Author's Note: Thank you so very much for my friend Kathy (kittie8571) who is the Beta of this story!
Thank you everybody for the reviews! Especially to Jada91, sweetjg, mia, April, sytle, Ana, WCUGirl and VP.
Chapter Twenty One: Reflecting about me and you
"What an obnoxious woman!" Jack said as soon as they entered the taxi. Ennis just looked at him and smiled.
"I wasn't expecting anything else. I was just surprised that she is quite rich herself. Why would she decide to marry him?"
"We're not really giving love a chance, are we?" Jack said, still annoyed.
"Sorry, but in this case, I would rather not. This woman isn't in love with him, you could tell. I'm sincerely afraid for Mr. Santos."
"We'll do everything we can to protect his patrimony."
"I'm more worried about his feelings. He's truly in love, Jack." Ennis said shaking his head.
"There's no way we can prevent this. Like you just said, he's in love, he wants to marry her. He won't listen to us or anybody else."
"I hate when you know something bad is about to happen and you can prevent it. Should we at least investigate her?" Ennis asked.
"What difference does it make? She's the daughter of an old friend. The man passed away a few years ago, so our client knows about her past. She's an international model with a great deal of money. There won't be any financial problems. Even if we find something out, Mr. Santos would be so angry with us, he probably wouldn't listen."
"You're right. There's nothing more we can do."
The taxi stopped in front of the Hotel Roosevelt. Jack paid the taxi driver and soon they entered the main doors.
"You know, Ennis? I haven't stayed more than five minutes in my own suite."
"Are you complaining?" Ennis asked as Jack waved to the receptionist.
"What do you think? I was only thinking it's a waste of money. We should ask for only one room next time." Jack said flirting and Ennis wondered how long Jack's good mood would last.
"We're not a married couple. The firm won't recognize us as a couple unless we get married."
"Still, it's a waste of the firm's money." Jack entered the elevator and looked in the mirror. "We still have a couple of hours until we need to leave. Do you want to try the famous poll?"
"The one where Marilyn did her first photo shoot?" Ennis asked.
"Ennis, you really should stop reading those damn airplane brochures!" Jack answered, rolling his eyes and soon they were both laughing.
Ennis arrived at his apartment carrying his bag and a few gifts he had bought for Veronica and Lucia. He spent his last hours in Hollywood shopping with Jack, trying to relax a bit before taking another case.
He had been wondering about this for the last few hours. Jack was going to take the week off because of Robert, and with Enrique's illness, he didn't know if Jack would accept a case anytime sooner. The members of the board had given him a nice number of options. Contrary to Enrique's opinion, a great number of members were pleased with Ennis's performance in court. They wanted him to take another important case. The only problem was that Ennis was uncertain of which of the two cases he should pick.
The one Jack preferred was a robbery/lawsuit case with a Hollywood celebrity. Mr. Dudgeon was one of the firm's oldest clients, and owner of many jewelry stores all over the country. His grandfather had been one of the firm's first clients. The case was rather unusual and Ennis only considered it because it would let him stay in New York. A famous Hollywood actress, Madelyn Webber, borrowed three pieces of jewelry worth $123,300 from Dudgeon's jewelry line for a social party last year, but they were never returned. Madelyn admitted recently that she lost the jewels at the party. When faced with the eminent lawsuit from Mr. Dungeon, her lawyers argued that the clasp was defective and that the bracelet fell off her wrist and onto the ground.
The other case that appealed to Ennis was an interesting murder case in Arizona. A young woman, just 18 years old, was accused of shooting dead both her parents. It all started when the young Nikita Bolton fell for 23-year-old Marcos Carreira. The undocumented Mexican immigrant apparently was not the boyfriend Nikita's parents, who lived in the richest neighborhood in Phoenix, envisioned for their daughter. Nikita was resorted to secret trysts with her lover. A few days after the murder, the Boltons tracked Nikita down at Carreira's home and threatened to file statutory rape charges against him. Ennis would be in charge of Nikita's defense.
Ennis would love to work on Nikita's case. A woman of her age accused of murder was not common and Ennis would love to explore all the possibilities, even considering he would probably lose. It was a marvelous challenge for him. The only problem was the fact that Ennis would need to travel to Arizona as soon as possible and stay there for at least a few weeks. He was aware that Jack needed him in New York. He wouldn't ask, but Ennis was sure he would want him to stay.
"Ennis? Are you ok?" Veronica's voice woke him from his small trance. Ennis realized that he was still holding his key, and the door was still closed. He was frozen in thought.
"Sorry. I was just thinking about my next case. Guess I really need to rest." He looked at her and opened the door. "Come on in. I have something for you."
Ennis heard the usual meow of his cat and realized that Neve had followed Veronica to Ennis' apartment.
"Did you miss me? I'm not going to leave you with Veronica so soon." Ennis told the white cat as he pet him.
"I heard you a few minutes ago and I couldn't resist. I wanted to know everything about your Hollywood trip. Also Neve must have smelled you, because he was jumping from couch to couch nonstop."
"Bad cat, destroying Veronica's beautifully designed home." Ennis said, smiling at Veronica.
"Anyway, how was it? Did you see any celebrities? Was it romantic?" She asked helping him with the bags.
"I didn't see any famous celebrities, but we did stay at the Hotel Roosevelt and yes, it was romantic." Ennis tried not to look her in the eye. He was sure she would tease him about it.
"Hotel Roosevelt? Is it famous?" She teased, smiling at Ennis's embarrassment, who didn't notice because he was still trying to find something inside of a bag.
"Yes, it seems that most people believe that the ghost of Marilyn Monroe lives there."
"Are you joking? And you didn't see any celebrities?" She asked again, still not convinced. "I bet you were busy looking at something else."
"Since you are so interested in celebrities, you'll be interested to know that my next case involves Madelyn Webber." Ennis told her, enjoying the shocked look on her face.
"Really? You're going to be her lawyer on the jewelry case?"
"Not really. I'm working with Mr. Dudgeon." Ennis said, slightly apologetic.
"I'm going to kill you. I love her! She's amazing in all her movies and if I know you well enough, you're going to destroy her public image." Veronica glared at Ennis, who tried hard not to laugh.
"Don't be like that. She might even be innocent." Ennis replied, moving Neve to his lap. "But, to make you feel better, I have something for you. It's not something expensive, but I really liked it and I wanted to thank you for all your help with Neve." Ennis handed Veronica a very small pink box.
She smiled at him and started to open it.
"You shouldn't have. I love Neve, but because of work on the hospital I can't keep a cat. It's almost as if we share him." She looked at the box again. Inside it was a beautiful scarf, a mix of different pink colors, with golden reflections. It wasn't formal but it looked quite expensive. Veronica loved it.
"It's beautiful, Ennis." She said smiling.
"Jack helped me pick it. I bought another for Lucia, much simpler, in a blue color."
"Lucia? The woman who helps you with the cleaning?" She asked while examining the scarf.
"Yes. Do you know her?" Ennis started moving to the kitchen, while Veronica tried on her new scarf. "Do you want coffee? I'm making tea for myself."
"No, tea is fine, Ennis." She entered the kitchen and leaned against the door. "I saw her, a couple of times, on the elevators."
"She's a very nice woman, but tell me, how're things at the hospital? Have you managed to get the new doctor's phone number?"
Veronica smiled and the two friends caught up for a few more hours. Ennis found that he truly liked Veronica's gossip. He never took interest in gossip about colleagues in the firm, but when Veronica would tell him about the latest gossip in the hospital, it was almost as if he was watching a TV show about doctors. He just loved it.
Jack stared at the old tree standing in front of him. For many years he had played around it, so many times he had run across these gardens, so many times he had watched the clouds in the sky and heard the bird singing in the trees. So many times he had been happy here in his childhood. And now, all he could think of was how much longer he would still call this place his father's house.
For the last few weeks, Jack suffered in silence, mot even letting Ennis know the true extent of his pain. He denied it; he screamed in frustration and he had felt depressed, but he had yet to accept that his father was leaving his life forever. It's common sense to say that no one is ever ready to lose someone that he truly loves, but Jack was surprised by how much it could hurt.
Uncle Daniel and Ennis were constantly by his side, but the pain would wait until he was alone to sink further into his heart. Lately Jack wondered if the anticipation could possibly hurt more than the act which was about to happen.
"Hello son." Enrique appeared from the other side of the garden. "Ann told me you were here."
"Hi dad." Jack looked at his father and from the moment his eyes locked with his father's, Jack felt all the things he had planned to say vanish from his mind. He was crushed with the power of the emotions that he kept locked inside for the last couple of weeks and for a few minutes, all he could do was cry in his father's arms.
"Oh, my son. Why didn't you let me keep you away from all this pain? Why did you have to be so stubborn?" Enrique hugged his only son. Jack pulled away and looked at him, not only with pain in his eyes, but also with anger and frustration.
"How could you think that I would prefer to be left in the dark? You're my father, my only family, my hero…" Jack paced around and tryned to control his emotions. "I needed to know, I had to know!"
"You can't understand Jack. You're not a father. This pain you're feeling right now, it's all, my fault. It's because of me! Preventing this situation was my only intention and I failed miserably."
"I'm your son. We're supposed to share this pain. I know that I dedicated these last few years to the firm, but we're still father and son. You should have come to me for help and support. Do you have any idea how bad that had made me feel? I feel like the worst son on the planet."
"It was never my intention, Jack. You know I want the best for you." Enrique placed his hand on Jack's shoulder.
"The best for me is to be with you." Jack turned around so that he was facing his father. "Let me help you cope with this. Give me a chance to say and do a proper goodbye." Tears were falling from his eyes.
"I'll do whatever is best for you, son. But I meant it when I said I wanted to deal with this in my own way."
"Then please accept the psychiatric treatment, dad. We can even go together to the appointments. Just please tell me you're going to do it."
"I'm not mental, Jack." Enrique snapped. "I can deal with this by myself."
"I know that, but you need help. God knows, I need it too. Let's help each other, like any normal family." Jack was almost pleading.
"I'll think about it son, but only because I don't want you to feel even worse than you do now." He looked at Jack. "But for the record, none of this is your fault. You are and always have been the best son a man could ask for." Enrique murmured and father and son cried even more in each other's arms.
Ennis was looking at the big mirror in his bedroom, wondering why he had chosen to wear the blue polo again. He didn't do it on purpose, but sometimes he felt the need to express his feelings in a silent way. If he didn't find the strength to say it, he would find a way to show it. It was something that he had been doing since he was a kid. He would rather touch his mother's hand than say thanks, sit on his father's lap when he wanted to talk about school, and he would bring a sandwich to his uncle when he wanted to go riding on the horses. It was something that the people close to him understood and Ennis had learned, with time, to accept his own silent ways.
He knew that lately Jack had started to pick up on some of his habits, but the blue polo had been the first silent I love you between them. And today he was wearing it again. He was saying, I love you and I want to be with you, in his own way. He smiled again, looking in the mirror. Maybe after the night in Hollywood, it was only natural that he wanted to wear the blue polo for the rest of the week. The thought made him blush and he felt the urge to laugh at the sappy moment.
Ennis looked at his silver watch, 7 pm. Jack would be arriving at any minute. He decided to wait in the living room since he was ready to leave as soon as Jack arrived. Neve was sleeping on the floor, snoring loudly for such a small animal. He tried to relax, clearing his mind of any though, but that was the moment when the phone rang. Ennis groaned, and moved to pick up the phone.
"Hello?" Ennis recognized the familiar voice. It was one of the ranch keepers that worked for him.
"Yeah, it's me, Mr. Gorman."
"Sorry to call you. We know you have a pretty busy life, Ennis. But I was worried."
"Is there something wrong at the ranch?"
"No, Ennis, no. Everything's fine. Actually, the ranch is prospering. I was just calling to confirm that you had received the fax that I sent you, and I can see now that you didn't."
"No, I didn't. Anything important? Do you guys need extra money?"
"No, Ennis, like I said, the ranch is fine. What I sent you was an offer to buy the ranch."
"An offer?" Ennis was surprised.
"Yes. A rich European guy that wanted to buy a ranch in Texas was interested in buying the Del Mar ranch."
"I see. Did you send the fax to the number I sent you last month?"
"No. I completely forgot. Deacon is going to kill me! Sorry Ennis, my mistake."
"No worries. Just send it to me as soon as possible. Did this guy tell you when he needed an answer?"
"Not really, Ennis. But he's staying in a small house in town. We can talk with him if you want."
"Yeah, that would be a good idea." Ennis didn't say anything, thinking for a second. "I'm not really interested in selling, Mr. Gorman, but I'm interested in knowing how much this man would give for it."
"Good to know, Ennis. And if you're really not interested in selling it, I have a few improvements in mind that could be done. Maybe even finding another man to help with the chores." The doorbell rang and Ennis knew it was Jack.
"Well, I have to go now, but I promise we'll talk about that soon."
"Bye, Ennis."
"Bye, Mr. Gorman and regards to Mr. Deacon."
Ennis hung up the phone and went to open the door. Jack was standing in front of him.
"Hi, honey." Jack kissed him softly, his forehead coming to rest on Ennis's shoulder. "You're wearing it again." Ennis could feel Jack smelling his scent against his neck and he smiled.
"Come on in, baby." Ennis held him closely and moved to the living room. "How was it?" Ennis asked worriedly as they sat down on the couch.
"Not bad. We actually talked this time." Jack sighed and leaned closer. "He's doing his best not to push me away."
"Did you talk about the psychiatric treatment?" Ennis asked, rubbing his boyfriend's arm slightly.
"Yes but he's still not convinced." Jack looked away, as if hurt by the words he had just said. "He's so worried about me and my feelings, it's irrational."
"It's difficult for us to understand his position. If…" Ennis paused, trying to find the right words. "If it was you, wouldn't you want your dad to be happy and safe, when you…" He couldn't say the rest. There was a brief silence and Ennis could feel Jack taking in the meaning of Ennis's words.
"I guess so. Yeah." Jack whispered softly and Ennis looked at him, fighting the urge to be silent.
"You know, my sociology teacher told me something I never forgot. If you want to understand someone, anyone, you need to put yourself in his shoes. It works with everyone but I think you should consider seeing things this way with your dad." Jack looked at him and nodded silently. Ennis understood the meaning. This topic was over, at least for now.
"Aren't we late?" Jack asked, standing up from the couch.
"I guess Elizabeth and Mary won't mind." Ennis said, petting the sleepy Neve on the floor and following Jack to the front door.
"Come on! I can't wait to see Sophie again."
And with that, the door was closed and the apartment was once again silent, with the exception of Neve's loud snores.
"… and then we found the bodies without a single tooth." Mary said to Ennis, who was completely lost in her tale.
"Can we change the subject?" Jack said looking at Elizabeth for back up. "I can't hear about any more murder cases that you two helped to solve." Jack pointed at Ennis and Mary in disgust.
"I'm with you, Jack. Thank God Sophie can't understand a word of what you two have been saying." Elizabeth held the baby close to her and kissed her on the head.
"I was really enjoying it. I never thought Mary would have so many murder cases on her resume." Ennis said, looking impressed.
"I must confess that they are my favorites, but it's rare to have a good one to solve. It's the unfairness of being a private detective." Mary said, caressing her drink.
They were all sitting in Elizabeth's garden, admiring the night and having one last drink. Ennis had been curious about the reasons of the dinner, but up until that moment, there had been no clues and Jack, worried about his talk with his father, had been more silent than usual.
"They are my favorites too. It's my expertise, or at least, I hope it will become." Ennis smiled shyly.
"No need to be modest. We all know your work. But does this mean you'll take murder case in Arizona? The one with the young Nikita?" Mary asked curiously.
Jack moved quickly and looked at Ennis. He had been worried about the possibility of having to watch Ennis move away to work on a case on the other side of the country. He knew he needed him close. Even if he didn't have the right to ask, he needed it. Ennis flashed him a smile and Jack felt relief wash over him.
"No. I'm taking another case. The Madelyn Webber jewelry case."
"You're no fun, Ennis." Mary said looking at Elizabeth. "These young lawyers and their appetite for fame."
"It's a good case. And you can make a lot of money for the firm." Elizabeth said seriously.
"It's good to know you care for me so much." Ennis said, pretending that Elizabeth had hurt his feelings.
"I am your godmother. It's my job to remind you of your obligation to the firm."
"Well, after this one I'm going to pick one I truly enjoy, godmother." Ennis said smiling.
"Talking about godmothers…" Elizabeth looked at Mary. "There was a reason for this dinner and I've been dying to tell you Jack, but Mary made me promise we would keep it a secret until the last minute." She looked at Jack and smiled. "Jack, how would you feel about being Sophie's godfather?"
Ennis was surprised while Jack looked as if he was going to cry, which he did a few moments later.
"Of course, you won't be her official godfather, in a religious way. But we will give a small party and you would sign some papers. In case anything happens with us, you would be the official guardian of Sophie." Elizabeth looked at Sophie on her lap. "It's a lot of responsibility, I know. So I'm giving you the time you need to make a decision."
Ennis looked at Jack, who was looking at Sophie in the most caring way and he understood. Those tears on Jack's eyes were tears of happiness. There was no need to think, he was going to say yes.
"My decision is made, Beth. I'm going to accept." He took a deep breath. "This was the best thing you could do for me."
Elizabeth smiled and put Sophie in Jack's lap.
"Thank you, Jack. I'm so happy you've accepted. You're perfect for the role." Elizabeth said. Jack felt Ennis's hand on his shoulder. His other hand came to rest on his boyfriend's. He was glad for this small moment of happiness.
"So, now I'm going to be the male figure in Sophie's life." Jack said, half asking, half stating.
"In your dreams…" Mary murmured and Ennis laughed.
And Ennis looked at the three other people in the room. There was a connection between them. They were friends. They knew a lot of each other's secrets and they were all lonely people with a desire of to be happy.
Elizabeth, with her struggle between what should be and what is. The eternal battle between her and society's wishes. She was a perfectionist, a role model to everyone but she still couldn't see that some of her faults were some of her best qualities too. She was, only now, taking the first steps to be totally herself for the very first time, fighting to forget an entire life of skirmishing.
And then there was Mary with her. A woman with very few fears, a true warrior in every sense of the word. She was so proud of every decision she had made in life that even a stranger could see her glorious scars. The confidence she shows can only hide what very few know. She's desperately afraid of losing the only battle that truly matters to her: the love of Elizabeth Noris. But, unlike what many others would do, her fear only made her fight more fiercely. Mary Bingley was a powerful warrior but also a careful general.
And then there was also Jack. The man he had truly desired since the first time he had seen him. He could remember, because he still felt that way most of the time, the way he would catch his breath, without knowing, looking at the man. But if it was desire his body had felt, it had been love that his heart had found. Love that could only be explained with things he truly didn't understand. The connection they shared, from that very first moment, was unique and incredible and Ennis couldn't explain it to anyone else. Jack was not perfect, he had many faults. He trusted people too much, he had a problem with saying no, he liked perfection at work but at home, he couldn't make his own bed. There were so many other things that Ennis knew about Jack's faults, but they were all a part of Jack, a result of what he had learned, of what he had experienced before. Ennis had no problem accepting that.
He had accepted Jack, Elizabeth and Mary because he had felt the goodness in them and later he had seen the conviction of their actions. He had slowly trusted them with his secrets, with his life, and only now he could see why.
They were already the closest thing he had to a family.
Author: I felt the need to write about Ennis feelings, it was important for me. Also Jack and Enrique needed to talk again. I thought this chapter would turn out to be a bit boring but in the end I really liked it!
I'm sorry for the delay in the updates but I AM OFFICIALLY IN HOLLYDAYS! So next month I'll be on the beach, reading the new Potter book! Still I intent to post my chapter, but probably only one every week! I must apology to all my dear readers!
On the next chapter: Robert finally arrives in N.Y. and brigs with him a couple of odd stories about Jack, to humour of the entire party. Jack thinks about a pretty hard decision that will strongly affect his future. And why does everybody keeps warning Ennis about the dangers of his new case?