The Four Sisters

Chapter 29

Five years later...

    It was a warm July when the four sisters stood in the cemetery, and they watched as a new headstone be put on William's grave. It was a sparkling, tall headstone with his name and picture on it.

   Henry stood with Spencer while their three year old daughter Elizabeth ran after her thirteen month old brother Elliott and his twin Quinn.  Parker was holding her and Rose's new daughter Astrid. Rose had just given birth a month before, and Rose was leaning against Charlotte who had a sparkly ring on her finger as Taylor had asked her to marry him on New Years Eve. They were going to get married that autumn. 

  Victoria was there too although she was now living in New York in a small studio apartment, but back home to visit her newest niece for the first time. Victoria now had her dream job at Columbia, and she was happily living in Manhattan like she always dreamed. She was dating around, but she was happy with her life the way it was, she said. 

  Spencer had her hand on her stomach as she and Henry were two months away from their third. Parker kept calling them rabbits. Spencer swore this was the last one. Henry beamed with pride when they told them their news that they were having another girl. He couldn't wait. The more kids the better, he said. Spencer told him to shut up.

   Spencer and Henry had gotten engaged on their first Halloween together and gotten married in the spring. It was only a month later that Spencer found out she was pregnant with Elizabeth. She was thrilled. She and Henry had been trying for six months, and they were about to give up and look into other options. Now she had two and one on the way! 

  "The new headstone is beautiful," Spencer said simply as she looked at the new grave they had designed and made up for William. 

  Rose was now a full-time reporter for a local news channel, and she was getting a lot of attention for a three-part piece she did on the presidential election. She received a well-deserved raise too. Rose decided to buy the tombstone and give William a proper burial. Her book on William had been a best seller, and through all the mayhem she admitted she felt she forgot the real William. He wasn't just a book, after all. 

  "He deserved so much better," Charlotte said with emotion in her voice as she looked at the picture of William; his young smile frozen in time. "He was so young..."

    "He did," Victoria said and swallowed hard. She hated to cry in front of people. "I think of something happening to you guys at that age, and it kills me. It doesn't excuse the stuff Mom did, but now I think I understand her a little better."

  "Me too," Parker said as she looked at her new daughter. "I just wish William and Mom both had the chance for a better life."

   "They're both at peace now," Spencer said simply as she leaned in to see her niece. "Let's get little Astrid out of this heat."

  "Good idea," Parker said as she started back to the car. "It's amazing we got Rose to let her out of the house."

  "Hey, I'm new to this whole baby thing!" Rose objected as she walked with her wife and made sure her child's face was covered again against the sun. "I'm worried like every single second. How do you deal with this Spence?"

  "You just do," Spencer said with a sympathetic smile. "I was born worrying so it comes natural to  me."

    Henry was trying to round up the kids; he already had Elliott thrown over his shoulder, but Elizabeth refused to take his hand. She was going through a phase where she said no to everything, and it was testing the two new parents.

  "Elizabeth! What you doing?" Henry demanded as his daughter suddenly fell to the ground. "Get up! We're leaving!"

  "I hate tights," Elizabeth said with a pout as she pulled at the white tights that Spencer struggled to get on her daughter that morning. "It's too hot!"

  And she started to undress right in the cemetery, and Spencer sighed heavily as she looked up at the clear blue sky. "Don't get naked in the cemetery, Elizabeth!"

  "I'll get her," Charlotte said quickly as she went to retriever her niece that was now pulling her dress off her head while Spencer threw her hands up in defeat.

  "I hate that I can't pick her up anymore," Spencer sighed as she watched as Charlotte scooped up the three year old who was stretching out her arms for her Mom to pick her up instead.

  "I know," Henry said gently. "They'll understand when they get a new sister."

  "Ew, more girls," Elizabeth complained as she rushed to take her Mom's hand.

  "Poor Elliott," Henry said with a chuckle. "The kid does have to put up with a lot of barbies, and even more now that Astrid has come along." 

  "Our kid is not playing with Barbies," Parker said pointedly. "I keep telling Spencer that those things are body issues wrapped in plastic!"

   "You're such an expert for someone who has been a parent for two weeks," Spencer said and rolled her eyes. "You played with them, and you turned out fine."

   "I could be better," Parker said thoughtfully. "Maybe I'd be a doctor instead of a freelance journalist who rarely gets published so she spends most of her time babysitting her sister's children."

  "Or ignoring the kids and playing  video games which is what you actually do ," Charlotte said which earned her a kick in the shin. "Spencer! Parker is kicking me!"

   "It never ends," Spencer said with a smirk to Henry.

  They finally gathered both of kids into their car, and she glanced back at the new grave stone they put in for William. It was glittering in the sun, and it was beautiful. She felt a tug at her heart. She wondered if she would know William if he'd lived. She wondered what her Mom might have chosen a different path if he did, but Spencer guessed there was no use wondering about questions that could never be answered. Henry noticed her looking, and he leaned his head against her own as he wrapped his arms around her.

  "Like you said... he's at peace now," Henry said quietly. "He always has been, sweetheart. Plus now his old home is home to a huge, wonderful, ridiculous and completely maddening but happy family. I know he'd like that. Well, I like to think so anyway."

  "Me too," Spencer said with a wavering smile. "I... I think I might bury Mom beside him. We bought back that plot a few years ago and... I think it's time she gets off the mantel."

  "We'll do that," Henry promised and kissed her. "I love you."

  "I love you too."