Outtake From Haunt
AN: This idea for an additional scene came from LittleSweetCheeks over on Ao3!
As a ghost, he had a new sense of knowing, but the reason Henry realized that Elizabeth was pregnant was because he knew her body better than anyone else. After having three children, he was well accustomed to the early changes.
One evening, while reading at his desk, a warm feeling swept across his chest. Heat built in his cheeks, leaving them red. It felt like he was sitting by a fire.
Closing his book, Henry thought about his wife. Two days ago, Elizabeth had left for a trip abroad— Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland. At the beginning of her tenure, he'd hated the idea of her traveling alone. Now, knowing that Blake was not only with her but with her, eased his worry.
"I'll make the popcorn," Alison told her sister as they descended the front staircase.
After returning his book to its place on the shelf, Henry joined his daughters in the family room for a movie.
A month later, while flipping through the morning paper, Henry watched as Blake tried to make the bed around Elizabeth. Good Lord, she was certainly enjoying her beauty sleep this week. Eventually, after prodding her up, Blake folded the top edge of the flat sheet beneath the bedding.
"Don't forget the euro pillows," Henry reminded. His wife thought they made the bed look extra fluffy. Add a throw blanket too!
When Elizabeth emerged from the bathroom, wearing nothing but a pair of underwear, the same warm feeling that had swept across his chest last month happened again.
"Could you help me with the clasp?" She asked Blake. After Elizabeth pulled the straps of her bra over her shoulders, she turned, giving Blake easy access. "It's so much tighter than it used to be. Do you think I've gained weight?"
"That's a trick question," Henry warned.
In their early years of marriage, he'd suffered the consequences of giving the wrong responses to her impossible questions. Hint, it usually involved the cruel and unusual punishment of withholding sex. Be careful Blake, this was high-stakes poker!
"I think you're beautiful," Blake said before he leaned in for a kiss.
"Good answer," Henry mumbled.
Setting the newspaper aside, he considered Elizabeth's question. Had she gained weight? It was hard not to notice the way her breasts were spilling out of the cups of her bra. And her toned stomach appeared softer.
"I'm now two months late for my period," she'd told Blake last week after the children had left for school. "Maybe I'm officially beginning menopause."
Heat built in Henry's cheeks.
Sitting on the chaise lounge, he knew in his heart that Elizabeth was pregnant.
He'd been banished to the guest bedroom since April, but Henry decided to visit the master bedroom the following Thursday. As a ghost, he had a new sense of knowing. Based on the shiver that ran down his spine, there would be trouble.
"Time to sleep," Blake said as he pulled Elizabeth to his chest. Both were sweaty from sex. "I love you, Elizabeth."
While they slept in bed, Henry lounged on the window seat, using the light from the streetlamps to see the pages of his book. Only six more chapters to go before the end! As he flipped to the next page, he thought about baby names.
At 3.m., Henry heard Elizabeth groan. Although this caught his attention, it wasn't until she gasped that he discarded his book. Concerned, he crossed to the bed. When he reached out to stroke his fingers through his wife's hair, Henry recoiled at the sight of blood on the sheets.
"Elizabeth!"
Quickly, Henry leaned across the bed and blew a stream of cold air down the back of Blake's neck, waking him.
"What's going on?" Blake asked as he reached out to her.
"My period," Elizabeth replied.
Even with medication, the cramps kept Elizabeth up most of the night. While Blake plied her with pills, Gatorade, and a comforting hand along her back, Henry spent the night soothing a soul that longed for their mother.
"I know," he whispered to the baby.
Not knowing what to do, Henry uncovered the rocking chair that sat in the corner of the basement. It, along with a few bins of baby clothes, was being saved for when their children had children. Now, he would use it to rock a child that he hadn't fathered.
After swaddling the baby, he settled down into the chair with her in his arms.
"Hi there," he said quietly. God, she was even smaller than Stevie who weighed only five pounds at birth. Stroking the baby's cheek with his thumb, Henry whispered, "I love your mommy too, Leah." Deep in his heart, he knew that was the child's name. "And your daddy."
Henry teared up as he stared down into Leah's brown eyes. Leaning forward, he kissed the top of her head. He rocked the baby into the early hours of the morning until eventually she was called up to be with God.