Chapter 200 – Elizabeth Stands Up for Herself

"Fine I will tell you." Nathan said.

They had heard Peter come back downstairs while they were praying. He joined his sister who was watching TV with Missy and Maddie. Cody was playing with blocks on the floor. Jack was glad that they didn't interrupt them. He knew that the older kids knew enough to realize that they were praying and they kept Cody occupied. When Cody noticed that they weren't sitting in a circle anymore, he looked at his sister and she nodded that he could go over there. So Cody bounded over and climbed up in Nathan's lap.

"Hi Nayan." Cody said. "I sit."

"Yes, you can sit here." Nathan said. "We are just going to sit and talk for a little bit before supper time, but you can join us."

Nathan was getting Cody settled when he looked up and saw Rosemary coming downstairs. As much as Nathan didn't want her around, he was going to be civil for Elizabeth's sake. Until they said otherwise, Rosemary was still a guest in the house.

"Jack." Nathan said. "Before I begin, can you run to our room and grab two of you know what on the top of the desk."

"Got it." Jack said.

Jack got up and quickly headed to their room. He came back with his hand behind his back. He quickly slipped the items to Nathan without Cody seeing. He noticed that Rosemary had taken his spot next to Elizabeth. He was going to say something when Doug moved over so that Jack could sit by Elizabeth.

"Here, Cody." Nathan said. "You can play with these quietly while you sit here."

Nathan held out his hand. Cody's face immediately lit up when he saw what Nathan was holding.

"Horsies!" Cody squealed.

"Yes." Nathan said. "I made these. But you have to play quietly if you are going to sit here. I was going to tell a story."

"Otay." Cody said. "I good."

Cody grabbed the horses

"Tank you." Cody said.

He snuggled down into Nathan's lap and started playing with his horses. Most everyone was smiling at the site they saw.

… … … …

After Rosemary left, Gran looked at Marcus and Ryan.

"I know that we have a houseful." Gran said. "But you are both welcome along with your pilot to stay for supper. We have plenty of food. We have breaded chicken breasts in the oven. I did all three packages so there is plenty for everyone."

"Thank you Margaret." Marcus said. "We have a few things to talk about, but we will see."

"That is fine." Gran said. "John, do you need Katie to sit in or not."

"It is up to her." John said. "If she wants to help, she is more than able. Chris can fill her in later if she wants to help you."

"I think I will help in the kitchen." Katie said. "There is plenty to do."

"Very well." John said.

As the ladies headed back to the kitchen, the men gathered at the far end of the table.

"I want to let you know." Marcus said. "I will coordinate with the Sheriff, but we will have someone here outside the gates tonight. We will also provide officers for tomorrow's press conference."

"Thank you." John said.

"Do you want me at the press conference?" Marcus asked.

"I would love that, if you are able." John said.

"I will make sure I am here." Marcus said.

"As much as I would like to be here." Ryan said. "I need to head back to the city. I will however leave five undercover agents here that have been in town. If they learn of anything, they will notify Devin or Chris. They can also coordinate with them if you need extra coverage when going out. As it stands they just appear as tourists spending part of the summer in Saratoga. They are working on a few other things, but I have let them know that the safety of Jack and Elizabeth takes priority."

"Thank you again, Ryan." John said.

"You have my contact information." Chris said. "Just have them reach out to me. We can meet for coffee tomorrow and no one would be the wiser."

"I will do that." Ryan said. "It will probably have to be after the press conference, but that is okay."

"That would be perfect." Chris said.

"Okay." Andrew said. "What else do we need to cover?"

"Devin." John said. "How long are you staying?"

"Not sure." Devin said. "Let's see how tomorrow goes. I had planned on at least the weekend. Everything in the city is fine. I let Uncle Dave know and he said that he can handle anything that Mr Thornton needs. He also knows that you are only paying for minimal security. All he has left is the driver for Mr Thornton. There is no additional security at the house or the office."

"Thank you." John said. "Let me know how that goes."

"I will." Devin said.

Bill sat there playing with his little notebook. He had information that he thought John needed, but he wasn't sure he was doing the right thing sharing it. He hadn't planned on Major Thompson and Ryan Quinlan being there. He was hoping that they would leave so that he could talk more freely. It wasn't that he didn't trust them, it was that the information that he had to share was not exactly legal. He trusted the person that he got it from, but he was wary of people higher up and he didn't want a repeat of what happened last time when the information had been shared with someone in command.

… … … …

"So where were we?" Nathan said.

"You were going to tell us the story of how you almost went to seminary." Doug said.

"Okay." Nathan said. "For a little background. I wasn't always Catholic. I became Catholic when I was sixteen, despite my family's objections. They didn't understand why I was doing it. It was actually shortly after my sixteenth birthday when I had become Catholic, so about nine months after all this started. Without getting into why, my father, Archie, was in and out of the lives of me and my twin sister. So it was mostly my mother who raised us.

When Archie was around, things weren't always great. There was a lot of fighting going on. This is what led me to a Catholic Church one day in late July. I started talking to the priest there. He was able to help me sort through a lot of my feelings. When I was sitting in the Church talking to him, it was the first time in my life I felt at home. It was exploring that feeling that led to me becoming Catholic. I wanted that peace that I had felt at the Church more in my life and wondered why I didn't have it before.

So now that you have that background, most of you know that I was injured in a knife fight when I was seventeen. I had stepped in to help a girl at a party who didn't want the attention of another young man. It was when I was in the hospital that I thought about becoming a priest. I had started to doubt my ability to be a peace officer when I couldn't even protect this girl. It was this very patient priest talking to me that I realized that it wasn't my fault what happened to me. He encouraged me to continue to look into a criminal justice degree as well as looking at a theology degree and seminaries.

So it was over winter break that year that I went to visit a couple of seminaries. Having not grown up Catholic, I wasn't fully ready for some of the questions that I was asked. Needless to say the first visit was a complete disaster and the second didn't go much better. I was still learning as much as I could about the Catholic faith, especially the early years and why things were done. I didn't realize that there were different titles and I was completely embarrassed. Not only were the titles confusing, but I had never seen a man in a cassock. At the time I didn't know what it was and once again embarrassed myself. It was six months before graduation that I realized that as much as I liked the idea of being a priest, it wasn't for me. I realized that my place was as a protector and investigator."

Father Mark was laughing because he could picture it.

"So what did you say?" Doug asked.

"No." Nathan said. "I am not repeating that." (motioning to Cody)

"Fine." Doug said. "I can about imagine it, either way, funny."

"What is so funny?" Rosemary asked. "I don't get it."

"Nathan doesn't need to explain why it is funny." Frank said. "The point was that Nathan was sharing something with us."

Rosemary made a face at Frank.

"Besides." Doug said. "If you aren't Catholic or know a little about the Catholic Church, you wouldn't understand. We understand and that is enough. Not only do we understand because we are Catholic, but we get the confusion without Nathan explaining further."

Jack didn't want things to go south quickly so he decided to change the subject.

"Well, Nathan." Jack said. "I am personally grateful that you chose the latter and went into security."

"Here, here." Father Mark said. "Thank you for keeping my cousin and his fiancée safe."

"You are more than welcome." Nathan said. "Thank you for being here for us to talk to when we have needed."

"So you are all Catholic." Rosemary said.

"Cody." Nathan said. "Will you go play with your brother and sister?"

"Otay." Cody said.

Nathan helped Cody down. He turned and went to hand the horses back to Nathan.

"No, you can keep those." Nathan said. "I will let your Mom and Dad know that it is okay."

"Tank you." Cody said.

Cody went running over to show his horses to his brother and sister.

… … … …

Marcus noticed that Bill was playing with his notebook and knew that he had something to say. Before he could ask him about it, his phone chimed. Marcus checked it and saw that it was from his wife asking him to come home as soon as possible.

"Ryan." Marcus said. "Is there anything else that you need to tell them?"

"No, I don't think so." Ryan said. "Is there a problem?"

"I just got a text from my wife asking me to come home as soon as possible." Marcus said.

"Is everything alright?" John asked.

"It appears that my middle son has gotten into some kind of altercation." Marcus said.

"How old is he again?" John asked.

"Thirteen." Marcus said.

"Don't be too hard on him." John said. "Remember to listen and get his side of the story."

"Thank you." Marcus said. "I will try. It is hard sometimes when it is your own kids."

"I know." John said. "That is why I said it."

"Hey." James said. "It will be alright. Depending on the situation, I know plenty of places still looking for a ranch hand for the summer and early fall. Mucking stalls has a way of straightening out some young men."

"Thank you." Marcus said. "I will keep that in mind."

James nodded.

"Devin, Andrew." Ryan said. "Please send me an email if there is anything you think I should know. I will check in with you all after the Fourth."

"Thank you." Devin said. "We will."

"Thank you for the supper invitation." Marcus said. "But I feel I need to go home and deal with him."

"Since he is my ride." Ryan said. "I should go as well."

"We will touch base later next week." John said. "I probably will be here most of next week."

"Okay." Marcus said.

Marcus and Ryan got up. Marcus went to give their apologies to Margaret while Ryan went to get Corey. The trio let themselves out. They took off in the helicopter without any fanfare.

… … … …

"Yes, we are all Catholic." Nathan said. "What is with the attitude?"

Rosemary rolled her eyes.

"Whatever." Rosemary said.

"I am sure that my grandfather warned you about your attitude." Jack said.

Jack took Elizabeth's hand and gave it a squeeze, hoping that she would speak up and say something.

"Either start trying to be nice and get to know my new friends or you are not the person I thought." Elizabeth said. "I am not going to put up with you putting them down and being difficult. Things have been hard enough. I invited you up here in hopes that you would actually be the friend that I need. It is your choice – be a part of our group or not. If you don't want to be a part of this group that I am now a part of, then we can arrange for you to go home just as easily as it was for you to come up here."

"Seriously!" Rosemary said.

"Yes, seriously." Elizabeth said.

"I thought you didn't believe Catholics were real Christians." Rosemary said.

"I never said that." Elizabeth said. "Just because I asked questions after one of the pastors my mother dragged me to was putting Catholics down and saying they weren't real Christians, doesn't mean that I believed what he was saying. I have never said anything about not believing Catholics weren't real Christians. You are taking my words from when I asked questions and twisting everything. Why are you doing this? Why are you so jealous that I am happy for once in my life."

"How can you be happy?" Rosemary asked. "Your new friends have cut you off from everyone else. They use law enforcement to keep anyone who challenges them away. We had plans. You said you were never going to be just a wife and mother. If you get married, you are going to have a bunch of little brats running around and then you won't have time to do anything with anyone. I know that Catholics don't believe in birth control. It is just another way for a religion dominated by men to control the women. The men want all the power so they have made it so the women are pregnant and stuck at home dealing with brats they probably didn't even want in the first place."

"You have no idea what you are talking about." Elizabeth said. "No one cut me off from others. I asked for time to figure things out. I was the one who decided not to have contact with my parents and sisters. I didn't feel that they understood me nor did they have my best interest at heart. I had to do what I did for myself.

I just thank God every day that Jack here believed me and was there when I asked for help. When Jack and Doug dropped me off that day after Charlie assaulted me, my father was angry and didn't believe me. He was more worried about saving face with Charlie's father then if I was alright. I asked Jack to take me somewhere safe. Jack stepped in and made it possible for me to feel safe. He provided me with a place to stay. He provided me with everything that I needed.

Before you even try to twist things, me being with him is not because he did those things. You can ask Doug, Jack and I had a connection that first afternoon. I didn't know anything about his money or who his family was when we were at the park. All I knew was that the man that I spent time talking to was someone that I didn't want to live without. We had initially agreed to wait, but the more time that we spent together, the more that we realized that the attraction was so strong that we couldn't deny it. So when he asked me to be his girlfriend, I agreed.

Shortly afterwards, when he asked me to marry him, there was no hesitation on my part. Jack already had my heart. Pledging our lives to each other was just the next logical step. Like Gran said, the paperwork is just legalities. As far as Jack's grandparents, they already consider me family and I them. Gran has said I was her granddaughter from the moment that I agreed to marry Jack. Plain and simple."

"You can't be serious." Rosemary said.

"I am very serious." Elizabeth said. "You are the one that needs to decide where you stand. Jack and I have agreed that we don't need people that don't support us in our life. His parents and my parents are going to be the ones that lose, because we have plenty of other people who love and care about us."

"You would get married without your family?" Rosemary asked.

"I am not getting married without my family." Elizabeth said. "My family is no longer my parents and sister because they have chosen to not support me. My family are the people in this house. The people sitting here. Bill and Abigail and their family. Granted I have yet to meet Jack's extended family other than Father Mark, but if they are welcoming, they will be my family as well."

"Don't forget all the people that work here." Jack said. "We treat them like family, even if they do work for us. I don't care about someone's station in life, I look at people's actions and character when I choose who to surround myself with. The fact that I have third generations of families that work here says something about how we do things."

Rosemary sat there shocked. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.