(Chapter Sixteen)
Supper with Charles
Charles was invited for dinner by Jack and Elizabeth one evening.
There was a knock on the door.
"Jack, would you get that, please?" Elizabeth asked from her place in the kitchen.
Jack nodded as he went to do as bidden.
"Hello, Charles," he greeted the man with a firm handshake.
"Jack," he said as he entered the small house. "Hello, Elizabeth."
"Charles," she greeted him as she stepped away from her cooking. "You two gentlemen can relax and chat while I finish up in the kitchen."
The two men sat on the couches opposite each other. They chatted and laughed about various topics.
When the meal was ready, Elizabeth called them to the table.
Jack said grace and Elizabeth dished up the food.
They talked of many things. Jack no longer had the worried look in his eyes. He was way more open and relaxed when Charles was around than he once was.
"I've decided to stay here, in Hope Valley," Charles was saying.
"That's wonderful, Charles!" Elizabeth enthused.
"How long are you planning to stay?" Jack asked, but his expression changed from worried to genuinely curious.
"Well, for now I'd say, the forseeable future," he chuckled.
"Did you find a perminate place to stay?" the soft voice of Elizabeth asked her old friend.
"I'm looking at renting. One of the row houses down the road."
"I see," Elizabeth could not contain her excitement.
"And what about Sofia?" she questioned him again.
"Oh, she's planning on going back to San Fran Sisco. So whenever she is ready, I will be taking her."
"Oh, I see."
That conversation came to a closing, and a new one began.