks Cosmetics product and using it would be positively blasphemous," Keesha said.
"Yeah, I guess there are some advantages to being the Jacks Cosmetics Spokesmodel," Brenda said as she recalled their conversation before the Quartermaine New Year's Eve Party almost ten months earlier.
December 31, 1996
In her bedroom suite in the Quartermaine Mansion, Brenda Barrett selected a tube of lipstick from her dressing table. "I love this shade, it's too bad it is a Jacks Cosmetics product."
"This coming from a Deceptions Spokesmodel! Heresy!" Keesha Ward said as she continued straightening her hair.
"I think blasphemy sounds better. It is a nice shade though," Brenda said as she laid the tube back down and reached for another.
"I wonder what is keeping Robin."
"Oh, I guess I forgot to mention she has other plans tonight," Brenda said. She hadn't exactly forgotten she just still felt a little weird talking about Robin and Jason to Keesha. A year earlier Jason had been kissing Keesha at the same New Year's Eve Party.
Keesha laid Brenda's straightener back on her dressing table and turned to face her. "If she has plans with Jason you don't have to feel guilty about that. I've accepted that Jason doesn't really want anything to do with me. I won't say it doesn't still hurt sometimes but maybe that is beside the point."
"I'm sorry," Brenda whispered. She knew the words were inadequate.
"You have nothing to apologize for. You weren't driving the car that killed Jason's soul along with his parents. He's become an antithesis of the man I once loved so perhaps I need to just grieve as if he was dead. In a way, I suppose the man I loved is dead. It was Jason's soul and spirit that I loved and that is gone. The fact that his body lives on is confusing but I just have to let that go. I know I do, and I will find a way. If I don't do anything else in 1997, I will do that!" Keesha affirmed.
Brenda wasn't sure how to respond to Keesha's words. To an extent, Keesha's words could describe what had ended her relationship with Sonny Corinthos. Not really because Sonny hadn't suffered Traumatic Brain Injury and turned into someone that she couldn't recognize but she hadn't really known who he was when she fell in love. Or maybe that wasn't really true because at his core Sonny was really a decent guy but there was more swirling around externally and all of that made everything so complicated.
Brenda wasn't convinced that Jason Morgan didn't have some decency at his core as well. He still came to visit his great aunt Lila. He had brought her peppermints for Christmas and fixed the origami dove he had made for the tree more than ten years earlier. He might have had little patience for his youngest cousins Dylan, Kirk, Shannon, and Katelyn but he maintained a relationship with Emily and Allison and had been there when Emily had needed a non-Quartermaine perspective. Perhaps that had been what had made things complicated for Keesha and that Brenda could relate to.
So much more had changed since then. She had attended the New Year's Eve Party with AJ Quartermaine; their relationship evolved back into friendship; she ended up reconciling and even agreeing to marry Sonny Corinthos; he called off the wedding; and now she would attend the ELQ Dinner Dance as Jasper Jack's guest while she struggled to truly let Sonny go.
"Hopefully there are other advantages as well," Keesha said.
Brenda pouted to adjust her lipstick. "No longer working with Katherine Bell is also high on the list, I suppose," she said.
"I can only imagine, but Jax really seems like a good guy," Keesha said.
Brenda nodded and decided not to point out that seems was the very operative word in that statement. Instead, she just reached for her hairbrush and started brushing her hair out.
"On that note, what did Ned say when you spoke to him?" Keesha asked.
For a moment Brenda was confused because she was sure that Ned didn't think Jax was a good guy. He had certainly expressed his concerns regarding their relationship in the past. Then she realized that Keesha wasn't actually suggesting that but just asking about the conversation she had been having with Ned when Keesha first arrived.
"Carly is being discharged early this evening. I guess Ned plans on attending the actual Shareholder's Meeting because there are some legal things, he needs to do but then leaving before dinner to collect Carly from PCGH and bring her home," Brenda said.
"So, I guess this on again, off again, baby shower is back in the on-again position?" Keesha asked.
"It appears so. I guess Carly's friend Simone is taking a train up from the city on Sunday morning," Brenda said.
XXXXXXXX
Beth Kensington Quartermaine reached for the amethyst necklace that Mark had given her for her last birthday. It almost matched the purple in her dress in a way that provided contrast but didn't clash. As she fastened the clasp behind her neck, the mirror on her vanity showed that Mark was approaching holding a cordless phone.
"Honey, your friend, Jenny Hornsby, on the phone," Mark said through gritted teeth.
Beth mouthed 'I love you' as she reached for the phone. Friend was a generous descriptor for Jenny. There was a time Beth had thought differently. Unfortunately, it was less that Jenny had changed and more that she wasn't the best judge of character. Or at least she hadn't been at sixteen.
Initially she had kind of pitied that Jenny, who was held out as a tennis star at Brethen High School, was actually so bad at tennis. After trouncing her in straight sets during an early season scrimmage, she had invited her to attend a tennis clinic at the Port Charles Country Club. Jenny had accepted the invitation but spent more time flirting and flitting around in her very short tennis skirt than actually working on her backhand. Normally that would have been enough to make her accept that she and Jenny had very different goals in life and make the invitation a one off. In fact, that had been her intention until Jenny kind of invited herself to join the Kensington family for dinner at the Country Club that evening.
At sixteen she had been largely non-confrontational, and Jenny had been so persistent about their friendship that it had been easier to just let Jenny tag along. Then her stepmother, Marlena Kensington, had died with her unborn son from a pre-eclamptic seizure and she had been vulnerable and desperate. As always, Jenny had been there.
July 14, 1989
In the Cemetery behind The Cathedral of Immaculate Conception in Sutton, NY; sixteen-year-old Betsy Kensington laid the roses on her stepmother's casket and guided her little sister, seven-year-old Madison to do the same. When they stepped back into line with their father Senator Jack Kensington Sr, Betsy reflected that Marlena Kensington had raised her for a greater period time than her biological mother. Lillith Fowler Kensington had died from Influenza complications weeks after Betsy's seventh birthday. She knew that her older brother, Jack Jr. resented that their father had remarried so soon after their mother's death, but Marlena had always been kind to her, and she had arranged for her to go to Chapparal Country Day School rather than return to Briarton Griggs which was had been miserable and lonely when she had been seven. The irony was not lost on her that Maddie was only months older than she was when she buried her mother. When she squeezed her little sister's hand, she vowed that somehow, she would keep her father from banishing Maddie off to boarding school.
Father Harding raised his hands up and began the closing prayer. "Lord Jesus Christ, by your own three days in the tomb, you hallowed the graves of all who believe in you and so made the grave a sign of hope that promises resurrection even as it claims our mortal bodies. Grant that our sister, Marlena, may sleep here in peace until you awaken her to glory, for you are the resurrection and the life. Then she will see you face to face and in your light will see the light and know the splendor of God, for you live and reign forever and ever. Amen."
"Amen," Betsy mumbled solemnly. She gave Maddie's hand another squeeze. She felt her father nudge her, so she took a deep breath and turned and then nudged Maddie forward to follow their Grandfather, Marvin Fowler from the cemetery.
Technically, Marvin Fowler wasn't really Maddie's Grandfather at least not biologically. Somehow, their father's hasty marriage after his daughter's death hadn't bothered him. If anything, he had felt that Marlena had been an asset on the campaign trail. Their Grandfather seemed very invested in their father's political success. Perhaps too invested. Betsy had heard her stepmother suggest that once.
XXXXXXXX
Betsy Kensington caught her breath when she walked into the Port Charles Country Club Quartermaine Ballroom. Her stepmother's repast was being held in a Ballroom that could accommodate two hundred people. That pretty much guaranteed it couldn't possibly be an intimate event. Of course, that was usually her father's preference. As a senator representing the great state of New York her father was tasked with being all things to all people and he found that easiest to do in large groups. Or something like that. Honestly, Betsy didn't really understand but that was nothing new.
As she searched the crowd for her father or truly any familiar face, Betsy was surprised to see Jenny Eckert. She hadn't recalled seeing Jenny earlier at the church or the cemetery, but she supposed she had been overwhelmed with looking out for Maddie.
"Oh, Betsy, I am so sorry!" Jenny shrieked as she wrapped her arms around her.
Once again Betsy caught her breath.
"I checked with my parents, and it is fine if I spend the night tonight. You're right. You really shouldn't be alone at a time like this," Jenny continued.
Betsy didn't recall extending any invitation. Of course, she rarely did with Jenny so perhaps she was just meant to go with that.
Jenny had spent the night that night and the rest of that summer they had been largely inseparable as Jenny had joined as her guest at the Port Charles Country Club almost daily. She had really convinced herself that Jenny was her friend, perhaps even her best friend.
Eight years later she had a more mature and insightful perspective. From that vantage point she took a deep breath and said, "Hello Jenny, how can I help you?" After all, Jenny only reached out when she wanted or needed something in the interest of time it was likely better to just get that out of the way upfront.
"I hope this isn't a bad time," Jenny said.
Beth doubted that but she forced a smile and removed all traces of annoyance from her voice. "I have a few minutes before Mark and I need to leave for the ELQ Shareholder's Meeting," she said.
"They still hold those?" Jenny asked.
"They do. The October one is the big one because it goes over all the end of fiscal year things. Anyway, I sense you had something on your mind," Beth said.
"You know me too well, Betsy! That is why we're still best friends after everything!" Jenny shrieked.
Beth just silently shook her head.
Jenny took advantage of the silence. "I have missed you so much and I am so glad we will be getting together soon!"
Beth felt her eyebrow raise involuntarily. Why did Jenny think they were getting together? "I'm sorry, what?" she asked.
Jenny laughed. "Oh, don't tell me you forgot, it's ok, the Mom brain is strong for some. Is little Kenny not sleeping through the night yet?" she asked.
Beth took a deep breath and exhaled audibly and slowly. "Kensi is actually a great sleeper, and I am quite certain we didn't make plans," she said.
"Of course, we did! Remember, I called a few weeks ago and told you that we were coming into town November 6th through November 9th, for Suzy's National Honor Society Induction. You promised to reserve a suite for us at the Port Charles Hotel. Please don't tell me you forgot because I am sure that it will be too late to make reservations now and Paul will be so disappointed!" Jenny whined.
Beth just shook her head. She understood that it might be a bit awkward for Jenny to try to make reservations at the Port Charles Hotel since it was a bit classless to return to the hotel owned by the ex-husband she had cheated on. Then there was the issue that most of the staff had hated her even before her adultery was revealed just because of how she treated them. "Perhaps the Pine Inn over by the Country Club would be an option then," she suggested.
"Oh my gosh! Did you really not arrange for the suite?"
"Jenny, I had no idea you were even going to be in town. Perhaps you believe you mentioned it when we spoke but as I recall that conversation was very brief since I was trying to feed Kensi and had to devote my attention to that," Beth said.
"So, what am I going to do?" Jenny asked.
"I would check with the Pine Inn? Or you could look at one of the hotels in Merrimack since Suzy is attending Chapparal Country Day School," Beth suggested.
"So, you're going to take care of that? Well, thanks so much! See I knew you really were my best friend. Well, I must go! Love Ya', bye!" Jenny shrieked. Then she carefully hung up the phone before Beth had a chance to refuse.
Beth just shook her head again.
"Do I even want to know?" Mark asked when he came back into the bedroom.
"Apparently I missed the part where I became a free travel agent for the Hornsby Clan," Beth said.
"So, are they expecting us to pay for a suite for them at the PC Hotel again?" Mark asked. ELQ Corporate Policy forbid comping suites for non-business guests. So, when Jenny had pulled a similar performance over winter break, she and Mark had personally paid for the Hornsby suite.
"I'm sure they are expecting that but I'm actually going to call that new Hilton Garden Inn that opened up in Merrimack. They donate twenty percent of all sales related to Chapparal Country Day School activities back to the school, so we'll just look at it as a bit of an inefficient donation back to Maddie's school," Beth said.
Mark chuckled. "You're really resourceful sometimes," he said.
"I try, did Lisa arrive while I was on the phone?" Beth asked.
"She did. She and the favorite baby are in the playroom. I already walked her through all the household orientation stuff since I don't think she has babysat since we put the new alarm system in," Mark said.
"Good point! Come on let's go give Kensi enough kisses to last at least for the next few hours," Beth said. Then she followed her husband out of their owner's suite and downstairs as she let go of the conversation with Jenny. Life was too short!
XXXXXXXX
Raoul Gomez wondered if he had really heard Kaylee correctly. He had carefully never asked her what had truly happened between her and Dr. Dorman. He had just presumed in the moment she had snapped. But she seemed to be saying she had no idea what had truly happened. Had she blacked out? Or was he missing the point entirely and she really had never even seen Dr. Dorman on the day of his death? What did it mean if he was afraid to clarify any of that?