CHAPTER 56 - Part III

From the outside, the modest but cute house with white shutters on Mon Amour Street in Liskow, Canada looked peaceful and cozy. Clouds of smoke from the kitchen fireplace- a unique and old-fashioned amenity that the family found charming – spewed from the brick chimney and mingled with the day's crisp air.

Jack pulled up the collar on his coat to keep out the cold and slowed his pace.

On any given day, he loved walking in the front door – or even the back door – or even the garage door. He wouldn't have cared if he had to climb in a window to get into the house. He loved coming home. He loved Elizabeth and their six-month old son, Aaron Daniel. He loved his job as an officer with the North American Defense Force. He loved the dandelions and vegetables which they were growing in the small greenhouse on their property. He loved his life. Usually.

But today . . .

….for the first time since they had moved into their house ten months earlier, Jack wasn't looking forward to coming home.

He needed time to think.

When he got to the intersection of Mon Amour Street and Maple Avenue, Jack should have turned right, walked past five houses, and then walked up the driveway to the house with the metal name-plate that clearly read "The Thorntons".

Instead, he turned left.

To most people, the cold snap in the weather was annoying. To Elizabeth, it was another chance to snuggle at home in her woolen slippers, sip tea, and enjoy the school holiday. She loved her house with its soft thick couch cushions, creaky wooden floors, and two large bay windows with built-in seats. She loved living in LIskow, with its suburban feel but close proximity to city-life. She loved her life. Always.

She moved about the kitchen, shifting back and forth between setting the kitchen table, placing kisses on her son, and talking to her sister Julie.

"Stop moving so much. I can't see you and it makes talking to you about my love life more difficult," Julie reprimanded Elizabeth from her position hovering in the doorway of the kitchen.

"I have things to do. And we've been talking about your love life for twenty minutes," Elizabeth replied to the hologram over her shoulder as she chose to ignore Julie's disagreeable huff.

"I just want a relationship like you and Jack have. It's perfect."

"It's perfect because we're honest with each other."

"I am being honest with Bob," Julie defended herself. "I told him that I was also seeing Phil."

"Jack and I also respect each other's feelings. Maybe you should try respecting Bob's feelings."

"I respect Bob's feelings! .. . I think." Julie hesitated as she thought about the teacher that she had been dating for the past three months.

"I'm actually not sure how he feels," she continued. "He seemed okay with me seeing Phil. Except then he cancelled our dinner plans. He said he had to go to Toronto on business but he doesn't have business in Toronto. He's a fifth grade teacher! think maybe he was lying to me."

"You think?" Elizabeth asked in disbelief. Of course, Bob was lying to Julie. She had just told him that she was dating another man the same week he was thinking about taking her home to meet his parents for the first time.

"How am I supposed to know how he feels?" Julie whined.

"If you care deeply for someone, you just know. And if you don't, you ask. Jack and I just know. We know each other so well, we are in-tune with each other's feelings. We even know what the other person is usually going to say," Elizabeth remarked. "We can practically read each other's minds."

"Stop bragging."

"I'm not bragging,"

Elizabeth leaned over the cooing baby in the play pen and gave him another kiss. Jack had once told her that she kissed their son so often that the boy was going to have imprints of Elizabeth's lips on his soft baby skin, but she didn't care. He really was the cutest baby she had ever seen.

"Jack and I love each other. That's all," she added. "We're soul mates. Kindred spirits."

"Fine. You go ahead and ignore me – your favorite sister. And get back to your perfect life. By the way, you have baby spit-up on your shoulder," Julie told her before her hologram disappeared.

Elizabeth was buttoning up a fresh shirt when she heard the front door open. She threw her tee-shirt with the dried milk stain on the shoulder into the pile of laundry, and hurried out of the bedroom.

"You're late," she greeted Jack with a smile. "I thought you were getting a ride home."

"I decided to walk part of the way."

"You must have gotten off late too because it's not that long a walk," Elizabeth smiled.

She reached up and pressed her lips to one of Jack's cheeks.

"Ooh. Chilly," she noted when she felt his skin's coolness.

"How's our Acorn?" Jack asked as he affectionately referred to his son. He slipped off his coat and tossed it on the coat rack before moving over towards the playpen.

Six months earlier, in the hospital maternity ward, a beaming Jack and Elizabeth had correctly informed the hospital staff of their son's name. Aaron Daniel Thornton.

From there, his name had been entered into Earth's database and the small boy had been assigned his Earth Citizen Number. After having thoughtfully chosen their son's name, Elizabeth was annoyed that the newsfeed had shortened his name to a simple "A. Thorn" in an effort to have it fit into the prescribed number of characters for the maternity announcement. If her mother hadn't insisted on a long write-up, to include that the child was the world's first child conceived and in utero in space for five months, and if her father hadn't insisted that the family's prominence be included in the announcement, the baby's full name would have fit.

Elizabeth's hurriedly-typed message of complaint to her extended family about the abbreviated name had been sent out before she noticed that "A. Thorn" had been auto-corrected to Acorn. Within seconds, it was too late to go back. Her adorable son, Aaron Daniel Thornton, was henceforth called by his accidental nickname, Acorn.

"He's fine," Elizabeth now answered Jack. "We had a busy day. Mother stopped by with some new baby clothes for him. I had that interview with European Science and Maternity magazine, he had his six-month doctor's check-up, and Abigail gave us a new recipe for oyster stew with broccoli croquettes."

"How'd his check-up go?"

Jack, after giving his son a quick kiss, took a mug from one of the kitchen cupboards and poured himself a cup of hot tea while he glanced at the fireplace to make sure it had enough wood.

"Excellent. He's met every milestone early. Do you want to change before dinner? We're having spaghetti."

Jack furrowed his brows in confusion. "I thought we were having oyster stew with broccoli something or other."

"Yeah, that didn't work out," Elizabeth said dismissively. She shrugged as she stirred the pasta sauce she had taken out of a jar. "We tried."

"You've barely eaten anything," Elizabeth noted casually as she picked up another forkful of long thin noodles.

She had been so busy telling Jack about her day that she hadn't realized until now that she had been doing all the talking and all the eating.

"Yeah – I guess I'm not that hungry."

"Work okay?"

"Fine. The usual. . . . I had a meeting with the Commander." Jack tried to act nonchalant as he added the last part but Elizabeth barely paid attention to him.

"That's nice. So, the article should come out in another month. It's mostly scientific so it won't be that interesting. Although they asked way too many personal questions. Like how often we were intimate before I got pregnant. Can you believe that? I didn't think it was any of their business, but I guess they're doctors so they care about stuff like that."

"Yeah, doctors," Jack said absently.

"I mean who cares how we got pregnant? It's not like it's going to happen to other space travelers on a deep space colony. Want another piece of garlic bread?"

Jack shook his head. "So, I had this meeting with the Commander –"

"Grab the spoon from him, would you?" Elizabeth interrupted and motioned towards the baby who had picked up a metal spoon and was trying to see if it would fit in his ear.

Jack exhaled. "Elizabeth, we need to talk."

"We've been talking." She gave him a puzzled look.

"About work. My job."

"Did you get off next Saturday? Because it's my mom's birthday and we've got that party."

Elizabeth didn't wait for a response but instead focused on their son, who had started sucking on his tiny fist trying to get milk to miraculously come out of it. She unbuttoned her blouse, lifted the boy out of his seat, and cradled him to her chest.

As she watched her son nurse, a content and smiling Elizabeth didn't notice the frown on Jack's face or that he hadn't bothered to reply but had instead gotten out of his chair to re-fill his glass of water.

"He's down for a few hours," Elizabeth remarked as she walked into the bedroom. She began to undress as she glanced over at Jack.

The evening hours had been spent doing chores that never seemed to get done and then talking to her mother for thirty minutes about her upcoming party.

Jack, his back propped against some pillows, was already in bed waiting for her. He watched her as she tossed her clothes onto the pile of dirty clothes.

"You know, you really don't need all those clothes. Do you? It just makes for more work."

After two years of wearing mostly transporter uniforms and a few simple outfits, Elizabeth had gone slightly overboard when she got back to Earth and had indulged herself in sweaters, jeans, blouses, tee-shirts, and dresses in a variety of fabrics and colors. She enjoyed having the option of changing clothes whenever she wanted but wasn't thrilled with having to do laundry. Besides, her figure had changed considerably in the last year.

"I don't need them. But I like them," she answered with a smile.

"But you would be fine without them. Wouldn't you?"

"I thought you like the way I dress."

"I do. I just wonder if having so many clothes isn't more of a hassle."

Elizabeth pulled a pair of flannel pajamas from one of her dresser drawers and spoke jokingly over her shoulder. "You're not trying to tell me that we're going broke are you?"

"No. Of course not."

"I'm taking up too much space in the closet, aren't I? It bothers you?" she said somewhat guiltily. "I'll try and squish more onto my side."

"No, it's fine."

"I know. I should have done laundry," she guessed at why Jack was concerned. "I'll get it tomorrow. The pile's getting pretty big."

"It's okay. I was just wondering."

"About my clothes?"

Jack didn't answer but kept thinking about how many clothes Elizabeth had accumulated. Not just her clothes, but wedding gifts, baby clothes, baby toys, household appliances. Stuff.

A lot of stuff.

"Jack? Did you hear me?"

"Yeah, you're right. I do like you best naked," he responded as he realized she had been talking to him as she slipped on her pajama bottoms

"So, Elizabeth. Remember that corporal that took over for me in Coal Valley?"

Elizabeth slipped into her pajama shirt which was light blue in color and covered in a pattern of little white polar bears that matched one of the baby's sleep outfits. She had bought another matching set for Jack but he had managed to avoid wearing it so far.

"Vaguely. Why? What's up?" she replied.

"He needs to come back to Earth. A family matter. They're getting him on the next transporter home."

"Wow. He hasn't even been there a year. I guess they need to send a replacement."

"Yeah. Someone who's experienced. Been there before. Knows the routine."

"Did they ask you for any recommendations?" she asked as she closed the last button. "Because they should know that you were there longer than anyone."

An uneasy Jack wondered why Elizabeth hadn't seem to grasp the gravity of the situation.

He also wondered how long she might cry when she did grasp it.

Two minutes? Five minutes?

Nah, probably three weeks, he estimated.

He cleared his throat as he watched her unbraid her hair. "It was a good assignment, wasn't it? Not so bad. We had a good time there."

"We did."

"Lots of closeness for a young family," he noted in an attempt to be optimistic and casual.

"I'm sure whoever is sent will appreciate it. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience," Elizabeth noted. "I'm just going to check on Aaron Daniel one more time before bed."

"Twice in a life-time experience," Jack muttered as Elizabeth left the room.

Up Next: Chapter 57. Going Ballistic

Dear Readers: I never expected to continue this story but a new idea came to mind, and like a rocket ship, it took off. :)