Elizabeth

Elizabeth: Chapter One


“Jack, it’s good to have you back with us.”

Jack Pembroke frowned. “I wish I could have come back under better circumstances, Uncle.”

Kenneth Pembroke sighed and nodded. “Indeed. I wish I had the chance to wish your parents goodbye. Granted, your father and I barely got along, but he was a good man. He treated your mother well.”

Jack felt his stomach turn. It was two years to the day since his parents’ funeral, and one year since the sentencing of the three drunk drivers who killed them. The memories and the strong emotions made a tight knot in his gut as he tried to think of something else to talk about. “Umm, what have you changed in the past thirteen years?”

“Well, I added the gardens in the southern wing and I had a landscaper do something about the pool. It looks much nicer now.”

Jack smiled weakly. “I look forward to seeing it. It’s been too long.”

“You’re not the only one who thinks that way,” Kenneth said with a cryptic grin.

“What are you talking about, Uncle?”

“It’s true that many things have changed in the last thirteen years, Jack, but some things haven’t changed, and I’m sure they never will.”

Jack was tempted to question Kenneth further, but decided against it. He looked out the passenger side window and pondered his uncle’s words as they crested the hill overlooking the Pembroke Estates.


* * * * *


Kenneth parked the Cadillac and switched the engine off as the butler emerged from the mansion and proceeded down the two flights of stairs to meet them.

“Please have two of the boys bring Jack’s belongings to the southwestern rooms.”

The butler bowed. “As you wish, Master Kenneth.” He looked to Jack. “I’m honored to be the first of the staff to welcome you home, Master Jack.”

Jack shook his head. “It’s only me, Mulbury.”

Mulbury turned once more to Jack’s uncle. “Madam Linda and your children have a guest, Master Kenneth. Would you like me to escort Master Jack to the living room?”

Kenneth nodded with the same cryptic smile that Jack saw during the trip. “Of course. Let my family and their guest welcome him home.”

With a bow, Mulbury turned and strode at an even pace up the stairs towards the mansion, Jack and Kenneth close behind. The butler let them into the mansion and immediately Kenneth disappeared up the main stairs. Jack remained standing at the base of the stairs as two boys just coming into their teens strode purposefully up to himself and Mulbury.

“Boys, Master Jack’s belongings are in the trunk of the Cadillac,” Mulbury said to them gently. He handed them the car keys. “Master Kenneth requests of both of you to take them to the southwestern rooms.”

Jack took two twenty-dollar bills from his pocket and slipped one to each of them. “I just need the suitcases up there. I can unpack my things myself. When they’re all up there and you’ve finished the rest of your duties, you can head over to town and get yourselves something. If anyone asks, you had my permission to do so.”

The boys nodded eagerly and scrambled for the door. Mulbury and Jack grinned as they nearly fell down the stairs to the Cadillac.

“So, is there any chance at all of you telling me who Aunt Linda’s guest is?”

Mulbury laughed. “You’re about to meet our guest, Master Jack. There’s no point in telling you, really.”

Jack shrugged with a grin. “I’m too much like my uncle, or so he says.”

“Begging your pardon, but if you were like Master Kenneth, we wouldn’t be having this conversation and you’d have known who your guest is the very moment you opened the door to the car to come here.”

Jack laughed and clapped Mulbury on the shoulder. “Touché. Uncle still has much to teach me.”

Mulbury stopped Jack and gently hushed him as they reached the living room. He motioned for Jack to wait as he stepped inside.

“Madam Linda, Master Michael, Miss Julia, Miss Tanya, and Miss Elizabeth…”

Jack’s stomach nearly did a flip. Elizabeth…?

“I am proud to announce the return of Master Jack Pembroke.”

At the mention of his name, Jack stepped into the living room. No sooner had he caught sight of his relatives when a woman his age threw her arms around him in a fierce embrace, nearly toppling him over.

“Jack! I can’t believe you’re back! It’s been almost…”

“A decade and a half?” Jack managed to loosen his grip. He held her at arms’ length and briefly looked her over. “Wow, you look great. You’ve changed so much.”

“You too,” she said. Her hands flew to her mouth and shook her head. “I heard about your parents. I’m sorry, Jack. I’m really sorry I didn’t get to go to the funeral.”

Jack waved it off. “Don’t worry about it, Liz. Uncle Kenneth and company give you enough things to do, I’m sure."

She gasped. “Oh! Sit down! Sit down! Have something to drink!”

Jack noted the smiles on the faces of his aunt and female cousins as well as the withering glare on his male cousin’s face as he took a seat on the divan where Julie sat. Elizabeth sat on the divan across from him beside his youngest cousin Tanya.

“Tea, Jack?” Julie offered. “It’s green.”

He grinned. “Please.” He wasn’t surprised at the offer. His uncle was the founder and head of Pembroke Enterprises, a name even a person living under a rock with his ears covered knew. The documentary on his uncle immediately came to mind…


* * *


Kenneth Pembroke’s company started when they made and sold top-of-the-line computers at prices affordable to even the lower middle class. As supply and demand grew, people who owned Pembroke computers began to get robbed. Piquing Kenneth’s interest, he continued to sell computers and hardware, but at the same time touched on security technology. Inside of a year, every Pembroke computer had the option of being sold with a home security system.

Being the owner of the Pembroke Security System, known to many as the 'Corgi', Kenneth was privy to plenty of information, mostly surveillance data in homes and offices. As his business boomed, he left his wife, Linda, to take care of his company while he returned to school and took courses on Psychology. Merging his studies with his love of chess, he had begun a process of hypothesizing a random person’s actions, right down to what his subject would wear the next day. Only Linda, who took the course as soon as Kenneth once more took the reins of his bustling company, could match Kenneth’s sharp intellect.

During the course of her studies, Linda Pembroke gained several new interests in sciences and in the environment. Her father had died of heart failure a few months before she graduated, and soon medical research became one of her hot buttons. With the large amounts of money coming in from computers and security systems, Kenneth talked to several of his university colleagues, young men and women looking to get into medicine, and opened up a small laboratory where his friends could research and continue their studies. It wasn’t very long before the fruit of Kenneth’s labors was found in the form of a medication that had to be taken once monthly by patients their doctors observed more likely to be prone to heart disease.

Needless to say, the medication was a success, and soon the Pembroke name was associated with nearly every home in the world. With a great deal of their wealth, Kenneth and Linda began to donate to many charities to help fund medical research or to help preserve the environment, as well as to countless societies and associations that helped the needy and homeless. Even with their donations, their money well seemed endless. They continued to prosper, and through their prosperity, virtually everyone who knew their name knew safety and comfort.

On Kenneth’s thirty-seventh birthday, he had invited his children, Michael, Julia, his adopted daugher Tanya, as well as his only sister’s son, Jack, to an announcement that was supposed to have been only to his family. A reporter had managed to leak himself into the hotel room hall when the announcement was made.

“This is a challenge to you,” he had announced. “If one of you is able to beat me in two simple games of chess, to you I will give my entire empire. I say this because I have never found my equal, and Pembroke Enterprises must have a leader who is intelligent, selfless and always willing to go the extra mile. No matter what your education, no matter how stained your credibility is, if you are able to beat me in two games of chess, then to you Pembroke Enterprises will look to.”

News of this announcement spread like wildfire, and soon Kenneth was swamped for challenges. A press conference was held almost immediately, and all questions were answered and put to rest. No one knew what had happened after that, or who would be successor to the Pembroke fortune…


* * *


Elizabeth handed him the promised cup of tea, driving his thoughts away. “A little bit of cream and half a teaspoon of sugar, just as you like.”

“Thanks, Liz,” he said with a smile. He sipped it and sighed contentedly. “Mmm, just like how I make it.”

“I take it living by yourself was too much of a hassle, Jack?”

He looked to his aunt, comfortably seated in a large armchair with a Pembroke Welsh Corgi curled up in her lap. “Well, after the accident, all I wanted was to be alone. I just put my head down and kept to myself and to my schoolwork. Uncle Kenneth asked me time and again if I wanted to move back here, always on the occasions that I considered moving, but he couldn’t sway me.” He grinned. “Instead, he let me have his loft apartment and sold my parents’ house. He used that money to take care of food and any other expenses while I finished high school.”

“It doesn’t sound very exciting,” Juie noted with a grin, “though you must have racked up quite a bill once Father said he’d do that.”

He chuckled. “About the only thing that was exciting during my time alone was Uncle Kenneth visiting me and offering to spend some time.”

Linda raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

Jack nodded and sipped his tea again. “He always offered to play a game of chess, but I kept turning him down.”

Linda and her children turned and regarded each other seriously.

“Why did you turn him down?” Tanya asked.

Jack shrugged. “I knew he was too good for me, but eventually I gave. We played fifteen games a week. I lost track of how many times we played after the second semester of my last year.”

Julie straightened up. “Did he beat you?”

Jack grinned. "Uncle Kenneth kept persuading me to join the Chess Club in high school.” He put his teacup down. “Half the times he won, half the times I won.”

All eyes were on him.

“What?”

“You actually beat Father in chess?”

Jack nodded slowly. “Yeah, what’s your point?”

“Do you remember Father’s thirty-seventh birthday?”

“No…should I have?”

Linda silenced them all. “Tanya, Julie, that’s enough. Jack just came in not fifteen minutes ago, and already you’re probing into his social life.”

Tanya and Julie relaxed, but Jack waved away the reprimand with a disarming smile. “Relax, you two. I haven’t seen you in a while. It’s all right.”

“Ever the modest one.”

Jack turned to regard his oldest cousin, Michael, still casting a sour glance his way.

Jack didn’t miss the hidden meaning in his cousin’s tone. “I try,” he countered with an honest smile. “But enough about me. What about all of you? I’ve been out of the news circles, and I wasn’t exactly in the mood to hear about what you were up to when I saw you at my parents’ funeral. Is there anything new aside from the gardens?”

Tanya laughed. “Well, there’s nothing that new…”

“Father gave us jobs in the company,” Julie replied.

Jack picked up his teacup and sipped at it again. “That’s great!” He turned to Elizabeth. “Did Uncle Ken…?”

She laughed. “No, but I have been busy.”

“Oh?”

Linda handed him a portfolio. “Elizabeth has been in beauty pageants. Your uncle helped start her career.”

Jack regarded the first photo. Elizabeth was in a shining blue dress with a diamond-studded tiara and a bouquet of roses. Jack knew that his childhood friend was often ogled by other boys and was the target of other girls’ jealousy, but he never thought that her natural beauty would be used in a pageant. Seeing her pristine smile, her curly auburn hair framing her face, and her crystal sapphire eyes shine with happiness dispelled any doubts he had.

“You really look beautiful, Liz,” he said sincerely, handing the photo back to his aunt. She blushed in reply.

“We all thought so,” Tanya agreed.

He glanced to his older cousin then to his childhood friend. “And how are things with you two?”

Another uneasy silence cast itself over them. Liz replied by casting a glance at Michael and looking away. Linda looked at her daughters, who twiddled their thumbs.

“Did I say something wrong?”

“Elizabeth and I broke up three and a half months ago,” Michael snapped.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” was all Jack could muster.

Michael snorted. “Spare me.” He took note of Mulbury stepping into the living room, making a beeline for the table with the tea. “Don’t you have some unpacking to do?”

Before anyone could protest, Jack was already on his feet. “You’re right, Michael. I’m sure Mulbury’s helpers have finished bringing my things up to my rooms. I should get unpacked.”


* * * * *


Jack was putting the last of his shirts away when he heard a gentle knocking at his door.

“It’s unlocked,” he called out. He turned as he heard someone enter and the door clicked closed. “Oh, Elizabeth. What brings you up?”

“I just wanted to talk,” she answered. “You know, just us. It’s been way too long.”

He chuckled as he closed the drawer of his dresser and sat down on the bed. “You talk like we used to be lovers.”

She laughed uneasily as she took a seat beside him.

“What’s on your mind?”

“Michael hates me,” she blurted.

“He hates you? Why would you…”

“He wasn’t my first,” Elizabeth answered quickly.

He smiled and patted her leg. “I know Jimmy Faller was your first. He was our best friend, and he told me about that night, everything about that night.”

She stared at him with a look of fear. “Then you know…”

He held up a finger. “Let me rephrase: everything that could be told. He told me you wanted to be prepared for someone, but he never mentioned any names.”

She blushed. “You already have an idea, don’t you?”

“Not a clue, Liz.”

“What about you, Jack? You’ve been away so long, I’m sure you’re not a virgin anymore.”

“Well, no, I’m not,” he replied with a smile.

“Who was she?”

“That, I’m not at liberty to say,” he answered. “I’ve never been one to kiss and tell.”

She grinned. “That’s a half-assed explanation and you know it.”

He laughed. “You’ve been hanging around Uncle Kenneth too long.” He shuffled back and lay down. “Seriously, though, after my first time, I’ve put off a lot of women, even my first.”

She turned to him. “Why? How?”

“You’ve been hanging around Uncle Kenneth; you should know why.”

“I want to hear it from your mouth.”

“As I said before, I’m not at liberty to tell.”

“Are you gay?”

“Nope.”

She pouted. “Then why won’t you tell me?”

“You’d be scared of me,” he answered. “You’d never look at me the same way again.”

“Jack, we’ve been friends since we were kids? What is it that could have you so secretive?”

“Ask Uncle Ken for my file and find out for yourself,” he snapped suddenly. “It’s something I don’t want to talk about openly.” His voice softened. “Not right now, anyway.”

Elizabeth said nothing. Instead, she stood up and stormed out of his room, slamming the door. He sighed and sat up on his bed, his eyes focusing on a black suitcase sitting in the shadow cast by the dresser.


* * * * *


Elizabeth was on the verge of tears as she strode down the hall. As she turned a corner, she nearly collided into Julie.

“Oh…” Julie looked away, blushing. “Is Jack busy in his room?”

Elizabeth scoffed. “I don’t want to think about him right now.”

“What happened?”

“Julie, we’ve all know each other since we were four! Would you hide a secret from someone you’ve known that long?”

Julie hesitated.

“What is it?”

“If it was something that would probably horrify you and change your view of someone, yes, I would keep it.”

“Do you have something to hide?”

“I…” She walked past Elizabeth. “I have to talk to Jack.”

She cast a glance towards Julie as she turned the corner, wondering what secrets she and Jack were hiding.

“Miss Elizabeth?”

She whirled around to see Mulbury coming up the stairs.

“Are you well?”

“Oh, well…yes, Mulbury,” she stammered. “Umm, where is Uncle Kenneth?”

“Master Kenneth is in his office,” Mulbury replied. “I believe he is expecting you.”


* * * * *


“Miss Elizabeth, sir,” Mulbury announced as he opened the door to Kenneth’s office.

“Thank you. That will be all, Mulbury.” He raised a hand, not turning from the window. Mulbury bowed and closed the door.

“You were expecting me, Uncle?”

“Have a seat, Elizabeth,” Kenneth offered, turning around and sitting down behind his desk. She took the chair to his right.

“What is it you wanted to talk to me about?”

“If you had a secret that would change people’s view of you, would you reveal it?”

“Oh, well…”

“Hypothetically speaking, if you were a lesbian, would you tell your closest female friend, not knowing what she may think of that?”

Elizabeth went white.

He waved away the question. “I’m not accusing you of anything, Liz. But you understand why I asked you such a thing?”

“Yes, Uncle, I do,” Elizabeth said with a sigh.

“My nephew and my daughter have a secret they share that would forever alter your relationship with them.”

Elizabeth stared at him incredulously. “And you’re condoning this?”

“As long as they keep to themselves, it is none of my concern,” Kenneth replied stoically. “Only myself and Linda know their secret. Tanya will find out tonight, and she will not tell a soul. If you still want to know what Jack’s secret is, it will come to you in due time.”

Elizabeth sighed and nodded. “I just…I feel offended, that’s all.”

Kenneth smiled warmly. “You care for him a lot, don’t you?”

“He’s been so close all these years, and now he has something to hide. It hurts, you know?”

“Don’t worry about him, Elizabeth,” Kenneth said. “Jack will tell you everything you want to know in due time. Don’t press him about it, otherwise he’ll keep it to himself, and even Julie won’t confide what secrets they hide.”

Elizabeth got up and turned to leave.

“Oh, Elizabeth?”

She stopped and turned. “Yes, Uncle?”

“Wear the blue low-collar dress when Aunt Linda invites you to the country club tonight.”


* * * * *


“You didn’t forget anything back there, did you, Julie?”

Julie shook her head and smiled. “No, Jack. Everything’s all here.”

He smiled. “Good. I wouldn’t want to ruin our reputation by being sloppy.”

She patted his leg as they waited for the gates to the country club to open. “It’s good to have you back, Jackie. The nights have been dull and lonely.”

“You know we still met up when I was living in the city.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t think you wanted to see anyone while you were mourning.”

He nodded as the gates rolled open and he drove the car past. “Tanya will be coming out to meet us.”

“Do we need an explanation?”

Jack shrugged. “Well, Elizabeth is going to be there with everyone else. I briefly saw her with Aunt Linda, and she was accessorizing with a blue low-collar dress.” He parked the car. “Anyway, I had to see how the company changed since I last came by, and you volunteered to show me around.”

Julie nodded. “Sounds pretty solid.”

“Well, Uncle Ken did offer me a job.” He grinned as he undid his seatbelt and got out of the car. Tanya came out of the main building and was heading towards them when Jack opened her door and offered her hand.

“Mama knew you’d be coming in now,” she said.

“Dad probably told her we’d be late getting here,” Julie said to her sister. “Came by to make sure there were no problems?”

Tanya nodded, quickly looking them over. They watched as her face slowly lost its smile and was quickly replaced by a look of cold horror.

“What’s wrong, Tanya?”

She pointed at their interlocked fingers. “Why are you wearing matching rings?”

=[ End of Chapter ]=

A/N: Working on Chapter Two right now! Sorry for lack of constant updates. Work is really slow right now, I've had lack of inspiration, I've been stuck on playing 'The Sims 2'...you get the idea. Anyway, please read and review. Comments and constructive criticisms are always appreciated.