Elizabeth was holding a casserole dish as she climbed the steps to the McCord family home, and she was pretty sure she'd never been more nervous. It hadn't been easy, letting Henry McCord into her life and past the walls of her insecurity, but now he was firmly planted there and she intended to keep him around for a long, long time. Maybe partially because she didn't want to go through the process of letting someone get to know her like that again, but mostly because he was her absolute favorite person on the planet.
And she was about to meet his family for the first time.
Henry had been cautious about bringing her home to meet them; Elizabeth thought back now on that conversation.
"Why are you so hesitant about this?" Elizabeth asked. It was nearing the first of March, and she and Henry had landed on the topic of spring break; they'd agreed that they wanted to spend it together, and Elizabeth had high hopes for what that could mean, but Henry was expected home for Easter Sunday. His intention, he had informed her, was to spend the weekend in Pittsburgh and the rest of the week with her. When she had suggested the idea of her accompanying him on his weekend in Pittsburgh, especially considering that he had missed Christmas already, Henry had frozen, and now he looked caught as she pressed him.
"It's just that...they can be difficult," Henry explained, well aware that his explanation was very lacking. Elizabeth fixed him with a look he knew well and Henry sighed.
"It's not that I don't want you to meet them," he assured her. "Or for them to meet you. It's just that I'm worried they're going to scare you off or be too harsh to you."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes.
"Have you met me?" she asked rhetorically. "I don't scare easily."
Henry had to admit that she had a point there, and so he had relented and now the time had come. She couldn't wait to meet the family of the man who had changed her life, but Henry had warned her that they weren't all very easy to get along with. Elizabeth had insisted, though; she wanted to meet them, all of them. She hadn't spent a holiday surrounded by people in years, and she had to admit that she was excited. Even so, her stomach churned as they headed for the front door.
"You ready?" Henry asked. She nodded determinedly.
"Yes," she answered, and he smiled as he leaned in to kiss her cheek.
"Let's go," he said as he reached for the door.
By the time Easter lunch was served the day after their arrival at the McCord home, including Elizabeth's casserole contribution- she'd met them all. Henry's mother, Alice, was a delight. Elizabeth could see where Henry's kind, thoughtful nature came from. His brother was nice, if a little bit distant, and his youngest sibling, Erin, was extroverted and easy to talk to. His father, Patrick, was a bit of a different story. He was gruff and had a hard exterior, but Elizabeth in her perceptive nature, could see a kind heart there nonetheless. The elder of Henry's sisters, Maureen, was easily the most difficult of the bunch, and Elizabeth was reminded of Henry's brief comment about her on their first real date. She was forceful and brash, and Elizabeth felt immediate coldness from her. She was pretty sure Maureen couldn't have liked her less, and tried to avoid her. Henry's family, she was learning, were a little bit overwhelming after spending so much time without a family around her. Henry took her hand under the table, though, and that made her feel somewhat more calm, as it had every time he did it. She tangled her fingers with his and listened to Shane and Patrick debate over football, despite the fact that football season was still months away. She marveled a little bit at how different Henry was from his dad and brother; she was very sure she hadn't heard Henry mention football once in the time they'd known one another.
Soon, everyone was eating and Elizabeth was starting to feel a little bit more relaxed. Attending church that morning had made her a little uncomfortable, but she'd gotten over it pretty quickly and the food was amazing.
"What is this?" Maureen asked as she picked at something on her plate, disgust plain in her tone. Elizabeth peered over at the plate reflexively, her heart dropping as she realized that Maureen was talking about the casserole Elizabeth had made. She knew she wasn't fantastic in the kitchen, but the recipe had been simple and she'd not wanted to show up empty-handed. She had wanted to make a good first impression on the McCords, and she had thought it was going well- until now.
Henry had noticed too, and Maureen's criticisms were out in full force now.
"Did someone dump a boatload of salt in this?" she was asking with a disgusted little sound.
"Maureen."
Elizabeth glanced over at Henry at the sound of his voice, dangerously low and sharper than she'd ever heard him speak.
"Knock it off," he said.
"Why, because your fancy girlfriend made it?" Maureen sneered. "Just because she's too rich to bother to know how to cook for herself doesn't mean I need to eat the stuff."
Elizabeth felt frozen to the spot, as if she couldn't move. Her fingers tightened around Henry's under the table as he tensed.
"Stop," Henry said, his voice dangerously low.
"Alright, guys," Alice said. "Maureen, cool it; if you don't like something, keep your mouth shut. Henry, watch your tone."
"She can't just-" Henry began, but fell silent at a look from his mother, sitting back in his chair and looking furious. Alice turned to Elizabeth.
"Don't listen to Maureen, dear," she said. "I had some and I thought it was just fine."
Elizabeth managed a small smile, but somehow she wasn't so hungry anymore.
Later that night, Henry was still tense.
"Henry?" Elizabeth asked timidly. "Are you okay?"
He sighed, taking her hand. They were sitting in what had once been Henry's bedroom, their now-joined hands resting on the quilt.
"I'm sorry about Maureen," he said. She smiled slightly.
"It's okay, Henry," she assured him. "I get it. It's fine."
"It's not," he argued. "She doesn't have the right to talk to you like she did today. I hate that she's like that. I- I just wanted you to have a family holiday for once and actually be able to enjoy it."
In the time they'd been dating, Elizabeth still rarely spoke of her parents, but Henry knew to some degree how lonely the last few years had been for her.
"I did have a family holiday," Elizabeth said softly. "Your family may be loud and messy and difficult sometimes, Henry, but...they're your family. I was upset at first, but then later I was watching you play with your siblings in the yard and I realized that that's what family is. I appreciate you being defensive of me, but I had a better holiday than I've had in a long time. You don't need to apologize, Henry."
He squeezed her hand lightly and nodded.
"Well," he said a moment later, "it's a good thing you enjoyed today, because that's what every McCord family holiday is like."
To Elizabeth, that sounded perfect.
Henry and Elizabeth were only spending four days with his family in Pittsburgh before they would return to Virginia. It had sounded like a small amount of time at first, but on the evening of day three, Elizabeth was rethinking that.
There were certainly ups and downs to spending time with the McCords; Alice and Erin were high on the list of positives. Elizabeth had fallen in love with her boyfriend's mother, who reminded her in some ways of her own mom. His father and his older sister, on the other hand...well, Elizabeth now had an understanding of why Henry had been so reluctant to bring her to meet his family. Patrick was set in his ways and outspoken, and Maureen was ruthless and opinionated. They were qualities that Elizabeth could admire, but with all of their energies having been pointed at her for the solid three days they had been there, Elizabeth was feeling more than ready to go back to school. She was exhausted; staying calm and being polite was definitely wearing on her. She had really wanted Henry's family to like her, and now she reminded herself that she'd been partially successful. Still, every time Maureen or Patrick made some little sideways comment about her history, or her pedigree or her status, she found her heart breaking just a little bit. She was tough, but even she had to admit that this was hard.
As Elizabeth descended the stairs, she sighed. Just one more day, Elizabeth, she told herself. As she walked, she caught her name, immediately recognizing that it wasn't Henry's voice, and paused.
"She's so…I don't know."
Having just met them earlier that week, Elizabeth wasn't sure who was speaking.
"You could lay off her, you know," came another voice, slightly annoyed, which Elizabeth was pretty sure was Erin.
"Oh, talking about Queen Elizabeth, are we?"
That voice, Elizabeth knew. After three solid days of taunting, Maureen's voice was very familiar to her. At her words and the somewhat uncomfortable laughter that followed before Henry's mother came in and the subject was changed quickly, Elizabeth found her heart hammering in her chest. Tears stung her eyes as she leaned against the wall in the stairwell. She let her eyes fall closed, and took a slow breath.
She had wanted to be part of a family for so long now- it felt like lifetimes, even if in reality it had only been a few years since she and Will had lost their parents. Her aunt and uncle were fine, she supposed, and of course she loved her little brother, even if he did make her want to throttle him from time to time. But it just wasn't the same. She supposed she had privately hung her hopes on the idea of being part of Henry's family a little more than she should have. She wanted to just be a part of it again, and when she'd gotten to know Henry and realized what an incredible man he was, she'd thought that maybe she might have a chance at that family again. Now, leaning against the wall in the stairwell of Henry's childhood home, with tears streaming down her cheeks, she felt like she was right back at square one.
"Babe?"
Well, maybe not quite square one, she thought as she registered Henry's voice at the top of the stairs. She turned to him, brushing hastily at the tears on her cheeks. She tried to paste a smile on her face, but judging by Henry's concerned expression, she wasn't doing a very good job.
"Come here," he said, holding out his hand to her. She hesitated, but then headed up the stairs, took his hand, and let him lead her into his bedroom, closing the door behind him.
"Are you okay? What happened?" he asked, but Elizabeth just shook her head; she didn't want to drag Henry's family through the mud right to his face, particularly when she'd been putting up a very good show over an increasingly difficult three days.
Henry, on the other hand, was sure he had a good idea of who in that house had the ability to make Elizabeth cry. He sighed, reaching out to pull her into his arms.
"I'm sorry about Maureen," he said softly. Elizabeth laughed in spite of herself; she should have known that Henry would know what was wrong despite the fact that she hadn't wanted to tell him. It was just like him, and among the many things that she adored about him.
"What did she do?" he asked. Elizabeth sighed.
"It's not really a big deal, Henry," she said, attempting to dodge that. However, the look on his face stopped her.
"She called me 'Queen Elizabeth'," she admitted, but shook her head as he opened his mouth to object. "It's fine," she said. "It's not worth the fight."
"It is to me," Henry argued, but Elizabeth managed a small smile as she leaned in to kiss his cheek.
"Come on, Henry," she pleaded. "It's just one more day. Let's just get through it without causing more discourse."
"She can't just talk to you like that," Henry replied, an echo of what he had said on their first night there. Elizabeth smiled slightly.
"Look, Henry," she sighed, "I haven't been a part of a family in a long time, and yours is...raucous and loud and messy. It's everything I could want in a family. This is just my first time meeting them, you know, maybe things will get better with time. I don't want to alienate my only shot at having that again."
Henry studied her for a moment. All things considered, it was more than she had said about losing her parents throughout their relationship, so he just nodded reluctantly, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
"You're really something, Elizabeth Adams," he declared, and she chuckled before she took a deep breath and rested her head on his shoulder.
To herself, Elizabeth thought that it was really Henry who was something.