They sat in the doctors office the next morning in relative silence... Elizabeth was holding onto henry's hand so tightly he thought it may be cutting off the circulation but he was too scared to say a thing. Elizabeth had not had a great night... which meant he'd not had a great night. She had been going over and over every scenario and still couldn't understand how this had happened... She obviously knew the biology of how it had happened and she was pretty sure she could have opened her own sperm bank the amount of times they'd done it... but wasn't the pill actually supposed to stop it?!
She had gone from being calm to hysterical and every emotion in between and had finally run out of steam and fallen asleep around 4am.
"Well Mr & Mrs McCord... congratulations... you are definitely pregnant." The words floated around Elizabeth's head as if in some kind of weird cartoon speech bubble
"Ummmm... forgive my ignorance here... but I'm on the contraceptive pill... isn't that supposed to stop... this..."
"It's incredibly effective... But there are things which can hinder it's ability to work."
"Such as...?" Elizabeth really wanted to know what she'd done wrong
"Such as taking antibiotics... or a stomach bug which causes vomiting... or forgetting to take a pill."
"Well then... how is this possible?... I certainly didn't miss any... I haven't taken any antibiotics and I haven't vomited so why didn't it work?"
"Yes you did." Henry said quietly
"I did what?"
"You threw up over the balcony when we were at The Animal Kingdom Villa... and then many, many times after that... It was the wine."
"But we didn't... you know... did we?"
Henry just looked rather sheepish
"Ohhhhhh... the beach... oh wow... but that was just a frantically crazy moment."
Dr Read was looking between them both and smiling
"You'd be surprised how many 'Frantically crazy' moments I've delivered."
Elizabeth was suddenly very quiet
"I can see this has come as rather a shock... so we'll just take this all one step at a time... I'd like to do and ultrasound to see how far along you are and we'll just take it from there... ok Elizabeth?"
Elizabeth just nodded
Henry was still holding onto her hand and squeezed it to give her even the tiniest amount of reassurance
She laid on the bed and Undid her jeans, flinching as the cold gel touched her skin
She felt the probe skim against her abdomen and looked over at Henry
"It's ok baby... just relax."
The room was silent for what seemed like an eternity but was realistically only a few minutes while Dr Read took the necessary measurements
"It looks like you're about 10 weeks pregnant Elizabeth... And there is your little one." She turned the screen so that Henry and Elizabeth could see...
"Is everything ok... I mean... it is healthy?"
"Everything looks perfect and right on track...Would you like to hear the heartbeat?"
"Can we... I mean... is it too early?" Elizabeth stuttered
"No... we should be able to pick it up."
She moved the probe around a bit more and then there it was... the most beautiful of all sounds... like a steam train and galloping horse rolled into one
"Oh my god... that's our baby!" Henry whispered, tears pooling in his eyes
"I can't believe it... look at it henry... we did that." She couldn't quite believe what she was seeing... but all of a sudden, every little doubt she'd had disappeared
"You are a little bit anaemic so we need to keep an eye on that... how has your sickness been?" Dr Read asked, looking up at them both
"I've felt nauseous but haven't had any actual sickness yet... is that normal?"
"Perfectly... it's different for everyone... hopefully you'll sail through this pregnancy without much trouble."
They walked out of the Doctors office, clutching the little black and white photograph and sat in the car
"Are you ok?" Henry asked, taking her hand in his
"I don't know... we didn't plan this Henry... and everything is going at such a crazy pace... we've fitted a 3 year relationship into less than a year... urghhhhhh." She ran her fingers through her hair and sighed
"I didn't plan to meet you and fall in love with you... and I never thought I'd be married again this quickly... but I wouldn't change a single second of it because it's everything I've dreamed of... and so is this baby...OUR baby." His words were so sincere and full of love
Elizabeth looked down at the little jellybean in the picture and smiled
"Oh my god Henry... we made this... we made a baby." She broke down and sobbed
Henry wanted to comfort her and decided humour was the way to go
"Who knew a quickie on the beach could turn out so well hey." He lifted her chin and smiled at her "All that sand in awkward places was so worth it."
She laughed and wiped away her tears
"Seriously though baby... this little one is going to be so beautiful just like you and my god will it be loved... and I'm here, every single second of this journey... ok?"
"OK."
They walked into their home and Elizabeth flopped onto the couch
"Coffee?" Henry shouted from the kitchen
"No... I can't stand the taste of the milk... Green Tea please."
He brought it through and lifted her feet so he could sit
"Henry... what are we doing?" She looked exhausted and confused
"We're having a baby... and is it ok for me to say how ecstatic I am?"
"You're really happy huh?"
"Of course I am... we've actually created this little life... it's incredible."
"I just thought we'd plan it and do all the romantic baby making stuff when we were ready... Not go at it on a beach after screaming at each other."
"So it wasn't planned... and ok, not the most romantic of conceptions... but does it matter?... Are you struggling to actually want to do this?"
"No... not at all... I'm just processing... it's all come as a bit of a shock."
"We need to go and look at houses... I want to bring this little one back to a home we've chosen together." Henry was now thinking out loud
"Are you sure that's wise?... We've got about 6 months before this one arrives and that doesn't give us a lot of time." She placed her hand on her stomach and suddenly realisation hit
"Henry..." She looked at him and burst into tears "We're having baby!"
He laughed and placed his hand over hers
"Are you feeling ok?"
"I'm feeling fine... a little tired but perfectly fine."
"We have a whole day off... we have hours before we have to pick the girls up... you know what we should do?" Henry smiled his cheeky smile at her
"Uh-huh... I know what I wanna do."
"Great... let's go!" He pulled her up and headed for the door
"Henry... where are you going?... the bedroom is that way." She pointed up the stairs
"Why would we go to the... OH... you want to have sex?... now?"
"Well... Yeah... don't you?"
"I thought we could go and look at the houses we shortlisted."
She looked at him with a rather stunned expression
"And so it begins... I guess the honeymoon really is over huh."
He slid his arms around her waist and smiled
"Of course I want to make love to you... that's pretty much a constant state of mind for me... So why don't we go and look at these houses and when we get back... "
He whispered the rest into her ear and a grin spread across her face
"Henry…"
"I can still make you blush... just hold that thought."
They stood in the fourth house of the day and Elizabeth shook her head...
"It's just not right Henry... I don't like it."
"But it has everything we're looking for babe... It's the ideal home for us."
'It's not because I don't like it... it's not our home."
"You're being too emotional over this decision." As soon as the words left his mouth he regretted them... Run Henry Run
"What?... We're trying to find our family home and I'm not supposed to be emotional?... You get me pregnant... on a damn beach... and I'm not meant to be emotional... Jeez Henry, I'm sorry... my mistake." She was losing it pretty quickly
The realtor, who had been hovering rather uncomfortably, took his life in his own hands and made a suggestion
"A house has just come onto the market today... I don't have any particulars for it yet, but I do have the keys so we can go and view it now? Nobody else has seen it yet."
"I think that would be a very good idea." Henry replied quickly
"Sure... I'll try and keep my emotions in check." She glared at Henry and made her way out the door
As soon as Elizabeth walked in, she knew it was right... It had the most beautiful wooden flooring throughout, a stunning garden with a cherry blossom tree and 4 ample bedrooms... It also had a space that could easily be turned into an office
"Oh Henry... I love it... this is where we're going to bring this baby home." Her anger had dissipated and she/d reverted back to tears
"You're right... this is our home... this is it."
They went and picked up the girls and took them for ice-cream... Ali was being uncharacteristically clingy towards her mom. She had built up quite a bond with Henry, and Would usually go to either of them without concern, but today she just wanted her mommy. She wrapped her little arms around Elizabeth's neck and laid her head on her shoulder..."Momma cuddles."
Elizabeth smiled and gave her a squeeze
Stevie was colouring, which meant she was completely oblivious to everything around her
"Sweetie... your mom and I have something to tell you." Henry could barely hold in his excitement
"OK" she continued scribbling away without looking up
"Stevie... can you stop what you're doing for a minute please?" Henry asked
"Just a minute... I need to finish the tiger."
Elizabeth was grinning at the tenacity of the little girl
"Would you please put down your pencils and listen?" Henry was getting a tad annoyed
"Just wait... I'm nearly done."
Elizabeth looked at Henry who was not amused
"Sweetie... can you just listen to your daddy for s second and you can finish the tiger in a little bit.. ok?"
"Ok mommy." Stevie put down the pencils and looked ah her dad
Henry couldn't believe it... Elizabeth had now become the Stevie whisperer
"We have some exciting news..." Henry started
"We're getting a pony?... I knew you'd let me." Stevie was thrilled at the prospect
"Uh... no... no pony."
Stevie groaned and screwed her face up at him
"Your mommy is..."
"Beautiful... I know... I heard Rosie's daddy telling Ambers daddy that mommy is hot... what does that mean?"
Elizabeth snorted and couldn't help the smirk on her face... Henry's expression was hilarious
"Well that's not appropriate at all... but we're digressing..." Henry was flustered now and was losing his train of thought
"Mommy is having a baby!" He blurted out
Stevie's eyes went wide and the biggest smile crept across her face
"Really... you're having a baby?... I get another baby sister... YES!" She couldn't contain her excitement and threw her arms around elizabeth
"So... mommy gets all the hugs today then huh?"
Stevie shuffled across to her daddy and planted a sloppy kiss on his cheek
"I love you daddy."
"I love you too peanut."
They had decided to keep the whole house thing under wraps until it had all gone through. It had been a huge day for all of them and they headed back home. Elizabeth did story time and got the girls off to sleep with a little more resistance than usual due to the excitement... but eventually they were snoring away.
She climbed onto bed and sighed
"Well that was a long day."
"Yeah... you've had a lot to take in... you doing ok?" He wrapped his arms around her, now feeling even more protective
"I'm good... just feeling a bit overwhelmed."
"Are you happy though?"
"I really am... this isn't going to be easy Henry... but it's going to be amazing."
He nuzzled her neck and snaked his hand under her pyjama top
Her breath hitched as she felt his touch on her skin and her excitement started to grow... until his hand stopped flat on her stomach and stayed there
"Henry... baby... a little bit lower would be good right now... henry?"
She looked over her shoulder and he was already fast asleep
Yep... the honeymoon is definitely over