Chapter 278 – Setting up for the Show (long)

Thursday afternoon was busy. Jack and Elizabeth finished their lunch and walked hand in hand down to the arena. They weren't not happy about the leak of information regarding their relationship, but they knew that now that it was out there, they would just have to deal with it.

"Are you really going to be okay with people knowing?" Elizabeth asked.

"It is what it is." Jack said. "I am not happy, but it is out there. It won't matter soon anyway. Just over thirty-six days and it will be a moot point. We will just need to be careful between now and then. Officially, we won't confirm anything and any questions from the media will be met with no comment. I am more worried about what Ma will do if word gets out about when the wedding is. I have already spoken to Devin about increased security in the week leading up to the wedding."

"That is good." Elizabeth said. "But I am worried about how stressed you are."

"I will be fine." Jack said.

Elizabeth stopped him and gave him a kiss. It got a little more passionate then she had intended, but both ended up pulling back about the same time. Not only were they in the open on the path, but they also realized they were pushing the limits of the boundaries they had agreed to.

"Soon." Jack whispered, in a low husky voice.

"Soon." Elizabeth said.

They continued down the path hand in hand.

… … … …

After Jack and Elizabeth left, Gran turned to Emily.

"What did you do?" Gran asked. "JP is not going to go easy on you because you are family. It is better to tell me now so I can call Devin and not wait until he finds the trail back to you."

"I didn't do anything." Emily said.

"Really." Gran said. "There were only a few people that knew JP and Elizabeth were engaged. And none of them would have said anything."

"Fine." Emily said. "All I did was talk to Aunt Charlotte. I asked her some questions about JP and Elizabeth. I asked when they got engaged and she was surprised to hear that they were. Are you sure she isn't trying to con all of you? We all know that Jack will inherit a lot of money one day. Because that is what Aunt Charlotte said. She told me that Elizabeth was just a con artist and she was going to prove it. She also said she would never allow any son of hers to marry a low class gold digger. Then she said if he wanted a piece of low class tail, he could pay for it discreetly like his father and the other men in the family and not embarrass everyone as a whole."

"I won't protect you from what happens." Gran said.

Gran picked up her cell phone and dialed Devin's number as she walked to the office. Emily watched her walk away and then turned to look at Trish and Abigail.

"What did she mean?" Emily asked.

Abigail shook her head and went back to work in the kitchen. Trish just shook her head.

"You were told there were rules around here." Trish said. "Jack has strictly enforced the social media ban around here. He has the law behind him and you could face potential jail time for giving out information."

"What do you mean?" Emily said. "All I did was talk to Aunt Charlotte."

"And you told her information that was not yours to share." Trish said. "Didn't you find it strange that she wasn't here?"

"No, not really." Emily said.

"I would suggest that you pack your stuff and leave before Jack kicks you out." Trish said. "And you were told that Charlotte wasn't here because she continued to push Margaret and James about their choices and not accept that things were going to be a certain way. So I don't want to hear it. You brought this on yourself."

"Where should I go?" Emily whined.

"Not our problem." Trish said. "You broke the rules and that will not be tolerated around here."

Trish turned and went to the kitchen leaving Emily standing there looking between the two women in the kitchen and the hallway where her grandmother had disappeared down. After a few moments, Emily stomped downstairs.

… … … …

Once Jack and Elizabeth got to the arena, they were introduced to the group of seventeen that had come over to help that afternoon. They were informed that everyone else was at the RV park setting up the camps.

"Welcome." Jack said. "Sorry, I wasn't down here right away. I had to take care of a few things."

"Everything okay?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah, we will talk later." Jack said.

Nathan nodded.

"So what are you doing?" Elizabeth asked.

"We need to check each pole and make sure that they are clean and not cracked." Doug said. "If there is peeling paint or tape, we need to fix it. If they are cracked, we need to set them aside. Also all the standards and cups need to be washed down. We have a list of what we will need and the poles that Marco and Andy want."

"We also need to mark the areas for parking, vendors and such." Lee said.

"I can help with the marking." Elizabeth said.

"Thank you." Jack said. "Don't forget that there will be canopies, picnic tables and grandstands all coming in the next few hours."

"Got it." Greg said. "Just tell us what to do. We are here to help."

The group set about working to get things marked for the deliveries and also making sure that the equipment was ready for the show. The grandstands were the first thing to arrive. Jack and Doug got them unloaded in the right place. He knew that they had little flat dollies to move them later if needed and the jack to lift them. Just as they had gotten the grandstands set, the picnic tables showed up. There were two trailers of those. Everyone stopped with the poles and standards to help unload the tables so the two guys could get on their way. Just as they were finishing with that the trailer with the canopies arrived as well as the one with the bouncy houses. They weren't expecting the bouncy houses until the next day, but the guy explained that he had a family thing come up and he needed to deliver them today and he would be back on Monday to get the trailer and if they could just load everything back up when they were done.

Jack asked a few questions about the set up and tear down of the bouncy houses and what they needed to do. He then promised that they would be put back in the trailer and ready for the guy whenever he was able to come on Monday. Jack also checked that they wouldn't be charged for the extra time and the guys said no, they were paid in full and because it was his problem that they had to be delivered early and picked up late, he wasn't going to charge them extra because they wouldn't actually be used. Jack thanked the guy and told him to let him know if they could do anything for him. The guy thanked Jack for understanding and left once the trailer was unhooked.

By the time that Greg and his group left two hours later, they had all the poles and standards ready and on the racks in the arena. The extras had been put away. The canopies for the picnic tables were up and the tables were arranged. The grandstands were set in place. They had double checked the stable attached to both arenas and everything was clean and the feed and tack rooms were locked. The rakes, shovels and wheelbarrows were all ready for the weekend. The small tractor and harrow were there down by the arena and a load of fresh sand had been evened out on the arena floor.

"We will see you in a couple of hours." Nathan said.

"Looking forward to it." Greg said. "Bring the guitars and we will have some fun."

"Thank you again." Jack said. "We would have had no problem having you all over here."

"This will be easier for us because we can put the little ones to bed when they fall asleep." Greg said. "I know that you are concerned about security, but we have a large portion of the RV park and have already spoken to the manager and he will not allow press on the premises. They will be checking ids and we have left your names, so it will be fine."

"Thank you for that." Jack said.

"I get it." One of the other guys said.

"I am sorry." Elizabeth said. "I forgot your name.

"Sam Rooney." He said. "There are several of us that are in the public eye one way or another. Of the group that came, we have five law enforcement officers, three lawyers and several members of the city council or county boards. We are used to dealing with the public and agree that our families are off limits. We are on vacation that should be respected. You have asked for respect and privacy and we will see that it happens. We also have twelve former military members and most every adult will be armed this weekend."

"Thank you so much." Jack said. "We will have some security with us, but they may stay outside the park to keep an eye on things. I am just not sure."

"They are more than welcome to come eat with us." Greg said. "We will have plenty of food."

"I will pass the message on." Jack said. "My grandmother is insisting we bring fruit and veggie trays as well as a couple platters of cookies and bars. She also had one of the boys put together a crate of cider from my Grandpa John's orchard in Albany. Would you like us to bring a few bottles of wine as well?"

"If you guys want to." Greg said. "Most of us enjoy a drink from time to time, but brought our own stuff for us. No one will have more than one or two, knowing that we have kids around as well as things to do the next day."

"And you know about Saturday night?" Jack asked.

"Yes." Greg said. "We are looking forward to it."

"Then we will see you later." Jack said. "We should probably all get cleaned up and relax for a bit."

"If you want to come a little early, that is fine." Greg said. "We will eat about six-thirty to seven."

"Sounds good." Jack said. "I will have Nathan text you and let you know when we are on the way."

"Sounds good." Greg said.

Jack and his group watched Greg and his group leave. They had gotten a chance to check out the motorcycles that had been brought over and Jack was more than impressed. He wanted to go for a ride, but knew that his grandfather would have been upset with him having a show that weekend. Maybe Sunday evening he might be able to talk them into letting him take one for a short spin around the ranch.

Doug and Lee headed to the house with the twins. Nathan hung back a moment to speak to Jack.

"So what happened?" Nathan asked.

"Let's head to the house." Jack said. "I will tell you as we walk."

As they walked to the house, Jack told Nathan about the post online and the call from Devin.

"Are you okay?" Nathan asked.

"I am not happy and whoever leaked the information will pay for it." Jack said.

"Even if it is your cousin?" Nathan asked.

Jack stopped Nathan and looked him directly in the eye.

"I don't care who it is that crosses me." Jack said. "People have been warned and I will not allow this level of disrespect to go unpunished. She was warned about posting on social media and that there were rules to be here. Is there a problem?"

"No." Nathan said. "I just …."

"I know." Jack said. "You are attracted to Emily. I will have no problem with it if she is willing to respect the rules that we have set forth."

"Understood." Nathan said, sadly.

"I want you to find the person you are meant to be with." Jack said. "But I am not going to compromise mine or Elizabeth's safety for anyone."

Nathan nodded.

"As long as we understand that." Jack said. "I have no problem who you like or want to be with."

"Thank you." Nathan said. "I was afraid that you would be upset about me liking Emily. I just don't know what to do with these feelings. I have spoken to Father Mark and we had a conversation about expectations."

"I have no problem with it." Jack said. "But I also don't want to see you get hurt. Get to know her, if she is really the one that you are meant to be with, I will be okay with it. Just be careful, because I like you and don't want something to happen. I love Emily, but she can be a bit of an airhead at times. She can also be inconsiderate and flighty. She likes to flirty and knows that her looks draw guys. She has a tendency to use people to get what she wants. Like I said, I don't want you to get hurt. Even though they exchanged words last night, I still don't think Father Mark really sees his sister for who she is."

"John Parker." Elizabeth admonished.

"If you had been around her when I was growing up." Jack said. "You would agree. She has seemed to mature some while she was in California, but I still want to make sure she wasn't the one who leaked the information. I can't allow someone to disrespect my rules and it not go unpunished. She was told, and from what I understand, she also had words with Father Mark last night. She lied about what she knew and I firmly believe that she came here looking for information and to cash in on sharing that information. What she is telling us and what Devin told me don't match and I am more then willing to believe Devin."

"Understood." Nathan said.

"I suppose." Elizabeth said.

… … … …

Frank and Father Mark returned to the ranch about the time that the group from the arena arrived back at the house. Doug and Lee immediately went to help unload stuff. Jack, Elizabeth and Nathan did as well when they arrived back at the house. It appeared that the guys had gotten everything on Gran's list and more. Jack knew that they still might have to make a quick trip to the farmer's market in the morning, but it looked like the guys had even picked up an order from Primal. As they were unloading Father Mark's truck, John showed up. Peter and Andrew dropped him off and told him they would be back later to take him to the RV park with James and Margaret. Jack went to greet his grandfather and asked if he had spoken to Devin. John nodded and let Jack know he would deal with it when he got settled. Jack nodded and went back to unloading the truck.

Jack knew that his grandfather wasn't happy about the leak to the media, but the fact that he didn't come early was a good sign. Jack took a deep breath and was going to let his grandfather handle it. As hard as it was, Jack was trying to learn that he couldn't control everything and couldn't take charge of everything when there were other people that could and should handle it. Jack knew that part of his need for control was in part to the way he was raised and the other part had to do with the way that his brain was wired. He had looked even more into what the counselor had suggested and even though he didn't want to get tested, Jack had looked online.

Jack had looked at different traits and saw a diagram that showed traits between autism, ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and giftedness. While he didn't think he had autism, he definitely had traits that fit in with it. He had traits from all of them, but the more that he looked, nothing really fit into any one category, but he saw overlap in them. He also knew that different diagnoses did overlap. Jack just hated that everything needed a label and people were made to feel like that there was something wrong with them. He had accepted that he was different then a lot of people, but he had things in common with other people. He wondered if at times that doctors, counselors and others just wanted a label for things so they could divide people.

Part of the reason that Jack felt that way was because he saw traits that he shared with Father Mark, Nathan, Doug and Lee. He also saw traits that he had shared with other classmates. He also knew that just because he was smart and saw things differently, it didn't mean that there was something wrong with him. That was part of the reason that he didn't want to get tested. He had finally started accepting that he was who he was and didn't need a label attached to him. He had enough labels – heir the Thornton fortune, talented horseman, and Catholic, just to name a few. But none of them fully described who he was.

"Hey, there." Nathan said, bumping Jack's arm.

Jack shook his head and looked at Nathan.

"You are just standing there." Nathan said. "Are you okay? You looked lost a million miles away. If I didn't know better, I would worry you were on something."

Jack stuck out his tongue at Nathan.

"Sorry." Jack said. "Just thinking about things."

"Care to share?" Nathan said. "I mean you don't have to, but if you want."

"I was just thinking about something that the counselor had said." Jack said. "He suggested that I get tested for a few things. I have heard it before, but I looked at some of what he was saying. I mean I see that I have different traits of them, I don't know if I would actually have a diagnosis. Not that I need or want to be labeled just to make other people's lives easier."

"You are right a diagnosis won't really change anything." Nathan said. "If you are okay with who you are, that is the most important thing. Also just because you have traits of certain things, doesn't mean anything. I have done a lot of psychological testing, it is pretty standard when considering the FBI or being recruited by them.

My point is, I had heard words thrown around that I could have this or that when I was in high school. While I might have traits from ADHD, autism and a few other things, it doesn't mean that I have them. Having a few traits doesn't mean I would be diagnosed with that particular thing. People can have traits of a mental health condition or developmental condition, but that doesn't mean you have that condition. Not that there's anything wrong with having one of those conditions. But just because you have traits of certain things, doesn't mean you have them. People can have a lot of different traits of different things for many reasons. Does that make sense?"

"Yes, it does." Jack said. "I was thinking the same thing. Just because I have traits of something it doesn't mean I do or don't have those. I have accepted a long time ago that I wasn't like most people and I am okay with that. I have friends, even if not many close ones. I have some great family and I now have the freedom to do what I want. I have a wonderful fiancée and I can't wait to get married. I don't need labels to make other people feel better. I like who I am and I don't need some label from some doctor to make things better. Personally, I think it would make my life worse. I can't do anything to change who I am and I have learned that. Yes, there are things I can do to make things better, or easier or even make me a better person and those are the things that need to be focused on."

"That is a great attitude to have." Nathan said. "Not everyone sees that way and wants to find a word or reason why they are different then others. Just because you have a diagnosis or label, if you don't accept yourself as you are, then nothing will change."

"I agree." Jack said. "I don't want to talk about it anymore. I told Elizabeth and Father Mark, but I don't care for everyone else to know. I have a feeling that Doug and Lee might have an idea, but I just want to drop the subject. It is not something we talk about. We have accepted each other for who we are and that is all we need. We don't need to analyze each other and various mental or developmental labels will not change the friendship between us. We have long realized that we are all different and have different strengths and weaknesses."

"Fine by me." Nathan said. "But if you want to talk I am around."

"Thank you." Jack said.

The two went into the house and Jack shook his head. He didn't want to think about the counselor because he had other things he needed to deal with. Nathan watched his friend and wondered if the counselor talking about those things might have gotten into Jack's head. He knew that Jack wasn't like other people, but that wasn't a bad thing. Nathan also understood why Father Mark had wanted them to meet with a counselor prior to getting married. Nathan also knew that counselors sometimes make things worse then better for some people. Yes, maybe in the long run they can help, but they can make things worse in the short term and there are just flat out times that they make things worse.

… … … …