Prelude To Fate
Jack Harcourt Deveraux's story
Jack Deveraux first arrived in Salem in 1987. He was the son of popular Senator, Harper Deveraux, who at the time was running for president, and the stepson of Anjelica Deveraux, who had ties to the Kiriakis business empire.
It was a lonely childhood for Jack. He grew up amidst the powerful political scene in Washington--when he wasn't being shuttled back and forth from boarding school to boarding school. His mother, Camille, died when he was very young, and though she loved him in her own way, Anjelica was hardly the mother figure Jack needed growing up. Nor was his father the ideal father. Jack spent his entire youth and early adulthood trying to please the Senator, who never could seem to accept anything less than perfection from his son.
When he came to Salem, Jack was suffering from Hodgkin's Disease, and quickly losing his will to live, he hoped for a rekindling of a brief romance he had with Kayla Brady, whom he had met on a vacation in Hawaii. Kayla, however, was in love with Steve Johnson, thus breaking Jack's heart.
Steve had a secret about Jack: he was Jack's brother. Steve had learned that Billy, the baby brother from whom he had been separated, but whom he had never forgotten or stopped loving, was actually Jack. Jack had no idea that Harper and Camille had adopted him, and Steve was reluctant to shatter the "perfect" family Jack had, especially during Jack's darkest hour.
Wanting to help his brother find the will to live, he pushed Kayla away and encouraged her to marry Jack. Deeply hurt over Steve's rejection, Kayla did marry Jack, but was miserable the entire time.
Jack loved Kayla very much and though he suspected she married him on the rebound, he remained in denial over her lingering feelings for Steve. Because of the effects of his cancer treatment, Jack could not make love to Kayla, much to Kayla's relief.
Kayla and Steve could not stay away from each other, however. They began to have an affair, and unbeknownst to everyone, she was being drugged by Harper. As Kayla began to get progressively sicker from the drugs, Jack became despondent over his wife's health, and Steve could not leave Kayla behind, knowing she was in danger.
Kayla eventually got better and she and Steve resolved to tell Jack the truth that she wanted out of their marriage. However, Jack learned the truth before they had a chance to tell him. On the night Jack was elected assemblyman, he found out about the affair, thanks to some photos that a sleazy reporter slipped to him. Jack was devastated by his wife's betrayal and in a blind rage, raped Kayla.
Kayla was shocked by Jack's violent outburst and was determined to leave him once and for all. Jack, however, refused to let go and taunted her for going back to Steve, promising her he would make her life a living hell if she did.
Steve confronted Jack over the rape, torn between his love for his brother and disgusted over what he was capable of doing. In an ensuing fight, Jack fell off the roof of the loft and was critically injured. Because his kidney had been damaged from the cancer treatments, Steve offered to give Jack one of his kidneys to replace Jack's badly damaged one. When Jack learned of what Steve had done, he didn't soften--he was still bitter towards his worst enemy for ruining his life.
Jack lived up to his promise of making life a living hell for Kayla. Even after she pressed charges and took him to court for raping her, he continued to torment her and Steve. Jack's life was in a downward spiral, and he began to sink further into a void. Along the way, he began seeing--and using--Melissa Anderson, the young aide who was very much in love with him and wanted to help him get over Kayla. But even her love was not enough to ease his pain, and eventually his life fell apart even further.
Jack learned that he was adopted and that Steve, the man he hated the most, was actually his brother, and Jo, his former maid to whom he was close at one time, was actually his mother. Even worse was the discovery that Harper was a gruesome serial killer who had terrorized the entire city for weeks--nearly killing Kayla.
Reeling from all these revelations, Jack sank further into a shell-shocked state and lashed out and everyone around him. Convinced he was destined to be a bad person, he decided to live up to that image as much as possible. His lowest moment came when Melissa, tired of his manipulations, left him at the altar, leaving him humiliated, alone, and hating the world.
It would take Jennifer Rose Horton to pull him out of his self-inflicted misery.
Jennifer Rose Horton's story
Jennifer Horton was the darling of her family from the time she was born. The daughter of Bill and Laura Horton, she was also the granddaughter of one of the most beloved couples in all of Salem, Tom and Alice Horton.
However, like Jack's, her childhood was far from a happy one. When she was still a little girl, her mother suffered a nervous breakdown and was institutionalized. Unable to deal with the situation and raise his daughter at the same time, Bill sent her to various boarding schools, leaving Jennifer feeling isolated and unwanted.
Eventually, she ran away and came home to Salem, where her grandparents took her in and gave her the stable homelife she so craved. Soon after settling in with Tom and Alice, she met and fell in love with her first love, Frankie Donner, a fellow runaway who was eventually adopted by the Bradys.
She and Frankie shared a tender love, but faced obstacles along the way. During their brief engagement, Jennifer began to fear that she was destined to become mentally ill like her mother. She began to pull away from Frankie, eventually breaking off their engagement. Hurt by her rejection, Frankie slept with a college professor on the rebound. Jennifer eventually decided she didn't want to let her insecurities come between her and Frankie, and they reunited. Jennifer was devastated when she learned the truth about Frankie's fling, but they worked through their problems and were stronger than ever.
However it was not meant to be. Frankie received a scholarship to Columbia University, and after much agonizing, he decided to go. Jennifer was left with a broken heart after losing her first love.
Jennifer tried to move on by getting closer to Emilio Ramirez, whom she thought she was developing feelings for, but the wounds left by her breakup with Frankie were still too fresh and she couldn't move to the next level with him.
Only a few months later, her life would change when she would meet the love of her life...
