Spring Break, Part 1
...
"Harrison, come on!" Jack called down the hallway. "We need to get to the airport."
"Hang on, daddy!" he called back.
"Okay, but I need you in the car, ready to go, in five minutes or less."
Elizabeth came back inside after loading her suitcase into the car. "He still isn't ready?"
Jack shook his head. "He's probably trying to figure out how to pack all of his stuffed animals."
She chuckled. "Probably." She stepped into his embrace, sighing as his arms wrapped around her. "Jack? Is this going to be weird?"
He kissed her temple. "Not at all. Harrison and I talked a lot about you when we visited last summer, so they know how important you are to us."
"But last summer, I was just 'Miss Beth.' Now, I'm your wife. Harrison calls me 'mommy.' That won't upset them?"
He cupped her cheek with his hand. "They're good people, Elizabeth. I think they expected I would eventually move on after Olive died. Just be yourself." He pressed his lips to hers. "They'll love you."
"I hope so."
"I know so." He broke from her, stepping toward the hallway again. "Harrison David, let's go!"
"Okay, daddy." He came out of his bedroom, lugging a suitcase behind him.
Elizabeth squeezed Jack's hand. "I'll help him get his things loaded up. You get Simba." She took Harrison's suitcase, leading him out to the car.
"Mommy, why can't we bring Simba to grandma and grandpa's house?"
She lifted his suitcase into the trunk. "It can be scary for dogs to go on airplanes, so it'll be better for him to stay here with your nana."
"Oh." He climbed into the back seat, buckling himself into his car seat.
Jack loaded the dog into the back seat beside Harrison. "Get all your snuggles in before we drop him off at nana's."
"Okay." He reached over and started to pet the dog as Jack backed out of the driveway.
"Are you ready to see grandma and grandpa Carter?"
"Uh huh. We gonna see Auntie Faith and Uncle Carson?"
"I think so." Jack glanced in the rearview mirror. "And you'll get to meet baby Isla."
"I already met her, daddy."
Jack chuckled. "That was over FaceTime, bud. You'll get to meet her in person now."
"Oh. Can I sit by mommy on the airplane?"
Elizabeth turned in her seat. "You're sitting in between us, Harrison."
"But I wanna sit by the window."
"Well, if daddy's okay with it, I'll sit in the middle so you can sit between me and the window."
"Yay!"
...
Harrison knocked excitedly on the front door, bouncing up and down as he waited for his grandparents to open it.
"There's my favorite grandson!" Mr. Carter greeted when he opened the door. He scooped Harrison up, wrapping him in a bear hug.
"Hi, grandpa." Harrison giggled.
"Jack." Mrs. Carter pulled him into a hug. "Good to see you."
"You, too." He stepped back, putting an arm around Elizabeth's waist. "David, Elaine. This is Elizabeth. Elizabeth, these are Olive's parents."
Elaine took Elizabeth's hand, giving it a little pat. "It's so nice to finally meet you. Harrison—and Jack," she looked over at him with a twinkle in her eye, "told us so much about you last summer."
"Thank you for inviting us to stay with you."
"Of course. We'll take any chance to see our grandson, and to get to know the new lady in his life." She winked. "Why don't you all come inside and get settled?"
"Grandpa!" Harrison exclaimed. "I gotta show you Gerald! He's my new dinosaur."
"Gerald the dinosaur?! Sounds very exciting."
The little boy nodded emphatically. "And I got a zoo jacket from mommy's friends."
Jack felt Elizabeth tense, clearly nervous about how the Carters would react to their grandson calling her 'mommy.'
"Oh, really? You'll have to show us that, too," Elaine told him. If she was fazed by Harrison's words, she didn't show it. "I know your daddy said you've been getting to see some really cool stuff at the zoo."
"Uh huh. We go to the zoo here?"
"I think we can fit a zoo trip into our schedule."
...
"Jack, feel this." Her eyes lit up as she took his hand and placed it on her stomach. "He's moving so much right now."
Jack smiled, feeling his son twist and turn beneath his hand. "I can't wait to meet him."
"We're getting so close. Two more months."
He leaned down, pressing his cheek against her belly. "Hi, Harrison. It's your daddy. Mommy and I can't wait to meet you." He was quiet for a few moments. "Oh, really?" He looked up at Olive. "He says it's getting crowded in there because your organs are in the way."
She laughed. "Well, my organs were there before he was, so he'll just have to deal with it for a few more weeks."
"Let me see what he thinks of that." He pressed his ear to her belly again. "Uh huh. Okay. Yeah, I understand that."
"What's he saying now?" she teased.
"He's not very happy about it, but since it seems pretty cold out here, he'll try to enjoy the rest of his time in there."
She smiled, threading her fingers through his hair. "Do you think we're ready for this? Being parents?"
"I think that we're ready for anything, as long as we're together. You and me and our little buddy Harrison David, we'll figure things out."
Jack startled awake, tears stinging his eyes.
"Jack." Elizabeth put her hand on his arm, worry crossing her face when she noticed the tears pooling in his eyes. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," he whispered, wiping the moisture from his cheeks. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Did you have a bad dream?"
"No." He sniffed. "It was actually a good dream."
She snuggled closer to him. "About Olive?"
"Yes."
"Being here makes you think about her."
He met her eyes, simply nodding in response. She threaded her fingers through his hair. He closed his eyes, leaning into her touch.
"You know I love you." He said quietly.
"Mhmm. And I know you still love her. It really doesn't bother me, Jack. Do you think I would be here if it did?"
He kissed her softly. "It was a memory. The last Spring Break before she died, when she was pregnant with Harrison. She asked me if I thought we were ready to be parents, and I said we'd figure out how to do it together." Tears filled his eyes again. "Then I had to do it all alone."
"Jack…"
"You don't need to say anything, Beth." He smiled sadly, wrapping her in his arms. "I think I might take Harrison to the cemetery in the morning, if you'll be okay here."
"I'll be just fine." She leaned her head against his chest, feeling his heartbeat beneath her cheek. "I love you, Jack."
"I love you, too."
...
"I don't wanna go, daddy," Harrison huffed, shaking his head.
"He can stay here with me," Elizabeth offered, putting her hand on Harrison's shoulder.
Jack held out his hand, his voice stern. "Harrison, I want you to come with me."
"No! Mommy, don't make me go." He looked up at her, pleading. "Mommy, I stay with you."
Jack crossed his arms. "Harrison David. Go get in the car."
"Just let him stay here, Jack. Don't make him go if he doesn't want to."
Without another word, Jack turned angrily, slamming the door behind him.
Harrison shuddered, his eyes wide. "Mommy? Is daddy mad at me?"
She lifted him from the floor. "No, bud. I think he's mad about something else."
"About what?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. We'll have to ask him when he gets back."
"Oh. Can we go play outside?"
"In a minute." She smoothed back his hair. "Can you tell me why you didn't want to go with daddy?"
"'Cause I don't remember my first mommy."
"But doesn't daddy tell you about her while you're there?"
"Uh huh." He nodded. "But I like the pictures more."
"Oh." Elizabeth nodded in understanding, shifting him to her other hip. "So you'd rather daddy show you pictures when he tells you about your mom?"
"Yeah. Down, please." He squirmed until she put him on the ground. He ran over to a framed picture on the wall, smiling at it. "Like that. Daddy says this is when he asked mommy to marry him."
"You look like your mommy. Did you know that?"
"That's what grandma and grandpa said." He turned his attention to another photo. "This is mommy and Auntie Faith."
"I see that. It looks like they had a lot of fun together when they were kids."
"Mommy, when am I gonna get a brother?"
She crouched down beside him. "Hopefully soon, but I don't have a baby in my belly yet."
"Oh." He took her hand. "Can we go outside now?"
She smiled. "Let's go."
They stepped out into the backyard, finding David and Elaine sitting in a pair of Adirondack chairs.
"Well, hello, you two. You didn't go with Jack?" Elaine asked.
Elizabeth shook her head. "No. I thought it best if I stay here, and Harrison didn't want to go."
"Well, now we have a chance to get to know you better," she smiled, motioning toward the empty chair beside her.
Elizabeth took a seat, while Harrison climbed up into his grandfather's lap.
"Jack mentioned you two met in high school?"
She nodded. "He was friends with my sister's high school boyfriend, so we'd hang out from time to time. We reconnected about a year ago, through my sister again. He works with my brother-in-law."
"And you work at the zoo?"
"Mhmm." She crossed one leg over the other, relaxing into the chair. "I work with small mammals, so foxes, otters, things like that."
"And meerkats!" Harrison exclaimed.
She chuckled. "And meerkats."
...
"Hi, daddy!" Harrison jumped up and ran over to Jack when he came through the door.
"Hi, bud. I need you hang out with grandma and grandpa for a bit while I go for a walk with mommy, okay?"
He furrowed his brow. "Are you still mad, daddy?"
"I'm a little upset, but not at you." He crouched down, taking his son's hand. "Okay? I just need to talk to mommy for a minute."
"Okay."
He stood back up and looked over at his wife. "Elizabeth."
Silently, she followed him out the front door. He said nothing, just walking down the sidewalk ahead of her. They were halfway down the road when she finally spoke.
"Jack?"
He stopped, turning to face her. "You shouldn't have offered for him to stay here with you. You know how important it is to me that he knows about his mom."
"I do know that, but is going to visit her grave the only way to accomplish that?"
"This is what we do, Elizabeth. When Harrison and I are here, we go visit Olive. We've done that every time we've come here since we moved back home. Now, suddenly he doesn't want to go."
She put her hands on her hips. "Have you ever really talked to him, Jack? He's four years old, he has no memory of Olive. His experience of loss isn't the same as yours, and he doesn't need to grieve the same way you do."
"I think I know how to talk to my son about his mother."
She froze, hurt covering her face. "Jack, that's not fair."
"You know what's not fair?" He raised his voice. "Sitting up all night with a baby who's screaming because he won't take a bottle from me. Or holding that same baby while I watch his mother's casket get lowered into the ground. Or having to explain to my two-year-old why he doesn't have a mommy to pick him up from preschool like all his friends do. That is what's not fair."
"Jack," she whispered, her throat tight. "Do you feel like I'm trying to replace her?"
He took a deep breath, trying to stave off the tears he felt coming. "No."
She stepped toward him, putting her hand on his cheek. "What's this really about, then?"
He shook his head. "I'm worried that he doesn't want to hear about her anymore, that if it were up to him, he would rather forget he even had a mom before you."
"That isn't going to happen, Jack." She placed one hand on his hip, the other brushing through the hair at his temple. Her eyes searched his face. "You need to talk to him. I think he just feels like he should have some memories of her whenever you go to the cemetery, but he doesn't. He does want to hear about her, though. He was telling me some of the things you've told him."
"Really?"
"Really." She kissed him softly. "Just talk to him, Jack. He's a smart kid. He understands more about the situation than you think."
He sighed, leaning his forehead against hers. "I'm sorry for getting so angry at you."
"It's okay."
"It's not okay, Beth. I shouldn't have taken my frustration out on you."
"Well, I understand why you did, and I forgive you." She smiled. "It's too bad Harrison isn't here to see how to work out problems with other people."
He chuckled, putting an arm around her waist as they headed back toward the house. "Miss Campbell said he's doing a lot better, though, so it seems he's already figured it out."
"He really is a great kid."
"Yeah." He grinned. "He is."