On Horseback

Chapter 29: The Father Visit

--- I was probably more nervous than Jack was when I woke up the next morning. We had one day to make the house dazzling perfect. Then we had to dash off to town and tell everyone that a party was going to be held the following night, too, which was.

--- "Ann, you can go to town and invite all the people who you think should come to the party, and I'll clean the farm up. If there are any sick animals, I'll buy medicine. I'll clear the land of the weeds. I'll dust the house. I'll take care of the children. You go out to town, okay?"

--- I figured, "Why not?" and set out for the village. Dad, Gray and Popuri were already coming, so there was no point in going to tell them, so I went to the vineyard first. Kai and Karen were inside the wine cellar, filling the bottles with alcohol.

--- "Karen! Kai! Could you two come to a party at the farm tomorrow night?" I asked the two of them, walking down the stairs.

--- Karen looked at me and said, "Will there be any booze?"

--- I nodded, and they both said that they would attend. I also invited Sasha, and was on my way. The next stop would be the florist's. I basically had to invite Lillia, since the two of us had been friends for so long. After I received a prompt yes from her, I decided to go to the church. The pastor was there and said that he would come too. It looked like it was going to be a lively party.

--- It was fun running around Flower Bud Village, telling everyone that there was going to be a party the following evening. When it started to get dark out, I made a dash for home. Jack was going to get the greatest shock of his life when he found out how many people were attending the big bash.

--- Summer 1st. I was finally getting my chance to meet Jack's father. I just hoped that I would make a good first impression.

--- At 9:00 a.m., Jack, Carlos, Amber and I ran to the beach to welcome the ferry. It would be holding Jack's dad. After a few minutes, we saw the great big white boat pull into the marina. The captain shouted, "All hands off deck!" and two people came off of it. One was a travelling peddler, and the other one was Jack's father.

--- The short man with wavy brown hair came over to the four of us and said, "Jack, my son. It has been so long. How are things going with you? May we go to the farm?" Jack handed me Amber, and father and son hugged each other.

--- When we got to the farm, the five of us stood in front of the house, and we introduced each other.

--- "I am Jack's wife, Ann, and these are our twin children, Carlos and Amber. I did not name them, I think you and Popuri did, yes, Jack?" The farmer nodded, and I smiled. "I love the names, personally. If I didn't I would have changed them."

--- Jack's father began to poke his head around the farm after we finished socializing. He looked in the barn, in the chicken coop, at the land, and the grass fields, even in the greenhouse. Then he looked in the house, at all of the accessories and such and such. It was like a police officer going through everything that you owned.

--- "Yes, I see. Yes, I see," he kept repeating to himself over and over again. "Yes, I certainly see. A job well done. Uh huh. Mm, okay. Capital, my son. This farm is in such good shape. I must say, that this is probably even better than when you're grandfather lived here. I am truly impressed by how you changed it in the last two years. Good job. But, I must now go around to the villagers and get their opinions on how you have been doing." With that, Jack's father went off.

--- "He does well with the girls."

--- "His grass fields are excellent."

--- "I would like it if he continued to share his recipes."

--- "Sorry, he's not all that into fishing."

--- "His home extenstions are perfect."

--- "He has shipped a fair amount of items in the past few years."

--- "He is caring for his animals."

--- "Let Jack keep the farm."

--- At around 5:00 p.m., Jack's father returned. Right on time, since this was when all of the party guests were going to arrive. I announced the occasion to him, and from the look on his face, he didn't want to stick around to party. But of course, looks can be deceiving, and Jack's father was very excited when he found out that a party would be starting.

--- "This way, I can find out who your friends are."

--- Oh, great. Another test that we had to pass. Jack had a sneaky father. Why was I not surprised? Why was I not surprised? The first guest arrived quarter after five.

--- "Let's drink!" It was Karen. Kai followed his wife, carrying Sally. Gray, Popuri and Dad came after that, Gray carrying Mint in his arms. After that, came Lillia, Sasha, the Pastor, Rick, the midwife, May, Zack, Stu, the potion shop owner and Kent. These were the guests at the party.

Well, so I thought. One person, Jeff, came fifteen minutes after all the other guests.

--- "So, you are not friends with everyone in town, are you, now, Jack?" his father asked him. Jack shook his head. "Some of us don't get along. One girl named Elli? She was sweet and caring, but turned ugly when she found out that Ann had a crush on Cliff."

--- "She was PLAYING you?" Jack's father gasped. I sighed.

--- "No, she had a crush on me too. In the end, I ended up wedding her. We gave our wedding its own little name, which I picked out. It was called Our Happy Ending. We both loved the name."

--- The father nodded. "Wonderful. Now, moving along, I see that there is a big strawberry cake that your friend Jeff baked. It looks extremely delicious, so, if I may Jack, could you hand me the knife so that I may cut it?"

--- Jack complied his father's wishes, and he cut the cake into seventeen nice pieces. There weren't any leftovers, but that wasn't such a big deal. Everyone partied hard into the evening. Before any of us knew it, the moon was starting to set in the west. Even the children were still awake.

--- At 5:00 a.m., everyone started to pile out. The only ones who remained on the farm were me, of course, Jack, his father, Karen, Dad, Gray and Popuri. We all sat on the log terrace, as the sun was getting ready to rise.

--- "Son, I am proud of you. You are married, have a bunch of wonderful friends...your life is certainly better than your grandfather's was. I mean, he lead a wonderful life too. And you know what? There is something that I should tell you."

--- Everyone grew attentive.

--- "Your grandfather ended up marrying a beautiful women, who is kind of like you, Popuri" -Popuri flashed her eyes- "but he knew your grandmother, Ann." A strange expression came to my face.

--- "Jay -your grandfather, Jack- married someone who resembles Popuri, but he knew Ann the inventor. That was over fifty years ago, though...but it should live on in your heart forever. It does in mine."

--- Karen decided to say something next. "You want to know what I think? I think that we're all one big happy family. I mean, I know that I'm the only one here who isn't part of your family, but still, look at all of us. Gray and Popuri are happily married. Hall, you're still minding the ranch. And you're now the father to four kids. Jack and Ann? You two are finally together. Even after battling through that whole Cliff ordeal, it's finally over. You guys are finally together. Case closed."

--- After Karen said that, I embraced my father, and Gray hugged Popuri. Karen gave a big hug to Jack, and his father just sat there, with a huge grin on his face. "Guys, you're all one big happy family."

--- I looked over at Karen and said, "You're my best friend." I looked at Gray and Popuri and said, "Brother and sister-in-law." Over to my Dad. "My father, obviously." Then I looked at Jack and said, "You gave me a happy ending, Jack. I love you." We decided to kiss, regardless of how many people were around us. They all just went "awww" though.

--- When the sun came up, everyone but Jack's father left. I shouted to them, "See you later!" and they were on their ways. I then looked over at Jack and said, "Thank you for making my dream a reality. I love you so much." I kissed him again, under the bright sunlight.

--- Jack's father said that he had to get going. The four of us went down to the marina, and bidded a big farewell to him. The boat docked out, and we kept waving to him until the boat arrived in Silver Sapphire.

--- The two of us put Carlos and Amber down in the sand, and we began to kiss each other. Our lives would now flow on, from now until the end of time. We would continue living in peace, and one thing for sure: On that very farm.

--- Suddenly, I had the urge to ride a horse.

--- "Jack, let's go home. I want to ride a horse!"

--- Jack looked at me with a cute smirk on his face. "I know what you want to do...you want to get-"

--- I interrupted him with crying out loud, "ON HORSEBACK!"