Chapter twenty-five : A thing called love
On a warm Saturday morning, it is a beautiful summer day that is beginning, there was a soft knock at the Green Gables door. When the door got open after a few moments of waiting, two men stood face to face, looking at each other, without saying anything, as if they didn't know exactly what to say to each other. After another moment, the man that had knocked at the door, was the first one to say something, taking out his hand to shake the other man's hand.
- Hi, I don't believe we've properly met each other yet, I am Jack Wright, Joyce oldest friend.
The man that had opened the Green Gables door, answered while giving the hand shake back.
- Hi, I am Eric Jones, one of Joyce newest friend, I think...
Putting his two hands in his pocket pants, Jack continued with the conversation.
- How do you like Avonlea so far ?
Eric, crossing his arms in his chest, replied back.
- Oh, we've only arrived here two days ago, with the opening, cleaning and refreshing the house, I haven't really got the time to visit the place yet, but, the little I saw on our way here, had really blown me away.
Jack didn't have time to reply back, because when they both heard some steps coming down of the stairs, they both turned in the direction of the noise, to see Joyce coming in there direction. She went straight to Jack to give him a warm welcoming hug, exclaiming at the same time.
- Jack, you are already here, I should have remembered that you are always on time.
Giving her back her hug, Jack replied back.
- I am the one who is a little in advance this morning, Joyce, besides, it gave me the chance to have a little talk with Eric, while I was waiting for you.
Turning her head in the direction where Eric was standing, Joyce was saying while giving Eric a kiss on his chick.
- Good morning Eric, did you have a goodnight sleep ? Is Dominic awake yet ?
- Yes, I did have a goodnight sleep, no, Dominic is not awake yet.
- Well, don't let him sleep for too long, you remember that Fred jr kids, who is Jack older brother, are coming here to play with Dominic ?
- Yes, I do remember. After all, it was all Dominic could talk about during diner last night, and also, right before going to sleep.
- Good. I shouldn't be gone too long, I think that I should be back here at Green Gables, around noon.
Joyce was saying, with a last look at Eric, before turning toward Jack, who was asking her.
- Are you ready to face my parents ?
Joyce who had put her hand on Jack's arm, said back to him.
- Are you ready to face your parents, Jack ?
Before getting out of the Green Gables door, she turned one last time in the direction of Eric, saying to him.
- Bye Eric, I wish for you to have a nice morning. See you later.
Before Eric could say anything back to her, she and Jack had already got out of the house, leaving Eric to lean on the door, looking at the pair, walking together, side by side, very much looking like the perfect couple, or so thought Eric, on this beautiful, warm Saturday morning, in Avonlea.
...
Joyce and Jack had been walking silently together in the direction of Jack's parents house, in a comfortable silence, or so it seemed to Joyce, because she was startle when Jack suddenly stopped walking, took her by her shoulders with his hands, for her to be able to face him.
- Joyce !
- Jack !
- Tell me, why do I have the impression that Eric thinks that you and I are a couple ?
- No, I don't think that he thinks that we are a couple, I think that he believes that we are a couple.
- But why Joyce, shouldn't it be the other way around ? Me thinking, or believing that you and Eric are a couple ?
- Jack, are you crazy, I don't know him that well yet...
- Nonsense, Joyce. He had been staying and working with you at the Kindred Spirit, for what, three years now...
- So, you know how uncomfortable, shy, never knowing what to say, never knowing what to do when I am in the presence of someone I am not used to, or that I just met ?
- It is just that I thought that you had pass beyond that stage with Eric already. Tell me that you haven't notice that he is the man that you have been waiting for all of those years. I do believe that Eric Jones his the man of your dreams, Joyce Blythe !
- How do you know that Jack ?
- Because Joyce, I know you, and Eric Jones remind me a little bit of myself, you and I have the same taste in men. What I mean to say is, if Eric was gay, he would be the kind of men that I would be attracted to...
- Is this a way for you to say that you approve of Eric, if he and I ever end up becoming a couple ?
- Mark my words Joyce, I approve of Eric Jones, at a 100% and more !
Smiling at each other, they both let out a huge breath as if this conversation had relieved something inside of them.
- Jack, we shouldn't even be talking about Eric and me, we should be talking about you and what you are about to do now...
- Well, I needed a way to destress a little, the only way I found to do so, was to have this conversation with you !
- Did it help you ? Do you feel any better ?
- Oh, I don't know if it help or if I feel any better, but I do know that I couldn't be on my way to tell my parents the truth about me, if you weren't by my side today, Joyce.
Overwhelmed with emotions, and as a simple answer to what Jack just said to her, Joyce simply took him in her arms to give him a great big hug, before they started to walk together again, in the direction of Jack's parents house.
...
Right before Jack could even knock at the door, get his keys out of his pocket to open it or simply try to turn the doorknob just as he was used to do when he was a little kid, because the entrance door of his parents house had always been open and unlocked on Saturday mornings, he saw how the door suddenly got open, with his mother appearing in front of him, exclaiming very excitedly, not at him, but at Joyce, who was standing behind him, making Jack to wonder in his head if his mother had been looking out the window, waiting to spot his arrival with Joyce.
- Oh Joyce, how good it is to see you here in Avonlea once again. It seem that it has been so long since you have last been here. I am so happy to see you !
Diana Wright was saying, all the while, taking Joyce into her arms, welcoming her with an effusive, mother like hug.
- Aunty Di, it is so great to see you too and to be back in Avonlea as well. I have miss you all so much.
- Well, now that you are here, we will be making up for all of those times we didn't see each other.
Turning to Jack who had been watching at the scene with a tender look on his face, Diana said, going to embrace him as well.
- Jack, what took you so long for you and Joyce to get here... Never mind, you are both here now, let us get inside and have some tea and breakfast together.
Diana continued to say while taking one of the arm of both Jack and Joyce with her hands to lead them inside the house with her.
- You two install yourselves in the kitchen, everything is already prepared, while I go search for Fred in the barn with the cows.
- I'll go look for Dad, Mom. Stay here with Joyce, I know how long you've been waiting to have Joyce here with you.
Jack said to his mother, giving her a quick peck on the cheek, then making his way out of the kitchen door.
The two men came back just a short moment later, finding the two women chatting animatedly about the goings and ongoings of Ingleside. The fourth of them all gathered around the kitchen table, really happy to be spending this moment together. After sometime, Joyce wasn't really paying attention to what Diana was saying, because she was busy looking at Jack, who seemed to have a sudden interest for the eggs in his plate that he hadn't been eating, but playing with them with his fork, and Joyce saw how every time he was looking up from his plate, he was looking everywhere, but not as his mother or father. Giving Jack a soft but strong enough kick at his leg with her foot under the table for him to get out of his so called contemplation and start doing what they had both come here to do.
Joyce saw how the kick on his foot made Jack to look up, but not at his mother, but for him to be looking at her, with big wide open eyes, making her giving him almost the same kind of look, with her raising her eyebrows at him. Making a little noise with his throat, with one last look at Joyce who was encouraging him with a soft smile on her face, Jack looked at his parents, then started to say.
- Mom, Dad, I have something to tell you.
Both Diana and Fred looked at each other with great expectations in their eyes, then, turned their eyes back to their youngest son. Seeing that he was taking a long time to say what he had to say, Diana said to him.
- Go on, Jack, we are ready to here what you have to say to us.
Before saying anything, Jack surprised everyone at the table, by getting up on his feet to pace back and forth in the kitchen of his parents, not really finding the appropriate words to bear his soul out to his Mom and Dad.
Again, to the surprise of everyone, it was not Jack that started to speak, but Fred that started to say something, to Diana, a beautiful story.
- Di, Darling, do you remember this very hot summer, I think it was the summer before Jack was about to go for his three years at Redmond Medical School. No matter what you did, Di, you hadn't been able to keep Jack here, inside of the house with you at all. He would always wake up very early in the mornings, and would always come back right on time for supper, then going straight to bed and into the world of sweet dreams, to be starting and doing the same thing, all over again the next morning. He had been doing this, all that summer, never saying anything to us, or never answering any of our questions, whenever we would be asking him what he was doing all day.
It wasn't very often that his Dad took too speaking, this made Jack to stop sharp in his pacing the kitchen floor, to be looking directly at his father and to be listening very closely and attentively at what his father was saying.
- I remember, one day, I was coming back from little Fred's house, because he had needed my help with something that had to do with the farm. Again, it was one of those very hot summer days, I had found a little creek of water on the road, for the horse of the buggy to be drinking some water and me as well. The creek was just the beginning, just the small part of a better and bigger creek, that I would be finding out later on, when I had followed to where the little creek was leading, to a not so small river, where there was already two men swimming, laughing, playing together inside of it. I stood hidden behind a tree, looking at the two men for some time, until I saw how the two men got closer and closer to each other, with their whole body touching, their faces at the same level, then, after a moment of loving, longing, desirable contemplation, I saw how the two men gave each other one passionate kiss that ended with them going under the water, making me unable to see anything else.
Although his father wasn't looking at him while he spoke, Jack saw how his father's face had a distant look, as if he was remembering the scene he was describing so vividly, just like it happened yesterday...
- Do you remember what I had said to you, when I had got back home that day, Di, Darling ? That I had just saw, witness the most beautiful thing in the world. Two people in love !
Oh, yes, Jack did remember that very hot summer very well.
- Yes, I do remember Fred, honey, but...
- Dad, you've known about this all of this time, that is impossible...
- Yes, I've known Jack, but...
- Fred, Jack, what are you both talking about, I don't understand anything at all ! Have you been keeping some secrets from me, Fred Wright ?
Before answering, Fred took Diana's hands in his own hands.
- No, Di love, I haven't been keeping secrets from you, simply because it didn't come to me to say anything. Unconsciously, without interfering, I had been waiting for you to come to us Jack and tell us everything, just like, when you had come to us to say that you had wanted to become a doctor, but I guess that, from time to time, a boy needs to have his own secret garden, far away from his parents.
Jack saw the look of love in his father's eyes. He saw the look of confusion in his mother's eyes, looking at him, then at his father, then at Joyce, who still sat in her chair, at the kitchen table, looking at the scene before her, like she had been forgotten by the three Wright family members. Taking his courage with him, Jack bent down to his mother's level, took her hands in his own, looked at her directly in the eyes, then, he started to ask her.
- Mom, what would you say, what would you do if your last born son came to you and revealed to you that he his madly and hopelessly in love with a man, that he had been in a relationship with this man for a very long time now, that your last born son knows that this man is the man of his dreams and that he can't help the way he feels about that man, that he only knows that it is the strongest, deepest, honest love that he had been feeling, waiting, looking for all of his life...
By now, Jack was crying, Di was crying, Fred was crying, Joyce kept on looking at this scene with tears coming down of her eyes as well.
Putting her two hands on her son's cheeks, Diana started to say with a shaking voice.
- I'd say that this son don't even need to question his mother's love for him, because this mother loves her son with every fibber of her heart and soul, she only want what is best for him, always have, and always would, as long as he his happy. Are you happy, Jack ?
Diana had put her forehead in her son's forehead.
- Yes, Mom, I am happy. I love you.
Hearing this, Jack took his mother in his arms, which made her come down of her chair, going down on the kitchen floor, with her son, embracing and hugging each other, crying and laughing at the same time. Fred went down to join them, making Joyce still being unnoticed by the three Wright family members, giving her no choice but to silently get up from the chair that she had been seated on at the kitchen table, looking one last time at the amazing and wonderful scene happening in front of her, then, she silently and calmly made her way back to the entrance door, opening it, getting outside, closing the door behind her, starting to make her way back to Green Gables, knowing that her mission was done for today.
...
Joyce had taken her time to walk back to Green Gables, taking small steps, looking at her surroundings, taking them all in, wanting to have a moment, just by herself. Reaching the Green Gables gate, Joyce continued to walk towards the house, without really paying attention to where she was going, still captivated and enrapt by all the beauty surrounding her. This was why she was startled, when she realise that something, or, rather someone, was blocking the way to the house. Looking up to look at the face that was already looking at her, she ask.
- Eric, is everything alright ?
Before answering, she saw how Eric looked pass her shoulder, as if waiting for something.
- I should be asking you the same question, Joyce. When I saw you coming back here all alone, I came out here wanting to make sure that everything was alright with you.
- Yes, I am alright, Eric, thank you for worrying about me, but, you really didn't have too...
- This doesn't still explain to me why Jack didn't escorted you back home ?
Letting out a little soft laugh, Joyce exclaimed with good humour.
- Oh Eric, this is Avonlea, I know the place like the back of my hands and Jack, well, lets just say that I have left Jack in really good hands !
Eric didn't know what else to say after this confession, this is how he found himself simply standing face to face with Joyce, in the Green Gables yard, with them, without saying anything, them, simply staring at each other.
- Is Dominic inside ?
Joyce finally asked.
- Yes, Dominic his inside, along with little Fred's children, with Persis and Walter as well.
Af if on cue, they started to ear from inside the house, Walter's guitar playing some music.
- Oh, I almost forgot that Walter and Persis had come to Avonlea with us...
But, Joyce stopped what she was saying in mid-sentence, suddenly remembering what Jack had said to her on their way to his parents house. Taking her hand out for him to take it, she started to ask Eric.
- What do you say if I become your guide of Avonlea for the day, or, anytime you would like to get to know the island better. I think now is a really good time to introduce you to Avonlea !
Still with her hand out waiting and hoping for Eric to take it, Joyce kept looking at him with expectation in her eyes. She didn't have to wait long for him to reach out and take her offering hand in his own. Softly smiling at each other, they started to make their way down the Green Gables lane together.
- Eric, I don't think I've properly explain to you who Jack really his to me. This is why, while I give you the grand Avonlea tour, I will fill you in on everything that Jack and I are for each other...
The rest of the summer in Avonlea went by like this, Jack had done the exploit of bringing Paul to his parents house, to introduce him to them as his boyfriend, where both Di and Fred welcomed him inside of their house with open arms.
Eric, as the same time that he fell in love with Avonlea, he also fell in love with the woman named Joyce Blythe who so happens to share the same feelings of love for the man named Eric Jones !
...
A.N. : This chapter is for everyone that had left a review for the last chapter saying ''Poor Eric'' ''Poor Jack'' ''Eric, come back at the Kindred Spirit'' !
I am really sorry for having taken so long to write this new chapter. I hope that I will be able to write another new one, much faster, in a near future...
As always, thank you for reading and reviewing !