Five Years Later, Early September
Elizabeth put two month old Drake down next to his twin sister Hadlie, or Haddie, in their crib and went to make an after school snack for Fin, Joe, and Jake. Fin, at almost ten, was capable of making a snack for her and her brothers but Elizabeth did it because she enjoyed sitting at the table while they ate and listening to stories about their day.
School had just started for the year and Jake was going to all day kindergarten. She wondered how it went. He was shy and self-conscious about his glasses he just started wearing and he always needed a nap to get through an afternoon. She figured he would struggle with that.
Just as the fruit was cut up and placed on their plates along with the celery and peanut butter, she heard the school bus pull up and stop. Then a moment later, she heard the door open and Fin and Joe talking loudly.
"Hey guys, try to be just a little quieter. The babies are sleeping."
"Sorry, Mama," Fin told her.
"That's ok. Where's Jake?" Joe shrugged. "He rode the bus home, right?" she asked, a bit of panic in her voice.
"He's on the porch," Fin told her.
"Fin, listen for the babies. I'll be right back." Elizabeth wandered out to the porch. She heard sniffles before she saw him on the swing, his cheeks wet. "Jake, what's wrong, baby?"
She sat down next to him and dried his tears. "I don't want to go back there! Please don't make me, Mama."
"What happened?" He moved to her lap and cried into her shoulder. "Oh, sweetie." She removed his glasses and kept rocking.
"Nobody likes me."
"Well, now, you are a wonderful, kind, smart boy, Jacob Thornton. It won't take very long for you to make tons and tons of friends."
"Can't I stay home with you? I'll be a good boy."
"You're already such a good boy, Jake, but going to school is part of growing up. Its something we all have to do."
"School stinks," he said with a frown as he sat up.
She smiled and put his glasses back on his face. "Are you hungry? I made you ants on a log."
"I guess."
She set him on the porch, getting up gingerly out of habit since her c-section two months before, even though she was pretty much healed. Jake grabbed his backpack and they headed inside.
She heard Fin and Joe bickering as usual. "Hey, stop now. Fin, go upstairs and do your homework. Joe, you do yours here. Dad will be home in one hour and if you all want to go horseback riding at Pop and Nana's, you have to get it done so we can go after dinner."
Fin glared at her brother and got up, grabbing her backpack and heading upstairs.
Elizabeth had learned years before not to get in the middle of their bickering. Taking sides was not necessary. Stopping them when they had things to get done was.
She bent down and kissed Joe's head. "How was third grade today, Joe?"
"Same as yesterday," he said with a shrug.
"You have Claire in your class right?" she asked referring to his cousin.
"Yeah. She sits across the room."
"But at least you know someone in the class." He nodded and stared at his paper.
"Mom? What's ge…ne…alogy?"
"It's the study of families and different generations of families."
"What's a generation?"
"Its like a group of people who all live at the same time. Like you and your brothers and sisters are a different generation or group of people than me and my sisters or your dad and his brother."
"Oh. We have to make a family tree and the teacher says we need to use ge…ne…alogy."
"That sounds fun."
"It sounds hard to me."
"Maybe Dad or I can help you."
"Ok." She looked up as she heard a squawk from upstairs.
"I'll be back in a bit." She headed upstairs to her and Jack's room. Drake was grunting and squirming while Haddie silently looked around. "Well, how was your nap, my loves?"
She picked Drake up and laid him on the bed to change his diaper, leaving perfectly content Haddie in the crib. Their personalities were already quite different and she loved that. While in the womb, one always kicked harder than the other, and she guessed Drake was that one.
She smiled as she thought about the shock she had of having twins. She met her bucket list item of having five children and she only had to endure pregnancy four times.
Jack walked in as she changed Haddie. "Hey, Hon."
"You're a bit early." He walked over and kissed her before heading in to take a shower.
"Yeah, I had a meeting with the head of my department and it got done early."
"About what?"
"Huh?" He asked, not able to hear her over the shower.
She took Drake and Haddie into the bathroom and asked again. "What was the meeting about?"
"Well, there is a head nurse position available at Northwestern Memorial in Chicago."
She gently swayed, knowing this day was coming. Jack had been working toward it for five years. But Chicago was not close to his parents or brother and sister and she wasn't sure if he would like to move so far away. "What do you think, Jack?"
When he stepped out a few moments later, he wrapped a towel around his waist and combed his hair. "I think we need to discuss it when we have more time."
She nodded. He kissed the babies and her and then they all went downstairs to start supper.
Jack decided to grill up some turkey burgers, corn on the cob, and a hot dog for Jake.
Fin was up in her room so Elizabeth made a bottle for each twin and took them and the babies upstairs to see Fin. She knocked on the door lightly.
"Come in."
"Hey, sweetie. Will you help me feed the twins?" Fin was reading a book, one of her favorite things to do ever.
"Sure." She took Drake and a bottle and gently put it in his mouth like an expert. Elizabeth sat down next to her on the bed and fed Haddie.
"How was your day, Fin?"
"Fine, I guess."
"Do you have any of your friends in class this year?"
"Yeah, Malena is there."
"That's good. Is Mrs. Wyatt a good teacher?"
"She gives us time to do our homework at the end. She's nice."
Drake gurgled a bit and pushed the nipple out with his tongue, so once again like an expert, Fin took the bottle away and waited a moment before putting it back in. "You're good with babies, hon."
"I love them. I'm going to have a bunch of kids when I get married."
"Yeah? How many?"
"Six, I think." Elizabeth smiled and kissed her curls.
"I bet you'll be a great Mama."
Fin looked up at her. "Just like you."
….
Julie waddled around the house, wincing at her sore lower back and hips as she labored. Mike was about five minutes away as he drove from work and she had been in labor for the last four hours.
Claire, Kendall, and Meredith left with Charlotte about an hour before and now Julie just had her midwife, Jennie, to keep her company.
"Breathe, Julie, slow, in and out," she told her, rubbing her back as she gripped the back of a chair for the duration of her contraction.
Mike ran in as she started walking again. "Hey, how are you, sweetie?"
"I'll make it," she told him, teasing.
"Of course you will," he said seriously.
"Michael, I was teasing. Plenty of people give birth at home. I wanted to try it this once since this is absolutely the last child I'm carrying."
"I just don't get it, it's not the 1800s and no pain meds?"
She waddled over to him and squeezed his hand as another contraction gripped her fiercely. She tried really hard not to scream as she felt the hard pressure to push.
"Jennie, I think I'm close," she groaned.
As soon as the contraction eased, they walked down the hall to their bedroom and helped Julie lay down so she could check her progress. "You're at about nine and a half. Next contraction let's push and see what happens."
Mike sat behind her on the bed and held out his hands. "You can do this, sweetheart. You are so strong." He kissed her temple and cheek. "I love you so much."
He loved his daughters with every part of his heart but this time, he was hoping for a boy. Now, of course, if it was a girl, he would love her just as much, but being their last child, he wanted a boy.
"Ok, Julie, push!"
….
Elizabeth kept her phone close by because she knew Julie was in labor. While she waited though, she and Jack sat on the porch of Mom and Pop's house and rocked the twins on the swing.
"You asked me before what I thought of the job in Chicago," he started. "I've been praying and working for an opportunity like this one, babe, for five years. I really want it. It's more responsibility but a significant raise in pay and there is a suburb very close to Lake Michigan that would be perfect for us."
"That would mean a mortgage."
"Not necessarily. Pop says he would buy the rest of the ranch and rent it out. So the money we would get from selling to him could pay for a new house."
"The kids just started school."
"They'll adjust, plus it probably won't be for a few months, even if I get the job."
Elizabeth would miss her home and family. She'd miss having help from Pop and Mom. She would miss Katie and Clara and Julie.
"Honey, how do you feel about moving?"
"I'll go wherever you go, Jack, you know that."
"That didn't answer my question."
"Daddy!" Jake yelled. "Daddy, Joey fell off the horse and hurt his arm."
Jack handed Haddie to Elizabeth and ran off with Jake. Elizabeth stepped inside. "Mom?"
"In here, sweetheart."
"Can you watch the twins for a few minutes? I guess Joey hurt his arm."
"Of course." Elizabeth handed the babies over and rushed outside.
Jack was carrying him inside as she was walking out the door.
"Is it broken?" she asked.
"No. I can't feel a break and he can wiggle his fingers. I'm gonna take him in to urgent care and get it looked at though."
Jack kissed her and then came back. "Should I take you home?"
"No, we can walk. It's a nice night."
She gave Joey a kiss and watched them leave. She saw Pop, Aubrey, Claire, Kendall, Meredith, Fin, and Jake walking back to the house. The amount that she would miss everything and everyone if they moved was hitting her full force.
"Something wrong, sweetheart?" Mom asked.
"No. Everything is as it should be, except for Joey getting hurt, of course."
….
Mike smiled at his son, Tanner Michael. His red tones in his hair made him resemble Julie and the twins more, but the shape of his face matched his own.
"Honey?"
"Shh, go back to sleep, sweetheart."
"Is he okay?"
"Yeah, he's sleeping."
She fell back to sleep, leaving him to bond a bit more. He took a few more pictures and sent out his birth announcement to the family.
….
Elizabeth told the girls to take their baths or showers and helped Jake with his. After tucking everyone in, Jack and Joey returned.
"Mama?"
"Hi, sweetie. How are you?"
"I'm fine. It's not broken but I get to wear this cool thing…what's it called, Dad?"
"A splint."
"I get to wear a splint and I can't play in gym for two whole weeks!"
"Wow. Well, it's time for bed, Joe. Go get your PJs on and I'll be up to tuck you in."
"Ok."
Elizabeth chuckled at her son and went to the kitchen to start the dishwasher. Jack followed her and hopped up on the counter.
"Honey, we need to make a decision."
"I think you should apply."
"You do?"
"Of course. You deserve to be head of the ER. You want this so that's a logical step."
He held out his hand and brought her close, standing between his legs so he could look directly into her eyes. "I need your honesty here. I want you to tell me how you feel."
"I'm scared. I won't have family next door anymore. We have children to move and two dogs and…this house….this town, Jack, is where we met and where we fell in love…" She couldn't help her tears. "Where we started our family and where my sister and best friends are. I'm going to miss everything."
He leaned forward and kissed her and then wrapped his arms around her.
"But…?"
"But, I want you to be happy and I'll go wherever you do, no complaints. I'm behind your decision."
"So I should apply?"
"Yes."
….
About a month later….
Jack walked in the house after flying to Chicago for a second interview. "Elizabeth?"
"Kitchen!"
"Hey." She was making dinner and humming as the twins sat in their bouncy seats on the counter.
"Hi. Welcome home." She gave him a hug and a kiss. "I missed you."
"Me too."
She saw it in his eyes. "You have news."
"Yeah. Two things. They hired me after the interview was over."
"Honey, that's great!"
"And I went to Glencoe, the suburb I told you about. I found a four bedroom that's in our price range and its ready to move into within a month if we put in an offer and its accepted."
"Whoa. I haven't even seen it, Jack."
"I took pictures and I can show the online tour to you. You'll love it. Second floor laundry by the bedrooms, two car garage, fenced in backyard, nice modern kitchen, three bathrooms. Perfect."
"When does your job start?"
"December 1st."
"That's seven weeks. We have to pack up this house and move us and our five children and two dogs to Chicago, not to mention it will be winter and we need to enroll the kids in school…."
"Whoa whoa. You are getting stressed about this."
She took a deep breath and wrapped her arms around him. "We better check out the house. We need a place to live soon."
The house was perfect, just like he said. They put in an offer and it was accepted.
Jack and Elizabeth told the kids after dinner one night about moving.
"What about Nemo and Bub?" Jake asked, stroking Nemo's head.
"Baby, they will move with us."
"And Pop and Nana and Aubrey?"
"Well, no. They will stay here."
"I don't want to move without them."
"Kids, I got a job at a hospital there. We found a new house and I think you'll like the schools."
"Fin? What do you think?" Elizabeth asked her. "You're pretty quiet."
"My friends are here and Pop and Nana and Aubrey." Aubrey was still her best friend and they stayed overnight together frequently.
"We can visit sometimes and I know this will be hard. Going new places and meeting new people isn't easy. But Dad can't go while we stay here, can he?"
"No," they all agreed.
"Ok, then, we need to pack up very soon. I need all of your help packing your rooms. Can you do that for me?"
….
Last week of November
They were leaving the next day but they all met at Pop and Charlotte's for a goodbye dinner. Julie, Mike, and their four, and Tom, Katie and their two were there as well.
Fourteen year old Aubrey was well adjusted and sweet, forever thankful for Pop and Charlotte for adopting her when she was lost and had no one. Now, she looked around the room and was overwhelmed by the huge amount of loving someones she did have. She loved everyone of them and always would.
Pop and Charlotte looked around the room and said a prayer of gratitude for the family. They viewed all the children in the room as grandchildren even though only seven of them actually were. Helping Jack and Tom out when they needed it, filled Pop. They were the sons of his heart and he would love them forever.
Tom and Katie had welcomed Ned into their home after his stroke a couple years before. He needed care and Katie provided it. She had closed her daycare after he had the stroke, viewing caring for him as her duty and honor. Tom owned his own landscaping business now and it was doing well. Katie was about three months pregnant with their third and they couldn't be happier.
Jack spoke loudly, stopping everyone's conversations. "Everyone, we just want to thank you all for coming tonight and say that we love you all so much. This place, Hunter Creek, has always been my home. I've lost my father here but I gained so much more. My beautiful Elizabeth and our kids are certainly not something I expected I would ever have. I guess what I want to say is that I've learned something very important over the years. Dreams are important and if you don't take a chance and follow them, they might slip by you. I'm just glad I have such an amazing woman and family to support me in doing that." He bent down and kissed her. "I love you, sweetheart."
"I love you too, Jack."
….
That night
Elizabeth opened her journal and took out the slip of paper and made another checkmark on her bucket list. Live by the water. Jack had made yet another dream come true. She knew the ones like seeing the great wall of China and riding a camel or going to culinary school might never come true, but it didn't matter. All her dreams that mattered were right in the room with her or just down the hall.