Chapter 125 – A Late Friday Night
After Jack headed downstairs, Father Mark looked at Nathan.
"Are you okay?" Father Mark asked. "Jack told me a little about what happened with Gabe."
"I am okay." Nathan said. "I am not saying it was easy, but I am doing okay. I just have to keep telling myself that if Gabe was really a friend to me, he wouldn't have behaved that way to my new friends."
"Maybe, maybe not." Father Mark said. "Ever consider that Gabe might be jealous. He comes in here and sees you getting along so well with Jack and his friends."
"Never considered it." Nathan said. "Either way, he crossed a line that he never should have crossed. The things that he said to and about me, Jack and Elizabeth. It took every ounce of willpower that I had to not deck him."
"Jack said something similar." Father Mark said. "Jack told me a little of what was said, and I am not going to ask you to get into it, but I am going to tell you the same thing that I told Jack. You need to forgive him. Forgiveness isn't always about the other person, but not letting the person live rent free in your head."
"I understand what you are saying." Nathan said. "I have already asked for forgiveness for my actions. If at some point in the future that Gabe can come to me and be sincere about his apologies, I will forgive him to his face. Trusting him again, that will take a lot more time."
"Forgiveness and trusting are two separate issues." Father Mark said. "Just because you have forgiven someone, doesn't mean that you have to continue to allow them in your life if you feel that it is not what is best for you."
Nathan nodded.
"There is one other thing that I want to say." Father Mark said. "I know that it might take some time, but I want you to think about forgiving your father for what he did."
Nathan opened his mouth to argue, but Father Mark held up his hand.
"I am not saying that you have to welcome him back into your life." Father Mark continued. "What I am saying is that if you want to talk some more about it with me, I am around. Trust me when I say you need to talk it through, all of it, with someone. Once you have done that, you need to forgive him for your own sake. It goes back to letting that person live rent free in your head. I know that you don't see yourself as a victim, but somewhere in your head, you do. Until you can work through things and forgive your father you are stuck in that place where he hurt you. You can try to push it away and not think about it, but it is like an infection left to fester. It will come out and things will be worse."
Nathan nodded.
"Can we get through the next few days?" Nathan asked.
"Absolutely." Father Mark said. "I will be here whenever you are ready to talk. Just know that you need to do it at some point. How has it been with the daily prayers?"
"Good." Nathan said. "I like them and even if I only do the ones there, it helps to slow me down for a few minutes."
"Good." Father Mark said. "Let's head down, it is getting late and I want you sharp tomorrow."
Nathan and Father Mark headed downstairs. When they got there, John and James were sitting at the table talking.
"I just want to say goodnight." Nathan said.
"Night." James said. "Everyone else headed downstairs already."
"Thanks." Nathan said.
"Goodnight." John said. "See you in the morning."
"Night." Father Mark said. "I should get going."
"Stay." James said. "It is too late for you to drive in."
"You have a house full." Father Mark said. "Besides, I don't have clothes."
"I am sure that between us four boys we have something that will fit." Nathan said. "There are also two open beds in Jack's room. Even though it is only a mattress on the floor, Tommy's room is also open."
"I agree." John said. "You should stay. Have breakfast in the morning and then you can head in."
"Fine." Father Mark said. "This is not an argument that I am going to win."
"Night." James said. "We were just waiting for you to come down before we head to bed ourselves."
"Any idea where Charlotte and Thomas are?" Nathan asked.
"Nope." John said. "After she had words with Doug, she went back to the office."
"They could have gone upstairs from the office and we wouldn't have known." James said.
"Then I am not going to worry about it." Nathan said. "See you all in the morning."
Father Mark and Nathan turned to head downstairs as James and John picked up their stuff at the table and got ready to head to bed themselves.
… … … …
As soon as the group got downstairs, Elizabeth turned to Jack.
"Are you okay?" She asked.
"Better." Jack said. "Ask me again tomorrow."
"Okay." Elizabeth said. "Do you think that you could braid my hair in the morning? I think it might be easier during the day."
"Okay." Jack said. "If not before the horses, definitely after."
"Thanks." Elizabeth said, leaning over and giving him a kiss.
Jack walked Elizabeth to her room and kissed her again before heading to his room. Doug and Lee had already headed that way. Jack quickly grabbed some clothes to take a quick shower down at the gym. When he walked back, Father Mark and Nathan were in shorts and shirts ready for bed sitting reading for a few minutes.
"Don't stay up too late." Jack said. "Alarm set for seven thirty."
Nathan nodded and Jack continued on to his room. Doug and Lee had already crawled into their beds. Jack wasn't sure if they were awake or not, but he just climbed up into his bed, said a quick prayer and rolled over. He was tired and emotionally drained. At that moment, he was regretting agreeing to jumping at the Charity Classic. He would honor his word, but he wasn't sure what he was thinking when he agreed. As much as he liked jumping, there was something about competing again after all this time off. Jack also thought that it might have something to do with all the discord that was going on around him, but he wasn't sure that it wasn't something more.
Jack took a deep breath and rolled onto his back when his phone chimed low. He grabbed it and looked at it quickly. When he saw the notification, he sat up and read the email that he had been waiting on.
"Doug." Jack said. "Did you happen to bring your passport with you?"
"Yes." Doug said. "Dad told me to always travel with it. Why?"
"If we can swing it." Jack said. "Want to make a quick trip up to Ontario. It would be overnight at most."
"If you want me to go." Doug said. "I will go, but why do you want or need to go to Ontario?"
"What is in Ontario?" Nathan asked, walking in.
"Do you have your passport?" Jack asked.
"Yes." Nathan said. "Now tell us why we need them and what is in Ontario."
"Pair of horses that I want to check out near Bancroft." Jack said. "And maybe a third."
"Okay." Nathan said. "Well if you are going, I am going. How are we getting there?"
"We will take the jet." Jack said. "I need to check with Grandpa John when it will be available, but I would like to get up there this week. I just need to give the guy notice the day before."
"How about we talk to him on Sunday." Nathan said. "But let's aim for Wednesday and Thursday. Don't forget that Katie is coming on Tuesday and it sounds like your parents might also be leaving Tuesday as well. Monday we have a security meeting about the show here."
"Wednesday sounds good." Jack said. "We will talk more about it later. I just got the notification from the man that they were back and I could come and check out the horses anytime."
"Okay." Nathan said. "It is late and I can't think about planning a trip right now."
"Where are you going?" Father Mark asked, walking in.
"Bancroft, Ontario." Nathan said.
Father Mark looked at Jack.
"Is this what I think it is?" Father Mark asked.
"Yes." Jack said.
"Day trip or overnight?" Father Mark asked.
"Most likely a day trip, but I will take an overnight bag just in case." Jack said. "Why?"
"Mind if I tag along?" Father Mark asked.
"I am cool with it." Jack said. "We will talk more about it on Sunday."
"Okay." Father Mark said.
The guys all crawled under their respective covers and quickly fell asleep. Jack had been glad that Father Mark stayed. He had been worried about him driving back, it was late and even if it was only about twenty minutes into town, anything could happen when it is late.
Saturday morning, everyone including Gran was a little slow getting up. Father Mark and Nathan were both up one after the other while the other three slept. After dressing, they went out to the sitting area to each do their morning prayers. Nathan decided to do morning prayers with Father Mark. They were just finishing when Jack and Doug wandered out. Jack made a quick stop and knocked on Elizabeth's door. There was no answer, but Jack thought he heard the shower running so he was going to give her some time.
"Let's go get chores done." Jack said. "Then we can come back, shower and get ready."
"Sounds good." Nathan said. "I have a security meeting at nine at the small arena."
"You can do that and then come get ready." Jack said. "We don't need to be there until later. We can wait to leave until about eleven. We need to check in by noon."
"Okay." Nathan said. "Right now, I need coffee and then we can deal with the rest later."
They headed upstairs. As they sat at the table, John came out of the library and Lee wandered upstairs. Doug reached for the coffee carafe and poured for everyone. He then went to the kitchen to refill it.
"Come make a plate in the kitchen." Gran said. "It will be easier."
Once everyone was at the counter, Gran nodded at Father Mark.
"Let's pray, in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit." Father Mark prayed. "Heavenly Father, we come to You this morning and ask that You be with each of us as we go about our day. Keep those that are jumping safe and be with those watching. Guide our conversations and open our hearts to Your will. We also ask that You bless this food to our bodies and bless the hands that prepared it. We ask all these things in Your most Holy Name. Amen."
Everyone followed with an amen. As they started making their plates, Elizabeth came up and got in line to make a plate as well. While everyone was making their plates, Gran took the refilled coffee to the table as well as the orange juice.
"I am glad you stayed." Jack said to Father Mark.
"Like Grandpa gave me any choice." Father Mark said with a smile."
Jack just gave him a dimpled grin.
"Where is Grandpa?" Jack asked.
"He was out the door at six am to get a few things done." Gran said. "He said that he will rest this afternoon before we head back for the banquet."
"I am going to hold him to that." Jack said.
"Good luck." Father Mark said.
"Are you coming to the show?" Elizabeth asked.
"Yes." Father Mark said. "As soon as I eat, I am going to head back to town. I have a few things to do this morning and then I will be at the show. I have to be back to hear confession and say Mass. So if it runs long, I will have to leave. After Mass, I will either come out here or head to the banquet. Depending on what time it is."
"Let us know one way or the other." John said. "I called and made sure that we have a fifteen passenger bus. They said they would have it here by seven with the driver we will have for the night. JP before you ask, I trust this company and they know that I am a good client so they will give me one of their best drivers. On the off chance that they had someone that I didn't know, I already had Devin and Andrew check them all out."
"Okay." Jack said. "I wasn't going to say anything. I trust you."
They all got situated around the table and they had a lively conversation over breakfast about who was all going to be at the show. Jack had printed off the list of people that were registered. There were going to be thirty riders and they would randomly draw for their spot when they got there.
"From this list." John said. "I don't see anyone that you haven't beaten."
"I know." Jack said.
As they were talking, Thomas and Charlotte came downstairs. They didn't say anything to anyone, but went right for the coffee. They made a plate and sat at the table. Since they hadn't greeted anyone, everyone else just carried on with their conversation.
"I am feeling good." Jack said. "I don't want to be over confident, especially since I haven't seen the course, but unless they throw something crazy in there, it should be a good day."
"I just hope that Bandit and Aphrodite are on today." Doug said.
"Are you sure that you don't want to ride Honey?" Jack asked.
"No." Doug said. "I haven't really ridden her. If I can't ride Ghost, I feel more comfortable on Aphrodite."
"Okay." Jack said.
Everyone quietly ate their breakfast for a moment.