Saturday morning arrived and the Thorntons were at the Coulter house bright and early to help set up for Lilly's party. The relief on Rosemary's face was evident when Jack and Elizabeth entered the house, "Thank goodness, you both are here! Lee went to pick up the cake, Aaron doesn't want to wear his Sven costume, and Violet is in one of her 'I don't want to be put down or I'll scream at the top of my lungs' moods," Rosemary said.
"What needs to be done, Rosie?" asked Jack.
"Blue streamers need to be hung, the Frozen character balloons need to be placed around the room, the blue and white balloons need to be strung from the ceiling, and I still need to put Lilly and Violet in their costumes," Rosemary instructed.
"I'm on it," said Jack as he went to blow up some balloons.
Elizabeth smiled at her husband and then glanced over at Rosemary, who looked pretty frazzled at the moment, "Are you alright, Rosemary?"
"Yes, just had a really rough night with the baby. I think Lee and I got two of hours of sleep last night," she said.
"Okay, I am ordering you and Lee to take a day for yourselves next weekend, either Friday night or Saturday, but you both need couples time," said Elizabeth, scooping her Goddaughter into her arm, "Don't they, sweetheart?" she cooed at Violet.
"Okay, okay," Rosemary succumbed, "I just hate leaving her when she's still so little."
"Just a few hours, Rosemary, that's all you need," said Elizabeth.
"Alright, I'll talk to Lee and see if he wants to do something just the two of us next Saturday if he doesn't have to work," said Rosie, taking Violet back from Elizabeth, "Would you mind helping Lilly into her costume? I need to feed and change Violet before I dress her up for the party."
"Of course, is she in her room?" asked Elizabeth. Rosemary nodded and Elizabeth went up the stairs. She knocked on the door to Lilly's room; it was decorated with Disney princess posters so it wasn't hard to find, "Lilly?"
Lilly opened the door and smiled when she saw her Godmother, "Hi, Aunt Elizabeth!" she threw her arms around her.
"Hi Lilly," Elizabeth embraced her, "Listen, Mommy is busy with the baby, so she asked me to help you with your Elsa costume. Is that alright?"
Lilly wrinkled her nose a little but nodded, "Okay," she sighed. She let Elizabeth into her room, "Mommy is always busy with the baby," Lilly pouted.
Elizabeth found the blue dress and took it off the hanger, "I know. But babies need a lot of attention because they can't do things for themselves like you can. I know you remember when Aaron was born and he was the same way."
"Mommy fussed over Aaron a lot, but he didn't cry as much as Violet does. Aaron says we definitely know her lungs work," stated Lilly.
Elizabeth snickered, "She'll outgrow it in a few months, I promise. You were the same way when you were a baby."
"So I cried all the time for no reason too?" she asked.
"Yes, you did," affirmed Elizabeth. She zipped the back of Lilly's Elsa dress and asked, "Do you want me to put some glitter eye shadow on you?" Lilly nodded and Elizabeth began to carefully apply the make-up, "You know, Lilly, when Violet gets a little older, having a little sister will be the best thing that ever happened to you."
"Really?" asked Lilly.
"Mmhm," Elizabeth nodded, "I don't know what I would do without my sisters. We shared all sorts of secrets, we played games, made arts and crafts, and once we started to get older, we talked about boys and school and all sorts of interesting things."
"It would be nice to have someone to play princess and tea party with, because all Aaron wants to do is play with cars and laser tag," said Lilly.
Elizabeth laughed and put the glitter make-up back on her dresser, "Alright, go show Mommy how pretty you look!"
Lilly ran to Violet's nursery while Elizabeth joined her husband downstairs, "Lee just texted me that he was leaving the Giant, so he should be here any minute."
"Okay," nodded Elizabeth, "FYI, we will be babysitting the Coulter children next Friday night or Saturday. Lee and Rosie really need the time to themselves."
Jack chuckled, "Oh I remember our days with newborns. They should be lucky that they're not caring for newborn twins."
"Yes, but they're both worth it," Elizabeth smiled at Mary and Charlotte playing with William and Aaron. Lillian bounced down the stairs and Rosie was right behind her with Violet, who was fully dressed in her Olaf outfit, "Oh aren't you just an adorable little snowman!" Elizabeth cooed at Violet.
Violet began to giggle and Rosie mocked, "Oh sure, now you're going to show your happy, fun side."
"You, Lee, and Aaron aren't wearing your costumes?" questioned Elizabeth.
"Well, I'm tired of fighting with Aaron right now, so it's a no go on Sven," Rosie admitted.
"Well, what about you and Lee?" asked Elizabeth.
"Oh, Elizabeth, dear; with all due respect, Florence, Molly, and Dottie are coming to Lilly's party with their children. It would be unfair to the rest of you for them to see our costume ahead of time. And besides, I don't want anyone trying to take us down to see their competition ahead of time. It just wouldn't be fair to us or them. You wouldn't want that, would you?" Rosie gave her somewhat wicked smile and laugh, before walking away and barking more commands at Jack and Lee, who had just now arrived home from Giant and hadn't even set the cake down on the dessert table.
Aaron came up next to Elizabeth and said, "Mommy gets a little crazy when it comes to Halloween costume contests."
"I know," she patted Aaron's shoulder, "As she does with any holiday contest."
Noon arrived and the Coulter house was filled with a plethora of kids hyper from sugar and more than ready to eat some more. In addition to the Thornton and Coulter children, the Montgomerys, the Sullivans, the Blakeleys, the Ramseys, the Wolfs, the Weises, the Cantrells, the Flynns, and the Hogans were all in attendance. While Rosemary was always doting on her own children and she was pretty good with her students, dealing with a houseful of other people's children was a different story, "Sticky children, sticky children everywhere!" she said, coming over to Elizabeth, Faith, the school nurse, and Abigail.
They all chuckled and Faith asked, "Problems?"
"YES! Sticky children are everywhere!" Rosemary motioned, "Good thing my kids' birthdays only come once a year," she stated the obvious.
"We can stay and help with clean-up if you want," said Abigail.
"Thank you, that would be very much appreciated," Rosemary said, "Oh I talked to Lee, he has to work late Friday, so you'll be watching the kids next Saturday."
"Good, maybe we can take them to Chuck-E-Cheese or the mall or something to get all of that energy out of them," said Elizabeth.
"I don't know where Lilly gets it from. She's such a little chatterbox and a little fireball of energy," said Rosemary, sipping her Coke. Everyone snickered but Rosemary didn't notice, "Well, we should probably sing 'Happy Birthday' and let Lilly open her presents. She's dying to get into them."
The partygoers sang 'Happy Birthday' and watched Lilly open, or rather, tear through her presents before the celebration ended. The Thorntons, Hogans, and Cantrells stayed behind to help with tear down and clean up, "Jack, Frank, Shane, could you help me deflate the giant Olaf out front?" asked Lee.
"Of course," they all agreed and followed their friend out front.
"Guys, why don't you go upstairs and play with Lilly and Aaron while we all help Mrs. Coulter clean up her living and dining rooms?" instructed Elizabeth.
Violet started screaming from her bassinet and Rosie whimpered a little. She cradled her daughter in her arms and she could tell by Violet's actions that it was time to eat, "Can you girls handle the clean-up temporarily? I really need to go and feed her."
"Of course, we can handle everything," assured Abigail and Rosemary disappeared upstairs. Abigail smirked at Elizabeth and asked, "So how are the costume ideas coming?"
"We settled on Beauty and the Beast last night," said Elizabeth proudly.
"You, Jack, and the kids are going with a Disney theme too?" asked Faith.
"Yes, why are you?" questioned Elizabeth.
"Cinderella," smiled Faith, "Hoping one of our themes takes down the little darlings of the Hope Valley family costume contest."
Elizabeth and Abigail chuckled, "Well, we'll see," said Abigail.
"Are you, Frank, Becky, and Cody dressing up?" asked Elizabeth hopefully.
"Becky and Cody, yes, me and Frank, no," responded Abigail.
"Why not?" asked Faith.
"We've never dressed up for Halloween. We've let the kids for the past few years, but we never have, even when it was just the two of us," protested Abigail.
"Neither have Jack and I, but we are this year," pleaded Elizabeth, "Come on, maybe you guys could do Snow White or Peter Pan?"
"Maybe Sleeping Beauty?" chimed in Faith.
"Listen, I know everyone in town is chomping at the bit to take down the Coulters this year, but I think they will have plenty of competition. From what I've heard, Molly and Rosaleen Sullivan are doing Brave and Dottie and Bradley Ramsey are doing Toy Story in addition to you all and Jesse, Clara, and the boys."
"Well, who's judging then?" asked Elizabeth.
"I believe Cat and Florence are, at least for that category," answered Abigail, "Assuming everything works out."
"What do you mean by that?" asked Faith.
"Well, when Silas Ramsey was mayor, he always approved the permits for the town Halloween celebration right away, but ever since he passed and Henry Gowen took over as mayor, it seems all of the businesses are having trouble getting their permits approved for the various booths and contest tents."
"I'm sure everything will work out," comforted Elizabeth though she wasn't 100% sure. When Silas Ramsey had died suddenly of a heart attack six months prior, Henry Gowen, as president of the town council, was next in line for mayor even though many Hope Valley citizens had wanted to hold an emergency election, but they weren't allowed until the official elections next month.
Rosemary came down the stairs and noticed everyone was very quiet, so she decided to fill the silence of the room, as per usual, "I'm sorry, ladies, but my baby needed me, or rather a certain part of me…"
"No, it's not you," mentioned Elizabeth, "We all know how much new babies eat. It's something else."
"Well, what's going on?" asked Rosemary.
The three women glanced at each other, "It's probably nothing," admitted Abigail.
Rosemary sighed. She had the feeling their new worry wasn't about Halloween costumes, because that was a minor concern in the scheme of things. Sure, she may get a little competitive for her kids' sake, but she could tell this was more serious. This mystery was getting bigger and bigger.