A little bit of a break from the angst. Everyone loves a dog's perspective on their family.
Chapter 40 – Hope
Hope raised an ear and her head when she heard it. It wasn't the blaring beep of Elizabeth's alarm or the phone ringing, but a child's melodic voice talking to whatever stuffed friend she had in her crib. It was earlier than they would normally wake. 5:00am to be exact but Hope doesn't understand time.
She watched the bed intently for any movement. There was none. She could hear Henry's light snore competing with the baby's voice. She thought to herself, "Oh great I have to wake them after that long weekend."
Hope went over and nudged her head on Elizabeth's leg. Nothing. She saw her hand hanging down and decided to stick her wet nose there. That didn't work either. She resorted to kisses.
"Hope, it's too early. Lay back down," she heard Elizabeth mumble.
Okay, time for one to the face! She put her front paws up right at Elizabeth's side, pulled herself up onto the bed and licked Elizabeth on the side of her face.
"Hope! C'mon…" She backed down off the bed. "Henry! Eliza's awake." Elizabeth shot up to a sitting position.
Henry still didn't move. Hope sat down, smiling at Elizabeth and wagging her tail.
Elizabeth dragged herself out of bed, "Okay girl, let's go get the baby first then head for a run!"
Hope followed behind Elizabeth wagging her tail. What better way to start the day than extra time with her favorite person.
They went into the nursery room. Elizabeth greeted the baby happier than when she woke her up. Hope didn't let it go unnoticed. She continued to place herself right at Elizabeth's side. There was no way this child was going to take attention from her.
Elizabeth moved about talking with Eliza and getting her dressed while she naturally made sure she pet Hope's head every so often. They headed into the kitchen. Elizabeth grabbed the baby a sippy cup of juice. She walked back into the bedroom and plopped the girl down on the bed beside Henry. He rolled over and began to play with the baby while talking to Elizabeth.
"Oh no, this is not happening," Hope thought. She jumped up on the bed and laid right in front of the baby. Henry reached right over and gave her a pet. She wagged her tail.
"You taking them both for your run?" he asked.
"Sure, why not? I will push the stroller. Ryan is on today he will take Hope or I will let her run off leash. Unlike you, she stays right by my side." Elizabeth leaned down and kissed Hope on her head.
Henry moved to get off the bed, "I'll come and take Hope." She smiled at him, picked up Eliza and "Better get moving because we're ready to go." She winked at him.
As they ran the grounds, Hope was happy as can be and she did her best to stay right between the stroller and them because she didn't want to go on the horrible leash. It was warm and humid, but super early. They didn't run as fast as they normally would but that was all good for Hope. It was also good for the press. Unbeknownst to Henry and Elizabeth they got great photos of them running with the stroller and Hope. Americans were in love with the first family similar to the days of the Kennedy's. Often referring to them as the second "Camelot."
Just under an hour they slowed to a walk and made their way back to the residential entrance. When they got upstairs Hope immediately smelled the pancakes. She bolted her way around Elizabeth knocking Eliza down who began to cry. As Elizabeth scooped her up, Hope heard Stevie's voice coming from the kitchen and backtracked behind Elizabeth almost knocking her out at the knees.
"Hope, seriously?! Stop! What has gotten into you?" Elizabeth looked down at her with a scowl. Hope cowered a bit hoping she didn't just lose her chance of getting a pancake from Marie. Stevie stepped out from the kitchen.
"Good Morning," she said to her mother. Eliza answered back, "Mommy!" as she ran to her arms. Hope stayed behind Elizabeth's legs. It wasn't a family secret that the dog did not like Stevie. Elizabeth reached behind her and pulled Hope beside her. The dog had her ears back. Elizabeth scratched behind her ears while asking Stevie, "How are you today? Did you sleep okay?"
"Yeah, I did Mom." Stevie answered, fixing Eliza's hair, looking at her daughter she smiled, "I think Eliza and I will go home today. I spoke to Jason. He was going to bring Claudia to the airport and then do some things at the house before coming to get his stuff here."
Elizabeth gave Henry the look. Henry asked, "What things need to be done at the house?"
She sighed, "He's helping me by moving Dmitri's things out." She looked at them as they stared at each other. Hope looked back and forth between all of them. Deciding she wanted out of this conversation, she made her way to the kitchen. Stevie put down Eliza, who toddled right behind the dog.
Henry spoke first, "Don't you think that's a little soon?"
Elizabeth put her hand on his arm hoping to slow him down. Looking at his wife's glare at him, he changed his mind. "I'm going to hit the shower."
He left the room. Elizabeth looked at her Apple watch and thought to herself, "It's not even 7 AM yet."
"Sweetheart, your Dad is right. It's a little early to be, well, to have your brother clear his stuff out." Elizabeth said in a tone that was quiet and caring. Internally she thought, "What is this girl doing to me?" The images of Jason carrying bags out of the house and the headlines reading "Taking Out The Trash" played in her mind. The optics were never Elizabeth's first priority but they were now.
"Mom, don't worry. Dmitri and I would have been heading for divorce this week anyways." Stevie turned and headed back for the kitchen.
Leaving Elizabeth, still dumbfounded by the fact that she and Henry had no idea any of this was going on. She decided to forgo breakfast and headed for the shower.
A half hour later, with a loose bun in her hair, white blouse, navy slacks on since there was nothing official planned for the day, Elizabeth and Hope headed for the Oval Office. Hope naturally ran ahead of her just thrilled that she could spend the day with her.
As she made it to Blake's desk, she could already hear Daisy in her office telling Hope to stop sniffing her, while Mike B. laughed. "Hope come here, you big silly. Where is your mother? Some days I wonder what takes her so long, it's not like she has a commute. Oh wait, we all know the answer to that."
Elizabeth shot Blake the "I'm going to kill him" look.
Blake handed her a muffin with a smirk on his face, trying so hard not to laugh, "Coffee is on your desk, Mike B. and Daisy wanted to see you first thing."
As she turned she mumbled, "I bet they do." She glanced at her watch again, "Not even 8:30 yet."
She entered the office and immediately noticed the excitement on Mike's face and the concern on Daisy's.
"Great photo this morning. I can see your approval ratings jumping on the horizon. The country will be thrilled when you make your announcement." Mike was practically glowing.
Elizabeth stopped in her tracks, "What photo?"
Daisy jumped in with her iPad, "Ma'am, it appears this morning the pool cameras got some video and photos of you and Henry out for a run with Hope and Eliza."
"Okay so, why the look of concern?" She was shaking her head wondering why this was a first thing in the morning issue.
"They also went against the rules and got a picture of you and Henry kissing as the sun was coming up."
Mike interrupted, "It really is a gorgeous photo of America's favorite couple. It will play well in the re-election campaign."
She shot back, "Haven't made my decision yet. Again, Daisy not getting the look of concern here."
Mike took a deep breath.
Daisy hesitated, "Photos were taken of Jason with his new girlfriend while they were touring D.C. yesterday. They were kissing and now there are headlines, "Like father, like son."
"WHAT?!" Elizabeth stared at her.
"Well, they are alleging that Claudia looks so much like you. That it appears he is taking after Henry."
Hope was trying desperately to follow this conversation between the three of them. She groaned and laid herself down in front of Elizabeth's desk. She was completely confused as to how this day was going. She wished Annie was here so they could just go play ball. But, she has to be at a place called "camp" whatever that is. None of these people were fun right now. Except for Mike, he was always fun.
Elizabeth looked at her watch. "Still not even 8:30," she whispered. "Claudia's flight to Boston is at 10. Please make sure there is somebody there to greet her off the plane and escort her to her mother's car. The press up there will be all over her."
Hope's ears went up. She always thought the press might be if you did something bad. She once caught a chipmunk on the South Lawn. There were apparently photos and Henry was so mad at her.
She wondered what did the nice girl who Jason likes to sleep with do.
Elizabeth yelled out, "Blake, please get me Jason on the phone." Hope thought to herself, that can't be good.
Mike piped up, "I have no idea why the two of you are seeing this the wrong way! America loves the McCord's! Let's embrace this!"
"I just caught Henry on the stairs. He's reaching out to Jason to give him the heads up." Jay announced as he walked into the office. He pointed at Mike, "You need to stop. Out, now!"
Hope watched her friend leave the office as she got up to greet Jay. He gave her a gentle pat on the head as he gave Elizabeth the update on everything since she had taken the weekend off.
Hope overheard them talking about a trip on Wednesday through Friday. She hoped she was going. Then, they talked about potentially staying in this house for the next four years. Hope wondered why everyone was talking about that. She thought this was her furever home. Unless they moved to the horses, that would be best, Hope thought. Nobody to take photos of her chasing chipmunks and squirrels there.
Just then she heard his voice, Hope's ears perked up as she ran to the office door. She sat and wagged her tail as she waited for Henry to open the door. It seemed to be taking forever but it was really just a minute.
The door opened and Henry stuck his head in, he whispered, "C'mon girl," to her as he gave Elizabeth the "hey gorgeous" look and winked at her before closing the door.
After a few hours of office work, Henry took Hope outside to play fetch. Hope noticed the photographer right away. She couldn't figure out what was going on or why the interest, so she decided to not play along.
Henry threw the ball. She looked at him then at the ball, then back at him. "Hope, come on go get the ball. I thought you wanted to play fetch. "
She laid down and put her head in the grass. The agents and the photographer all laughed.
"Dr. McCord, do you mind if I come closer to get some photos of her?"
Henry looked over at the White House photographer.
"Of course, Jenny." He laughed. "She seems to not want to play though."
"Maybe too hot." Jenny laughed.
Henry called to Hope and she jumped up and ran after him. Jenny's camera clicked as she took a bunch of photos. She loved taking photos of the family with Hope. She was such a great dog.
Afterwards, they all walked inside. Jenny let Henry know she had a photo session scheduled with the President. They all made their way to the Oval Office.
Once they got to the office, Elizabeth came around from her desk and greeted Hope.
"Hey Baby Girl, did you have a good morning with Daddy?" she ruffled her ears as Jenny took a bunch of natural photos of them both kneeling down with the her. Hope was loving all of this and she smiled for the camera.
"Grammy!" Eliza came running in wearing a light blue pinafore dress with white dress shoes.
"Well, look at you all dressed up and fancy for our lunch together." Elizabeth kissed her on her head and then stood up.
Stevie came in and Hope once again cowered behind Elizabeth's legs.
Elizabeth turned to Stevie and shook her head, 'What did you do to my dog? I mean, I know she doesn't like you, but this is ridiculous, Stevie."
"I don't know, Mom. She hasn't gone near me in over a week. She's so weird." Stevie shook her head, "Are you ready to go, Dad?"
"Yep all set. The cars are waiting." Henry stood up and gave Elizabeth the look. He leaned in to kiss her good bye she whispered in his ear, "Remember Stevie Whisperer, just get her to slow down."
"I know, Babe," he scooped up Eliza and threw her up into the air. Jenny grabbed a great shot. Eliza giggled as Elizabeth smiled at them. When he did that, it reminded her of when the kids were little. As she came back into his arms, he kissed Eliza's head and one more for Elizabeth. Jenny got another great shot of the three of them and Hope.
Stevie handed Elizabeth the diaper bag and she knelt down to pet Hope. She snuggled her way into Stevie and her growing belly and wanted to stay there. She could hear the baby's heartbeat and it comforted her. Everyone in the room "awed" at the moment. Stevie leaned in and whispered, "This baby is going to love you too!" Hope still wondered where Dmitri was?
