Chapter 53 – Consequences

As James and Charlotte headed downstairs to get Tommy, James took a moment and stopped Charlotte on the steps.

"Whatever happens." James said. "Be strong and don't give in. He is counting on you dropping this if he pushes back. I never had to go to this extreme with you or your brothers. But I did learn the hard way about giving in and not holding to a punishment."

"I am trying." Charlotte said.

"Your mother and I support you." James said. "I talked to JP about him supporting your decision as well. We also know that Nathan will do what he can to support you, but he was right when he said you needed to be the one to hold the line with Tommy. Thomas will be here tonight and he will help as well. Tommy needs to learn."

"You're right." Charlotte said. "It doesn't make it any easier."

"Never said it would." James said. "Just know that this is for his own good. You can clearly see how he has been treating everyone."

Charlotte let out a harsh breath and nodded. They finished going down the stairs and to Tommy's room. James didn't even knock, he just went in as the door was still ajar from where Jack had left it. He walked over to Tommy, pulled the blanket off of him and then pulled him off the mattress flipping him onto his back.

"Get up!" James demanded. "You have two minutes to get dressed or I will pick you up and you can do chores like that."

"Ma!" Tommy hissed.

"Do as you're told." Charlotte said.

Tommy looked over to his mother and saw her standing there with her hands on the hips and the icy stare that he had seen the night before.

"Privacy?" Tommy said.

"No." James said. "You haven't earned it. Let's go, you are wasting time."

Tommy huffed a few times, but pulled on the shirt and jeans that were on the floor next to the mattress. He then slipped the socks on and stood up. James looked at him and shook his head. He pointed to the door and Tommy walked to his mother. She turned and led them out of his room with James following. No one said anything as they walked up the stairs. Tommy plopped down on a bar stool and looked at the kitchen.

"Kitchen is closed." Charlotte said. "If you wanted to eat, you should have gotten up when your brother told you."

Tommy just looked between his mother and grandfather. James glared at him and tilted his head toward the door. Tommy stomped over to the door and pulled on his boots.

"Drop the attitude." Charlotte said. "If you want to have a mattress tonight, I would suggest you do as you're told."

Tommy opened his mouth to protest, but quickly closed it again as he looked at his mother and grandfather.

"Can I at least grab an energy drink?" Tommy said.

"No." James said. "I will get you a water bottle. You can have that while you work. If you get some work done, you may be able to grab a bite on your break mid-morning. I don't know what is down there, but we will see."

As Charlotte, James and Tommy were heading out the back door, Elizabeth came up the steps and pulled her boots on as well. Charlotte saw that she was only a few steps behind, so waited for her.

"Mom, get off?" Charlotte asked.

"Yes." Elizabeth said. "She said something about maybe having lunch with a friend since things here were under control."

Charlotte nodded and they walked across the backyard and toward the stable. Elizabeth headed into the stable to find Jack and Nathan as they weren't in the jumping ring. Charlotte, James and Tommy continued on toward the arena. James knew that the horses there would need attention. He had left instructions to leave half a dozen stalls for Tommy. Everyone who saw them knew that James and Charlotte were on a mission. They could also tell that Tommy was not happy. When they entered the arena, James led them straight to the stalls. He saw which ones needed to be done and that the stuff needed was nearby.

"Tommy." James said. "It is your responsibility to clean these six stalls."

Tommy let out a little huff but didn't say anything. James looked at his watch.

"You have thirty minutes." James said. "If you don't have it done and done properly, you will not receive full credit for work done. Get moving. I will be back."

James didn't say anything else, but grabbed Charlotte's arm and went to the office. Charlotte still wasn't sure about this, but she was going to trust her father. She also knew that something needed to change and as hard as it was, she knew that it was in part her fault that Tommy was the way that he was. She took a deep breath and sat down at the desk.

"He will be fine." James said. "It is hard, but it is supposed to be hard. I am not asking him to do anything that I haven't done myself or that I don't ask of my employees everyday."

"I know." Charlotte said. "I just cuts at me to see his face."

"Then remember what he said and how he treats people." James said. "This should have happened a long time ago. We and he will get through it."

Charlotte nodded and went back to the task of filling out paperwork to register the foals that had already been born and named. James sat at the other desk and went to work on checking how the races had gone the day before and inputting the information into their system. He also checked what horses were racing that day and where.

Jack and Nathan had walked down to the stable, but didn't say much. Nathan was thinking of everything that needed to get done and Jack was hoping and praying that his mother would stand her ground and not give in. He knew that Tommy was hard to deal with but if she gave in, then Jack knew that Tommy would be impossible to deal with. There was a part of Jack that was glad that he was going to be living in the apartment, but there was also a part of him that felt bad for the staff that he loved. He knew that Tommy would take his anger out on them. They were almost to the stable when Nathan grabbed Jack's arm.

"First." Nathan said when had Jack's attention. "It will be okay."

"I know." Jack said. "Or I think so."

"There is nothing that you can do." Nathan said. "Except pray and support your parents and grandparents as much as you can. The only other thing that you can do is try to make things easier for them by helping out and not giving them anything more to worry about."

"Okay." Jack said.

"Now." Nathan said. "Get your head together or you are not getting on a horse. My first job is to protect you and if that means not letting you on a horse, so be it. The last thing we need is for you to get injured."

"You are right." Jack said.

Jack stopped outside the stable and took a couple deep breaths before they walked in. It was the same thing that Jack did at a competition when he needed to focus. When they did walk in, they saw a number of the hands and grooms already at work. Most nodded hello to them, but didn't stop their work. Jack and Nathan went to greet the horses and saw that Carlo was already there. He turned when he heard them approach.

"Morning." Carlo said. "I have already fed all of your horses. I made Ghost's just like we did last night."

"Thank you." Jack said. "But I usually take care of my horses when I am here."

"I know." Carlo said. "But I was told to do it. You still have to do everything else. I was just told to help with the feeding, since you have five horses to deal with."

"Alright." Jack said.

"Oh." Carlo said. "I am also supposed to let you know that all the tack for them has been cleaned and checked. I will make sure that it is cleaned again before the show this weekend."

"Thank you." Nathan said. "But we will only need Bandit's tack this weekend."

Carlo nodded. Jack greeted his horses and they were happy to see him, even though they had already been fed. Nathan greeted Ghost and Athena before turning to Carlo.

"Want to help me clean his cut this morning?" Nathan asked.

Carlo nodded and produced the tea tree oil and a soft rag from his back pocket.

"I saw you guys coming down." Carlo said with a smile.

"Okay then." Nathan said.

Jack came over, greeted Ghost and kept him calm while Nathan and Carlo cleaned the cut with tea tree oil. Ghost only stomped his foot once. When they were done, Nathan looked at his feed bin and it was empty. He then went over to Ghost and gave him a little more attention.

"You were a good boy." Nathan said softly. "You ate all your food. Maybe we can find you a treat."

At the word treat, Ghost's ears flicked forward and he gave a low nicker. Nathan chuckled.

"He most definitely knows that word." Nathan said to Jack.

"Oh yes." Jack said. "Doug was always giving those to him. It got so bad we couldn't even say the word if he was around."

"So you are spoiled." Nathan said, scratching Ghost's muzzle.

Nathan left the stall, then turned and looked around to see Carlo still standing there.

"Want to learn how to make something special?" Nathan asked.

Carlo nodded. Nathan motioned for him to follow him. Jack set about pulling Bandit out to brush him. Nathan leads Carlo over to the feed room.

"First." Nathan said. "We need to wash our hands since we were using the tea tree oil."

After they washed their hands Carlo looked at Nathan.

"What are we going to do?" He asked.

"Most horses love honey and bananas." Nathan said. "Now you can't give it to them all the time, but I think Ghost needs a treat since he is going to be stuck in his stall most of the day."

"Okay." Carlo said. "What do we need?"

Nathan walked over to the back table. He picked up the large bucket of spun honey and grabbed two bananas. He then grabbed a clean, wide shallow feed bucket. He brought everything back over to the middle table. He then opened a drawer and pulled out a serving spoon.

"Okay." Nathan said. "For a horse like Ghost, two bananas. You need to peel them first."

Nathan handed one to Carlo and took the other. Nathan peeled his and dropped in the bucket. Carlo did exactly what Nathan did.

"Next is the honey." Nathan said. "One of these large spoonfuls."

Nathan showed him.

"It isn't exact." Nathan said. "But you get the idea. I like to mash the bananas and stir the honey a bit, but you don't have to."

Nathan showed Carlo what it should look like.

"Always put it in a clean bucket by itself." Nathan said. "I like these wide, shallow ones, because the horses will lick it clean."

"Cool." Carlo said.

"Want to go give it to him?" Nathan said. "I will clean this up."

Carlo nodded and grabbed the bucket that Nathan held out. Nathan smiled and shook his head a bit as Carlo hurried out of the feed room to give Ghost his treat. Nathan washed off the spoon in the sink and put it back. He then walked out to help Jack.

"Honey and bananas." Jack said. "Ghost is going to love you."

"You mean he is going to love Carlo." Nathan said. "He is the one that fed him."

Jack gave him a dimpled grin, shaking his head.

"Grab Honey or Aphrodite." Jack said. "I already have Bandit outside. But I think we are going to have to take them to the arena to jump."

"I will take Honey." Nathan said.

Nathan pulled Honey out and started brushing her. Jack grabbed Athena and gave her a light brushing before turning her out in one of the grazing pens with a shelter. He then grabbed Aphrodite and brushed her out. When they were done with their respective horses, they turned them out with Bandit. Nathan then went about pulling Ghost out. He slipped a rope halter on Ghost, being careful to place it beyond the cut. He then only clipped Ghost on one side. He brushed him out and gave him a little more attention. He checked the animal over to see if there was anything that they had missed. Nathan didn't find anything else and for that he was grateful. By the time that Nathan was done, Jack had mucked out Ghost's stall and put down fresh bedding. Nathan returned Ghost to his stall and removed the halter. He then spoke to the horse before turning and helping Jack finish mucking out. They were just finishing putting bedding down when Elizabeth walked in.

"Morning." Elizabeth said.

"Morning." Jack said, stepping out of the last stall.

"We are almost finished." Nathan said.

"It is okay." Elizabeth said. "Gran got off, Tommy went with Charlotte and James to the arena."

"Good." Jack said. "We just need a quick change to get ready to jump."

"I will be here." Elizabeth said.

Jack and Nathan headed to the jockey room to change. They both quickly pulled on their breeches, riding boots and long sleeve shirts. They grabbed their vest and helmets. Jack also grabbed his windbreaker.

"Do you want one?" Jack asked.

"If you have one that fits." Nathan said.

"I am sure that we do." Jack said. "Ma orders them in bulk. Let's go see."

Jack and Nathan walked out.

"Elizabeth." Jack said.

She looked at them and Jack motioned for her to join them. She walked over and they headed to the office. Jack opened a cabinet. He pulled out a windbreaker and handed it to Elizabeth and he looked again and grabbed another for Nathan. He then pulled one for each Lee and Doug. He knew that they didn't have the new design. The new design had interlocking c's and t's with a galloping white horse in a circle above and below the logo were the two names – Coal Creek and Thornton Thoroughbreds.

"Thank you." Elizabeth said. "These are really nice."

"We can have your name added if you want." Jack said. "I like them because they are not too heavy, but they are warm on cool days."

"I like the shade of green." Elizabeth said.

"Custom blended." Jack said. "It is darker than a normal emerald, but not quite a forest green. I actually love this color, but it is so hard to find it without having it custom made."

"You're right." Elizabeth said. "It is the perfect shade of green."

"Wow." Nathan said. "Even embroidered in a lovely gold and white."

"Yep, my family is Irish and Scottish." Jack said. "What did you expect? Even our racing silks are emerald green with red. I don't know why I went with a red riding jacket, but oh well. One of the shops in town did the embroidery so it would be easy to add your name."

"I guess I didn't think about it." Nathan said. "It makes sense when you say it like that."

"Does yours have your name?" Elizabeth asked.

"No." Jack said. "I draw enough attention without putting my name on things. The farm and company name are enough for me."

"Then I think I will leave my name off as well." Elizabeth said.

"I am good." Nathan said. "Who are the other two for?"

"Doug and Lee." Jack said. "I am sure that their old ones don't fit and this is the new color and logo."

"Good point." Nathan said. "We might as well all match."

"Sure." Jack said. "Let's get those horses over to the arena."

Just as they were walking to the holding ring, they heard the first rumbles of distant thunder.

"I will get the truck and trailer." Jack said. "Are we taking all three?"

"Might as well." Nathan said.

Jack was back quickly with a four horse trailer, they loaded the horses and tossed their gear in the back seat. Nathan got in the driver's seat.

"So how do we do this?" Nathan asked.

"Out the main gate." Jack said. "Around the corner and then come in that entrance."

"Got it." Nathan said. "Please text security."

"On it." Jack said.