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**Sorry it's taken so long! School has been hectic, and i've had major block on this chapter and what to write in the next few chapters, ending the book!**
“How are you doing?” Elizabeth asked excitedly.
“Great. I’m almost done repaying your father. Only two more years.”
Elizabeth was looking at Jack, clad in guard’s uniform of mostly brown, and with a metal ring of keys attached to his belt. He had grown a bit from the last time they met. Almost six years ago. There was a lot of water under the bridge, and it seemed they both decided to keep it there.
“That’s great,” she said with a smile.
“Yup. So when did you get back?”
”Not too long ago.”
”So uh, how are the kids?”
”Fine. Smiling, healthy, and wonderful.”
”That’s great.”
Conversation felt almost forced. It had been quite awhile since they last spoke. And the last time they did, it was right after her wedding. But even after meeting John, and trying to prove his innocence in trying to blow up the estate, Jack and Elizabeth had almost been avoiding each other. They kept their heads down when passing each other, and mapped out each other’s schedules fairly well to avoid certain places that they would meet. The cause? Embarrassment, most probably. But Elizabeth didn’t want him to see how happy she was. The one thing binding them together died. Elizabeth found out a week after coming home. She stuffed a towel into her mouth to stop the scream of joy. She had told him, of course. So they were free. She was free to see John without any pang of guilt, and he was free to do whatever he wanted. It didn’t seem like much though.
She had heard from Heather that he dated a bit, and each one ending fairly quickly.
While he was stuck here, she had left home with her husband, moved into a house far from home, and had three children. His bachelorhood didn’t seem to offend him in anyway. After all, guards rarely had any time for themselves. And Jack didn’t seem to be complaining about the hours. His face was beaming, and Elizabeth was jealous at how much sleep he seemed to be getting. No bags under his eyes, no siree. Some people had all the luck. But where there was no hair before, there was now. He seemed to have been hit by the facial hair lady, and was sprouting the beginnings of a beard.
“Is it that bad?” he suddenly asked.
“What?”
”The beard.”
“No, it’s fine.” She could feel her face go warm. “It’s just that I haven’t seen you in so long! You feel so different. You’ve changed so much.”
”You’ve changed too,” he said. “You look so much older.”
”I am older. And I also have three kids. What’s your excuse?”
He gave a loud laugh, and she instantly shushed him. “They’re asleep! If they wake up, I’m dead.”
“Sorry,” he whispered, a smile playing about his lips. And in an instant, the small crush she had on him which lasted, what? A few days? Returned. She couldn’t help it; she smiled at his attempt to be quiet.
“I know this is a rather tender subject,” he started. “But I never did thank you for saving my butt all those years ago.”
“I couldn’t let something so good go to waste,” she said almost flirtatiously as she walked past, giving his behind a good squeeze. He instantly went red, and she had a huge grin on her face as she continued down the hall towards the stairs. She knew she’d be embarrassed about that later, but you only get to live once. She could feel the giddiness rise, and the grin widened. Who needs John? Not her.
“Will, don’t throw your food!” Elizabeth gasped as a fistful of mashed potatoes went flying through the air, and hitting the floor. “Sit down, Kayla!”
Supper was turning out to be a nightmare. All three of them were hyper, and unwilling to listen to simple rules. By anyone! Ariel had grabbed Derek from where he was crawling across the tabletop, and sat him in her lap. He started to cry, and through the wails, Kayla bounced up and down in her seat, mashing peas. And Will wouldn’t stop throwing food. Elizabeth was losing her patience, and was embarrassed at her children’s behavior. The embarrassment grew when Will started throwing the food at people, and laughing as they dropped cups full of liquid all over their front. Soon Heather was reaching over and trying to get Kayla to stop bouncing long enough to eat something.
“Will, no!” Elizabeth whispered fiercely as he slipped under the table. She sighed with frustration, and just gave up, sitting back in her chair and resting her hand over her face. Why couldn’t they sit nicely like June and Ron? She was going to be the laughing stock of the estate soon.
The sudden sound of plates falling to the ground caused Elizabeth to bolt up.
“What happened? What they do now?” she asked quickly as Kayla and Derek started laughing.
“Nothing. Jack just slipped and fell onto a table,” Ariel said quietly.
She glanced around the room and found Jack apologizing repeatedly to the people whose meal he interrupted. When he turned and was standing so he faced them, Kayla and Derek let out a howl of laughter that caused Will to poke his head out from under the table. Food was all over his front, as well as a blob of mashed potatoes stuck in the middle of his forehead. Ariel gave a disapproving sigh, and Heather followed suit. But Elizabeth laughed right along with her three children, causing Ariel to stare at her with wide eyes. And then June and Ron started laughing. Soon the room was rich with laughter, and all Jack did was smile up at the people who started it all.
“Mashey man!” Kayla squealed as Jack came up to the main table in search of a napkin.
“Really Jack, can’t you do anything right? You can’t even walk into the dining hall without making a mess!” Michael reprimanded.
“Sorry sir,” he replied. “I tripped over a chair leg. At least I got them to sit still.”
And he was right. The three of them settled down after having a good laugh and were eating happily and quietly.
“I must say,” Elizabeth said standing up. “You sure do have a way with kids.”
“Nah. I’m always this clumsy. Can I borrow a napkin?”
Elizabeth handed him one. “Thanks.”
He did his best of cleaning his front, and thanked her again.
“Wait! You missed a spot,” Elizabeth called out.
“Where?” he asked, looking down at his shirt.
“Not there, here,” she said taking the napkin from him and wiping his forehead and the bit of mashed potatoes that slid onto his cheek.
“Thanks,” he said quickly, catching the angry look in Michaels eye, and rushed off.
“What’s wrong with you?” Michael asked once Jack was out of sight.
“What?” she replied defensively.
“You’re flirting with him.”
”Why would I flirt with him when I have John?” She hoped they would notice the hesitation before she said his name.
Michael just gave her a weird look before he went back to eating.
That night, Elizabeth had just finished tucking in her children and was off to her room. She went up the flight of stairs to the floor her room was on, and made her way down the hall to her door. She opened it slowly and entered even more slowly. It was almost like she was being brought back to the past.
She entered the room with John all those years ago with baby William wrapped in a blue blanket. They had stopped by on their way to Brair, the city across the ocean where John’s parents lived. She remembered she was wearing one of her heavier dresses made of wool due to the cold of fall. John was carrying a few bags laden with baby items with few items of their own. John was glad to be inside, because he claimed he was catching a cold. He dropped the bags on the table while Elizabeth sat on the couch by the fire to warm herself and Will. They were the happiest back then with no arguments or disagreements. She thought she would live the perfect life with a baby and a husband.
But the next few days began to show John’s bad sides. He seemed to be growing obsessed over money and power. He sometimes would speak of becoming the Leader of the city, and when Elizabeth would say after her father retired, he’d be silent for a few minutes and then continue to speak of power. When they finished visiting John’s parents and returned to Minel, John bought the run-down pub and spent countless amounts of money fixing it up. And then he invested any profits from the pub buying a huge structure in the middle of the village, christening it an inn, and wasting even more money on it. She kept quiet while he spent all their money on state-of-the-art plumbing, and cooking utensils. It was during the construction of the inn that Elizabeth was pregnant with Derek, and had to spend her days alone with Will while John was out and about, tottering from pub to inn, and back again, coming home late. It almost reminded her of Jack when they were in Kanta.
She didn’t mind much, because when John was home, he was very impatient, bossy, and the littlest thing sent him off into a rage. He didn’t hurt anyone in these rages; thank Adia, but it left him sore for hours. One of his rages was around the time Elizabeth was in labor, and he left the house. She had to disturb Will from a nap to go down to the neighbor’s house for help. The neighbor, a kind old lady by the name of Rosa, let John have it when he heard what happened. She lectured the stubborn man until he was almost to tears apologizing. He hadn’t had a fit in years after that incident, but they began again when she was pregnant with Kayla.
John wouldn’t come home towards the middle of her pregnancy with Kayla, sleeping at his inn. He’d say it was because he was a busy man, and needed to spend more time there. That’s when they had their first fight. And more followed after Kayla was born. Then John spoke about going home to clear his head. Elizabeth was a bit grateful to have him leave before he decided he wanted another building to fix up. That’s just what they needed then, was to have more problems. So, John left in the coldest way possible, not even embracing his children goodbye, or even his wife. Elizabeth hated him then while Kayla cried for her daddy, but all he did was turn his back on them and board the ship going to Brair. He didn’t even loiter on the deck to wave, or to see his children wave goodbye.
Elizabeth didn’t notice but she was shaking. Nor did she notice she was still standing at the door, her hand on the doorknob.
“Damn him,” she said quietly, anger beginning to swell.
She stepped into the room and slammed the door shut. How could she have missed the message John was sending her? She was blinded by love for him when he didn’t love her back. He didn’t even love his own children! Why it was only dawning on her now was beyond her.
“It’s because I love him.”
She collapsed in front of the cold fireplace staring at the ash-covered brick.
“Why did you do this to me?” she whispered to the floor. “Why?”
John was rapidly becoming another big mistake in her life. She shouldn’t have swooned over him the way she did all those years past. She shouldn’t have accepted that coffee at that “little place I know around the corner.” It was all a big game to him. A sick, twisted, demented game. And she had let him win.
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