Chapter 14
The real hero
Jake
It feels like I’m in the middle. Dad and Jax had words, and now Mom is looking to me to be the peacemaker. I can’t believe it’s gotten this bad. At first Reese and I assumed it was a joke. We thought Uncle Colt tripped and messed up his leg or something. Never would I have guessed he was suffering from a medical issue. Then it all made sense. It wasn’t about my father’s jokester personality. It was about taking something that wasn’t funny and publicizing it. The poor man is going through hell and Dad made a joke about it. He went as far as hiring a stripper to dance for him in a public restaurant. Then he proceeded to convince my brother to refer to Uncle Colt as Uncle Limpy.
It’s all too much. He went too far, and now the repercussions are more than he can handle. Somewhere in the back of my mind I always feared this. I know he’d piss someone else off and we’d have to suffer because of it. What he didn’t understand was that, not only did he hurt himself, but everyone who cares about him.
No one has ever been there for my dad more than Uncle Colt. Not even Uncle Conner. It’s hard knowing they’ve been avoiding each other for weeks. I don’t think that’s happened in their whole adult lives.
Enough is enough. I’m sick of hearing about it. I’m tired of us not being able to all be together. Our family is about to host the largest fundraiser in Mitchell history and two of the patriarchs are at war. We can’t be united if we’re divided.
Reese stirs in the bed next to me. I’m lucky to have such a strong wife and mother for our children. She’s the smart one who helps me figure out problems I can’t find solutions for. She also knows how to deal with my brother. We’ve been taught to joke around. Everyone enjoys a good laugh, but when it costs someone else their happiness, it’s not exactly humor. Instead it’s cruel.
I’ve been sitting on the edge of the bed for nearly an hour. I’m tired, but my mind won’t let me fall asleep. I’m too wired with ideas. We have one more day before the big event and it’s like walking on eggshells. Something has to give. We need to find a neutral ground and solve this.
After sitting, I decided to pace, which leads me downstairs. I find Noah holding his youngest. He’s feeding the child a bottle and motions for me to be quiet. My cousin takes the baby upstairs, but returns a few minutes later. “What’re you doing up? Did the baby wake you?”
“Na. I’ve been up for hours. Just thinking about our dads and this stupid fucking feud they have going on. This can’t continue.”
Noah leans on the edge of the sofa and nods. “Yeah, I know.”
“We’ve got to do something. We’re supposed to be this awesome family everyone wishes they were a part of and we can’t even resolve our issues.”
“Dad’s pissed. Mom says he needs time, but he’s stubborn.”
“Yeah, well we have one day.” I pause for a moment. “I think we should force them to be alone together.”
“I don’t know. They could get violent.”
My head is shaking as he says it. “No. Even if that happened, they wouldn’t hurt one another, not seriously.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“You still have those fishing rods?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. We’re taking out the boat tomorrow. I’ve got a plan.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“Yeah. Me too.”
Noah and I make a pact not to tell anyone else of our plans. Too many people would want to get involved and the whole thing could fall apart.
We decided early in the morning that we’d have to separately lure the men without the other knowing. In order to do this, we’ve enlisted the help of Jax and Josh. Noah figures that four of us can handle them if they try to get out of it.
The plan is simple. We take two boats out on the water, and then when they aren’t paying attention we put a bag over their heads and zip tie their hands. We’ll then transfer them onto the same watercraft, lift off the bags and take off leaving them without a motor or paddle to get back. It will be up to them to figure out how to free themselves and return to shore.
While they’re busy, we’ll head to the sight location of the event and do everyone’s duties so no one notices their absence. If this doesn’t work I don’t know what will.
Why we assumed this would go over well was beyond me. I chalk it up to being dog ass tired when we made the plan. Uncle Colt loves to fish, so luring him onto the boat wasn’t difficult for Noah. He simply invited his father for an early morning trip and they were off.
Dad was a different story. He questioned why we wanted to go. Then he complained about sleeping like shit since he was in a bedroom he’d never slept in before. Then he counted the rods and wondered why there wasn’t enough for all of us. Finally, I decided it wouldn’t hurt to come clean with him, because I knew how much Dad wanted things to go back to normal.
“You want me to what? Hell no. He’ll throw me overboard and let me drown.”
“No he won’t,” Jax fusses.
“Yeah, you don’t know him like I do. He wants me gone.”
“Dad,” I start. “You’ll be fine. Just act like you have to work together. He doesn’t have a choice. If you don’t free him, no one will.”
We provide dad with a pen knife and get him ready for transport. After sending Noah the text message, we wait until we know he’s successfully managed to restrain his dad and put the bag over his head. Then we head out.
As we pull up Uncle Colt is struggling to free himself from the zip ties. He’s rocking back and forth, causing the boat to make waves. We coast up beside him and work fast, getting Dad moved over and then helping Noah situate him across from Uncle Colt. We then pull of the bags and jump on our spare boat before leaving them anchored in the middle of the family pond.
Uncle Colt does most of the cussing. At one point I’m not sure if he’s yelling at us or Dad. A part of me feels guilty for doing this, but what choice do we have? Those two men are too stubborn to forgive each other. This is the only way.
“Uncle Colt is going to kick our asses,” Josh assumes.
“Yeah, I reckon he’ll be pretty mad once they’re back.”
“Good thing we’ll be at the stadium,” Jax adds.
I nod. “True. I don’t even mind doing extra so we take longer.”
“No one else knows, right?” Noah is worried we’ll be discovered, even though we made sure to take both cell phones from the men’s pockets.
“No. We didn’t tell anyone. As far as everyone knows they went fishing.” I want to laugh as I say it but refrain. This could blow up in our faces. Only time will tell.