Reba: 15 Years Later

Chapter 8

"Jack, tell me I'm imagining, but I thought I just saw Brock and Barbra Jean here?" Reba asked him as they pulled into his parents driveway.

"No, love, you didn't imagine it." Jack told her. "I invited them here."

"What?" Reba asked. "Why would you do that?"

"I can't tell you, hun. You'll just have to trust me." Jack said, as he leaned over to kiss her.

"What's so secret?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out." Jack said smiling.

"Oh, I will find out, that's for sure." Reba said as they got out of the car and walked up the steps to Jack's parents' house.

Jack knocked on his parents door and his mother came to the door.

"Jack!" Mary Morgan said, as she gave him and Reba a hug to welcome them. "Reba?"

"Mrs. Morgan." Reba said cordially.

"Please, call me Mary." Mary told her. "Can I get you a drink?

"Just a glass of water." Reba said gratefully.

"Very well. I'll be back in a few.

Mary Morgan went into her kitchen to bring out some refreshments as Jack took Reba's jacket while Reba sat down on the couch. Jack was taken aback when they heard an argument in the kitchen from his parents.

"Jack, you son is here." Mary told her husband.

"Go away!" Jack, Sr. told her.

"Honey, they travelled all this way to see us." Mary pleaded.

"I don't want to see them." Jack exclaimed harshly. "Tell them I'm resting!"

"Okay." Mary told her husband.

Mary picked up the tray from the counter of drinks and cookies and crackers and cheese and brought them into the living room where Jack and Reba were waiting. She hated lying to Jack about his father, but his father was adamant they not tell their son. So Mary went out and hoped for the best.

"Here we go, some refreshments for you all." Mary said, hoping she sounded pleasant despite everything that she was going through.

"Thanks mom." Jack said, as he looked over at Reba to stay quiet about the argument they heard. He wanted to respect his parents' privacy out of courtesy for Reba, but he did intend to confront his mother later about it.

"So, what's new with you, Jack?" Mary asked her son, hoping to deflect from what happened in the kitchen and that somehow they didn't hear a word.

"Oh, just thought I'd bring Reba, my fiancée, to see the parents." Jack said, not letting on that he had planned a wedding for her here on the family farm.

As Jack, Reba and his mother were getting reacquainted, Brock and the rest of Reba's family had arrived at Jack's family's home.

"Knock, knock!" Barbra Jean said, as she came up to the door.

Mary came to the door to let them all in.

"What are you all doing here?" Reba asked her family, wondering why would they would even be here.

"Well, we decided we needed to keep an eye on you, Reba?" Barbra Jean told her.

"Why? Am I child who needs looking after?" Reba asked sarcastically.

"Well, you did marry my husband first?" Barbra Jean retorted, just to be just as sarcastic as Reba, and not give away Jack's surprise.

"Ladies!" Brock exclaimed, trying to calm them down. "Can we all just be civil."

"Civil?!" Reba exclaimed. "You barge in on my vacation with Jack and you want me to be civil!"

Reba couldn't take it. She need to get away. Just be by herself for a while. She just couldn't believe that Brock and her family had followed her to Jack's family farm. It was like they didn't trust her at all. But she had no idea the real reason they were here.