Dedicated to my friend Nancy who always reads and replies and had a birthday very recently. She works in childcare through this pandemic and loves the McCords as much as I do. We recently talked about chocolate on a fan board, and this was the least I could do for her. Surprise3
Of course these are not my characters. If only they could be.
Xox Brenda
(The 72 unfinished and unedited stories are being examined, and edited. Some might actually make it here. I am very hard on myself. Working on letting go and just allowing you to read my words.)
Please review. It really does mean the world to me. Even just "nice story" lights me up LOL.
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He started doing it when he realized that his wife was practically drooling on Easter Sunday.
They had three children, so there were chocolate bunnies and other treats hidden around the house wherever the McCord Family was based any given year.
He accepted that as he and his wife would eat some of the foil covered eggs and jelly beans as they hid items for their kids.
Sometimes the kids would generously hand over some chocolate to Mommy and Daddy. Henry was happy with a few bites.
But Elizabeth was a chocolate lover and he felt bad when little Allison gave her mom a beautiful bunny to have a few bites - and absently - well, his wife ate the whole thing. Their little noodle had been in tears and his wife was so heartbroken and ashamed. Ally had sent mommy to the time out corner and Elizabeth had gone, chastened. She offered to buy Ally a new bunny but Allison said - that "the ones at the store were not magic because they didn't come from the Easter Bunny." Oof
Elizabeth had turned bright red and allowed her tiny girl to lead her to the bottom step; where Ally told her sternly "you have to think about your choices". He felt awful but he knew that if he interfered it would hurt something ethical between mother and child. He was glad that Stephanie was taking a nap and that the baby was blissfully unaware. The house felt terrible for about five minutes and then Ally relented and crawled into her mother's lap. "Did you get your thinking done Mommy?" She placed her two hands on her mother's red face, and kissed her nose pronouncing her "forggibbon".
Remorseful Elizabeth was still ashamed at bedtime that night. "I knew I would do things to hurt these kids and embarrass them because I am a flawed person, but eating her special bunny and then almost ruining Easter magic for her? Gawd Henry I don't deserve chocolate, but our Noodle has the biggest heart doesn't she?" Henry sighed "it's not a good parenting tactic to let the kids punish the parents Babe." Elizabeth agreed, but in that moment without Stevie there to lord it over on them "it just felt right Henry. I ate her whole entire special Easter Bunny. If Stevie had done that..." Henry kissed her on her forehead and gently caressed her cheek with his thumb. "You have biggest heart Mommy. I love you."
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After that there was always a Bunny for Mommy too. The first year she had been surprised and her eyes had filled with love for her husband. The kids had forgotten about the snafu last year; but he knew she would always remember.
Henry was a kind man who liked to make his wife feel loved and special. There were tokens of 'just because', and those were the gifts that she seemed to cherish most because they were a symbol that he had been able to interrupt his busy life and think of making her feel loved.
She was the same. They were a very normal modern, busy family and amongst the laughter and routine sometimes they shouted, sometimes one of them needed to blow off some steam. He would go work on something in their basement, and she would take a bath. Occasionally, they would work late, or in different parts of the house. Their kids noticed but as Stevie put it - "mom and dad are so in love it's gross how cuddly they are. It's good if they fight once in a while. Don't worry nerds. It's gonna be fine in day or two." Stevie was right. It always was.
Some subjects were more challenging than others. Baghdad, his dad and Maureen, how best to deal with a teenaged Stevie, the church, and lately who got themselves into more danger. Henry knew he wasn't marrying a woman who sat by the pool and wrinkled her nose at politics. He knew that he loved her because she was always in trouble. The good kind. She was his hero - but it meant that sometimes he was worried.
He had no ground to stand on. ROTC, the gulf war, the NSA and lately the intelligence game had him risking his life every few weeks. He felt bad because it occurred to him that she might feel he was trying to even the which spouse is more terrified score. Something which should never have ever been a game. Currently they exchanged those red reading glasses so often it was a wonder she would ever wear them to actually read.
It left little time for small gifts and surprise chocolate. Throw in vexing children who seemed to require more parenting between the ages of 16 and 22 and it felt as if their circle of two had some gaping holes in the rim.
She didn't need his chocolate - she came home and unbuttoned her pants, fretting about all the carbs at work. She ordered fancy skin cream and she would send notes to Blake asking him to not pick up pastries - only to rescind these promises after a day or two of baby carrots.
He had no idea why she didn't pack on extra weight and have bad skin.
Blessed was what he decided. She was active and he knew she did not get many pimples or breakouts. It seemed to be part of the mystery of who she was and he remembered birthdays, anniversaries and Christmases. He had not anticipated how much she was going to love that watch. He had it made to make her feel special but she wore it every day. That, and the ring he had made for her on their 20th anniversary - she found that at the farm when they were in the thick of dealing with the Dimitri situation and that had to qualify as the thing that nearly broke them apart
What a season. Dimitri, Talia, Buttercup, The school carnival. The one Christmas they were fighting not to let the kids know they were fighting. It was all rolled up as the things that almost broke up their amazing love. But they fought through it. Elizabeth had found Dimitri and had been willing to battle Conrad to save the young man. Truth be told, he knew that if Conrad had said no, his wife might have back- channelled to save the young man. He shuddered to think of a world where he had Dimitri and no Elizabeth. That one hurt him deeply.
He aplogized to her and she to him and they moved on.
Then one night he caught her upstairs wandering the hallway and peeking in on their very grown up children.
She was misty as she explained that Jay was thrilled he had Chloe this Easter and had bought chocolate and stuffed toys and trinkets to hide for her.
When had everyone gotten so big? She wondered - and as he looked at her in a Frampton T-shirt and mismatched PJ bottoms, her eyes brimming with tears of pride and change- he felt himself choking up.
Elizabeth herself had grown so much these last two and half decades and yet no one said to mothers "My you have gotten so big!" He thought about who she had been back in 1988, gangly and gorgeous. Focused on Calculus and horses and changing the world by beginning work with the CIA. They met when she came to the Religious Studies office needing an extension on an essay, because she'd been sent to the Middle East and her mission had gone long. He had granted it, wondering if that's why her ankle was sprained and why there was a bruise on her face. He was told he couldn't discuss her situation with anyone by the department chair. Truth be told he had heard their was a younger student in some of the senior classes - because she was in a unique program. He wanted to meet her because her credentials sounded impressive and his mentor said that this young woman was gifted beyond measure.
Henry could see that for himself. He had given her 72 hours to do the paper; but she was back in 48, with an A paper and he realized that this young woman and her mysterious life hadn't left his mind since she entered his office. He worried she was too young. Pigtails and freckles, overalls and chewing bubblegum. Her aura though was that of an old soul and that first study session had electrified him. She looked like a teenager but she was anything but.
He learned that the feelings had been mutual and that at 19 almost 20, she was exactly who he never knew he needed.
He realized he had changed too, and he was proud of how he and his wife had navigated them ordeal that marriage was. The parenting coupled with odd family situations, the craziest jobs they both had.
It seemed that she was a public servant and he was a teacher - but it was somehow so plain when that's what they listed on the school forms for Jason.
So he decided to make a game of it. He bought chocolate and hid it around the house. He brought it out when she needed the "emergency stash" and she seemed to love the surprise of it all.
She made him feel like he hung the moon, and it was genuine.
He saw it in her eyes every day.
He considered himself lucky. It was still a glorious revelation that she loved him beyond measure.
If either of them had to answer a question about what love truly looked like- their answers would have been identical.
It was hot mess, full of passion, concern, surprise and pride. It was a shared vision that required a lot of deliberate choice to make it work.
But it was worth it. The rewards were unquantifiable. It was having someone to grow up with. That someone knew you better than you knew yourself and the vulnerability that came with the kind of trust engendered both fear of exposure and comfort of acceptance.
You had to risk everything to gain everything. Usually when you were tired and embarrassed and wanting nothing more than private space.
It was the journey and that's what Elizabeth tasted when she was given chocolate that had been taped to the bottom of a chair or behind a door.
It was why she never looked for it. Henry knew that for her; the comfort came from the gift.
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