Chapter 3 - Mother's Day 2016
Elizabeth paced her hotel room with the phone up to her ear. It was the Friday before Mother's Day she was stuck in Paris at a G-7 Summit with Conrad.
She stepped over to the window and moved the heavy, paisley designed curtains aside so she could see out, while Henry's phone rang.
"Hey Babe, ready to come home?" Henry answered and asked all in the same sentence.
"I wish," she replied. Henry stopped as he could hear the disappointment in her voice.
"What's wrong?"
"Getting push back from the Germans. We stayed up all night rewriting the terms for the deal and sent it to them this morning." She plopped herself down on the desk chair and stared out the window over the Champs-Elysées. "Henry, if we don't get a deal I won't make it home for Mother's Day this weekend."
"Maybe we should come to you?" Henry answered back half-joking, half-not.
"No, Conrad says if they don't agree we make more adjustments tonight and try tomorrow. If the deal breaks, then, we'd fly home on Sunday," she was pouting and Henry could sense it all the way in D.C.
"Well, in that case, nobody says you have to celebrate on the actual Mother's Day. We'll adjust our plans and celebrate next Sunday. How does that sound?" he was hopeful, just wanting to cheer her up.
"Ok, I guess." She moved her fingers across the desk. "Just thought Jay and I had this deal in the bag. Turns out not so easy."
"Well, give it a few more hours. You just gave it to them." Henry looked at his watch. He was late for a meeting.
A knock came to her door. It was Blake. She knew it was him because they had a code knock.
"Henry, Blake's here. I got to go. I love you!"
"I like you a lot too. Bye Babe." Henry then hung up the phone. He texted Stevie, "Leave next weekend open on our schedule. Mom may not be home for Mother's Day."
He walked to his meeting and looked at his phone, Stevie texted, "You're joking, right? That won't go well. Dad she makes it a point to spend Mother's Day with us and nobody else. Is she crushed?"
He texted back, "I know. She is but let's remain hopeful the deal gets done in time, okay? Heading into a meeting. Love you."
The next day and half were grueling for Elizabeth, Conrad and their staffers. Germany was putting the rest of the group through hell.
Elizabeth met with Conrad in his suite at around 3pm local time. "This is the last straw, Bess. If they don't agree we are going home without a deal. I will not be strung along here for days. We can not put together a stronger climate deal than this one."
He was adamant and a little aggressive speaking to her. But, she knew this Conrad and it didn't bother her.
She just said, "Yes, sir," quietly and began to walk out.
Before she got to the door, he said softer in his gentle manner when he treated her more like a sister than his employee. "Besides, I won't have you missing your favorite holiday with your children."
She turned, her crystal blue eyes meeting his. She was about to object claiming the climate deal meant more than that.
He put his hand up. "No, Bess, you are like a sister to me and I know all too well your thoughts on Mother's Day. For crying out loud, you flew across the world to make it back from Iraq in time. We leave at 9pm whether we have a deal or not. No arguments."
She smiled at him with admiration. "Okay, but let's get to work and get it done."
Elizabeth walked out of the room and called Blake. She set up a meeting with the foreign ministers. In two hours, she left the room with a negotiated deal. Staffers worked it up, at 8pm they were at the signing table in front of the press. By 8:45 they were headed to the airport and on their way home.
Once in the car with Conrad, she texted Henry. "Coming home."
The plane landed on a gloomy, rainy Mother's Day in D.C. But, when the Georgetown door opened and she could immediately smell breakfast. She turned and thanked Matt for carrying in her suitcase. Something they always did for her but didn't have to.
"Hi Beautiful Family!" she called out.
Henry greeted her as she made her way to the kitchen with a kiss and a hug. He turned to her ear and whispered, "I knew you would make it."
She chuckled and said "Barely and I'm exhausted."
"Well, you can eat and then nap. Kids are teenagers now, they'll flee to their bedrooms after breakfast." She furrowed her brow at him and said, "That's sad."
Henry smiled and said, "Then, we can flee to ours."
She stopped and said "No way. Not while the kids are awake."
Bacon had just come out of the pan and pancakes were on the griddle.
Stevie was setting the table while Allie and Jason watched the news about the agreement. Allie jumped up to greet her mother with a big hug. She was always the first one of her children to greet her when she came home. Elizabeth leaned over and kissed Jason's head.
"Nice work, Mom." He said as he looked up at her over the back of the couch.
"Thanks, buddy," she let her hand drift through his hair.
She ran upstairs and changed out of her clothes. When she came back down in her tight jeans and one of Henry's sweatshirts, he only had eyes for her.
They sat down and had breakfast. The kids had a contest to see who could catch the most blueberries in their mouth. Jason won as usual but nobody every beat Henry's record of 24.
The rainy day is just what she needed since she was too exhausted to go out.
The afternoon brought a family movie. Elizabeth curled up with Henry on the couch with Allie snuggled on the other side of her. Stevie sat in the chair with her legs hanging over the side. Jason sat on the floor in front of them. The popcorn was gone in the first 20 minutes of the movie. Elizabeth never ate much when she traveled but always made up for it when she got home.
She felt the rub of his fingers on her shoulders. Elizabeth slowly woke up to Henry whispering to her. "Babe, movie's over and the kids have gone to do home work in their rooms. Why don't you head up to bed and take a real nap? I will be right up."
Elizabeth dragged herself up the stairs. She went straight to their bedroom, took off her jeans and climbed into the bed. She felt every muscle in her body relax right into the cool sheets. It wasn't long before she was back asleep. She never heard the thunder rumble outside, the pouring rain on the windows or Henry come into the room and climb in beside her. He shifted her over to him knowing she would sleep better being closer to him. He took out his book and began to read.
He ordered the Chinese food to be delivered at 7pm to give them all enough time to study, read and rest. He knew Elizabeth would be jet-lagged and would only get out of bed for Chinese at that point.
As expected, Elizabeth began to stir in his arms just about six-thirty. He shifted to attempt to wake her up further. She rolled herself putting her back to him not wanting to wake. He put his book down and slid his body behind hers. Reaching around her, his hand slipped just under her cami. He leaned over and kissed the sweet spot behind her ear, "Babe, you need to wake up if you want to be back on schedule for tomorrow."
"Ten more minutes," she pushed his hand away from her. But, he was relentless and began rubbing her back. "Oh Henry!" She rolled back into his arms. He leaned down and kissed her cheek.
"Not now, Babe. Dinner will be here in fifteen minutes. We need to get up."
She opened her eyes and smiled at him, "Be here? As in Chinese?"
He nodded his head. She jumped out of the bed and ran to their bathroom. Henry leaned back and laughed. She was so food motivated after a trip.
Dinner was easy and quiet with no kids fighting. Even Alison and Jason didn't bicker. While having ice cream for dessert, Henry stepped out of the room and came back in with two gift bags, one smaller than the other.
The kids handed her the smaller one. She opened the box and found a simple gold bracelet with the quote, "All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother." – Abraham Lincoln
Stevie explained their plan was to go to the Lincoln Memorial and hand her the bracelet there but her trip and the rain spoiled that idea. Her children knew probably way before Elizabeth did that she would one day be President.
"Oh I love it." She immediately slid it on her wrist and admired it.
She opened the other bag and pulled out a familiar silver frame. It was the photo of she and her mother that used to be in the kids' nurseries when they were babies. It had been packed away and she had gone crazy looking for it a few months ago.
"While you were on your trip, Jason and I took a ride to the farm. It was tucked away in a box of your parents' things there." Henry said quietly from the other side of the table.
Elizabeth teared up as she ran her hand over the photo. "Oh Henry. Thank you so much." She turned and placed it on the bookshelf on the dining room next to the photo of her and Will.
"For a day, that I thought wasn't going to happen. This was the best Mother's Day," she turned and smiled at them.
Jason laughed and said, "You say that every year!"
Alison shot back, "Because any year is better than the one when you puked chocolate all over her."
Elizabeth stared at Henry as Stevie laughed.
Jason fired back, "At least we all know why I hate chocolate!"
They all laughed at that.