Chapter 3
The next day february 13th
Lee Stetson was not a morning person, but he was determined to get up before his wife on this special day. It was their 26th wedding anniversary and he wanted to make it a memorable day for her. One way was by actually getting up before her in order to serve her breakfast in bed. He had set the alarm on his phone and then put it on vibrate so Amanda wouldn't hear it. He decided to make her favorite-blueberry pancakes. Lee thought to himself. He was amazed that his wife was as beautiful as when he first met her, and that he was more in love with her now than he could have possibly imagined. It didn't bother him that her hair was peppered with gray, or that her slender waistline was a little thicker; he knew he was a lucky man.
The house was very quiet and still as he went about getting all the ingredients assembled. As he busily cooked the "feast," he remembered the bacon and got that fried up too. When everything was ready, Lee checked the clock. It was just a few minutes before seven, which was when the alarm would go off. Even on a day off, his wife was still an early riser. Lee loaded the tray and carried it up the stairs to their bedroom. Just as he planned, the alarm sounded as he set the tray beside the bed. Amanda stirred and her hand went to turn it off. Lee placed his hand over hers and leaned down and kissed his wife's lips. Amanda smiled, her eyes still closed.
"Who is it?" she asked sleepily.
"What do you mean who is it!" Lee mocked, acting horrified.
Amanda giggled and opened her eyes. "Oh it's you, my old husband of twenty-six years."
"Hmm…old am I? Well, now, I am not so sure you deserve this breakfast I made for you!" Lee grumbled, half kidding.
Amanda sat up and looked around. "You did this!? You made me breakfast-and you got up before me!"
Lee reminded her "You always say breakfast is the most important meal of the day." Amanda laughed and gave him a leisurely kiss on his lips.
Amanda's kisses always intoxicated Lee, and he leaned in more, forgetting about the pancakes he had made for her.
Amanda pulled back much to his disappointment, and she pointed to the tray beside her bed. "It smells so good! I'm hungry!"
Lee brought the tray over which had two cups of coffee on it but only one plate of pancakes, bacon, and strawberries with whipped cream. "For my lovely wife!" Lee began to slowly feed Amanda her breakfast, taking care not to rush. They both savored the silent communication of love between them. Their eyes kept locked on one another. Lee's gaze would only leave for a second to gather another morsel onto the fork for Amanda. Lee took a strawberry and swirled it in whipped cream. He held it up to Amanda, and as she bit a small portion off she also happened to take one of Lee's fingers into her mouth, sucking on it. It was like an electric current that went through his body. Breakfast was pushed aside and forgotten as their bodies merged.
Later Amanda and Lee came downstairs to see that Dotty had put some anniversary decorations up. Amanda was carrying the sheets from their bed to put in the washing machine.
"Oh Mother, how sweet of you to remember!" Amanda kissed her mother on the cheek and Lee followed suit.
"Of course, dear, I remembered! I got Philip to help me order some of this on that Amazon market thing on the internet. It's so much easier for an old woman like me to buy it there. I don't like driving anymore."
"Well we appreciate it, Dotty," Lee added as he put the tray of dishes from Amanda's breakfast in the dishwasher.
Dotty was distracted by Amanda going into the laundry room with the sheets. "Amanda dear, didn't you just put those sheets on the bed yesterday?" she called.
"Uh, yes, mother but they got dirty."
"So quickly, dear? How did they get dirty so fast?"
"Er...ah well, Lee served me breakfast in bed and I was a...a little clumsy and I accidentally spilled the food all over the sheets." Amanda bit her lip, hoping her mother wouldn't ask more questions.
"Then you should get those right in the washer, dear."
"Yes, Mother, I'm doing that now," Amanda called from the laundry room.
"I think I gave you those for Christmas. What did you spill on them?" Dotty came in to inspect the sheets.
Amanda flicked her head back "Uh the coffee spilled on me and since that was hot...and…uh well I jumped and then the pancakes and syrup went flying and everything got ah...er sticky."
Lee couldn't help but look amused. His mother-in-law would have made a great government interrogator.
"Oh dear! Coffee, that will stain them, and those are very nice sheets. The thread counts are high and it's Egyptian cotton. Let me see how bad it is." Dotty pulled one of the sheets out of the washer to inspect it.
"Amanda, what is all this pink?!"
"Oh, that would be the juice from the strawberries..I uh… well the bowl tipped over somehow got mashed into the sheets." Amanda's voice trailed off.
"These are just too nice to allow them to stay stained. You need to soak them in club soda."
"Thank you, Mother, I really don't need any help-I can do it myself."
Dotty continued "Really, Amanda, you should be more careful especially when..." A sudden look of revelation dawned on Dotty and she quickly put them back in the washing machine and gave Amanda a knowing smile. "When your husband was so considerate to serve you breakfast in bed!" Dotty looked over at Lee. Amanda nodded, keeping her head down stifling a laugh and trying not to look over at Lee.
Lee just gave her a bemused look and shrugged his shoulders. "Sometimes things like that happen."
Dotty changed the subject quickly and asked, "Oh-so do you have anything special planned for today?"
Amanda came out of the laundry room and looked at Lee curiously.
"No work today!" Turning to Amanda he said "I thought we would have a lazy day in one of your favorite places."
" The Zoo to see the Pandas!"exclaimed Amanda.
" Yep! and then dinner for two tonight at Philip's restaurant." Amanda looked a little disappointed.
"What's wrong?" Lee asked
"It sounds lovely, really Lee, but I was hoping the children would remember our anniversary but I haven't heard a thing from any of them!"
"It will be nice for us to have a nice quiet celebration for a know last year was a big deal on our twenty-fifth when we renewed our vows."
Amanda nodded.
"Oh, Amanda, you know how young people are...so caught up in their lives they forget! Just enjoy the time with Lee," advised Dotty.
"Of course, Mother."
— Later that day—
Lee and Amanda spent part of the day at the zoo. It turned out to be a cold day to be outside and they had to bundle spent at least an hour watching the pandas. It was wonderful snuggling in each other's arms watching the antics of the beautiful animals. Amanda thought fondly back to the day when she found a large stuffed panda on her doorstep.
"Lee, remember the panda you left on my doorstep?"
Lee smiled…wow…he hadn't thought about that day in a while. "Yeah I had bought it for that kid. Um what was his name…Alexander?"
"It was Alexi," she corrected.
"Yeah, right! I didn't know much about kids then!"
"But you remembered that I had said how much I loved it. I can't remember exactly what I said, but you remembered!"
"Yes, I knew you were special then but I was still denying my attraction to you. Hey, what ever happened to that panda?" Lee asked.
"Don't you remember? It lasted till JJ was about three. It really had a tough life. JJ spit up on it as a baby, and she drooled and peed on it too! Then she started doing karate kicks at it and jumping all over it and knocked all the stuffing out!"
"Oh right! The karate phase," Lee recalled. They laughed together as they thought back to their first daughter's antics. "And Mattie kept crying saying 'JJ mean to bear'" Lee added. As they reminisced, it made them wistful, thinking back to when their children were young.
Amanda squeezed Lee's arm, "You know I don't regret anything about our life. Even how long it took you to realize your feelings for me. Except that we eloped and didn't tell anyone about our marriage for months!"
"Yes I agree! That idea of mine for the Mystery Marriage was for the birds!"
"And when we finally decided it was time to end the mystery, Fate stepped in with our little bundle of joy-Jennifer Joy!"
"Not to mention that fate was in the form of the receptionist who spilled the beans to your mother!" Lee laughed.
Lee gathered Amanda in his arms and held her face in his hands as he kissed his wife of twenty-six years tenderly.
"Hmm…that warmed me up," Amanda whispered.
"Let's go inside and have some soup and coffee!" Lee took Amanda's hand as they hurriedly went into a zoo cafe.
—-Later that evening—
Lee and Amanda entered Philip's restaurant, The Capitol Steps. It was a charming place in which many of the government elite came to dine, make deals, and be seen. It was eclectic in nature, with one area that had big booths for parties and another area with intimate tables for two, and there were private rooms in the back for special parties or business meetings. On one side was a bar where many people just came after work to unwind after a busy day on Capitol Hill. Customers came dressed in all kinds of attire. In the evening it was a mix-some would come in evening attire after attending the opera, a performance at the Kennedy center, or an embassy party somewhere in the city and stop off for a night cap or dessert. Then others would come casual. It was always a place fun to people watch. Philip saw his parents from across the room as he was talking to a couple at one of the tables. He excused himself and hurried over.
"Mom, Dad, I wish you had told me you were coming. I just saw your names on the reservation list a few minutes ago."
"That's ok, Philip! You have a private dining room available, right?" Lee winked, hoping Amanda wouldn't notice.
"Yes, come on back."
Philip led them back to one of the private rooms, and as they entered there was a thunderous sound of "Surprise!"that filled the room. Amanda gasped as their children, their spouses, grandchildren, and her mother filled the room. She looked over at her husband who was beaming.
"You knew they didn't forget our anniversary!" Amanda scolded with her hands on her hips.
"Yes but I don't know how all of them kept quiet about this, especially your mother," laughed Lee.
As dinner was being served Philip stood up and tapped his spoon on his wine glass. Everyone stopped chatting and gave him their attention.
"I would like to propose a toast. Everyone raise your glass to the two people who taught all of us the gift of what unconditional love really is. Our Mom and Dad. Here's to many more years of that gift together!"
Glasses clinked as everyone saluted the couple and drank. Then Philip spoke again as his wife stood up next to him.
"I have another announcement. Lauren and I want everyone to know that we are expecting our first child the end of August!"
The room erupted with whoops of joy and laughter.
All through dinner each one of the children took turns in order of birth and got up to give a toast.
Jamie said, "To Mom and Dad: You two were role models of how to love my family. Looking directly at Lee, he added "And especially, Dad, you taught me how to be a man."
Jennifer said, "To Mom and Poppy! You two will never grow old as long as you love each other. You are ageless! Thanks for always supporting me through thick and thin! And Mom, thanks for your caring heart and always being the voice of reason when Papa wanted to ground me for life when I missed my curfews!"
Amanda laughed, nodded her head, and hit Lee in the stomach when he wagged his finger at JJ.
Mattie said: "Mom and Poppy, you are the best! I love you both to pieces. I hope I can find a love like yours some day."
Lee smiled broadly as his dimples showed how happy he was. Amanda beamed, and her eyes sparkled as she enjoyed having her mother, children and grandchildren to share this night with them. Then the kids all started clinking their glasses with their spoons which was a cue for Amanda and Lee to kiss. Lee stood up and reached his hand out for Amanda to hold and as she stood up Lee took her by surprise and dipped her with a long kiss. More clapping and cheering took place and Philip yelled "Get a room!" which caused more laughter. As Amanda straightened out she put her hands up to get everyone to quiet down.
" I have to say you all pleasantly surprised me! It means so much to have my children here to celebrate our anniversary. Your father is a very special man who shows me every day how much he loves and cherishes me in deed and word. I never dreamed twenty-nine years ago when we first met that we would end up married and have such a wonderful life together."
Lee kissed Amanda again and put one arm around her while he began to speak. "As you know I'm not a speech giver, but I am the luckiest man. Who would have thought that this woman I met in a train station would turn out to be the woman of my dreams!" They kissed again and sat down.
The Stetson/King family always enjoyed celebrating together and especially that night since they learned a new addition to the family was coming. Jamie's infant daughter Lily Amanda kept being passed around and was the center of attention as Lee bounced grandson Danny on his knee.
tbc