"How the hell did she get you to agree to this?" Eric said, driving, looking at his wife and then back at the road.
"Eric, she's my best friend. And she wants me stay with her for a week at her grandmother's estate, where butlers and maids and other people will do everything and I won't have to lift a finger… I am not going to say no!" Donna said staring ahead of her.
"Why does Jackie want us down there any way? I mean… I thought she told her entire family." Eric said staring at the road.
"She did… but her grandmother is the head of the family, she wants to make sure Hyde won't bring disgrace." Donna said opening her novel. Eric chuckled a bit.
"Still, why us?"
"I don't know. I always got along with Jackie's grandmother and so did you, hell so did Fez. Hyde and Kelso were never really on her good side."
"Probably because Kelso dumped a bucket of water on her head because he thought her hair was on fire. And Hyde didn't exactly make a good impression when he walked into the Burkhardt thanksgiving dinner drunk; announcing he's been sleeping with Jackie for a year." Eric laughed.
"You know everyone else knew it was a hat, how is Kelso so stupid?" Donna asked.
"He's Kelso."
"God we've been driving since three in the morning."
"It's a 16 hour drive. And I'm the one who's been driving."
"We're almost there any way." Donna said.
At five o'clock Donna and Eric were on an empty road. The trees were swaying, there was a deer grazing. And Donna had to use the bathroom.
"Dammit Eric!"
"You used a bathroom an hour ago!" Eric yelled pressing on the gas some more.
"I don't care!"
"Look we'll be at the damn estate in freakin five minutes." Eric pressed on the gas again.
As they got up to the hill a beautiful house came into view. There was a black iron gate that must have been ten or twenty feet high. The huge house was painted a light blue with a black roof. The front yard was well kept, and the gate seemed to surround the house for acres.
"Jesus." Donna said in awe. Eric pulled up to the gate that opened. The driveway was extremely long and took nearly ten minutes to get to the house. Once in front of the house Donna and Eric got out of the car and made their way to the door.
"And too think she got to spend every summer here." Eric said with envy. Donna rang the door bell, shaking her head to her husband.
"Burkhardt Estate." Answer a deep voice. Eric looked at the old man.
"Jackie Burkhardt?" Was Eric's only response.
"Yes, miss is having tea with the mistress of the house." The tall, elder man said.
"Can you show us where the powder room is?" Donna said pushing Eric out of the way with a look of sheer pain on her face.
*
"Nana…"
"Jacqueline you and Monsieur Hyde will not be sharing a room in my living quarters." An elderly woman said tapping her cane on the floor."
"But Nana…"
"You will use your room from when you were younger and Monsieur Hyde, here, will stay with your guest in the guest quarters."
"You're being unreasonable."
"Jacqueline, don't use such a tone with me."
Jackie looked at her grandmother and then took a sip of the tea that was in front of her. Hyde sat next to her, his sunglasses present and not making a sound.
"Mistress? Miss Jacqueline's guests have arrived." Jackie's grandmother simply nodded.
Donna and Eric entered the high ceiling living room.
"Whoa." Eric whispered. The butler began to leave. "Oh, dude, wait, we need our bags…"
"You're luggage has been brought to you're living quarters." The elderly man said walking out of the living room. Eric and Donna turned to see Jackie looking angry, Hyde looking Zen, and "nana" looking at them critically.
"Grandma Burkhardt!" Eric smiled. "Thank you for allowing us to stay with you."
"The pleasure is all mine." Nana said standing up. "I'll be retiring for the night. Jacqueline I'll have Joseph check to make sure you're in your room by ten o'clock." And then Nana departed.
"That woman is such a hag!" Jackie said cuddling next to Hyde.
"Wait… you're going to stay in your own room?" Donna asked sitting on one of the couches.
"Yes, yes I'll be in my old room." Jackie said bitterly tucking her head into Hyde. Hyde put his arm around her and shook his head toward Donna and Eric.
"So, what's our room going to look like?" Eric asked pouring himself some tea.
*
Donna was jumping up and down on the huge king size bed with the lavender theme.
"This is the best room ever!" Donna said jumping. Jackie nodded her head from the white couch that was off to the side of the room. "It's like a freakin' palace."
"Nana always had a sense of flare." Jackie got up and went over to the dresser.
"Thanks for inviting us." Donna said sitting on the bed.
"Yeah, no problem, I figured you and Eric would have fun. We're going horse back riding tomorrow."
"Really! God, you must have had the best freakin summers here!" Donna exclaimed here.
"Oh yeah. They were great." Jackie said looking in the mirror. Donna picked up on her tone and looked at her.
"Did I miss something?"
"No, it's just… nothing, forget it." Jackie smiled slightly. "Let's go get you some food."
"Yum!" Donna jumped up and ran out of the room.
*
"You guys missed us only after a month? Pretty sad." Eric smiled as he and Hyde checked out Hyde's bedroom.
"Yeah, we invited you because we missed you Foreman." Hyde said laying on the bed.
"This place is huge." Eric said.
"Well, it's all Burkhardt money. Senior Mrs. Burkhardt is the richest of them all. When she dies this entire estate goes to Jacks." Hyde said, staring at the ceiling.
"Are you serious?" Eric asked in awe.
"Yeah… Jackie's her favorite grand kid. But Mrs. Burkhardt might never die." Hyde said.
"Really?"
"Jackie's great grandmother lived to a hundred and six. Mrs. Burkhardt, senior, is only eighty-two, and still does the tango." Hyde said.
"A hundred and six?" Eric said, awestricken.
"Yep."
"Eric!" Donna came bouncing into the room. "We're going horse back riding tomorrow. And there's going to be a huge dinner party and if Hyde doesn't act like a rich snob Grandma Burkhardt is not gonna approve of the marriage!" Donna said excitedly. "Shh! Don't tell Hyde!"
"Donna!" Hyde said. Donna turned around and then back at Eric.
"Damn!"
*
Jackie and Eric were riding with grace and poise over the ten acre land. While Hyde and Donna both lagged behind. Hyde had almost fallen off the horse several different times. And Donna was bouncing up and down on the horse awkwardly Jackie rode behind them.
"Are you two having fun?" She laughed. Eric was still up ahead, watching them.
"Why is it so hard to ride these damn things." Donna said, awkwardly jumping up and down.
"It takes lesson after lesson after lesson." Jackie smiled.
"Foreman is doing fine."
"He took lessons at a camp he went too when he was around ten." Donna said, now trying to stop the horse.
"Why don't you guys go back to the house and have something to eat. I and Eric will ride for a little while longer." Jackie said, tapping her horse, so he'd run. Hyde and Donna watched and then looked at each other. Donna slid off the horse as Hyde came tumbling down.
They then walked towards the house.
"I wonder how I fit into her life sometimes."
"Are you kidding? You're the normal part of her life." Donna said walking with the horse.
*
Jackie spun around in front of the mirror. There was a knock on her door.
"Come in." Jackie spun around again. Hyde walked in and showed her his suit. It was dark blue with a lighter blue tie. Everything was ironed. He wasn't wearing his sunglasses and was wearing black shoes with a silver watch. "Look at you." Jackie said, kissing him lightly.
"Look at you." Hyde smiled. Jackie giggled a bit. She was wearing a light blue dress that had short sleeves and the bottom slanted towards the left. There was a sliver pattern at the bottom of the dress that glittered when she walked. She was wearing silver sandals, and her hair was in a French twist with curls coming on her face.
"We match." Jackie smiled.
"Hadn't noticed." Hyde kissed her again.
"Your hair is still puffy."
"I was not combing it down."
"Fine."
"Ok, we're ready let's go impress rich snobs!" Eric said walking into the room with his brown suit, and red tie.
"Looking sharp." Hyde said, looking over Eric.
"I know, I know." Donna came in wearing a black dress that went to her calves. Her hair was down with a diamond clip on the right side.
"Can we go now?"
"Yeah, yeah…" Jackie smiled.
"Why do you care so much about Grandma Burkhardt's approval?" Eric asked as they walked down the corridor.
"You know how Red ruined your wedding, costed you over two thousand dollars to fix?" Jackie said, turning to Eric.
"Yeah…"
"It'll be like Strom Red, except Hurricane Grandma. And it could cost us over hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair her damage." Jackie continued to walk holding Hyde's hand.
"Eek. I think we should put her in a room with Red. That way neither of them will cause issues." Donna suggested.
"Or you know, one will kill the other." Eric said. The other three laughed. "I'm serious, and I've seen Grandma Burkhardt yell. I'd fear for Red."
After a few more laughs other then Eric, the group came to the door.
"Ok guys, stand tall, act like you're richer then everyone else there, and don't, I repeat, don't mention stock… you could easily cause a massacre." Jackie said as she opened the door to the huge dinning room.
((next chapter will have the dinner party… disaster is around the corner ;}))