Chapter 170 – More Family Ties (short)
"Elizabeth." John said.
Elizabeth turned to look at John.
"I know money is a huge thing." John said. "But JP is right, you loving him for who he is and not what you can get is more important to him."
"Thank you." Elizabeth said. "I am trying to be okay with the money, but it is hard. I am not used to having everything I want, when I want it."
"Hold on to that." John said. "Just because you have money and can get anything you want, knowing that it takes work and actually working for things is more important. I am just sorry that not all my grandchildren learned that lesson."
"I promise." Elizabeth said. "Our children will not be spoiled like Tommy."
"Good." John said. "JP, don't let them turn out like your Aunt Olive's kids either."
"Yes, Sir." Jack said.
Elizabeth looked at Jack confused.
"I will explain." Jack said.
John nodded. Then Jack led him and Elizabeth from the library back to the sitting area. Once they were seated, Elizabeth turned to Jack.
"So you have other cousins?" Elizabeth said. "Why haven't I heard anything about them?"
"Slow down." Jack said. "I wasn't hiding anything, we just haven't talked about things and I didn't expect Gran to share about Grandpa John's family."
"Sorry." Elizabeth said. "You are right."
"Okay." Jack said. "Let's back up. My great-grandfather, the one who started Thornton Thoroughbreds, was William Thomas. He was married to Esther. William made a great deal of money in various businesses, including having a large printing company, a newspaper and a brewery. William and Esther had John Parker and Shirley. Shirley first married into another wealthy family. They were part of the Rockefeller family even though that wasn't their last name. Her first husband was Timothy Worth. His mother was a Rockefeller. When Timothy died three years into their marriage, Shirley got his entire estate. She lost the baby she was carrying when Timothy died and his family tried to say that since she didn't produce an heir, she wasn't entitled to his estate. The judge ruled in Shirley's favor. She had the money from Timothy, but she was alone.
Two years after Timothy died, Shirley met another man who was a farmer. Her family didn't care and he didn't know that she had money as everything had been put in a trust. They were married a year after they met. Shirley loved Mitchell and he loved her. Before their first anniversary, she gave birth to Mitchell, Jr."
"Your cousin who has the orchard." Elizabeth said.
"Yes." Jack said. "Before William died, he had bought land near Mitchell's family. The plan was to give it to them. It already had a few trees, but he planted more. It was named J&S. William died before he ever saw it produce its first fruits. They decided to leave it named J&S Orchard in honor of William and everything he gave them."
"Okay." Elizabeth said. "Did Shirley and Mitchell have any other children?"
"Yes." Jack said. "Besides Mitchell Jr, they had three girls who are all married and moved away. I don't know them that well or their families, so I won't burden you with their names at the moment. I have it all in a large family tree, if you want to look at some point."
"Okay." Elizabeth said. "So who is Olive?"
"I am getting to that." Jack said. "I wanted to give you a little more background because you have heard me mention Shirley's family and you heard a little about Mitchell."
"Thank you." Elizabeth said.
"So my grandfather, John." Jack said. "He married Caroline. She died when I was younger as I told you. They had two children – Thomas John and Olive Marie. Olive always resented my father as he was the Thornton heir. She met a man who was a little older than her when she was sixteen. Olive took off with him to Europe. Just so you know that there is over a ten year gap between Dad and Olive, which didn't help matters when they were growing up. Dad was already married and living in the city when Olive took off. The guy that Olive ran off with was twenty at the time, so he should have known better.
Anyways, Grandpa John spent a lot of money and time to find her. It took a year, but he was finally able to track Olive down. By the time that he did, they were married and she had a baby. Grandpa John was so angry that he cut her off. When he returned to the States, he immediately changed all papers related to Thornton, Inc and the established trusts.
What she did hurt Grandpa John, but more than that, his political enemies tried to use it against him. So he left politics after two more years and started the hedge fund and venture capital firms. Things grew from there. However, Grandpa John never forgave Olive for her behavior of running off and getting married without telling him or inviting him to the wedding."
"I can see why he would be hurt." Elizabeth said. "But I sense that there is more."
"Yes." Jack said. "The guy that Olive married turned out to be a prince from the Belgium royal family. He would never be king, but he was still a prince and by getting married, Olive became a princess. Their children all have royal titles and are not only spoiled, but look down on the rest of us."
"Wow." Elizabeth said.
"That is one word." Jack said. "Never mind the fact that we will have more money then they could ever dream of, just because they have a title, they think that they are better than everyone else. Olive has tried several times to butter me up to get me to give them money for this or that or to try and get them access to different things. They think that because they are part of the European royalty, they can have whatever they want. I have never once given into her and never will. They live off the public money that they get because of their titles. They have never really worked for anything a day in their lives. Yes, they do 'charity' work, but even then it is very controlled and they don't actually get their hands dirty. They have servants who do everything for them and they don't even treat them well."
"Wow." Elizabeth said.
"I am telling you because you need to be aware." Jack said. "I don't want her or her kids to try and get things from you because of your relationship with me. They receive nothing from the Thornton trust and never will. They could have, but Grandpa John changed everything. The judge agreed with him that even the things that William left her she was not entitled to when she took off like she did. Like I said, Grandpa John was really hurt by her actions. She tries to use the Thornton name, especially when they travel to the States. Grandpa John has made it very clear that just because she was born a Thornton, doesn't mean that she is still a Thornton."
"You think that she will try something?" Elizabeth asked.
"I wouldn't put anything past her." Jack said. "Especially if and when she learns that Grandpa is leaving everything to me, including all the art. That is what she wants the most, art and jewelry."
"Oh." Elizabeth said.
"I don't want you to worry about anything." Jack said. "It is more to be aware, especially since the press have gotten a hold of the story and have linked us. Olive loves to be in the papers and so do her kids."
"How old are her kids?" Elizabeth asked.
"The oldest would be about twenty-three." Jack said. "I think the youngest of the four is like sixteen."
"Okay." Elizabeth said. "I am sorry that your aunt is like that, but we all have a messed up family."
"Some more than others." Jack said. "I just want you to understand that just because we have money, doesn't mean that life is not hard. Both of my parents have had affairs, Tommy is a mess and my aunt is a piece of work. The rest of my family is pretty good, but we have our share of problems. Despite having money and growing up with money."
"I am seeing that." Elizabeth said. "We will just have to teach our children that they need to work for the things that they get. Just because we will have lots of money, doesn't mean we have to spoil them."
"Very true." Jack said. "I think that the biggest thing will be teaching them the value of things and making sure they understand that just because we have money, doesn't mean that they have money until they earn it."
"Very true." Elizabeth said.
After a moment, Elizabeth turned and looked at Jack.
"I have a question." Elizabeth said. "You don't have to answer it, but I was just wondering why you bought me a new ring if there was jewelry that you had access to. Isn't there some family heirloom? Don't get me wrong, I love the ring you bought me, but I was just curious."
"It is okay." Jack said. "I would have loved to give you an heirloom piece. But when Dad decided to propose to Ma, he used Grandma's ring. Grandpa John had given it to her when he proposed and it had been his parents before that. I think that Ma was the fourth or fifth Thornton bride to wear it. It was always handed down to the eldest son to give to his bride. When it was needed, the man would buy his wife a different ring and give the heirloom ring to his son. I thought about asking Ma and Dad for it, but I doubted that they would give it to me even though Ma doesn't wear it.
She didn't care about the history of the ring and from what I understand for their first wedding anniversary, she went and bought a different set of rings for her and Dad that was 'more in line' with her tastes. Dad didn't want to fight, so he just accepted the new ring that matched the one Ma had picked out. I honestly don't even know where the original ring is. I would love to have it, but I don't know at this point."
"So how do you know about the ring then?" Elizabeth asked.
"Grandpa John told me about it one day when we were talking about the future." Jack said. "He was explaining things about my future and what I would get and what was expected of us. I think I was about fourteen. I asked Ma about the ring when I got home and she just looked at me like she didn't know what I was talking about. I never asked again."
"I am sorry." Elizabeth said.
"Thanks." Jack said. "I could have had it remade, but I wasn't sure how long that would have taken and it wouldn't have been the same. I saw this ring when I was looking for a piece of jewelry that I wanted to get Gran for her birthday in July. I loved the way this ring looked and I figured that we could start our own tradition with this ring. If you want to give it to our son one day, I will get you a new one. If you don't want that and just want to let him pick out his own ring, I will be okay with that as well."
"We will have to see." Elizabeth said. "I would love to see what the ring you were talking about looked like. But I do love this ring. The sapphires with the diamonds are just right. As much as I would have loved to have the other ring, I love this because you picked it out for me and with only me in mind."
Jack leaned over and gave Elizabeth a kiss.
"I will see what I can do about finding a picture of the original ring." Jack said. "I know that the insurance company has pictures and specs of it to be remade in case it was ever lost. I will talk to them and see what I can get. Maybe I will have the ring made anyway and if you want to wear it at some point you can."
"You don't have to do that." Elizabeth said.
"But what if I want to." Jack said.
"Then I would love it." Elizabeth said.
Jack and Elizabeth snuggled back into the couch and talked about a few other things. Jack asked more about Elizabeth's family as well as other things. He shared a little more about his jumping background and asked about her dancing.