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"Your husband is expected to arrive any time today. Not to assume anything, Missus Hamilton, but surely-"
"I will get ready soon, Ruth, I promise. I only need but a minuet."
In a creaky-windowed house tucked into the center of Albany, a young woman in a pale teal night gown slowly rocked in her wooden chair, humming to herself. Her dark cinnamon eyes were ran to and fro across pages, focusing on the letters in her lap as she patted her stomach. The woman's hair was tucked messily into a Dutch bun, the cold chain that hung around her neck nearly getting tangled in the brunette strands that escaped it's grasp. She reached up to touch it, a soft smile carved on her lips as she did; in a bag tied to it was a sonnet written by her husband.
My husband, she thought, is miserably late.
This woman's name was Elizabeth Hamilton, and she was waiting for her Alexander.
Eliza inhaled slowly as she reread the last letter, tying them together and setting them on her bedside table. She reached out toward the end of the chair's handles, peeling herself out of it. It took her just a second to compose herself; Her balance was off, Ruth, her maid, noted, due to her-addition. The woman in the night gown smiled softly to herself as she glanced at her stomach, her cheeks flushed.
"Will you help me, Ruth? I must look the best for my husband, and yet-I fear I cannot appeal into my best clothes without a bit of assistance." Eliza gave her an almost embarrassed look, tracing a strand of hair behind her ear.
The maid nodded. "Of course, Missus."
My husband is going to die at my own hands if he does not get here soon. After all, how else will I tell him that I'm pregnant?
---
At the time, a carriage rushed unnaturally down a muddy New York dirt road, threating to overturn on the occasion of a misplaced shard of pebble. The passenger of the unsteady vehicle cursed loudly in French as it tossed him again. As it started to slow, he peeked his head out of the curtained holster and yelled with a rough yet soothing voice.
"Oi, would it not be unfortunate if I was to lose a limb while on this journey due to it being shattered by your reckless driving? Calm your stead!"
The driver turned his head back as quick as a flash, shaking his head at the passenger. "You said you was payin' me fer gettin' there faster, Mistah Hamilton! 'S not mah fault that it means that 's gonna be less sturdy!"
The ginger growled to himself and rolled his eyes, flipping the curtain back as he pulled his coat away to his chest, the summer heat almost getting to him. He rubbed his eyes, glancing at the unfinished stack of letters waiting to be sorted through. Grabbing another, he sighed softly and sighed, breaking it open and beginning to read the message.
It was never this dull in Nevis. Or Saint Croix, he thought. Or with my Betsey.
His firm gaze then melted into a warm smile, chasing away his boredom as his focus on the correspondence shriveled away. His Elizabeth, Eliza, Lizzy, Liz, Liza, Betsey, Betty, his wife.
He set the letter back down on his lap, his face flushed bright pink as he pulled his sleeve up over his nose. He laughed as he thought of his perfect wife, shakily standing up in the near hazardous vehicle and sorting through the mass of letters to find the last one that she had sent. He found it, sitting back down and rereading it for seemingly the thousandth time, tracing his ink stained fingers along her loopy handwriting. Although it was not on the best of circumstances that he was being sent home- a journey to her father, General Phillip Schuyler, with messages from George Washington-he was glad he was. He was glad because he got to see her.
Because if anything could make the 'Little Lion' act like a kitten, it was Eliza Hamilton.
------
After nearly an hour more of waiting, Elizabeth sighed and set her book down, gliding to the bedroom window, her turquoise skirt flowing gently behind her as she gently grabbed the curtains and pulled them apart.Her eyes scanned the view until the loud sound of a vehicle hurling down the brick road entered her ears, a gasp escaping her mouth. Is that him? She pressed her hands against the glass, anxious as the sound steadily got louder. Sure enough, a red carriage yanked to a stop before the front door, and a tall ginger man in a blue coat leaping out and whipping around to the driver. She exhaled quickly as he looked her way, smiling brightly, turning and sprinting for the door.
"Alex!" She laughed giddily. She turned and started down the uneven stairs, gliding past the railing as she hurried down. "Ruth, he's here!"
The young maid smiled politely at the bottom of the stairs. "Yes ma'am. Although I must recommend staying in the sitting room as of now in place of the hall, it's far too hot to be in the sun of the front entrance! Besides, won't your husband want to compose himself after such a long carrige ride?"
The woman in the teal dress slightly nodded, crossing her arms as she sat back on a ivory sofa. "I suppose you are correct, so if I will stay, If I must. He'd better hurry, as I am growing ever more anxious to see him!"
--
Alexander tumbled out of the carriage as he lassoed his bags from behind him, eyes wide as he set foot on the cobblestone street for the first time in six months. He lashed around and fished the payment out of his pockets, nearly throwing it at the driver before turning away and to the building ahead.
"Good day sir!" The driver called.
"It is one!" Alexander called back, looking up into of the house's windows- his bedroom window. Inside, a woman was pressed up against the window, her gaze locked onto him as she smiled- Elizabeth.
He dashed into the house, grinning as he raced up the main steps and knocked on the door with his foot. He was nearly bouncing as the entrance to his house was opened to him. Daniel, the butler, held the door as Alex rushed through it. "Sir Hamilton, what a joyous occasion." He grabbed one of his bags from him, holding it in one hand as he waited to receive Alex's coat. The soldier nearly chucked it at him.
"Indeed, Sir Daniel! I expect you've been taking good care of my wife and home these six months?" He smoothed his navy blue and tan uniform, assuring himself he looked his best. He glanced in the mirror near-by, a smile stuck on his face to the point where it made his cheeks hurt.
"Of course. If you'll allow me to take your last bags-" He snatched them from his hands. "I believe your wife is waiting for your sitting room."
Ale's breath caught for half a second- Holy shit, Elizabeth-! He quickly turned the other direction, folding his hands behind his back as he expertly navigated his way through the home, gliding past tables and vases as his excitement grew. Finally, he threw open the sitting room door with such ferocity he thought he might've broke it. His eyes only had to wander the room for moments before they settled on a figure in a sofa, her gaze directed out then window immediately turning to him. She leapt out of her seat, tears brimming in the corners of her eyes as she smiled. "Alex!"
He threw himself at her, yanking her into a loving embrace as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, him resting his hands on the small of her back. He pulled her as close as he humanly could, fearing that if he let go she would slip away. She sensed this, pressing her nose into his neck and pulling him toward her chest.
"Hi," He laughed as he pulled away, kissing her softly and resting his forehead against hers.
"Hello." Eliza giggled, tears slowly making their way down her cheeks. "How's the war?"
"Awfully drab-without you, that is." He offered a grin, beginning to sway the two back and forth. This got a chuckle out of her, Elizabeth rolling her eyes as her dress made colossal sways side-to-side as the two moved.
"Did you get my last letter?" She asked, still slightly worrying about his reaction to the child in her stomach.
He shook his head, pulling a strand of hair behind her ear. He spun her around carefully, pulling her back again. "The carrier was reportedly ambushed- haven't gotten a letter in two weeks. I must've missed a one, I assume?" His sea-blue eyes looked deep into her mocha brown, searching for any kind of bitter emotion about the topic.
She sighed- I'll have to explain this myself, then. She nodded, fixing his bow that tied his hair back. "You did indeed."
"I apologize that I have," He flushed pink, "I am positive to would've encouraged me to come even quicker. Was there anything of news in it?"
"I'll let you worry about that later," She brushed the topic aside, offering him a kind grin. "Let us get you something to eat, hmm? I assure you that it is better than your rations!" She pulled away, taking his hand and leading him into the dinning room.
"My dear, anything is better than our rations."
-------
As the evening settled in and the houses of the busy city quieted down and dimmed their lights, the section of the sky that they seemed to own had morphed from a crystal clear cerulean to a deep velvet eggplant. Stars littered the sky like freckles, the summer air finally cooling down enough to create a breeze that filtered through the Hamilton home.
Eliza closed the bedroom curtains, glimpsing one last time at the night sky before tuning it out. The candle-lit room glowed a warm yellow, shadows dancing and flickering away from the light as she sat on the bed, pulling one last pin out of her hair and setting it on the table next to her.
Alex entered a moment later, eyes halfway closed as he fumbled around to his dresser, pulling out his nightshirt. Letting out a yawn, he stepped into the changing room.
"My dear, I noticed something today."
Eliza sighed almost happily- It's about time, Alex! "And that something is?"
"Was your corset causing you discomfort? It was not as tight as it would have been." He hung his waistcoat up with one arm, leaning out of the room.
"It was not as tight, yes, but not for that reason." She nodded, glancing at her wedding ring and spinning it around her finger as she talked. She smiled calmly as her husband entered the room again. Can he not put two-and-two together?
"Then what reason, if I may?" He pulled the bow out of his hair, setting it down on the dresser as he glanced at his wife. She reached her hand out, Alex taking it and sitting beside her as his anxiety grew at her quietness. She intertwined their hands, smiling nervously at him as she started to answer.
"Alexander, I did have something important in that letter I wrote you; it's also why I was not wearing my corset as tight." She paused- Alex simply blinked, face blank as he listened on- her husband still not catching on. "Now, I do not know what your reaction will be, yet I urge you to stay calm."
"I will." Alex's face was beginning to twist with confusion. "Betsey, what is it?"
"I am with child." She spilled.
It took a minuet or so for Alexander to register, keeping quiet, his emotions on a scale from full on confusion to disbelief in just a matter of sixty or so seconds as he made a set of faces full of emotion. He looked deep in his wife's eyes, then to the floor and then to nowhere. "You're with child?" He slowly reasked, enunciating as clearly as he could.
"I am," She shakily said, nearly panicking as she grabbed his hand tighter. "Alexander..?"
"Oh." He whispered, eyes widened as he inhaled unsteadily, grasping her hands nearly as tightly as he could in response to her doing the same. "I'm going to be a father."
Eliza was slightly relieved. She swallowed anxiously, awaiting the rest of his response. "You are."
His face brightened in a matter of seconds, a smile thrown onto it as he grew excited all too quickly. "I'm going to be a father!" He stood, running his hands through his loose hair as he started to laugh, almost to the point of giggling. He looked back at his wife with astonishment, breathing heavily and grabbing both of her hands, pulling them to his chest.
"You're going to be a mother, and I a Father!" He shrieked, tears starting to pool in his eyes as he smiled. She chuckled at him, nodding as she cupped his cheek. He wrapped his arms around her stomach and laid his head in her lap, smiling with ferocity as tears made their way down his face.
"I'm going to be a father." He repeated, saying it as if it was going to become a prayer of his. He sniffed, trembling as he quietly laughed with both excitement and nervousness.
Eliza stroked his head and wiped away a few of his tears. "You've well established that," she beamed, chuckling at Alexander as he shook with joy.
He glanced back up at her with still damp eyes and a chuckle, grinning as he took her hand and kissed it. Wiping his eyes with his other hand, his gave diverted back to her stomach. "We're going to be a family, Betsey." He sniffed. "I can't believe it. "
She kissed his forehead, "Welcome home, Alex. "