Same disclaimers as always. There will be some heavy CP scenes in these chapter. I know some don't like this so what I am going to do is put a line to start the scene and then another line to end it. So, you can scroll through and just read the parts leading up to and then after the scene. I don't think it will take too much from the story. This chapter goes over the discipline of the cousins from the mud throwing and then gets into Erin's and Jack's get together.

Chapter 21

She went to Chris's room first to tell him that he could get dressed and go down to help finish with dinner. She found him sitting on his bed in his robe.

"Chris you can get dressed and go downstairs. We talked it over and decided that you had tried to get everyone to do the right thing, but no one would listen, and Nikki confessed to faking an emergency to get you outside. So, you're not getting your first taste of Irish justice."

She then started to walk out of the room.

"Mom wait, we need to talk."

"What sweetheart?'

"Mom your right I did try and get them to go and tell you and when Nikki yelled, my first instinct was to rush out. But then the tone of her voice registered with me, and I knew it wasn't really an emergency and I turned to go and get you. But after a step I stopped and couldn't rat them out, so I went out anyways hoping to keep them out of trouble. So, in reality I went outside too against your orders for the same reason they did, I didn't want to be a rat. Sorry mom."

"I see. Thank you for being honest sweetheart. Well, the punishment goes in this order, a hand spanking for disobeying and going outside, the hairbrush for throwing mud and Sean is getting the belt for lying. Don't look so shocked, lying is a death sentence in this family. Plus, by doing it now I talked his parents into letting this be the only punishment he gets. Normally he would get this and another one when he got home. Same rules as our house. So, you are in line for a hand spanking. Stand up go put your nose in that corner and I will be back. Sean goes first; he will need the most time to recover. "

(To skip the CP scene, jump down to the next dividing line)

She then went to Nikki's room and Jack's and told them what they were going to get. Nikki almost came unglued and started in on how she was too old, and this was child abuse.

"Nikki, you were the oldest you should have come and got me. So, no whining. Now you're getting the hand and the brush if I hear one more peep out of you the belt will be added and I will call your uncle Danny up to do all of it, on the bare. You have three seconds to choose. Three, two…"

"Ok, you, please!"

"Good choice, nose, corner now!"

When she went into Jack's room, he would hardly look at her, he was bummed, thinking he was going to get it twice.

"Jack you are getting the hand for going out and the brush for throwing mud, someone could have gotten hurt, and you know better. And Jack it will be a good one, I promised your mom and dad. But Jack, I got them to agree that this is the only one you would get so perk up a little and don't give me any trouble or make me wait when I tell you to do something ok?"

"Sure, Aunt Erin, and thanks. I know this will be bad but knowing that it's the only one makes it a little easier."

"I know sweetie, that's why I told you. But Jack you three really screwed up buddy."

"Yes mam."

"Nose, corner, don't come out till I come back, clear?"

Jack nodded his head and headed toward the corner.

Erin then walked down to Jamie's old room and stood in front of the door. Geeze this is déjà vu. She had made this trip a few times, to this room, for the same reasons she was going in now, only for Jamie. She opened the door and walked in. Sean was setting on the bed like the others. She walked over and pulled the desk chair out and put it in the middle of the room.

"Come hear Sean" she said pointing in front of her.

Sean tentatively walked over and stood in front of her.

"Turn around, I want to set you on my lap."

He did and she picked him up and sat him on her lap facing her right side.

"Sean, I am going to give you a chance to tell me the truth about what happened today. We know you lied, and you know that is not allowed in our family. Now I will reduce your punishment if you tell me the truth. Do you understand?"

"Yes mam."

"Chris really didn't tell you that you could go outside, did he?"

"No mam."

"So, you disobeyed me and went outside, even when Chris told you to come in and see me, didn't you?"

"Yes mam."

"Did you lie about anything else or was the rest of your story the truth."

"Yes mam, I was really startled when Nikki came out, I jumped when she yelled at me, well didn't really yell, just startled me."

"Ok, well thank you for telling me the truth this time but you would have saved yourself a licking if you would have told the truth the first time. How old are you?"

"Eight Aunt Erin."

"Well instead of getting eight licks with the belt you will only get four for lying the first time. You are also getting a hand spanking for disobeying me and the hairbrush for throwing mud. You could have hurt someone and put an eye out if there had been a stone in it."

Sean started to cry, "I'm sorry Aunt Erin, I won't do it again I promise. And please don't spank me hard my mom or dad is going to spank me again when we get home, please."

"I'm sorry sweetheart but your mom and dad made me promise that this would be a good one to teach you a lesson and I promised I would, but I also made a deal with them that this is the only punishment you will get. You won't get another one when you get home, unless you don't cooperate with me on this one. So, you will be a good boy and take your punishment, ok?"

Sean nodded and said, "Thank you!" and then started crying and put his head on her shoulder.

She gave him a hug and said, "I know buddy, it will be over soon."

With that she lifted him up, took his robe off and then put him over her knee and lowered his shorts.

"This is for disobeying me Sean, eight swats on each cheek."

She then raised her and started. She kept her word to Danny she didn't go easy, but she didn't use her full strength either. Eight swats to each cheek on the sit spots. He made it through four before he started crying hard, and through eight before he started bawling and kicking. By sixteen he was begging."

"Alright sweetheart that parts done. Now eight with the brush for the mud."

He started squirming and wiggling begging her not to. She reached into the pocket of her skirt and pulled out her hairbrush. It was a five inch long, three-inch-wide oval head and wasn't light.

She didn't make him wait and did all eight, four on each cheek's sit spot in about thirty seconds. She did make them hurt though. She didn't want to do this again.

He whaled like a banshee, screaming for her to stop. The other kids could all hear him and so could the adults downstairs.

Chris had all he could do to keep from going down there and ending it, but he knew it wouldn't help and it would just get him into more trouble.

Erin stood Sean up and stood up beside him. Sean eyes got big as Erin unfastened her belt and started to pull it through the loops. It was her thick heavy one, but it was what they had agreed upon downstairs. Sean tried to run. But she was able to grab him before he got to the door. He was yelling "No, No," Erin was going to have him lean on the chair but that wasn't going to work so she lifted her leg up and put her foot on the chair and then lifted him up and draped him over her knee and held him tight.

"Sean! Be quiet! Listen to me! Sean!

Sean stopped long enough to answer her, "Yes?"

"Why are you going to get this licking? Tell me?"

"Because I lied, but I'm sorry Aunt Erin please don't."

"That's right you lied and could have gotten Chris into trouble for it. Would that have been right if I punished Chris because you lied to me?"

"No mam, I'm sorry!"

"Good, I believe you. Now let's finish this."

Sean gave out a loud "NO Please!"

It broke Erin's heart but she loved her nephew and she had to finish this. She raised her arm and gave him four fairly hard licks as fast as she could safely deliver them, so he didn't have too much time to think about them. He screamed bloody murder after the first one and was a blubbering mess by the time it was over.

She threw the belt on the bed and then picked him up and pulled his shorts up and sat back down on the chair and held him tight.

"Ok buddy, go ahead and cry it out, it's ok, it's all over and you are forgiven. You paid your price, and you have a clean slate again. We all love you sweetheart but promise me you will never lie to me or your parents, or anyone else again ok. You don't want to have to do this again do you?"

He pulled away from her and shook his head no and said, "I am so sorry, I promise never to lie or disobey you again."

"I am very proud of you Sean; you took your punishment and learned your lesson. Ok, now I want you to lay down on the bed and rest till I come get you then we will get you dressed and go down and eat, ok?"

He nodded his head and she laid him on his stomach, and he settled down and closed his eyes.

She grabbed her belt and put it back on and put her brush back into her pocket and headed to Nikki's room.

While standing in the corner listening to Sean's punishment, she had decided that she wasn't going to chance her uncle being called up. If this was what her mom could do, then she couldn't imagine what her uncle Danny or Grandfather might be like.

When Erin came in, she found Nikki obediently in the corner and she pulled out a desk chair and called her over.

"Take off the robe Nikki and lay across my lap. How old are you?"

"Thirteen"

"Ok thirteen on each cheek and then thirteen with the brush for throwing mud. I want you to focus on staying still and for you to understand that you could have prevented this and should have. I am not adding anything extra because Sean started it but if you would have come to me none of this would have happened. Keep your hands on the floor or grab my ankle with one. If you wiggle around a lot or cause me to miss or block me, you will get extra's. Please don't make this any worse than it has to be." She then reached out and pulled Nikki's panties down.

Nikki started to reach back, "Mom!"

Erin slapped her hand away, "Do you want extra?"

"No, but…"

"Quiet, one more word and I will add my belt, do you understand."

"Yes mam!"

"Grab my ankle with your right hand and keep that left on the floor."

With that Erin let fly and she didn't hold back. Her daughter had never had a spanking before, but she should have, and Erin wanted this to be the first and last.

Nikki lasted through eight whacks and then she started kicking and at fourteen she started crying and at twenty she was begging, and she almost fell off at twenty-six but she didn't lift her hands and block anything, so Erin let it go.

Nikki lay there weeping as Erin pulled the hair brush out. She didn't warn Nikki she just pulled her closer and tighter, and as she did with Sean and the belt, she didn't waste time or drag it out for her, she just laid thirteen whacks on her sit spots as hard and as fast as she safely could.

Nikki exploded but her mom had her tight and in a way, she couldn't reach back if she wanted to. Nikki thought her butt was being attacked by a blow torch. Never had she felt anything so painful. She immediately started screaming and bawling again. It seemed to go on forever but in reality, was over in thirty seconds.

When Erin finished, she just held on as Nikki flopped and struggled for another ten seconds not realizing it was over. After she settled down Erin pulled her panties back up and slowly lifted her crying daughter up and sat her on her lap.

"It's ok, it's all over and you are forgiven. Your slate is clean, and we can put this behind us. But I hope you've learned your lesson and next time you will do the right thing."

Nikki leaned on her mom's shoulder still sniffling and said, "Yes mom, I'm sorry."

"I know sweetheart, let's lie down here and you rest till I come for you.

Erin then headed to Jack's room. When she walked in, he too was still standing in the corner and hadn't moved.

"Come here Jack and bring the desk chair."

Jack did as he was told. Erin sat down and looked up at him.

"Take your robe off and put it on the bed."

Jack turned red but did as he was told.

"How old Jack?"

"Ten"

"Ok, ten on each cheek, bare, and ten with the hairbrush for the mud. Do you understand why?"

"Yes mam, someone could have gotten hurt, but please Aunt Erin not on the bare."

"It's that or your mom and dad! I told them I would make this good, your choice."

"Yes mam"

She didn't even have to speak; Jack just dropped his shorts and lay across her lap.

She gave him the hardest one yet, not because he was worse but because she didn't want to embarrass him by taking it easy, which he would have figured out. To his credit he got through the hand spanking with no crying or whaling. He did kick his feet a little toward the end. He got through the first six whacks of the hairbrush with no yelling, but he let out loud grunts for the last four. Erin pulled his shorts up and stood him up. She saw that he had tears in his eyes but wasn't crying. She didn't put him on her lap, but she pulled him into a hug. He hugged her tight.

"You handled that very well Jack and I am proud of you. I hope you've learned your lesson because I don't ever want to do this again. You are forgiven and your slate is clean. You ok?"

"Yes mam, thank you?"

"Your welcome sweetheart, now lie down and rest until I call you for dinner. I Love you!"

He smiled, nodded and hugged her again and then lay down.

Erin went back and checked on Sean and Nikki both were sleeping. She then went to Chris's room. He was still in the corner, but she could tell he was angry.

"Chris come here and bring the desk chair."

"Really did you have to do that to them, it wasn't that bad. For crying out loud that was ridiculous!"

"That's enough mister! You don't have a say in this. In reality this was light compared to what your dad and we used to get so just cool your jets. This was what was agreed upon by the parents and thanks to me doing a good job, which I hated, nether Sean or Jack will get it again when they get home. Plus, they all three deserved what they got, what if there had been a stone in that mud and one of you would have lost an eye. So, you just need to close your mouth or so help me I will give you everything I gave them combined! Do you understand?"

"Yes mam, sorry, I didn't think about the eye part, and I am glad you fixed it, so they only got it once. I'm sorry for disobeying you too, especially after I warned them. It's just really hard to rat though."

"Thank you, I understand, and you tried. You all just made wrong choices. Now take your robe off and come here. How old are you?"

Chris looked at her kind of weird. "Huh?"

"You heard me, how old?'

"Ten"

"Ten swats with my hand on each cheek, bare. That's the punishment."

Chris laughed.

"Really, you think this is funny! Maybe I should give you everything that everyone else got, only all of it will be with my belt. Why in the world would you laugh?"

"Mom, you're going to give me twenty swats with your hand. I know that it will hurt a little but really, I've been shot, stabbed, broken bones, so on and so forth. It just struck me as funny. I'm sorry. I'm kind of new to this and I don't want the others thinking I got off easy."

Erin couldn't stifle her laugh.

"I understand but don't think you won't get the twenty hardest I can give. And it doesn't matter what the other's think, you are getting the same treatment and punishment as they did, so get your robe off and get over my lap and let's get this over with.

Chris threw his robe off and in one motion laid over her lap and pulled his shorts down at the same time. Erin didn't waste time with words or anything else. She just started in and laid the hardest twenty whacks on his sit spots that she had ever given. Her hand was killing her when she got done. He never moved an inch, said a word, or made a sound. He just took the whole thing and acted like nothing ever happened. She patted his butt and said, "Up." He stood up pulling his shorts up along the way and they gave each other a big hug.

"You are forgiven, get dressed and head down while I get the others up and dressed and headed that way.

She looked at her watch and saw that it had taken her forty minutes to get through everyone and she was exhausted, physically and emotionally.

When Chris got downstairs and went into the kitchen the adults all looked at him and Henry asked, "Did she give it to you too?"

"Ya, I fessed up when she told me that you guys said I was cleared. I could tell by Nikki's voice that she wasn't really in trouble or there was a problem, and I almost went and got mom. But the rubber hit the road and I couldn't rat on them anymore than Nikki or Jack could. So, I got the same as everyone else for disobeying and going outside. She's getting everyone up and dressed to come down for dinner."

They all agreed that he had done the right thing and headed into the dining room with the hot food and took their seats just as the parade was coming down the stairs.

Sean, Jack, Nikki, and Erin in that order. The boys went around the table and got hugs from their parents and gingerly took their seats. Nikki took hers just as gingerly and Erin sat next to Frank, and you could see the exhaustion and stress in her body and face.

"Boy's, I want you to apologize to the family for causing dinner to be late and getting into this trouble. While your mom and I promised your aunt Erin that this was all the punishment you would get, we will be talking about this when we get home," Danny informed the boys.

"Especially you're lying Sean!" Linda added.

Sorry everyone, the boys sheepishly said, and both Nikki and Chris added their apologizes too.

Henry asked if anyone needed a pillow to set on and with tears in his eyes Sean said, "Yes please." Nikki also nodded her head yes and said, "Please." Jack and Chris both declined.

"Eddie, would you go to the closet in the entrance way I believe the pillows for setting on, are still on the second shelf. You see there are five other people sitting at this table that have all needed those pillows in the past, more than once in fact" Henry said, slowly raising his hand, then Jamie, then Erin, Frank, and finally Danny lifted his hand too.

"So welcome to the club, you two are now card-carrying members!" He then reached over and high fived Sean, getting a smile out of him.

Erin looked at Nikki as Eddie handed her a pillow and she put it on her seat. She looked at her mom and Erin, with a sad smile, offered her a high five. Nikki grinned and responded, suddenly feeling a connection with her mom that she never expected to feel.

After Sean got his pillow, his mom spoke up.

"And thanks to Aunt Erin for holding you all accountable and doing what needed to be done, and for caring and loving you enough to do it in a way that two boys here got out of another spanking when they got home. Some day you will all understand how hard it was for her to discipline the ones she loves."

With that Erin started to cry and said, "Please let's just pray and eat, ok?"

Frank told everyone to bow their heads and prayed. They started passing the food and after a few bites' things started to get back to normal and everyone started talking about their weeks and the rest of the day went smoothly.

Monday came early for everyone at the Erin Reagan house. Erin had a deposition that morning and was rushing to get there in time. Nikki was getting her summer final around to turn in later that morning and Chris was getting ready to head for the Pad. Erin grabbed her brief case and purse and gave each of them a hug and a kiss and asked one more time,

"Are we good?"

They had talked about an hour last night when they got home. She had wanted them to understand why everything had happened and how important accountability was, not only as kids, but also as a parent. She was responsible for them and had also been responsible for Sean and Jack. It had fallen on her to deal with their actions. It wasn't the fun part of parenting, but parents aren't friends, and they have to do the tuff stuff sometimes.

Chris said he understood, and Nikki said she did too. She hated the spanking and could still hear Sean's crying, but she felt closer to her mom and understood her more since she had now experienced something her mother had gone through when she was Nikki's age.

Erin had also spent time with each one individually affirming them and telling each one how much she loved them and how important they were to her. By the time they went to bed they were a much closer family.

Both looked at their mother and in unison said, "Were good mom!"

Chris added, "Let it go mom, we got what we deserved, and you did your duty as a parent. Let's move on! Lov you!"

"Lov you guys too!" and she was out the door.

Nik and Chris said their goodbyes and headed out.

For Chris it was time to write letters and set up the meet on Friday night.

He got to the Pad and checked his emails and took care of some other business needs. Then he started on his letters. Instead of writing them he had his computer set up for speech to text dictation. It worked pretty slick. He could basically write the whole letter by talking to the computer.

With everything he had learned about Erin and Jack the last eleven weeks he thought it would be easy. But it wasn't, it took him almost five hours to do both letters and they didn't seem that long when he finished. He got so caught up that he suddenly felt hungry and when he looked at the clock it was past noon. He got something to eat and decided to read through them one last time as a final check.

Dear Mom,

Right now, I am asking you to remember that I saved your life and your daughter's life. I do it because I need you to take a breath and push your anger at me to the side for a moment.

I am NOT asking you to let me off the hook. You laid out the consequences for what I am doing right now, and I have moved forward with this meeting knowing full well the price I will have to pay. Justifiably so, you have every right.

But I also need you to think about how much this means to me if I am willing to pay your price for what I think is an important time in all our lives. In other words, put my punishment out of your mind long enough to read and to try and understand the rest of this letter.

I have spent the last eleven weeks, since our dinner date about truly calling you and making you my mom, learning about you and Jack's relationship. Without being obvious I got people to tell me what they saw through the years the good and bad. And until you both figured it out and ordered me to stop butting in, I could get you two to talk about each other. In fact, it wasn't hard.

Mom, the bottom line is that you both still love each other, and you should have never split up. The real problem you had was that you quit talking and you stopped being honest with each other. Between talking to the two of you I realized that each of you had some deep-rooted resentments that you felt would split you apart if you shared them and in reality, they did, but only because you didn't share them.

You never told Jack how he hurt you by leaving the D.A.'s office and going over to the dark side. How you thought that part of the reason was he didn't like your lives anymore and that he didn't want to spend time with you. You also didn't tell him about how you felt that he expected you to do all the childcare at the expense of your own career so he could do private practice. The list goes on, how he wouldn't get along with the family and how he seemed to want to separate you from your siblings and how you felt disrespected by his family because they thought you weren't good enough for him. There's more, to many to write down but you know them, you shared them with me, if you think back to some of our conversations, because you eventually realized you were doing it and that's when you laid down the law.

Mom, I love you with all my heart and it hurts not seeing you fulfilled. You're beautiful, no you're gorgeous. I will have the hottest mom in the school. But more importantly you're warm, loving, extremely smart, tuff, and the best ADA in all of New York. You deserve to have it all and I hate to see you cheat yourself out of it.

You and Jack are soul mates I have seen it in your eyes. But each of you need to get over your stubbornness and pride and be honest and open with each other, not one of you, both of you. It's the only way you can find your way back together, or if you can't it's the only way you can free yourselves from each other and move on with your lives. You will always be interconnected because of Nikki, and now me, because we both know that if it wasn't for Jack, I probably wouldn't be with you. But you can learn to be friends again and those encounters will be much easier once you make your peace with each other.

Mom, I also need you to know that those resentments and hurts that I got out of you have stayed with me, just like the ones that I got out of Jack. I have never mentioned them or shared them with anyone, not Nikki or any other member of the family. And I won't share them with you or Jack.

I thought about it. I thought that if I told you two what the other one felt that you would both see the light and get over yourselves and get back together. But then I realized that was going too far, even for me. Those are you guys' feelings and thoughts and if they are going to be shared it can only be by the two of you.

Mom, you have given me a life that I never dreamed I would have the chance to have. It is why I am willing to face your punishment to put the two of you together. In my heart, my gut, I have come to believe that without a little push you two would never give yourselves a chance again.

Please forgive me for disobeying you, but honestly think about what I have said,

Your loving son Christopher!

Chris then went over Jack's letter, and it was almost exactly the same except the resentments were different. How Jack felt that the Reagan's rejected him for going to the dark side and how the family cut him out of conversations and talked down to him and she never defended him or stood up for him. How they dominated their lives expecting them to give up almost every Sunday and holiday to be with her family. How Erin went to Joe instead of him when she needed to talk or work something out. There were other things too that he needed to get off his chest. But like Chris told Erin, it was up to him to share, not Chris, and he never would.

After Monday the week dragged by. Everything had been worked out and was going according to plan. Nikki was still going to her party and both Erin and Jack had agreed to meet him for dinner at an Italian eatery about ten minutes from Erin's office. Jack thought that Erin was going out with co-workers from the office to celebrate a case they had won, which was why Chris was free for dinner.

Chris had done a favor for Todd, the owner of the restaurant, who was glad to help him out by being the master of ceremonies. Chris warned him that it could go south fast, but his friend had been an actor in his youth and felt he would be able to adlib and handle anything that came up. The evening was paid for, and they actually had a small room at the back of the place for privacy. Todd would explain that Chris wasn't coming and that the evening was meant to be shared by Erin and Jack. He would then give the letters to each one and then a third one to Erin to be read out loud. After that it was up to them.

Friday finally came. The time was set for 5:30pm for an early dinner. Chris was across the street in an alley watching the door. He had called his mom about twenty minutes ago and told her he would be late but was on his way and that Todd would take her back to their room and table. Chris was just praying that Jack didn't run into any last-minute problems. He knew his mom wouldn't because she spent the day catching up on paperwork and wasn't on call this weekend.

At 5:25 Erin pulled up and the attendant parked her car as she walked in. At 5:30 Chris saw Jack pull up and head in. He took a deep breath to try and calm his queasy stomach and said a little prayer, mom, and dad, if you can call in any favors up there now would be a good time. If this goes south, I might be seeing you soon. Chris pulled his phone out and called Jerry for a ride home. As he waited a thought crossed his mind, "I don't think I was this nervous or scared when I went after the terrorists. Then again, they weren't as scary as mom.

"Ms. Reagan, welcome. My name is Todd, Chris's friend and owner of the restaurant."

"Have we met?"

"No, but Chris described you perfectly and very glowingly! And he didn't exaggerate in the least!"

"Well thank you, he tends to be a little bias!"

Seeing a chance to back Chris's cred he replied, "I am sure, but in my years of knowing him he has never lied or been wrong, and seeing you in person, he still has a perfect record in my eyes. This way please."

"You've known him long?"

"A few years, he helped me out of a tough situation once and has been a great friend ever since."

"A tough situation?"

Todd smiled, tickled at how she slipped that in trying to get info on her son.

"Please have a seat; may I get you something to drink while you wait?"

Erin realized that her host wasn't going to give up any information on her son and ordered a glass of wine.

Todd turned in her order and went back to the entrance as Jack walked in.

"Mr. Boyle, I believe."

"Yes, that's right. Have we met?"

"No but Chris described you very well. Welcome, my name is Todd, come this way please."

Todd led Jack back to the room and stood to the side as Jack walked in.

Erin and Jack spotted each other at the same time.

"Erin?"

"Jack?"

They both looked at Todd with a confused look.

"Mr. Boyle if you would please have a seat, I will explain."

Erin's anger quickly began to show, and she started to rise.

"Ms. Reagan, please give me a couple of minutes, I owe a young man my life and he has asked a favor of me. Please it will only take a minute."

"Fine, one minute."

"Thank you, as you can see Christopher won't be joining you tonight. But I do have three letters to be handed out. There is one for each of you, to be read privately, and one to be read out loud by Ms. Reagan. I know this is very important to Chris. I have no idea what this is all about, but I do know that he said he was going to pay a heavy price for doing it. I hope you will take the time to read these. Now your night is paid for, anything you want to eat and your beverages, speaking of which, your drinks have arrived."

At that point a waitress arrived with Erin's wine and a scotch on the rocks for Jack.

"Chris told me the drinks you like and when Ms. Reagan ordered hers, I ordered one for you Mr. Boyle. I will leave you two alone, here are your letters and the one to be read out loud. If you decide you want more to drink or you are ready to order supper just push this button on the table here and I will be back to take your order.

With that Todd walked out.

Erin and Jack just sat there neither one knowing what to say or do.

Finally, Erin spoke up, "Jack, I don't know what to say this has really thrown me for a loop."

"Ya me too, I am just as shocked as you are. This was the last thing I expected."

"Well, I promise you; Todd wasn't wrong, he is going to pay a very heavy price for this. I warned him that he would receive the worst case of "Irish Justice" ever given out in the history of the family if he didn't keep his nose out of our relationship."

"You too, I finally realized that he had been pumping me for info the last four or five times we were together. I warned him if he kept it up, I wouldn't do business with him anymore. But in reality, because of you and Nikki I couldn't do that, so do me a favor and add a little extra to that Irish Justice sentence for me."

Erin smiled and laughed, "With pleasure, I will make sure that I reserve a special moment and let him know that what he is about to receive was a special request from you!"

"Fair enough; thank you. So, what do you want to do here?"

"Well, I could call him and get his butt down here so we could both tear into him."

Jack laughed, "Erin, I guarantee you he won't answer. But I will be honest with you I am curious to see what he wrote and how he is trying to justify whatever it is he is trying to do here."

"You know it's about us don't you. That was why he was pumping you, me, my family and God knows who else for information."

"Yes, I figured, and to be honest with you, I am a little afraid of what he has put together. He is usually pretty close to being dead on with his thoughts and evaluations."

"Well, should we find out, or should I just go home and start in on him? Though I will probably have to wait till tomorrow, right now I am so angry with him I would have to have myself arrested for abuse when I get done."

"I tell you what let's read the letters and then decide what to do."

Then he added, "To be honest with you the smells in this place are amazing and I am getting hungry. Since he is buying why not enjoy a good meal and some wine and maybe you will mellow enough that by the time you get home you can spank him instead of beating him."

Erin grinned and pushed the button for Todd. He was there in a flash, and they ordered their meal and the wine to go with it. After Todd left, they opened their letters.

After five minutes had gone by, they both looked at each other. In their hearts they knew that every word that was in their letter was true. It wasn't as simple as it seemed, but it was all there in one spot staring them right in the face and they couldn't deny any of it.

Todd came in with their dinners and served them, refilled their wine glasses and then left the room.

Erin spoke up, "Let's eat, then read the letter. I have some things that I would like to talk about with you concerning Nikki, school schedule, the classes she is taking and just a little about where she's at and some changes that will be coming our way"

Jack agreed and they enjoyed their food, which was excellent, talked about their daughter and what this next year might be like, her last before starting high school. They finished their meal and Todd came in and cleared their dishes and offered them dessert which they both declined, and they both declined anymore wine saying what they had in their glasses was enough. They both still had to drive home. Todd told them to stay as long as they needed that the room was theirs till, they were done and left them alone.

"Well, are you ready to hear what the child/genius/brat has to say?"

"That's an excellent way to describe him, sure go ahead and let's hear his words of wisdom. It will be interesting to hear the wisdom of a ten-year-old on adult relationships, even if he has been pretty accurate so far."

Erin pulled out the letter and started to read.

Dear Mom and Jack,

Well, if you are reading this then I can guess that you read your own individual letters. Hopefully you have decided to eat too. Todd has a great restaurant and is a good person. The food is marvelous, and I owe you two at least that much.

As you could read, my letters were pretty blunt and straight forward. In listening to the two of you and the rest of the family it is fairly obvious, at least from my viewpoint what happened between you two. The fact that you still care for each other was clearly evident to me since the first time I saw you together and watched you interact.

It is my hope and prayer that you guys will take this opportunity to talk and share some of the things that I have heard each of you say. Be honest with yourselves and with each other and hopefully you can find a way to move forward, either together or as friends, to a life that will be fulfilling for both you and Nikki.

I love you both and care a great deal for you, you both deserve the best life you can have and whether you agree or not you each hold the key for the other in making that happen. You can't escape it, but you can be stubborn and ignore it and you will both be miserable the rest of your lives.

No matter what happens though I know that I have crossed a line with both of you. I hope that each of you can find it in your heart to forgive me.

Mama, I know what I have coming, and you have every right to follow thru with it, even a parental obligation. I disobeyed you, stuck my nose in where it didn't belong and put you both in awkward positions tonight. I hope though that both of you can see how much I believe in this by what I am willing to take to try and facilitate it.

Please talk,

Christopher

Nothing was said. Erin pulled the letter to her chest, holding it tight, her emotions in such a state that she was afraid to speak. She was furious on one hand and confused on the other. For Chris to basically flat out disobey her and throw this in her face was totally unacceptable. At the same time, he had hit every nail, and there were a lot of them in her and Jack's relationship, on the head and she couldn't ignore that. She looked up to see Jack staring at her with tears in his eyes.

"Erin, I am sorry for hurting you and Nikki. Chris has pointed things out that I have always known but was never willing to admit or share with you or give you a chance to address. If you are willing, I would like to talk. I don't know where it will lead, or if it will lead anywhere at all, but I would like to share with you the things that he had in my letter, if you are willing to listen?"

"Jack, thank you for saying that I hope you can tell that to Nikki too it will mean a lot to her. As far as talking, yes, I would like that too. I have things that I have never said to you, that should have been, things that you never had a chance to address or deal with either. I am more than willing to listen, and I hope you can listen to me too."

"I would like that very much."

Then Jack got a smile on his face, "You know don't you, it is really hard to admit he is right and that we are talking."

"Let's forget about him for the next little while, I will deal with him later. Let's talk, you want to flip for who goes first?"

It was something that they had started when they were first dating to break dead locks in their discussions.

Jack got a huge smile on his face and then chuckled, pulled out a quarter and tossed it in the air, "Call it!"

Well, I hoped you liked it, the cousins certainly made a memory. Erin and Jack are at least talking now. Next Chapter Chris pays the price for his troubles and has to face some hard facts about himself and how he comes across to others. It's already done so I will try and post it yet tonight.