Episode Thirty One

Diego and Aaron walked out into the main room with the food and found Jamie and Maria sitting on the floor as Maria harrassed Jamie about his loss of virginity.

"When? Who? How was it?"

"None of your business, none of your busines, and none of your business," Jamie replied with a laugh.

"Leave him alone, Maria," Diego said. "Aaron and I thought of a great prank."

"Oh yeah?" Jamie asked.

"Do tell," Maria added.

"Okay, don't get mad until you hear all of it," Aaron said. "See... I told you once, Maria, so I know you don't really care, but Jamie, you need to know I'm bi."

"So?" Jamie asked. "Is that suppose to be shocking and horifying? Because you should have gotten a clue since I didn't care that Diego's gay I won't care that your bi."

The group all laughed before Aaron continued. "Allright. Well the plan is, I break up with Maria and date Diego..."

"What?!" Maria yelled, jumping to her feet. She started swearing in spanish. "Bastardo! Cabron! "

"Jamie, a little help?" Diego asked, scooting away from Maria.

"No, I think Maria's doing fine on her own," Jamie said, glaring at both Diego and Aaron.

"Let me finish!" Aaron pleaded.

"No! Hijo de puto!"

"What's she saying?" Aaron asked Diego.

"She's calling you a couple nasty names and insulting your mother."

"Maria, the whole point of this is to get my mother to accept you!"

Maria finally ended her string of swears, but continued glaring. "And how does dumping me accomplish that?"

"Easy. Don't you think my mother would consider a girl of the 'wrong social class' beter than a GUY of the 'wrong social class'?" Aaron asked. "So I date Diego, freak her out, then I get back together with you and she'll be so grateful I'm not dating a guy anymore she'll be more accepting of you!"

"That plan... is so...so..." Maria started.

"Brilliant?" Diego suggested.

"Shut up or I'm going to kick your ass," Maria told her brother. "And it could work. I guess. But to make it seem genuine I may date guys during our break up, Aaron. And you can't get mad or jealous."

"Deal," Aaron agreed. "At least, I won't show I'm mad or jealous."

"Then I guess we're broken up," Maria said, still slightly angry that they had come up with the plan without discussing it with her first.

As the four teens settled in to work out the details, they didn't notice Richard and Hannah at the landing, listening in.

"Aren't you going to stop them?" Hannah asked.

"No," Richard replied with a smirk. "My mother deserves it."

"That she does," Hannah said.

Grant Mansion - The Next Morning

Aaron pulled his car into the garage right after Jamie pulled his truck in. As the each climbed out, Aaron looked over and grinned. "Think you can pretend to hate my guts?" he asked.

"Oh yeah," Jamie replied. "This better work, and Maria better not get hurt or you'll regret it, Grant," he added.

"I guess we should start," Aaron said.

"You're nothing but slimeball, Aaron!" Jamie yelled as he threw open the door from the garage into the side hallway. "How could you do that to her?! With her brother?!"

Aaron was taken aback by the sudden rage in Jamie's voice, but soon caught himself enough to respond. "I couldn't help it! It's how I feel!"

"At least you waited until almost eveyrone was gone and didn't humiliate her at the party!" Jamie said, stomping down the hall and towards the stairs.

"What is all this yelling about?" Daniel Sr. asked as he, Miranda, and Daniel Jr. all exited the dining room.

"Ask him!" Jamie yelled. "Ask him what he did to my best friend! How he broke her heart! Hell, he ripped her heart out!"

"That is enough!" Miranda yelled, glaring at Jamie. "How dare you treat Aaron like that!"

Jamie stared at her in surprise. "Lady," he finally said. "Get a brain. He deserves it. He cheated on Maria with Diego. The bastardo!" he said, unconsciously echoing Maria's early words. "Hijo de puto!"

"That's uncalled for!" Daniel Sr. said. "James Daniel Bowen, you will apologize to both Aaron and Miranda for that."

"What did he say?" Miranda asked.

"All I know is it's insulting to you," Aaron said. "Maria said the same thing earlier."

"I called him a bastard and a son of a bitch, and both are accurate!" Jamie replied. He turned to Daniel Sr. "I won't apologize. Maria is more my family, than any of you. If the Montoya's had room and money for it, I'd gladly stay with them!" he said before turning and running up the stairs and to his room, slamming the door shut.

"Wait," Daniel Jr. said. "Did he say you cheated on Maria with her brother?!"

Aaron grimaced. "Yeah. I've been meaning to tell all of you..."

Jamie's Room

Jamie was really angry now. Not at Aaron, of course, but at Daniel Sr and at himself. He wouldn't apologize to Miranda, the woman had no right to tell him not to yell at Aaron, but maybe he shouldn't have resorted to insulting her directly. he had just gotten so caught up in his fake anger that he had let it become real and he hadn't been able to stop himself.

Without stopping to think that she might be asleep, consideirng the fact that is was only 8 in the morning, Jamie grabbed the phone and called Summer.

Summer's Room

Summer was asleep, and almost didn't answer the phone. But finally she rolled over and grabbed it. "Better be good," she mumbled.

"Summer?"

"Jamie? What's wrong?"

"I just got yelled at by half the Grants."

"Why?"

"I called Aaron a bastard and Miranda a bitch."

"What? Okay, Miranda probably deserved it. But you and Aaron were getting along!"

Jamie sighed. "With Aaron... it was... we're pulling a prank. See... okay. Aaron bisexual, apparently. And he's going to pretend to date Diego for a while because Miranda's bound to think that Maria's better than Diego, and to make it seem real I'm pretending to be pissed at Aaron for breaking Maria's heart... and Miranda had the nerve to say I had no right to yell at Aaron, and I insulted both of them. And then Mr. Grant yelled at me to apologize and I refused.... I made a mess of things."

"It'll be okay, Jamie."

"Maybe I should go ahead and move out to the cabin. At least until this blows over," Jamie said. he jumped when he heard his door opened and turned to see Daniel Sr. standing there. "I'll call you back. Mr. Grant just walked in."

"Okay. Love you."

"Love you, too," Jamie replied before hanging up. "Yeah?" he said to his grandfather.

"Do you want to explain what that was downstairs?"

"Not particularly," Jamie replied. "But I will. She doesn't like me. I don't like her. She had no right to tell me what I can or can not say and do, when at that point I hadn't started swearing yet. I have a right to be angry when my best friend, the person who comforted me when my mom died, is sitting at home sobbing because her brother and her boyfriend were having an affair!"

"I understand that."

"Do you?"

"Yes. But what you said about her and Aaron in Spanish was unacceptable."

Jamie sighed and looked down at his feet. "Fine, yeah, it was. But I refuse to apologize to her. Maybe if she would try not to act like one towards me, I wouldn't call her one." He chanced a look up and his eyes widened at the slight smile on Daniel Sr. face. "What?"

"You sound like Elizabeth. She never liked Miranda, and vice versa. Except Elizabeth insulted her in Italian."

"Courtesy of my Gramma Isa," Jamie added.

"Yes. Isabel always though insulting whoever I was married to other than her was a great hobby," Daniel said with a chuckle. "But you sounded just like her when I would scold her for for it. She said she'd stop when Miranda stopped living up to the names."

"Have you... have you been to my mom's grave?" Jamie asked shakily. "Because I haven't since hrt funeral. And I was almost catatonic then."

"I go every year on her birthday to make sure she has flowers," Daniel said. "And I know you were catatonic. Mike came to me for help paying to get a doctor for you."

"He did?" Jamie asked.

Daniel nodded. "He was scared, Jamie. He thought he was going to lose you, too. So he asked for me to help him pay for a good doctor."

"And you did it without asking for anything in return?" Jamie asked sceptically.

"I asked him to tell you who I was when you were old enough to undestand why it had been kept from you," Daniel said, walking over and putting a hand on his grandson's shoulder. "Why don't we go for a drive? I'd like to take a ride in that truck of yours, and there's something I want to show you."

"Okay," Jamie agreed.

Jamie's Truck

"So, do you like the truck?" Daniel asked as he got settled into the passenger seat.

"Yeah, it's great," Jamie replied, glancing sideways and starting to laugh.

"What?" Daniel asked.

"You just... you don't look like you belong in a truck, Mr. Grant!"

Daniel chuckled. "I suppose not," he agreed. "And Jamie, at least call me Daniel."

Jamie nodded. "Okay, Daniel," he said. "So, where are we going?"

"River Front Drive," Daniel said.

"There's like nothing on River Front."

"There's something."

Jamie glanced over at him, unbelieving, but headed where he was told.

They rode in asilence for a few minutes before Daniel spoke. "So, you're serious about this girlfriend I've heard a bit about?"

Jamie couldn't help blushing slightly. "Yeah, we're serious."

"How long have you known her?"

"Since the first day of school last year."

"Less than a year and you're serious?"

"Didn't you only know Miranda 2 months before you married?"

"That was diifferent!"

"How?"

"We were adults, and she needed a father for Richard," Daniel said. "You are 16 years old, a child."

Jamie stiffened. "I'm not a child. I stopped being one a long time ago."

"I didn't mean to offend you, jamie. I simply mean you are too young to be in a serious relationship. "Is that why you don't seem bothered that Aaron's dumped Maria and is dating Diego?"

"Trust me, I'm bothered. But... the happiness of my children, and grandson, is what matters."

"Then just be glad that I'm happy," Jamie advised. "Summer makes me happy." As they turned onto River Front, he remembered what was there. "River House?" he asked.

"Very good," Daniel replied.

Jamie turned the truck into the long dirt driveway leading up to the old house and stopped near the front steps. "Why are we here?"

"I'm sure you know all about this house? How the evil Grants stole it from the Good Bowens in 1884?" Daniel asked.

Jamie nodded. "Used some technicality or something. It was legally James and Abby Bowen's."

"Yes it was," Daniel agreed. "But before that it did belong to the Grants. A Joseph Grant to be exact," Daniel said as they walked up the steps.

"Only good historic Grant, according to the stories I've heard."

"Now now, his wife and daughter were good people, too," Daniel corrected. "He was good friends with James and Abby Bowen, and gave them River House as a wedding gift, since by then the Grant Mansion had been built. The friendship stayed strong for years, until Joseph's death, when his son Peter decided to take the house back and kick the Bowens and their children out." He unlocked the door and ushered his grandson inside.

"I know all that."

"Well, know you know that you have a claim to this house no matter who the rightful owner was back then," Daniel said. "It has a lot of history in it. For both Grants and Bowens. It's been abandoned for about 20 years now, but as I child I used to love coming here for the summer, it was much cooler than the big mansion."

"Why exactly are you telling me this?" Jamie asked, looking at a series of old photos on the wall near the stairs.

"Because, Jamie, I spoke to my lawyer last night. My will is being changed so that you not only receive the inheritance that would have been you mother's, but also this house and everything in it."

End Of Episode Thirty One