Chapter 231 – Nice Family Evening
The ladies continued to talk as the guys came upstairs and immediately jumped into the pool. Doug was the first one up and in the pool. He was wearing dark blue trunks that had white and a lighter blue on the legs. Lee was next and he was wearing longer shorts that had an orange base with blue lines on it running across. He was also wearing a gray rash guard shirt. Peter was the next up and he was wearing trunks that were mostly black with blue on the sides. He was also wearing a black rash guard shirt. Nathan was next and he was wearing shorts that were mostly blue gray with stripes and a bit of dusty orange on the waistband and bottom of the cuffs.
Before Jack and Father Mark came up, Frank came back and saw that the guys were in the pool, so he indicated that he would go change. Father Mark was the next person up. He was wearing dark blue based shorts that had what looked like fireworks exploding in lighter blue and white on the bottom. He was also wearing one of the gray rash guard shirts. Jack and Elizabeth came up together. Elizabeth was wearing a blue one piece suit that was darker blue on the bottom and the back. Jack was wearing bright colored shorts that started with yellow at the top and then went to orange, pink, purple and blue. There were also palm trees all along the bottom.
Caitlin came up wearing a two piece suit, but it covered everything. It was a black base with big aqua polka dots. The straps were aqua and white stripes. The top also had a gathered black sheer material that hung down over the rest of the suit and to the tops of the legs. It was actually a very tasteful two piece that didn't show off much of anything. It didn't take Frank long to change. He came up in aqua shorts that had a slightly lighter diamond pattern on them. He also had built in compression shorts underneath. Once everyone was up and in the pool, the laughter and banter coming from the group was good to hear. Jack had grabbed a couple of the beach balls from the bin and they were tossing them at each other.
At one point, Cody realized that all the big boys were in the pool, so he slipped his shoes off and ran to the pool screaming for Jack. Fortunately, it was Nathan who was the closest and caught Cody just as he jumped in the pool. Abigail was quickly on her feet and she was going to scold Cody, but Nathan waved her off. Nathan took Cody and sat on the steps.
"Cody." Nathan said. "You can't do that. It was lucky that I caught you. You could have been hurt."
Cody's bottom lip started to quiver.
"I am not mad." Nathan said, holding Cody close. "I just don't want to see you get hurt. Jumping in the pool at your age with all us bigger people in it could have gotten you hurt. Also, if you wanted to play, we would have let you if you asked. You could have gotten your swimsuit on and not gotten your clothes wet."
"Sorwee." Cody said.
"It is okay." Nathan said. "But I think you need to say sorry for scaring your mom by jumping in. I am going to set you on the pool deck here. I will help you take your wet shirt off and then you go say sorry to your mom. Then come back and I will play in the water with you. Do you understand why you have to say sorry?"
"I jump in." Cody said. "I no ask."
"That is right." Nathan said. "You didn't ask permission and just jumped in. Like I said, I am not mad, I just don't want you to get hurt."
Nathan set Cody on the pool deck and then helped him take his wet shirt off. He ran his hands down Cody's legs, wiping off the extra water. He then turned him toward Abigail and nodded. Cody slowly walked over there with his head down.
"Sorwee, Mommy." Cody said.
"You are forgiven." Abigail said. "But do you understand why Nathan caught you?"
Cody nodded his head.
"Go play, pease." Cody asked.
"Let me grab your vest first." Abigail said.
She walked Cody over to the box that held the pool toys and grabbed his floatie vest and put it on him. She then reminded him not to run as he may fall. Cody went over to the pool and stood on the edge.
"Jay!" Cody yelled.
Jack turned and saw Cody standing there. Jack held out his arms and Cody jumped into the pool. Each of the adults took a few minutes playing with Cody in the water. It mostly consisted of putting him on the edge of the pool and letting him jump in their arms, then falling back into the water with him. His laughs and squeals could be heard by everyone. Finally Frank had Cody, when he turned to Nathan who was only a few feet away.
"Hey Nathan." Frank said. "Here catch."
Frank then tossed Cody toward Nathan. Cody squealed with delight as Nathan sort of caught him, but let him fall into the water controlled. Nathan then tossed Cody to Jack who tossed him to Doug. Elizabeth sat on the edge of the pool and watched. She was enjoying the guys with Cody and wondered if that was what it would be like with their children. Suddenly Caitlin came and sat next to Elizabeth.
"Dreaming of the future?" Caitlin asked, nudging Elizabeth's shoulder with her own.
"Something like that." Elizabeth said. "I was watching the guys with Cody and thinking that I hope they are like that with our children."
"I am sure that they will be." Caitlin said. "From what Aunt Abby says, Jack and his friends have always been good with the kids."
"I can see that." Elizabeth said. "But knowing how both Jack and I grew up, I worry what is going to happen when we have kids and are busy with school and work."
"See the difference is that you are thinking about things like that." Caitlin said. "Parents who don't care, don't think about those things. Things might not look exactly how you dreamed when you were younger, but that is not a bad thing. So what if you have help with the kids while you are at school and are working. Aunt Abby has help some times and the kids are fine. If you wanted to stay home and be with the kids, I am sure that Jack would be fine with that."
"He told me he would never stop me from working if that was what I wanted." Elizabeth said.
"See." Caitlin said.
"I just don't know if I fully believe it." Elizabeth said. "I have heard stories that guys change when they have kids."
"Everyone changes when they have kids." Caitlin said. "Change is not always bad. However, I don't see Jack saying something to you and not following through. For Jack his word has always been important. I think it comes from being with his Grandpa John. In John's line of work, his word is the most important thing he can give. His reputation is everything. Jack is the same way."
"I think so as well." Elizabeth said. "Still the old voices of what I heard growing up are hard to silence at times."
"I know." Caitlin said. "I know more than you think. Admitting it is the first step to overcoming them. Just know that they still may pop up at any time now or in the future. When they do, take a deep breath and remind yourself that you are not that girl anymore."
"Thank you." Elizabeth said.
They sat there watching the guys play with Cody a bit more. Finally Lee took him and sat on the edge of the pool to dry off together. At one point both Trish and Abigail walked over.
"Cody." Abigail said. "Let's get dried off and changed."
Seeing the look on his face, Trish stepped up.
"Don't worry." Trish said. "The big boys are getting out as well. Gran and I are going to go start getting things ready for food during music. Girls, please go get dressed and then come help."
"Yes, ma'am." Missy said.
Missy, Maddie, and Becky headed into the house. The guys all got out of the pool and sat on the edge for a moment. Cody turned and went with his mother to get changed.
"Thank you." Trish said.
"No problem." Jack said. "We had fun."
"As soon as we get dried off." Doug said. "We will set the table up and make sure everything else is ready. I think most of the instruments are down here. But I think we need to rearrange things a bit. Should we get things ready to start a fire later?"
"It wouldn't hurt." Trish said. "It is still pretty warm, but it might cool off."
"I will get that ready." Frank said.
Trish walked away and into the house where Gran and Abigail had already gone. The guys plus Elizabeth and Caitlin all sat around the edge of the pool drying off, but having their feet dangling in the water.
"You handled Cody very well." Frank said. "I mean you could have gotten upset, but talking to him the way you did was probably more effective."
"Thank you." Nathan said. "What good would getting mad do? He is three, he doesn't understand. He saw us having fun and wanted to play as well. Explaining why he couldn't do that was better than just yelling at him. I made that mistake with my niece once. She did something and I was already frustrated and just reacted. I yelled at her. I felt bad, especially when she started crying. It took me an hour to calm her down and explain to her that I was sorry for yelling. She finally told me that her daddy yells and she doesn't like it. I knew that Dylan wasn't good, but yelling at a child. I have never yelled at a child since that day."
"Good lesson." Father Mark said. "Yelling usually never accomplishes much."
"I think we have all learned that." Doug said. "Especially when dealing with kids. However when dealing with adults who are acting like children, sometimes yelling is the only way to get through to them. I might not have had to pull that out for a bit, but it can be effective especially when you don't do it often."
They all sat there for a moment because they knew that there had been enough yelling at people over the last two weeks.
"Father Mark." Elizabeth said. "I didn't think that you could do something like this."
"You mean swimming?" Father Mark said.
"Yeah." Elizabeth said.
"I mean." Father Mark said. "It might not be advisable to go swimming at the public pool, but here with family and close friends; there is nothing wrong with it. I mean there are suggestions such as the shirt and longer shorts, but I don't mind. I would probably wear the shirt anyway. I don't like people to see the scars on my back and shoulder, even family."
"I noticed those the other night." Frank said. "I was going to ask, but didn't think it was my place at that moment."
"It is okay." Father Mark said. "Just because I am a priest, doesn't mean that I wasn't young and dumb at one point."
"That is for sure." Jack quipped. "I have heard plenty of stories of you growing up."
"So anyway." Father Mark said, shooting Jack a look. "I was about twelve or thirteen, which would have made David about fifteen or sixteen. Anyway, we were playing around on the deck and he pushed me and I fell through a plate glass door. I got all cut up. They had to remove large pieces of glass and stitch up the wounds. I ended up with close to thirty stitches, which left scars, along with the other cuts. I have always been a bit self conscious about the scars. I was lucky that it didn't cut deeper and affect my range of motion or puncture a lung."
"So you can pretty much do anything that other people do?" Elizabeth asked.
"For the most part, yes." Father Mark said. "There are obvious things we can't do. There are other things we are advised to stay away from. For example we are advised to be careful around alcohol. Some priests have found it easy to have a problem with alcohol, so we have been advised to be aware of that. But there are priests that go hunting and fishing all the time. I know several that work out and are into crossfit. I went to seminary with two that played hockey in high school and still played in a city league. I know others that go skiing. I even heard of one that does triathlons.
As long as we are being mindful of those around us, following the laws of the land and make sure to get our prayers in, we are free to do pretty much anything. I mean a lot of the younger priests are mindful of their health and do something that helps them to stay fit. I mean we are all men and we all have pasts and hobbies. I grew up riding and taking care of horses. I still like to go riding, I just knew that I couldn't dedicate the time that was required to continue to be competitive, so I stepped away. I loved jumping and riding. I won a lot of ribbons. I also played piano when I was younger. I love to play in church late at night sometimes."
"You know you are more than welcome to play the new one in the house." Jack said.
"Thank you." Father Mark said. "Gran said as much. The piano might have been bought for you, but she said that we are all welcome to use it."
"Thank you for explaining things to me." Elizabeth said.
"You are more than welcome." Father Mark said. "I would hope that you feel comfortable asking me anything. Also, I hope that you are also comfortable treating me like these other knuckleheads. I love spending time with Jack and his friends. I get that there is a eleven/twelve year age difference, but that doesn't bother me. I have always had to be more careful when they were younger, but now that they are adults, it is easier to hang out. People don't look twice about me hanging out with other adults.
Sometimes it is hard for us to make friends, so other brother priests and our families of origin become all the more important. I have been lucky that I came from a large family and there are quite a few cousins, even if they are younger. I also lucked out with Jack, who brought Doug and Lee. And now you, Frank and Nathan. While I am here, I just want to be able to relax and hang out. That doesn't mean I won't be available if someone needs to talk, but honestly, I just want to be able to relax with people like the rest of you."
"I get that." Frank said. "It must be hard to relax at times."
"Yes." Father Mark said.
"Well." Elizabeth said. "Thank you for being here."
"Thank you." Father Mark said. "I love being out here at the ranch."
They all got up and dried their legs, then headed in to change. Elizabeth was the first one back upstairs. She saw that Gran, Trish and Abigail had things well in hand in the kitchen with the help of the girls, so she headed outside to start getting things ready out there. Slowly, the group came up one by one. They all went outside to make sure that things were set up. Doug, Jack and Father Mark brought down the keyboard, guitars and hammered dulcimers. Jack also brought down both of his Les Paul electric guitars and amp. When Nathan saw them, his eyes lit up.
"Yes." Jack said. "You can play it."
"Thank you." Nathan said. "I love these older electric guitars. There is nothing like the sound. I mean the new ones are nice, but there is something about these older ones."
"I know what you mean." Jack said.
While the others arranged the table and chairs, Nathan, Jack, Doug and Father Mark tuned the instruments. Peter had gone to get his and Bill's guitars from their van.
When the kids had started coming back upstairs after changing, Gran had gone and knocked on the office door. She let them know that they would be starting music within the hour. They were getting food ready and the kids were getting things set up outside.