30. No Greater Gift

Elizabeth walked into her bedroom later that night only to see her grandmother sitting on the bed holding the bottle of pills. "Ju have broken my heart." She said very sternly.

"Abuelita, no-no-no-no-no-no it's NOT what you think."

"I know exactly what I think! What else would jou be doing with a bottle of abortion pills!?"

"Shhh! Keep your voice down."

"Ju have betrayed me Liliácea."

"Abuelita it was an accident!"

"That's what they always say!"

"I was artificially inseminated!"

"Que?"

"Yes, it was a legit accident."

"Did ju take the pills!?"

"No no no Abuelita I would never."

Josefina went deep into thought and started to confess. "When jour mother got pregnant at eighteen, with Jessica and Eric...I told jour father to have her get an abortion."

"What?" Elizabeth gasped and sat down next to her grandmother.

"And obviously he told me no. But it turned out that pregnancy caused a marriage. Which has caused many precious things in their lives. And I thank God every day that they didn't go through with it, because who knows what would've happened if they did. They might not have had ju, one of their greatest prides and joys, their precious Elizabeth-Lillian." She said caressing her granddaughter's cheek, "and one-day Liliácea, that baby will be the most precious things in jour life."

Elizabeth smiled and her eyes welled up, "that was beautiful Abuelita."

"Oh, I know." She said being prideful. Causing Elizabeth to roll her eyes.

"So you're on team 'keep baby'" Elizabeth asked.

"Of course, we need another Corlãrian around this house, That man got lucky, we have good blood ju know, we make adorable children."

"Oh I know, you bring that up every day."—————

Later that day... Elizabeth and Henry came home to Elizabeth's house to find Feeny at the table with her Dad. Briar was also in the kitchen and went over to greet her daughter but whispered in the couple's ears, "morning sickness, I think it's time we let the boat sail." She looked at the kids. And they nodded their heads knowingly.

"Mr.Feeny tells me you've been a bit under the weather lately, are you okay?"

"Yeah, probably just a bug," Elizabeth said chickening out. She was terrified at what her Father might do—let alone spill her secret in front of Feeny—her teacher.

Briar Rose rolled her eyes at her daughter's response. Josefina came down the stairs and noticed the tension, "uh, why don't I help ju make dinner Rosie." Knowing that she could be helpful.

"Thanks, Josefina, why don't you two get your homework done okay, we can talk about this later."

"Yes ma'am." Said Elizabeth.

"Hold on." Said Jack, he walked over and felt her forehead, "you sure it's just a bug?" He asked, getting suspicious.

"Feeny, you do like me don't you?" Liz asked her teacher.

"Now why on earth Miss. Thornton would you assume that?"

"Well, you came all this way just to tell my dad that I wasn't feeling good,"

"Uh actually, Miss.Thornton I came to talk to your parents about your education."

"My education?"

"Why? She's a good student," asked Mr.Thornton, "is it to tell me that she's getting a scholarship to Yale or something like that?" He said, somewhat joking.

"Actually her GPA has begun to decrease, she hasn't been doing her homework."

Jack scoffed," yeah, and she's pregnant too!" He joked, and started to laugh, Feeny let out a slight chuckle, but everyone else just looked at each other. They all noticed how that joke punched Elizabeth-Lillian right in the gut. "What?" Jack asked, noticing the looks on the faces in the room. "Okay! Somethin's up!" Worry started to spread across Abuelita's face, "I'm not that stupid! What's goin' on!?" He said slipping into his southern accent.

Henry knew that no one else was going to say it, "Elizabeth's pregnant." He blurted out. Just as luck would have it, Peter and his little sisters walked into the house when Henry said it.

"What?" Asked Peter, "who's pregnant?"

"Papito, go to your room." Briar Rose said sternly.

"Come papito, Niñas pequeñas," Josefina said, walking towards the door, "why don't we go upstairs and work on our homework."

"One more time." Said Mr.Thornton. Once his youngsters were out of earshot.

"Elizabeth's pregnant," Henry said, Liz's cheeks burned with shame and embarrassment, Feeny's mouth dropped open, and Mr.Thornton started clenching his jaw.

"Elizabeth's...pregnant." He repeated.

"I better go grade some papers," Feeny said heading towards the door.

"Don't go George we're gonna need someone here to stop me from killing him," Jack said looking at Henry.

"No no no this is a family matter you guys need to discuss it amongst yourselves."

"Coward!" Briar Rose yelled after Feeny.

"Damn straight." He said, and left.

"Dad, before you tear our heads off just let me explain, we're a responsible couple and then I was—"

"No," Jack said, cutting her off, "responsible couples don't have babies."

"Let her finish," Briar said, nudging her husband.

"No, remember how hard it was when we had Jessica and Eric—"

"When we had Jessica and Eric?"

"Whatever...I mean, we were deployed and you never got your figure back." Once he realized what he said he turned his back and faced the kids, his face was white, and Briar's mouth had dropped to the floor. "I love you." He said looking back towards her.

"And you are so done talking." She said, pushing him to the side." listen, Liz, how are you and Henry going to deal with this?"

"I don't know, we've talked about it—"

"You never breastfed me!" Eric yelled at his mother walking in the door.

Jack closed his eyes and shook his head, "Eric—"

"You didn't either!" He yelled at his dad, "breastfed kids are skinny, formula kids are fat, you know first I blamed it on myself, I thought to myself, maybe clans, and then I thought to myself maybe metabolism, and then I thought to myself, I'm no racist! And then it all comes back to you guys!"

"Listen porky we're in the middle of a serious family discussion here." Said, Jack

"Eric I have a problem, alright, I have a huge problem and I have no idea how to handle it."

Eric thought for a moment... "You listen here you skinny little breastfeeder, I have had it up to here—" he said raising his hand to her height, "with you and you and you and you and—Mr. Salty!" He yelled when he heard the ice cream truck.

Jack rolled his eyes and shook his head, "can I say something?" He asked, raising his hand.

"If it's constructive." Briar Rose told him.

"First of all, I'm sorry I overreacted."

"Believe me you handled it a lot better than I did." Informed Elizabeth.

"Your mother and I have been through the same thing, and trust me, I was just as scared as you are right now." He said walking over to his wife, "but we had each other and we got through it together, hmm."

"Yeah," Briar said, agreeing, "your father let me know that there was nothing more important than being there for me, and I've always loved him for that."

"You guys, you think I can handle this?—"

"We." Henry cut in taking her hand.

"Look, no one said that this is going to be easy, but you. Can. Handle. This. And remember you're not alone, we're here for ya'"

"Elizabeth you're having a baby! There is no greater gift." Briar said smiling.

"Being a father is the most rewarding thing in my life."

"Wow, we're going to be parents," Elizabeth thought, "I was so freaked out by all of this that—"

"You didn't think it could be okay," Henry said, finishing her thought.

"But there's one thing. I need to yell at you guys about." Jack admitted,

"UGH, Jack," Briar whined.

"No, no, no, I just need to do it," he sat down next to his daughter, "so you did the dirty huh?"

Elizabeth laughed, "No, I was accidentally artificially inseminated."

"What?" He said having the same reaction as Elizabeth did, "well, I guess I don't have to yell at you guys." He said smiling at her and Henry. "It's not your fault." He said, grabbing his daughter's hand, "but remember Flower, this is a big responsibility. If you keep this kid you gotta step up for them and take care of them. You can't go dumping them on you Abuelita or someone. Just remember that you can ask for help but there's a difference between someone helping you and taking advantage of you."

"I understand. Thank you Dad"

Jack smiled at her and kissed her cheek, he then stood up and looked at Henry, hands on his hips, "Same goes to you too Trooper. If you plan on being in this kid's life then you can't be expecting Elizabeth Lillian to be doing the work. You gotta be working to provide for them too. You gotta be constant in their life not coming in and out. And you gotta take responsibility for them too if you're staying in the picture."

"Yes sir. I wanna be there."

Jack showed a quick half-smile before shaking Henry's hand.

————

Later that night Briar Rose walked Henry outside, "Thank you, Henry, for sticking by Elizabeth. I know that must have been quite a shock."

"Yeah, it was."

"And I'm relieved Jack didn't react as I thought he would."

"You know he has a nickname for me now." Briar raised an eyebrow, "Trooper."

Briar shook her head and laughed, "Trooper was the name of a mean old bronc Jack used to ride, he hated that horse with all of his guts." Briar noticed Henry's reaction walked over and raised his chin, "but...he respected that horse."

"Respect, I'll take that, I'll take respect." He got in the car, and drove down the old deserted road and into town, he knew that he had to tell his family the news now, and there's one thing he knew...

He wanted that baby.

Let me know what the fate of Baby Harton should be! And what you think the baby should be, should we have a little Thornton (girl) or a little Hart (boy). Thanks for sticking on so far, I appreciate it. I did use some dialogue from Jane the Virgin, Heartland, and Boy Meets World. I DO NOT OWN BOY MEETS WORLD, HEARTLAND, OR JANE THE VIRGIN. NO COPYRIGHT INTENDED.

William Daniels as George Feeny

BMW: 'She's having my baby back ribs.' -https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cYoIr6MJ8vY