Chapter 19 Happy Thanksgiving
The door burst open to their bedroom and Jack came running in and leaped on Lucas's stomach causing him to groan and stir.
"Daddy it's morning and I want pancakes!" Jack said as he squeezed his face together making his favorite fish face.
Lucas took a moment to awaken and then he starting tickling Jack with his beard. Jack was giggling uncontrollably! "Stop it daddy!"
"What are my two handsome gentlemen doing this morning?" Elizabeth asked as she snuggled up to both of them.
"Apparently I am making pancakes and you are putting the turkey in the oven." He teased giving her a gentle kiss on the lips.
"Yuck! Why do you kiss momma?" Jack said with a scowl.
Elizabeth laughed. "Yes, Mr. Bouchard why do you kiss me?"
"The best way to answer that question is with a question. Jack, why do you kiss your momma?" He said anticipating Jack's response.
"I love her!" He said kissing his momma.
"That is why I kiss her too Jack and you! I love you both very much!" He kissed Jack's forehead.
"I'm glad you're my daddy now! I like having a daddy!" He wrapped his arms around him with a sweet smile on his face.
"Let's go get you pancakes Jack!" He put on his robe and slippers. "Get up my beautiful wife. If the turkey doesn't get in the oven, we'll be eating raw turkey." He teased.
Lucas put Jack over his shoulders and carried him downstairs to the kitchen. Elizabeth put on her robe and slippers and followed her two favorite men. Lucas pulled the turkey out of the refrigerator for Elizabeth so she could stuff it and get it ready to go in the oven.
Then he gathered all the ingredients to make pancakes for everyone.
Jack started laughing. "Daddy your hair is funny in the morning!
Elizabeth chuckled as well.
"Is that funny Mrs. Bouchard? " He wrapped his arms around her kissing her neck and ending with a gentle kiss on her lips as she smiled lovingly at him.
"Daddy! Are the pancakes ready?"
"Okay Jack." Lucas put Jack in his seat and gave him his pancake making a smiley face with the syrup. "Don't eat me he said." Pretending to be the pancake.
Jack stabbed the pancake with the fork and laughed hysterically when Lucas fell to the floor pretending to die. "Again."
"I have to make the rest of the pancakes Jack. So everyone can have breakfast. We have all day that we can play!"
"Promise?" He said with an excited face.
"I promise!"
Elizabeth loved this playful side of her husband. It was just another trait to make her fall deeper in love with him. Their antics kept her entertained while she was dressing the turkey. When she finished she asked Lucas to place it in the oven.
She kissed her husband with a passionate kiss and went upstairs to get dressed before everyone started to wake, which she was sure would be soon.
Lucas stacked the pancakes on a plate making enough for everyone to enjoy. Elizabeth came back down all dressed and ready for the day.
"You look beautiful." He gave her a soft kiss. "Eat some pancakes! I am going upstairs to get dressed. I will be back in a little bit.
Elizabeth ate while Jack chattered in his chair she then cleaned him up and took him upstairs to help him get dressed. When they came back downstairs everyone was starting to get up.
"Good morning Beth and good morning Jack!" Julie greeted them with a smile grabbing some pancakes.
"Julie, you look happy!" Elizabeth said.
"I am just so happy to be spending time here in Hope Valley with my family!" She took a bite of her pancake. "This is delicious!"
"Lucas made them while performing for Jack!" She laughed.
"I am sorry I missed the show!" Julie said with a mischievous smile. "Where is your handsome husband?" She winked.
"He is upstairs getting ready. I find it funny that it takes him longer to get ready than it does me, he has quite the routine of doing his hair and perfecting his beard and mustache." She laughed with an adoring smile.
Soon Helen and Grace were joining them. They poured some juice, grabbed some pancakes and headed to the table.
"Oh! These are good! Did you make them Elizabeth? "Helen said. "Elizabeth, how is your second novel coming?"
"To be honest Helen, Lucas made the pancakes and I'm afraid I have only written two chapters, but I have the ideas flowing. I just need to put them on paper."
"I can't wait to read it."
Lucas finally came down the stairs. William and Jonathan were joining him. They grabbed breakfast and headed to the table to join the women.
"Good morning mother, Grace, and Julie! Lucas said with a smile as he leaned down to place a kiss on Helen's cheek.
"Good morning Lucas!" Grace replied.
"Son, you look happier today!" Helen said.
"I am better today mother!"
They sat down for awhile talking while Lucas had his coffee and ate his pancakes. Then they helped Elizabeth clean up the breakfast dishes before moving into the family room watching Jack play with his toys. The warm wood tones of the floor and furniture made for a comfortable room to relax and converse. Lucas had built the home with a spacious floor plan making it perfect for family gatherings.
Elizabeth could tell Lucas had something that was bothering him as he stood watching Jack play and entertain the family. "Darling what's wrong?" Elizabeth asked sweetly wrapping her arms around him and drawing close to his side.
"I just have a lot on my mind!" He returned her embrace pulling her tight to his chest with one hand stroking her hair and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.
"Anything you want to share?" Echoing his words, when he had asked her if she wanted to share the chapters of her novel.
"It is you and Jack mostly that are always on my mind! Elizabeth if anything ever happened to one of you, I don't think I could go on living. I don't know how you did it. Love is so all consuming. Elizabeth, I want to adopt Jack and make him my legal son! I thought it would be a good time to do it on Christmas before we go on our honeymoon."
"Lucas, Jack and I would love that. He already loves you so much! I can tell that there is something else bothering you though. You still look distracted.
"Walden threatened me Elizabeth." I didn't want to say anything, because I didn't want to worry you, but I am afraid for you and Jack. I am afraid of something happening and not being able to be there for you." His eyes began to tear.
"Lucas! I wish you had said something about Walden last night. We will talk about Walden tomorrow, in the meantime don't talk business until after dinner and certainly don't talk about Walden."
"As you wish my beautiful wife!"
They played for an hour before Elizabeth and Julie started baking pies and preparing what was going to be a wonderful Thanksgiving meal. Everything halted when there was a knock on the door and Lucas opened it to welcome Lee, Rosemary, and Bill.
"Welcome Happy Thanksgiving!" He flashed them a half smile.
"Happy Thanksgiving Lucas!" Rosemary responded cheerfully.
Rosemary joined Julie and Elizabeth in the kitchen. Lee and Bill joined the men over in the family room with Helen and Grace, where they were reminiscing over past memories.
"Elizabeth, is Lucas alright?" Rosemary asked with a look of concern.
"Why do you ask Rosemary?" He didn't greet us with his usual charming smile.
"He is fine Rosemary, just has some things on his mind."
Jack made his way around the room enjoying all the attention and loving being the only child.
Lucas made his way into the kitchen to steal a kiss from his lovely wife. "Can I help with anything?"
"Darling you can pull that turkey out of the oven?" Elizabeth said sweetly.
Lucas pulled the turkey out of the oven and placed it on the stove. "That looks amazing and smells delicious." He snuck a piece of turkey out of the pan.
"Now Mr. Bouchard I am going to run you out of the kitchen before you eat all our lunch!" She gave him a stern look with a wink.
He laughed as he left the kitchen.
"Rosemary, Lucas said he wants us to do some interior decorating of the house. He thought we would like to do it together. Of course Julie you can help as well. I would like to think about designing the curtains first. Lucas purposely has minimized decorations so that I could make it more my own style." She said with a happy grin.
"That was truly thoughtful of him Elizabeth!" Rosemary grinned back. "It is wonderful to see you two so happy and in love. We can sit around after lunch and work on designs."
The ladies put the finishing touches on the table. Everyone sat down at the table to enjoy wonderful friends, family and lunch. Lucas put Jack in his seat and made him a plate. Then he took a seat next to his wife. They all joined hands as Jonathan blessed the meal. The next hour was spent eating and talking about the upcoming Christmas Festival. They only had about four weeks to get everything done.
When everyone was finished all the ladies tended to the dishes. Lucas cleaned Jack up and Bill and Lee entertained him for awhile, while Lucas talked with his father and William about his plans to adopt Jack and what to do about the railroad.
"Bill I am going to adopt Jack and I don't care what it costs me, I would like to get it done by Christmas. What do you need me to do?" Lucas asked.
"I am so glad you and Jack are getting along so well Lucas! Just come by my office tomorrow and we will do all the necessary paperwork." Bill said as he patted him on the back.
"Yes Lucas! It is wonderful!" Lee confirmed what Bill had said.
Lucas spent the next few hours showing Lee and Bill the house in detail. Once they got around to Lucas's office he ushered them inside and shut the door. "Oh this looks serious if you are locking the door." Bill said.
"Bill when I was escorting our good friend Mr. Walden out he threatened me. He told me to watch my back. I am more than certain that trouble is going to ensue, if not with me, with Elizabeth and Jack. I need all hands on deck when I tell you I am going to purchase 85 % of the shares of Canadian National Railway making me Majority owner and giving me free will to do what ever I like with the railroad. If I don't do this Walden and his boss are going to do it and camp out in our peaceful town stirring up all kinds of trouble. This is the only way to get them to move on. And Lee I would avoid Walden if he approaches you to sell. Once you are in his sights he will never leave you alone until he gets what he wants." Lucas told them. "I will need Nathan on board as well Bill."
"I will talk to him Lucas! Thanks for filling us in, but do you know what you are getting yourself into." Bill asked.
"I am already into deep Bill. Conklin and Walden are bad news and they chose our town to come stir up trouble, hoping to take advantage of everyone, like he did Jesse!" Lucas told them.
"Have you talked to Elizabeth about this Lucas?" Lee asked him curiously.
"Not yet but I will discuss it with her, I value her thoughts and input!" Lucas informed them.
"Lucas it is a good idea to tell Elizabeth what you are about to do. This is huge! Eighty five percent of the railroad? I can't even begin to imagine what that is going to cost and this whole situation with Walden is unnerving to say the least. Then owning three businesses, how are you going to manage all that and having a family?" Lee said.
"I don't know Lee! I don't see any other way at this point!" Lucas told him.
"Good luck Lucas! I would not want to be in your shoes right now." Bill told him.
"Let's go play some cards!" Lucas told them.
The men went upstairs and sat down at the card table. Lucas got them all drinks, checked in with Elizabeth and made sure she did not need anything then gave her a quick kiss and told her they were going to play cards.
Jack came running to Lucas and sat on his lap. "Daddy I want to play cards?"
"Sorry Jack, this is a grown up game but daddy will come and play with you!" Lucas excused himself from the game and took Jack upstairs and they sat in his room reading books and playing with his wooden trains and Lucas entertained him with magic tricks.
The ladies sat on the settee having tea and going over curtain designs with Rosemary. Lucas came down after a few hours carrying a sleepy Jack into the family room and handed him to his beautiful wife. Jack laid his sleepy head on his mother's shoulder.
"I'm going to make him a grilled cheese. Then, I'll give him a bath and put him to bed since he is getting tired." Lucas leaned down and gave his wife a gentle kiss on the cheek. "You enjoy your tea time."
Lucas came and got Jack from his mother and put him in his chair. He gave him his grilled cheese. He sat beside him while he ate. Then cleaning him up, he took him upstairs to give him a bath. Lucas made the duck noises as Jack splashed around in the tub. Then Jack would splash Lucas and he would laugh. He wrapped Jack in a towel as he drained the water and carried him off to his bedroom, placing his dirty clothes in the basket.
He helped him put his PJ's on, took him potty and tucked him in bed. "There you go snug as a bug."
"Daddy?"
"Yes Jack!"
"Do you think my other daddy would be mad that I call you daddy too?" Jack asked curiously.
Lucas gently rubbed his cheek. "No Jack! I think your daddy would be happy you have someone who loves you and your momma so very much! I will read you a story."
"I love you daddy!"
"I love you too son!"
Lucas began to read and after five minutes Jack was sound asleep. "Good night sweet boy!" He shut the light out and left the room.
Lucas went downstairs to join the card game. The men played cards until about ten and then everyone said their goodnights and either went home or to their rooms. They all said their goodnights and Lucas and Elizabeth walked hand in hand up the stairs.
"I'm going to give Jack a kiss and I will be right in." Elizabeth winked.
"Don't be too long." Lucas said playfully and seductively.
Elizabeth opened the door slowly and knelt down next to Jack's bed leaning over and gave him a sweet gentle kiss on the forehead while whispering;"I love you!" She slowly closed the door behind her.
Elizabeth entered her bedroom to find her husband waiting with the Victrola softly playing and the candles lit.
He wrapped his arms around her, "Dance with me! "He held out his hand and pulled her into his arms. They began swaying back and forth to the music. Her head was resting on his chest and they danced around the room basking in the glow of the candlelight.
"I love you so much!" He whispered in her ear suggestively.
"Darling I am so lucky to have you in my life! You could have chosen anyone and you chose me. I can't put into words how much you mean to me and how blessed I am! So I am just going to have to show you!" She slowly moved away to lock the bedroom door.
"I can't wait!" He said with his most irresistible dimpled smile.
She slowly began unbuttoning his shirt and nuzzling his neck and blowing in his ear.
Lucas let out a soft groan. "Elizabeth! I love you! He unbuttoned her dress and let it slip to the floor he took her in his arms and kissed her slowly at first then deepened the kiss and led her to their bed.
He gently lay her down caressing and kissing every inch of her toned body with sweet anticipation of what was to come and finally removing his trousers and joining her on their bed, he made sweet passionate love to his beautiful wife until he had exhausted every bit of energy he had in him. Then he pulled her close wrapping both arms around her and drifted off to sleep dreaming of her touch, her kiss, and her smell.