Chapter 34. Author's note - the last chapter! Please let me know what you thought of the story in general. Since it's over now (except for the sequel, or course!), I'd really love to know. There's a longer author's note at the end of the story with more info, but I'm putting it there so you don't have to read it if you don't want to.
"Jack! I know you're off work, but if you don't cut that out right now, I'm going to be late for my job!" giggled Anne.
Jack pinned her wriggling form beneath his and kissed her laughing mouth. She thrashed, tangling herself further into the sheets as she tried to avoid the kisses that made her drunk with pleasure and took away any sanity or inhibitions she ever possessed.
But she couldn't, and so simply surrendered to a very deep, passionate kiss. Somewhere in the befuddling warmth that was Jack's lips, his skin, his hands, she was able to observe with a besotted air how much she adored him.
"There," he said as he pulled back. She smiled at him as he kissed her forehead. "Now you can go."
Before he could drag her back into blissful oblivion again, she sprang naked out of the bed.
"You said you would go, too, Jack!" she said, putting her hands on her hips, knowing that the authority she was trying to convey was somewhat undermined by the fact that she was now only wearing her underwear. "I bought you a ticket and everything! I thought you-"
He joined her and caught her by the waist, kissing her again, which silenced her irked words. "I know," he chuckled. "I know I did. You didn't give me time to say anything else, sweetheart."
Anne felt stupid, but didn't much care.
"You're rather adorable when you're flustered," said Jack.
Anne pushed him away and grabbed the dress she meant to wear and glared at him. When she had pulled it on, she continued her glaring.
He just laughed and she stalked off to do her makeup and fix what had been well-groomed hair before her and Jack's escapades of the past little while. When she finally managed to pin her hair into an appropriate style and fix her slightly smeared makeup, she emerged from the washroom.
Jack was standing there, looking gorgeous - there was no other word for it - in his slacks and dress shirt, with a sports jacket thrown lightly over his shoulders. He was fiddling with a cufflink as he looked up at her.
"Here, let me," she said, and with expert fingers did up the cufflink.
"Thanks," he said.
She looked up and gave him a brilliant smile, hundred-watted with happiness. "My pleasure."
He kissed her forehead and her smile became brighter as she bounded away to her jewellery box, sitting in a place of honour on the dresser across from the bed. Anne was originally going to leave it on the bedside table but Jack, having taken one look at the opulent jewellery therein, told her it deserved a seat on the dresser.
Anne rifled through the box for a long time, trying to find an accessory suitable for the dress, a black, boat necked little number that Jack had hailed as "tastefully coquettish". She was weighing a diamond bracelet and a pearl necklace in her hand when she spotted it.
Her sapphire-and-diamond pendant was winking at her from the centre of the box, seeming to beckon to her.
With a little smile, Anne picked it up. She remembered her promise as she hung it around her neck, her promise to think of Aaron when she wore it. And now, it having been two weeks since she last saw him, she could think of him with happiness and wistfulness, as opposed to grief and guilt.
"God, that's quite the necklace," said Jack, spotting it. He tapped it with his finger. "A sapphire and diamonds. That must have cost quite the pretty penny. Did Aaron buy you this?"
Anne nodded.
"Well, you've been spoiled, Anne. I'm afraid I won't be able to spoil you like this," said Jack. His voice, though light and teasing, had a warning edge to it, as though he worried that without lavish gifts, he would not be able to keep her.
"What?" she asked, addressing this. "Are you worried that if you don't buy me diamonds, I won't stay with you?"
Jack smiled ruefully. "Maybe a little," he confessed.
Anne glared at him, affronted. "You think I'm a gold digger, then?" she huffed.
He chuckled. "No. I just worry that I - middle-aged, plain old me - won't be able to hold onto such a wonderful, beautiful, youthful, talented creature like you," he confessed. Behind his poetry and his mocking self-deprecation, Anne could sense a genuine concern. "If I don't spoil you, your only reason to stay would be my own merits."
Anne smiled slyly. "You already do spoil me, Jack."
"Oh? How so?" he said, one eyebrow quirked delightfully. Anne wondered if she could ever get bored of looking at him; she loved his every feature so much.
"With your very presence," she declared, her loftily-affected tone helping to dampen the sappiness of the comment.
"Do you mean to say you like me better than diamonds and sapphires?" he asked, pointing to her necklace.
"Yes!" enthused Anne, nuzzling his face.
He laughed and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Better than a big house with a swimming pool?" he enquired.
"Yes!" she cried melodramatically, throwing her arms about his neck.
"Better than vacations to Paris or Milan?" he prodded, backing her up against the dresser so she could not move, even in the slightest chance that she would have wanted to leave the warmth of his embrace.
"Yes!" she declared, and gave his nose a kiss.
"Better than your Aston Martin?" he challenged, his voice as daring as the fingers that were creeping up her thigh under her dress.
She paused, her face falling into a mockingly grave countenance. "I don't know," she said, and her voice was almost nervous. "Don't ask me that, Jack. If it were a choice between you and the Aston, I think I'd have to pick the Aston."
"You bitch!" he exclaimed, and gave her behind a playful slap.
"Can you blame me?" said Anne, pouting as prettily as she could. Her intended gravity was marred somewhat by her laughter. He raised his eyebrows indignantly. "The Aston is generally superior to you."
Jack looked as though he was trying to feign anger, but with little success. "But can your Aston do this?" he asked, and kissed her.
She sighed wistfully when he drew away. "No," she admitted, her eyes meeting his sparkling, lovely ones. "Which is why I actually prefer you to it."
He smiled roguishly, teasingly. "You do?"
"In all seriousness," she said. "It's true. I love you, Jack. It's silly of you to think that I would love you any more if you showered me with gifts the way Aaron did. After all, remember how that worked out for him in the end."
Jack sighed. "I guess that's true," he said.
"Now come on!" cried Anne, grabbing his hand. "Let's get going, or we'll be late!"
Jack laughed and allowed her to lead him by the hand all the way downstairs. Indeed, he even allowed her to lead him to the car that way - her precious Aston, which he appeared to view with some jealousy now - and out of the car when they reached the theatre.
"Mrs. Harrington," said the usher, as she handed him the tickets. He was eyeing Jack strangely and Jack was staring blithely back.
"Ms. Harrington," corrected Anne, flinching at the man's understandable blunder, and putting emphasis on the title that hid her marital status. Though she was divorced from Aaron, she'd kept his last name, for the time being.
The usher looked confused, but let them through. Since they were not particularly early, Anne led Jack directly to their seats. After a few moments, the house lights dimmed and the play began.
Since her conversation with Aaron the last time she'd seen him, Anne had a new appreciation for the play. It made her loathe Desdemona out of jealousy of her honesty. She remembered how Aaron had compared her to the woman, before she had pointed out that Desdemona was a better person than Anne was.
And it made her pity Othello all the more. In his agony and his heartbreak, she saw Aaron's own pain at her betrayal. Yet, even in her sudden sympathy Othello, she could not bring herself to hate Iago, evil and bloodthirsty as he was.
Perhaps that was because he now reminded her of Jack, and she could never hate anything that reminded her of him.
So when the lights went up for intermission, she turned to Jack and said:
"Come on, Iago. Let's go get a drink."
"What?" he said, trailing after him as she expertly wove her way between the people pouring out of the auditorium into the lobby.
"It's my new nickname for you. Don't ask me to explain, because I won't," she said as they drew towards the bar.
He shrugged it off, obviously curious, but willing to respect her wishes. He simply accepted the glass of red wine she offered him, and the two of them meandered up to the mezzanine. Only when they were leaning in an identical way against the railing, did Anne hear the familiar phrase from an even more familiar voice:
"Say, you're Anne Harrington, aren't you?"
"Dorian!" she cried, smiling brilliantly at the man who had appeared beside them. "What are you doing here?"
"I like plays, Anne," he said, rolling his eyes. But his attention quickly focussed on Jack, who was eyeing him with surprise, his mouth slightly open. Anne couldn't really blame him. Dorian's shocking beauty had that effect on everyone.
Marta, who appeared at Dorian's elbow, smiled a touch wanly at Anne before she, like her brother, turned her eyes to examining Jack.
"So this is him?" asked Dorian.
"Yes. Dorian, meet Jack Graeme, my...boyfriend, I guess," said Anne. "Jack, this is Dorian Hardwick. I believe you already met Marta, I think? They're siblings."
Marta elbowed her way forward and shook Jack's hand enthusiastically. Dorian was a touch more reserved as he did so, eyeing Jack was a fair bit of suspicion.
"I don't understand," said Dorian, now looking between Anne - who had edged close to Jack as if to protect him from Dorian - and Jack. "I'm better looking than him. If you were going to cheat on your husband with anyone, why did you choose him and not me?"
Anne laughed. "Oh, be quiet, Dorian. Jack, ignore him," she added to Jack, who was looking a little affronted. "He's a little full of himself."
"Well, when you're as gorgeous as me, you can afford to be egotistical," said Dorian, lifting his magnificent head haughtily.
Marta simply rolled her eyes, obviously used to - but still weary of - her brother's antics.
Jack didn't look remotely entertained, based on the churlish curve of his mouth and the irked furrow of his brow. So Anne took his hand and twined her fingers with his. A small smile pulled up the corners of his lips and so she supposed that it had comforted him a little.
"Be nice to the love of my life, Dorian," she ordered, raising one eyebrow imperiously. "You're going to be seeing a lot of him if you want to still be friends with me."
"And I do so want to remain your friend, Annie," said Dorian. With a sly look at Jack, he leaned forward and kissed Anne's cheek quickly but ardently. When he drew back, he gave Jack a challenging glance.
Anne looked over to see Jack's mouth open with anger and so she glared at Dorian. "That's quite enough from you," she informed him, leaning even closer to Jack.
"Oh, come on," said Dorian, grinning impishly at Jack. "Jack doesn't mind, do you, Jack?"
Jack raised his eyebrows and spoke for the first time since Dorian had arrived. "Of course not," smiling at Dorian as though he'd just bitten into a lemon.
"Great!" said Dorian, and slapped Jack's shoulder. "See you around, Anne." And with that, he and Marta made their way back into the crowd.
The moment they were out of earshot, Jack turned to Anne, his eyebrows raised, obviously demanding an explanation.
When she simply shrugged, smiling awkwardly, he sighed.
"What charming people you're friends with, Anne," he observed. Together, they watched from the mezzanine as Dorian and Marta made their way back into the auditorium, Dorian attracting the attention of every single living being in the area as he passed, his perfect grace and wondrous beauty visible even from where they stood.
"He's actually a good person, Jack. He'll get less irritating the longer you know him," said Anne.
"I hope so. But I'll suffer him for you," said Jack with an air of martyred endurance.
Anne laughed and kissed his cheek. "Thank you, darling," she cooed, revelling in the blush she saw colour his high cheekbones.
"Not at all," he said, treating her to one of his dazzling smiles, the kind he'd given her the first time they met, the kind that had made her fall in love with him.
"You know I love you, right?" asked Anne, as they made their way back down the stairs.
"I have some idea of it," he said, somewhat drily.
"Good. Just so we understand each other," said Anne.
Just before they were about to enter the auditorium, Jack took Anne by the arm and stopped her. Anne was about to protest when she saw his eyes. His lovely, sparkling, flashing, glittering hazel eyes were filled with so much emotion that it nearly moved her tears as they stood there, as immobile as a rock as the river of people flowed about them.
"You know I love you, right?" he said, his voice low and full of tears.
"Yes," said Anne.
"Good," he said. "Because I'll be telling you that every day I'm alive, Anne. I love you."
And he kissed her as though they'd never kissed before. They clung together, not caring that others might be staring, not caring that they looked quite mad in their ardent love. When they drew back, they leaned their foreheads together.
"Come on, Anne," said Jack. He extended his hand and Anne took it.
And so, together, they went into the auditorium.
Author's note - and so it's over! I'm very happy and sad at the same time. Here's the long blurb by this humble writer:
Thanks to anyone who ever read, commented, or voted for my story. Your support has meant more to me than I think you know. The amount of support I have felt from people has just been amazing. So thanks for that! Also, it would mean the world to me if you would let me know in a comment below what you think of this story as a whole, this being the last chapter. I'd love to know what you liked, what you hated, and what you think in general.
About the sequel: in a week (maybe less, I'm not quite sure), I will be posting the first chapter of the sequel, "Three Anniversaries". I don't want to say too much about it, because I'm not one for spoilers, but I will tell you that you will reencounter Aaron, Anne, and Jack. I'd love it if you all would read it when I post it, because you have all been so supportive of this story!
Thanks once again for your support!