Chapter 25
Weeks later, Thanksgiving had arrived. And from the get go, Mallory had been dreading it.
Not that Jarod had been. Despite all of the bad news they had had, in the weeks since they had discovered their parents duplicity.
Shortly after the nightly phone call incident, papers arrived, announcing Major Charles and Catherine Parker's intention to seek shared custody of Brian. Sydney had suggested a few good lawyers. Jarod and Mallory went with a firm on the outskirts of Blue Cove.
Their lawyer, a Mr. Barry Hamilton, was confident that their parents didn't have a leg to stand on, considering their past history and spotty parenting record. Mallory suspected as much as well, but was still worried. After all, Jarod and her were just as new to this 'parenting' thing, as their parents were.
The second thing that occurred was that Jarod's sister, Emily, turned down their Thanksgiving dinner invitation. She claimed that she felt as if she needed to be with Major Charles this holiday. Jarod noted that once again, his little sister declined to mention Catherine Parker, almost as if she did not know about her.
At first, Jarod had been hurt by her refusal to come, thinking that she was automatically taking their father's side. But, with this custody thing hanging over all of their heads, neither his father, nor Catherine Parker, would be able to hide the truth from everyone for much longer. And he suspected that Emily would feel quite betrayed when she realized just how much of the truth, Major Charles had kept from her.
Ethan, however, was coming. And Jarod fully intended to tell him the truth. Ethan, had moved from Alaska, to Chicago. He had taken a liking to the place, when Jarod and him were there meeting with Sidney Bristow, some time back. Ethan had actually lived in the same town with their father, and to Jarod's knowledge, had no idea that his father and mother were married, much less living together.
If Jarod had learned nothing else, from his lifelong nightmare in dealing with the Centre, it was that patience was a virtue, and that the truth would come out, eventually. Major Charles and Catherine Parker were running out of time.
It was the day before the holiday, and Jarod had no classes at the university. He was truly looking forward to what he would consider his first Thanksgiving with his family. The first one where the shadow of the Centre, did not hang over his head.
Jarod had insisted on making the meal, something that Mallory had seemed more than fine with. Mallory was going to pick Ethan up from the airport tonight and he would be staying with them...although, if his reaction to their news was as negative as Jarod suspected it might be, then their little brother may just want to find a hotel to stay in! But Jarod hoped that would not be the case.
He stood in the kitchen, looking over a recipe for a special, glazed turkey. He put the book aside, then picked up another, for a special meal he wanted to make for Ethan tonight.
Abigail, sat in her usual high chair and kicked against it. Jarod peered over at her, as he tested a sauce that he had just prepared. Mallory walked into the kitchen just then.
'The guest room is ready for Ethan.' she said proudly, looking over at Abigail's wild form. She then looked at Jarod. Uh oh!
'It's almost as if she wants a taste or something.' Jarod noted, looking at his little girl. Mallory walked over to remove her from the chair. Jarod, perceptive genius that he was, might figure out that she snuck their daughter quite a bit of non baby food, while she cooked! So, yes, Abigail was indeed kicking because she wanted some of what Jarod was eating!
'Of course, how would she know that what I'm eating is any good anyway?' he asked, still staring.
'I don't think it's that, Jarod. I just think she's restless in this chair.' Mallory said smoothly. Abigail needed to be taken away from all of these tempting smells. Jarod opened up a cabinet and pulled out some baby food.
'I'll make her a small snack. She must be hungry, though she just ate breakfast...' Jarod trailed off, still perplexed by their daughter's apparent greed.
God no! Mallory thought. That would just make Abigail angrier! If she had to eat that slop that passed for baby food, when she could smell something else?!
Just as Mallory was about to pick her up out of the chair, the phone in the kitchen rang. Mallory sat Abigail back down, walked over to the wall mounted phone, and answered it.
'Hello?' she asked. She did not see Jarod smile, as he mashed baby food. His wife was really getting the hang of not saying, 'what'!
'Is this Mrs. Russell?' the voice asked.
'Yes, who is this?'
'This is the Principal's office from Blue Cove High. There has been an incident concerning your son Brian. Principal Wood would like to see one or both of Brian's parents right away.'
Damn! Mallory thought. She sighed.
'I'll be right there.' she said brusquely, hanging up. Jarod looked over at her.
'Who was that?' he asked.
Mallory looked over at him.
'I'm going to go and pick up Brian now.' she said, walking out of the kitchen. Jarod walked over to Abigail, picked her up and followed her out of the kitchen. He found his wife at the hall closet, putting on a coat.
'Is he sick?'
Mallory flipped her hair so that it was outside of the coat.
'I doubt it, since that call was from the Principal's office.'
Jarod said nothing, and he didn't need to. His look of displeasure said it all.
'I'm coming with you.'
Mallory put her hand up in a halting motion.
'No.'
'Mallory...'
'No, Jarod! Look, stay here and get things ready. We'll talk about it when I get back with Brian.'
Jarod walked up to her holding Abigail.
'I think it's important that we go together.'
'And I think it's important that you stay here and get things ready. I, more than anything, want this holiday to be good for you, okay? You're the one that isn't letting all of this custody crap ruin the good we do have. So, go and enjoy your cooking concoctions, take care of our girl here and I will be back with our son. We'll talk about whatever the problem is then, okay?'
Jarod nodded and Mallory kissed him quickly before turning and walking towards the front door. She opened it and closed it quickly. She then exhaled. She hoped like hell whatever this was about, would not ruin their holiday.
****
Mallory's heels clanked down the hallway, causing an echo. The bell rang, just as she opened the door to the Principal's office. She walked up to the secretary, who smiled up at her.
'Hello, may I help you?'
'I'm Mrs. Russell. I got a call about my son Brian.'
The secretary's face changed slightly, but she covered. She stood up.
'Yes, this way.'
Mallory followed the woman down a hallway. The secretary knocked on a door that read, 'Principal Wood'.
'Yes?' a male voice called out.
The secretary opened the door. Mallory saw an elderly man get up from a chair....along with Brian, who was still sitting down. He looked away.
'Mrs. Russell of course. I watched the Centre trials on Court TV. I must say you look exactly as you did on TV. Do come in.' he almost purred.
The secretary left, closing the door behind her. Mallory walked over to Brian and sat down next to him. She touched his hair. He pulled away. Mallory clamped her lips together and looked at Principal Wood.
'What seems to be the problem?' Mallory asked, folding her hands in her lap.
Principal Wood cleared his throat.
'Brian here, assaulted a teacher today.'
Mallory suddenly felt very tired. She slowly looked over at her son. He looked away, guilt was written all over him. Mallory looked back over at Principal Wood.
'Tell me what happened.' she said.
'Oh great!' Brian snapped. 'You don't want to hear my side of this!'
Mallory looked at him calmly.
'I'm sorry, honey, were you framed? Did you not hit a teacher?'
Brian looked away again. Mallory's gaze returned to the principal.
'Tell me what happened.' she repeated.
****
Mallory's car accelerated as her and Brian reached their neighborhood. Brian looked over at her.
'So, are you going to yell at me now?' he asked.
Mallory's mouth tightened.
'You have been kicked out of school, Brian. They wouldn't have you back for all of the money in the world! Not that I blame them, since your hitting that teacher, because he called on you when you did not raise your hand, was the least of your offenses....problems that you took great pains to hide from us! By the way, your father is going to be so proud that you were able to finagle the phone system, so that when they did call to tell us about you, you had the calls re-routed to a pay phone downtown! It's a wonder I even found out about this!'
Brian sighed.
'The school figured out what I did and fixed it. Are you going to tell Jarod?'
'Yes, Brian. He's your father. I know you hate him and me, but I do have to tell him.'
Mallory pulled into their driveway and turned off the engine. Brian cleared his throat.
'I don't hate you...or Jarod. I told you I would be happy to visit you both in the summer or something! But my life is back in Alaska! I miss my friends! I hate this school! Everyone hates me and I hate them! Just send me back home!'
Mallory got out of the car and walked briskly towards the front door, keys in hand. She hated hearing her son beg like that! He acted as if they were keeping him prisoner or something!
She opened up the door and found Jarod sitting on a couch in the living room, looking quiet calm. Something that smelled good was cooking. Mallory smiled at him.
'Dinner is proceeding quite nicely.' she said, looking behind her at the sullen looking Brian. He closed the door. Jarod stood up.
'We need to talk, right now.' he said, looking at Mallory. He looked around her at Brian.
'Brian, could you give your mother and I some privacy, please?' he asked, in a light, breezy sounding tone. Mallory tensed up. Something was wrong.
Brian shrugged. He had not wanted to be present when Mallory told Jarod about his getting kicked out of school.
'I'll be up in my room.' was all he said. He hurried up the stairs. Mallory waited until she heard his door close, before she spoke.
'What now? And where's Abigail?'
'I put her down for her nap.' Jarod responded, before he turned away from her.
Jarod walked behind the sofa and bent down. When he rose back up, he walked back over to Mallory and handed her three heavy books. Frowning, she set them down on another sofa and looked them over. They were law books. She looked at Jarod.
'What is this?' she asked.
Jarod folded her arms.
'Law books. I found the passages about custody rights particularly interesting.'
Mallory looked back at the books, then at Jarod.
'Where did you find these?' she asked.
'In our son's room.'
Mallory didn't quite get it.
'I don't understand...I mean, is Brian trying to grasp what's about to happen?'
Jarod pursed his lips.
'Brian has underlined several passages that relate to things that may cause a parent to lose custody of a child.'
Mallory just stared at him. She then looked away and shook her head.
'I can't go through this anymore, Jarod. I mean, I can't. I hate the idea of my mother and your father raising Brian, but I can't beg, not one more moment, for my own son to love me. I spent a lifetime begging my own father to do so. I can't.'
Jarod walked up to her and put his hands on her shoulders.
'We have to think of Brian now.' he said softly. 'If our parents are the people that make him feel safe and secure, then we have no choice. I mean I think he's been trying to undermine our chances this whole time. If he's that desperate to go back to Alaska, then let's let him go. He will always be our son.'
Mallory just shook her head.
'At the same time, I'd rather see Brian in a foster home, than living with those two despicable people!'
'Mallory!' Jarod cried out.
'I mean it, Jarod! We don't know that they didn't brainwash Brian into doing legal research for them or something! And I am not about to trust my son with two people that have a history of running off and leaving children! No! We'll think of another way! We have to.'
Jarod wrapped his arms around her.
'Okay, okay. So let's go up and talk to him about school, okay?' he whispered. Mallory swiped at her eyes and pulled away from him. She turned around.
'He's been kicked out of Blue Cove High. He hit a teacher.' she whispered.
'Oh, God!'
Mallory grabbed his hands.
'We'll make this work...we just have to give him a little more time. I know I sounded like I wanted to give up just now, but I know we can make this work.'
'Are you sure this is about getting to know our son?' he asked.
Mallory shook her head slightly.
'What do you mean? What else would it be about?'
'Keeping him from our parents...from your mother.'
'Jarod, let's just go and talk with him. Then, you can go to the airport and get Ethan. We'll have enough to deal with this holiday, without thinking about our parents, okay?'
Jarod wiped a tear from her cheek. She hadn't answered his question, but he let it go. He was worried about her. She was not dealing with her mother's deception, and her newfound sister. This couldn't go on.
But, he changed the subject.
'You know, Mrs. Russell, I would love to become a father again...really, really soon.'
Mallory blinked! Good God! Was Jarod suggesting they have another baby?!
She stared at him. She didn't know why the suggestion seemed absurd. But, the more she thought about it, Mallory guessed it could be a possibility.
'I guess that may be a doable.' she answered, smiling at him. Jarod then took her hand, and together, they walked upstairs.
Meanwhile, shortly after the couple went upstairs, their back kitchen door was pried open. Lyle stepped in and closed the door softly. He looked around and smiled.
Everyone thought he had left the country with little Bobby. WRONG!
The happy family theme Jarod and his sister had going was making him sick! Lyle reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a gun. His sister had something that he wanted, no, needed, before he was able to slip out of sight. And she was going to give it to him. Otherwise no one was going to have a happy Thanksgiving!
Weeks later, Thanksgiving had arrived. And from the get go, Mallory had been dreading it.
Not that Jarod had been. Despite all of the bad news they had had, in the weeks since they had discovered their parents duplicity.
Shortly after the nightly phone call incident, papers arrived, announcing Major Charles and Catherine Parker's intention to seek shared custody of Brian. Sydney had suggested a few good lawyers. Jarod and Mallory went with a firm on the outskirts of Blue Cove.
Their lawyer, a Mr. Barry Hamilton, was confident that their parents didn't have a leg to stand on, considering their past history and spotty parenting record. Mallory suspected as much as well, but was still worried. After all, Jarod and her were just as new to this 'parenting' thing, as their parents were.
The second thing that occurred was that Jarod's sister, Emily, turned down their Thanksgiving dinner invitation. She claimed that she felt as if she needed to be with Major Charles this holiday. Jarod noted that once again, his little sister declined to mention Catherine Parker, almost as if she did not know about her.
At first, Jarod had been hurt by her refusal to come, thinking that she was automatically taking their father's side. But, with this custody thing hanging over all of their heads, neither his father, nor Catherine Parker, would be able to hide the truth from everyone for much longer. And he suspected that Emily would feel quite betrayed when she realized just how much of the truth, Major Charles had kept from her.
Ethan, however, was coming. And Jarod fully intended to tell him the truth. Ethan, had moved from Alaska, to Chicago. He had taken a liking to the place, when Jarod and him were there meeting with Sidney Bristow, some time back. Ethan had actually lived in the same town with their father, and to Jarod's knowledge, had no idea that his father and mother were married, much less living together.
If Jarod had learned nothing else, from his lifelong nightmare in dealing with the Centre, it was that patience was a virtue, and that the truth would come out, eventually. Major Charles and Catherine Parker were running out of time.
It was the day before the holiday, and Jarod had no classes at the university. He was truly looking forward to what he would consider his first Thanksgiving with his family. The first one where the shadow of the Centre, did not hang over his head.
Jarod had insisted on making the meal, something that Mallory had seemed more than fine with. Mallory was going to pick Ethan up from the airport tonight and he would be staying with them...although, if his reaction to their news was as negative as Jarod suspected it might be, then their little brother may just want to find a hotel to stay in! But Jarod hoped that would not be the case.
He stood in the kitchen, looking over a recipe for a special, glazed turkey. He put the book aside, then picked up another, for a special meal he wanted to make for Ethan tonight.
Abigail, sat in her usual high chair and kicked against it. Jarod peered over at her, as he tested a sauce that he had just prepared. Mallory walked into the kitchen just then.
'The guest room is ready for Ethan.' she said proudly, looking over at Abigail's wild form. She then looked at Jarod. Uh oh!
'It's almost as if she wants a taste or something.' Jarod noted, looking at his little girl. Mallory walked over to remove her from the chair. Jarod, perceptive genius that he was, might figure out that she snuck their daughter quite a bit of non baby food, while she cooked! So, yes, Abigail was indeed kicking because she wanted some of what Jarod was eating!
'Of course, how would she know that what I'm eating is any good anyway?' he asked, still staring.
'I don't think it's that, Jarod. I just think she's restless in this chair.' Mallory said smoothly. Abigail needed to be taken away from all of these tempting smells. Jarod opened up a cabinet and pulled out some baby food.
'I'll make her a small snack. She must be hungry, though she just ate breakfast...' Jarod trailed off, still perplexed by their daughter's apparent greed.
God no! Mallory thought. That would just make Abigail angrier! If she had to eat that slop that passed for baby food, when she could smell something else?!
Just as Mallory was about to pick her up out of the chair, the phone in the kitchen rang. Mallory sat Abigail back down, walked over to the wall mounted phone, and answered it.
'Hello?' she asked. She did not see Jarod smile, as he mashed baby food. His wife was really getting the hang of not saying, 'what'!
'Is this Mrs. Russell?' the voice asked.
'Yes, who is this?'
'This is the Principal's office from Blue Cove High. There has been an incident concerning your son Brian. Principal Wood would like to see one or both of Brian's parents right away.'
Damn! Mallory thought. She sighed.
'I'll be right there.' she said brusquely, hanging up. Jarod looked over at her.
'Who was that?' he asked.
Mallory looked over at him.
'I'm going to go and pick up Brian now.' she said, walking out of the kitchen. Jarod walked over to Abigail, picked her up and followed her out of the kitchen. He found his wife at the hall closet, putting on a coat.
'Is he sick?'
Mallory flipped her hair so that it was outside of the coat.
'I doubt it, since that call was from the Principal's office.'
Jarod said nothing, and he didn't need to. His look of displeasure said it all.
'I'm coming with you.'
Mallory put her hand up in a halting motion.
'No.'
'Mallory...'
'No, Jarod! Look, stay here and get things ready. We'll talk about it when I get back with Brian.'
Jarod walked up to her holding Abigail.
'I think it's important that we go together.'
'And I think it's important that you stay here and get things ready. I, more than anything, want this holiday to be good for you, okay? You're the one that isn't letting all of this custody crap ruin the good we do have. So, go and enjoy your cooking concoctions, take care of our girl here and I will be back with our son. We'll talk about whatever the problem is then, okay?'
Jarod nodded and Mallory kissed him quickly before turning and walking towards the front door. She opened it and closed it quickly. She then exhaled. She hoped like hell whatever this was about, would not ruin their holiday.
****
Mallory's heels clanked down the hallway, causing an echo. The bell rang, just as she opened the door to the Principal's office. She walked up to the secretary, who smiled up at her.
'Hello, may I help you?'
'I'm Mrs. Russell. I got a call about my son Brian.'
The secretary's face changed slightly, but she covered. She stood up.
'Yes, this way.'
Mallory followed the woman down a hallway. The secretary knocked on a door that read, 'Principal Wood'.
'Yes?' a male voice called out.
The secretary opened the door. Mallory saw an elderly man get up from a chair....along with Brian, who was still sitting down. He looked away.
'Mrs. Russell of course. I watched the Centre trials on Court TV. I must say you look exactly as you did on TV. Do come in.' he almost purred.
The secretary left, closing the door behind her. Mallory walked over to Brian and sat down next to him. She touched his hair. He pulled away. Mallory clamped her lips together and looked at Principal Wood.
'What seems to be the problem?' Mallory asked, folding her hands in her lap.
Principal Wood cleared his throat.
'Brian here, assaulted a teacher today.'
Mallory suddenly felt very tired. She slowly looked over at her son. He looked away, guilt was written all over him. Mallory looked back over at Principal Wood.
'Tell me what happened.' she said.
'Oh great!' Brian snapped. 'You don't want to hear my side of this!'
Mallory looked at him calmly.
'I'm sorry, honey, were you framed? Did you not hit a teacher?'
Brian looked away again. Mallory's gaze returned to the principal.
'Tell me what happened.' she repeated.
****
Mallory's car accelerated as her and Brian reached their neighborhood. Brian looked over at her.
'So, are you going to yell at me now?' he asked.
Mallory's mouth tightened.
'You have been kicked out of school, Brian. They wouldn't have you back for all of the money in the world! Not that I blame them, since your hitting that teacher, because he called on you when you did not raise your hand, was the least of your offenses....problems that you took great pains to hide from us! By the way, your father is going to be so proud that you were able to finagle the phone system, so that when they did call to tell us about you, you had the calls re-routed to a pay phone downtown! It's a wonder I even found out about this!'
Brian sighed.
'The school figured out what I did and fixed it. Are you going to tell Jarod?'
'Yes, Brian. He's your father. I know you hate him and me, but I do have to tell him.'
Mallory pulled into their driveway and turned off the engine. Brian cleared his throat.
'I don't hate you...or Jarod. I told you I would be happy to visit you both in the summer or something! But my life is back in Alaska! I miss my friends! I hate this school! Everyone hates me and I hate them! Just send me back home!'
Mallory got out of the car and walked briskly towards the front door, keys in hand. She hated hearing her son beg like that! He acted as if they were keeping him prisoner or something!
She opened up the door and found Jarod sitting on a couch in the living room, looking quiet calm. Something that smelled good was cooking. Mallory smiled at him.
'Dinner is proceeding quite nicely.' she said, looking behind her at the sullen looking Brian. He closed the door. Jarod stood up.
'We need to talk, right now.' he said, looking at Mallory. He looked around her at Brian.
'Brian, could you give your mother and I some privacy, please?' he asked, in a light, breezy sounding tone. Mallory tensed up. Something was wrong.
Brian shrugged. He had not wanted to be present when Mallory told Jarod about his getting kicked out of school.
'I'll be up in my room.' was all he said. He hurried up the stairs. Mallory waited until she heard his door close, before she spoke.
'What now? And where's Abigail?'
'I put her down for her nap.' Jarod responded, before he turned away from her.
Jarod walked behind the sofa and bent down. When he rose back up, he walked back over to Mallory and handed her three heavy books. Frowning, she set them down on another sofa and looked them over. They were law books. She looked at Jarod.
'What is this?' she asked.
Jarod folded her arms.
'Law books. I found the passages about custody rights particularly interesting.'
Mallory looked back at the books, then at Jarod.
'Where did you find these?' she asked.
'In our son's room.'
Mallory didn't quite get it.
'I don't understand...I mean, is Brian trying to grasp what's about to happen?'
Jarod pursed his lips.
'Brian has underlined several passages that relate to things that may cause a parent to lose custody of a child.'
Mallory just stared at him. She then looked away and shook her head.
'I can't go through this anymore, Jarod. I mean, I can't. I hate the idea of my mother and your father raising Brian, but I can't beg, not one more moment, for my own son to love me. I spent a lifetime begging my own father to do so. I can't.'
Jarod walked up to her and put his hands on her shoulders.
'We have to think of Brian now.' he said softly. 'If our parents are the people that make him feel safe and secure, then we have no choice. I mean I think he's been trying to undermine our chances this whole time. If he's that desperate to go back to Alaska, then let's let him go. He will always be our son.'
Mallory just shook her head.
'At the same time, I'd rather see Brian in a foster home, than living with those two despicable people!'
'Mallory!' Jarod cried out.
'I mean it, Jarod! We don't know that they didn't brainwash Brian into doing legal research for them or something! And I am not about to trust my son with two people that have a history of running off and leaving children! No! We'll think of another way! We have to.'
Jarod wrapped his arms around her.
'Okay, okay. So let's go up and talk to him about school, okay?' he whispered. Mallory swiped at her eyes and pulled away from him. She turned around.
'He's been kicked out of Blue Cove High. He hit a teacher.' she whispered.
'Oh, God!'
Mallory grabbed his hands.
'We'll make this work...we just have to give him a little more time. I know I sounded like I wanted to give up just now, but I know we can make this work.'
'Are you sure this is about getting to know our son?' he asked.
Mallory shook her head slightly.
'What do you mean? What else would it be about?'
'Keeping him from our parents...from your mother.'
'Jarod, let's just go and talk with him. Then, you can go to the airport and get Ethan. We'll have enough to deal with this holiday, without thinking about our parents, okay?'
Jarod wiped a tear from her cheek. She hadn't answered his question, but he let it go. He was worried about her. She was not dealing with her mother's deception, and her newfound sister. This couldn't go on.
But, he changed the subject.
'You know, Mrs. Russell, I would love to become a father again...really, really soon.'
Mallory blinked! Good God! Was Jarod suggesting they have another baby?!
She stared at him. She didn't know why the suggestion seemed absurd. But, the more she thought about it, Mallory guessed it could be a possibility.
'I guess that may be a doable.' she answered, smiling at him. Jarod then took her hand, and together, they walked upstairs.
Meanwhile, shortly after the couple went upstairs, their back kitchen door was pried open. Lyle stepped in and closed the door softly. He looked around and smiled.
Everyone thought he had left the country with little Bobby. WRONG!
The happy family theme Jarod and his sister had going was making him sick! Lyle reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a gun. His sister had something that he wanted, no, needed, before he was able to slip out of sight. And she was going to give it to him. Otherwise no one was going to have a happy Thanksgiving!