Chapter 4: Memorial Day
Aurora paced down the hall as fast as she could; she was trying her best but being six months pregnant didn't help her speed at all. She opened the door to the drawing room and found Phillip scribbling away at the desk.
"What are you working on my love?" She asked him.
"Just the invitations to our Memorial Day party." He suddenly looked up from the invitation. "Unless you need to cancel."
"Why would I cancel our celebration?" Aurora asked.
"You know, you wouldn't want to upset the baby."
"The baby is fine. It's the over-protective Daddy that I'm worried about." Aurora joked.
"I just want to make sure that the baby is okay. So, if we're going through with this party, look over the invitations for me." Aurora took the last invitation Phillip managed to complete and read it aloud.
Dear Friends,
You are invited to attend Phillip and Aurora's celebration of Memorial Day on May 26. This will be an outdoor event so plan accordingly. Swimming will be an option as well as outdoor sports. After which, there will be an outdoor picnic. Hope to see you there.
Phillip and Aurora
"What do you think?" Phillip asked.
"I think I should be the one to write the invitations. But thank you for trying." Aurora giggled, giving Phillip a kiss on the nose.
Memorial Day arrived and Aurora was rushing to get the last of the decorations up. Arms wrapped around to her pregnant belly. "Aurora, I told you to stop and let someone else take care of it."
"I know. I just want to make sure everything is perfect."
"It is perfect. Now come and rest before our guests arrive." Not long after that, the first two guests arrived; Meg and Hercules came through the house to the backyard.
"Hello Aurora, hello Phillip." Hercules greeted.
"Hello Hercules." Aurora greeted. Phillip came back through the house, hugged Meg and shook Hercules' hand.
"How far along you now?" Meg asked.
"Six months."
"Won't be long then." Meg said. "Do you know whether it's a girl or boy?"
"We told everyone on Easter that we're having a little boy to be named Michael."
"Right, I've forgotten, you know, life of a busy girl and all." Meg giggled nervously and when Aurora didn't laugh with her, she cleared her throat. "Well, I think I hear someone else arriving."
David, Snow White, and Emma came into the backyard at that moment. Emma hugged Aurora the moment she saw her. "Careful now Emma, remember what I told you about Auntie Aurora." Snow said.
"It's alright Snow. I'm happy to see you too Emma."
"May I go swimming now?" Emma asked.
"Emma." David scolded.
Aurora giggled. "Go ahead Emma."
"Wait for Daddy Emma." Snow said to her. "David, please go with her and keep an eye on her." David agreed and took his daughter over to the pool. Phoebus, Esmeralda, and Zepher, along with Cinderella, Thomas, and Alexandra were the next to arrive. Zepher and Alexandra followed Emma's example and went right for the pool while Phoebus and Esmeralda greeted their gracious hosts. Cinderella and Thomas also greeted their hosts when they were free.
Ariel, Eric, and Melody arrived shortly after the last six, Melody also going right for the pool.
"My, it's like she's a little fish." Aurora joked. Ariel laughed.
"I don't know where she gets it from." Ariel joked. They laughed together once more and hugged.
Kida, Milo, Mulan, Shang, Jasmine, and Aladdin were the next to arrive, followed twenty minutes later by Jane, Tarzan, Tianna, Naveen, Rapunzel and Flynn. Pocahontas and John Ralph came with Anna and Kristoff.
"Where's your sister, Elsa?" Aurora asked.
"She'll be along shortly." Anna answered. Not long after that, Anna heard her name and everyone turned to find her coming into the backyard with John Smith on her heels.
"Are Elsa and John Smith really here together?" Aurora whispered to Anna.
"Yes. Why are we whispering?"
"What's going on?" Elsa asked, suddenly appearing.
"Hello Sis." Anna greeted.
"I brought a covered dish. It's a little…frozen but I only did that because I wanted to preserve it before it was eaten." Elsa explained.
Aurora giggled. "Thank you Elsa. Feel free to place that on the table over there." Elsa walked passed Aurora and John smiled, said, "Ladies." And then followed after Elsa. The last to arrive, Belle and Adam, sparked even more gossip; they were arriving with a little boy attached to Belle's right hand.
"May I swim with the other kids?" The little boy asked.
"Yes Chip, go ahead." Belle allowed. Before Aurora could ask, Phillip grabbed a football and ran to a patch of yard.
"All right guys!" He called. "Line up, we're picking teams for a football game. Who's in?"
"Oh, no thanks." Milo declined. "I think I'll just s..sit up here..an..and read." Milo stuttered.
"Okay Milo's out that leaves…" Phillip counted the heads of the guys. "Fifteen of us left so we need one of you girls to step in and play. Who's it going to be?"
"I'll play." Kida offered. "But you will have to teach me the rules."
"Okay great. We'll do eight against eight, Aurora why don't you pick team captains?"
Cinderella and Ariel relieved David of kid duty and he ran over to the field. "Okay," Aurora began, "Since David was the last to come over, he's automatically a team captain."
"Sounds reasonable to me." David said. He ran over to stand next to Phillip. Phillip tossed him the football and stood with the others.
"And for the other team I shall choose….Shang." Shang ran over to David and stood beside him. "Pick a number between one and ten and whoever is closest will choose their first player."
"Five" Shang said.
"Three" David said.
"The number was 7. So Shang, pick your first player."
"For my first pick, I'll take…Flynn." Shang said. Flynn walked over to Shang.
"For my first pick, I'll take…Phillip." David said. Phillip took his place beside David.
David's team was Hercules, Thomas, Phoebus, Aladdin, Eric, Naveen, and Phillip and Shang's team was Flynn, Adam, John Ralph, Tarzan, Kristoff, John Smith, and Kida. They took their starting positions, David stood behind Phillip, Phillip ready to give David to give him the ball. "On two, one two, hut hut," David called out. Phillip passed him the ball and David's team scattered. Hercules, Thomas, and Phoebus blocked Flynn, Adam, and John Ralph. David threw the ball to Aladdin who had already run halfway down the field. Aladdin caught the ball and ran for the end zone with Tarzan nipping at his heels the whole way down.
Aladdin made it into the end zone for a touchdown. "Are you serious?" Ralph said.
"There are perks to being a former street-rat." Aladdin said. "You're used to sneaking passed people undetected."
"Great job Aladdin!" Jasmine called from the circle of chairs the women and Milo seated themselves at. "He's the fastest runner I know."
"I don't know." Jane said. "Tarzan was very close to catching him. Tarzan is still learning these things of course."
"I hope you won't think me rude to ask this Belle but since when did you and Adam have a son?" Rapunzel asked. It was a question everyone had on their mind. The little conversations ceased immediately and everyone tuned in to hear the story.
"Well, Chip isn't technically our son. His mother, Mrs. Potts, was a servant in Adam's castle. She passed away shortly after Easter because of cancer." Belle explained.
"How tragic." Mulan said.
"So instead of sending him to an orphanage, Adam asked Chip if he would like to stay at the castle as our son. We sign the adoption papers in a few weeks."
"That's so nice of you." Tianna said.
"It's nice that he's ending up with someone he knows rather than total strangers that may or may not even treat him the way they should." Snow said.
"Not everyone had a step-mother like yours Snow." Aurora said.
"Cinderella did." Jane said.
"Even so," Belle interrupted. "Chip is still trying to deal with it but he seems happy with the two of us."
"That's nice." Anna said.
"Did you see me make that touchdown sweetheart?" Kristoff called from the field.
"I saw it Kristoff, keep up the good work."
"I didn't know that Kristoff was so into sports." Elsa said.
"Speaking of…boyfriends and husbands…" Pocahontas said. "I see that you and John Smith are getting along nicely."
"Yeah what's up with that?" Aurora couldn't help but ask. Elsa went on to explain how she and John connected at Pocahontas's Easter party last month. John called her the next day, telling her he had such a nice time talking to her and he'd like to get to know her. He took her to a fancy restaurant and they went for a moonlight stroll through the park.
"And he didn't even mind that I accidentally used my powers." Elsa said.
"That's great that things are working out between you two so far." Aurora said.
"I'm hoping that this will last." Elsa said.
Melody dived under the water time after time, splashing Zepher time and time again. Emma and Alexandra stuck like glue on their floaties. "Look at me Mommy." Alexandra called.
"Yes I see you darling." Cinderella encouraged. "So Ariel, how have you and the family been?"
"We're doing well. Melody still struggles here and there with the little girls in our kingdom but what little girl doesn't have trouble in school?"
"Does she get to see her grandfather every now and again?"
"Father comes during the summer, when Melody is out of school and he'll take her to Atlantica for a month. Eric and I miss her terribly when she goes but she occasionally comes up to the surface to see us." Ariel said.
"That's nice. I wish Alexandra knew her grandfather. She loves the King but she'll never know either of her grandmothers or her other grandfather."
"I know what you mean. I haven't even met Eric's parents and Melody never got to meet my mother either."
"But we have to look on the bright side of things." Cinderella said. "They have the grandparents that they do have and they want to be in their lives. So we can drink that." Cinderella raised her champagne glass in a toast, Ariel lifted her champagne glass as well. "To our children."
"To our children." They clinked glasses. Eric suddenly came rushing up to Ariel. "What are you doing sweetheart? I thought you were playing football." Eric ignored her and jumped right into the pool.
"I was. But I got too hot so I opted out and now I'm cooling off." He waited for Ariel to set down her champagne glass and then pulled her into the water by her feet.
"Eric! I don't have another pair of clothes." Ariel scolded when her head broke the surface. She wiped the chlorine from her eyes. "And you know I prefer the ocean to a pool."
"I don't have clothes to change into either. We'll dry off before going home." Eric said. Ariel got out of the pool and went to Aurora to ask to borrow dry clothes. Eric shrugged his shoulders and picked Melody up. She giggled and screamed as Eric play-wrestled her in the pool.
"Aurora, may I borrow some dry clothes? My husband pulled me into the pool, thinking he was being cute." Ariel asked.
"Sure, follow me into the house." Aurora took Ariel into the house.
"They sound like they're having a good time." Milo commented.
"Melody has the time of her life with her daddy." Belle said. "She's a daddy's little girl." Chip came running over to Belle in that instant.
"Belle, can I change into my other clothes now?" He asked.
"Are you done swimming already? You can swim a little longer." Belle told him.
"What's the matter Chip?" Adam asked, picking him up and putting him on his shoulders. "Sit right there and cool me off." He teased.
"Master!" Chip said.
"I told you Chip, you don't have to call me that anymore. You can call me Adam." He carried Chip on his shoulders over to the dessert table. The men finished their football game: Shang's team beat David's team by two points. Shang's team celebrated their victory by jumping in the pool one after the other. David, Hercules, Thomas, Phoebus, Aladdin, Eric, and Naveen kissed their wives and pulled up a chair to sit next to them. Elsa made some ice crystals and passed them around to each of the men to cool off with. They thanked her graciously.
"Where's Aurora?" Phillip asked.
"She went in the house to give Ariel a change of clothes." Esmeralda told him.
"How come?"
"Eric pulled her into the pool." Kida said. Phillip laughed and went into the house after Aurora. The night drew near and everyone gathered around the picnic tables. Melody and Eric wrapped towels around their shoulders and sat down next to Ariel, who was still ticked about having to change.
Adam lowered Chip from his shoulders and he went to sit in Belle's lap. Emma and Alexandra took longer to get out of the pool but Cinderella managed to get them out. Cinderella wrapped Alexandra in her towel and carried her to the table where her husband waited. Emma ran into David's arms and gave him a giant wet hug. Snow held up the towel before Emma could give her the same.
Phillip stood at the table with his champagne glass and the kids held up their soda cans. "Good friends, Aurora and I are pleased that you could be here with us today. We're so grateful for the many friends we have and the wonderful times we share together. May all of you live gloriously in our happily ever afters, remembering that our stories are still being written and as long as we have each other, we will have it all. Cheers to all of you."
"Cheers." They clinked glasses and ate together. Eric was still wet when he, Ariel, and Melody left later that night and Ariel was still unhappy about it. After their guests left, Aurora and Phillip cuddled on the couch.
"How excited are you for this baby?" Phillip asked.
"You know the answer to that question so why do you ask?"
"I can't help myself. All I want to do is talk about the baby. "
"As you said my darling, we'll have it all soon enough." Phillip kissed Aurora and they went to bed, thinking about what their son would look like and how much happier their lives were going to become.
