Jack carried a giggling Rose over the threshold once again as they returned home from their impromptu honeymoon. Jack looked around the quiet house, looking around for any sign of the guys and Lily. It seemed wrong for the house to be so quiet.
"Hey, we're home! Jack and Rose Dawson! We've returned!" Jack called out, expecting to hear some kind of reply, but ended up disappointed by the silence.
"Where did they go?" Rose frowned, walking deeper into the house. "Lily?!"
Jack and Rose walked all through the house in search of their friends and their adopted daughter but came up empty. Meeting back up in the foyer, the couple frowned, not knowing what to make of the disappearances.
"Where could they be?" Rose questioned, trying her best not to panic. Maybe they shouldn't have gone on that honeymoon. Maybe they should have come on home with everyone and spent the night making love in their own room while keeping watch over Lily. Anything could have happened to her! What if she had wandered off looking for her? What if she had run away? What if Cal had shown up, did something to Tommy and Fabrizio, and kidnapped Lily, determined to make her work in one of his mills?! "Jack, we've got to find her!"
"Calm down, sweetie. Let's not panic just yet."
"Not panic? Jack, our daughter is missing, how can you say not to panic?!"
"Because wherever she is, she's probably with Tommy and Fabrizio, wherever they are and I know that they would never let anything happen to her. We just have to stay calm and wait for them to come back."
"I...I…."
"It'll be alright, Rose. I promise. You trust me, don't you?"
"You know I do. More than anyone."
"Well then trust me when I say that she's with Tommy and Fabrizio and they're keeping watch over her. They are her uncles after all. I doubt they'd want to be deemed bad uncles by falling down on the job. Especially Tommy."
Rose closed her eyes and took a deep breath, pushing away her worry. Jack was right. It would help no one to panic. She'll just have to stay calm and wait for them to return. If the two men returned without Lily, then she'll panic.
"Alright. I'm calm. Not panicking at all. But what do we do while we wait? I need to keep busy, or else I really will go out of my mind."
"I can sketch you a picture."
Rose shook her head. "That'll keep you busy. I need to keep busy. I need something to take my mind off of Lily…"
Jack frowned, trying to think. What could he do to distract Rose? There was one thing they could do, but he doubted she'd be in the mood for that. Hmm...what did his father do for his mother when she was going out of her mind with worry?
As if being guided by some unseen force, Jack's eyes fell on the bookshelf near the door, where his mother would keep her favorite books. Frowning, he walked over and looked at the titles. Most of them were romance novels with a few science fiction works thrown in for good measure, but there was a book of love poems that caught Jack's attention. He took it off the shelf and looked it over, a smile on his face.
"Come here, Rose," Jack walked over to his wife. He took her hand and pulled her over to the loveseat. He sat down and pulled her down onto his lap. "How about we read poems to one another?"
Rose laughed and looked at him with sparkling eyes. "Really?"
"Why not? I mean, we're newly married, alone, and in need of distraction. What better way than to read to one another?"
"Well...since we have nothing else to do really...okay. But you go first. Read me a poem," Rose smiled, kicking off her shoes and snuggling into Jack's arms, letting her head rest against his shoulder. She sighed, breathing in his scent, thinking that she really could get used to this.
"Wait...what else is on that shelf?" Rose got up off Jack's lap and went over to the bookshelf. She gasped when at what she saw. "Jack...I love this book!"
"What book?" Jack got up to see what Rose had spotted, after placing the book of poems down.
"Book one of Anne of Green Gables! Oh, how I loved Anne Shirley! And she's a redhead, like me!"
Jack laughed. "So you want to read Anne of Green Gables huh?"
"You wouldn't mind, would you? It's been a while…"
Jack chuckled. "If that's what you want Rosie. Now let's get back to our seats and get to reading, yeah?"
Rose simply blushed and allowed Jack to pull her back to the loveseat, where she settled back into his arms, ready to lose herself in Anne's world once again.
"Hmm…Chapter One. Mrs. Rachel Lynde is surprised…."
"Oh what a busybody that Rachel Lynde is," Rose frowned.
"I take it she's the villain."
"Well, she certainly is no hero. She's an old busybody gossip! She and my mother would get along though...you know my mother, well then you'll know what kind of character Rachel Lynde is."
"Who is your favorite character...other than Anne?"
"Well...there's Diana...who got drunk and was forbidden to see Anne for a while and Gilbert Blythe...what a cutie. He was my first crush."
Jack couldn't help but laugh. "How could he be your first crush? He wasn't even a real person!"
"I don't know. He just was. He liked Anne, even though she ignored him and he called her carrots for a while, but he apologized."
"Now you're making me really want to read this book…"
"Well, it's the first in a series. So if you start reading it, you'll have to read all of them and I think the sequel series, Anne of Avonlea came out last year...which I have to read…"
"Maybe we can read it together," Jack's eyes caught Rose's wide, blue and deep. Rose wanted to get lost in them forever. "After we finish green gables, of course."
"That would be wonderful, truly," Rose sighed, claiming his lips in a deep kiss that they both got lost in until the sound of the door opening and closing and the sound of feet walking along the floorboards caught their attention.
"Momma Rose! Papa Jack!" Lily squealed, racing to the couple, who were getting to their feet.
"Lily, there you are!" Rose lifted the girl up into her arms, hugging her tight. "Where have you been? Jack and I looked all over for you!"
Tommy and Fabrizio came into view, looking surprised to see the couple back.
"You two are back already?" Tommy asked, taking off his bowler hat.
"Yeah, we only had one night and decided to come back as soon as possible so Lily wouldn't wonder too much about us. After yesterday, we realized she had some abandonment issues," Jack explained, placing a hand on Rose's lower back. "Where were you guys?"
"Well, we woke up and realized that we were out of eggs. So not wanting the lass to starve, we took her to Cindy's cafe for breakfast. Then after that, we went to that park across the way from there and let the girl run after some butterflies. Then we came back here, not sure what we were to do next. We sure weren't expecting you back until later," Tommy explained.
"How did it go with you three?" Rose asked, curious.
"Oh, we had tons of fun! Didn't we lass? Fabri there cooked spaghetti and garlic bread while Lily and I had a tea party and then the three of us enjoyed a tale about the children of lir...my version."
"It was a fun time," Fabrizio grinned.
"Can Uncle Tommy tell me another story tonight?" Lily asked, her blue eyes pleading.
"You didn't like my stories, huh?" Jack asked good-naturedly, ruffling the girl's hair.
"I do, but Uncle Tommy reminds me of...of where I used to live with my mommy and daddy," Lily bowed her head, not wanting to hurt Jack's feelings.
"Aww, I understand. Sure, if Uncle Tommy doesn't mind," Jack gave the girl a wink, signaling that everything was ok, he wasn't really bothered by her wanting Tommy to tell the bedtime stories.
"I don't in at all, lassie. Keep Ireland in both of our minds, it will."
"Maybe you can join papa Jack and me as we read Anne of Green Gables. It's my favorite story and papa Jack promised to read them to me. Will you help him keep that promise?" Rose smiled, feeling really good about how things were turning out. Together, she and Jack were making a good home for Lily. Not only giving her a mommy and daddy but an uncle that could keep the memory of her home country alive for her. She couldn't ask for a more perfect ending.
Lily simply nodded, feeling calm and happy. Momma Rose and Papa Jack had not abandoned her like she had been afraid they would and she had two fun Uncles to help watch after her as well. She really did feel like this was finally home. Somewhere to take off her shoes, as her daddy used to say.