Henry McCord was the younger of two brothers and grew up in a seemingly normal household in suburban Pittsburgh. His father, a union steel worker, his mother a nurse. His wouldn't say his parents shared a love for each other like he and Elizabeth shared. Of course they loved one another; or maybe love wasn't the appropriate word; cared for one another was more like it. Henry couldn't remember his parents being "in love". He couldn't even recall many times that they ever spoke those words to one another. He couldn't remember them ever kissing or laughing together either. They had respect for one another, and stuck it out for the sake of their boys.
Having sons, his father was elated. He wanted his boys to be tough; and he pressed hard work and chores over school. His older brother Peter had been sucked under his father's spell. He had average grades, he played sports but wasn't overly athletic and started working at the steel mill with his father the second he turned 14. He never went to college, married a girl he dated in high school and had an overall average life. Much to his father's pleasure.
Henry on the other hand did his chores as he was told, but excelled in school. He had honor roll worthy grades and excelled at the sports he played; he was on the varsity football team and track team all four years in high school. Unlike his brother, Henry wanted to go to college. He didn't want to work in a factory. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do, except for that he wanted to go to college. He knew his parents didn't have the money to send him, so he had been hoping for a scholarship. Be it in athletics or academics; it didn't matter, he just wanted to get there.
His mother fully supported him going to college; she had gone to college to become a nurse. While she loved it; nursing school wasn't cheap and she was still paying off her own loans. But his father did not go to college and had just gotten a job and worked his way up to manager over the years. He was proud, and Henry took note of his work ethic, but didn't understand why his father wouldn't want him to go to college; instead preferring he do exactly as his brother did and so Henry never saw eye to eye with his father.
From the time he was little his father pushed he and his brother into boy scouts and the church; "it was just what you do" he would say. They were both alter boys because his father was one. End of discussion.
Henry didn't really care for it at first, but found the scriptures interesting and soaked in all the he could from them. But when he was 7, and his friend died in the frozen water in the pond at the nearby park, Henry was lost. What he had learned in church was directly contradicting what had happened in his life. He didn't understand. But his pastor offered some advice, and assured Henry that sometimes god goes silent on us all. It was a lesson that really stuck with him. He wondered if god had gone silent on his father, and that was why he was so critical of him.
When Henry first turned old enough to work, he started working at a restaurant. He had often been the one helping his mother with cooking after school because his brother and father worked late. He found he liked cooking; so he opted to get an after school job at an upscale restaurant instead of the steel factory, where he learned from top chefs how to cook even better.
His mother told him his future wife would appreciate his skills. His father told him it was not a man's place to cook and wanted him to quit his job.
Soon enough Henry had applied to every Ivy League school in the country. Princeton had awarded him the most in scholarships, but it still wasn't enough to cover living expenses and books and he hadn't saved nearly enough money from his restaurant job to cover four years there. So he joined the Marines, planning to take advantage of the reimbursement to cover the rest. He thought this would make his father happy; it was 'a man's job' as his father would say.
He was right, being a Marine was probably one of the only things Henry decided to do that made his father happy. But he wasn't happy about why he enlisted. He never wanted to be a solider necessarily; he just wanted to go to school, although flying fighter jets also had it's appeal, which of course irritated his father to no end.
With the base in New York, Henry was able to complete his basic training while commuting back and forth to class on the train. It was tiring, but he kept remembering his father's work ethic; up early, out late, whatever it took to make ends meet. It was probably the one and only thing Henry learned from his father.
Henry's superiors at the base were impressed with not only his work ethic, but his natural abilities in the cockpit and he rose through the ranks quickly. With that came inactive duty to finish graduate school back at Princeton. He was grateful for the time; he just had to put in his final two years when he was done with school.
In college, Henry continued to pursue his interest in religion and history, always seeking the wisdom of the ancient philosophers to give new context to his life. His studies along with his military education had given him a unique perspective and his professors took note when reading his essays. They explained that his type of combined thinking would serve him well as a professor; and that was how he decided upon his career path.
Then on the first day of his second year of grad school, he met Elizabeth Faulkner. He would have liked to say it was her beautiful mind that he noticed first, but it was most definitely her physical beauty, he was a red blooded man after all. Although, she'd been accepted to Princeton; she was clearly no dummy. He'd never seen such a stunning woman let alone in a religion course. Most women he encountered in his religion courses were book worms or the socially awkward ones. He remembered that moment well.
Elizabeth had been late to class and there were few open seats, most of which were in the front row. She'd made what Henry believed to be the most adorable face; her nose scrunching when she realized she'd have to sit either in the front row, or next to quintessential class nerd with unruly hair, crooked glasses and acne.
She huffed, moving to take a spot in the front row, then out of the corner of her eye she noticed him, moving his book bag from the seat next to him and nodding to her. She rewarded Henry with a bright smile and quickly walked up the stairs, sliding into the desk next to him. "Thank you for saving me from the front row." she said quietly as she pulled her notebook from her shoulder bag.
"Here I thought I was saving you from that nerdy kid over there."
"That too." she smiled, a slight blush on her cheeks.
"You new here?"
"How could you tell?"
"You're five minutes late for Dr. Bradford's class. Everyone knows never to be late for his class, he sometimes spits when he talks...so the front row…' Henry said, flirting a little.
"Good to know." Elizabeth said with a small laugh. "But I am late sometimes, promise to save me a seat next week?" she flirted back.
"Of course." he promised. "I'm Henry, by the way." he said offering his hand
"Elizabeth." she replied, reaching for his hand.
When their hands met they felt it instantly. A spark. Their touch was electric. Their hands touched a few seconds longer than they should have, both gazing into each other eyes, instantly somehow smitten with one another.
The pulled apart when Professor Bradford entered the room and started talking. The lecture was dry and he struggled to pay attention. He was too distracted by Elizabeth, all he wanted to do was leave and talk to her the rest of the day, get to know everything about her. Every time she looked his way she seemed to catch him looking at her too and they'd smile at one another before trying to re-engage in the lecture. But it was a lost cause. Mid-way through the lecture he finally reached for her notebook, and scribbled a note on the blank page.
"Coffee after class?"
Elizabeth looked down at the note and smiled "Absolutely." she wrote back.
It was definitely love at first sight. Something neither believed in until they'd met. They were inseparable ever since that day. Now here they were on the heels of a playful roadtrip, on their way to tell his parents about their engagement.
****** Promises **********
The first day they didn't speak was Henry's late night at school, so Elizabeth came home on time; feed Stevie, helped her with her homework and tucked her younger children in bed early. When the house was quiet, Elizabeth found herself perched on the edge of the couch, glass of wine in hand as she reviewed an old photo album. It included photos from their college days; she couldn't help but smile at the younger, more carefree versions of herself and her husband.
She laughed as she passed their ridiculous college photos, the ones where she sometimes wondered how she was alive after the amount of alcohol she'd consumed on a few of those occasions; sorority parties, frat parties, football games, halloween parties and formal dances. They attended every function together and their friends would roll their eyes as they would somehow always end up in some corner making out. There were several of those photos too. She'd have to remember to hide this particular photo album before Stevie went to college.
Her heart still skipped a beat when she came across Henry's Marine photos; he looked amazing in his dress uniform, and very sexy in the cockpit of his plane. She remembered one summer weekend he took her to the base in New York and took her up in one of the fighter jets, after clearing it with his superiors.
Then she came across the photos they took on their road trip to Pittsburgh, where they would tell his parents they were engaged. They were so happy, enjoying a few more days in their college bubble as they drove across the state, almost soaking it in before they were faced with their first challenge; the cold reality of his father's disapproval.
******* Promises *********
As they drove through the subdivision in suburban Pittsburgh, Elizabeth marveled at how picturesque is looked. Cute little homes; all well maintained, children riding their bikes, dogs barking, lawn mowers running. It seemed like a wonderful place to raise a family.
Henry smiled at the look on her face and gave her hand a squeeze as he slowed the car and turned into a driveway. "We're here."
Elizabeth smiled and sucked in a deep breath before getting out of the vehicle. Henry rested his arm around her shoulder as they walked up the drive. "I smell BBQ." he said, and lead her to the back gate, finding her parents sitting outside on the deck, sipping lemonade.
Jane immediately stood and wrapped the couple in her arms. "Welcome home."
Patrick rolled his eyes at his wife's excitement and stood reluctantly, giving Elizabeth a very brief welcome hug. She took it as a win, it was an upgrade from a handshake she'd gotten on graduation night.
"You must be starved from your drive." Jane said, "Dinner will be ready shortly, we were just waiting for Henry, the grillmaster."
Elizabeth raised her eyes at the grillmaster comment and giggled as Jane poured them each a glass of lemonade before running inside to grab the chicken breasts.
Henry took plate from his mother and fired up the grill as Elizabeth re-counted the details of their road trip to them.
**** Promises ********
Elizabeth had packed up her dorm room and loaded everything into her BMW. Her father's office had arranged to have her car & belongings picked up and brought home that afternoon.
Early that morning Henry picked her up and loaded her suitcases for the trip to Pittsburgh in the back of his Jeep. "Ready for a road trip?"
"You bet!" Elizabeth was so excited for the long drive, she'd never truly been on an American Road Trip, her father generally commissioned his airplane to take them everywhere; and regardless it was always for business. Henry had several stops planned on the way to back to his hometown to make sure she got the full road trip experience.
Henry exited the freeway about an hour into their ride. "Why are we stopping?" she asked, peering over at him from behind her sunglasses.
Henry laughed a little. "That's what you do on a road trip babe. Stop and take in the sights."
"Oh." she laughed a little. "So this is how the other side goes on vacation?" she joked.
He laughed back, "It's fun isn't it?"
They'd both had a habit of making light jabs at each other's upbringing, and neither were offended. She often wondered how her life would have been different if her mother were still alive. Would they have taken road trips? Would she have done more "normal" things? She somehow had a feeling she would have at least to some extent; her mother also being raised from more humble beginnings.
She took pleasure in trying things Henry's way. Except camping, that she didn't enjoy one single bit when he took her. After it downpoured on their tent, a very sleep deprived and cold Elizabeth got up in the middle of the night and slept in the Jeep. She'd caught a terrible cold from that trip and Henry remembered bringing her hot soup and watching movies with her the whole next day in her dorm. Next time, she warned, there better be a hotel.
During their stop In Philadelphia, they visited the Liberty Bell & the Benjamin Franklin monument before stopping off for a famous Philadelphia cheesesteak for lunch. Elizabeth documented each place they visited on her camera, including taking a photo of their sandwich.
It was so big they shared it, along with fries and sodas. "This is absolutely disgusting, and delicious." she said taking a messy bite.
Henry laughed at her. "I can't believe you have never had one of these." He grew up in Pennsylvania, so he'd eaten his fair share of philly cheesesteak sandwiches. "Also, one of the road trip rules - you must try the local cuisine."
She swallowed down another bite of her sandwich with a large sip of diet coke. "Well, I wouldn't want to break the road trip rules," she said with a wink.
After lunch they got back on the road, stopping some 40 minutes later at Valley Forge National Park. While there they took part in the guided tour and did some exploring of their own.
"Thanks for the history lesson today, Captain." she joked when they were back in the car.
Henry laughed, and rested his hand on her bare leg as he drove. "Babe, that's part of the fun of road trips, seeing the historical sights. The second part is the gross, greasy food. The third part is going to places just for fun. The next stop is much more fun, no boring education required." he promised.
An hour and half later they pulled into the parking lot of Hotel Hershey. "Seriously!" Elizabeth gasped.
"Well, I know how much you like chocolate my dear. I could not let you come to Pennsylvania without visiting the chocolate capital of the world. Come on. We're staying here for the night, and tomorrow off to taste some chocolate."
"Henry, are your parents expecting us tomorrow evening?" she asked over dinner at the surprisingly upscale restaurant at the hotel.
"Yea."
"Do you think they would mind if we stayed another day here?"
"No, I can call and say we'll be late. Why?
"I was just looking at the spa menu earlier and I thought it would be fun to do couple's massage and then you know, enjoy that nice hotel room…"
Henry blushed a little. He wasn't sure how he felt about the spa, but he liked the sound of enjoying the hotel room for another night. "Okay." he agreed
Upon arriving back to the room after dinner, Elizabeth was quick to change into her shorts and tank pajama set and was under the covers in no time.
Concerned, Henry stripped to his boxers and undershirt and joined her in bed. "You okay babe?" he asked
"Yea. Just a little nauseous."
"Anything I can do?" he asked, he hated seeing her feeling bad.
She shook her head sleepily. "It'll pass. I really liked that philly cheese, but I don't think it liked me. Then I stupidly drank wine at dinner."
He smiled at her and spooned her from behind, placing his hand on her belly, gently rubbing. He kissed her shoulder. "You didn't have that much wine. Just sleep, you'll feel better in the morning."
Some 30 minutes later she bolted out of bed and before he could realize what was happening he heard her heaving in the bathroom. He quickly grabbed a bottle of water from the desk and hurried to the bathroom, holding her hair and rubbing her back while she emptied her stomach.
When she had stopped, he handed her the water and she whispered her thanks before swishing her mouth out and flushing the toilet.
Still sitting on the tile floor she backed up to rest against the tub's edge, sucking in a few deep breaths and sipping on the water. Henry took one of the washcloths, soaked it in cool water and sat down beside her and gently dabbed it against her clammy neck and forehead. "Better?" he asked gently and she nodded.
"I'm sorry." she said.
"For what?" he said with a gentle smile. "Everyone gets sick now and then. Ready to come back to bed?"
She nodded. "After I brush my teeth."
She thoroughly brushed her teeth and re-joined her fiancé in bed, snuggling right back into his embrace. She gave him a soft kiss before saying, "Goodnight."
Henry laid awake watching her until she slipped into sleep, wanting to make sure she was done being sick before allowing himself to sleep.
As the early summer sun filtered through the curtains the next morning, Henry awoke, happy to see Elizabeth still curled against him. He gently moved her and got up to close the curtains, making sure the sun wouldn't wake her. He wanted her to rest following her being sick the previous night. He returned to the bed, and reached for the phone on the nightstand to dial his parents' house.
"Hi Mom." he said very quietly when his mother picked up.
"Oh Henry! We're so happy you're coming home today. We can't wait to see Elizabeth. Tell me, what does she like to eat, I'm heading to the grocery store soon….why are you talking so quiet? What's wrong?"
Henry smiled at his mother's excitement. "Mom, we're running a bit behind. We won't get there until dinner time tomorrow. Elizabeth got sick last night, she's still sleeping."
"Oh no. Is she okay?"
"She's fine, just ate something that didn't agree with her."
"Okay. Well I'll make sure to get some soup in case she still feels bad. What else should I get?"
"Well, Elizabeth loves ice cream, so make sure we have that. Other than that she'll eat just about anything. Except mexican food. Mom, I'm going to go, I'll see you tomorrow."
"Okay son. I love you."
"Love you too."
After hanging up, Henry snuggled back next to Elizabeth, brushing a stray piece of her golden hair from her face as she stirred. Opening her eyes, she met his and smiled. He'd been watching her, she could tell. "How are you feeling?" he whispered, continuing stroke her hair.
"Better." she sighed, snuggling closer.
"Good." he planted a kiss to her forehead. "Go back to sleep. It's only 7. I called my mom and told her we'd be there by dinner tomorrow."
"Was she mad?"
"No, not at all." Henry laughed at her worry.
They slept until around 9:30 before getting up and getting ready for their day in Hershey. Their first excursion was the Trolley tour which took them around the city of Hershey, including a stop at the Milton Hershey's Mansion. Next they took the chocolate factory tour and learned about chocolate making starting from the harvest of cocoa beans. They loved the chocolate factory; especially watching the Hershey kisses get made; and of course all the samples. They were even able to make their own chocolate bar and design their own wrapper before enjoying their spa day that afternoon.
They ended the evening as promised, enjoying the hotel room as Elizabeth promised, with room service. "So this is how the other half vacations; spa days & room service?" Henry joked with her as they lay tangled in the sheets. She giggled and kissed him softly. "I vote this becomes our tradition for our last night for all vacations."
"No arguments from me." she grinned.
The next morning they'd slept in; wanting to stay snuggled in that comfortable king bed until checkout time and grabbed a light breakfast at the coffee shop downstairs consisting bagels and juice before hitting the road.
******* Promises*******
"I can't believe you had never been on a road trip before." Jane said; fascinated by her point of view of the experience.
Henry smiled as he observed their interaction, carefully watching over the grill. Then his father piped in.
"Well Elizabeth, you know, we all can't be privileged enough to take private jets everyplace on vacation. Some of us just have to get in the car and drive." Pat mulled, taking a sip of his beer.
"Dad!" Henry interjected from the grill.
"What Henry…."
"It's okay." Elizabeth said nicely, turning to Pat. "Actually, most of the traveling I have done has been in Europe during boarding school, alone or with friends. My parents never really took me on a real family vacation. My dad was far too busy. Most trips I took with him were for business." She explained, hoping Pat would empathize at least a little. She wasn't trying to win the sympathy vote, just trying to illustrate that her life was not as privileged and perfect as he assumed.
"Trips across Europe. Forgive me Elizabeth, but that sounds terrible." Pat said sarcastically. Clearly her tactic didn't work.
"It wasn't." she reasoned, trying another tactic. "But when I traveled, I would always see families together. It sometimes hurt just a little that I was there alone. I know our little drive may not seem like much and Henry had been to all those places before, but for me it was all the more fun because I was went with him," she finished, in her sweetest voice.
Henry looked up from the grill and smiled at her, tossing her a wink. Damn she was good. Hopefully that would make his father shut his mouth.
Pat had wisely choose to not make any more hurtful remarks for the time being and sat silently as he ate his food, while he listened to everyone else talk – mostly about what a good cook Henry was.
"The chicken is delicious, Henry." His mother said. "I've certainly missed you around the kitchen since you've been away these past 7 years.
"I've missed my cooking companion. I love Elizabeth, but she is not very helpful in the kitchen."
Patrick snorted. "That's not surprising."
The smiles at the table fell. "It's not that I didn't want to. It's just well, after my mother died, my father hired a nanny, who of course did all of the cooking. Then at boarding school and at Princeton, obviously I ate on campus so I never really had to before." Elizabeth confirmed what her father was implying with grace, she was not ashamed.
Jane lifted her eye brows sending her husband a warning glare and tried to take the conversation back to happy. "Well you don't need to be dear, Henry is a great cook."
"I see you've taught him well." She smiled warmly
"I did. But he's taught me a few things too. He learned so much from that French restaurant he worked at in high school."
"Yes, he told me about that. He has made me some delicious crepes. He claims he's going to teach me when we get our own place in the fall."
"I'll do my best." Henry said, grabbing Elizabeth's hand under the table to offer some solace to his father's constant rudeness.
After the meal was almost complete Henry wrapped his arm around Elizabeth's shoulder and looked back and forth between his parents. "We have some exciting news."
"Oh god Henry, please tell me you did not get Elizabeth pregnant. Then you'll be stuck…."
"Patrick! That is enough." Jane said angrily. She had had enough of his attitude tonight. She turned back to the couple and apologized. "Please excuse him, he's being incredibly inappropriate. Tell me what the news is!"
"We're engaged!" Henry said as happily as he could, his father's pregnancy comment completely ruining his mood.
Jane jumped from her seat and hugged them. "Oh that's wonderful! Let me see the ring." She said, not able to contain her excitement.
Elizabeth offered a smile, somewhere between happy and sad, holding out her hand. She was thrilled Jane was happy, but so upset that Henry was upset. Of course some of his father's comments had stung, but she had expected them and was honestly used to the "rich girl" judgement. It had hurt her deeply though to see Henry so upset with his father. She'd never seen him even remotely as upset before and she didn't know what to do to help him.
"This is the most beautiful ring, look at that huge diamond! You could stop traffic with that thing. Henry, did you pick this out? You have excellent taste in jewelry…." His mother gushed.
"It is beautiful." Elizabeth agreed quietly, keeping the majority of her focus on Henry's dark eyes and locked jaw.
As Jane gushed over them, Patrick stewed in his chair. He finally stood and hastily stomped off as he said. "Stuck with her all the same…."
"That's it!" Henry shouted, quickly getting up and following his father into the garage.
"Henry!" Elizabeth tried to stop him
Jane put her hand on her shoulder. "Let them go." She said quietly. "I think it's time they had it out."
Elizabeth sat back in her chair and closed her eyes as she willed the tears back.
"It will be okay. Don't worry if Henry can't talk some sense into that stubborn man, I will tonight." Jane promised. "Congratulations. Really. I couldn't be happier for you two. I for one am thrilled to welcome you to the family dear."
Elizabeth smiled. "That's very nice of you to say."
"It's true dear. Come on, why don't you come inside? I need to get to know my future daughter in law better."
Meanwhile in the garage, Patrick was fiddling with his tools, working on no project in-particular.
"Dad, we need to have a serious talk." Henry swallowed, trying to keep his anger at bay.
"Yes, I think we do. What has gotten into you Henry? Who do you think you are trying to marry this wealthy girl? Our lifestyle has never been good enough for you has it? You have always wanted to be one of them, haven't you?"
"Of course not! I am proud of where I come from. I love Elizabeth, she loves me and we're getting married. Why is that so hard to understand? It has nothing to do with money."
"Henry please, how do you know you are in love with this girl? She's too different than you, it won't work out."
Henry could feel his anger bubbling up again. "They do not love that do not show their love." He quoted Shakespeare.
"Don't throw your fancy Princeton quotes in my face Henry."
"It's not a fancy Princeton quote. It's Shakespeare. People learn that in high school! But come on dad, I most certainly don't think you are about to tell me that I don't know what love is. It's you who doesn't. You and mom do not look at each other the way Elizabeth and I do. I've never even heard you say those words to each other. You are the last person on earth to be lecturing me about love."
Patrick couldn't argue there. He and Jane had gotten married only because she had gotten pregnant with Peter. Sure they'd learned to care for one another and did their best to make it work, but they weren't in love.
"Look son, I know I've given you a hard time about your choices over the years. But I just want you to look up to your old man. I didn't do everything right, knocking up your mother for one. But I married her because it was the right thing to do. She came from a family better off than me, so I constantly felt like I was disappointing her. That's why I don't want you to marry her. I can tell already you're working too hard to impress her; spending all your money on that silly ring. What, a smaller diamond wasn't good enough for her?"
"I appreciate where you are coming from. But I bought Elizabeth that ring because I wanted to. She deserves the absolute best that I can give her. She never has judged me for my background."
"Not yet Henry, but she will. All girls are the same in that aspect."
"Dad!" Henry shouted again, running his hand across his face as he planned his next sentence. "Stop judging her. You don't want her to judge us, and she hasn't. She has been nothing but kind since the moment she met you, despite you constantly insulting her. So her father did well for himself. It's not her fault. If you would just take one second to listen to what she has been saying; her father send her away to boarding school after her mother died. Just because she is financially secure doesn't mean she's had it easy. She got into Princeton on a full scholarship, and was valedictorian. Money can't buy that."
Patrick looked at his son. Right then he knew Henry was going to marry this girl whether he got on board or not. He'd questioned and made judgements about his son's choices since high school; jealous in a way of his successes. He wasn't fond of Elizabeth, but he decided just to let it go for now.
"So here's the deal dad. I'm marrying Elizabeth whether you like it or not. Judge me and be angry at me all you want, but do not take it out on her. At the very least I expect you to treat her like a human being. I don't suspect you will ever become best friends, but please just be nice to her. Because I promise you this dad. One day there will be a day, we hope, that Elizabeth will be pregnant and we will have children of our own and if this is how you behave, I promise you, I will not bring them around here, and you know that will really upset mom." Henry finished, his voice strong and unwavering. He had finally had the guts to stand up to his father.
The pair eyed each other for a moment before Henry walked away, heading back in the house to check on and apologize to his mother and fiancée for his outburst.
He walked in the living room, finding a scene that melted his heart. His mother and Elizabeth sat side by side on the couch giggling over an old photo.
Both women looked up when they noticed his presence. He genuinely smiled at them, happy they were getting along and moved to sit beside Elizabeth on the couch.
She turned to him, grasping his hands with hers. "You okay?"
"Yea." He nodded, finally calming down.
"Please tell me you talked some sense into your father." His mother said quietly.
"I hope what I said sinks in."
"Well if he needs more convincing, I have a few things I need to say to him tonight." His mother assured him. "I was just showing Elizabeth some of your pictures growing up." She changed the subject, hoping to help Henry calm down from his heated talk.
Henry laughed as he glanced at the photo album, noticing a picture of him with in high school, his hair slicked with gel. "That's embarrassing." He said
"Luckily that trend has passed." Elizabeth said, running her fingers through his hair.
"Henry can show you the rest of these photos Elizabeth, I'm going to go fix some dessert." His mother said, sensing they needed some alone time.
Henry leaned back on the couch and wrapped his arm around her as she continued to examine each photo. She told him how cute he looked in his football uniform and made fun of his prom date.
When she had looked at every picture, he closed the book and set it on the table. "You want to take a walk?" he asked and she agreed
She could tell he was still reeling from whatever he had said to his father and hoped he would confide in her. He tossed her one of his zip up hoodies as they slid on their sandles and walked out the front door. Their fingers met, as they slowing walked down the street. "You okay Henry?" she asked again, softly.
"Yea." He gave her the same answer, pulling her closer. "I'm just so sorry for how my dad treated you earlier."
"It's okay." She mulled
"No. It's not. But I want you to know that nothing, including him is going to stop me from marrying you." He said, stopping on the street and looking into her eyes. She nodded and he bent to kiss her. "I love you."
"Love you too."
"I'm so glad though that you and my mom are getting along." He added as they continued their walk.
"Me too.
Henry took great comfort in their walk, it was something they did often, it felt familiar. As they walked Elizabeth wondered if Henry would ever tell her what he said to his father. He didn't seem to want to discuss it, but whatever it was, she could tell it had brought him some peace now that he had calmed from it's intensity. She moved closer to him, wrapping her arms around his middle and offered a smile. He smiled back and pulled her closer as they continued on.
They soon came to a stop at a small park, sitting side by side on a rocking bench. Henry rocked them as Elizabeth laid her head on his shoulder. "I hope I have the courage to stand up to my father when we tell him." She said quietly. "I know what you did wasn't easy. I'm proud of you."
Henry smiled. "You will. And I'll be there for you, just as you are here right now for me. Remember, we'll get through it together."
She nodded and they continued to rock for a while longer before Henry got up. "Looks like rain, we should head back."
As they turned on Henry's street it started down pouring. Elizabeth shrieked as they started to run, both completely soaked, yet laughing and still holding hands as they made it onto the covered porch. On the porch, Henry pulled Elizabeth close as they shared a few deep kisses.
Jane had been watching them through the window as she waited for the pan of brownies for brownie sundaes to be done. "Look at them Pat. See how in love the are?" Jane pointed out. "If you do anything to ruin their happiness, I'll never forgive you."
AN: Hope you all didn't mind the extra long chapter! Also I hope it made sense with the large amount of flashbacks I had in this one. Next chapter...we meet Elizabeth's father...dun dun dun...