Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. All rights go to the actors, writers and creators of the show "When Calls The Heart".
A big thank you to Ybdavila for your feedback. I hope I have given your comments the justice that they deserve :)
This isn't a long one, but the next chapter is almost done too! Stay tuned!
(2/8/2018)
CHAPTER 20
On Sunday, they had all been invited to a birthday dinner for Will, Rosie and Lee's eldest son. With everything going on, Elizabeth had yet to get Will a birthday present and she had promised Rosie that she would make some of her famous cupcakes that all the kids loved.
"Jack?" she called out down the basement stairs.
"Yeah."
"I need you to go and buy Will a present for tonight."
"Okay."
"I want to go too" Halley said, appearing by Elizabeth's side.
"Me too" Gracie and Eve both yelled as they came running out of the kitchen.
Jack appeared in front of her, clearly having been midway through a work out.
"Oh, you can finish what you were doing."
"That's fine, I'm done. Where do I need to go?"
"The toy store. Halley can show you where to go."
"Okay. I will go change and then I will be right back."
Elizabeth went back to the kitchen and began measuring out ingredients. Jack appeared a short time later, his hair all ruffled and damp from his shower.
"What should I get Will?"
"I have no idea. He loves baseball. Maybe a new glove or something. What did you like doing when you were seven?"
"I don't know. Probably baseball. And fishing with my dad."
"Go with baseball then."
Jack and the girls all left. Elizabeth quickly finished the batter and got the cupcakes in the oven. She finished cleaning the house and put another load of washing on. She was outside hanging it up when Gracie came flying out the back door.
"Mommy! I got a puppy!" she screamed excitedly.
"Huh?" Elizabeth looked up in surprise.
"Come see! Daddy got me a puppy!"
What in the world? Why would he buy a puppy?
"Mommy! I got a puppy!" Eve squealed jumping up and down as she came in the house.
"So I heard. Where is it?"
"Here" Eve was dragging her through the house to the laundry.
Elizabeth saw Halley sitting on the floor with a little golden retriever puppy on her lap. It was pretty cute, she would admit. That lasted for all of two seconds. She saw two more puppies rolling over one another in the corner of the laundry.
"Halley's is Twinkie, Gracie's is Ana and mine is Rip."
Elizabeth stood there speechless for a moment looking between the three puppies.
"JACK!"
"Yeah." He came around the corner looking pretty happy with himself.
"PUPPIES?"
"Yeah, how cute are they?" he said grinning at her.
"They are cute but Jack there are three of them! You didn't think to talk to me first before you bought one dog, let alone three!"
Jack walked past and scooped one of them up in his hand.
"Look at them, Beth. How can you say not to that?" he said as he shoved a puppy in her face.
"Jack they have to go back now!"
All three girls started yelling at the same time.
She raised her voice over all of them. "ENOUGH! WE ARE NOT KEEPING THREE PUPPIES!"
Then the tears started. Elizabeth just shook her head and glared at Jack.
"Where did you buy them?"
Jack handed her the receipt.
Elizabeth snatched it off him and went and dialled the number.
Jack thought puppies were a great idea. He had always loved dogs and when he saw them in the window, all he could think of was three puppies for three little girls. Seemed to make sense to him. Watching Elizabeth's reaction though, he realised he must have done something wrong.
As Elizabeth walked out of the room, he had three crying girls to worry about. He sat down with them all around him, each of his daughters taking their puppy in their arms. Elizabeth walked back into the laundry and slumped down on the floor.
"They won't take them back. Something about a health risk."
"I'm sorry Beth."
Elizabeth just shook her head. Eve's puppy crawled across the floor and nudged Elizabeth's knee. She picked him up and cuddled him. No one could resist a puppy.
"What did you get Will?"
"Hmm?" Jack replied.
"Birthday present?" Elizabeth prompted.
"Um, we never got that far. The pet shop came first" Jack said quietly, putting his head down. He did not want to see Elizabeth's reaction.
She suddenly stood up, putting the puppy back in Eve's arms, before she pulled her phone out again and left the room.
Elizabeth called Lee.
"Hi Beth. What's up?"
"I have a big problem."
"Okay …"
"Jack just bought three puppies."
"Like puppy dogs? Live ones?"
"Yeah" Elizabeth said unimpressed.
All Elizabeth could hear was laughter. She could picture Lee standing there with his hand on his chest, laughing until he was red in the face.
After a minute, it slowed down a bit.
"Have you got that out of your system, Lee?"
"No! Wait until I see Jack later!" He burst out laughing again.
"Right. Well, the store won't take them back."
"Okay …"
"Rosie was talking about getting a dog."
"Yeah, she wanted a female golden retriever."
"Exactly. I have Will's birthday present right here. You've got a choice of Twinkie or Ana."
"Whoa. No. I'm not ready to get a dog today."
"Yeah, well I'm not ready to have three dogs any day. Please. Please. Please with a cherry on top."
"Oh fine. Yes, you can give it to Will for his birthday."
"Thank you! Twinkie, it is" she said gladly.
"You know, you just became Will's favourite person in the whole world."
"Yeah, on the same day that I became Halley's least favourite person."
"Oh no. That bad?"
"Yeah. Never mind. Okay, we will see you at 5 pm with a puppy in tow. Please warn Rosie."
"Oh, she will be more excited than Will!"
Elizabeth went back to the laundry where Jack was standing up watching them all.
"Ok, we are giving one of the puppies to Will for his birthday. Twinkie has a new home" she said to Jack.
Jack turned to look at Halley.
"You can tell her, Jack."
Elizabeth saw the hurt look in his eyes. She didn't know who would be more hurt – Jack or Halley.
He sat down quietly and put his arm around her. "Halley, sweetie …" She knew he couldn't do it.
Elizabeth knelt down on the ground in front of her.
"Halley" she said. "We have to give your puppy to Will for his birthday, okay?"
"No" she started to cry.
"We will keep one puppy, which you three girls will share. You can all play with it and you will all decide on the name." Eve and Gracie started to cry too now. "Any more tears and we will give them all away and we will have no dog. Understand?"
Elizabeth waited until they all nodded.
"Okay, Halley you can play with Twinkie today. You can be the one to give him to Will, okay?"
That seemed to placate her somewhat.
"Okay. I'm going to try and find one of the others a new home. Which one are we keeping? This one or that one?" she said pointing between Gracie's and Eve's.
Gracie's was chasing her tail while Eve's sat there placidly in her arms. Each of them naturally wanted to keep their own dog.
"Jack, you and Halley decide which dog we're keeping and then all of you think of a name together."
Elizabeth leant down and took a photo of Gracie's puppy before she went on to Facebook.
"Free Golden Retriever puppy. Ready to go home today. PM me for details."
Two minutes later, her friend Sarah called. She'd take him immediately. Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief.
"Why is Mommy so mean?" Eve asked Jack.
Jack sat on the floor of the laundry feeling terrible.
"She's not mean. It was my fault. I should've asked her before we bought the puppies."
"Why doesn't she want them?" Gracie asked as she played with her puppy's ears.
"It's not that. It's just puppies do get really big and they're a lot of work. One dog is probably enough. Which one do we want Halley?"
Just then, Eve's puppy had her sock between his teeth and was trying to pull it off. Eve helped him.
"That one" Halley said laughing as she pointed at Eve's. Gracie dropped her head and started to cry.
"Okay. It was Eve's puppy to start, Halley picked it, now Gracie what should we call it?"
He saw his little girl trying to think of something. The puppy was dancing around playing with the sock.
"Daddy, you helped pick the name Rip."
"I did."
"Why?"
"Because I had a dog a long time ago called Rip. He was a great dog."
"I think we should stick with Rip then."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. He suits that name" she said smiling at him as Rip threw Eve's sock in the air before jumping on it.
Elizabeth finished icing the cupcakes and put them at the door ready to go. The girls barely left the laundry all day.
Sarah came and picked up Ana the puppy. She had appeared as excited as the girls. Gracie handed her over reluctantly but at least she wasn't crying.
Everyone got ready to go to Will's birthday dinner. As Halley carried Twinkie out to the car, Elizabeth glanced back in at Rip, who was whimpering at the gate that they had put up. Elizabeth couldn't leave him alone after he'd been held all day. She scooped him up and carried him to the car.
The girls were already in their seats, with Twinkie sitting on Halley's lap. Elizabeth opened the door and put Rip on Gracie's lap as well.
"Rip's coming to the party too" she said, watching the big grin appear on her daughter's face.
When they arrived at Lee and Rosie's, Jack helped Halley out of the car. They had tied a bow to Twinkie's collar on the way. Jack pulled a bag of dog food and the dog bed out of the car.
Eve pressed the doorbell. "They're here" they heard Will yell before he opened the door.
"Happy birthday" Halley said, handing Will the puppy.
The young boy's mouth dropped open. He didn't take the puppy, but just stood there.
"You got me a dog?"
"Yep" Eve said, smiling.
Only then did Will take the puppy from Halley's hands.
"Mom! The Thornton's got me a dog!" he screamed in excitement.
Lee and Rosie appeared behind him.
"They gave me a dog!" he screamed again, while Lee and Rosie laughed at his reaction.
Rosie led Will away from the door as Lee welcomed them in.
"Three puppies, hey Jack? What's that about?"
Jack just handed him the dog food and bed in response.
Lee laughed as they all came in.
"And who's this?" he asked when Gracie came in.
"This is our puppy. Rip."
"Rip, hey? Good name, Jack."
Jack nodded. Elizabeth could see the bright red colour creeping up his neck. He followed Halley through to the kitchen.
"Did you get rid of the other one?" Lee asked Elizabeth.
"Yes. Sarah took her."
"That's a relief."
"Tell me about it."
"Did he explain why?"
"No. He seems embarrassed. I'm just going to let it go. And never send him to get a birthday present ever again."
Elizabeth laughed it off but truthfully, she was concerned. Jack had never done something that impulsive before.
That night after they got home from the birthday dinner, Elizabeth put the girls to bed while Jack was in charge of getting Rip settled. Elizabeth came downstairs to find the puppy curled up asleep and Jack nowhere to be found.
Elizabeth noticed the light peeking out from below the basement door. She opened it and slowly walked down to see Jack staring at his wall of drawings.
"Jack, are you okay?"
"Yeah."
Elizabeth came up behind him and put her arm across his back. He automatically, put his arm around her shoulders.
"What's going on Jack? What are you looking at?"
"Nothing."
She stood there in silence, just holding onto him.
"I'm sorry about the puppies. It seemed like a good idea at the time."
"It's okay. It all worked out."
Jack nodded. She could see him focused on one of the pictures.
"Jack, what is it?"
"I drew this the other day, didn't I?" he said pointing at the picture of her running toward him when he returned from deployment.
"Yeah" she said pausing. "You don't remember?"
"No, I remember drawing it but the memory is gone. I can't see it anymore."
"Is that the only one?"
"No. That one too."
He pointed at the picture of her during their wedding.
Elizabeth held her breath. Oh, no.
He looked down at her and she could see the turmoil in his eyes.
"Hey, it will be okay. You've remembered them once. They will come back" she said softly.
He pulled her in to him and they held each other tight.