AN: I'm not really happy about this. I therefore reserve the right to add, subtract or completely rewrite it at some point in the future. Thank you for all of your kind words thus far. It continues to amaze me that not only do people read what I write, but that they ask for more. It makes me very happy.
Chapter 12
The next morning there was lots of hustle and bustle as everyone got ready for the funeral.
"Why do I have to dress so fancy?" Beth whined, as Elizabeth fixed her hair.
"Because it's a dress up situation." Elizabeth told her. "That's just how some things are. We dress up for church and weddings and funerals. Funerals in churches are a double whammy and you have to really dress up. Besides, you look beautiful."
Beth huffed, but said nothing. Henry walked into the room and looked at them both. "You two look beautiful." Elizabeth winked at Beth who just crossed her arms and huffed again. "What's going on?" he asked.
"Beth is upset that she has to dress up." Henry shrugged, "I'm with you Bethie, but here I am in a suit. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do."
"There you go. Hair is done. Go find Erin and see if she can round you up some breakfast, but try not to spill anything on yourself." Beth trotted out of the room. Elizabeth turned to Henry. "Is there anything I can do for you this morning?" Henry shrugged. She stepped closer to him and ran her hand up his back, pulling him flush against her body. "We could try this," she said as she captured her lips in his. She smiled against him. "This is one of the few good things about heels. I'm tall enough that I can just kiss you whenever I want." She grinned and leaned in, kissing him again.
"I've always liked heels," he said, just before her tongue crashed into his. Henry groaned in her mouth, his hands sliding down her back and cupping her ass, pulling her into him. Elizabeth felt him start to harden against her and a devilish grin crossed her face. "What?" he asked as she pushed away from him. She walked over to the door, pushed it shut and locked it. Henry narrowed his eyes. "We aren't going to do that now?" he said.
"Of course not, that might be considered inappropriate given the circumstances," she said slowly. She kicked out of her heels and returned to stand in front of him. "But we can't have you walking downstairs with a giant bulge in your pants either." She ran her hand over his crotch and his erection strained against his pants.
"What are you planning to do about that?" Henry asked, wide-eyed.
RATED M
"What do you want me to do about it?" Elizabeth shot him a coy smile, and unfastened his belt before going to work on his pants, pushing them down over his thighs, his boxers soon to follow. She wrapped her hand around his manhood, her thumb stroking his tip.
Henry bit the inside of his cheek and took a shaky breath. Her touch felt so good. He felt his pulse quicken and this breathing became shallow. "Are you going to give me a hand job?" he whispered.
"Huh-uh," she said, pushing him back on the bed. Henry fell all the way back on the bed and she grabbed his tie and pulled him back to sitting. "Kiss me," she lowered her head and Henry kissed her hard, his hands ran up the back of her legs under her skirt. She moaned softly and then pulled away before falling to her knees, taking him into her mouth.
Henry was not at all prepared for what was happening. He was engulfed in her warm, wet mouth, her tongue wrapped around him, sucking him. "Oh God" he whispered. She moved to focus on his tip and wrapped her hand around his length and started pumping him steadily. He whimpered under her touch. The scene before him only heightened his senses. Her blonde waves were splayed across his legs, her head buried between them. "So good," he hummed and she picked up the pace, both with her hand and her mouth. "Babe, I'm going to come," When she didn't move, Henry tried to shift back, but she let go of him and used her hands to pin his hips to the bed. Relaxing her throat she took him all the way in sending him over the edge with a groan, muffled by the throw pillows on the bed. She easily swallowed all that he gave and released him when he had ridden his high.
END OF M RATED SECTION
He offered her his hands and pulled her to her feet so she towered over him. She was grinning like the Cheshire cat. "Well that was incredible," he said. He pulled her down and wiped the spit from the corners of her mouth with his thumb and then kissed her. "Thank you. Do I get to reciprocate?"
"Absolutely, but it will have to wait. I'm surprised we don't already have people knocking on the door."
As if on cue, there was a knock on the door. Elizabeth laughed. Beth shouted through the door. "Grandpa says to hurry up. We need to leave."
Henry stood and put himself back together and then Elizabeth opened the door. "Get in the car. I just need to brush my teeth."
Henry was stunned by the number of people that attended the funeral. With so many coming to the visitation, he thought the funeral crowd would be smaller. He was mistaken. The church was capacity with people standing in the back.
Fr. Mark gave a nice eulogy and Henry felt a sense of calm that he hadn't realized he was missing. He didn't necessarily think the priest's words had much to do with it. Rather, it was the woman sitting next to him, her fingers loosely intertwined with his own. Henry glanced over at her as she intently listened. She was most certainly beautiful in the physical sense, but that wasn't what made her the most attractive in Henry's eyes. She was fiercely intelligent and the most considerate person he'd ever met. There wasn't a shadow of a doubt in Henry's mind that Elizabeth's presence in his life, and Beth's, was solely the work of God.
His mind wandered back to the months before he turned 18 and his parents came to him with the news of Ann's cancer diagnosis. "We're telling you first," they had said, "because we want you to help us talk over what's best for Beth."
"In three months I will be old enough to be her guardian. I will take over," he said without hesitation. There were several times when they had tried to talk him out of it, especially once they discovered he had no plans to deviate from his original plan of going to UVA.
"You're too young to do it on your own. What kind of life will you have? There will be no break, no rest. And what about Beth, being uprooted from everything she knows?" Henry had prayed unceasingly. The only peace he found while praying led him to UVA.
"Let's give it a semester and if I crash and burn, I will come back and enroll at Duquesne in the spring, but give me a chance. Give Bethie and I a chance."
Those first few weeks were miserable. Bethie had a hard time adjusting to a new school, making friends, fitting into the mold in general. Henry was overwhelmed. His classes were much more time intensive than any of his high school courses had been and he now had the added duty of being a father. There were school folders that went unsigned, clothes that went unwashed because he forgot to do laundry, and special gym shoes unpurchased. Each night Henry fell on his knees and asked for help to figure this parenthood thing out, so he could do right by Bethie.
One day in early September, after a particularly lousy day for both of them, Henry suggested they go to the park. They started out on the swings and then Henry tossed Bethie her ball glove. "Throw it hard" he'd said, hoping the physical exertion would help her let go of some of the angst that hanging over her, and by extension, him. She did, again and again. Each time he'd throw it back and Bethie would launch it again. She was a good little pitcher for only being seven. Kids her age were still playing tee ball and she was bored with that, being well beyond that skill level. She was getting tired though, her pitches were getting sloppy. "Last one," he said tossing the ball. Bethie wound up and threw it as hard as she could. It went high and wide.
Henry reached, but it was just beyond his glove and Bethie yelled, "Watch out!". Henry turned just in time to see the runner get hit square in the face. Bethie saw it was going to happen and was already running past him by the time that he stood. He watched the woman stumble and fall forward, somehow managing to sit on the ground. Bethie was all over her, screaming and apologizing by the time that Henry reached the scene.
Elizabeth flexed her fingers in his and he looked at her again. Who would have thought that a crazy fluke like that would have been God's answer to his prayer? Bethie brought her to their apartment the next afternoon and it was the beginning of something special. It took awhile to get to point where they were something special, but they were there now and Henry couldn't imagine spending his life with anyone else.
Henry's thoughts move to his mom. Ann McCord was the most hesitant to let Henry take Beth to school. He smiled. Of course she had been hesitant. Beth had been her shadow for seven years. Henry smiled as he remembered the first few weeks of kindergarten. He wasn't sure who was more devastated, Bethie or Ann, but they both grew accustomed to the new routine and then Henry threw a wrench in it by moving five hours away. They still came back home to Pittsburgh once a month and then there were trips to see Maureen, which happened monthly instead of every other since they were an hour closer. Ann still called and talked to Beth every other evening.
When Elizabeth came into the picture, she and Beth became best friends immediately. Ann was elated that Beth had a friend, even if she was a more suitable age to be Henry's friend than Beth's. Beth settled into the routine and Elizabeth just fell into step alongside Henry in taking care of Beth. Henry knew that had to be God's handiwork as well because no 18 year old girl in
her right mind would do what Elizabeth did. He smirked to himself. For someone who didn't particularly believe in God, Henry felt that God was pretty well insinuated in her life.
Elizabeth had been very understanding through the whole process of Ann's illness. Henry closed his eyes. Even when he'd been short tempered with her in recent days, she hadn't snapped back at him, which was probably what he deserved. The hole in his heart left by his mother's death was still a fresh wound, but it was made bearable by the woman sitting beside him.
It was later that morning when Ann McCord was laid to rest and Henry and his siblings sat in plush chairs under the canopy. It was a dreary January morning, the ground wet from recent rains and it squished underneath the green outdoor carpeting the had been laid out under the canopy. Elizabeth stood behind Henry, who held Beth on his lap. The priest was saying a prayer and threw Holy Water on the casket, then it began its descent into the ground. Beth buried her head into Henry's shoulder and she felt Henry shudder under her hand. She ran her hands down his arms, letting him know she was right there-that she would always be there.
