Chapter Eleven
They spent the rest of the morning wandering around Kenosha, Jackie showing Eric some of the places in the city that she had come know and love and were important to her. It again showed to Eric a whole other side to the young woman that he hadn't realized existed. As they continued to wander, Eric also came to understand even more just how much he had been missing home and the people closest to him.
But, like all good things, the moment of bliss eventually had to come an end. Eric and Jackie's moment ended when Eric at his watch and saw the time. "As much as I'd love to keep going, Jackie, the real world calls," he told her. "You have your appointment with Elena and Gio and I need to drive down to Point Place to pick up Mom and Red for tonight."
Jackie groaned at the real world intrusion, wanting the time time with Eric to last for as long as possible. But, she knew hat Eric had a point. Opportunity beckoned and Jackie planned to embrace it with open arms. Making their way back to the Mustang, Eric drove the short distance to the restaurant, parking just outside.
Grabbing their gear, they went inside where they found Elena standing next to the maitre d', reviewing the bookings for the coming evening. A huge grin appeared on her face as she laid eyes on the couple. "Eric! Jackie!" she exclaimed. "You made it!" Throwing her arms wide open, Elena hugged the pair. Eric smiled as Jackie laughed, completely enamored with the Italian woman's passion for life. Elena gave them a kiss each on the cheek before letting them go. "And how are two of my favorite people in the world?"
All Eric could do was grin. "We're both good, Elena. Wouldn't you say so, Jackie?"
"Oh, definitely," Jackie nodded, the same grin on her face. "I hope you're ready to do battle, Elena. I came prepared!"
Seeing all the work that Jackie had brought with her for the meeting, Elena laughed. "Do not worry about it, bella! I'm almost positive that we'll work something out. Eric, will you be joining us?"
Eric shook his head. "No, I'm heading down to Point Place to pick up Mom and Red for dinner tonight. Thought I'd head down early and spend some time with them as well and catch up properly at the same time. Everything still all good for tonight?"
Smiling, Elena nodded. "I've set aside the private dining room that we use only for special occasions for tonight and I'm dragging Gio out of the kitchen to join us as well. It will be an evening to remember, mi amore," she said, patting his cheek.
Eric leaned over and kissed the fiery Italian woman on the cheek, causing her to blush furiously. He then turned Jackie, gathered into his arms and kissed her with all the love, passion and hunger that he felt in his heart for her. Totally and completely caught off-guard, Jackie let herself be fully immersed in the emotion of the moment. Everything she had been carrying fell to the floor as she wrapped her arms around Eric and returned the kiss with the same passion and fire.
A lifetime seemed to pass before Eric gently broke the kiss. Both of them breathing heavily, he leaned his forehead against Jackie's and whispered, "For luck." As she attempted to control her breathing, Jackie opened her eyes and gazed directly into Eric's. It was there that she saw the love that he held for her, as if he was baring his soul to her to reveal what he felt for her.
Trying not to cry as Eric slowly released her, Jackie whispered back, "Always."
Eric finally and very reluctantly released Jackie from his grasp, allowing them to bend down and collect her work papers from the floor. Once everything had been picked up, Eric kissed Jackie once more before waving goodbye to Elena. "I'll be back soon," he said.
Watching the man she loved go, Jackie waited until he driven off before turning her attention back to Elena. Upon seeing the red cheeks, Jackie couldn't decide if it was from the eroticism of the moment or from being completely aroused herself as a result. A brief thought suggested that it was most likely a combination of the two. Jackie grinned before clearing her head and looking at over at Elena. "Let's get down to business, shall we?"
The drive to Point Place didn't take very long. After stopping to grab six pack along the way, Eric pulled into the driveway of the Forman family home. As he got out of the car, Kitty came out the side door carrying a bag of rubbish. Seeing this, he said, "Hi Mom, let me get that for you."
Not expecting to see her son, Kitty gasped in delight and launched herself at him. "Oh, honey! I am so glad to see you! Hahahahahaha!" Her arms wrapped tightly around her son, Eric only was only successful in unwrapping his mother's arms from around him when Red came outside and saw what had happened.
"Kitty! For god's sake, the boy does need to breathe every once in a while." Eric smiled. While change was good, he was glad that some things never changed. Then again, he also knew that if his dad had his way, they'd all still be living in the 1950s.
Once his mother had released her hold on him, Eric lifted the six pack of beer. "Hey Dad, how are things going? Thought I'd come and see if you guys wanted to go out for dinner tonight." Ever since Red's accident the previous year, he and Kitty hadn't been able to go out and do many of the things that they had enjoyed doing for so many years. While he knew that Kitty had always put on a brave face, Red also knew that she missed doing a lot of the small things had made thier later years so much more enjoyable. Truth be told, even though he wouldn't admit to it, he'd been missing doing some of those things as well.
"Dinner? Oh, Red! We haven't been out in ages!" Kitty's eyes glazed over as she thought about all the things that she needed to do beforehand. "Oh my god! I just realised I don't have anything to wear!"
Seeing that Red was about to say something, Eric took his credit card out of his wallet and his keys out of his trouser pocket. "Here, Mom. Take this and my car and get yourself whatever you need for tonight. My treat." Handing the items to Kitty, Eric was secretly enjoying seeing the look of shock on his mother's face. It didn't happen very often, but it was always quite something to see when it did happen.
Kitty grabbed the proffered items, ran back inside and grabbed her purse, quickly kissed her husband and son on her way to leaving and proceeded to speed out of the driveway so fast that both Eric and Red thought that she was going to set a new record for breaking the sound barrier.
Once she was gone, Red turned to Eric and said, "Okay, son, let's go inside and open a couple of those bottles. Then you can tell me what's on your mind."
It was like old times. Red on one side of the dinner table, Eric sitting opposite him. The difference this time, however, was that both men were older and this wasn't the 1970s anymore. After opening a bottle each, both men had drunk a mouthful of the brew before Red set his down on the table and looked at his son. "Alright, Eric, what brings you home?"
Taking a deep breath, Eric looked at his father. "A couple of things, Dad. The first is that, if I never said it, I wanted to say thank you."
Red was confused. "Thank you? For what?"
"For supporting me when Donna and I got divorced. I know that Mom was never happy with my decision when I left Donna and I know that I was never your favorite, but it actually did mean a lot to me when you helped me to move forward and gave me the advice I needed when it came to making some of the hard choices. So, thank you," Eric knew that Red wasn't the sort of person who liked having to deal with emotions even at the best of times, hence why he had decided to apologize in such a way that made him come off as being too touchy feely, but also in a way that Red would appreciate. Having a bottle of beer in his hand helped matters as well.
"Well, Eric, I appreciate that. Like you said, you never were my favorite, but I will admit that I was surprised by how mature you were in handling everything. You didn't whine or complain. But what surprised me the most was that you stuck to your convictions, even when Donna wanted to reconcile. You and I both know how upset your mother was about it when everything was finalized. She loved all you kids when you were growing up, but Donna held a special place in her heart as the daughter she always wanted, not the one she got. Unfortunate but true."
It was rare for Red Forman to speak any longer than necessary, it was just the way he had always been. But what he had just said to his son amounted to a full speech. Seeing that Red wasn't finished, Eric let him continue.
"What has impressed me, though, Eric, is what you've done with your life since. Instead of falling to pieces like you did as a teenager, you picked yourself and kept moving forward. You remained a teacher and when the opportunity came, you took a chance and suddenly found yourself entering a new chapter in your life as a writer. Not only did you pursue it, but you exceeded everyone's expectations by becoming very successful at. The places it has taken you, the people that you've met, the adventures you've had, none of that would've happened if you'd stayed married to Donna."
Eric couldn't remember the last time that his father had spoken to him like this. The stark honesty was not normally how Red did things, but Eric wasn't about to stop him. "But, what makes me proud to call you my son, Eric, is the way you stepped up last year after I had my accident", Red continued. "You didn't go all twitchy like you have done when you were a teenager. Instead, you took control like a man when your mother became overwhelmed with everything that was going on. You came home and did what had to be done. And, when I was finally able to come home, your mother and I found that we had nothing at all to be concerned about whatsoever. This last year has been one of the hardest of my life, son. Physically and emotionally. But, it could've been a lot worse and harder. Thank you, Eric."
Not often finding himself at a loss for words, Eric took a moment to recover before he spoke."Thanks, Dad. That means a lot."
Both men drank another mouthful of beer before Red looked at his son again. "Alright, out with it. Why did you come down here apart from inviting us to dinner?" Red had always had a way of cutting to the heart of things without getting caught up in a lot of bullshit.
Taking a deep breath, Eric decided to start by telling his father about the plan he'd been working on ever since his chance meeting with Jackie six months ago and the friendship and budding romance that they'd developed since then. Well, Dad, I thought it only fair that you hear it from me first and tell you, and Mom when she gets back, that I'm moving back to Wisconsin."
Red was surprised. He had thought that, after becoming a famous author, Eric would have no interest in returning to either Wisconsin or Point Place. "When did you decide this?" he asked instead.
After swallowing another mouthful of beer, Eric replied, "When I came home last year just after you'd had your accident and Mom needed help to deal with all of stress that it was causing. That's when I found out at the same time about what had been going on with Hyde."
Closing his eyes, Red knew that they all should have told Eric the truth years ago when things had started going downhill for his adopted brother. He'd bowed to the pressure from his wife, however, when she'd sworn all of them to silence about the whole situation. Red had known then, just as he knew now, that keeping Eric in the dark on certain things, was not always a good idea. "How?"
"From W.B. when I called to find out where Hyde was so I could let him know what had happened. Finding out that the guy I loved as if he were my own brother was locked up in a treatment facility for mental health-related issues was not what I had expected to be told, to say the least." Even now, Eric still had trouble believing it. "The fact that everyone went to the effort of hiding the truth from me didn't help matters, either."
"You can talk to your mother about that," Red told him. "I bowed to her wishes at the time, but I did tell her that keeping the truth from you could make things worse in the long run for all involved."
Eric shrugged his shoulders. "It's all good now, Dad. I've made my peace with it and that was then. No sense in holding a grudge about something I can't change." Red was again surprised by his son's attitude. Time, it seemed, had changed his son in ways that he hadn't expected. He was starting like this new version of his son and was wondering what else about him had changed.
"So, when does this momentous event happen?" Red asked as he drank some more beer.
"Just after I get back from my trip. That's when everything should be done and dusted and I can get moving onward. I'm looking at the 90s as a chance to fix the past and move forward into the future without looking over my shoulder and wondering: what if."
"We all think about the what ifs in our lives from time to time, son," Red told his son. "If we dwell on them too much, we lose our ability to move forward."
Eric nodded. "I know that, Dad. In this instance, though, it's more of a case of repair than dwelling." Red looked at his son strangely, not quite understanding. "When I leave on Sunday, I'll be stopping off in Chicago before heading down south to finish off my research trip. Donna contacted me a couple of weeks ago. She's asked to meet with me do an interview as part of a series that the newspaper she works for is doing on authors that she's writing. After thinking about it, I decided that it was time to leave the past behind and agreed to do the interview."
Surprised once again by the maturity that Eric was displaying, Red simply nodded. "Well, that's good to hear, son. After Bob's death and the incident at the funeral, your mom and Donna started keeping in contact. Your mother spent a long time at the wake with Jackie and Brooke consoling Donna after what happened when you left. I don't think I need to remind you of what can happen when you upset your mother."
Knowing full well what could happen if Kitty Forman was given cause to be angry or upset in any way, shape or form, Eric shuddered at the very thought of what could happen. "Well, Mom might be happy to learn that not only am I coming back to Wisconsin to live, but there's also a definite chance of romance and something more on the horizon."
This bit of news completely caught Red off-guard. He knew that, after the fallout from what had happened with Donna, Eric had been very careful when it had come to relationships; especially when his career as an author had taken off. This development, Red knew, was a recent one, otherwise Kitty would have said something. But, if there was a chance that this could evolve into something more and provide him with the thing that he had always wanted – a marriage to a woman that he loved and was loved in return and children – then Red would support him, no matter what.
Finishing the last of his beer, Red then dared to ask the question. "So, who is the lucky woman that's got you feeling this way, then?"
Eric smiled. "Jackie Burkhart," he answered as he drank down the last of his beer as well. The way Red's eyes went wide told him that that hadn't been the answer he'd been expecting at all. It took Red a few moments to process what Eric had just told him. Of Eric's group of friends, Jackie, or Loud One as he liked to call her, had always been his favorite. Growing up, neither Eric or Jackie had really been part of the other's life; Eric tolerating Jackie as part of the group when dating first Kelso and then Steven while Jackie had always been Donna's friend. Occasionally they'd had moments where they'd made a connection of sorts, but those had been far and few between.
But, now that he thought about it, Red could see what it was about Jackie that had attracted his son to her. While Donna had always been headstrong and emphatic about what she wanted out of life, Red now understood what it was that had led Eric to divorce his ex-wife: a lack of equality. Where as Eric had always sought balance in the relationship, Donna had always seemed to want to be at the top of the apex, the one pushing boundaries, always judging and setting the course for the couple.
Jackie was the opposite. While she still wanted a career, she also wanted someone to come home to and share her life with, be married to and have children with; to be equal in the relationship and not judge or be judged in return. Those were the same things that Eric had wanted, what he had thought he'd found with Donna. After everything that the both of them had been through; Eric with Donna and Jackie with Steven, it seemed right to Red that his only son and adopted daughter should wind up together. Now that Red knew what his son hoped for for the future, he only wished him and Jackie nothing but happiness and good health in the days to come.
"Well, son," he finally said, "if she makes you happy, then that's all that matters. Your mother will want some details as to how long this has been happening and the like, but as far as I'm concerned, Eric, it's all good."
Surprisingly comforted by his father's unexpected show of support, Eric knew that, with Red in his corner, his mom wouldn't be able to stay upset at him for too much longer about the past. His mom, in a sense, had never forgiven him about divorcing Donna, especially as she'd always wanted grandchildren to spoil and dote on. While she'd eventually accepted Eric's decision, every so often Kitty would drop hints about Eric's love life or lack there of, bringing up in conversation about how she would receive letters from friends, often telling her about their trips around the country and the world and what they were doing. In a lot of those cases, those activities usually involved their grandchildren, something that Kitty liked to remind Eric about whenever he returned for a visit to see his family. "Well, dad," Eric said, "it makes me happy to hear that. Hopefully I'll be able to win Mom over, but we'll just have to wait and see."
When Kitty returned form her shopping trip nearly two hours later, she was pleasantly surprised to find her two favorite men sitting in the kitchen having another beer while Eric regaled Red with stories of his travels, living in two different cities and the other celebrities that he'd met over the years. It warmed her heart to see father and son finally getting along after so many years. Now, if only Eric would settle down and finally produce those grandchildren that she wanted, life would be a lot better!
