Authors Note:
I'm sorry it's taken me so long to upload, but like I said, I had a case of writers block that I'm slowly working through, so be patient with me, and I promise to try my hardest to get you something new as soon as I figure out what I'm doing! Let me know what you think, and leave a review! :)
Chapter Thirty Six
Jace POV:
The next day I woke up and made my way downstairs. Clary and Karina were the only two up so far. They were in the kitchen making breakfast for everyone. I made my way over to them and gave them each a kiss on the cheek.
"Good morning." I said and they both smiled.
"Morning daddy." Karina said and I scooped her into my arms and picked her up and she giggled.
"Never grow up." I said and she smiled.
"If I could stay with you and mommy forever, I would." She said and I gave her another kiss. I set her down and the rest of the family came walking in. PJ ran into the room and right into my leg. I picked him up and tickled him and he let out a fit of giggles.
"Stop if pop-pop! That tickles!" He said and I stopped and kissed his head.
"Okay, but only because I love you." I said and he smiled.
"I love you too pop-pop!" He said and Sammi walked in.
"Alright little man, go to the table and I'll bring your breakfast." Sammi said and he ran over to Patrick and his put him at the table.
When breakfast was finished Jack and Tucker brought it all over to the table. We sat there and ate for 30 minutes before we eventually finished up. I needed to talk to Jack and Pat alone, but I needed to get everyone out. It was the end of the spring session so I could have them start collecting inventory for me, which also gives me one less job. Once the table was cleaned everyone was just sitting in the living room.
"Alright everyone, I have some jobs for you all." I said and everyone looked at me. "Tucker, can you do some inventory of the boards in the shed? I counted last night, but I want to make sure I am correct." He nods. "Sammi, I know you aren't an ice skater, but could you go to the rink and check with Julian and Camille on the inventory of the skates?" I asked and she nods. "Great, Karina could you take PJ and do a cabin sweep and make sure nothing seriously broken?" I asked and she nodded. "Great. I appreciate the help."
"What about Jack and I dad?" Patrick asked.
"Your mother and I would like to have a word with you two." I said and they nodded. I could tell they thought they were in trouble, and I didn't tell them they weren't because sometimes its fun to watch them squirm. Once everyone was gone Jack and Pat sat in the living room waiting for Clary and I to talk to them. They were seriously freaking out, and after a couple minutes I took pity on them. "You two aren't in trouble."
"I was about to say, I haven't done anything wrong since getting Sammi pregnant." Patrick said and I laughed.
"I highly doubt that, but moving on." I said and they nodded. "Tucker came to speak to me last night about when Jack and him get married. He said that you would obviously have to move, because as much as I love you sweetheart, this house is cramped. It got me thinking, you both want to run this place when your mom and I decided that we don't want to work anymore right?"
"Absolutely. I couldn't think of a better job." Jack said and I nodded.
"It got me thinking. We have so much land, and we have all the facilities we need, I mean unless when you take over you want to add bobsledding to the place, we don't need all the land, but you two are going to need houses." I said and their eyes widened.
"You're going to build us houses?" Patrick asked and I nodded.
"Patrick, you already have a family. And as much as I love Sammi and my sweet grandson, you are going to have to leave soon. It's so cluttered, and cramped with all of us here, and Jack, you're getting married. You certainly don't want to start your married life with Tucker living in your parents house, and it makes sense for your houses to be on this property if you're going to take it over one day."
"You're serious?" Jack said as she looked between Clary and I.
"We love you Jacqueline, and we love Tucker, and we love Sammi and PJ, but jeez are you all messy, and loud." Clary said and they laughed. "We want you to build your life with your families in your own home."
"Thank you guys." Jack and they both got off the couch and hugged us. "This is amazing. I was freaking out about finding a house."
"We don't know why we never thought about it before. We have all that land by the forest, and than all that land by the lake. It just makes sense to use it for something like this." Clary said and they nodded.
"I call dibs on the lake." Patrick said and we all laughed. "I can use that for skating in the winter."
"You can use the beautiful rinks that I installed for you mother." I said and he laughed.
"Yea, but when I need to go out at night and clear my head, I don't want to have to open the rinks up. Having a frozen lake would be way easier." He said and I laughed.
"Whatever you want Pat. I'll get my construction guys in here this weekend, and start laying out the blueprints." I said and they all smiled. "Now, go out and help the others, I really don't want to do that inventory." I said and they laughed. Once they left Clary and I were the only ones in the house. "That went well."
"Duh. You just gave them two free houses." She said and I pressed my lips to her temple. This was going to be a lot of work, but I was excited to get this started.
Time Jump – One Week Later
Clary POV:
I was sitting in my office getting all the stuff organized for the construction workers. They came over the other day, and they didn't leave until they had both house designs done and finalized. I was impressed, Patrick and Sammi knew exactly what they wanted and so did Jacqueline and Tucker. It didn't take as long as I thought it would, but they were extremely pleased when they left, so now it's just all construction. The workers believe they can have them both done by the end of the summer, and that just made everyone even happier. I was calculating numbers when the phone rang.
"Herondale Snowboarding and Ice Skating Training Facility, Clary speaking, how may I help you?" I said.
"I'm calling in regards to Jocelyn Fray." I heard and I was pulled out of my robotic number game.
"Is she okay?" I asked.
"I'm assuming you know your mother has been battling cancer for some time."
"Yes." I said. She was diagnosed around the time Karina was born, and was in remission for years before it came back. We didn't talk often. I tried to reach out, but she was just as stubborn as I was when it came to stuff like that.
"She was rushed to the hospital the other day, and we ran a bunch of tests on her, but she has been admitted to our hospice wing." He said and my heart sank. My mother and I had a strained relationship because of skating, but that didn't mean I didn't love her. We were both stubborn as hell, but she was my mom.
"How much longer does she have?" I asked trying to keep it together.
"A month, maybe." He said.
"Thank you for calling." I said and I hung up. I sat there and tried to collect myself, but I had to go and tell Jace and tell him I had to go home and be with her. I haven't seen her in years, but I needed to be home for this. I walked out into the living room and everyone was sitting around in the living room watching a movie. I sniffled and everyone turned their head.
"Clary, what's wrong?" Jace asked and I couldn't hold the tears in any longer. I started crying and he was immediately by my side. "Baby, what's wrong?"
"I just got a call from the hospital. My mom was rushed to the hospital the other day." I said as I tried to calm my cries but it didn't work. "They gave her a month." I said and Jace pulled me tight to him. He knew my relationship with my mother was odd, but he also knew how hard this was for me.
"I'm so sorry." He whispered as he held me.
"I'm gonna go home and spend her last month with her." I said and he nodded.
"Do you want me to come?" He asked and I couldn't help but smile. I knew having him there would help.
"Yea." I said and he nodded.
"Okay. The kids can run this place without us." He said and I nodded.
"We wanna come too mom." I heard and I saw Jacqueline, Patrick, and Karina standing there. "We haven't seen grandma in years, and if this is her last stand, I want to be there with her." Jacqueline said. I simply nodded and they all walked over and hugged me.
"We're sorry mom." Patrick said and I smiled. When we broke apart I looked at my amazing family and smiled.
"I'm gonna go upstairs and lay down." I said and they all nodded.
"I'll be upstairs in a minute." Jace said and I nodded and made my way upstairs. I tried to process the news, but there was just no way to, and it hurt.
Jace POV:
"Alright everyone, this is what's going to happen. Sammi, you still remember how to run everything from the office right?" I asked and she nodded. "Great, I need you to be Clary while we're gone. We aren't cancelling the summer session because of this. We're just going to have to play everything by ear. I'm going to talk to Julian and Camille, and let them know we won't be around. Tucker, I want you to be available for anything the construction workers need. I'm not postponing your houses either. Everything will run exactly the same, we just won't be here." I said and they nodded, and than I looked at my kids. "You mom and I are going to stay in America until she passes. I don't know how long that will be, but if you feel like you need to come home, you can, and when she does pass, you can fly back for he funeral." I said and they nodded. "Alright, I'm going to go upstairs and see how she's doing." I said and they nodded.
I walked upstairs and into our room and Clary was curled up on our bed and her cheeks were tear stained. I knew that her mom and her didn't have the best relationship, but this was hard for anyone to digest. I lost my mom when I was young to cancer, so I know how she feels. I walked over to the bed and curled behind her and pulled her into me. She immediately started sobbing. I held her close as she processed all of this. I didn't have anything good to say, so I just kept quiet and rubbed her back. I don't know how long we laid there, but I felt her breathing even out and I knew she just cried herself to sleep. I gently placed her on the bed and got up. I knew she would wake up with a headache, so I was going to grab medicine from downstairs. When I walked downstairs, Tucker, Jack, Pat and Sammi were all still awake.
"How is she?" Jack asked and I shook my head.
"She just cried herself to sleep. I'm grabbing her medicine cause I know she'll wake up with a headache later." I said.
"Take notes Tucker, I expect you to treat me the way my dad treats my mom." Jack said and I couldn't help but smile.
"I don't know how emotional your mom is going to be while we're in America, but just be sensitive, and comfort her as much as you can." I said and they nodded.
"So if she wants to cuddle with me, I should let her?" Pat asked and I laughed.
"I expect to see you cuddling with her for as long as she wants if she asks." I said and he nodded.
"Got it." He said and I nodded.
"How did you do it dad?" Jack asked. They knew about my mom, but not very much. I tried to keep it as vague as possible.
"It was hard. I was really young, and didn't really understand the concept of cancer. I through myself into snowboarding to help cope." I said and they nodded. "It's tough no matter what age you are. Nobody is ever ready to lose a parent."
"I don't even want to think about that." Jack said and I smiled.
"Your mom and I are very healthy, we're going to be around a long time." I said and Jack smiled.
"Good." She said and I took a deep breath.
"Don't stay up too late. Tomorrow we're going to organize our trip to America, and you should get everything packed." I said and they nodded.
I made my way back upstairs and when I opened the door Clary turned over and our eyes locked. I walked over to her and handed her the medicine and a glass of water. She sat up and took the medicine. I took a seat in front of her, and when she was finished taking the medicine I pulled her into my lap and she buried her head into my neck and I rubbed her back.
"I love you." She said after a while and I kissed her hair.
"I love you too. We'll get through this Clary. Together." I said and I felt her nod. I never wanted Clary to know what it felt like to lose a parent to cancer, but it was happening, and I was going to be there every step of the way making sure she as okay and taken care of. I laid down after a while but didn't let go of Clary. If she needed me to hold her all night, that's what I was going to do. Whatever Clary needed I was going to give to her, and I knew our kids would do that same.