Chapter 267 – Saturday Afternoon Plan
After setting the tray on the counter, Peter poured fresh coffee and both him and Andrew took a seat at the table.
"What were you talking about?" Andrew asked.
"The show and specifically the bonfire and dance Saturday night." Jack said.
"Good." Peter said.
"Is everything alright?" Gran asked.
"John took a phone call and asked us to give him some space." Peter said.
Gran nodded.
"So back to the weekend." Peter said. "From my checking around it is going to be busy. Both RV parks are booked and so are the hotels. The sheriff has put the reserve posse on alert and Major Thompson is committing five additional officers to the area for the weekend. They will have a booth with the conservation officers."
"Where is everyone staying?" Gran asked.
"James will join me here." Trish said.
"Grandpa John will be here." Jack said.
"We will be at the hotel." Peter said. "Devin might also come up. John will also have ten extra security members around. They are driving back and forth."
"Mom and Dad are taking one of the hotel rooms." Lee said. "Dad has to work, so they said it would be easier. They are driving up on Friday."
"Chris and Molly will be back and at their house." Jack said. "I think that David, Maria and kids are coming. So they will all be at Chris and Molly's house. Conrad and Heidi are going to be back as well, so they will be at their house. They also might have additional friends with them. There was talk of Dawn coming up as well. I know that Conrad extended an invitation to Uncle Martin and his family as well. I told him if they could accommodate them, then fine, but we were full."
"Father Mark?" Gran said.
"I will be here in the room with Jack and the guys." Father Mark said. "Mom and Dad know. I have spoken to them and they understand. I will also be doing a Mass here at the house next Sunday as well. We will have to figure out how many people and where we are going to set up. For tomorrow, I was thinking of the library or the front room. Depends on if Jack wants the piano for music."
Gran nodded.
"My friends are all staying at Saratoga Escape Lodge and RV park." Nathan said.
"How many are coming?" Peter asked.
"Greg will have a firm number for me Monday evening." Nathan said. "But it could be up to thirty or thirty-five, but that includes kids as well. They have twenty-four confirmed right now. They are coming up Wednesday evening and heading back Tuesday morning. They will have twelve RVs and at least three pickups with the trailers for the bikes. I messaged Greg about getting together on Thursday evening and he was going to bring it up at the meeting tonight. He said it isn't fair for you to feed all those extra people since those going had planned on eating at the campsite except lunch Saturday."
"We will figure something out." Gran said. "You should get to spend some time with your friends. If that means you all go out there, we will deal. I just want you to know thirty extra people is not a big deal if we can plan ahead."
"Yes." Jack said. "We will figure something out. Remind them to bring their guitars if they play."
"Already mentioned it." Nathan said. "Greg said we were more than welcome to join them at the campsites since they had them all together. He said, they have four spots on one side and eight across the little road. He said the sites looked like there was plenty of room and when they realized it was very family friendly, the wives and kids also wanted to come."
"Ages of the kids?" Elizabeth asked.
"Anywhere from toddler to teen." Nathan said. "I will double check."
"I ask because we have those lawn games." Elizabeth said.
"Right." Gran said. "Given their size and the fact there are children, it might be easier for us to go out there on Thursday. Maybe you boys can bring the guitars and play."
"We will figure things out." Jack said. "Nathan, see if you can get a hard count and we will figure something out. If they wouldn't mind, I would like to join them for some visiting and playing."
"Anything else we need to talk about right now?" Gran asked.
People shook their heads.
"Then." Gran said, looking at her watch. "It is four thirty. Supper will be at seven. We will be doing pizzas with veggie trays and a tossed salad. What kind of pizzas are we making?"
"We need pepperoni for Grandpa." Maddie said.
"I will come up and make a BBQ chicken." Nathan said.
"We have cooked hamburger." Trish said.
"So maybe a beef and peppers." Doug said.
"And the fourth?" Trish asked.
"How about a loaded one." Lee said. "Beef, pepperoni, peppers, onions, mushrooms and olives."
"Fine." Gran said. "I will start at about six thirty. You are free until supper."
The group broke up and Father Mark headed into town to get what he needed to have Mass at the house the next day. Frank went with him. Maddie and Missy went to get their piano lessons done. Trish and Gran cleaned up the table and then sat and talked some more. Everyone else headed downstairs while Peter and Andrew went to the library.
Once downstairs, the guys turned on the TV to see if they could find a baseball game or some horse racing. Jack and Elizabeth went and grabbed their books for marriage prep and settled further back from the guys. The guys were talking about baseball and just generally having a nice time.
Jack and Elizabeth went through two lessons and then also watched a couple of the videos on YouTube. They were talking about what they meant when Nathan came over and sat by them.
"Sorry." Nathan said. "I couldn't help but overhear."
"It is fine." Jack said. "Was there something that you needed or wanted to add?"
"There was." Nathan said. "I heard you talking about the importance of agreeing on raising children. I would never push you to become Catholic, if that wasn't what you felt called to Elizabeth. But my question for you is are you going to be okay raising any children Catholic?"
"I think so." Elizabeth said. "I looked into the RCIA classes and even if I don't get fully welcomed into the Church, I think it would be helpful for me to take that class. I also understand Jack's desire to raise our children in his faith. I wouldn't deny him that, since I don't have any particular strong ties to one church or another. For me it will be more important that they believe and are good people."
"Good." Nathan said. "I understand you not feeling any strong connection to one church over another with the way that you described your mother moving you around. What I will say is that one of the best decisions I ever made was to become Catholic. I seriously hope that you consider it. It made such a difference. I finally had found a place that I felt I belonged."
"Thank you." Elizabeth said. "I am not making a decision right now, but I have heard you and I have felt at home at the Catholic Church as well. I just need time to explore before I make that commitment."
"We understand that." Jack said. "No one is going to pressure you."
Jack glared at Nathan for a second.
"Right." Nathan said. "No pressure."
"Again." Elizabeth said. "Thank you. I see how important faith is to everyone around here, but I need to be able to feel what is right for me. Father Mark said, I don't need to make any decisions right now. He can do a wedding Mass without me being Catholic, as long as I understand and agree to what he is asking in the vows."
Nathan nodded.
"What were those videos you were watching?" Nathan asked.
"They are on YouTube." Jack said. "I will send you some links. Caitlin sent them to Elizabeth."
"Thank you."
With that Nathan got up and went back to sit by Doug and Lee. Jack and Elizabeth continued to talk about things and watched a couple more short videos.
… … … …
Father Mark and Frank headed right to the rectory and the church. They got his travel Mass kit and made sure they had the wine and hosts they would need. Father Mark then got his vestments and put them in a travel bag. While Frank took those back to the truck, Father Mark ran over to the house and grabbed some more clothes, including his guitar and riding gear. The last thing that Father Mark grabbed was copies of the sheet music for the Mass. He had both piano and guitar. He would have to sit down with Jack and/or Doug and Nathan and pick a couple songs for the Mass. But he knew that Jack had quite the extensive collection.
After they left the rectory, Father Mark drove around and pointed some things out to Frank. They talked and shared. Overall they had a very nice time getting to know each other. Frank realized that Father Mark was going to be someone that he would be close to for years and he was looking forward to spending time with him that fall. Frank had even explained his desire to continue to mentor young men. Father Mark suggested that he get involved as a youth leader, since he would have a unique view point to offer the kids. Frank agreed that he would look into it closer to fall.
Father Mark had messaged Gran and asked if they could be excused from supper. She messaged back and told them to have a nice time in town. So Father Mark had a plan to take Frank out to eat. He knew he had a credit card that he could use and the bill would go to Jack or maybe it went right to John's accountant. Either way, he had been told by both to use it and not worry about it. They were able to write off most of it anyway.
… … … …
By six thirty, most everyone had gathered upstairs. Jack did his time on the piano with Trish sitting with him. The twins started to set the table while Gran made the pizza dough. Elizabeth and Lee made sure there were plenty of vegetables chopped for the platter and that the lettuce and stuff was ready for the salad. Doug and Nathan worked on getting the sauces ready and making sure everything else was ready for the pizzas. Once the dough was ready, they started to assemble the pizzas. Nathan quickly made his barbecue chicken, adding bacon, onions and a few yellow peppers. Lee was able to quickly get a beautiful pepperoni pizza done Doug got the beef and peppers one done. Elizabeth started on the loaded one. It wasn't long and all four were in the brick oven. The boys went and sat down joining the twins in the front room. Gran and Elizabeth cleaned up the kitchen as they listened to Jack play. He was working through a new piece that Trish had gotten for him. It was a beautiful piece of music, even if neither Gran or Elizabeth recognized what it was.
Elizabeth stopped as she was wiping the counter and looked at Jack. His eyes were closed and his head was down. A lock of hair had fallen over onto his forehead and bounced as he moved his head. He was playing, almost as if he felt the music instead of reading it. Occasionally, he would glance up at the page of the book that Trish was holding open for him. Elizabeth thought that the piece of music was amazing and even more amazing was the fact that Jack was playing it with such ease. She hadn't even noticed when Maddie and Missy came and stood next to her. They were looking between Elizabeth and Jack. They then looked at each other and with knowing looks, were both thinking the same thing. Elizabeth was looking at Jack play the way that their dad looked at their mother when she played, with utter and total admiration.
"He is playing Johann Nepomuk Hummel: Piano Concerto No. 2, Opus 85." Maddie said.
Elizabeth shook her head.
"What?" Elizabeth said.
"I said he was playing Johann Nepomuk Hummel: Piano Concerto No. 2, Opus. 85." Maddie said.
"The composer was from Austria and lived in the early eighteen hundreds." Missy said. "He is more known for his trumpet concerto, but actually wrote many pieces for the piano and other instruments as well."
"Wow." Elizabeth said. "I have never heard it before."
"Not surprised." Maddie said. "His works aren't as well known as say Beethoven or Chopin. Only serious piano students or those who have specialized degrees in late eighteenth and early nineteenth century music know his works."
"Mom has always looked for obscure or underrated pieces and composers for her special students." Missy said.
"What do you mean 'special'?" Elizabeth asked.
"Students who could go on to play professionally." Maddie said. "You know, like Mom."
"She has played in some pretty famous places." Missy said.
"And with some pretty famous people." Maddie added.
"We have heard for the last three years how special Jack was." Missy said. "There were times we were jealous of the time that Mom spent with Jack. It wasn't until she explained that he had a talent that didn't come along often and she was hoping he would pursue music. She also explained how his own mother didn't really take an interest in what he was doing, unless it benefitted her, so she was going to give him that love that he had missed from his own mother."
"She also explained that her love wasn't divided among us." Maddie said. "But it grew to include all of us and we needed to show Jack love, because not only was he our brother's best friend, but she considered him her son as well."
"I think that is why we have always called him Uncle Jack." Missy said.
"Thank you for sharing that with me." Elizabeth said. "He definitely is something special. I wish he would play more and not hide it."
"He is embarrassed." Gran said. "I am sorry to say that my daughter has made him ashamed of his own accomplishments and showing emotion. We have been trying to help him see that he can share his talents and show his emotions, but years of being told one thing takes time to undo."
"I understand." Elizabeth said.
Gran just nodded as she knew Elizabeth understood as she was dealing with something similar but in the opposite way. The four of them stood there and listened to Jack play the lovely piece of music.
… … … …