Rip - Trust (Completed)

Actions and Consequences

"Father," Jamie spoke quietly, "let's talk." 

They moved a few steps away from the boy, and with his back to him Jamie told his father that he thought that Rip actually had a point. 

"Don't talk rubbish, Jamie. It was an accident, why would they keep him?" he asked his son. 

"He's your foster! Father, you were supposed to keep him safe." Jamie made his point quietly. "It was an accident, accidents happen," Mr Dutton told his son, he sounded cross. 

"The marks on his buttocks are not," his son calmly whispered. "If he has bruises on his arms, from where you and Frank held him down yesterday, they will do a full medical," he paused and looked at his father who had turned to watch the boy, sitting on the ground still crying softly. 

"At the least, there will be questions asked. There is likely going to be a full inquest. Either way, there is a state agency involved, which means it will take time. He won't come home with you tonight," he paused again to give his father time to process what he said and then concluded. 

"I know you don't, but some might see this as child cruelty. You will probably get away with it because ...well, because it's you, but it is unlikely that you will get Rip back," he whispered. 

Mr Dutton turned back around facing his son, he was visibly taken aback. "You made a promise you can't keep!" his son said, reminding his father of one of his unbreakable rules. A man's word, his father always said was the measure of his worth. Good or bad, a promise must be kept.

"Give me your phone," Mr Dutton eventually said, and Jamie handed his phone to his father.

 "Dante, it's John... Can you have look at one of my boys? ...Rip, he came of the horse, he got hurt... His arm and shoulder... I'd rather not if I don't have to. Can you just look him over? Give him an Xray?... I explain when I get there."

Mr Dutton handed the phone back to his son, who was astonished. He knew his father to break all the rules but his own, but this was a bit much even for him, "The Vet, Father, seriously?" Mr Dutton shrugged his shoulders, "Why not? A bone is a bone. We see what he has to say."

"I have to sit down," Jamie walked over to a fallen tree and sat down on it. He was tired and upset. He was frightened for the boy. He had talked to Samuel earlier and if he thought the child had a better chance in the system, he would not go along with this plan he told himself. He'd wished Samuel had stayed and hadn't left early. His father followed him and sat down beside him.

"Do you think I am cruel?" his father asked him challengingly. Jamie did not answer right away but then said "No, father, of course I don't. At least you don't mean to be, but I do think you should not have spanked him like that."

His father was annoyed with this answer. Always diplomatic, never saying it straight. Never choosing one side or the other. His lawyer son, the accomplished truth bender. 

"I spanked all of you, and it never did any of you any harm," his father said sternly. "Are you having a laugh? Do you want to see my therapy bills," Jamie answered only half-jokingly. 

His father didn't see the joke and became defensive. "Don't you dare blame that on me," he snapped at Jamie but keeping his voice low enough so that the crying boy could not hear them.

"I don't, father, I know what I have done, and I am taking responsibility for it. What I have done is on me and no one else," he said. 

But he was meaning to say something to his father for a long time now and felt the time had finally come so he continued, "but father, this kind of stuff leaves marks, and I am not talking about a bruised buttocks. I am talking about scars on the inside that you hide, I am talking about how I feel about myself." 

There was a moment of silence before the old man spoke "Is that so? And how are you feeling about yourself, son!" he asked sarcastically. "Frightened father, always frightened. Scared that I am not good enough. Scared that I am not strong, or smart, or brave enough for you. That, I am just not enough."

"You are known to be one of the best in your field Jamie. You would not be that good at jour job if you were that scared," his father said, dismissively. He wanted to tell him that this was down to an extremely unhealthy level of perfectionism, but he knew that there was no point, and maybe he didn't want to say it anyway. His eye for detail and drive to succeed at any cost, was the one thing his father has always admired and valued in him.

"Are Lee and Leanne in trouble? Is she leaving him?" his father asked changing the subject unexpectedly. 

"No, at least not yet." Jamie answered.

"How do you know?" his father asked.

"She asked me to talk to him this weekend," he answered.

"She confided in you? Why you?" he thought she would have been closer to Samuel, or even Jacob. 

"Molly suggested it," he found this difficult to talk about.

"Are you and Molly talking again?" the old man asked.

"No, not really but she lets me see Katie again, every second weekend. And we're doing mediation," he explained. "Anyway, Molly suggested I might get through to him because we went through the same shit." 

The old man looked at him inquisitively but did not ask the question he wanted to ask. His son knew what was on his mind though and answered it anyway. "No, he is not hitting her, but she says he might as well be," Jamie elaborated. 

He wasn't sure how much he should tell his father, he hoped he was doing the right thing. He was hoping his father would be supportive, Lee would need him now. When Molly and he separated he was surprisingly supportive, even though he almost killed him when he found out he had hit her.

"I always thought they were a strong family," his father sounded disappointed.

"That's what he likes everyone to think. He is controlling and shuts her out. He thinks he has to do it all by himself. No one is allowed to help. You know what he is like. He takes all the blame but all the credit too," Jamie explained. He wished he could have said He is just like you. 

"I always thought he was treating her really well, I never noticed anything amiss," his father could not believe what he was hearing.

"That is all he does. He treats her. And the boys too. He buys them things but spends no time with her or the children... Father, Leanne is an intelligent woman, she has a first-class business degree, they met at university and she got there by her own merit on a genuine academic scholarship, and he thinks he is great for letting her keep "the egg and butter money". Leanne has ideas, that might just make their farm a real success, but he won't hear none of it. If he doesn't cop on it's not just the farm he is going to lose."