The sunlight is obscured by heavy room darkening curtains. For one in what seems like an eternity a free Saturday has arisen in Elizabeth's schedule. Between Henry, and the kids her entire day is full of quality bonding time. She exhales, and slowly begins to transform into a conscious state of being. The sensation of drool adhering her to the surface of her pillow is the first thing that captures her attention. Her eyes flutter open, and she feels utterly disoriented as if she's been asleep a few days, instead of a few hours.
She shifts into a sitting position, and finds the opposite side of the bed empty. As she applies her reading glasses the clock glares at her. The bold numerals read 10:08. She pushes aside the covers, and makes a beeline to the bathroom, muttering to herself.
"Certainly that can't be right."
She catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror as she washes her hands. Hair is forcibly removed from her cheek. As she exhales the bump beneath her t-shirt moves somewhat independently. The reality of the situation smacks her in the face. Time pauses for a millisecond, and the secretary drinks in the moment. Hope temporarily swims through her veins. Briefly her hand presses against her expanding midsection.
"Perhaps the time has come for me to open the dialogue about this…" a foot kicks her sharply in the rib. "About you."
She hears footsteps in the doorway of her bedroom.
"Mom?" Alison calls as she approaches.
Elizabeth's natural instinct is to scramble for her oversized bathrobe she commandeered from leadership summit in Geneva.
"In here."
"Who are you talking to in here?"
Elizabeth meets her daughter's gaze with a guilty expression. Wordlessly they exit the bathroom. Bess parks herself on the end of the bed.
"Noodle, maybe you think I'm going crazy. I wasn't really talking to myself in there."
Alison shrugs, "You work insane hours I think a little bit of insanity is permitted. Meanwhile dad sent me to check on you. Are you feeling okay?"
"Of course, why do you ask?"
"You just woke up, and it's after ten am."
Elizabeth motions for Alison to take a seat. She gently sweeps her middle child's hair behind her shoulders.
"I assure you that I am fine…"
"But?"
"My body is under some additional stress these days."
Alison's lips curl into a smile. She practically squeals, "Please tell me that this is where we finally address the elephant in the room."
"That depends. What are you referring to with that statement?"
"For the purpose of full disclosure I would like to admit that Jason, Stevie, and I have a bet ongoing based on the outcome of this conversation."
"Oh?!"
"They insist that your stress has contributed to your weight gain."
She shrugs, "That is not entirely inaccurate."
"Of course I insisted it is because of baby McCord."
Elizabeth smiles widely, "I hope you negotiated well."
"I have learned from the best," she offers flattery gesticulating towards Elizabeth.
"I want to be clear that this development does not leave this house. It is not for your friends, or your followers, or anyone else for that matter. It is a delicately developing situation that I am not willing to share with the public."
"Noted."
Elizabeth presses Alison's hand against her stomach. "Baby McCord it is."
"You don't seem thrilled about this. I am not really certain what sort of questions I can ask without make you feeling very uncomfortable."
"You can ask whatever you would like, and if I'm not comfortable I can decline to answer."
"This surprising turn of developments seems extremely unplanned."
"So much so that it took me months to reveal it to anyone, including your father."
"A while back I was struggling with Geometry, which is in no way as serious as this, but I want to share a nugget of insight my teacher shared. Several of us were really struggling with the concepts. He told us to stop worrying about the outcomes of our answers, our tests, or our grades and focus on the facts. A triangle is a triangle, and the rules about them do not change. Students who struggle with geometry are often struggling with outside factors, like anxiety, not the actual equation at hand. My point is that this is not something you planned for in this stage of your life. The ramifications are totally unknown. The variables could change at any moment. The total of the sum will always equal the whole. Which, honestly is so exciting. A whole baby is something to be stoked about, isn't it?"
"I wasn't expecting this reaction from you," Elizabeth admits.
"Mom, you seem utterly terrified. Is everything okay?"
"Your father, and I are referring to this unknown variable as the asset. The asset appears to be flourishing."
"Why does it seem like you are preparing for something cataclysmic?"
"That is my superpower, isn't it? Always trying to prepare for total catastrophe?"
Alison squeezes Elizabeth's hand, "How long are you going to allow that to keep you from being fully present? I'm not sure how you do it. I mean how can you separate yourself from something you are literally tethered to? You talk about it like it's an assignment. Is that how you feel? That this baby is just another project you have been assigned?"
"No, noodle. Not at all. The situation is just very complicated."
"That is rather obvious. I mean how far along are you?"
"Point taken. Should we go torture your siblings now?"
"Wait… I have just the ticket," she jets out of the room. She is gone a matter of seconds before she returns to the room with a bag.
"I got a little something for the asset."
Elizabeth carefully pulls out the fluffs of tissue paper, and reaches inside the bag. She fishes out grey swaddle, and matching hat. Elizabeth smiles from ear to ear as she allows herself to consider the possibility for a moment.
"This is so sweet."
"So is the taste of victory," Alison adds.