Chapter 274 – Conversation with Jack and Elizabeth
Father Mark and Elizabeth took a seat in the library as Jack shut the doors and pulled the shades on the doors. He didn't lock the doors as he knew everyone would leave them alone. Once Jack had settled next to Elizabeth on the couch, Father Mark looked at him.
"So what did you want to talk about?" Father Mark said. "I will only be here to facilitate the conversation. Unless there is something specific that you need from me."
"I wanted you here for a couple of reasons." Jack said. "One so that no one questions things and things are on the up and up. Two, because I would be telling you this stuff anyway and it would be easier than repeating myself."
Father Mark nodded. Jack picked up Elizabeth's hand and turned to look at her. He was going to address her and let Father Mark listen unless he had questions.
"Elizabeth." Jack said. "As I was going over paperwork today, I realized something and before I did anything I wanted to talk to you."
"Okay." Elizabeth said. "I appreciate that. So what did you realize?"
"Everything is in my name." Jack said. "I was wondering if you wanted me to add you to the deeds to the new property. I know that some of the things have to wait until after the wedding, like to my trust funds and my shares of Thornton Thoroughbreds, but according to Devin, I can add you to the property now if you want, or we can wait until later. The way that everything is set up, the new orchard will be a separate fully incorporated business by itself. Like the farm is separate from the horses."
"Oh." Elizabeth said. "I don't know. I am still afraid that my father will try something, especially if my name is on things."
Jack scrunched up his face like he was thinking.
"Maybe have a conversation with Devin about that before you do anything." Father Mark offered. "If things are going to be protected from her family trying to interfere, then there is no point in waiting."
"I like that." Elizabeth said. "I guess I didn't even think about those types of things. I just assumed that your assets would remain in your name."
"No." Jack said. "I told you, what is mine is yours. I want to add your name. I already have Connie working on the paperwork to get you your owner's license so we have that before the Breeder's Cup in November. She has everything ready and will just need a certified copy of our marriage certificate to send with to get the final approval. She already got you a temporary ninety day pass, so you can be at the track with us and not have to worry about things. You can go back to the barns and where other people in the general public wouldn't be able to go. I get family and friends passes for Doug and Lee. I will add Nathan and Frank to those as well."
"Wow." Elizabeth said. "I guess I didn't think about all those things."
"It helps that other people keep on top of most of that for me still." Jack said. "But I am trying to get better about including you before I do things."
"Thank you for that." Elizabeth said. "I know that is not easy for you."
"I have a question for you, Elizabeth." Father Mark said. "I hope that you will be honest with me. I want to know how you are really doing with Emily here? You seemed uncomfortable before."
"It wouldn't be my first choice to have her in my room." Elizabeth said. "But I am trying to be open and welcoming to your family as they have been open and welcoming to me."
"You let me know." Father Mark said. "I know that my sister can be a lot. She has been in California for a number of years and I am telling you this, because I know you won't say anything. There is something going on and I don't know why she is here. I have a call into Rose, my other sister out there, but so far, I haven't heard back. It is so unlike Emily to just pack up and drive across the country and move back to New York. She left the day after her eighteenth birthday and couldn't wait to make her mark in Hollywood. So for her to come back, something happened."
"I will keep my ears open." Elizabeth said. "Like I told Jack, as long as she leaves my stuff alone and follows the rules, I will make the best of it. From what Gran said, it just be until there is room at her parents house."
"We will see." Father Mark said. "Please be careful what you share with her, she loves her social media."
"I think Gran still has her phone." Elizabeth said. "I know she was informed there were rules about posting."
Jack and Father Mark nodded.
"Since we are here, I wanted to ask how your counseling is going?" Father Mark asked.
"Good." Elizabeth said. "She said she would recommend I have someone that I can check in with from time to time as we start school and navigate being newlyweds. She said she could recommend a few colleagues in the city or the student counseling at Columbia is good as well. She was happy that I had people around me here and told me that she felt that my journaling really helped me to process my thoughts and emotions in a healthy way."
"Glad to hear it." Father's Mark said. "Jack, how about you?"
"Okay." Jack said.
Father Mark just quietly raised an eyebrow at him. Jack just ducked his head.
"Jack." Elizabeth said. "It is okay. You don't have to tell us what you talked about, but just how things are going. Do you like your counselor? Did he make any recommendations, like mine did?"
Jack took a deep breath and slowly blew it out. He then looked up, but he couldn't look at Elizabeth. Jack locked his gaze on Father Mark and the man saw something in his cousin's eyes that he couldn't read.
"Jack?" Father Mark said.
"He suggested I should get further testing." Jack said. "He used words like neurodivergent and autism. I looked up some of what he was talking about and while it might be a possibility, especially given other factors, I really don't want to know."
"Why?" Elizabeth asked.
Jack just hung his head again and refused to look at either of them. Elizabeth looked over at Father Mark and could read his face either.
"I think I might know." Father Mark said. "Jack, tell me how close I get. We have always known that Jack was smart, probably profoundly gifted according to IQ tests. While being of high intelligence doesn't cause mental illness, it seems like they can go hand in hand. There is also still a huge stigma about having a mental illness, it might be slightly more difficult for Jack knowing he had to have a certain portion of his life in the public eye. It might be easier to not know, then to have to constantly deny it in public to maintain some privacy."
Jack nodded.
"I have known from a young age that I was different." Jack said. "I am not just talking about money. I mean the way I see things and the way that I feel. The older I got, the more I saw it, especially as I started school. I was bored in school much of the time. I would find ways to occupy myself and stay out of trouble. The one time that I tried to talk to Ma and Dad about getting me tested so I might be able to skip a few grades, they weren't open to it. They said it wasn't necessary because they had a plan and that was what was going to happen."
"How did you keep your mind occupied and stay out of trouble?" Elizabeth asked.
"I made a deal with my teachers." Jack said. "They promised to let me read anything I wanted once my work was turned in. I spent a lot of time in the library and on the computer when I was in school. Ma and Dad didn't care because my work was done and I had good grades."
"I have a question." Elizabeth said. "It has been bugging me for some time, especially since Doug mentioned you weren't the top of your class. If you are so smart, how did you not graduate at the top of your class?"
Again Jack ducked his head. Father Mark smirked. Elizabeth looked between them and shook her head, because she didn't understand.
"That is easy." Father Mark said. "He was in Catholic school and more than course work is considered when determining final grades at times."
"What did you do?" Elizabeth asked.
"Let me preface this with, I would have done the same thing." Father Mark said. "Jack had a perfect or more than perfect GPA up until his senior year. He had always gotten the top mark in everything. Excelled in sports, music and arts, so basically an all around great student. During his senior year, Jack refused to engage with his religion teacher. He didn't agree with her stance on a fundamental point. Jack felt she was wrong and refused to back down. She was new to the school and felt she was right and wouldn't listen to anyone. Jack stood his ground and she docked his grade because of it. But because Jack's GPA had been so high to start with, it barely dropped it. She tried to block his graduation because he technically failed her class because he refused to be swayed on a certain point. John stepped in with the headmaster and questioned how the teacher could fail a student when they had done all the course work to near perfection, but because they refused to compromise their beliefs, they were failed. The headmaster forced the teacher to give Jack a passing grade of a C+. The teacher wasn't happy, but the headmaster was more worried about losing the Thornton support that Jack and John provided."
"What was the issue?" Elizabeth asked. "And what happened to the teacher?"
"The teacher is still there." Jack said. "But she is on probation and depending on what happens this school year, she might not get her contract renewed. From my understanding, Grandpa John wasn't the only donor to complain about her. The problem lied in fact that she was pushing a very liberal stance on something that is very clear cut. The Church has spoken about it over the years and even issued statements to clarify the Church's teaching. It revolves around the issue of female clergy members. The Church has clearly stated that the priesthood is for men and men only. I don't feel that it was up for debate. I took a hard line on the issue. I stated that men and women are different and have different callings. I didn't say that women can't serve the Church, because they do have a clear path to do such, but it is different then the path for a man. Not better, not worse, just different.
Let me be clear about this – I am all for women getting equal pay for equal work. A female doctor with the same training, should have the same training as a male doctor. There are however places that women just don't belong, and the Catholic priesthood is one of them. Just as there are places that men don't belong. I am all for equal rights and equal access, but that doesn't mean that men and women are the same. There are very significant differences between them and those differences should be celebrated and not erased."
"Oh." Elizabeth said.
"This teacher was trying to argue that if a woman wanted to be a priest." Father Mark said. "Then she just needed to become a man and it wouldn't be a problem. I disagreed and that it just opened a whole different can of worms. Jack had come to me to get my opinion and I told him the truth and what the church teaches. When he went back to the teacher with it, she wouldn't hear his side and said he was outright wrong that the Church needed to get with the twenty-first century thinking and stop holding women back."
"I can see how that would upset you." Elizabeth said. "I don't buy into the whole men and women are the same, because you are right, they are not. Can they generally do the same things? Yes, but there are things that women will be better at and there will be things that men are better at. I also know that there will always be exceptions to that, but as a general rule. I have a feeling that things are going to get worse before they get better about people pushing this agenda about equality. I have a feeling it is a slippery slope and not one we want to go down."
"I agree." Jack said. "It feels like there are a group of people that want to erase certain aspects of our culture and to change the definition of things for evil purposes."
"There have always been people like that in history." Father Mark said. "The thing that stopped them was people holding on to traditional values and not giving into the pressure they put on people. As long as there are people who think that they know better than God, then there will always be those types of people out there. Like I told Jack, we need to hold to the truth and pray for them."
Jack nodded. Elizabeth looked between the two and realized that there was more to the issue then she had been told, but she was going to drop it for the time being. She trusted Jack and didn't feel like he was trying to push her into a certain role. She was still a little worried that he would make demands of her to stay home and raise the children, but she wasn't going to give up on her dream of being a teacher.
When Emily came to sit at the counter, Nathan noticed how she was watching him and it was making him uncomfortable. It wasn't that he wasn't attracted to her, but he also realized that he needed to be careful. He didn't want to encourage her or anything. At least not until he had the go ahead from both Father Mark and Jack. He didn't want to do anything to upset either of them. It wasn't that he thought they would get rid of him for liking Emily, but he respected them enough that he wanted them to be okay with it.
Gran and Trish both noticed that Nathan was trying to hold back and not encourage Emily. Gran wondered if he was worried what they would think or if he just wasn't all that interested. She had seen his initial reaction, but she also knew that her granddaughter was beautiful and that being gobsmacked by her beauty was a common reaction for most young men. Gran made a point to keep a closer eye on things over the next few days. She was also determined to learn the real reason why Emily had shown up.
"Gran." Nathan said.
It took Gran a moment to focus and look at him.
"Yes." Gran said.
"What needed to be done in the garage again?" Nathan asked.
"I want you to make sure that all the water and soda out there is in the fridge." Gran said. "Let me know if you think we need more. We will have the cooler down at the arena for staff this weekend, so keep that in mind. Also please check the ice maker. If there is some in there, please use the bags in the bin next to it and put the ice in the freezer so that it will continue to make ice. The last time we did the show, the ice maker wasn't able to keep up, which is why I made notes for the next time to make up bags ahead of time like we do at Christmas and other holidays."
"I can do that." Nathan said.
"I will help him." Frank said.
Frank volunteered to help before Emily could, not that he thought she would.
"Thank you." Gran said. "Let me know what you think we still need as far as water and soda is concerned."
"I will." Nathan said.
Nathan and Frank headed to the garage. Emily watched them until the door shut. Only then did she turn her attention back to her grandmother.
"Elizabeth, are you okay?" Father Mark asked. "You look like you almost want to say something."
Elizabeth shook her head and looked at Father Mark.
"No." Elizabeth said. "I was just thinking about things. It was unfair that the teacher was able to do that to Jack. A teacher's opinion should not be brought into the classroom. I get that there are exceptions to that, but she was teaching a class with facts that have long been established and what she thinks is right or wrong has no bearing on those facts."
"Very true." Father Mark said. "But like Gran is saying, more and more there is a push for 'personal truth' and not so much 'The Truth' and that is sad. There is clear right and wrong in life, society and in general. More and more, we are seeing those lines of right and wrong being blurred or out right erased. We need more teachers like you and people who stand up for what they believe in."
"Teachers like me?" Elizabeth said.
"I know that you will be an excellent teacher." Father Mark. "You believe in right and wrong. You have a caring heart and you want to do it. The perfect recipe for an excellent teacher."
"Thank you." Elizabeth said.
Jack saw that Elizabeth was about as uncomfortable with the compliments as he was, so he decided to change the subject again.
"We are almost done with the marriage prep stuff you asked." Jack said. "I was surprised how much I wasn't even sure about."
"Do either of you have questions?" Father Mark asked. "I know that you can look most things up, but I am here as well."
"No questions, per se." Elizabeth said. "But I'm curious about a few things."
"Okay." Father Mark said. "I am here, if there is something that you want to talk about just say so."
"I need to think about things a bit more before I am ready to talk about them." Elizabeth said. "I have been watching a lot of the videos from the links that Caitlin sent me. I have also been reading the other books that I have ordered. I saw that there was a Catechism of the Catholic Church and have used that to look up a few things since it was mentioned in several of the lessons and books. From my understanding it is a list and description of Catholic doctrine."
"That is a good way to think of it." Father Mark said. "It is work that summarizes what we believe in a language and way that the average person can understand. It is mostly used as a reference work to show what the Church teaches when trying to explain things to children or other people who are learning about the faith. It is not a work that is meant to be read straight through cover to cover. I know that people have tried that, but it ends up being more confusing. In seminary, we were taught to treat it almost like an encyclopedia when you want to look up something specific. You look that up and then read any other related parts."
"Okay." Elizabeth said. "That makes more sense."
"Anything else?" Father Mark asked.
"Not right now." Elizabeth said. "I am very much a reader and think about things. I love doing things hands on, but something like this is much more read and think for me."
"I understand that." Father Mark said. "There are some things that you can only learn by being hands on, like how to make Gran's cookies. But you are right, religion is one of those things that is read and think for a while."
"I am glad that you understand." Elizabeth said. "Rosemary never got that. I also don't think my sisters understood that about me."
"We understand because we listen and we are the same way." Jack said. "There are many things that are better learned by being hands on, but religion is not one of those things. I have always felt it was a lot of reading, thinking, praying and then practicing it."
Elizabeth smiled at Jack.