Princess Love

Princess Love - Chapter 38          Jen's mother, Carra, called religiously everynight to report on the case. Jen had stopped watching television because most of the reports were based on speculation or opinion.
         Carra reported that all was good. She had testified again, saying that James had intended to kill her and John hated anyone who was better known, or liked, than him. He had said more than once that if he killed a high ranking official he would go down in history as the man who got away
with murder. It was almost like he wanted to get caught.
         "How is Sammi?" She would always aske and Jen always answered in the same way.
         "Fine," was the only thing that Jen would say, but she was thinking much more.
         She loved her mother and had missed her greatly over the years, but it was hard to let her back into her life like nothing had happened.
         Jen had seen her father that night, he really thought that he had killed Carra, but he didn't. Jen let go of her mother and her mother's memories, it was just to hard to hold on. Now she was back and acting as if nothing had happened.
         Jen felt like she was taking the place of her mother for Sammi and now it would be to hard to just let go of her. Everyone in the house was enjoying the presence of Sammi and Jen didn't want her to leave, but how was she going to tell her mother that?
         "Jen? You okay?" Nick looked at her from near the hoop. He wore blue shorts and a white sleeveless shirt. She nodded and gave him a smile. He wasn't sure what was wrong with her, she looked 10,000 miles away.
         "Yeah, I'm hot. I think I will go inside." She wandered into the house and heard talking downstairs, on the other side of the dance studio. She walked in and smiled at the sight of AJ trying to help Sammi play pool. She smiled for a long time, just watching them.
         "Wow, you are good!" Jen smiled at Sammi who was standing next to AJ.
         "Thank you, AJ taught me everything I know." She smiled at AJ who smiled broadly.
         "Phone Jen!" Elizabeth called downstairs and Jen ran up.
         "Thanks... Hello?" There was a long pause and she heard a whimper.
         "Jenny! We won! The case is over!" Carra's voice boomed out from the other side.
         "What!? Oh my god! What happened?" Jen jumped up and down on the kitchen floor and caught the attention of everyone outside and in the house. Jen put her mother on speaker phone as everyone gathered around the phone. "Tell us, mom!"
         "Okay... John has death by lethal injection. Your father-James-has life in prison." A silence fell in the kitchen and Jen let out a little cry.
         "I can't believe it..." She mumbled and Nick came behind her and held her.
         "Everything will be okay now..." Nick soothed her but Jen didn't know, what about Sammi?

         "Are you going to direct or anything?" Howie asked as he laid down next to Valerie in their bedroom.
         "I don't know, I am happy the way things are now, I don't really want to work." She didn't mention that she planned on never seeing her parents again, who had just called yesterday but Valerie hadn't picked up the phone.
         "And...?" Howie said in the dark, looking up at the ceiling.
         "What?"
         "You were going to say something else..."
         "No, I wasn't." She smiled, Howie always read her mind.
         "Yes..."
         "No..." She laughed and Howie reached over and ticled her. "Okay... I was going to say that I like my life the way it is now and I don't think that I want to ruin it by seeing my parents again." Howie listened to her and shook his head.
         "You are so wrong...family is so important. Family is the one thing that you will have no matter what. If it weren't for your family you wouldn't be here." Howie said, hoping she would listen.
         "Exactly! If it weren't for my family I wouldn't be here. If I hadn't run away I wouldn't be here." Her voice slowly rose.
         "You know what I mean. If it weren't for them you wouldn't be alive."
         "If it weren't for them I would have never run away." Her voice became softer ands he knew that the conversation wasn't even worth the effort.
         "Val? Why did you run away?" Howie asked, reaching out and taking her hand, rubbing his thumb over the top of her hand.
         "We ALWAYS faught and I couldn't stand it. I had-have- and older and younger sister. My parents thought that my older sister, Lauren, would be greather and better than either me or Ellen. My younger sister, Ellen, is a great painter and they always talked about her 'talents', but they never talked about me, unless it was negative. They didn't love me, they didn't want me, I was NOTHING in their eyes....nothing..." She felt herself want to cry, but her mind wouldn't let it be visible. "I left and I was glad, it was hard to support myself, but I did it." Her body shook from the tears that she was holding inside and she tried to not cry. She always told herself that her family wasn't worth the tears.
         "I love you and I want you in my life. If your family doesn't feel that, there is something wrong with them. That can't be true though why else would they always call?" Howie squeezed her hand and he knew that she was near tears.
         "I don't know..." She said, her voice wavering.
         "I think that they would be VERY proud of you..." He smiled.
         "Why? Because I have a great guy like you?" She laughed.
         "Of course. Valerie, don't hold it in, that is the worst thing that you could do. Don't be scared or embarrassed, let your anger and dissappointment out--I'll listen." He moved over and she put her head on his chest.
         "I always told myself that they weren't worth crying over..." She started to cry.
         "Let it out..." HE knew that the whole thing was hard for her. Valerie was the type of person who didn't like to exibit her feelings and she never wanted to make other people suffer because of her problems. All Howie wanted to do was help her.

         Elizabeth stayed in her room most of the day, except for when she came down to hear the verdict of the Thompson brothers.
         Elizabeth had been more than happy with the outcome, they got what they deserved, Sean woud have been happy with the jury.
         Elizabeth had moments when she was sullen and withdrawn from everyone else. She was happy enough looking out the window and thinking and she had thinking about a lot lately.
         Brian had been right about her father. If he wasn't happy then he probably didn't care very much about her. She was very happy with her life and her new arrival. She had a house full of friends that cared about her, more than anyone before. She had Brian, who was a hearttrob, but still tayed true to her.
         Brian stood by the doorway and watched Elizabeth rocking in her chair. He was wet from his shower and only wore a pair of blue boxers and a white terry cloth bathrobe. He walked into the room, as quietly as possible.
         He walked behind her, putting his hands gently on her shoulders, she jumped a little, turning around and smiling at Brian. Brian watched her and knew that he was falling in love with her all over again. He helped her stand up so that she was standing directly in front of him.
         She was wearing a white t-shirt and a pair of blue stretche pants, her short blonde hair was worn down, above her shoulders.
        He stood close to her, so close that she could feel his warm breath on her lips. He looked into her blue eyes for a long time, as if he was seeing her for the first time. He put his hand on her cheek and she closed her eyes at his touch, movin her hand up to his. He leaned in and touched her lips with his. Her hands moved up to his face and felt his features like a blind person would, her eyes were still closed.
         "I don't want to hurt you..." Brian whispered and her eyes opened and looked at him. A small smile spread across her lips.
         "You won't..." Her voice was low, so low that it was almost unrecognizable.
         She ran her hands up and down his chest, taking the robe off and throwing it to the side. He smiled at her and brought her over to the bed. He took off her shirt and bra and kissed her stomach. They took off the rest of their clothes and Brian layed on top of Elizabeth and looked at her closely.
         "Liz... I love you so much, it hurts." He kissed her and she tried not to laugh, she wasn't sure if he was serious, but she knew that he was when he entered her.
         "I love you Brian..." She murmered as she ran her nails up and down his back. He rolled over, next to her and tok a deep breath.
         "Are you okay?" He asked and she smiled, tiredly.
         "Brian, don't worry about me, I am fine." She put her hand on the top of his head and ran her fingers through his wet hair; both from his shower and from his sweat.
         "Liz, I don't like to be corny-" Brian began.
         "I don't care, as long as you are truthful." Liz smiled, her hand still on his head.
         "-but I am going to say something that I feel and I think I should tell you how I feel. I look at you and wonder how I could be so lucky, but I also look at you and wonder if you are really happy. You look distand sometimes and I wonder.... I wonder if you love me for me or because you
want someone to love you and take the place of Sean." Brian spoke quickly and waited for a response.
         Elizabeth wrapped herself in a blanket and sat up, looking at him carefully. "That isn't true at all, what made you think that!? Sometimes I have times when I like to be by myself, but not because of you or Sean, just me.
         "I daydream a lot and I think about the future of our child and what I want to provide him or her with.
         "I love you Brian, not because I want a replacement for Sean." She looked at him and her eyes filled with tears.
         "Brian... this is hard for me to say." She looked at him and he felt a pang in his heart, he wasn't sure of what she was going to say. "I love you... more than I ever loved Sean." Brian looked shocked.
         "Liz, I didn't mean for you to say that." He reached up and hugged her.
         "Oh Brian, its the truth." She felt safe in his strong arms and she knew that she would be happy for a LONG time.