Mending of the Heart: Jackie's Story

Chapter 7: The Arrangement

Later that week, Jackie invited Eric over to dinner. After dinner, Liam took Eric out to his "man cave" that Liam received as a wedding gift from Natalie. It's a two-floor shed full of things that guys like; home theatre, pool/ air hockey table, dartboard, and a mini bar. Liam even added a stereo system and hung up some various posters along the years.

After a few hours, Liam and Eric returned into the house to find the girls in the parlor. "Hey, ladies. Why don't we go into the dining room for a little bit while the kids watch their movie in here" Liam said. Natalie and Jackie followed the guys into the dining room. "So, Jackie, mom and I have talked over the proposal that you made on Monday night. And I have discussed it with Eric, and we are all in agreement that he will be able to live here for as long as he needs."

Jackie just smiled. "Under some terms though." Natalie added. "Eric, as Liam has told you, we are cleaning out my father's old study so you can have a room. We only ask that you two obey the rules by keeping the doors open if you both are in a bedroom."

"Mom, of course we will obey the rules." Jackie replied a bit embarrassed.

"Mrs. Jones, I give you my word as long as I am under your roof, I will not disobey your rules. I understand why you have them in place and I respect them." Eric spoke up. "I respect you all too much to take your kindness for granted."

"Good, and what I told you outside is still the agreement. I expect you to continue to receive good grades, and you won't be required to pay rent." Liam added. "I don't feel it would be right to ask you to pay rent if you're working hard on your studies, and saving money for college."

"Thank you, sir." Eric replied. "I won't let you down. I promise you I won't be a bother."

Jackie slipped her hand in Eric's and pulled him outside onto the porch. They sat on the porch swing holding each other. Jackie laid her head on his shoulder with Eric's arm wrapped around her. "Babe, I can't thank you enough for talking to your parents." Eric told her kissing her head gently.

"So, when are you able to move in?" Jackie asked without moving her head from his shoulder. She began running her hand up and down his arm.

"As soon as I'd like." Eric whispered. "I'm just glad we're good despite what Blake and everyone else seems to think."

"They don't know crap about us though." Jackie sighed. "I'm tired of our friends trying to interfere. By the way, next month you're going to be recruited to help with the twelfth annual 'M-C clothing gives back drive'. This entire house does it every year, since I was six."

"I can deal with that."

"Good."

"So, tell me something babe." Eric smiled.

"What's that?"

"What schools have you applied for? And what are you planning to major in? Since you seem to want to keep it a secret, and I want to know all your secrets." Eric said in her ear.

"I want to study law. I have applied to Harvard Law School, Yale, and Columbia University. I'm hoping to get a scholarship from my grades in at least one of them. I thought about Stanford, but I just didn't want to move to the west coast." Jackie informed him.

"Wow, so why haven't you told anyone about this. It's such a huge step." Eric questioned surprised.

"I don't know, I just don't want to think about it until I get an acceptance letter from at least one of the schools before I make a declaration." Jackie tried to make light of her anxiety of the issue. "So, tell me about your plans for after high school."

"I'm going to study medicine. Not sure yet if I want to be a surgeon or a specialist doctor. I myself have also applied to Harvard, as well as Columbia. I have also applied to Duke University and John Hopkins University. I'm not holding my breath on a great scholarship, but I hope my grades get me at least one. I worked hard through high school; I just didn't do any AP classes like I probably should have."

"That's awesome, and I am sure you'll get a scholarship even if its small, it'll help you out." Jackie said lifting her head and giving him a light kiss on his lips and smiled. "It's amazing that we applied for two of the same colleges even without talking about it. People are going to think we planned it that way."

"Yeah I guess it'd be nice to get one, but like you I don't want to get my hopes up too much." Eric said standing up off the swing. "I need to get going. Lots of packing to do."

"Okay, so I'll talk to you again soon." Jackie said walking down the steps to his car. "I can't wait to have you sleeping down the hall from me every night. Maybe even sneak into each other's rooms at night to cuddle." Jackie whispered to him as he got in the car.

"Liam said as long as the doors open, he won't mind if we end up cuddling at night. He understands we both have strong feelings towards each other, and doesn't want to interfere with us spending time together." Eric said with his smile that makes Jackie's heart skip a beat. "Though he did outlaw any hanky panky happening in the house or on the premises."

"That just means we need to get away for a little like the other day." Jackie replied kissing him.

"True. I'll see you later, babe." Eric replied as he turned on his car. Jackie stood watching him leave before she went back into the house.

**************************************

By the following Sunday afternoon Liam, Sam, and Alex helped Eric move into the old house. Natalie and Stacey were finishing up supper for the entire family in the kitchen, while Leanne and Crystal were tending to the young children. Jackie and Eric were in his new room unpacking once the other guys all left. "These old leather chairs are really neat." Eric said as he finished putting his clothes into his dresser.

"They were my grandfathers." Jackie replied smoothing out the blanket she just put on his bed. "I still can't believe your living here."

"Believe it babe." Eric replied as he quickly crossed the room to her. He wrapped his arms around her. "I am just so thankful for your family's kindness."

"This just gives us more to be thankful for at Thanksgiving. Which is next week." Jackie smiled giving Eric a quick kiss and wiggling out of his arms. "Supper should be done soon, so we can't get too caught up with each other."

"Not to mention the little ones that are constantly running around and spying on us." Eric laughed opening his closet door to reveal Jeffery hiding.

"Hey, you're not supposed to tell where I'm hiding. If Samantha finds me, I'll lose the game." Jeffery protested.

"Sorry, I didn't realize you were playing hide and seek." Eric whispered and quickly closed the closet door again.

"They like having you here just as much as I do." Jackie replied taking his hand and leading him downstairs.

"You two finished up just in time for supper. The kids are also finishing up their game of hide and seek then we'll all sit down to eat." Stacey informed Jackie and Eric as they came down the stairs.

"But before we call all the kids to eat, I want to talk with everyone about everything that is going to be happening in the next couple of weeks." Leanne stated entering the hall.

"About the holiday military drive?" Liam asked as he took a seat on the couch. "You know we all like to help."

"Well there's that and also the fact that 'Black Friday' is next week, and I need everyone to pitch in this week." Leanne sighed. "So, Crystal if you could come in tomorrow to help me in the morning that'd be great."

"Of course, I can." Crystal smiled.

"And Stacey will you go in on Tuesday to help Nat out?"

"You bet." Stacey replied cheerfully.

"Andrea will work on Monday, and Wednesday with you Jackie. Although if you could ask Dianna to help out on Tuesday and Wednesday as well, I would appreciate it."

"I will see if she's available. If not, I'll ask one of the other girls." Jackie answered. "Plus, Eric could drop in when he's available to help."

"Sorry babe, no can do. The holiday week is one of the busiest times for the hospital. It's also the time of year that I make the most money." Eric spoke up quickly.

"That's understandable." Liam said as he stood up to gather the children and have them wash up for supper.

"And we'll cover everything about the military family drive at Thanksgiving. I figure it's better to take things a little at a time so we don't get confused or lost like the year before last, when we confused all our schedules." Leanne laughed at the thought.

**********************************

Before they knew it, Christmas was there. The anticipation had overflowed the week leading up to the holiday. Eric was on the computer as much as possible trying to locate his birth parents, when he wasn't working on his studies or at the hospital. He desperately wanted to meet them before he went off to college. Liam aided him as much as he could through his connections at the police station.

Jackie relaxed tremendously after finals. She was relieved that she had completed all her applications for college and sent them out, and completed her finals. Her relationship with Eric was a strong as ever and she was happy with the way things were between them.

Eric managed to convince Jackie to sneak away with him for a short drive in the afternoon. Though he wasn't too sure if Liam or Natalie liked the idea of them leaving together like they did. They have managed to keep their relationship pretty much quiet so they didn't upset her parents too much.

Once they pulled into the parking lot of the creek, he shut the engine off and turned to face Jackie. "Babe, I took you here to give you a special gift from me. I just didn't feel comfortable giving it to you in front of your entire family."

"Okay, but I honestly don't think making love right now is the best idea."

"I'm not thinking about that right now, besides I saw Liam's face when I stole you out of the house." Eric said reaching over to his glove box. Jackie let out a gasp when she saw him pulling out a small box from his glove box. "Now we've been good friends since elementary school. This year I worked up the courage to finally ask you to be my girlfriend, and now I am so completely in love with you." He paused to search the fear on her face. "Don't worry yourself, I'm not proposing. Yet." He smiled.

"It sounds like you are."

"No, this here is a ring to promise you that I will do my best to stay in love with you no matter what happens. It may only be a coincidence that we applied to most of the same colleges, but I like to look at it as fate pushing us to be together."

"I see. So, this a promise ring?" Jackie asked taking the ring box from him. As she opened it, she caught her breath. The ring was gorgeous; it had a small purple topaz with two small diamonds on each side and was set on a silver band. "This is beautiful."

"When I saw it, I just had to buy it for you." Eric said as he took the ring out of its box and placed it on her left hand. He leaned over and kissed her. "I love you so much."

"And I love you too." Jackie sighed kissing him gently. "Though we should really be heading back, before Liam comes looking for us."

"Good idea." Eric replied turning the engine back on. "I definitely don't want to upset him too much today."

When they returned to Jackie's house, Liam was on the porch waiting for them with a scornful look on his face. Jackie was the first one to exit the car and run up to Liam. She quickly showed him the ring Eric had giving her, and when Eric joined her on the porch, he explained why he asked her to leave earlier with him. Liam listened, then smiled in understanding. "Well, I'm not sure if I should congratulate you and tell you that you picked a nice ring for her. Or go get one of my guns."

"I understand and appreciate your acknowledgement of this event. I'm not sure what to think. I mean it is a promise ring of my intent on marrying her in the future, but not an engagement ring." Eric replied nervously. "I will talk to you before I propose. I give you my word, sir."

"When we tell the rest of the family, why don't we just agree it's a beautiful ring that you wanted to give to me without prying questions." Jackie suggested with a smile.

"Something along those lines will work I think." Liam agreed.

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By the time the New Year arrived, everyone was thinking about the end of the year. Jackie, Eric, Dianna, and Blake all planned to do a final celebration for their group of friends. Jackie suggested that they use the old shack as a quiet spot that was large enough, but Blake had also suggested his house since his parents were going to be out of town the week before graduation.

At school, the teachers were happy with how hard everyone seemed to be working in class. The final scores on their finals before the holiday break seemed above average for every student in their class. Jackie got an A as she thought she would, Eric got the same.

At the house Natalie and Liam began to ask about what colleges they all applied for and Jackie was the only one that explained she wanted to keep it a secret until she began to receive responses from the colleges. Natalie wanted to press the issue, but with Liam's help Jackie promised the colleges weren't too far from home though they were outside of Maine.

The month of December seemed to be flying by, and Jackie was okay with it. One day, April caught her heading into school. "Hey Jackie."

"What's up April?" Jackie asked cautiously.

"I know this year has been crazy for everyone. And most of all us." April began reaching for Jackie's arm to get her to stop walking. "I have been thinking deeply on the issue we had at the beginning of the year. I was terrible and honestly don't know what caused me to act like that."

"Jealousy?" Jackie offered.

"That, yes. Though, I must say the better woman won his heart." April smiled sweetly. "Any ways, I just wanted to extend my most sincere apology to you in hopes of us reconciling before the end of this year."

"April, I honestly don't know why it took you this long to apologize. I hated that our entire group's friendship was effect over a ridiculous argument between us over a guy. You admit that you were wrong, I can tell you that I respect your courage and accept your apology." Jackie replied. "Though I owe you an apology as well. I let my temper get the best of me and hit you over the same stupid argument."

"Jackie, there is no need for you to apologize to me. I provoked you." April tried to deflect.

"Provoked or not, I was wrong." Jackie finished. "So, let's begin with a clean slate starting today."

"Sounds good to me, but what about the rest of our friends?" April asked.

"I think as long as we're good, they'll be okay with it." Jackie said.