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Date Posted: 18:53:19 03/05/01 Mon
Author: Lakota
Subject: Waiting for You - Chapter 22

Waiting for You – Chapter 22


Monday, January 4th, 1944 - 5:30pm – Carrie’s Apartment


“Oh, boy, am I ever glad to be in where it’s warm! It’s gotta be at least ten to fifteen degrees below freezing out
there.”

Jennifer rubbed her gloved hands up and down the arms of her red wool coat and stomped her feet to try to restore
feeling in what felt to be two large blocks of ice. Carrie walked to the wall thermostat and cranked it up another five
degrees before turning on the floor lamp beside the window adjacent to the thermostat and illuminating the room.

Jack and Mike brought Jennifer’s suitcases into the foyer – mercifully lighter than they had been two weeks earlier at
the start of her journey home to Salem.

“Jenn, my back is eternally grateful to you reducing the tonnage of that suitcase before you left Salem. Having dealt
with Lucas’ baggage a few hours ago, I wasn’t sure I was up for another attempt at a new clean and jerk record so
soon.”

“Oh, Mike, they’re not that heavy. You do love to exaggerate,” Jennifer chided her brother. She looked over her
shoulder to see both Jack and Mike looking at her with their mouths open unable to believe what she’d just uttered.

“Well…okay, maybe they were a little overstuffed when I left.” After pausing a moment as though unsure how much
was safe to admit, Jennifer added, “Actually, there was more to bring back to New York than what I took to Salem.
I’m having it sent here to the apartment parcel post……all three cartons.”

“THREE cartons?” Carrie and Mike said simultaneously.

“Jenn, where are we going to put all that stuff in this apartment? We’ve crammed every cupboard and closet already.”

“I’ve got it all worked out. Everything’s going to be fine. It won’t be here that long to become a nuisance, anyway.”

“What do you mean, Jenn?”

Jennifer hesitated before answering Carrie as she looked across the living room to where Jack was standing with his
hands on his hips catching his breath after climbing the apartment steps with his duffel bag over one shoulder and one
of Jennifer’s suitcases in his other hand. He nodded his head slightly and began to take off his coat.

“Before I tell you, let’s take our coats off and get comfortable over by the fireplace. Would one of you guys mind
starting a fire? It’ll make it warmer in here, not to mention cozier.”

Mike furrowed his brow at the tone in Jennifer’s voice. Something was up and she was stalling until she thought the
moment was right for her to let everyone in on the news. He’d noticed her looking at Jack, too, and deduced he
already knew what was about to happen. He helped Carrie take off her coat and hung it up in the entryway before
removing his military topcoat and placing it beside hers. Jack took Jennifer’s coat and hung it beside her brother’s. He
placed his right arm around her waist as they walked to the sofa and chairs near the fireplace.

Carrie watched with great curiosity and made eye contact with Mike asking without a word spoken if he knew what
was going on. He shook his head so only she could see but enough Carrie realized he had no clue either. He walked
toward her, never breaking eye contact and took her hand after she had removed her gloves, placing them with her
purse and hat on the desk as they walked toward the sofa on the opposite side of the living room from where Jack
and Jennifer were approaching. It struck Carrie that they all seemed to be in a finely choreographed dance. Carrie
and Mike sat down on the sofa; Jack on the arm of the sofa at the opposite end of where they sat and Jennifer chose
to sit on the coffee table facing her brother.

“Jack, the fire?”

Jack stood up quickly and went to the pile of firewood placed beside the grate. In a matter of minutes, the log began
to come to life with flames of warmth and color. During the entire time the other three had remained silent. Jennifer
started to take off her gloves as though she had forgotten she was wearing them. The fire lit, Jack returned to his
perch on the sofa arm. Jennifer cleared her throat and looked up from her lap with a nervous smile to an audience of
two who had waited for this “play” to begin.

“Well………….I guess I should start by saying we had a wonderful time with all of the families in Salem. From the
moment Uncle Mickey and Aunt Maggie met us at the train, they made Jack feel he was welcome. He and Eric
seemed to be almost instant buddies. Maybe it’s the uniform connection, I don’t know. Mom surprisingly didn’t give
him as bad a time as I thought she might. She was a little reserved at the start but I think it was just so she could do
her own assessment by watching Jack for awhile.”

“Jenn…what is it you want to talk about? You told me this on the phone Christmas, remember? I mean…I don’t
mind hearing it again, but………what is it you’re leading up to?”

Jennifer looked at her brother and realized he was gently but firmly making her get to the point. In a way, it was what
she had hoped he would do.

“You’re right, Mike, I’m beating about the bush only because though part of the news you know the other you don’t
and I’m not sure how you’ll react.”

“I guess the only way to find that out is to tell me, Jenn.”

“Mike….let her talk….”

“No, that’s okay, Carrie……he has a good point. It’s just that I’m hoping what I have to say will be good news from
your viewpoint, too.”

Jennifer took a deep breath of air and sat up straight. She lifted her right had which had been covering her left as she
kept them folded in her lap until Carrie and Mike both saw for the first time the object she had been hiding from their
view since they had met at the train station. On her left hand was an exquisite princess-cut square diamond
engagement ring set in a solid gold band. On either side of the center stone were two smaller princess-cut diamonds
as well. It was obvious Jack had spent more money on it than his military pay as a captain could cover.

“Oh, my God, Jennifer, is that what the big news is? You and Jack are officially engaged?” Carrie excitedly squealed
as she leaned forward on the sofa for a better look at the ring. “We thought you probably would make the big
announcement over the holidays so the family could be in on it. I have to tell you this isn’t all that unexpected.”

Mike was delighted for his sister and got up to congratulate his future brother-in-law with a handshake.

“Congratulations, Jack. I really mean that. I think you’re going to make my sister very happy…...or else.”

Mike smiled reassuring Jack he was, in fact, teasing him in case he was nervous about Mike’s reaction to the fact that,
indeed, Jack Devereaux was going to be his sister’s husband. Mike still sensed uneasiness in Jack though the news
had been well received by both Mike and Carrie.

“Thanks, Mike, I mean to make Jennifer’s happiness my top priority for the rest of my life. I love her very much.”

Jennifer smiled up at Jack before reaching for his hand. They looked at one another before Jennifer pulled him down
to sit beside her on the coffee table.

“I told Jack when we were coming back to New York today I knew you’d both be as happy for us as they were in
Salem.”

“If you felt that way, Jenn, why the concern and secrecy about not telling us until now?”

“For one thing, brother dear, it was too cold to take my gloves off and for another I wanted to be sure you got the full
effect of the ring when I showed you.”

“I’d say ‘mission accomplished’ on both fronts, then. But, what’s the third thing?”

“What?”

“Come on, Jenn, I haven’t been your brother all these years and not learned a thing or two about how you operate.
There’s still more you haven’t told us, right?”

Jennifer glanced briefly from the corner of her eye at Jack and nodded her head. She looked at Mike briefly before
addressing the next remarks in the direction of the person she thought would be the most receptive to
them…….Carrie.

“Jack and I had been talking for almost a month before we went home about our future together in general terms. We
really didn’t come to any final decisions – just thought things through. I know you’re aware that everyone in all four
families is now following the Brady family tradition of putting an expensive gift in the Christmas stockings.”

Carrie nodded, smiling at the remembrance of her pearl earrings and Mike’s watch.

“Jack found out from Eric about the tradition. This was the gift he had put in my stocking,” she said pointing to the
engagement ring on her left hand. “I think I knew when I took it from the stocking what it was by the shape of the
box. That’s probably all that saved me from fainting when I opened it.”

Carrie smiled imagining herself in Jennifer’s place if it had been Mike giving her the ring and probably having the same
reaction.

“Everyone immediately realized what was going on. Doug, Uncle Mickey and John all began telling Jack he had to do
it the right way…you know, down on one knee and saying the words. I felt so embarrassed for him but he did exactly
that.”

“Well, actually, I knew by placing the ring in the stocking like that I would, no doubt, be required to complete the
Horton, Black, Brady and Roberts proposal tradition. I don’t know, I think it made me feel more like a part of the
family doing it that way.”

Jennifer smiled and placed the palm of her right hand along Jack’s face. She turned back to Carrie and continued her
narrative.

“After I granted him his most fervent wish by saying ‘yes’…”

“…this is true…”

Jennifer laughed softly and took Jack’s hand in hers

“…we kissed beneath the mistletoe…”

“…that was Bo’s idea…”

“…and then everyone celebrated with an egg nog toast offered by Uncle Mickey.”

“Oh, Jenn, it sounds wonderful. I wish we could have been there but it’s almost as if we had been hearing you tell it.”

“I kept wishing you were there, too, along with Mike and Lucas. It seemed incomplete without my two brothers and
best friend there to share it.”

Mike had sat quietly listening to his sister’s retelling of the events surrounding her engagement trying to decipher what
she had left out that made it impossible for her to look at him.

“The rest of the holiday, I think we told you about on the telephone and all the way from the train station
today……..except…….for what we decided on the train trip back from Salem. Jack and I have talked over
everything thoroughly and having discussed all the pros and cons we have decided we are getting
married…………..March fourth.”

“This coming March fourth…as in nineteen forty-four?” Carrie exclaimed.

“Yes, exactly. It’s a Saturday. It will give us time to get all the necessary paperwork done through the military for
approval as well as have blood tests, get a marriage license and find a place to get married plus an apartment to live in
afterward…...”

“…Jennifer, that’s two months from today.”

“I know, Mike, that’s why we were so eager to get back to New York and tell you everything. We wanted to make
sure…….”

“Are you sure you’ve really thought this through? I mean, it doesn’t seem as though discussing it on a crowded train
ride would provide you enough time to give it serious consideration. I can see you getting engaged…but…married?”

Jennifer looked at Mike for the first time in over ten minutes with a mixture of disappointment and anger at his words.

“I knew it…I knew this was what you would do when you found out…”

“Knew what?…that I’d be concerned about you making a hasty, badly thought out decision?”

“Mike….”, Carrie interjected attempting to keep him from losing his temper and saying things he wouldn’t be able to
retract.

“What makes you think you’re the only one who ever knows how to make a good decision where I’m concerned?”

“Jenn….it’s all right,” Jack murmured to Jennifer realizing how rapidly tempers were escalating between the siblings.

“I don’t usually think that…except this time.”

“Why…because you didn’t make it for me?”

Mike’s eyes turned a steely blue the way they always did when his temper was getting the better of him. His face
flushed red as he held his breath and tongue at one time to keep from saying what had first come to mind in reaction
to Jennifer’s accusation. He stood up from the couch to his full height, looking down on his sister.

“Maybe you don’t think this decision is the best one either or you wouldn’t have taken all this time before you told me
about it.”

Jennifer immediately stood up facing Mike squarely.

“No, Mike, that is NOT why. I just hoped I would be wrong about your reaction and that you’d treat the decision
I’ve made and me with respect. Let me tell you now, Mike, whatever you feel about all of this won’t change my mind.
I love Jack - - he’s my future, NOT YOU! He will be in my life the rest of my life. If the roles were reversed and you
were telling me you wanted to marry Carrie, I’d be happy for you and want to know how I could help with the
arrangements. I want you to be at my wedding, in fact, Jack wants you to be his best man. But, if you stand by what
you’ve made VERY clear is your opposition to what I have decided, then you will NOT be a part of what I had
hoped would be the happiest day of my life or, for that matter, ANY part of my life from now on!!”

“Oh, come on, Jennifer….you’re overreacting. You don’t really mean it.”

“Don’t I? Are you telling me that you are willing to find out if I do by forcing me to choose between you and Jack?
We’ve talked about this before and I thought you knew my decision. There is no choice, Mike…you will lose…….
Why are you so against me marrying Jack? Do you have a real reason or do you just not want me to live my life
without depending upon you.”

“You know that’s not it. I really think you’ll be happy with Jack, I told you that. I just don’t think you
should………never mind!”

His frustration level at what seemed an all-time high, Mike walked around to the back of the sofa, looked at his sister
in dismay and headed for the kitchen, slamming the swinging door against the wall as he disappeared from view.

Once he was no longer in the room, Jennifer’s shoulders began to shake as she sat down and began to sob. Jack
enfolded her in his arms to comfort her as the emotions swept over her. Jack lifted his eyes and looked at Carrie who
shook her head in response. When Jennifer began to compose herself again she turned to Carrie.

“I don’t understand Mike at all. I mean, I had a little inkling he might have some concerns but nothing like this.”

Carrie slowly leaned forward and patted Jennifer on the knee as she began to rise from the sofa.

“Let me go talk to him….feel him out a little. He’s had some time to cool off and maybe begin to regret what
happened or, at least, say why he’s so upset. Why don’t you two just stay in here for now, okay?”

Jack and Jennifer both nodded. Secretly, Jennifer pinned her hopes on Carrie being able to solve the mystery of her
brother’s surprisingly adverse reaction to her decision to marry Jack in a few weeks. She watched Carrie walk
toward the closed swinging door leading to the kitchen. Carrie gathered herself a few moments and gently pushed the
door open before disappearing from Jennifer’s view.

Carrie quickly noticed Mike leaning on his elbows on the counter, head resting on his hands as he bent over. Thinking
better of it she walked away rather than toward him deciding to busy herself with making a pot of coffee and allowing
Mike to become aware she had entered the room. It seemed prudent to allow him to open the conversation…if he felt
like talking at all. She took the canister of coffee from its place along the counter and carefully measured it out. She
stepped to the sink and turned on the tap trying the entire time to see what movement, if any, Mike was making from
her right peripheral vision. She saw him turn his head to look at her though she didn’t reciprocate. She finished
plugging the coffeepot into the wall outlet and opened the cupboard above it to begin removing cups from their hooks.
She searched for the sugar bowl and headed to the refrigerator to take out the small container of milk - cream being
harder to obtain with the shortages.

“Don’t say it, Carrie.”

“Don’t say what, Mike?” Carrie responded in a calm, quiet voice as though she had no idea of what had happened in
the apartment living room less than ten minutes before.

“That I behaved like an ass out there…that I stepped over the bounds by denouncing my sisters’ plans for her
future…that I ruined what should have been a wonderful afternoon for everyone by going into what you call my ‘big
brother’ protective mode…that I may lose my sister from my life forever if I don’t apologize and accept her decision
AND learn to keep my mouth shut …and that at the very least I deserve a kick in the back side.”

Carrie opened a drawer and began removing four light blue napkins and place mats. She opened up the adjacent
drawer and removed four teaspoons.

“Well?”

“Well……what, Mike?”

“Aren’t you going to say anything?”

“No, you told me not to.”

“It was just a figure of speech.”

“Oh.”

“That’s it? Just ‘oh?”

“What more can I say? You pretty much covered everything I thought of saying to you. I couldn’t have said it better
myself….so, why try?”

Mike looked away in disgust – aimed at himself as Carrie left the kitchen to set the dining table. He had turned a half
circle resting against the kitchen counter and was facing the door when Carrie re-entered. She found herself staring
directly at him as she came into the room.

“Would you prefer I stayed in the other room so you can have some more time to yourself?”

“No…I…..I…..Carrie….please, say something…whatever’s on your mind. I can take it.”

She softly closed the door behind her, looked at the floor rather than at Mike and collected her thoughts. No matter
how she tried there seemed to be no perfect opening line. It was just best to begin with what came to her mind
without trying to make it “pretty” before she said it.

“I have known you for sixteen years as an acquaintance, then a friend who became a best friend and, now, as the man
I love more than any one else in this world. You have always had an amazing capacity to love. I know how much you
love your sister. You have been there for her when your father wasn’t, which was most of the time while you were
both growing up. I suspect, in some ways, that may have bonded you closer to Jenn than even Eric and I are, though
we’re closer than most brothers and sisters. That said,…….I don’t understand what happened here today. I want
to….but, I can’t. Jennifer is absolutely devastated…though, I think, she must have had some premonition. That’s why
she put off telling about her plans to marry Jack until the last possible minute. I thought you and Jack had everything
straightened out. He’s a good man, Mike. He LOVES her.”

“I KNOW that. I know that. I said it has nothing to do with Jack as a person. He’s proven to me beyond any
shadow of a doubt how deep his feelings run for Jennifer….”

“….then, WHAT IS IT? Mike, this is completely irrational. Will you be this way if Lucas and Sami come back from
Salem next month and tell you they’d decided to get married before he goes back to England?”

“A little…..not as much.”

Carrie looked at Mike incredulously. She hadn’t really expected him to respond about Sami and Lucas as he had.

“Why? Because he’s only your half brother your reaction wouldn’t be as strong?”

“NO! He’s my brother as much as Jennifer is my sister. I don’t love him any less just because we have different
mothers. I just….”

“Just what, Mike? Help me understand because as of this moment, I swear, not only do I not know you but I don’t
like you very much.”

Carrie’s last utterance nearly took the very breath from Mike’s body. Looking at her face he knew she had meant
every word. It was harsh but it was on the mark and he knew it.

“You’re right….I’m not being reasonable….or rational….fear does that to a person.”

Carrie looked into Mike’s face and saw he had let his emotional guard down, at last.

“Fear of what, Mike? Are you afraid that because Jennifer will be Jack’s wife she’ll love you less…that you’ll fade
away in importance from her life?”

“Noooo….that’s not it. We used to talk about when we grew up and each got married that the love we shared would
still be there no matter where our lives and spouses took us…it’s a different kind of love than what you have for the
person you marry…we both know that.”

“So….what is it?”

“I want…….I’ve….always wanted………Jennifer deserves a long, happy life. That’s what I want for her. Getting
engaged to Jack isn’t the problem….it’s making that final commitment of marriage I don’t think she should do right
now. Carrie, we’re going to be in this war for awhile yet. We’re just now beginning to take back some parts of
Europe but, you know, you work in the news department, it’s a given that eventually we have to invade the continent
in Europe and keep fighting island by island in the Pacific until the Axis powers surrender.”

“Yes, I know all of that….but, what does that have to do….”

“I don’t want my sister to maybe be a widow at twenty-six with her future …her happiness gone…..destroyed! If she
marries Jack, it could happen.”

Carrie looked at the sincerity on Mike’s face and began to understand his stance against Jennifer’s impending
marriage.

“Mike, it could happen to Lucas….it very nearly did. Why would you be less resistant to him marrying Sami?”

“Because………they’ve known each other a long time. Their love has been tested and they know each other so well.
To be frank, I think both Sami and you are stronger emotionally than Jennifer. You’d get through it if Lucas or I didn’t
come back and so would Sami. I’m not so sure about Jennifer if it were Jack. She and Jack have had, let’s face it, a
whirlwind romance. She’s only known him four or five months. Sami and Lucas have known each other for ,
what….eight years. Jennifer’s also the most romantic and idealistic of the three of you. She’s not always the most
realistic about the way things are as opposed to how she’d like them to be. Love and marriage have always been her
goal since she was a tyke. What Mom and Dad didn’t have in their marriage, she was determined to have for herself.
The longer the time she and Jack are engaged, the more they’ll get to know one another. It can only be a positive for
them. I’ve heard about guys who marry before they go overseas to a girl they haven’t known that long, come back
and find that they have nothing in common with the girl they married after a short courtship. The worst is guys who get
‘Dear John’ letters before they even get home.”

“Jennifer would never do that to Jack.”

“No, I know…I’m just giving the worst case scenarios I’ve heard about. What I really fear the most is
if……….something happens to Jack. ……………This isn’t easy for me to talk about because I know from
conversations we’ve had how upset this makes you. Remember New Year’s day?”

Carrie recalled her moment of emotional weakness when she selfishly had told Mike of her silly premonition regarding
her fear someone wouldn’t return.

“I know I told you that we can’t dictate what’s ahead and that’s true, but, there are some things we can do to control
the circumstances. Jennifer, God forbid, won’t be faced the possibility of becoming a widow should something
happen to Jack if she doesn’t marry him before he’s shipped out.”

Having given the true reason for his outburst in the living room regarding Jennifer’s news, Mike dropped his head –
hands on his hips and drew a long, weary sigh.

Carrie contemplated Mike’s words, beginning to understand the logic behind what had made him so strongly react to
news that should have made him elated - - that his sister was in love and firmly committed to the man she wanted to
spend her life with. She had reached that dream that according to Mike she' d sought since childhood.

In a quiet, contained voice Carrie said, “You don’t want to tell Jennifer the reason for your objections because you
don’t want to bring up the concept of Jack dying in the war, is that it? You’d rather just have her think it’s something
else---a mindless prejudice you have against Jack or their marriage--- because you don’t want to frighten her with
something she may not have faced yet. You’re willing to let her think the worst of you instead?”

Mike nodded his head – still not able to look at her.

Carrie audibly sighed before she picked up the conversation.

“Mike, you can’t do that.”

He looked up into her face at that remark as though she’d thrown cold water on him.

“What else am I supposed to do - - tell her the real reason…scare her?”

“Absolutely.”

“Carrie, no….THAT’s what I can’t do.”

“Mike, I’m betting though she hasn’t said anything to you, it’s something she’s talked over with Jack. He’s a sensible,
realistic guy and very much in love with Jennifer. He would be honest with her. I don’t think he would have asked her
to marry him without discussing the issue. But, there’s another reason you have to tell her.”

“Which is?”

“Well, if you don’t, Jennifer’s already told you she’ll leave you out of her life. If she does and I don’t believe that was
an idle threat……if the worst happened………you wouldn’t be there for her…to comfort her. I think that would be
far worse for her…for both of you, don’t you think? She would have lost the two of the three men she loves most in
her life. Lucas is younger – he’d be there but it wouldn’t be the same as having her big brother for support.”

“I hadn’t thought of that. I guess I just was so focused on one point I didn’t see how everything else played into it.
Trouble is…..”

“Yes?”

“How do I get her to listen to me after that display of righteous indignation I pulled out in the living room? Jenn’s got
every right to begin pushing me out of her life starting about a half hour ago.”

“Ohhhhh, Mike, Sweetheart,” Carrie said as she walked toward Mike taking his hands in hers, “I think it’s a bit
premature to assume Jennifer would ostracize you that quickly. When I left the living room she was sitting with Jack
hoping I could get you to open up. You’re entitled to be human, you know, and make an occasional mistake of
judgement – especially when it’s for a good reason. It’s harder on the ego when you’re used to being the wiser, older,
all-omniscient big brother. You’re track record was pretty spectacular this past week getting Lucas through a rough
time – in fact, you were downright amazing.”

“Carrie, come on…”

“You were…and….I love you more because of that. You, Dr. Horton, don’t only heal with these hands but with your
heart and soul. Those two happy people who are just about now pulling into Salem on the train are living proof.”

“Yeah, well, you had a part in that, don’t forget. Matter of fact, you will in this, too, if I can say the right words to
Jennifer.”

“Tell her what you’re feeling in there, “ Carrie said as she placed her right hand on Mike’s chest where his heart was.
“That’s all, okay?”

Mike nodded, pulled Carrie to him and kissed her as he wrapped his arms around her. He could almost feel the
emotional strength returning to him he’d felt ebb as he’d turned his back on Jennifer in the living room. They stood for
a minute just feeling the warmth of one another.


(Continued)

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