A/N: Thank you for all of the reviews on the last chapter and the words of encouragement. They mean so much, as you know.
In this chapter, the kids are 11 and 10.
Mother's Day Love
Saturday Evening
11:37 p.m.
May 13th
The Day Before Mother's Day
Olivia yawned and stretched her arms into the air.
The two ladies were laying in bed. The brunette had the sheets lowered to her midsection and she was in her eggplant purple, long-sleeved silk pajama set.
Alex turned her head to the right and looked at her wife. They had just had a full day of soccer practice, a ballet performance, and karate. She eyed her wife in the moonlight. Her profile, her closed eyes, that when open, she could never get enough of, the way she was stroking her own hair backward and smiling.
The blonde rolled onto her right side now, to study her wife more fully. "What do you think they have planned?"
Olivia began giggling. "The kids?" A Pause. "Well, if it's anything like last year...construction paper cards, drawings, and some things bought with Jonathan from their trip to the mall."
Alex smiled and inched closer to her wife, wrapping her left arm around her middle and nuzzling her face into the crook of the brunette's neck. She placed a soft kiss there. "I think you're right. But they are older...maybe a little more mature...and they do keep saying we're gonna be really happy with our special day."
Olivia returned the embrace and wrapped her arms around Alex, taking in a deep breath again and letting out a contented moan. "They do keep saying that, don't they?"
Alex nodded against Olivia's collar bone and pressed her body closer.
A small pause of comfort as the two lay in the darkness.
"Did you see the way Karen Johnson was looking at us today...during Iz's recital?" Alex questioned.
A pause, silent contemplation between both women.
"Yeah...I did," Olivia said softly.
Alex moved her face into her wife's left breast then and inhaled deeply.
"But, she's never been someone I've ever trusted or been connected to. You know?" Olivia responded.
"I do know, Babe." Alex removed her face from her wife's soft warmth and looked up at her, trying to see her features, her eyes, in the faint moonlight. "And I guess I never have either."
Finally, Olivia looked down at her and smiled, letting her fingertips move up and down along the blonde's back. "Who cares, anyway?"
Alex lifted her upper torso, propping herself on her elbows now, looking down at the brunette. "I guess I don't, but...our kids...we're all mothers...I guess part of me thinks all mothers should stick together. Set a good example."
Olivia smiled. "But all mothers are their own people, too...different backgrounds...upbringings…beliefs…"
"True…" Alex whispered. She rested her right cheek back on Olivia's left breast and closed her eyes. She felt her wife's body shaking now and she lifted herself up once again. "What, Liv?"
Olivia shook her head, smiling. "I'm just looking forward to tomorrow, Al." She looked down at her. "Eleven years of being mothers and every year it just seems to get better and better."
Alex returned the grin. "You're right. And I think as they get even older...they're just gonna keep getting more and more practiced and creative." She let her body fall back onto her wife's once more and clenched Olivia's right hip firmly, placing a soft kiss on her neck. Then another. Then another.
Olivia chuckled again. "You feeling frisky, Babe?"
Alex moaned. "Not really...well, maybe...yes...but, I'm also really tired from such a busy day." She looked up at Olivia.
"I know. I am, too." Olivia held her tighter. "Although..." her body began shaking with laughter again, "...I'll take it any time, any way that I can get it, Al. You know me."
Alex smiled against her, holding her tightly once more and closing her eyes. "I know…"
A few more contented moments passed.
"Another night, then?" Olivia asked.
"Yeah, Liv. Another night. You can count on it." Alex felt her body melting into her wife's and felt her entire being meld against the brunette's. "Good night, Liv."
"Good night, Al. I love you…"
"I love you, too…"
Sunday
7:07 a.m.
Olivia entered the kitchen the next morning, desperate for some caffeine. She tightened her purple robe against her. Looking to the left through the expansive dining area kitchen window, the sun bright, the day bringing birds to their feeder on the north side of the townhouse.
She approached the coffee maker and clicked it on before reaching for the upper cabinet and taking two mugs down, setting both on the counter in front of her. She moved to the refrigerator and took the gallon of milk from it, closing the door, and then set it on the counter before moving to the small, battery-powered radio on the ledge of the sink window. She flipped the wheel upward and Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" was playing, his smooth voice echoing through the tinny, small device.
She smiled and moved to lean her backside against the counter, closing her eyes and smiling, waiting for the dark, rich elixir to make its way into the carafe below it.
"So...in love with you…" Olivia sang, "...whatever you want me to...it's all right…with me…" she strained.
She took a deep breath and smiled, thinking about her life.
Eleven years ago, she never would have imagined her life would be so complete, so fulfilled, so amazing. At that time, she had been seeing people, having intimate relations with personalities she never would have thought she would, and yet she had been, coexisting with. She had been living her life, as she looked back at it now, recklessly. Dating and sleeping with people who could bring her nothing in the way of a future. And yet that had been her world and she had been doing it.
Her life back then had been night and day compared to what it was at present.
Then, Alex reappeared, back into her life, on that fateful day in February of 2009, and the rest had been easy, had been a miracle, had been what it had been meant to be.
Her life, her absolute perfection of attainment with marriage and family and her career and everything that came with all of those things, had been more than she could have ever imagined.
Shuffling then, and she opened her eyes to find her wife entering from the hallway, arms folded, wearing her baby blue silk robe, glasses on, a smile on her amazingly perfect, porcelain face.
"Hey, Al. Good morning." Olivia smiled.
"Good morning to you, too, Liv." She stepped closer, moving her body in front of the brunette's. She leaned in and placed her hands on the brunette's waist and whispered, "Happy Mother's Day."
Then, the world fell away as Alex pressed her lips to hers, Olivia's hands immediately enveloping her back, their two bodies merged as one.
The kiss broke and they looked at each other.
"Why're you up so early on a Sunday, Babe? We should be sleeping in. Especially today."
"I just felt I needed to get up, Al. No other reason." Olivia smiled and cocked her head to the side, looking those crystal eyes over.
"Coffee on?" Alex smiled.
"Yeah…" Olivia grinned back. "It's almost ready."
"Thank God." Alex clenched her sides.
"Need it that bad, Al?" Olivia began laughing.
"Every morning, Liv. You know that, my love."
Olivia nodded. "I do know that. Just like I need it."
They watched each other for a few moments longer as the coffee pot began gurgling its final brewing.
"Mother's Day. Eleven years of being mothers, Liv." Alex shook her head slowly. "I can't believe it."
"I know, Babe. I can't believe it sometimes, either. It still blows my mind. And I can remember the exact moment that day that Theo made himself known when we were in Central Park, and wanted to come out…"
Alex nodded and reached for the brunette's face and cupped it in her hand. "I remember very well, too." She smiled. "You were a million times calmer than I was."
"And you, Al…" Olivia began.
Alex's smile was broad. "What about me, Liv?"
"You...being pregnant with our two girls...all you went through with your aches and pains and bloating...getting bigger and bigger...the moment at the hospital when the doctor said you couldn't have a normal birth...you freaking out…" she smiled then. "I remember all of it."
Alex nodded slowly, her eyes on the brunette's mouth.
"And here we are." Olivia slid her hands down to Alex's hips.
"And here we are."
The coffee pot announced its completion and the ladies continued to watch each other.
"Should be a fun day." Olivia smiled and cocked her head to the side.
"Should be…" Alex's expression turned suddenly serious.
"What is it?" Olivia's expression dropped, her face now concerned.
"I just...I just love you, Olivia. Every day...every year of parenting with you and being a mother with you through all these years...it's been absolutely the best years of my life. It's been incredible."
"I was just thinking the same thing, Al." Olivia moved closer then, pulling her wife's body even more firmly to her own now and she pressed her mouth to her wife's.
The kiss was slow, understanding, sensually physical—perfect.
"Mommy!" a small, high-pitched voice announced.
The ladies ended their kiss and looked toward the sound.
Grace was entering now, dressed for the day in a pair of jeans and a lavender sweatshirt, her feet bare, her hair in a ponytail. She was holding something behind her back and Theo was close behind her, also dressed for the day in a red and blue plaid button down, jeans, his longer hair combed neatly to the side.
The ladies looked at each other once more and smiled before looking back at their brown-eyed daughter.
"What's up, Gracie?" Alex chirped.
The ladies moved apart and Olivia folded her arms, looking down at their daughter. She eyed Theo off to the side and winked at him before returning her gaze to Gracie.
"We got you this, Mama." Grace handed Olivia a small package wrapped in metallic purple wrapping paper and a pink bow. "And this one is for Mommy." She handed the other package—this one with a white bow—to Alex.
"Wow, Gracie. Thank you!" Alex took the proffered gift and looked at Olivia.
Olivia only smiled. "Let's sit on the sofa and open them." She furrowed her brow at Theo and then Grace and then looked at Alex. "Where's Iz?"
"She's in bed, Mama. She wouldn't get up." Theo's expression was weary.
"Is she OK, guys?" Olivia looked at Alex. "It's not like her to sleep through any kind of excitement."
Olivia held the small package in her left hand and took Grace's hand with her right, Alex taking Theo's hand, as the foursome moved to the sectional.
The four sat—Theo, Alex, Olivia, Grace—and Olivia paused from pulling the purple bow off of the four-inch by four-inch gift.
"Let's open these and then go see what's happening with Iz. OK, guys? She should be here for this." Olivia looked at the kids and then eyed her wife over their heads.
Theo and Grace nodded.
"Open it, Mama!" Theo encouraged. "They're from all of us." He smiled.
"OK, OK." Olivia grinned back. "From all three of you, huh?" She slid her forefinger beneath the fold of paper and lifted, unwrapping the small box. Lifting the lid, she parted two thin, beige pieces of tissue paper to reveal two small, sparkling lavender crystals in what appeared to be a rose gold setting. "Wow…these are beautiful!" Olivia beamed.
Olivia blindly took each from the piece of cardboard they were attached to and placed them both on her ears. "How do they look?" She smiled, fluttered her eyelashes, and turned her head left and right.
"Beautiful!" Theo offered.
"So pretty!" Grace shouted.
The brunette held her arms out and they both threw themselves into Olivia and she kissed the tops of their heads, and their foreheads, and then hugged them tightly. "Thank you, my loves. I love them!"
The three continued holding each other and looked at the blonde.
"Open it, Mommy!" Theo cheered.
"OK, OK." Alex smiled. "I wanted your Mama and I to open them separately. She looked down at her own gift. "OK…here goes." Alex unwrapped her package and lifted the lid and parted the tissue as the brunette had done. She lifted a similar pair of earrings, only these were a light pink crystal gem in a gold setting." Alex looked at Olivia, narrowing her eyes. "I don't know a lot about jewelry, but I do know these are absolutely beautiful. And I already love them." She looked down at the kids. "Thank you, guys…"
The kids moved into Alex now and the blonde embraced them, kissing their cheeks.
"Put them on!" Grace yelled.
"OK. OK. So insistent." Alex smiled and took the earrings from the holder and placed them on. "There. Do they look good?" She raised her eyebrows and turned her head, moving her hair behind her ears so that her new jewelry could be inspected.
"Yea!" the kids cheered together.
Alex smiled. "I love them. Thank you, Babes." Alex turned the box over and then looked at Olivia, her mouth in an "o", raising her eyebrows.
But Olivia couldn't read what her wife was trying to tell her. The brunette narrowed her eyes at the blonde, still smiling.
Alex mouthed the word "later" and then looked back down at the kids.
The kids hugged her once more, then moved to hug Olivia again before Theo snuggled in between the ladies and Grace stood in front of her brother, her hands on the ladies' knees.
"Let's go up and see what's going on with Iz." Olivia looked at Alex again. "I'm a little surprised she hasn't come down." Olivia looked at Grace. "Especially with her siblings screaming so loud!" She tickled Grace, and then Theo's, belly. "Come on…" She moved to stand and held out her left hand, "…let's go see…"
Grace took it, and Alex and Theo followed them, to head upstairs and see what was happening with their blue-eyed girl.
7:38 a.m.
Alex heard their daughter even before they approached her room.
Coughing.
Repeated, hoarse, phlegmy hacking.
Approaching the twins' room, Olivia slowly pushed the door open, looking back at the blonde with an all-knowing look that told Alex that they were both thinking the same exact thing at that moment.
"Guys…" Alex moved to stand in the doorway, in front of Grace and Theo, facing them, "…stay here for just a minute…"
Alex turned back around and moved slowly toward the bed, watching her wife who was now on the left side of the bed, sitting on the small amount of space on Isabel's twin mattress, just next to her. Alex moved to the opposite side of the bed and sat and watched as Olivia reached forward and placed her hand on Isabel's forehead, keeping it there for a minute before looking at the blonde, over a semi-sleeping Isabel.
Alex waited.
"I think she has a fever, Al. Feel her." Olivia lifted her hand and Alex placed her left palm on Isabel's smooth, ivory skin, letting her own body temperature read her daughter's for a moment.
Isabel let out a few coughs again, her cheeks pink with flush, her eyes closed.
Alex looked at Olivia. "I think so, too." She took her hand from Isabel's forehead and leaned forward and kissed her cheek, the heat from her assumed fever evident against her own lips. She then whispered, "Iz, Baby? It's Mommy and Mama. How're you feeling?"
Isabel finally opened her eyes and managed a small smile. "Your hand feels good. Cool. Did you get the earrings?"
"We did, Baby," Olivia said softly. "We love them. See?" Olivia turned her head left and right. "We've both got them on."
Isabel turned to face Olivia. "You like the purple ones?"
Olivia nodded and tucked her daughter's hair behind her ear. "I do, Iz. I love them."
Isabel smiled. "They look so pretty, Mama." She looked back at Alex. "Do you like your pink ones? They're suspires?" Isabel's voice was raspy.
Alex furrowed her brow. "Is that a store?"
"No, they're sa-suspires. Sa-sus-pires?" Isabel now looked confused.
"The stone, Mommy." Theo spoke from the doorway now. "Sa-phires."
Alex looked at Isabel. "Sapphires? Is that the gemstone?"
Isabel nodded. "And Mama's are am-thist."
"Amethyst?" Olivia raised her eyebrows.
Alex looked at her wife and widened her eyes. They looked back at their girl in bed. She was nodding emphatically, another round of coughing overtaking her body.
"And they're real gold, too," Grace said from next to her brother.
The ladies looked at each other again.
Olivia spoke as the two ladies continued to watch each other. "Did you guys get these all by yourself? With all your allowances?"
Olivia looked at the kids who were nodding in the doorway and then back at Isabel.
"Uncle Jonathan, when he took us shopping, he helped us a little. We needed a little more and he said he would get it and that we could help him with little jobs some time over the holidays, like raking leaves or sweeping or something else."
Alex looked at the brunette who was now smiling.
"And your brother comes through yet again." Olivia's smile was broad now.
Alex winked. "He never fails to amaze me with how big his heart is."
"I know, Babe."
The ladies looked back down at Isabel.
"OK, little one. You stay here. Mama and I are gonna get a thermometer, some juice, a wet washcloth and some medicine." Alex cupped their daughter's right cheek with her left hand and smiled.
"OK, Mommy." Isabel smiled.
The two ladies stood now, Olivia leaning over to kiss Isabel's forehead, and the ladies made their way out of the room, ushering their other two children out, off to get their blue-eyed daughter on the mend and feeling better, as only mothers could do.
5:12 p.m.
"I know you probably paid for most of the price of those earrings, Jonathan. You didn't have to do that, bro." Alex looked at Olivia now, the blonde on the phone, sitting on a kitchen island stool, looking casual in a pair of jeans and a pink and white striped boatneck, fitted t-shirt, her feet bare and propped on the top rung of the stool. Her hair was in a parted-in-the-middle ponytail, her glasses on, make-up minimal.
The pizzas were in the oven keeping warm, having been delivered fifteen minutes prior. The ladies had relaxed with the kids all day, tending to Isabel's needs both upstairs and cuddling downstairs on the sofa, and now they were just waiting for their kids to wash their hands and come to eat dinner.
Isabel was feeling better and her fever had finally broken, a few doses of Robitussin bringing her coughing to a minimum, as well. Alex was to keep her home the next day from school, just as a precaution.
Olivia smiled and moved to stand behind her wife, placing her hands on her shoulders. She, herself, had showered and changed into a pair of dark jeans and a thin, cashmere deep purple V-neck sweater to match her new earrings, her hair down and damp and her feet also bare.
The brunette leaned in closer to Alex. "Yes, Jonathan. Thank you," she said loudly against the phone that was next to her wife's right ear. The brunette began kneading her wife's shoulders now.
"Yes. Thank you, Johnny," Alex continued, now closing her eyes.
Olivia could only hear the faint loudness of Jonathan's voice on the other line.
"Well, Iz is much better, but I think our dessert plans are probably out, big bro. I'm sorry." Alex placed her left hand on Olivia's left on her shoulder and then, took it, kissed it, and then placed it back, smiling. "We'll have to do it another time, John-John."
The previous plan had been to have dinner with their own kids on their own and then they would meet the Cabots—Casey, Jonathan, Katy, and Kimberly—for dessert and a newly opened ice cream parlor to celebrate Mother's Day and round out the evening. But now that Isabel had been feeling under the weather, those plans were put on hold.
Alex continued to listen, her brother continuing to talk.
Olivia tried to decipher what he was saying on the other side of the phone, but to no avail.
"I don't know, Johnny…let me ask Liv…" Alex took the phone from her ear, placing her hand gently over the mouthpiece, and looked back up at Olivia. "Johnny wants to know if we wanna plan to meet at Smoove next weekend, for sure. Maybe Saturday?" Alex raised her eyebrows.
Olivia smiled. "Sounds good to me."
Alex grinned back. "Maybe around seven? Enough time to eat, chat, and let the kids go to bed at a decent time."
Olivia kissed her wife's cheek. "Sounds perfect."
Alex returned to her call. "Sounds good, Johnny. About seven? Next Saturday?"
More noise and talking on the other end, a couple of see you thens, and then Alex took her phone from her ear and set it on the island in front of her, next to a white mug of red tea.
Alex turned her entire body to fully face her now, smiling. She parted her knees and Olivia stepped in between her thighs, placing her forearms on the blonde's shoulders, Alex placing her hands on Olivia's hips.
Olivia took a deep breath and let it out slowly, her gaze on her wife's beautiful face.
"It was a pretty good Mother's Day, wasn't it?" Alex smiled.
"One of the best." Olivia agreed. "All I need is our kids, you, some cuddling and together time, and I'm good to go."
Alex's smile broadened. "Good to go?" she giggled.
Olivia only nodded slowly. "Always. You've given me this, Al," she said softly.
Alex's eyes began watering and she swallowed hard. "And you've given me this, too, Liv…" she whispered. "All of it…" she smiled, "…thank you…"
Olivia only nodded once more before leaning in and pressing her lips to her wife's, feeling the warmth, the love, the languid skill involved with two women who knew each other's mouths so well.
Alex moaned softly and Olivia felt her smile through the kiss before they pulled away, just watching each other.
A rumbling of footsteps now. Theo, then Grace, then Isabel—having changed from her polka dotted panda ballerina pajamas she had been sporting most of the day and into jeans and a pink sweatshirt—close behind.
"You Babes ready for some pizza?" Olivia asked, raising her eyebrows at their children.
They nodded enthusiastically, even their formerly ill daughter that had perked up significantly over the past couple of hours, and then all ran to the table and seated themselves.
Olivia looked at her wife again and winked.
"Happy Mother's Day, Liv. And many, many more," Alex giggled.
Olivia puckered the air. "Happy Mother's Day, Al. And many, many more. I couldn't do it without you."
"Nor I, without you, Babe." Alex returned the wink, her porcelain cheeks having taken on a sudden rosiness, her blue eyes sparkling against them.
Olivia simply watched Alex, and the beauty that the blonde held every day, knowing in her heart of hearts that given the ups and downs they had had together as mothers throughout the years, what they had weathered, and the future events that they would experience for the first, second, and third times in their mothering lives, had all been, and would continue to be, worth it if she was doing it with the woman she loved more than she had ever loved anyone in her entire existence—Alexandra Elizabeth Cabot. Her wife, her partner in life, and the MVP player on her own, personal fantasy motherhood team.
The brunette finally broke her eyes from her trance when the evening noise of hungry voices hit her ears. She looked at her kids then her wife and smiled. "Let's eat, guys. Happy Mother's Day to the best kids in the world." She winked.
