The Wrong Surprise

Amy woke up to the sound of birds chirping outside her window. She turned to look at the digital clock on her nightstand. 7:11, May 20, Saturday. She smiled at that. It was a special day. Why? The frame beside the clock told her that on this day, fifteen years ago, she got married to the best guy she could ever wish for. That day seemed to be the prime example of Murphy's Law: 'Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.' But it was perhaps the most memorable day in her life, perhaps only equaled by the other three frames that shared the stand – each showing the day their children first entered their world. Amy thought how perfect her life had come to be.

She was brought out of her thoughts as Jake turned in his sleep. Usually, she'd let him sleep to his heart's content every Saturday. But she just had to wake him up today. For once, she wanted to be the first one who wished the other on their anniversary. She knew the most effective way of waking him up – peppering his face with kisses. Jake slowly opened his eyes and they both smiled at each other.

'Hey,' Jake said softly.

'Hey,' replied Amy. 'Happy anniversary,' she said in a loud whisper as they kissed each other softly.

'Happy anniversary,' Jake replied as they parted.

'So, what do you have planned today?'

'I have called my mom to take the kids for today.'

'Then?'

'Ames, I'm not gonna tell you.'

'Why?' she whined.

'It'll ruin the surprise. Plus, I've not planned much.'

'Well, whatever it is, I'm sure I'll love it. So please? Just a few hints?'

'Hmm… I've not planned much. Just dinner at The Full Moon, we get some Belgian waffles, return home watch some movie, and then celebrate.'

'That sounds beautiful,' Amy said as the two kissed. It was soft but lasted longer than either of them had thought at first, not that they were complaining.

'You know,' Amy said as she looked at the clock, 'the kids won't be up for at least another half an hour or so.'

Jake looked intrigued. 'What do you have in mind?' he asked.

'We could celebrate early,' she said coyly. The next thing they knew was that they were both under the covers, moaning in pleasure. Nothing could stop this session of theirs. Well, except one thing.

The two lovers heard a loud crash and three distinct screams. They would know those screams even if they were faint. But they weren't faint. They originated at the entrance to their bedroom and just as the two separated, they could hear and see their three kids scurry downstairs. In an attempt to wish their parents a happy anniversary, the three kids had decided to surprise them with breakfast in bed. Instead, they were horrified at what they saw, as would any other child.

'Oh, God! Oh, God! Oh, God!' Amy kept on saying as the two of them quickly put on their clothes.

'Hey, it's okay,' Jake tried reassuring.

'No, Jake! It's not okay! They came to wish us a happy anniversary and we scared them. And, oh, they made us breakfast! They were just being really, really good children by giving us a really sweet surprise and we surprised them, in the worst possible way!'

'Ames, they'll be fine. I once caught my dad having sex with another woman and look at me.'

'You mean how it scarred you for life and you hated your dad after that?'

Jake's expression now went from relaxed to worried as it finally dawned on him. 'Oh, my God,' he said slowly, 'We've totally ruined our kids.'

Downstairs, the kids were having a discussion of their own in the living room. 'Okay, no one ever talk about what happened, alright?' Mac, the thirteen-year old, asked.

'Okay,' replied Harry and Liz. But then Harry looked confused. 'Just to be clear, Mom and Dad were having sex, right?' Harry asked his brother.

Mac smacked him on the head before replying, 'What is wrong with you? Why would you say that?'

'I don't know, I just wasn't sure,' replied Harry as he rubbed his head.

'What is "sex"?' asked Liz innocently. She was just a bit young to not fully understand what happened.

Mac smacked his brother again. 'Now look what you've done!' he accused Harry.

Jake and Amy then entered the room as the kids sat on the sofa awkwardly.

'Well, good morning,' began Jake, 'Although I doubt if it is a "good morning" with what happened – '

'Jake!' Amy snapped.

'Oh, right. Look, I know what you all saw today horrified you and, Liz, you might be a bit young to fully understand.'

'You were having sex,' Liz said innocently. Mac facepalmed as Jake and Amy were left dumbstruck.

'Uh… yes, that is true,' Amy said. 'You know, you're such a smart girl. You make me proud,' Amy said as she laughed awkwardly.

'Ames, worst time to appreciate our daughter's intelligence,' Jake said.

'Sorry,' Amy said as she dropped the act.

'Look,' Jake took over, 'we're sorry. We should've been more careful and we weren't. We promise to be more careful from now on. So, if we could just forget about today, that would be best.'

'Yeah, okay,' the kids said as they left the room. They just didn't want the conversation to last longer.

'Oh, thanks for the breakfast! We really appreciate the thought!' Amy shouted. It was just the two of them in the room.

'Well, that went better than I expected,' Jake said.

'Yeah, it did,' agreed Amy.

'Although the kids probably would want some time away from us.'

'Understandable.'

'Which means we can have some time for ourselves…'

'That's tempting.' The two of them started kissing again.

'Oh, my God! Already?' Mac shouted as he entered the room to get his mobile. He left the room in a hurry.

'Maybe we should just wait till your mom picks them up,' Amy suggested.

'Yeah, agreed,' Jake said as the two went to have breakfast.