A/N: Sorry it's been awhile. Hope you enjoy this chapter!
xx
Rose led Alice through the threshold of the door. The arm which was looped through her sister's seemed to be the only thing grounding her. How would Ruth react upon seeing her? This past week, Ruth had been more than irritable when certain subjects were brought to life, and a visit from the daughter she gave up certainly wasn't something she'd been expecting by any means.
As the door clicked shut behind them, Rose wished more than ever that she'd accepted Jack's offer to tag along with them. Of course, work was more important, especially when she took the economy and its current situation into mind. But still, having him around would be helpful.
"Mother?" her voice cracked as she spoke, echoing throughout the empty portions of the house.
Ruth appeared rashly quickly, frightened by the expression in her daughter's voice. At first, the tone had made her think something was wrong, but when the sight before her fully came into view, her heart nearly dropped.
Not only had Rose reappeared, but Alice had come along with her. Only this time was different than the last: Alice now knew that she was her daughter.
All color draining from her faee, Ruth placed a hand on her chest and worked to steady her breathing.
Sensing the tension only rising in the room, Alice took it upon herself to try and relieve it as best she could, despite her emotions also running wild.
"Lovely to see you again, Ruth…"
Ruth cleared her throat, finally coming to her senses. At least as best as she could. Part of her was furious with Rose for bringing this situation to light so early. She hadn't even had time to try and make out what she wanted to say about everything.
In truth, the whole situation was something she didn't think she'd have to think too deeply about ever again. Yes, she'd always wanted to reconnect with the daughter she'd lost years ago, but this certainly wasn't the way she'd expected to go.
Not to mention that those thoughts were nothing but that: thoughts. When faced with it right in front of her, Ruth wasn't sure whether or not she was even ready to discuss her past recklessness, much less the fact that she'd given away the girl who now stood before her.
"Yes… Alice," she hadn't meant to hesitate while saying the name, it kind of just happened. It all still felt surreal. A name that had once been too painful to say, now being said right to the face of its owner.
A name that Ruth herself had chosen. A name that had meaning that Alice wasn't even aware of.
God, what had she done? At the expense of her own sanity and emotional well-being, she'd let go of her deepest secret to salvage the remainders of her and Rose's relationship. All she could hope for was that it'd be worth it.
"I suppose we have some things to discuss…"
Rose's mouth curved up weakly as she let go of Alice. "I'll go gather up some tea to warm us up. Why don't you two wait for me in the dining room?"
For about ten minutes, Rose preoccupied herself in the kitchen, trying to map out in her head how this would all go.
She knew Alice well, and looking for her birth family was something she'd been doing since before they even met. All she could hope for is that her newly found sister wouldn't be blinded by the excitement to realize the kind of person their mother really was.
In the end, Alice already knew everything Rose had gone through during her childhood, and those scars still weren't even healed and she was thirty now! They'd both have issues when it came to the topic of a maternal relationship, she supposed, but her point still stood.
Maybe bringing her here this soon hadn't been such a good idea. Neither of them knew what they were truly getting into.
Footsteps stopped causing her to stop pouring tea for the moment. Alice appeared beside her, grabbing the teacups off the counter. "Would you mind if Ruth and I discussed things alone for a bit?" She kept her voice low, making Rose wonder if her mother was even aware of that idea.
Even if she didn't, Rose agreed, and told to call her if anything were to happen. There'd been many times when she wished she'd had that option, so it was the least she could do. Still, there had to be a reason why Alice didn't want her in the room, right?
"Mommy!" Elizabeth tugged at her mother's skirts, breaking the train of thought.
Some things were more important than unnecessary thinking, and she silently thanked her daughter for disrupting her rampant thoughts. When Jack wasn't there to comfort her, her children were. Even if they weren't aware of it, they'd continued to save her just as much as their father had been all these years.
One day, she'd let them know.
"Yes, sweetheart?"
"I must show you something!" Hearing the high pitch in her voice and seeing the familiar look of excitement appearing in her eye, Rose knew something was up.
Only taking one glance back at the figures seated at the dining room table, she nodded, grabbing hold of the hand much smaller than hers. They'd be alright. At least she hoped so. "Very well. Lead the way."
As they cut the corner into the children's bedroom, Rose immediately caught sight of stacks upon stacks of pillows, blankets, and just about anything else you could sleep on in one pile.
Elizabeth smiled proudly as she gestured to it. "Cora and I made a fort!"
Rose turned to her older daughter, who was covering her mouth to stifle a laugh. A fort was the last thing she thought it was, and she found herself holding back a chuckle, "Oh? What for?"
"For reading," she replied with a roll of the eyes, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Next thing, and they were all in the middle of said fort, which was more or less falling on top of all their heads. It reminded Rose of when her oldest children were young, when her and Jack used to set up similar makeshift play areas for them… albeit much more stable and put together than the one she was currently trapped in.
It certainly wasn't big enough for the three of them, but she knew that lately she'd been lacking in the department of mother-daughter time, and guilt had been eating at her for it. Besides, a moment away from all the stress in the world was certainly worth it.
"So," Rose scanned her eyes across the smiling faces of her daughters. "I thought this was a fort for reading?"
"Oh!" Cora shifted, almost knocking a wall down in the process. "It is."
After some struggle, she revealed a book that had been tucked away under some portion of their setup. She handed it to Rose, who could recognize that it was the size of one of their many children's story books, only she was just now realizing how little light the space provided.
"Well, so much for that," she shut it just as quickly as she opened it, earning a disappointed whine from Eliza. "What else is this fort for?"
From her left side, Cora shrugged her shoulders. "If we can't read, maybe we can tell each other stories."
Wrapping an arm around each of her girls, Rose smiled. This was everything she'd ever dreamed of and more. "What kind of stories?"
"Tell me one about when I was a baby, I wanna know what I was like when I was little."
Rose did laugh at the comment this time, not being able to help it. "Eliza, you are still little."
Luckily for them, Cora already had something in mind. "What about the day she was born?" It was a day that would live in glory for her. Having a little sister was all she'd ever wanted, and getting to hold Elizabeth in her arms for the first time had felt like magic.
"Okay…" she had to think for a moment. Unlike Cora's memories from that day, her's were a lot more scary. After all, she had nearly died giving birth to her first daughter and had lost a baby in between then. Of course it was a time filled with joy, but that joy didn't sink in until weeks later when she finally stopped feeling guilty about it all.
She couldn't say that of course, so she went with the option of turning it into story-like. "When you're older and choose to have kids or not, you'll understand this better - but sometimes mother's just know when it's gonna happen. And that's exactly how it was with Elizabeth."
With the little light available, Rose looked down to the daughter she'd been talking about. There was the widest grin across her face, her blue eyes shining with curiosity. It occurred to her then that she didn't think she'd ever told this story before.
"Anyway, early in the morning, I was making breakfast for Elliot and Cora, when my stomach started hurting. And it had been hurting all night, but at that point I was sure that the little baby was finally ready to make a grand entrance into the world."
"That's when you had me phone the theater, right Mama?" Cora piped in, remembering this story herself.
"Yes, that's right. And your father brought over Aunt Alice with him. Neither of them wanted to miss meeting you," at that last part, she rubbed her thumb across Elizabeth's cheek.
It was strange to think about now, how involved Alice wanted to be in their lives, not knowing that she was part of it more than she ever knew. It seemed like some things were just meant to be. Even though they'd been just about as separated as they could get, they were brought back to one another in the most coincidental way possible.
"Then, once they arrived back at home with the doctor, Elizabeth didn't take very long to make her entrance. And Cora was very excited to find out the baby was a girl. She'd even been the first one to hold you while Mommy got cleaned up."
After she'd been born, the doctor was concerned about excessive bleeding. And Jack, not wanting to leave her side while she was examined, instructed the midwife to bring the newborn out to the children eagerly waiting in the other room.
By now, Elizabeth had curled herself against Rose's side, her eyes wide with wonder as she listened to the story.
"When I got to feeling a bit better, they brought you into the room. And you looked right up at me and I saw just how blue your eyes were. Your father and I couldn't stop looking at you, and you couldn't either. And though some people say babies don't smile until they're of a certain age, no one can convince me that I didn't see you flash one at me that day."
Feeling herself starting to get emotional at the memory, she sighed, wiping her eyes. She planted a kiss on each of her daughter's heads, before rubbing Elizabeth's back and removing herself from the fort. "What do you say we all go prepare dinner?"
They nodded eagerly, excited to spend more time with their mother. But in actuality, Rose just wanted to get herself closer to the conversation happening in the other room. So far, she hadn't heard any yelling, and she figured that must be a good sign.
Unfortunately for her, as she prepared dinner with her helping hands, she could only see the back of their heads. They also seemed to be speaking quietly, or maybe not at all, since she couldn't hear anything either.
Finally, sometime later, Elliot arrived home from the job he'd left for earlier, Jack trailing in behind him. He was almost surprised to see so many people in the kitchen at once, and when he went to kiss Rose, he caught sight of the two figures at the dining room table, nodding his head towards them. "Alice still here?"
"Yes!" Rose wiper-shouted. "And I can't hear anything they're saying for the life of me!"
Jack smirked, kissing her once more. "And here I am, all these years later, thinking that you were never one for enjoying that sort of thing."
She rolled her eyes playfully at him, grabbing bowls down from the cupboard, having to dodge Cora in the process, who was carrying a pot full of stew. "I'm serious, Jack. They've been there for at least two hours."
Jack crossed his arms, now his turn to avoid their daughter who was coming back around to put the pot on the stove, "Well, they've got, what? Thirty-some odd years to catch up on?"
"I suppose you're right, but it's starting to drive me mad!"
"I can tell."
"What?" Rose said, whipping around at the comment.
He laughed, "You're all riled up. You only get like this when something's bugging you."
"I have the right to be, I think."
"Never said you didn't," Jack grabbed one of the bowls, filling it up. "But we'll have to disrupt them one way or another, because this looks to be done."
At first, it was awkward having to abrupt whatever conversation they were having, but after they all sat down to eat, things loosened up. At least for a moment.
No one knew what to do until Alice broke the silence. Until then, it had been all eyes on her, even the usually vocal Elizabeth not having anything to say. "Is this the recipe I lent to you? It tastes an awful lot like the one my mother used to make back home."
"Yes, my family cherishes it greatly. With how cold it's been outside, I figure something warm like this was just what we all needed." For an instant, Rose's eyes snapped over to her mother's, and she swore that a pang of sadness hid behind them as the reminder that she was - but really wasn't - Alice's mother.
Alice smiled, closing her eyes as she took another bite. "We'd better not tell her, but I think you've mastered this recipe better than even she has."
Something about the question made the air tense again.
"Elliot, are you alright?" Jack asked, looking at his son from across the table. He had a faraway look in his eye, almost as if he weren't fully there.
What Jack didn't know was that earlier that morning, he and his grandmother had shared a few choice words. After he'd (technically) threatened her, Ruth attempted to make up for it by joining the children in their room. Elliot didn't stay around for it too long since he had work, but he was still upset.
He wanted her to do things because she wanted to, not because she felt obligated to. That isn't what a family is supposed to be like, is what he almost said to her before leaving.
"Fine." Elliot's voice came out harsher than he'd meant it to, only making things flare up more.
It was then that Rose began regretting ever letting this happen in the first place. She should've listened to her gut when it told her not to allow Alice and her mother's first meeting to be at their home.
"Are you sure, son?" Jack had always been the more patient one, and Rose was relieved that he was there to help settle things.
He set his fork down against the table, eyes sliding over to Ruth's. "I said I'm fine."
"Hey, now." Rose placed a hand on his taut arm, not understanding what was wrong, but pleading for it not to get worse. Especially not with Alice in the room. "Relax. You feel tense."
"Maybe I am tense." Now, his eyes were on Rose. He felt guilty for getting so upset now of all times, but he felt like he may explode if he didn't say something. Everything had been building up for too long, and finding out his adopted aunt had really been his biological aunt the whole time pushed him over the edge. His mother hadn't deserved to grow up without Alice, and vice versa.
"Elliot, why don't we discuss this later?" Rose was attempting to keep her voice down to a simmer, but it was pointless. The room was so quiet that a feather landing on the ground would be as loud as an explosion.
"I just don't understand how we're still letting this happen!"
Ruth looked away, and Cora whispered to Jack, "Letting what happen?"
He placed a hand on her arm, but didn't answer. He turned his attention to the scene unfolded in front of him, backing up Rose as his own voice became more stern, warning him not to continue.
"No, I'm sick of this!" Elliot raised his voice, standing from his chair and throwing down his napkin. "First, she talks negatively about Pa to the girls, upsets Ma time and time again, and then reveals this secret daughter she's been hiding for years? And I'm supposed to just be okay with that? I can't keep pretending this is fine. When will you see? Everyone in this household is stressed beyond any sort of normalcy. This isn't how it's supposed to be, I just miss my old family!"
After that, he walked away, leaving everyone in the room speechless. No one could look each other in the eye, and especially not Ruth. Her embarrassed eyes had been cast downward for longer than the rest, and she wasn't planning on raising them any time soon.
But he had a point, didn't he? She had brought a lot of harm into their household, whether that was her intention or not.
Rose looked to Alice, her face a deep red. "I'm sorry about that, truly."
"Aw, Rosie. You act like I haven't been around your family for years." It was true, she'd witnessed her fair share of bickering in the household, though it had always come from the children. "And besides, the kid's stressed out. Seems like he's been bottling that up for a while."
"Girls," Jack looked at each of them. They both looked a bit distressed, having never seen their brother act that way before. "Why don't you head on to your room?"
Elizabeth tried contesting, but Cora assured her that their room would be much more fun, grabbing a hold of her hand. It was easy to tell by the tone in their father's voice that they wanted to discuss something without kids in the room.
As they went to leave the dining room, Jack ruffled Cora's hair, giving her a look that said he was thankful. She tried returning one, hoping that they'd figure everything out while she was gone.
She couldn't stop thinking about what Elliot had said, about missing his old family. While she had never really questioned that before, she was now. And she had to agree; she missed their old family too.