Chapter 67 – Packages
By the time that both Nathan and Doug had showered and were changed, Jack was coming back into their room. He had showered in the gym. Jack stopped and looked at both Doug and Nathan sitting on the bottom bunks talking.
"What are you talking about?" Jack asked.
"Just catching up." Doug said. "He may have been briefed about you, but he wasn't about Lee and I. So I was just filling in some blanks for him."
"Fine." Jack said.
Nathan stood up and walked over to Jack. He stopped him and looked him right in the eye.
"I don't know what is going on with you right now." Nathan said. "But enough with the attitude. I am not the one that said anything. I explained to your father what happened. He was not upset with me, just concerned for everyone's safety. Your problem it with your parents not accepting your choices. Welcome to real life. Figure out a way to deal with. Talk to them. Talk to us or something. I like you, but I am not going to put up with the attitude much longer. Don't get me wrong, I will do my job, but something needs to give. You all need to talk it out and you need to talk to Elizabeth – alone."
"Sorry." Jack said. "I have never really had a problem with my parents before. Yes, I have disagreed with my mother over things, jumping being one of them, but my father as always been more understanding. I don't know where he was coming from, the way that he has been acting lately."
Jack let out a harsh breath.
"Jack." Doug said. "Truth be told, you really haven't been yourself much the last week either. I mean you are talking about marriage and settling down. You are eighteen years old. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that it is a bad thing, but it kind of came out of left field. I think we are all reeling a little. We are trying to figure out how to deal with this Jack. This is not the same Jack that graduated high school a few weeks ago, you are also not the same Jack that we, Lee and I, have known the last few years. I know that you have been struggling with some things for months, but this is different. You are talking back and being secretive. Please just talk to us.
We are worried about you. I am suppose to be your best friend. I can't back you up and support you if I don't know what you are doing. I told you that I would always stand with you. Lee too. You just have to let us in and not drop things on us like a ton of bricks. Please. I am not saying that this new Jack is a bad thing, but it is different then the person I have known for years. I promise I am not going anywhere. Just talk to us. I understand if you can't tell us everything, but seriously. If you want us to back whatever your play is with your parents, we need to know before you drop another nuclear bomb."
"I agree with him." Nathan said. "I refused to tell you father what we talk about on Sunday or anything else that you have told me. He wasn't happy, but I don't care. Your trust is more important. I told you that unless it compromises your safety, what we talk about is between us. The only reason I was talking to Doug was because he has known you longer and I felt like I was working blind here. I may have read about you, but Doug is right, I needed some background that wasn't in the reports I read. I am also starting to see that the reports were off when they talked about you, especially the ones about and from security. Please don't be mad at us. We are all trying to get on the same page, but you have seemed to jump to a completely different book."
Jack looked at Doug and then looked over to Nathan. Jack closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He counted to ten as he blew the breath out and then looked at his best friend and his new friend.
"Sorry." Jack said. "I know everything has been flipped on its head over the last week and I am trying to figure things out. I can't even put into words half of what I am feeling. Yes, I have been different, but a lot of what is happening has been in the works for some time and everything is just coming to a head at once. I will try to be better about telling you what is going on, if I can even find the words."
"That is all we are trying to say." Nathan said.
"You are not the only one dealing with things." Doug finished.
"We just want to be there for you." Nathan said. "But we are working at a slight disadvantage if you don't talk to us about what is going. I know that last night a lot of things came to a head and we have been dealing with Tommy's crap, but seriously. You are night and day different then you were before your father arrived. That speech that you gave your parents last night. I don't even know where to start. From what I have seen and heard, your parents didn't say anything in response to the accusations that you made. Do you remember what you said? I just don't want to you to do something that you will regret. Trust me when I say I have made mistakes and I am hoping that you don't have to learn things the hard way like I have.
Granted, my situation was different, but doesn't mean that I can't speak from experience. I was eighteen once and I am a different person then I was when I was eighteen. You don't have to make life decisions right now. All I am asking is that you talk to someone and don't do anything life altering right now, especially if you have any doubts. Please just talk to us all."
"Fine." Jack said. "But some things are done and people will just have to deal. I love my family, but I am never going to be the person that my parents want me to be. I need to be my own person and part of that is deciding what I want and need. Yes, I remember what I said last night. I accused my parents of cheating. After what Gran said to me, it was the only thing that I could think of why both Ma and Dad were so against me being with Elizabeth. I had Devin check and that was the call on Sunday when he wanted me to take him off speaker. He assured me that we are not related base on what he knew and blood types.
Devin has informed me that there are some sealed documents and files surrounding my birth. He is trying to find out what they are, but I am not happy that my parents are hiding some something from me. Doug, you know how I feel about liars. For years, Ma and Dad have preached to me about family first and moral right and wrong. Only to come to find out that one or both of them have had affairs. I don't know what to believe anymore. I am also so over Ma manipulating me to get what she wants. I am not going to let her push or guilt me into backing down, because I haven't done anything wrong."
"I understand that." Nathan said. "I told you that my family was messed up when I was growing up and that forced me to deal with the realities of life a lot faster then most people. I thought that you had a good head on your shoulders, but the last eighteen hours had made me question things. You have been short with both of us all morning. You seemed to be attached to your phone like you have never been before and you almost seem like you are paranoid about something."
"Fine." Jack said. "I see what you are saying. There are things that I would like to talk to you about, but just not right now. Especially not here. Maybe later when we are alone where others can't hear. Some of what I have in the works, my parents don't know about and I am not ready for them to know. Think that they are mad now, it is going to get worse before it gets better."
"That is all I am asking." Nathan said. "Please talk to us before you drop anymore bombs on us. I get that you don't want to say things before you are ready, but give us a heads up."
"Okay." Jack said.
Lee and Elizabeth had gone back to work after Lee had been scolded by Gran. By the time that Gran had started pulling things for lunch, Lee and Elizabeth were putting their stuff away.
"Well." Lee said. "That went better then I thought. It won't be hard to finish up the last few things. I will just be a matter of going over things with the others then finishing up and most of that can even wait until next week."
"Agreed." Elizabeth said. "It really did come together fast. I am glad that everything is working out. I think that the biggest things will be Jack and Nathan sitting down with security and then getting a schedule with everything ready."
"Don't forget we need to talk to Marco about the courses." Lee said.
"I didn't." Elizabeth said. "Here is a list of everyone that is coming so far and where I have set them up based on the map that you and Jack made."
Lee took the hand written list from Elizabeth and then looked at the map that they had drawn and saw that Elizabeth had filled it in. He saw that she had laid out where others would park and where the tents would go. He was impressed with her work. He didn't think that they would have been able to get as much done as they had that morning, much less complete almost everything.
"Very good." Lee said. "Can I put this with Jack's stuff or do you need it back?"
"No that is a copy for Jack." Elizabeth said. "I have the master list and map on my computer."
"Even better." Lee said. "I think that we have a few minor things to deal with each day. The other big things are up to Nathan and Jack."
Lee and Elizabeth had just finished clearing off the table when Jack, Doug and Nathan came upstairs. The three boys headed right for the kitchen to see if they were able to help Gran. Jack wanted to pull Elizabeth aside, but he was still working things out in his head. Elizabeth put her things in the library and then headed over to Jack.
"Jack." Elizabeth said. "A couple of packages came for you. I put them in the library with the rest of our stuff. Lee put your laptop in there as well. We got most everything done."
"Excellent." Jack said pulling Elizabeth into an embrace.
Just as Jack went to give Elizabeth a kiss, the doorbell rang. He let out a little groan and then went to answer the door. When he came back, he was holding two more packages.
"Nathan." Jack said. "This one seems it is for you."
"Thank you." Nathan said looking at the package. "I believe that this is the books that I ordered."
"Good." Jack said. "I am sure that Grandpa will want those as soon as possible."
"What is the other one?" Nathan asked.
"Just some paperwork that I needed." Jack said.
Jack took his newest package and went to the library. He quickly looked at the other things. He left one of the packages and then took the others downstairs. When he came back upstairs, his father was in the library.
"Something that you need to tell me, JP?" Thomas asked.
"No, don't think so." Jack said.
"Care to share what you got from the office?" Thomas asked holding up a large green envelope from his office.
"Just some paperwork." Jack said taking the envelope.
"Fine." Thomas said. "I will let it go for now, but we will talk about it."
"If you insist." Jack said. "I told you it is just paperwork that I asked for."
"Sure it is." Thomas said.
Just then Doug came into the library.
"Gran said we are ready to eat." Doug said. "The others are on their way up."
"Go help." Thomas said. "But as I said last night, this isn't over."
Jack just shook his head as he walked away with his best friend and the envelope tucked under his arm. Thomas took a couple of deep breaths, then followed his son and his best friend. He knew that there was a lot that still needed to be dealt with, but he also knew that he wasn't going to push too hard when there were other things that needed to get done during the day. Thomas wasn't sure what he was going to do with his older son, he had never been one to act up. If Thomas was hearing everyone correctly, Jack was upset that it had taken so long for them to deal with Tommy and then on top of that, they were questioning his choices. Thinking about it, Thomas could see why Jack was upset, but then again, he didn't. Tommy wasn't his concern and if he really felt like something should have been done sooner, he should have spoken to them. Thomas is also wondering what Jack knew about his past and how he was going to address that. He knew that him and Charlotte had fought about it, since she didn't think that JP had a right to know.
Thomas also realized that it wasn't so much questioning Jack's choices as trying to see what he was thinking and to see his reasoning. Thomas also realized that he had probably handled the whole thing wrong. Then again, Thomas was in a unique situation. It was the first time that he had put a person in his employment in a very important position – protecting his son when that person wasn't a long time trusted employee. Thomas found himself questioning Nathan more then he would have other employees just because he didn't have the long term relationship with Nathan that he had with other people that had guarded his son in the past. Thomas also realized that was also the problem in the past – employees loyal to him and Jack worried what they were going to say to him. He understood why Jack had ditched security in the past, but he also was worried with how close he was seeing Jack and Nathan get. It wasn't that Thomas didn't want Jack and Nathan to be friends, maybe not best friends, but friendly enough to fool outsiders. He was just surprised that Nathan felt that his loyalty lied with Jack and not Thomas who was the one that hired him.
Thomas also wasn't sure how he felt about Jack getting close to Elizabeth and saying that he was choosing her no matter what they thought. Thomas didn't understand what it was about this girl. It wasn't like Jack hadn't dated in the past. He had just never been serious about a girl. Horses and business had always come first. Thomas also knew that he was working at a disadvantage with Elizabeth, because he hadn't actually met her until he came up there. Granted he had talked to her on the phone, but it wasn't the same. All Thomas knew about her were all the negative things going on. Without realizing it, he had let what the Kensingtons said effect how he thought about Elizabeth. He wasn't even sure that he had even done it consciously, but as it had been so clearly pointed out the night before, he had let what others said effect the way that he viewed Elizabeth. The more that he thought about, he also realized that he let others effect the way that he had viewed Nathan when he had come so highly recommended from Devin.
Charlotte and James were just coming in the back door when Thomas walked into the kitchen area. It looked like everything was set up in to make the sandwiches at the kitchen counter and then they could sit at the table and eat. There was the leftover salads from the previous night as well as cut fruit and veggies. Thomas went to get in line to make his plate. James came over and lead everyone in a quick prayer before he headed to wash up. James headed to the bathroom while Charlotte washed up at the kitchen sink. Gran had already made a plate for Tommy and after he washed up, plopped down there. He had refused to get back up for the blessing, but they let him be. Gran had given the nod. She knew that it wasn't worth picking that battle at the moment. By the time that James got back to the kitchen everyone but Charlotte was seated and she was just finishing making up her plate. James quickly made his plate and joined everyone at the table.
