Chapter 78 – Thomas and Nathan

While Father Mark and Nathan took a seat at the table, Gran got their plates out of the oven and set them on a wooden holder to carry them to the table. She set a plate in front of each.

"Careful." Gran said. "The plates themselves are hot."

"Thank you for keeping our food warm." Father Mark said.

"No problem." Gran said. "Obviously what you needed to talk about was important."

Both Nathan and Father Mark bowed their heads and said a silent prayer before digging into the meal that was set before them.

"This roast is amazing." Nathan said after the first bite.

"There is more." Gran said. "I will just have to warm it up."

"Oh this is plenty." Nathan said.

"Father Mark." Jack said. "Grandpa John should be here Friday night or Saturday morning. I let him know that you wanted to talk to him. He is also staying here and will be here when you come on Sunday after church."

"Good." Father Mark said.

"What do you need to talk to my dad about?" Thomas asked.

"He was going to help with a project." Father Mark said. "We are still in the beginning stages, but we got the approval from the diocese. So I thought I would talk to him."

"Anything I can help with?" Thomas asked.

"Maybe." Father Mark said. "Right now, St Clement's only goes to fifth grade and then the children go to the middle school. Since they are joining the parishes, don't worry I am not going anywhere. We will just cover for each other and my parishioners will have equal access to the school. Anyway, there was talk of expanding to through eighth grade so then the students would only have to go to public school for a few years. Ideally we would like to go all the way through graduation, but one step at a time. So, to that we are going to need more space. John was going to help us set up a capital campaign to raise money for the new building."

"He is good at that." Thomas said. "Do you have the land?"

"Yes, we have the land." Father Mark said. "We would like to raise enough to add a second larger building that would eventually house the middle and high school students, so we only have to build once. There are also a few upgrades that we want to do with the other building."

"Well, let us know if there is anything that we can do." James said.

"I will Grandpa." Father Mark said. "You have always been more than generous."

"I am glad that students will have another option." Gran said.

"Me too." Father Mark said.

Father Mark and Nathan finished eating while the others talked about the possibility of the new school. For some reason Jack was even more excited than most, even though he had just graduated and was heading to college. Little did people know that Jack was thinking of his own children being able to attend the new school. Elizabeth was also excited and she didn't know what Jack was thinking, but she was thinking the same thing – her and Jack's children attending the school. Elizabeth was also thinking that she could have a teaching opportunity, while being close to where Jack wanted to be.

"Anyone want dessert?" Gran asked. "I made carrot cake."

"I will have a small piece." Father Mark said.

"Me too." Nathan said.

"I will help." Elizabeth said, getting up.

"More coffee?" Gran asked.

"Tea for me." Charlotte said.

"I think I will have tea as well." James said.

Doug and Jack also got up to help. Jack put on a kettle for tea and Doug cleared Nathan and Father Mark's dishes, rinsing them and putting them in the dishwasher and starting it. Gran and Elizabeth cut the cake and made a plate for everyone. When Doug was done, he helped Jack get the tray ready to take over with the tea. They put enough cups for everyone and then grabbed the tea caddy. Doug got down another tray to carry the cake on.

"Thank you." Gran said.

When they brought everything to the table, Gran set a small piece in front of each Father Mark and Nathan then let the others pass the rest around. When the kettle whistled, Jack got up to get it. He came back and poured for his grandfather before setting it down.

"Thank you." James said.

Everyone sat and visited while they had tea and cake. It was getting late and Father Mark got up. He walked around to hug his grandparents. He also said goodbye to everyone else.

"I will see you all Saturday." Father Mark said.

Nathan got up and walked him to the door.

"I will call tomorrow if you want." Father Mark said.

"Please." Nathan said. "Maybe after lunch."

"I will." Father Mark said.

The two then shook hands, before Father Mark left. Nathan returned to the table to finish his tea that he had made. Jack finished his coffee that he had poured himself. He looked at Elizabeth and motioned downstairs. She nodded.

"I think I am going to head to bed." Jack said. "Morning chores come early."

"I will walk with you." Elizabeth said.

"JP." Thomas said. "We need to talk."

"There is nothing to talk about." Jack said. "Unless you are going to apologize for the way that you have been treating me and my girlfriend."

Thomas didn't say anything, so Jack got up and took his dishes to the kitchen. He rinsed them and left them in the sink since the dishwasher was running. Elizabeth did the same. On the way back, he gave Gran a kiss.

"Supper and dessert were wonderful." Jack said. "Thank you."

"Yes, thank you." Elizabeth said.

Holding Elizabeth's hand, Jack and Elizabeth walked over to James.

"Thank you for everything, Grandpa." Jack said.

Jack leaned down and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Elizabeth did the same.

"Thank you." Elizabeth said.

Jack stopped at Nathan.

"Don't feel you have to get up with the alarm." Jack whispered. "Just come down when you are ready."

Nathan looked up and gave Jack a nod. Elizabeth squeezed Nathan's shoulder and then followed Jack downstairs.

"Tommy, you can head to your room as well." Charlotte said.

"But I am not tired." Tommy said.

"Then grab a book from the library." Charlotte said. "But either way, you need to go to your room."

"And clear your dishes to the sink." Gran added.

Tommy huffed twice, but finally took his dishes to the sink and then headed downstairs. As soon as Tommy rounded the corner to the stairs, Thomas turned to Nathan.

"So what was so important that you had to take Father Mark away from a family dinner?" Thomas asked, with a serious attitude.

Nathan just looked at him, but didn't answer. Gran had also picked up on the attitude from Thomas and wasn't happy. When Nathan looked at her, she was done.

"Thomas!" Gran hissed. "I told you to leave him alone."

"He is my employee." Thomas said. "And right now, I don't know if that is going to continue. I need to know how he was spending his time."

"I was having a private conversation." Nathan said, flatly.

"You are going to have to do better than that." Thomas said.

Nathan looked over to Gran again and could see that she was upset. Nathan then looked to Doug who gave him a sign that he had his back.

"For someone who is supposed to be so smart." Nathan said. "You are really dense or just an incredibly huge asshole. Even my two year old niece, Allie, understands what a private conversation means. It is none of your business and I am not going to talk to you about it."

"Fine, I will talk to Father Mark." Thomas huffed.

"He won't say anything either." Nathan said.

With that Nathan got up and went over to Gran, he motioned for her to stand so she did. Nathan then pulled her into a big hug.

"Sorry for my language." Nathan whispered. "But thank you for encouraging me to talk, I guess I needed it more than I thought."

"You are more than welcome." Gran said. "Just glad it helped."

Nathan let her go and then went to pick up the rest of his dishes and took them to the sink. Doug watched the interaction between Nathan and Gran and it dawned on him what had happened in the library. With that knowledge, he was going to make sure he had Nathan's back.

"Where do you think you are going?" Thomas demanded. "I am not done talking to you."

"Well." Nathan said. "I am done talking to you. I am tired and I am heading to bed."

"You're fired." Thomas said.

Nathan turned around and stared at Thomas. Before Nathan could say anything, it was Doug who spoke up.

"Nathan." Doug said. "I would like to hire you to protect my best friend and his future wife."

Nathan gave Doug a lopsided grin. Doug stood and reached across the table and Nathan did the same. They shook hands.

"Deal." Nathan said.

"You are going to regret this Douglas." Thomas said.

Doug stood to his full six foot plus height and looked down at Thomas.

"I … am … not … afraid … of … you." Doug said. "I am not going to let you run Nathan off because you have decided to be an incredibly huge asshole. I like him, Lee likes him, Elizabeth likes him, and Jack likes him. More importantly, Jack trusts him. Do you really think that Jack would have let him ride one of his prized horses if he didn't trust him? I mean Nathan rode Bandit. I was standing right there when Jack refused to sell him."

"What are you talking about?" Thomas demanded, standing up to face Doug.

Thomas was right in Doug's face, standing toe to toe and Doug didn't even flinch.

… … … …

As soon as Jack and Elizabeth got to the bottom of the steps, he stopped her.

"I am sorry that you feel left out." Jack said.

"You said that." Elizabeth said.

Jack leaned in and gave her a quick kiss.

"You know I want to spend time with you." Jack said. "It is just hard, I promised I wouldn't push, but it is hard to be around you."

Elizabeth blushed.

"I didn't say it to embarrass you." Jack said. "I am trying to be honest. What I am feeling scares me. I have never felt this before."

"You are not the only one." Elizabeth said. "I am grateful that I have had Gran and Katie to talk to. At least you have an idea about what you are feeling, this is all new to me."

"I am sorry." Jack said. "I didn't realize. Is there anything that I can do to make things easier for you?"

"Just spend time with me." Elizabeth said. "I understand that you have things that you need to do and commitments that you have made, but you also made a promise to me. As much as I like spending time with Gran and getting to know the others, I want to get to know you better. We are dating after all."

Elizabeth batted her eyes at Jack. Jack got a silly grin on his face.

"I think I remember that." Jack teased.

Elizabeth went to swat Jack's arm, but he caught her hand and pulled her back to him. That was when they heard Thomas yelling. Jack quickly left Elizabeth and went to his room. Elizabeth wanted to follow him, but before she could think things through, she saw Jack head back toward her. She saw he had something and she wanted to ask him what it was about, but then she saw the determined look on his face. He stopped in front of her and gave her a quick kiss.

"Please stay down here." Jack said. "I am going to deal with my parents once and for all."

"Are you sure?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yes." Jack said.

"Okay." Elizabeth said. "I am going to go listen to some music. I don't like the yelling."

Elizabeth leaned in and gave Jack one more kiss before heading to her room. Jack watched her walk away. He wanted nothing more than to follow her and kiss her until they were both breathless, but he knew that he had to head up and deal with things. As much as he didn't want to, he knew it wasn't fair to Doug and Nathan to let them fight his battle.

Elizabeth for her part didn't want to walk away, but she also knew that she didn't want to deal with the tension upstairs. She also thought that it might be easier if she wasn't there. When Elizabeth got to her door, she looked at Jack one more time and gave him a smile. She knew that he was struggling with how his parents were acting, but she still blamed herself. As much as everyone told her that it wasn't her fault, she wasn't so sure. Jack gave her a smile back and then he headed up the stairs. When Jack turned, Elizabeth shut her door.

… … … …

"Just what I said." Doug said. "Jack refused to sell Bandit to some rich asshole, no matter what he offered, and from what I gathered it was a lot more than what Bandit was appraised for. Yet, he lets Nathan here ride him without question."

"He is right." James said. "I wasn't privy to the deal, but I understand that an offer was made to buy Bandit and more than once. Jack refused to sell him."

"That boy is out of his mind." Thomas said. "I should have been consulted."

"Actually." Nathan said. "There was no need. Jack showed me the current registration papers and it lists him as sole owner of Bandit, Honey and Athena."

"That's impossible." Charlotte said. "Thomas and Thornton Thoroughbreds have been the registered owners of those horses."

"Actually." James said. "John and I talked about it and they were changed when Jack was sixteen. When he turned eighteen, all the horses in his name became his sole property to do with as he wanted. John told me that he could do that as president and majority owner of Thornton Thoroughbreds. I checked with an independent lawyer and he assured me that it was completely legal. I thought that you knew, it was in several reports that you received."

"Why would you do that?" Thomas yelled. "That means that he can sell them or even take them and leave Thornton Thoroughbreds."

"Exactly." James said.

"Actually." Jack said from the doorway. "It also means that if I partner with Grandpa John, we can buy you and Tommy out, cutting you completely out of Thornton Thoroughbreds."

"You wouldn't!" Thomas hissed.

"Keep pushing and find out." Jack said. "Grandpa John and I have talked about it."