Chapter 123 – Creed
John reached down and grabbed his messenger bag. He opened it and pulled out a large envelope.
"This is for you." John said, handing the envelope to Nathan.
"What?" Nathan said.
"Just open it, son." John said.
Nathan opened the envelope and pulled out several pieces of paper. On the top were two certificates. One was officially congratulating Nathan on naming his first foal. The second was a certificate showing that he had been awarded five shares in any future profits from Tasse as long as the horse was owned by Thornton Thoroughbreds.
"Sir." Nathan said. "I can't accept this."
"Yes, you can and will." John said.
"We do this with all employees upon the acceptance of naming their first foal." James said.
"This is no different than any other employee." John said. "Not that you are just an employee, as you are also a friend. Please don't argue. It was JP's idea."
"Like I said." James said. "This is nothing beyond what any other employee would receive."
"Thank you, both." Nathan said.
"Even if you don't continue to be employed by us." John said. "As long as we have a current address, you will receive your shares that are paid out quarterly. You also understand that it will be a couple of years before you see something."
"Yes, Sir." Nathan said. "Just the fact that you would do this, is more than enough."
Nathan sat there for a moment with his head down. If you weren't paying attention, it would look like he was looking through the papers he had been given. In reality, Nathan was thinking about something and wasn't sure it was his place to say something.
"Sir." Nathan said.
"Yes." James and John said at the same time.
"Mr Thornton." Nathan said.
"I told you, you can call me John." He said.
"Yes, Sir." Nathan said. "I was thinking. I am sure that you know your son better than I do, but given everything that I have seen and heard this last week, I have some concerns."
"Okay." John said. "Please know that you are more than welcome to speak freely. I may be John P Thornton, Sr, but I am not some really scary guy who you can't talk to. I try to be open and honest with people. Yes, I can yell and get mad, but anyone can."
"Okay." Nathan said. "Well …. (sigh) … I have concerns that Thomas can't be objective and/or an effective lawyer in Elizabeth's case."
"I will talk to him and make him assign it to someone else." John said.
"Jack already talked to Devin." Nathan said. "Devin and a junior partner took the case, but I am still concerned. Thomas wanted Elizabeth to put out a media statement and didn't even think to put a fingerprint access on her id. One conversation with Devin and Major Thompson came out and took both Jack and Elizabeth's fingerprints. It makes me wonder what other things Thomas has dropped the ball on when it comes to Jack and/or Elizabeth."
"Thank you for telling me." John said. "I will talk to a couple of the partners and have them review the case as well as the ones for the restraining orders for the Kensingtons and Pennybakers."
"Thank you." Nathan said.
Nathan sat back in his chair for a moment. He closed his eyes and took a moment to gather his thoughts. He knew that there were still a few things to do, but he wanted to relax. Before Nathan could figure out what he wanted to do, James came up behind him and put a hand on Nathan's shoulder.
"JP and Father Mark are up in the music room." James said softly.
Nathan looked at James.
"The pocket door past the kitchen." James said. "Go up the spiral staircase. I am sure that they wouldn't mind."
Nathan looked at James, he nodded and motioned toward the door.
"Go." James whispered. "You can leave the door open if you want."
John looked over and nodded as well. Nathan smiled and then got up to leave. No one noticed Nathan got up and headed to the door to go up to the music room. Gran turned around and saw Nathan. He motioned to remain quiet and she nodded. After Nathan had opened the pocket door and slipped inside, Gran smiled over at her husband.
… … … …
When Father Mark got back to the music room, he saw Jack staring off into space. It looked like he was looking out at the balcony, but Father Mark wasn't sure.
"Hey, Jack." Father Mark said.
There was no response from Jack. Father Mark gave him a moment and called his name again. When there was no response a second time, Father Mark walked over and touched Jack on the shoulder and Jack just about jumped out of his skin.
"Sorry." Father Mark said. "I called your name twice with no response. Are you okay? They are done downstairs. We don't have to go. I cleared my schedule tonight and my sermon for the weekend is done so I can stay as long as you need."
"It is okay." Jack said. "I was just thinking about things. I am worried about Elizabeth and tomorrow. There is part of me that wants to ask her to stay here, but that isn't fair either."
"We will keep you safe." Nathan said. "Sorry, your grandfather said I could come up. If you want, I can leave."
"No stay." Jack said.
"Thank you." Nathan said. "Please try not to worry. After sitting and listening to the plans, I am very confident that everyone will be safe. There will be security with us, both seen and unseen. Chris is having a meeting with all the security here in the morning. He is going to lay down the law and we will put a stop to this speaking out of turn."
"I heard." Jack said.
"Sorry." Nathan said. "Wasn't sure what came after you left. Just so you know, Tommy will be staying down at the bunkhouse. John has hired two security just for Tommy. They will deal exclusively with him and his behaviors. Margaret and James have temporary custody of Tommy. They will sit down in two weeks to see how things are going. He is not allowed to stay in the house until at least that point."
"And Ma went along with that?" Jack asked.
"John very clearly laid out what would happen if they fought him." Nathan said. "It basically boiled down to John being in control of the money and if they didn't want to be cut off from everything except Thomas' monthly allowance from the Thornton trust, he needed to agree."
"Wow." Jack said. "I know that he talked about it, but I didn't think that he would actually do it. He actually said that it was a last resort to get through to Dad."
"He said that Tommy's bad behavior was reflecting poorly on Thornton Inc and he wasn't going to allow anyone to mess with his bottom line." Nathan said.
"Good on him." Father Mark said. "I have been praying that things would work out. I know that it will be hard for Thomas and Charlotte, but it is way past due."
"I agree." Jack said. "Did Grandpa say anything about the two people who were going to be with Tommy?"
"Just that they will be staying in the bunkhouse with Tommy." Nathan said. "Apparently, he arranged it with Ed. The only other thing that he said was that Nicholas and Blaine were very good at dealing with an attitude like Tommy's."
"Blaine?" Father Mark asked.
"Mean something to you?" Jack asked.
"Maybe." Father Mark said. "One of Ed's boys was named Blaine. He was a year ahead of me in school, but I think he was almost two years older than me. He joined the Marine Corps right out of high school. I saw him when he was home for a few days, but that must have been close to two years ago. I know that Ed mentioned that Blaine was thinking of getting out of the Corps and working with a friend who ran a military style camp for kids."
"Well." Nathan said. "I don't know if it is the same guy, but it might sound like it. Apparently, Nicholas and Blaine are here and they are responsible for dealing with Tommy. It sounds like John gave them the final word on where Tommy goes and what he does at least for the next two weeks. So don't be surprised if Tommy isn't at church or up here for the family dinner on Sunday."
"Oh, Ma can't be happy about that." Jack said.
"She is not." Nathan said. "But John put his foot down."
"Even I know better than to cross John when he is upset." Father Mark said.
"So are we going to play some more?" Jack asked.
Both Nathan and Father Mark nodded.
… … … …
Gran smiled when she heard the music drift down the stairs. It wasn't very loud, but those in the kitchen could hear it. She knew that Nathan had left the bottom door open for that reason. She went back to work in the kitchen. Doug, Lee and Elizabeth were all working on their assigned tasks of washing and cutting fruit and vegetables. Gran wanted platters done for both Saturday and Sunday. She was also working on putting platters of cookies and bars together for both days. She knew with the extra people in the house, it would be better to be ready. She knew that it would all eventually get eaten.
"Doug, Lee." Gran said.
"Yes." Both said.
"I made one bacon and egg casserole as well as the French toast one." Gran said. "Is there a third one that you want? Don't forget that security might or might not be here for food in the morning as well as Sunday."
"You did two nine by thirteen pans?" Lee asked.
"Yes." Gran said.
"One more can't hurt." Doug said. "If we don't need it, we can always freeze it. But I am sure that it will get eaten. Us boys will be here and those are good reheated for a couple of days anyway."
"So what kind do you want?" Gran asked.
"Do you have the stuff to make that sausage and hashbrown one?" Doug asked.
"Yes." Gran said. "I will get working on that. It won't be hard. I will make all three in the morning and it will be something easy to reheat before Church on Sunday."
"Sounds good." Doug said. "I am sure both Jack and I will be hungry tomorrow. I know we both usually are after a competition."
"I figured." Gran said. "There will be those platters, chips and sandwiches to eat when we get back here. I am not sure what is on the buffet tomorrow night, but there will be plenty of food either way."
"Thanks Gran." Lee said.
"I will start making that." Gran said. "All I ask is that you guys make up the second platter of cookies and bars."
"We got it, Gran." Elizabeth said.
"Need me to brown the sausage?" Doug asked.
"No, I have some browned in the freezer." Gran said.
Gran left the kitchen to grab what she needed in the freezer. When Gran came back into the kitchen from the large butler pantry she heard the first dulcet tones of the hammered dulcimer coming from upstairs. As the sound reached the kitchen, everyone stopped.
… … … …
After the first song, Nathan continued to strum the guitar. Jack looked at Father Mark and smiled, maybe for the first time since they had come up to the music room.
"Now that Nathan is up here." Jack said. "Want to set up the dulcimer? I have been wanting to play a certain song, but it doesn't sound right without the dulcimer. This way we can have all three – dulcimer, guitar and keyboard."
"Sure why not." Father Mark said. "Are you playing or am I?"
"Your call." Jack said.
Nathan watched the exchange. He was intrigued as far as he knew, Jack didn't play any other instrument other than guitar. At least nothing else had been said. When Jack set aside his guitar and went to the large cabinet and opened the top door, both Father Mark and Nathan were stunned.
"You have two of them?" Father Mark said.
"Of course I do." Jack said. "When you said you wanted to learn, I got you one and I got one for me to have in the city. I decided to get two of them here in case we both wanted to play. I had them delivered a couple of weeks ago. Gran unpacked them and put them up here. We might need to tune the strings a bit."
Father Mark helped Jack move things around slightly so that they could set up both of the dulcimers. As Nathan played scales on the guitar, Jack quickly tuned both dulcimers. Once things were set, Jack grabbed something else and then set up the keyboard to play automatically. On the recording that Jack had, it also had the drum beat for the song. Father Mark found three copies of the music for the song and gave a copy to each of them. Jack counted it off and then started to play the dulcimer. Father Mark let Jack play for three measures before joining him, both playing the dulcimer. Nathan joined them on guitar after starting the recorded part on the keyboard. Since he was a bit unfamiliar with the song, Nathan let Jack start singing. Father Mark joined in singing after the second line. Since Jack was more comfortable, singing and playing, Father Mark followed his lead.
Jack had chosen an older song that he had discovered a few years before. It was what led him to want to learn to play the hammered dulcimer. Jack had chosen Creed by Rich Mullins. [The song was written by David Strasser and Rich Mullins. It was released in 1993 on Rich Mullins self titled album and has been redone by several artists over the years.]
I believe in God the Father
Almighty Maker of Heaven and Maker of Earth
And in Jesus Christ His only begotten Son, our Lord
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit
Born of the virgin Mary
Suffered under Pontius Pilate
He was crucified and dead and buried
And I believe what I believe is what makes me what I am
I did not make it, no it is making me
It is the very truth of God and not the invention of any man
I believe that He who suffered was crucified, buried, and dead
He descended into hell and on the third day, rose again
He ascended into Heaven where He sits at God's mighty right hand
I believe that He's returning
To judge the quick and the dead of the sons of men
And I believe what I believe is what makes me what I am
I did not make it, no it is making me
It is the very truth of God and not the invention of any man
I believe it, I believe it
I believe it
I believe it, I believe it
I believe in God the Father
Almighty Maker of Heaven and Maker of Earth
And in Jesus Christ His only begotten Son, our Lord
I believe in the Holy Spirit
One Holy Church
The communion of Saints
The forgiveness of sin
I believe in the resurrection
I believe in a life that never ends
And I believe what I believe is what makes me what I am
I did not make it, no it is making me
I did not make it, no it is making me
I said I did not make it, no it is making me
It is the very truth of God and not the invention of any man
I believe it, I believe it
I believe it, I believe
I believe it, believe it
I believe it, I believe it
I believe it, I believe it
I believe it
After they played it through, Jack played a flourish of notes on the dulcimer and then started the intro again. Both Father Mark and Nathan let Jack play the intro and then followed him on their instruments, this time without the recording of the keyboard and drums.
… … … …
Author's Note: Here is another one of the recipes. We used this one a lot when I was in college and went on different retreats where we had to cook.
Sausage Hashbrown Breakfast Casserole
Ingredients
1 lb. breakfast sausage bulk, not link or patties
24 oz. frozen shredded hash brown potatoes (about 8 cups)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
12 large eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.
Add the sausage to a large skillet and place over medium heat. Break the sausage apart with a wooden spoon. Cook until the sausage is completely brown, about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain off the fat.
Add the frozen potatoes, cooked and drained sausage, and cheese to a large bowl. Stir to combine. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with the milk, salt, and pepper (I use the same bowl from step 3).
Pour the egg mixture over the hash brown mixture. Pat everything down with the back of a wooden spoon.
Bake for one hour. The center should be set and the edges should be golden brown.
Cool for 5 minutes before slicing.
Notes
This casserole can be made ahead of time/overnight. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and store it in the refrigerator after it is assembled. Remove the plastic wrap before baking as directed in the original recipe (same temperature and time).