3 weeks later –
Liv and Noah loaded up her SUV very early in the morning and drove over the George Washington bridge and into New Jersey. They stopped at the first rest area just outside Paramus and waited. They were only there for 5 minutes before Maureen and Carl pulled up next to them with Keiran and Seamus asleep in the back.
Stepping out of the car Liv walked over, "Morning."
"Hi Liv." Maureen said clearly tired but happy. "Carl's going to go in and grab us some more coffee, do you want him to get you one too?"
"Thanks. That would be wonderful."
"Mom!" Seamus said sleepily from the backseat. "I want to go with Daddy. I gotta go to the bathroom."
Maureen smiled as Carl undid his belt and said, "No time like the present."
Liv's car window rolled down, "Mom?"
"Another county heard from" Liv teased back and turned, "Yes Noah?"
"How long is the ride?"
"About 2 and half hours. Why?"
Noah bit his lip and looked at his mom his blue eyes wide.
"Ah, right." Liv said understanding.
"Maureen do you think Carl would mind taking Noah as well?"
"Of course not."
Maureen had barely finished speaking before Noah had climbed over the seats and jumped out of the passenger door. "Thanks!" he said as he raced around to the far side of the second car to wait for Seamus to be released from his booster seat.
The two mothers laughed as Noah reached out and took Seamus' free hand as the three walked up to the rest area.
"He looks so much like Eli did at that age." Maureen said softly.
"I'm told that he has a lot of features from his mother and her family."
"Noah's adopted? Did you know his mother?"
"Briefly. We met his maternal grandmother but they couldn't continue the relationship." Liv said a bit cryptically.
"I can see how that might be a bit problematic. It's those types of situations and the things that Dad, and you, experienced that made me want to go into social work, but also to not want to work with kids." Maureen said
"Working with kids is the hardest part." Liv agreed.
BEEP BEEP BEEP
The two women looked up to see a well decorated mini-van heading their way. "Dad must have just about died." Maureen said laughing aloud. Liv tried to hid the laugh but surrendered to the absurdity of the sight that was heading towards them and laughed happily.
"Hey Sis!" Kathleen said as she pulled in next to them and stepped out of the van. "Hi Liv. In case your wondering….Grandma and I decided that we were going to have fun on the drive up. So she got out her paints and decorated, inside and out. She also decided to choose all the music to make sure we didn't get bummed out. So we're having a very fun and slightly silly drive.
Just then Bernie came out of the passenger side door and was happily humming, "Istanbul was Constantinople." While wearing an array of colored shawls that gave the impression she was about to take flight like a large bird.
"Did she pack her meds?" Maureen asked softly.
"Yup and I made sure she took them last night after I saw the van and again this morning. I think she's just really happy and excited after everything that's happened." Kathleen replied soto voce.
"Why don't I go say hi." Liv offered.
"Yeah if you can get her to tone it down 1 or 2 notches before Dad gets here with Eli that'd be a help."
Liv winked and smiled and turned and walked towards Bernie.
"Good Morning."
"Olivia! Isn't this so exciting! I've always wanted to go on a trip like this. Did Elliot tell you I tried a few times to take him places when he was little but, I got confused because of course I didn't have any medication then and well things never ended well."
Liv shook her head and placed a steadying hand on Bernie's arm, "He never told me about that. Maybe one night while we're all sitting around the fire you can share the story with me."
"Do you think Elliot would be ok with that? He doesn't like talking about when he was little."
"I don't know Bernie. Maybe we can ask first."
Bernie nodded thoughtfully, "I'll have to think of just the right story though." Bernie continued to talk but Liv's attention was diverted as 2 more cars pulled up, an SUV and a Jeep. Liv watched as Richard and Lizzie got out of the Jeep and joined their siblings. Then Carl came back with the 2 boys and she watched as Noah sat in the car with Seamus. She saw Eli get out of the SUV and walk over to the others and she noticed that Eli seemed to stand a bit back from the others and she made a mental note to herself to try and check in with him during the week.
Elliot watched her talking to Bernie his eyebrow raised asking her if everything was ok, without a word. She smiled at him and blinked and he smiled back. He turned and walked to his kids and spent several minutes hugging them all and setting a plan for caravanning up to Windham Mountain. Liv noticed though that he positioned himself so that the whole time he was talking with the kids he was looking at her. She smiled at him and shook her head slightly.
"Why don't we catch up with the others?" Liv said finally to Bernie.
"That's a lovely idea." Bernie agreed and the two walked over just as everyone was heading towards their cars. "Oh I think we chatted too long."
"That's ok. You head on back to the van and I'm sure Kathleen knows the plan."
"She's smart that girl." Bernie said with a smile as she turned and headed back to her van.
Liv walked over and met Elliot waiting next to her door. "We're going to head up to the resort in all these cars. and that way, we should always have a vehicle if it's needed." Elliot said, "Kathy would have hated that. She'd have wanted them in as few cars as possible."
Liv touched Elliot's elbow, "Do you want to tell them?"
"No. They're happy and excited. This is ok." El turned and looked at his kids assorted vehicles, "They should be able to do things differently than how Kathy would have wanted. It's been over a year. It's time. Plus am I going to ask Lizzie and Richard to ride with Kathleen and Mama? He'd never make it."
The two laughed lightly at the joke.
"Just follow me and we should be upstate in about 2 hrs."
"I'll take the end of the caravan. Make sure we don't lose any kids on the way."
"You've always had my six Liv." The two paused as their eyes locked briefly and a lifetime of meaning and memory ran between them.
"Mom!" Noah said as he scrambled back in through the passenger door and over the seat. "Carl said to tell you he left your coffee in the cup holder and a muffin on the dash."
Liv and Elliot smiled at each other as Liv turned to open the driver's side door and Elliot turned to walk back to his car.
"He's a nice man isn't he."
"I really like him. Seamus and Keiran say he's the best."
"Well we'll be together for a whole week Noah so you'll have a lot of time to make your own opinion." Liv put the key in the engine and listened to her engine start. She watched as first Elliot began driving and then each of his kids followed behind. Liv brought up the rear.