"Jack?" Elizabeth whispered into the darkness.
"Hm?"
"Are you awake?"
He rolled over to face her. "Yes. Is everything okay?"
"Yes." She nodded. "I just…I think we need to talk."
He flicked on the lamp. "About what?"
"Today." Propping herself up on her elbow, she met his eyes. "Are you still upset about what happened?"
"No. No, I'm fine now." He reached over, running his fingers through her hair. "Why do you want to talk about it?"
"I just want to make sure we're on the same page when it comes to Harrison. I'm sorry that I was going against you when I told him he could stay with me."
"Maybe you didn't go about it in the right way, but you were right. He needed to have the choice to stay with you." He smiled. "Maybe next time there's something we disagree on, we need to take a moment to discuss it away from Harrison."
"Right," she agreed. "I don't want him to come to one of us over the other because he thinks he'll get the answer he wants."
He leaned in and kissed her softly. "And this will apply to any other kids we might have."
"I'm still hoping that'll happen soon." She put a hand on her stomach, praying that one day soon, she would be able to feel her own child growing and moving there.
"It'll happen, Beth."
She sighed. "I know." She reached her hand up to touch his cheek. "But we know that no matter what does or doesn't happen for our family, we have one really wonderful little boy to raise. Every day, I say a prayer of thanks that you let me into your lives and gave me the opportunity to be Harrison's mom."
"Every day, I say a prayer of thanks that you so willingly jumped into all of this. I know it can't be easy to be thrust into marriage and parenthood all at once."
"It isn't easy," she confirmed, "but it's so very worth it."
...
"Harrison, come meet your cousin." Jack waved him over. He gently bounced the baby on his knee. "Isla, can you say 'hi' to Harrison?"
Harrison giggled. "Babies don't talk, daddy."
"She's pretty cute, isn't she?" Elizabeth crouched down next to them, reaching over to take the baby's little hand. "I think you'd like having a baby sister, Harrison."
"No, thanks. I just want a brother," he said matter-of-factly.
Jack chuckled. "Well, okay then. Why don't you go get your shoes on, and we can get going."
"Where we going?"
Elizabeth smoothed down his hair. "To the zoo."
"Yay!" he shouted, startling the baby. When her lip started to quiver, he went to her, lightly touching her cheek. "I'm sorry for scaring you, Isla."
Elizabeth smiled after he ran off to get his shoes. "He's going to be a wonderful big brother, whenever it happens."
"He will be." The corners of his lips turned up. "Okay, Isla. Let's go find your mom and dad and get you loaded into your car seat."
Half an hour later, they pulled into the parking lot of the zoo. Harrison craned his neck to see out the window. Jack chuckled as he glanced at him in the rearview mirror.
"Hey, bud. You can't see any animals from here."
"Maybe some giraffes. They're really tall." He unbuckled as soon as Jack put the car in park. "Are there meerkats here?"
"I think so."
"Daddy?" Harrison asked as Jack swung him up onto his shoulders. "Where's grandma and grandpa?"
"They're coming with Aunt Faith and Uncle Carson. Why don't we go wait for them at the front entrance?"
"Okay."
...
"Hey, Isla," Harrison began excitedly, trying to direct the baby's attention to the exhibit in front of them. "Did you know a group of meerkats is called a mob? Right, mommy?"
Elizabeth smiled. "That's right, bud."
"And they eat bugs."
Elizabeth crouched down beside him, looking into the exhibit. "Do you remember what it's called when one meerkat stands up like that to keep watch?" She pointed at one of the meerkats who was standing at attention on a log in the middle of the exhibit.
"Um…senting?"
"Close. It's sentry."
"Oh yeah. Sentry." He stepped closer, smiling as a meerkat dug in the sand. "Mommy? Do you know their names?"
She chuckled. "No. I don't know anybody who works at this zoo, so I haven't asked the names of any of the animals."
"Oh."
"I think Isla likes the meerkats, too, Harrison," Faith said, nodding toward her daughter who was giggling at the little animals from her stroller.
"Someone sounds happy." Carson approached the group, smiling at his daughter. "Do you want to get closer, Isla-girl?" He carefully took her out of the stroller, joining Harrison.
"That's a sentry, Uncle Carson," Harrison told him, pointing at the meerkat still standing in the middle of the exhibit.
"Oh, very cool." He put a hand on his nephew's shoulder. "Are you going to be a zookeeper someday?"
Harrison shook his head. "No. I'm gonna be a veterinarian."
"Another doctor in the family, huh?"
"Uh huh. I'm gonna be Dr. Thornton, just like daddy."
Elaine and David sat on a nearby bench, watching all the interactions. Jack came over with a bottle of water, handing it to Elaine.
"Thank you, dear."
"Are you sure you don't want anything, David?"
David shook his head. "I'm fine, thanks."
"It looks like Harrison and Elizabeth get along well," Elaine observed. "He seems to enjoy having a mom."
"He'll always know about Olive, Elaine," Jack assured her. "You don't need to worry about that."
She smiled. "I'm not worried, Jack. We love seeing him so happy. You, too. Elizabeth is clearly a great fit for your family."
"Why don't we join them all over there?" David suggested. "I'm sure Harrison would love to give his little meerkat talk again, and I need to stretch my legs."
"Let's go." Jack held out his hand to Elaine, helping her up.
"I was thinking about making homemade pizza for dinner tonight," she started as they headed toward the rest of the family. "Do you think Harrison would like to help with that?"
Jack smiled. "I think he'd love that."
...
"How long has Harrison been calling you 'mommy?'" Elaine asked, not looking up from the dough she was mixing.
"Oh, um," Elizabeth stopped chopping the vegetables in front of her, "ever since Jack and I got engaged. Neither of us asked him to call me that, by the way. It was totally his idea."
"Were you worried that I'd be upset about it?"
"Honestly? A little." She set down the knife, turning to face Harrison's grandmother. "I don't want you to think that I'm trying to replace your daughter."
"I know you aren't. Is it hard to hear him calling someone else his mom? Of course. But David and I knew this would happen." She stepped toward Elizabeth, placing a hand on her arm. "We knew Jack would move on eventually. All we wanted was for him to find someone who would love our grandson as much as Olive did, and these past few days, that's what we've seen. It's clear you adore Harrison and he adores you."
"I do love him, so much." The corners of her lips turned up. "I don't think I could love him more even if I was the one who gave birth to him."
Elaine returned to the dough she had been mixing. "Are you and Jack planning on having any children together?"
She cleared her throat. "Um, we're hoping to. We don't know exactly when it'll happen for us, but Harrison's been asking for a baby brother for a while, so we're planning on having one sooner rather than later." She paused again. "Even if Jack and I have more kids, I promise that Harrison won't be treated any differently."
"You don't need to prove anything to me, Elizabeth." Elaine glanced at her. "I already think you're a wonderful match for Jack and a wonderful mother to Harrison. I'm sure my Olive would be thrilled to know her boys have someone like you looking out for them."
"I wish I could've met her. From everything you and Jack and Faith have told me, she sounds like a really great person."
"She was." Elaine smiled sadly. "She was one of those people that lit up every room she entered. You couldn't help but smile when she was around."
"I was actually thinking about making some sort of memory book about her for Harrison, if you'd be willing to help with that."
"I'd love to help. That sounds like a wonderful idea."
"Great." She wiped her hands on a towel. "Well, I think these vegetables are ready. I'll go get Harrison to help put everything together."
...
Elaine pulled Elizabeth into a hug. "I so enjoyed getting to know you this week. Please come back to visit soon."
"We will."
"And we would love to know whenever Harrison is going to get his little brother," she said quietly.
Elizabeth smiled. "I will be sure to let you know."
"Good." Elaine gave her a little pat on the arm. "Have a safe flight, dear."
"Thank you."
"We should head in now." Jack put his arm around her. "Are you ready to go?"
"Yes."
"Okay, Harrison. Say 'bye' to grandma and grandpa."
The little boy hugged his grandparents one more time, promising to talk to them soon to update them on school and Simba.
"Daddy?" Harrison took Jack's hand as they walked into the airport. "How long are we gonna be on the plane?"
"A few hours. Then we'll pick up Simba from nana's on our way home."
"Did he miss us?"
Jack squeezed his hand. "I'm sure he did."
"I missed him."
"We'll see him soon, bud."
"Okay." He sighed. "Mommy, is Gerald in my backpack?"
"Yes." She patted the backpack that was hanging on her shoulder. "We can get him out after we get to our gate."
He reached over to take her hand, too. "Maybe next time we see grandma and grandpa, I'll have a baby brother."
"Maybe."
...
"What's that?" Harrison asked as Jack carried a small binder over to the bed.
"Settle in, and I'll show you."
He snuggled deeper into his bed, pulling the blanket over himself and clutching his dinosaur to his chest. "Okay. All settled."
"Did I miss anything?" Elizabeth stepped into the bedroom with a glass of water in her hand and Simba on her heels.
"No. We were just about to start, though, so your timing is perfect." Jack squeezed himself onto the bed next to Harrison, while Simba curled up at the foot of the bed.
Elizabeth set the glass on Harrison's nightstand before taking a seat on the floor.
"So, Harrison, this isn't finished yet, but this is something that grandma and grandpa, and Aunt Faith and mommy and I are putting together for you. It's a book about your mom. So whenever you want to know anything about her, or you have any questions, you can come look at this." He looked over at his son. "And of course, you can always ask me or grandma and grandpa or Aunt Faith about her, too."
"What's in it?" Harrison grabbed the front cover, flipping it open.
"It's mostly just pictures of your mom right now, but when it's all finished, it'll have stories written down to go with the pictures."
"That's my mommy?" He pointed at a picture of a little girl grinning at the camera, a little backpack on her shoulders and a lunch box in her hand.
"That is," Jack confirmed. "Grandma told me this was her very first day of kindergarten, and she was so excited to meet new friends and learn lots of new things."
"She has Simba on her shirt!" Harrison exclaimed.
"She does." Jack chuckled. "She loved that movie almost as much as you do."
"Can I wear a Simba shirt to kindergarten?"
"Sure, bud." Jack ruffled his hair. "Then you'll really look like your mom."
"I wanna see more." He reached over, flipping another page. "Mommy played baseball?"
"Close." Jack pointed at the picture of Olive in uniform, leaning on her bat. "She played softball."
"Oh." He turned toward Elizabeth. "Mommy, did you play softball?"
She shook her head. "No. I played soccer for a little while, and I took dance classes."
"Daddy?"
"I played soccer and baseball. Do you want to try any sports?"
Harrison shrugged. "I don't know. Can we see more pictures now?"
"Just a few more, and then it's time to go to sleep."
"Okay."