Chapter 301 – Quick Meeting With John
It didn't take long and they were in the safety of John's property. Peter came out to greet them.
"Welcome." Peter said.
"Why are we here?" Jack asked.
"One, you were in town." John said. "Two I wanted to check on you. Third and finally, I have information for you."
"Okay I will give you that." Jack said.
"So what did the doc say?" John asked.
"He cleared me to ride, but advised me to take the weekend off." Jack said. "I didn't promise one way or the other. I also invited him to come riding some time."
"I wouldn't ask you to not jump." John said. "I know how you feel about upholding your commitments."
"Thank you." Jack said. "I think I will see how I feel tomorrow and maybe not even decide until Saturday morning."
"Very well." John said. "I don't know if I will be there on Saturday, but there will be undercover security."
"I expected that." Jack said. "So what information do you have for me?"
"Devin sent something." John said. "I just don't know if you want me to share publicly."
John looked at Nathan.
"While I haven't told Nathan." Jack said. "I do trust him, so you can share and we can answer questions if he wants more information."
"I can step out." Nathan said.
"No you can stay." Jack said. "I have been meaning to share with you as well as Doug and Lee. I just haven't found a way to talk about it, but I am still processing my feelings about everything."
"Jack." Nathan said. "You really don't need to tell me what is going on. I am assuming that this is additional information about whatever Devin brought a month ago."
"Yes." Jack said. "Devin brought information and it was only shared with me, Father Mark and my grandparents. We wanted to keep it to only family while we processed our feelings about what we had learned. Since it most directly affected me, it was left up to me when and with who to share the information. I told Elizabeth just a bit, but didn't give her the details. The information hasn't been shared with anyone else because I am not sure how to feel about it and don't know what to do with it."
"You still don't have to share." Nathan said.
"It is okay." Jack said. "The fact is I am a twin. There was a second smaller baby when I was born. There were obvious defects and she was immediately transferred to another hospital where my parents abandoned her."
Nathan inhaled sharply and then let out a slow breath.
"I am sorry." Nathan said. "I can't imagine how that would feel. As a twin, I can't even begin to think about living without Colleen."
"I knew that you would understand." Jack said.
"Thank you for sharing." Nathan said. "I won't say anything until you are ready to talk about it with the others."
"Thank you for that." Jack said. "So Grandpa, what is the new information?"
"One of Devin's guys was able to get the admission data for that day." John said. "There were five babies admitted to the NICU that day. The guys are tracking down the records of those five babies and trying to determine who could potentially be your sister. Devin just wanted me to keep you updated since you asked to be updated. Knowing that there were only five babies admitted that day, they can continue to look through the birth records for those records. Once they have names, we have a judge that will issue a subpoena for those records. The hospital has said they won't cooperate unless they have a subpoena issued by a judge."
"Well at least they have narrowed down the records that have to be searched." Nathan said.
"Yes." Jack said. "Hopefully there will be more answers soon. As much as I initially wanted answers, I am starting to doubt myself if I have the right to intrude on this girl's life. What does she know? Will she understand what happened? What about her adoptive parents? Worst of all, what if she is dead and there are grieving adoptive parents and we open old wounds."
"Slow down." Nathan said. "Let Devin's guys find the information and then you can decide what you want to do. Maybe your feelings will change and just knowing that is alive or dead might give you more answers than you think. Once you have that information, you can decide your next steps. If she is gone, there would be no harm in visiting her grave. If she is alive, you can reach out to her parents and explain the situation and ask what they are comfortable with. You still don't have enough information to make decisions."
"Nathan is correct." John said. "You are jumping ahead several steps. You were the one who pushed Devin to find answers and he is trying, but it takes time. There are hundreds of babies born in the New York City area on any given day and the guys have to individually go through the records and then match that to a person. Then they have to track down each of those people."
"Okay." Jack said. "I just have been trying to process things and I guess part of that is wondering if I have the right to intrude on a young woman's life who by all accounts has not been the easiest thus far."
"And that is completely normal." Nathan said. "Questioning what you want and what is right is very normal. I can't imagine finding out that I have a sister out there who was abandoned and then trying to figure out what I want to do. I know how close Colleen and I are, I can't imagine not having that and feeling like something is missing my entire life and never knowing why you feel that. I also understand why you feel so angry about your parents lying to you, but you can't blame yourself. None of this is your fault. You were just trying to learn more about you and you knew that your parents were lying to you about something."
"Once again, Nathan is correct." John said. "This hasn't been easy for James, Margaret and myself, so we can't even begin to imagine how hard it has been for you."
"Sorry." Jack said. "I forget that this has affected you as well."
"Hey, it is okay." John said. "You have been dealing with a lot and this is just one more thing that has been piled on you in the last few months. It is also not your responsibility to worry about your grandparents. We are dealing. We have talked to each other about it and we are more worried about how this has affected you."
"Still, I am sorry." Jack said.
John nodded. Jack and Nathan exchanged a look and understood that the matter was closed.
"How about we have a bite to eat." John said. "I know that it is still a bit early, but I can have something delivered, so it would still be a little bit."
"Thank you, Sir." Jack said. "But if you haven't ordered, I would like to get back. I want to try and ride this afternoon and see how it feels. As much as I would like to have lunch with you, I really want to get back. Elizabeth, Frank and I have been going over plans for the orchard and one of the horticulturalists is coming this afternoon."
"Then I will let you get back." John said. "Please keep me posted and I will let you know if Devin finds any additional information. Also please be safe this weekend. I will try to come to Cooperstown, but I might have to fly to Florida this weekend for a few days."
"Understood." Jack said. "Please let me know one way or the other."
"I will." John said.
Jack and Nathan said their goodbyes and left with Chris to head back to the ranch. Jack had been glad to get the update from his grandfather, but at the same time it just brought more questions to his head. He had already been struggling with his feelings regarding his long lost sister and the closer they got to more answers about what happened to her, the more questions that Jack had about whether what he wanted was right or not. As much as he wanted answers he wasn't sure he had the right to interfere with this young woman's life and disrupt it. He knew that his life brought a circus. He wasn't sure if it was fair to bring that kind of crazy and potential media attention to this young woman and her family. As much as Jack felt he deserved privacy in his life, he knew that this young woman and her family deserved it even more.
Nathan could tell that Jack was thinking about things and questioning them in his mind, so reached over and put his hand on Jack's arm to get his attention.
"Talk to me." Nathan said.
"My life is a circus." Jack said. "I can deal with it. I can help Elizabeth deal with it. Doug and Lee understand the circus that my life is. But what right do I have to ask other people to deal with this circus when they are dealing with so much other stuff."
"Whoa." Nathan said. "Slow down. Just because you want to know what happened, it doesn't mean that anything will happen to this young woman. You have a right to know if she is alive or dead. What you do beyond that is a decision that doesn't need to be made right now. Besides, who is going to tell the media? Your parents aren't going to say anything. We aren't going to say anything. There is nothing at this point in the public realm to connect you to this young woman, so please stop worrying about things that haven't happened and probably won't happen. You are going to drive yourself mad if you continue to think that it is up to you to save the entire world.
Just let Devin and his guys do their jobs. His investigators are some of the best. Did you know that he has five former NYPD detectives working for him. He has a whole team of investigators that dig for information for him. It was part of the reason that he hired me. I knew that he wanted to use me as security for people, but he also knew that I was great at investigations and that is where I started. I was working as an independent private investigator when Devin hired me."
"No, I didn't know he had former NYPD officers on his staff." Jack said. "I knew that he had a team of people that gathered information for him and that he had other people that worked for him doing other things such as technology and data."
"Other than full time security people and drivers who are trained in security." Nathan said. "Devin has close to twenty-five other people who he hired as investigators. They are all trained, licensed and bonded for security if the need were to arise, but at the moment they are more valuable as investigators."
"I didn't know that." Jack said.
"There is a lot you don't know." Nathan said. "Devin and your grandfather have worked very hard to keep you safe and I am sure that if it came to it, they would work hard to keep your sister safe as they are keeping mine safe."
"You are right." Jack said. "I am just questioning whether it is right of me to intrude on this young woman's life."
"That is a question that you don't have to answer right now." Nathan said. "Try to relax. We are almost back to Saratoga and will be at the ranch soon. Elizabeth is going to want to know how your appointment went."
"You are right." Jack said. "I just can't stop the thoughts of what if sometimes."
"I understand that." Nathan said. "But you need to talk to me or talk to Father Mark or even to your grandparents. You don't have to deal with this yourself."
"I will try." Jack said. "I have never been good about talking about my feelings. I am really trying to deal with things, but it seems like it is one thing after another the last couple months. I just want to marry Elizabeth and find some sort of normal life. I don't want the circus. I don't want the media attention. I want to be able to go to school and build a life with the love of my life."
"And you are entitled to that." Nathan said. "But you still need to deal with your feelings. I know that as a man it is hard to talk about feelings and especially with how you grew up. I just want you to know that I will always be there for you and I can listen to you if you want."
"Thank you." Jack said. "I know that you will be there for me. I just need to figure out what it is that I want and I don't have enough information to make those decisions right now. All I know right now is that I love Elizabeth and I am going to marry her in a couple weeks. Beyond that I just don't know anymore."
"That is a start." Nathan said. "You know more than that. But at least you have a focus right now. Get through the next couple of weeks and then you can decide what the next steps are. You can continue to gather information about your sister and talk to me at any time about what you want. I will be there anytime you want to talk."
"Thank you." Jack said. "Right now, I am just going to take it one day at a time until we can get through the wedding."
"That is fine." Nathan said. "That is a plan. I don't blame you for not trying to think too far ahead. I know that you have to think ahead because of the company and things like that, but at the same time, you are not the one that needs to make day to day decisions for the company, so it is only right that you focus on and deal with the things right in front of you. Just remember that you have people that are here to help you, listen to you and be there for you."
"I know." Jack said. "Again, it is not really something that I am used to having. I am really trying to get better about sharing and talking about things."
"I know that you are and I am not saying that you aren't." Nathan said.
Jack nodded and leaned back to relax for the last bit of their ride home. Nathan was worried about Jack, but he had pushed as much as he felt comfortable at the moment.
… … … …
While Nathan and Jack were gone, it was business as normal around the ranch. Doug and the twins worked with the horses. Lee was working on things on his laptop. He had told the guys that he had been working on things for his father's company to help all summer. He was also looking up the people that were registered for the show in Cooperstown that weekend. No one was sure if Jack was going to be able to ride, but Doug, Nathan and the twins were still going to be riding and Lee wanted to be prepared with who their competitors were going to be just as he would if Jack was riding. He has always been the one to track who else was going to be there and how they stacked up. Lee felt it was his way of helping Jack and Doug.
Gran and Trish did some baking while everyone else was busy. It felt like they were always baking lately, but at the same time Gran didn't mind. She loved being able to cook and bake for her family, friends and employees. Trish didn't mind helping cook and bake. Her and Gran were able to talk while they baked. Over the last few years, Gran had started to see Trish as another daughter, especially with how close Jack and Doug were. Trish was able to share more about Jack's music since he wasn't hiding his talents anymore. Gran loved to hear what he had done and was amazed at the praise that Trish so freely gave of Jack. It was so different to hear Trish talk about Jack compared to how Charlotte would talk about Jack. If Gran didn't know better, she would swear they were talking about two different young men.
While Gran and Trish were baking, Frank was in the office going over the plat maps again and the notes that he had made when he sat down with Jack and Elizabeth. He was also on the laptops looking up what it was going to cost to get the supplies needed to start planting bushes this fall. Frank was also looking at other things that they had talked about and wanted to be ready to answer questions he was sure that the horticulturalists would have. He also was finding that he had other ideas the more he looked into the orchard that was in Albany. They had a great setup there and Frank felt that they could do something similar. Not only to make the juices and ciders, but to also make jams and jellies to sell. He thought it would be a great way to get their brand out there once they are able to produce fruit. If they did it right, a small local brand was a great way to draw people to their stand. He knew that they had a long way to go before they would be able to turn a profit, but it sounded like Jack was willing to put in the time that it took.
… … … …