Mending of the Heart: Jackie's Story

Chapter 8: Planning for the Future

One afternoon Jackie returned home from school and saw two envelopes on the dining room table from Harvard, one was for her and one was for Eric. She suddenly got butterflies in her stomach, which got even bigger when Natalie came in from the backyard. "I thought I heard your car. So why didn't you tell me that you and Eric both applied to go to the same college?"

"We honestly did not plan it that way. We didn't know about it until we were talking about it last month." Jackie explained.

"I see, so I told Eric where you applied but not your mother?" Natalie replied feeling a bit hurt. "Why didn't you tell me that you applied to Harvard? It a huge step to take and a fantastic college."

"I wanted to wait to get accepted. Please, don't make such a big deal out of this. That might be a rejection letter, and this is why I didn't feel like telling you. When's dad getting home?"

"Don't try and change the subject missy. You've been keeping a lot of secrets from me lately."

"Forgive me for not wanting to get you more worked up than I am about what colleges I applied for. There's no need to make a big deal out of it until I get my acceptance letters." Jackie said heading out to the hall towards the front door.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"For a run." Jackie replied heading out the door before Natalie could stop her. When she was far enough away from the house she slowed to a fast walk and called Liam to see if he could talk to Natalie. When Jackie returned home, Natalie was in the kitchen finishing up supper, while Liam and the little ones were in the parlor watching a movie.

She was able to quietly go upstairs and take a shower without anyone knowing she was home. When she returned back downstairs to supper, Natalie just gave her a blank stare and finished distributing the meal to the kids. Jackie took her usual seat at the table and ate quietly. Liam was the one who broke the silence between the two girls, "So Jackie, have you opened your letter yet?"

"Nope. I kind of want to wait for the other responses to open them all at once. Making the wait much easier." Jackie replied in between mouthfuls.

"So, what other colleges did you and Eric apply to together?" Natalie asked blankly.

"As I said before, we had no idea we applied for the same colleges it was just chance. But it just so happened to be the two colleges that have a top rating for both our majors." Jackie deflected.

"What other school did you apply to besides Harvard?" Natalie kept digging. "And what do you plan on majoring in?"

"Mom, please let me have this secret until I'm ready to announce it." Jackie pleaded looking to Liam for some sort of rescue. "When I make my final decision on what College I will attend in the fall, I will announce it to everyone including what my major will be."

"Jacqueline Marie, I want to know this now. I've allowed you to stay quiet all year, but now that I am seeing letters from Colleges in the mail, I want to know what you're planning." Natalie persisted.

"We'll continue this after we put the kids to bed." Liam interrupted at the heightened tension between the two.

Jackie finished first and quickly put her dishes in the sink and snuck out the back door and walked around the house to the swing in the front. She did not realize she had fallen asleep until she woke up to Eric shaking her shoulder. "Hey sleepy head. What are you doing out here in this cold?"

"Avoiding my mom." Jackie replied sleepily.

"How long have you been out here? You look frozen."

"Since I finished supper."

"Come with me, I'm going to put you to bed." Eric replied lifting her up in his arms. He carried her up to his room and laid her under the covers. He went downstairs to heat up his supper.

Liam found him quietly eating in the kitchen, "Did you talk to Jackie this evening?"

"Yeah, she's pretty upset that her mom keeps pushing her about the college issue. For some reason she wants to keep it a secret until she gets all her college responses. I even tried to get her to open the letter from Harvard with me, but she still stuck to her guns." Eric replied.

"You know the secret, though don't you?"

"Yes, sir but I will not betray Jackie's trust. I respect her decisions."

"Just when Natalie asks you, because I know she will as soon as she gets you alone. Do us all a favor and lie to her, otherwise you'll be facing what Jackie is facing."

"If you feel that would be best, but I personally do not like lying to people, so I'll do my best to avoid being alone with Natalie for too long of a time." Eric replied as he got up to wash his plate and put it away. "As for Jackie, I'll try my best to get her to talk to her mom about it, but I can't make any promises."

"That's good. Just be careful when getting in between the Malry women. Those two are too much alike, it's like trying to navigate through a minefield." Liam warned with a chuckle. "Did you find Jackie on the porch? Her mother thought she had gone for a run again, but I saw her sleeping on the swing out there."

"Yeah, she's in my room. Her lips were purple; I wish she wasn't so careless about her health sometimes. She could have frozen to death."

"I was going to bring her in once Nat was asleep, but I agree with you. She tends to get the not caring too much from her aunt Leanne." Liam sighed.

Eric pondered Liam's advice as he climbed the stairs to his room. He walked into his room to see Jackie sound asleep looking so peaceful. He slid into the bed beside her ever so gently to ensure not to wake her and slid her close to him. She instantly wrapped around him, and he fell asleep holding her close.

The next morning, Jackie woke in Eric's arms well rested. "Good morning" Eric said as she opened her eyes to see him watching her carefully.

"Morning." She replied sliding out of the bed and heading for the bathroom. When she returned into the room, she slid back into the bed. "Why is it so cold this morning?"

"Maybe because you spent a while sleeping out on the porch swing last night." Eric replied kissing her softly. "I carried you in here to warm you up."

"I don't remember that. I only remember I was hiding from my mom."

"Yeah, Liam and I talked about that after I brought you in."

"Great, so now you're going to badger me about telling my mom everything." Jackie sighed.

"No, he told me it'd be best to stay out of it."

"He did?" Jackie was surprised. "But why do I feel like you have an opinion about the situation?"

"Because he also told me that Natalie is planning on asking me, and I can't lie to her." Eric explained.

"So, you're basically telling me that if I don't tell my mom my plans, and she ends up cornering you, you're going to tell her?"

"Yes. She should know. Just tell her and get it over with, so that she'll stop hounding you about it. I mean this is such a ridiculous fight you and your mom are having, babe." Eric pleaded.

"I guess you're right. I just feel like she's angry about us applying to some of the same colleges."

"Perhaps it's because she found out when she got the mail and felt that we have been keeping things from her."

"Well some things I plan on keeping between just us." Jackie said snuggling closer to him. "I mean she doesn't need to everything."

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Later that morning, Eric and Jackie found their way down to the kitchen. Jackie asked Natalie if they could talk about everything after breakfast while the boys when out and stacked wood for the wood stove. After Jackie finished telling her mom what colleges she applied to and about her plan to wait until all her replies arrived before she opened them, she waited for a response from Natalie.

"Okay, now I just have one major question..."

"What's that?"

"What are you planning to major in?"

"If I tell you, you need to promise not to make a big deal out of it." Jackie replied cautiously. "And I kind of want to keep it a secret from the rest of the family until graduation when I announce what school I plan to attend."

"That's a reasonable deal."

"I want to study law. It just feels right to me."

"Somehow I knew it was going to be a subject you could apply your stubbornness to." Natalie said with a smile. "I am so glad you finally decided to tell me your plans. Except, if you and Eric don't get into the same college what will you do?"

"We've already agreed we'll cross that bridge when it comes. Since we didn't even plan on going to the same colleges when we applied."

"Well at least you two have thought about it."

"I do know one thing for sure. No matter what next fall holds for us, we'll be together through the summer. Eric tracked down his biological father and hopes to take a road trip out to meet him in person after graduation. He has asked me to go with him for support."

"That's great. At least you'll get the urge to travel the world out of your system before you start college." Natalie laughed.