"What about the Legos?" Harrison asked as Jack tucked the jewelry box into his pocket.
"We can give mommy the Legos after breakfast. Do you want to get the flowers and put them on the tray?" Jack nodded toward the vase full of flowers sitting on the table.
"Okay." Harrison carefully carried it over, setting it on the corner of the tray, out of the way of the food they had prepared together. "We take it to mommy now?"
"Go ahead, and I'll carry the food. Don't be too noisy, just in case mommy's still sleeping."
"Mommy!" Harrison shouted as he ran toward the bedroom, not paying attention to anything Jack was saying. He jumped onto the bed, waking Elizabeth in the process. "Good morning, mommy! Happy Mother's Day! Me and daddy made breakfast for you."
Jack came into the room then, the tray of food in his hands.
Elizabeth pulled the little boy into her arms, kissing his cheeks. "Thank you, Harrison. I love you so much."
He giggled. "I love you, mommy."
"Breakfast in bed for the best mom." Jack set the tray in front of her. "Harrison helped with everything this morning. He put the bread in the toaster, he helped cook the eggs, and he poured the orange juice all by himself."
"Wow, Harrison. Maybe you should start cooking us dinner now," she teased.
"No, mommy." He pointed at the vase of flowers sitting on the corner of the tray. "Do you like the flowers? I picked them out."
"They're beautiful, buddy. Lilies are my favorite. I love them. Thank you so much."
"Is the food yummy?"
She took a bite of eggs. "Mm. It's delicious."
Harrison beamed. "We have presents, too!"
"Presents? You didn't need to get me anything. Spending the day with my two boys is gift enough." She ruffled Harrison's hair and gave Jack a grateful smile.
"You deserve the world, Elizabeth." Jack took a seat beside her, rubbing her back. "When you agreed to marry me, you weren't just saying you would be my wife. You were saying you would be Harrison's mom, too, and you're the best mom I could've ever imagined for him to have."
"Jack…" Tears filled her eyes at his sweet words.
"This is for you, from me and Harrison." He pulled the small box out of his pocket and handed it to her.
"Well, I can already tell this is too much."
Jack grinned. "Just open it."
She lifted the lid of the box, revealing the locket that Jack and Harrison had picked out the week before. "This is beautiful."
"It's a locket. You gotta open it, mommy."
She carefully wedged her nail into the side of it, popping it open. She smiled when she saw a tiny version of Harrison's most recent school photo in one side. "I love this, buddy." She leaned down to kiss Harrison on the cheek again.
"The other side is for a picture of my baby brother."
She chuckled. "Okay. Then I can carry my kids close to my heart." She put her hand on Jack's cheek, kissing him softly. "Thank you, sweetheart. This is beautiful."
"Can mommy open my present now?"
Jack rolled his eyes playfully. "I said after we finished breakfast, but okay. Go get it."
"Yay!" Harrison bolted out the door, returning shortly with a gift bag, filled haphazardly with tissue paper. "I wrapped it all by myself."
"I see that." She laughed. "And you made me a card!" She pulled the construction paper card out of the bag, smiling at Harrison's scribbly handwriting.
The front of the card boasted a drawing of a heart, with the words "Happy Mother's Day" written in blue marker. Inside, Harrison had drawn a picture of a little family of four, with a dog standing to the side.
"It's you and daddy and me and my baby brother. and Simba," Harrison pointed at each character in the picture as he spoke. "And then it says, 'I love you, mommy. Love, Harrison.'"
"I love you, too, little man." She hugged him, squeezing tight. "You've made this the very best first Mother's Day I could ever have."
"Open the present now!" he exclaimed.
"Okay." She pulled out the tissue paper, followed by the box of Legos.
"It's a tiger! And a fish, and I can't remember what that one is," he pointed at a picture on the box, "but I know you take care of them at the zoo."
"That's a red panda."
"Oh, yeah. Red panda. Do you like it?"
"I love it, Harrison. Maybe after church, you can help me put this together."
"Yeah!" He nodded emphatically.
"Speaking of," Jack tapped his shoulder, "why don't you go let Simba out back and then go get changed into your church clothes. They're already laid out for you."
"Okay, daddy."
Jack chuckled as he ran out of the room. "He's been so excited for today."
"It's adorable. I'm guessing the Legos were his idea?"
He nodded. "You guessed correctly."
She smiled. "I know that kid pretty well. All he needs to make him happy are Legos and meerkats."
"And a baby brother, don't forget," he teased, nudging her with his elbow.
"I don't think he'll ever let me forget." She put her arm around his waist, kissing him again. "Thank you for breakfast in bed and for my gifts."
"You're welcome." He gave her a dimpled grin. "Now, we should probably get ready for church, too."
"Don't forget, we're having lunch at my parents today, so we need to bring comfortable clothes to change into after church."
"I know, sweetheart."
...
Elizabeth handed a glass of lemonade to Julie, then took a seat beside her.
"Thank you." Julie took a sip of the drink, taking care not to spill on Willa, who was fast asleep on her chest.
"So," Viola spoke up from the seat on the other side of Elizabeth, "how has your first Mother's Day been, Liz?"
"It's been really great." A smile played on her lips. "I always dreamed about being married to Jack, but getting to be a mom to Harrison is a definite bonus. And before you ask, we've been trying to get pregnant, but we're taking a little break, because it was stressing me out."
Julie gave her a sympathetic smile. "It'll happen for you, Elizabeth."
"I know. For now, we're just enjoying our little family." She looked out at the yard, the smile returning to her face as she watched Jack chasing Harrison and Aaron through the grass, the boys both laughing hard. She absentmindedly brought her hand to her neck, where her locket was resting.
"Is that new?" Viola asked, tilting her head toward the necklace.
"Yes." Elizabeth held the charm in her fingers. "Jack and Harrison gave it to me this morning."
"How sweet."
"What did you two get?"
Viola held up her hand. "Luke and Aaron gave me this ring with Aaron's birthstone in it."
"I didn't get any jewelry," Julie lamented. "But Owen did one of those sweet handprint paintings with Willa."
"Knowing Owen, I'm sure he turned it into a whole work of art."
"Oh, he did." She rolled her eyes playfully. "He turned the handprints into Star Wars characters."
Viola laughed. "That sounds like something Owen would do."
...
"Here, bud." Elizabeth handed him a couple of Legos. "Can you put those together to finish the tiger's tail?"
"Okay." He snapped them together, then gave them back to her.
"And, there's the tail." She put it onto the body she and Harrison had already put together. "Now we just need to make the head."
"Mommy." Harrison set his Legos down, then moved to sit on Elizabeth's lap. He leaned back against her chest, looking up at her. "When will my brother be here?"
"Harrison, we aren't having a baby yet. There isn't a baby in my belly right now."
"Uh huh. There is."
"Harrison," Jack leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees. "We'll tell you when mommy is having a baby."
"But I dreamed it, daddy. Mommy has a baby in her belly."
"I don't think so, Harrison." Jack shook his head. "I'm sorry."
"It's true!" he insisted, turning in Elizabeth's lap so he could put his little hands on her stomach. "My brother's in there."
Elizabeth smoothed down his hair. "Harrison… There's not a baby in there."
"No!" he shouted. "I'm getting a brother!"
"Harrison David." Jack's voice grew stern. "You don't yell at your mom."
"Sorry, daddy."
"Apologize to your mom, please."
He dropped his gaze. "Sorry, mommy."
"It's okay, Harrison." She hugged him. "I know how much you want a baby brother. Your daddy and I really want that, too. Sometimes it's hard to be patient."
"Why is it taking forever? Daddy says he helps put the baby in there." He looked over at Jack. "Do you not know how, daddy?"
Elizabeth covered her face, stifling a laugh as Jack's face turned red.
He coughed, nervously scratching the back of his neck. "No, I know how, bud. It just takes time."
"Oh. Can we watch a movie tonight?"
"Sure, Harrison." Elizabeth kissed his cheek. "Why don't we finish up this tiger, and then you can pick one out?"
...
Elizabeth dug around in the dresser for a pair of pajamas. "I wonder what all that was about with Harrison insisting that I'm pregnant. He's never been that adamant before."
Jack shrugged. "Who knows? But are you sure you aren't?"
"I don't see how I could be. I've tried to stop tracking my cycle so closely so I'm not so stressed, but I'm pretty sure we didn't get up to any… baby making activities…when it would've been the right time, because that's when my allergies were really bad and I wasn't in the mood. And I haven't had any symptoms. I'm not bloated or nauseous, nothing is sore."
"Maybe his dream was just very realistic."
"Probably." She put a hand on his cheek. "I wish it was real, Jack. You know I want nothing more than to be carrying your baby."
He leaned in and kissed her softly. "Why don't I run you a bath? We still have a few hours of Mother's Day left, and I plan to spend them spoiling you."
She smiled, kissing him again. "Thank you."
A few minutes later, she lowered herself into the hot water, trying to let the warmth relax her.
Her mind kept running, though. She kept thinking about Harrison's insistence that she was pregnant. She tried to think if there was any indication, counting back the days of her cycle.
She gasped, sloshing water out of the tub as she jumped out.
"Sweetheart?" Jack's voice came through the door. "Are you okay?"
"Yes." Her voice shook. "I'm fine."
Jack was lying back on the bed, reading a book, when Elizabeth emerged from the bathroom in her robe a few minutes later.
"Jack." She looked a little dazed. "I'm pregnant."
"Pregnant?" He sat up quickly, his eyes widening. "Really? But I thought…?"
"I know. I didn't think it was possible, but Harrison seemed so certain, and while I was in lying in the bathtub, I realized I'm a day late. It's not abnormal for me to be a day or two late, but I decided to check, just in case." She grinned, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I took four tests just to be sure. All positive."
He threw his arms around her, lifting her from the ground. "I love you, Beth."
She laughed, the tears still flowing. "How did he know?"
Jack shrugged. "No idea, but I'm so glad he was right." He kissed her soundly. "When do you want to tell him?"
"Maybe on his birthday? I should be able to get in for an ultrasound before then, and we'll have more answers for him then on when the baby is due."
"I just can't believe it." He took her hands, leading her over to the bed so she could sit. He sat beside her, putting a hand on her stomach. "Our baby." The corners of his lips turned up. "And you said you're only a day late? So that would make you about four weeks along."
"Only eight months to go." She untied her robe, letting Jack slide his hand inside. "I wonder how long it'll be before the little one will make themself known."
"Oh gosh." Jack dropped his hand to her thigh. "What if the baby is a girl?"
Elizabeth chuckled. "Then Harrison will have to be okay with getting a baby sister instead of a baby brother."
"Do you have a preference?"
She shook her head. "No. I'm just so happy that we're finally having a baby."
He grinned. "I told you it would happen for us." He leaned in, kissing her soundly. "I love you so much, Beth."
"I love you, Jack."
He returned his hands to her stomach. "And I love you, little one."