Author's note. I want to put a TRIGGER WARNING on this page. It talks a little about childhood abuse and I know that can be triggering to some people. Nothing graphic, but still it is there.

Chapter 76 – Nathan and Father Mark (long)

Jack's phone rang, he quickly wiped his hands on the towel and grabbed it out of his back pocket.

"Hello." Jack said stepping away from the group.

("Hello, JP." Grandpa John said.)

"Yes, Sir." Jack said.

("I was just letting you know that your father called." John said.)

Jack let out a harsh breath.

"I figured, Sir." Jack said. "What did you tell him?"

("Nothing." John said. "I figured it wasn't my place. This is a deal between you and I. I will let you know that he did tell me what was going on with Tommy and he also mentioned that you had words with them.")

"Yes, Sir." Jack said. "Give me a moment."

Jack looked around and then stepped out back.

"Sorry." Jack said. "I was in the kitchen with everyone and I didn't want to talk in front of everyone."

("Understandable." John said. "Now tell me your side.")

"It started with Dad accusing Nathan of crossing a line." Jack said. "He just accused him without speaking to anyone else. When Nathan explained what happened, Dad said that he might have made a mistake in choosing him. I don't think Ma helped. She has been been cold, aloof and outright disrespectful to Elizabeth. I won't repeat was she said, I did talk to Father Mark about it and I really don't really want to repeat it anymore."

("Nathan is the undercover security?" John asked. "I won't ask, I can only assume what my daughter-in-law said. Please continue.")

"Yes, he is." Jack said. "Anyway, Nathan, Elizabeth and I had stopped on Sunday to talk. Elizabeth wanted to talk to us both, she was upset. I won't get into what we talked about, but Adam and Carl were in the car. They couldn't hear what was said, only see. They were about 200 feet or more away. Elizabeth was upset and Nathan stepped in front of her to calm her. She reminds him of his sister. He asked and she granted permission for a hug. He held her for a moment while she sobbed. When he stepped back, he lead her back to the picnic table. Elizabeth calmed down and finished talking to us about what was going on. I would have gone to her myself, but I was and still am struggling with the feelings that I have for her. I promise that I have been a gentleman, no matter how hard it has been. I will tell you that we did agree to make it official that we are a couple. We have felt this connection since we first meet a week ago.

Nathan explained all this to both Ma and Dad, but they acted like it was a mistake to have Nathan join us. I was upset. I like Nathan. I trust Nathan. Then Ma and Dad started in on me about Elizabeth. Before it got to far, I shut them down telling them not to say anything that they would regret. I walked Elizabeth down to her room. I was so upset that I knew I couldn't sleep so I grabbed my computer and I didn't want to keep everyone downstairs awake, so I was going to head upstairs and that is when I heard Ma. She was saying that she was never going to let Elizabeth into the family and she called her some horrible names. It took every ounce of my willpower to not storm up there and tear into her."

("Are you okay?" John asked.)

"Yes." Jack said. "Like I said, I talked to Father Mark. But I will say this, if Ma forces me to choose, she will lose. I will choose Elizabeth every time. She is my everything. I am going to marry her and I don't care what Ma thinks. I am an adult as she so pointed out and I can make my own choices about life. I meant it in the email, that I am ready to move forward with all of our, my, plans. I am not backing down. Not after the way that Ma talked about Elizabeth."

("Is that what the property is about?" John asked.)

"Yes and no." Jack said. "The property is a good idea and it will keep the developers out of our back yard, but it would also be nice as a place for Elizabeth and I."

("But that is years away." John said.)

"Not really." Jack said. "Like I told Father Mark, I would marry her right now, right here, but I know that is not an option. I know that she needs time to work things out. I am also hoping that Ma and Dad will come around. Although, I have bought the rings. I also bought a promise ring which I may give to her sooner rather then later, probably before the weekend."

("Well." John said. "I will stand behind you, no matter what. I will try to talk to your Dad. I doubt that I will get through to your mother.)

"Dad said you are coming this weekend." Jack said.

("Yes." John said. "I will come up on Saturday morning and stay over night.")

"Where are you staying?" Jack asked.

("I will get a hotel room." John said.)

"Just a moment." Jack said. "Let me ask Gran, we have an open guest room here next to Ma and Dad."

("That is not necessary." John said.)

"It is." Jack said walking back into the house.

("Fine ask." John said.)

"Gran." Jack said. "I have been talking to Grandpa John. He is coming up Saturday and staying over night."

"Tell him to stay here." Gran said. "Don't forget to tell him about Sunday."

"Did you hear?" Jack asked.

("Yes." John said. "What is Sunday?)

"Bill Avery and his family are coming over." Jack said. "After church. We are grilling and will probably go for a trail ride."

("Okay." John said. "If I can get away, I will come up on Friday evening. Otherwise I will see you early Saturday morning. I will head home Sunday night.")

"I will let Gran know." Jack said.

("We will talk this weekend." John said. "Please think before you act. Call if you need anything. I will keep you updated if about the plans.")

"I will." Jack said. "Thank you. See you this weekend."

Jack hung up the phone.

"Gran." Jack said. "Grandpa John said if he could get away he would be up Friday evening otherwise he will be here early Saturday and then head home Sunday night."

"I will have the room ready." Gran said. "He is free to stay Sunday if he wants."

"He knows he is." Jack said. "But I doubt he will. Albany is not that far, but too far to drive Saturday night."

"Alright." Gran said.

By the time that Jack was done talking to John, the group had the last of the cookies in the oven and most everything prepped for supper. They were waiting for the oven to finish. Lee looked around and noticed that Father Mark and Nathan were missing.

"Want me to go find Nathan and Father Mark?" Lee asked.

"No." Gran said sharply. "They are talking and they are to be left alone. If they are not done, I will keep a plate warm for them. That reminds me, Doug get a tray down for me. Jack fill a carafe of coffee and Elizabeth dear one with ice water."

Each of the kids did as they were asked and Lee grabbed two coffee cups and two glasses. He set them on the tray that Doug had gotten down. Once everything was ready, Gran took it to the library, set it on the floor, knocked twice and left.

Father Mark went to the door and saw that Gran had left them a tray. When Nathan saw it, he was relieved. He also noticed that Father Mark relocked the door.

"Thank you." Nathan said taking a glass of water. "I take it that this is not the first time this has happened."

"No." Father Mark said. "And that is all I will say. Gran will hold a warm plate for us. We won't be interrupted. We will be allowed to talk for as long as we need. Gran will have laid down the law that we be left alone."

"I will have to thank her for that." Nathan said.

"No need." Father Mark said. "She probably sensed that you needed to talk to someone. She is good that. Are you feeling better?"

"A little." Nathan said.

"So you ready to tell me what happened with Tommy." Father Mark said. "I mean I have many more questions about your past, but I know that what happened with Tommy upset you so I think we should talk about that."

"Thomas had talked to Tommy." Nathan said. "When they came out of the library, Tommy didn't want to go clean more tack. He was yelling, I started to step forward and Thomas grabbed my arm so I stopped. When Tommy was given a choice of either sitting in his room with nothing or cleaning tack, he was still yelling that they couldn't make him do anything. Thomas let go of my arm, I went to Tommy and grabbed his arm. What I wanted to do was grab the front of his shirt and slam him into a wall. When Doug and Jack stepped up behind me to bodily move Tommy if given the go ahead, he chose to go clean tack, but was still be defiant. I leaned in and reminded him that I could take him any time, any day and no one was going to stop me. I told him if it was up to me I would handcuff him to the wall in his room and only let him out when I decided or something like that. I was so angry, I don't remember the exact words that I used. Even thought I was was speaking in a low tone, Doug heard me."

"First of all." Father Mark said. "They should have never put you in that position. I am sorry about that. Second, why did you say those things to Tommy?"

"I don't know." Nathan said. "I was so angry and they just came out. I even surprised myself when I said them."

"Were those things that your father said you at one time or another?" Father Mark asked.

Nathan closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Now that I think about it." Nathan said. "I believe that they were. See I am turning into Archie."

With that Nathan started crying again.

"I doubt that you are turning into your father." Father Mark said. "You were angry and put in a situation that you shouldn't have been, you just reacted. There have been times I have been in a situation and said something, good or bad, that I know that my own father has said at one time another. Let me ask you a few other questions."

Nathan looked at Father Mark, who seemed to be trying to word his questions just right.

"Do you drink?" Father Mark asked.

"Once and awhile." Nathan said. "Never more then one, usually wine at a meal or a single drink at night with friends. Never when I am working and like I said never more then one. Why do you ask?"

"Tell me a little about your father's drinking." Father Mark said.

"He drank all the time." Nathan said. "I don't really remember much when I didn't see him with a drink. I mean he could have an entire six pack and you wouldn't think that he was drunk."

"Okay." Father Mark said. "Don't you see the difference? You know your limit. You know when not to drink."

"I guess I never thought about it like that." Nathan said.

"Have you ever hit anyone just to hit them?" Father Mark asked. "Have you ever hit a woman or child?"

Nathan looked horrified.

"Never." Nathan said firmly. "I would never raise my hand to a child, a defiant teenager who is out of control, is one thing, but never a defenseless child and never to a woman."

"See." Father Mark said. "Again, you know the difference. You strike me as man you who would do anything to protect a child or those that you care about, which is why you are good at your job. Am I right or am I wrong?"

"I guess you are right." Nathan said. "I would do anything for my little niece. Also my sister. I would give my life to protect them if it came down to it."

"I knew I was right." Father Mark said.

Nathan got up and started pacing again. Father Mark figured it had something to do with his sister and/or niece. He wasn't going to push Nathan, but he knew that he needed to talk about things and stop pushing them away.

Thomas came out of the office and saw that the library doors were closed and he wondered why. He was going to open them and found them locked, so he headed to the kitchen.

"Why is the library locked?" Thomas asked. "I need something."

"Well." Gran said. "You are just going to have to wait. Father Mark is in there and he doesn't want to be disturbed and I told him he wouldn't be."

Gran stared at Thomas daring him to challenge her. Thomas has learned not to push his mother-in-law, so he just shrugged his shoulders. As much as Thomas wanted to get something, he knew that this was Margaret's house and she ruled it as she saw fit.

"Supper almost ready?" Thomas asked.

"Yes." Gran said. "We are just waiting on James, Char and Tommy. They are on their way up. Go get washed up."

Thomas was going to argue, but chose to just go wash his hands. When he was done, he headed to the table. As he was doing that, James, Charlotte and Tommy came in. Immediately, everyone could tell that Tommy was still in a bad mood. Gran stepped up.

"Supper is waiting." Gran said sharply. "Go get washed up and sit down."

Tommy just glared at Gran, but followed his mother and Grandfather to get washed up. When they came back and sat down, Gran and Elizabeth were just putting the last of the food on the table. She had already made up plates for Father Mark and Nathan and put them in the oven to keep warm.

"I thought Father Mark was here?" James said.

"He is talking to Nathan in the library." Gran said. "I saved them a plate and they can eat later. They have my permission to miss supper."

Tommy looked at his Grandmother and opened his mouth to say something.

"Is there a problem?" Gran asked. "My house, my rules. IF you don't like it, you can go to bed hungry."

Tommy didn't say anything, but just huffed.

"Let's pray." James said.

Everyone bowed their heads, except Tommy. He sat with his arms crossed.

"Heavenly Father." James said. "Please watch over this house and give Father Mark the wisdom that he needs to help Nathan with whatever is going on. Please continue to keep us safe as we work with the horses. Bless this food to our bodies and bless the hands that made it. May we have a nice evening with family and friends. Amen."

A chorus of amens rang out after James finished. They started passing the food around and talking about what happened that day. No one talked about what Tommy had done or how Nathan had reacted nor did they talk about what Jack had said the night before. Both James and Gran were determined to have a nice meal, despite Tommy still fuming.

"So did you get a trail ride, Elizabeth?" James asked.

"Yes." Elizabeth said. "They took me out to the meadow by the creek. Jack tells me that was the original homestead site."

"Yes, it was." James said. "There is a part of me that wishes the house was still down there, but it is so much easier having it up here and not so far from everything."

"When did you stop using that house?" Elizabeth asked.

"We built the first house up here when I was a young man." James said. "Over time, the old house just went back to the ground. We had moved the original barn, but that too has been replace time and time again. I have a wonderful album of pictures somewhere, I think that Heidi might have even turned all those old photos into digital copies. I have no idea where they would be."

"I would love to see them." Elizabeth said. "We were talking this afternoon and I was telling them how I love history and especially the history of New York. I don't have a very detailed family history as it wasn't something that my parents never really talked about and all but my Dad's father were gone before I was old enough to remember. He lives in Arizona and I don't really see him ever. I would love to know more about my family history one day. I know that both my parents families came from Northern England near the border with Scotland, but I don't know much more then that. The only other thing that I know is that my father's parents came to this country as small children and my mother's family came before my grandparents were born. I honestly don't even know where to start looking for more, but would love to figure it out one day."

"I could help you with that." Doug said. "I think that the best place to look would be the records from Ellis Island. That was what my dad and I did to find out more about his relatives. If you have names we could do that some time."

"I would love that." Elizabeth said. "I do have names of my grandparents, but not their parents."

"Well." Doug said. "At least we have a place to start. I bet we could find the obituaries of your grandparents and that would give us a lot of information."

"I never thought about that." Elizabeth said. "They all settled and grew up in the greater New York City area."

"So it would be pretty easy to find them then." Doug said. "Maybe that could be a project that you and I work on this fall between classes. I am sure that a lot of it is online and what isn't, we can go look at in person."

"That would be wonderful." Elizabeth said. "Thank you for wanting to help me."

"We all should know where we come from." Doug said. "Good or bad. I mean Dad and I were surprised about some of the things that we learned about family, but it also brought us closer and helped us better understand why some choices were made."

"So what do you ultimately want to do with the information that you find?" Gran asked.

"I would love to put together a large family tree." Elizabeth said. "And maybe a book with information and stories so I can tell my children and grandchildren where they came from."

Charlotte rolled her eyes as Elizabeth was speaking. Both Jack and Gran caught it. Gran shot Jack a look and he understood he wasn't to engage with his mother. Jack closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Instead of a verbal first shot, he chose a different way. He figured that he might get in trouble with Gran, but he figured it would be worth it. When he was done, he leaned over and gave Elizabeth a kiss on the cheek.

"That sounds wonderful, Honey." Jack said, with a dimpled grin after the kiss.

Elizabeth gave him a smile, leaned over and gave him kiss on the cheek as well.

"Seriously." Charlotte groaned.

Jack leaned back, let out a harsh breath and before speaking he shot a look at his grandmother.

"What?" Jack snapped. "I was respectful to everyone here, but I am not going to stop kissing my girlfriend."

"She isn't ….." Charlotte started.

"Charlotte Lucille!" Gran snapped. "Zip it. Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean that it isn't true. I am fine with them and they have abided by my rules. If you don't like it you are excused from the table."

Charlotte glared at her mother, but didn't say anything else. Jack looked over at Gran and gave her a dimpled grin. He also mouthed a 'thank you' to her. She gave him a little nod.