This is chaos but we'll get through together

Holidays part 2

Anne smiles as everyone heads down to the beach. It was such a nice day out so Jane suggested that they make the most of it. So Anne decided that would be the day she teaches Elizabeth to swim.
"No wanna mama! Scary" Elizabeth whines, starting to cry when Anne attempts to put her down.
"It's okay. I'll hold onto you until you're ready to be let go. I promise" Anne says gently, wiping the tears away. "It's completely safe. How about this? I'm gonna kneel down and hold you like this until you're used to it" she adjusts her grip so she's holding Elizabeth on her hip with one hand on her back and using the other arm to keep her up.
"Okay mama"
"That's my girl. Okay. One. Two and three!" Anne kneels down and smiles when Elizabeth starts to giggle.
"See? There we go! It's okay"
"Now that. That is parenting" an older woman says, pointing over to them. She was talking to a man who was stood with his back to them, angrily handling a screaming toddler.
"Why my daughter married you goes beyond me" the woman continues and Anne bites back a laugh as she gets to work on teaching Elizabeth to swim. She was practically a natural. Within a half an hour, Elizabeth is splashing around and giggling and swimming back and forth between her and Cathy. Everything was going great. Until the man who'd been yelled at by the woman walks over. Anne instinctively scoops Elizabeth up into her arms and holds her close. Why of all people did it have to be Henry?! He had left the toddler with the lady and was in front of them in a few large strides.
"Well hello you lot! Well well. Aren't the kids just adorable?" He says, reaching out to Elizabeth who shrieks and kicks his hand.
"No! Go away" she whines and Anne rubs her back.
"Just go away Henry" Anna says and Henry laughs.
"Oh now don't be like that" he says, giving Anna a disgusted look "still looking like that huh?" He sneers and Kitty steps forward, shoving him back.
"What's your problem huh? There's a word commonly used now for people like you y'know" she says and Henry smiles.
"Dashingly handsome?"
"No" Kitty says and Cathy looks at her.
"Fugly?"
"Are you thinking of the p word?" Catherine asks and Kitty nods.
"To think that he was nearly fifty when he married me and I wasn't even seventeen. He was old enough to be my dad!"
"You were younger than I was back then" Mary chimes in and Henry chuckles.
"My my. So how about I take this lot out for ice cream?" He says, grabbing Elizabeth from Anne's arms.
"No wanna! I wan Mama!" Elizabeth wails, straining to get away.
"Let her go Henry" Anne says angrily, stepping forward and holding her arms out. Henry shakes his head and grips Elizabeth tighter with one arm, making her cry more and taking Edward in his other arm.
"Let them go!" Cathy says angrily, stepping forward and glaring at Henry who just laughs and hands Edward to Jane before unceremoniously dropping Elizabeth. Anne gasps and lunges forward, catching her before she could hit the ground.
"It's okay. It's okay. Mama's here. Mama's got you" she coos, straightening up and holding her close while glaring at Henry.
"Come near us again and there'll be trouble" Cathy says as Anne bounces a sobbing Elizabeth in her arms.
"Mama"
"Yeah. I'm here baby. You're safe now" Anne says, rubbing Elizabeth's back and kissing her forehead.
"No go with dada" Elizabeth mumbles, sucking her thumb.
"You're not. I'm not letting him take you" Anne says softly, stroking her hair and smiling at her.
"Neither am I" Cathy says, stepping forward and putting one hand on Anne's shoulder and the other on Elizabeth's back, smiling at them both.
"And how do you explain that Henry?" A woman asks, storming over with a baby in her arms.
"Huh? Explain what?" Henry says and she glares.
"What you did there. Making that little girl cry!"
"She's my daughter from a previous marriage. Jessie this is Catherine, Anne, Jane, Anna, Katherine and Catherine and my children Mary, Elizabeth and Edward"
"Your children?" Jane asks, looking at Henry as she holds Edward protectively.
"Ugh fine. Their children" Henry grumbles, grabbing his new wife and walking away.
"This is a bad time but I like that ice cream idea" Anna says and Anne smiles.
"Hey Lizzie. Wanna get some ice cream?" She whispers and Elizabeth nods, burying her face in the crook of Anne's neck and sniffling.
"Let's get changed and go then" Kitty says as they start walking back to the house.

Time skip

Catherine smiles as she watches Jane change Edward into some dungarees and a stripy t shirt. Mary was upstairs getting dressed and Anne was changing Elizabeth's clothes so that left her with Cathy, Jane, Edward, Anna and Kitty. She hears footsteps and Mary comes running in, perching on the arm of the armchair Catherine was sitting on and smiling.
"There's my girl!" Catherine says, pulling her down for a hug. Just something she missed doing for the past few centuries.

***

"Oh my poor baby" Anne says softly, gently running a finger over the spots where Henry's fingers had left marks on Elizabeth's arm and sides.
"Hurts mama" Elizabeth says, her eyes brimming with tears.
"I know baby. Let's get you dressed and see what we can do to stop it hurting okay?" Anne says, gently dressing Elizabeth in a cute floral dress and a pale pink cardigan, leaving her hair down.
"There we go! You look very pretty" Anne says and Elizabeth giggles.
"Thank you mama! You look beautiful!" She says and Anne smiles, picking her up and spinning around.
"Why thank you princess!" She says, carrying her baby downstairs.
"Looks like that's everyone now" Cathy says, coming over and kissing Anne before kissing Elizabeth's cheek.