Chapter 1 of 2 today …

(15/10/2018)

CHAPTER 53

Jack woke with the sun. He lay on his back taking in his wife who was curled up against him, breathing slowly, her hair tickling his arm. He ran his hand through her hair, loving how soft it was and how it felt between his fingers. He loved waking up like this on a Sunday morning.

Wait a minute. Sunday …

Memories of the camping trip came flooding back, their return yesterday. Sunday. Today was Monday. Work!

Jack flew out of bed looking for his phone. It wasn't on his bedside table. He checked the clock on Elizabeth's side. 6:42 am. He was meant to be at work 42 minutes ago. Crap!

There was no time for a shower. He threw his clothes on that were sitting on the chair by the door and ran downstairs, grabbing his wallet and keys and racing to the car.

Elizabeth heard Jack's huffing and groans in the room but assumed it was just because it was Monday. She listened as his truck started downstairs and pulled away before she rolled over. She opened one eye to check the time. He was running really late. He must have forgotten to set his alarm.

She pulled herself out of bed slowly, sitting on the side of the bed before she forced herself to go for a shower. Her own alarm normally went off soon anyway. After she had showered and dressed, she pulled the sheets and quilt up on the bed on Jack's side. As she walked around to her side to finish making the bed, she kicked something on the floor. She glanced down to see Jack's phone. What was it doing there?

As she reached her side of the bed, she picked up her black undergarments off the floor and remembered. He must have been setting his alarm when she distracted him. Whoops. She smiled as she put everything away, wondering if he had realised.

Jack hurried to work but he had already missed the first hour of training. There was only about another 30 minutes left. He saw his training group running on the outer trail as he pulled his truck into the carpark. He stashed his car key into the pocket of his shorts and took off after them.

Thankfully it looked like Sergeant Powers was leading them today. He fell into line at the back where he normally was and got a sideways glance from her but nothing more.

He finished the last few miles of the run with them. He was dripping with sweat by the end, hoping none of the others would have noticed when he joined them.

"Thornton. A word?" Powers asked him.

Jack walked up to where she was standing a distance away from everyone else.

"Jack, you were really late. Everything okay?"

"Sorry, my alarm didn't go off."

"You only have one?"

"No, I have three but they didn't work. I'm sorry."

"Jack, it's fine. You know as well as I do, you don't really need to be here but it's bad for morale if you rock up when you want. They can all see me talking to you, so just go back and look disappointed."

"Thanks, Christy."

"Oh and Shane was here looking for you this morning."

"Thanks. I'll go find him now."

Jack went back to his car and grabbed his bag to change. By the time he walked into the mess hall, Shane was waiting.

"Where were you, Jack?"

"I was running late."

"That is not like you."

"I know, I don't know what happened. My alarm didn't go off."

"Did you set it?"

"I don't know. I can't remember. I was texting you …"

"Yeah, but you never replied to the last message."

"I didn't?"

"No. I reminded you that you are with me today and you never answered."

"I read that message though and then …" Jack's eyes went wide as he remembered what had interrupted him. "Oh …"

"What?"

"I remember what happened now. I got … distracted."

"By?"

"Nothing." Jack felt the heat rising.

Shane laughed. "You are hopeless!"

"What?"

"It was Elizabeth wasn't it? The distraction?"

"Maybe" he said grinning.

Shane shook his head. "You cannot use that as an excuse! Why were you late today Jack?" he said in a mocking voice. "Because my wife seduced me and I forgot to set the alarm on my phone."

"It's exactly what happened though! How is that not valid?!"

Shane roared with laughter. "You could have said no!" People at nearby tables were turning around to stare at them.

"Oh really. Would you have said no if Katy appeared in front of you wearing practically nothing?"

"Hell no!" Shane said loudly.

"I didn't think so."

Taking on a more serious tone, Shane added, "I take it you two are back to normal then with everything?"

"Yes, I guess so considering I don't know what normal is."

"Right, well you're with me today. I'm trying to get you back to normal at work."

"Thanks Shane, I appreciate it."

"Don't thank me. You haven't seen what you're doing yet" he said with another laugh and a slap on his back.

After Elizabeth dropped Halley and Gracie off at the school, she walked over to the preschool that was next door to enquire for a spot for Eve.

"Hello" an older lady greeted them.

"Hi. I'm Elizabeth and this is Eve. I wanted to see if you have any places available on a Wednesday to Friday."

"We do have Thursdays and Fridays available at the moment. Do you want to start this week?"

"Yes, if that's possible."

They handed Elizabeth the paperwork while Eve stared past her at all the children.

"Eve" the lady came and knelt down near her. "My name is Betty. Would you like to come and have a look around while your Mom fills out the forms."

Eve looked at Elizabeth. "Go on baby. I'm not leaving you here today. Just go and see if you like it."

Eve nodded, taking Betty's outstretched arm. She led Eve away to where a group of little girls were sitting at a table colouring in. Eve took a seat next to them and a little girl handed her a pink crayon. Eve took it, watching what they were doing before she copied them.

Elizabeth finished the forms and handed them back to Betty.

"Do you have more spots on Thursdays and Fridays?"

"Yes. We still have two more spots."

"Great. And I can go on a waiting list for Wednesdays?"

"Yes." Betty looked over the forms. "You work next door?"

"Just part-time. Three days a week. My sister has been looking after Eve but she's expecting so I didn't think it was fair to her anymore."

"That's fine. We always have spare spots for teachers though. You can start Wednesdays immediately if you like."

"Really? That would be fantastic."

"Great. I'll put her in to start this Wednesday then."

Elizabeth went over to where Eve was sitting talking to her new friends.

"Hey baby, what do you think about coming back to play here on Wednesday?"

Eve looked at the little girl next to her. "Will you be here on Wednesday?"

"Yes. I come every day" the little girl said with a smile as she turned back to her drawing.

"Okay" Eve said to her Mom.

"Alright. Let's go then. Say bye."

"Bye" Eve sung out to the little girls at the table and two of them waved to her.

When Elizabeth got home and Eve was playing in Gracie's room, she pulled out her phone to call Viola. She was worried how her sister would take it. She knew Viola would be a little upset not to have Eve.

"Hi Vi."

"Hi Beth. What's up?"

"Well, after seeing you yesterday and that growing bump of yours, I decided that it's time that I find someone else to look after Eve."

"What? No, Beth. I'm fine, really."

"I know but you won't be for much longer. So I went and enquired at the childcare next to the school. They've got a spot for her to start immediately."

"No Beth. Please. It's fine. I want to help you."

"I know you do. But I asked and they have a spot available on Thursdays and Fridays if you wanted to send Lara too. Now don't worry about Oscar. I can still pick him up and drop him off. I will just need to put Halley's old car seat back in the car."

"Beth, you don't need to do any of that."

"Please, Vi. Just think about it tonight. Let me know tomorrow, otherwise I will be there to pick up Owen on Wednesday morning."

"Lara's going to be so upset."

"I know. But Lara and Eve could go together on a Friday and meet some new friends for next year. It will be perfect for them. Just think about it. I will talk to you tomorrow?"

"Okay. Bye Beth."

Elizabeth could hear the disappointment in her voice but knew there was nothing more that she could do about it. In the long run, she knew Viola would appreciate not having to look after Eve, especially once her baby was born.

Jack walked in late to find his family sitting at the dinner table already eating. Elizabeth jumped out of her seat when he came in.

"Jack! Where have you been? I was getting worried."

She ushered him to a seat as she pulled his dinner out of the oven. She slid the food onto a new plate before putting it in front of him, along with a beer.

"I know. I couldn't find my phone this morning."

"I found it under the bed" she said without thinking as she sat back down opposite him.

"Under the bed? How did it get there?"

"Oh, I don't know" she said, brushing over it and going back to her food.

Jack stared at her. "I know exactly how it got there. I dropped it last night before I set my alarm" he said seriously.

Elizabeth looked up at him. "That was a bit silly of you then, wasn't it?"

Jack glanced at his daughters but they were all concentrating on their food.

"Me? It had nothing to do with me and all to do with someone's attire that caused that to happen."

"I warned you of the repercussions of your actions on Saturday night. You need to take responsibility for them, Sergeant" she said with a grin.

"Oh, I took responsibility for them at work alright."

He saw the worried look in her eyes. "You got in trouble for being late?"

"No. I got ridiculed by Shane and some of the others instead."

Elizabeth laughed. "Serves you right."

Jack shook his head at her. "I was with Shane all day today. I'm getting there. I've remembered heaps of my training and he's just catching me up fully, making sure there's not too many holes. We've been going over our past missions and it's been very informative."

"That's great news."

"I thought so."

"How was school today, girls?

"I'm going to big school!" Eve announced loudly, cutting her older sisters off.

"Are you?"

"Yes! On Wednesday!"

"That's exciting" Jack said as he glanced at Elizabeth for clarification. She filled him in.

Halley and Gracie proceeded to tell them what they did at school, with multiple interruptions from Eve to tell Jack about how she drew a pink pony at the childcare.

After the kids were in bed, Jack sat on the lounge with his arm around Elizabeth's shoulders.

"I'm worried about Vi, Jack. I think she's upset with me."

"She'll come around when she realises why you did it."

"I hope so."

"I got the leave approved too. I finish on Christmas Eve for two and a half weeks."

"That's great. I will have a look into Hawaii tomorrow then."

Jack sat there quietly for a moment wondering how to bring up what he had been thinking about all day.

"Beth, are you … happy?"

Elizabeth turned to stare at him. "What do you mean?"

"Shane asked me if things between us were back to normal but honestly, I don't really know. Are they?"

"Kind of. I mean things like sitting here talking with you, your arm around my shoulders, it feels like the old days. There are some things that are different but most of the time I forget that you don't remember everything … that has to be a good sign right?"

"I don't understand what you mean."

"If I forget that you don't remember everything, it means you must be fitting in okay. Like the other day when you told me about the stinky fish. It came out of your mouth so naturally. You used to say that to me a lot when you used to go fishing. That's the moments that I realise that you still don't remember everything."

Jack nodded slowly.

"Are you not happy, Jack?"

"No, of course I am, I was just wondering about you. I love you and those girls and I can't imagine my life being different now, but there are still so many gaps. When you were telling me the stories about the girls as babies, I try so hard to remember but everything is still so vague and a bit of a jumble."

"That makes sense but you are making progress still. It's been three months since the accident. You have made amazing progress considering the severity of your injury." Elizabeth leant in kissing him on the cheek as she slid onto his chest.

"Thank you Beth. For always being there for me. I couldn't have done any of this without you. You are everything to me. I hope you know that" he said as he kissed her forehead.

Elizabeth looked up at him. "I had a pretty good idea but thank you for telling me."

"Your welcome."