Mark Arbour

Their relationship has not been defined, as you noted. Who knows what the morning will bring.

Versailles truly is lovely. What is unfortunate is that the Chateau de Marly is no more. It was sold off during the revolution, and ultimately dismantled and sold off for the value of it's building materials. Not much is left of it.

George is a randy lad, that's for sure. :-) I don't think George is willing to be a sycophant to the Directory just to get home, and that's probably the point he was making.

I think that Granger's comments in the Salon were a rare lapse of self-discipline. Face by people whom he would consider little better than rogues, and having those people insult his way of life and his entire world-view, got a not-surprisingly snarky response. But they baited him, so they probably won't hold it against him.

Thanks for the review! I'm glad you liked the chapter. I think that for Granger to ultimately get out of France, it's going to require a number of people pulling strings, so it's possible that the Spanish will help.

I think JJ would have been completely stone-faced and been fine. He's used to managing his facial expressions, and pasting on a smile when he skates. I can't see how an older Hawaiian man with MS is going to shock him out of his complacency.

JJ being catty and rude to family and friends, or even to people his own age, would be expected. JJ being a snob and slamming people behind their backs to friends/family is equally likely. But JJ being rude to a stranger, or to a family friend, is pretty much unthinkable. If JJ was rude to Kai's dad, or made fun of him, Isidore would flay him alive.

October 31, 1798 London It was All Hallows Eve, and Lord Spencer was due to attend a party at the Duke of Portland’s house. Before he left, he had one matter to attend to. He had, laid out across his desk, several letters, all with the same objective. The two most prominent were at the center of his desk. The first was from the Honorable East India Company, requesting that the Santa Clarita be sent back to India to serve in Rainier’s fleet. It was full of flowery language

Thank you so much!

It's almost impossible for Granger to be appointed commodore with as little seniority as he has, especially a commodore of the first class (with a captain under him) as you've referenced. Granger probably has another 10 years before such an honor is granted to him. But I do appreciate the sentiment.

Thanks for the review, and thanks to everyone else who posted them. Some of the chapters were a little sparse with them, which always makes me wonder if they suck, or if you all are just busy. I do appreciate it.

Ah, this one's easy. Go back and read Poor Man's Son again (or at least parts of it) and you'll see that those two had a twisted relationship back then, even more twisted than it is now.

Thanks big D for the review! Your first paragraph was spot on. Gathan is acting all parental, and authoritative about the trust and Zach, and that's exactly what Zach doesn't want to deal with.

First of all, guidelines on reviews vs. forums. When you post a review, its like you and I are having a conversation. Not that other people can't read them, and not that they can't post their own reviews addressing those issues, it's just not made for that format. It's really a two way, public conversation. Forum posts are those you want to involve other people in, posts where you want some discussion. They go both ways, but that's my general rule. So..thanks for the review! I think that they are sheltering Will because of his biological age, and because Brad is a die-hard control freak. And as much as the control thing is a mantra for Brad, so is the 'second chance' for Will. You'll see that theme in his personality throughout the story. He's basically a forgiving soul, unless you fuck him over too many times. The issue with the car does seem idiotic, but they're not really worried about the car, they're worried about the control and the trouble he can get into with that kind of independence. It's probably a legitimate concerns. I mean, he could always ride with friends, but the ability to hop in a car and drive wherever is pretty liberating. Gathan's watched his younger brother get involved with some pretty unpleasant people in Claremont, so his mode is to become all parental. It's not working real well. ;-) But I can see how being put in charge of those trusts would make him feel that way. If you were to pin Gathan down about his sexuality, he'd tell you what he's always said: that body parts don't matter to him, it's about the person. So in his mind, he's being honest by saying he's flexible on gender, while Zach is trying to live a lie.

They all have scars from New York, and Will's symptoms seem to be that he's aged even more. I can see where that would be a maturing process. As for sex, Will is laying out a pretty big claim to being versatile. What he's learning is that you can enjoy sex in a lot of different ways. Zach and Gathan have a lifetime history together, so it's hard to unravel from our perspective. We saw him being a real shit to Zach in Poor Man's Son, but we don't really know what their relationship was like growing up. Sibling relationships are usually more complicated than that. It's funny that you mention that about JP, when I think below Jason was making just the opposite argument. His approach, which is to let things play out as much as they can, is probably the best for this crew. Think about it: if he was an imperious leader, he'd end up sparking a major rebellion.

Thanks for the great review, Jason! I can see the wisdom of what you've written, as the family could (and has) ended up creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Will is one of those guys who they should just leave alone. If he needs help, he'll ask for it. And he has. I think that for the most part, JP understands that aspect of his temperament. He's pointed that out a few times to Stef and Brad, that Will would find their lack of confidence to be the most upsetting. And when he lost it (well, for him that's not really losing it) at the lunch in Malibu, his big complaint was that they seemed to think he was an idiot. That's probably about the worst thing you could say to him.

Thanks Sammy. I think that they're being uptight because they see Zach as a predator, and when Will acts like he's not, they think that he's thinking with his dick, and not with his brain.

Well, the Hayes family consensus is that Gathan is the golden boy, so he's dubbed as being responsible and left alone. I think there's some justification for that, since he is over 18 and he did make it into Stanford (and is presumably surviving there). The other trust that he has, the one Brad gave him for being the $6 million man, I'll bet that Wally and Clara had their misgivings about that as well, but they probably kept their thoughts to themselves, based on the situation and the circumstances surrounding it. And there's one more point to consider. Wally and Clara raised all those kids as if they were their own, but as we saw in PMS, at least Clara separates her two kids out and annoints them as being more special. And Zach is her son. I think that would make them much more protective, and much more controlling, at least to the degree that they can be.

It's being truncated so they don't get much money, to keep them from doing what Gathan did in Vegas. In 2001, with T-Bill rates right around 5%, even a conservative portfolio should have generated $60,000/year in income.

Thanks for the review! Will's that guy who's going to stand up for himself, and what he thinks is right, even if it means a battle. Diplomacy comes a distant second. The only thing that will probably save him from a constant ass kicking (besides the guards) is that he seems to be able to read people pretty well.

God, I hate Bob Dylan. But that was a good pick.

Zach may be reformed from being a total asshole, but I don't think that he's even close to being generous or kind. I think with him, the best we can hope for if his interests diverge from the guy (or girl) he's into, is a non-malicious response. That's a good point, but I think that you're more correct to write Zach's bluster off as bravado to piss Gathan off. On the other hand, it's entirely possible that he would have slept with Robbie (or Brad, or Stef, or anyone) if it would have furthered whatever goal he was working on. I think that he's very self-absorbed, so when his interests and someone else's collide, the other person is going to lose. Will seems to have him figured out to the point that he's able to insulate himself from that. Which he? Your last two points are excellent, and hilarious. I think that JJ is too prim and proper for Zach's slutty ways, so he finds that annoying. And JJ's a bit of a snob, so he's looking at this dude from the Midwest, with his Ohio twang and his tats, and thinking that he's bumped into the 2001 version of a "Duck Dynasty" character. Again, loved your last thoughts. LMAO. Darius tends to jump into a fight when it's not going the way he thinks it should go, but stays out of it when he doesn't care, or someone else (usually Will) is doing the heavy lifting. In that situation, he probably doesn't give a shit about Zach, but he doesn't like Gathan, so he figures there's no reason to state his opinion, since Will's leading the charge. JJ's not involved, and neither is John, so he really doesn't have to defend any of his brothers or his cousin. I'd sit back with popcorn and watch, if I was him.

Thanks for the review! We're in the beginning of a 'scene sequence' (my term) and so I ran that out for a few chapters. So there's a few more in the editing mill.

I think you did a good analysis of Will. Will's gotten to the cognitive point where he can look at a guy like Zach and analyze the risks and the benefits of their relationship. So he sees Zach as potentially dangerous on the one hand, but he probably realizes that Zach's out for two things: sex and cash. Will doesn't have a problem giving up either one of those. ;-)

Thanks C, for the awesome review. I've brought JJ into this story slowly (as a narrator) and it's been fun doing that, since I get to build his character out as I go. Like I said to Tim, I wonder how much of Zach's true 'evilness' is simply due to the sibling rivalry from hell with Gathan. With two brothers, I think Will gets that it's a possibility. Will may be like JP in that he's trying to train his mind to think logically, and that is helping him control his outbursts, but he still has that "fight for what's right!" mode that was so Tonto. The nice father-son bond that Brad and Will are rebuilding is my favorite part of this.