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The window was left open letting in a cool, crisp breeze that settled nicely around the room. An empty bottle of merlot lay tipped over near the fireplace, bright pink lipstick marking one of glasses. A half eaten tray of grapes, cheese, and crackers forgotten.
The mantel, large and deep, holds an assortment of picture frames and keepsake mementos, the most treasured being a hand-drawn picture of Mommy and Daddy holding hands while Elizabeth plays fetch with Winston, the lovable golden retriever. Three year old Lizzie was so proud of the drawing when she first presented it to Daddy at the office, she insisted that it go on the mantel at home next to her macaroni necklace.
Along the hardwood floor lay a scatter of discarded clothes -- cherry blossom cardigan, silver blouse with rhinestones, midnight blue tie, dark grey dress slacks, black pencil skirt, and a rumpled suit jacket -- creating a trail leading to a very large, very comfortable mahogany bed.
Laughter filtered into the room, giggles and squeals echoing through the hallway along with the pitter patter of tiny feet running in front of the door. Golden curls and bright green eyes peeked through the door, small hands clamped over petite lips trying to silence the onslaught of giggles.
“Lizzie…” Felicity teased, still hidden under the covers. With a click, the light of her cell phone lit up the darkness with a big 9:00am displayed on the screen. A text from Oliver stating a simple “she’s up” made Felicity hold back a snort, knowing full well that Lizzie’s ‘wake up mommy’ routine was really Oliver’s way of saying ‘help’.
“Mommy…” came a small, pleading voice from behind the door, followed by another round of giggles. “Mommy, come play with me...”
Felicity sent back a quick reply to Oliver, “This is supposed to be your morning.”
“You agreed to swap mornings with me last night” came his reply.
She smiled. “I was two glasses in and trying to get those damn cufflinks off.”
The buzz of her cell phone, accompanied with a catchy chime indicated that a picture text was waiting to be viewed. She grimaced, knowing that the snapshot was going to make him win this argument.
And she was right.
On the screen was a picture of Oliver smiling while holding their 9 month old in a fresh diaper with a bottle in his mouth. The picture was sent with three precious words, “Good morning Mommy.”
Felicity’s heart melted immediately, taking in the picture and thanking the stars for her beautiful family. Flipping the covers back, she crawled out of bed and tip toed to the bedroom door, flinging it wide up and scooping up her daughter while planting kisses all over her face. Lizzie wiggled and squirmed, eventually breaking free from her mother’s grasp and ran down the hall into the nursery.
“Now where did Lizzie go?” Felicity called out.
A deep chuckled sounded out from the nursery. “I believe she’s hiding from you.” Oliver replied. “There seems to be a fairy in the nursery with Thomas and I.”
“A fairy? Does this fairy have green eyes?” she said while tip toeing closer to the nursery.
“Yes.”
She peeked her head around the nursery door and eyed her husband who was lounging on the bay window seating. A bright smile graced her lips as she watched while Oliver rocked Thomas back and forth in his muscled arms. He smiled deeply as their eyes met, nodding his head towards the closet, giving her one of his devilious winks.
Felicity cleared her throat and asked, “Does this fairy have golden hair?”
“Absolutely.” Oliver mumbled, running his finger down the baby’s cheek.
Felicity held back a chuckle as she spotted ten little toes from behind the closet doors.
“Is the fairy wearing a tiara?”
Oliver smirked. “I’d say one fit for a Queen.”
At that, Lizzie jumped out of the closet and skipped over to the bay window. “But Daddy, I wanna be a princess, not a queen.” The pun being lost on the three year old.
“You were born a Queen.” Oliver stated, brushing a few loose curls from her eyes.
Felicity chimed in, now standing next to her little family. She mimicked her husband and ran a finger across her son’s cheek. “That’s right love, you were born a Queen and daddy turned me into a Queen when I married him.”
The three year old looked bored and let out a loud sigh, pointing at Thomas and saying “But he can’t be a Queen. He’s a boy.” Oliver and Felicity both laughed.
Looking at her daughter, Felicity asked “What should we call Thomas?”
“King!” Lizzie giggled and scooted closer to her father. “Thomas King and Lizzie Queen!”
Oliver handed Thomas over to Felicity, who hummed as she walked across the room, smiling down at the baby. The look of love and devotion on her face took Oliver’s breath away. They exchanged a knowing look, Felicity mouthing ‘I Love You’ before gazing down at the bundle in her arms once again.
“What about Mommy and I?” Oliver asked his daughter.
Lizzie didn’t even hesitate before stating matter of factly, “Mommy Queen and Daddy King.”
Oliver laughed, hugging his daughter before lifting her up and walking over to Felicity and Thomas. “Good morning Mommy Queen.” he pressed into her lips. “Lizzie and I are going to head downstairs for breakfast before Auntie Thea gets here. Shall I tell Raisa that you’ll be down in a little bit?” His right hand found its way to the small of her back, moving in a gentle circles.
She kissed him back and leaned into his embrace. “Yes. I’m going to rock Thomas back to sleep first, before coming down. Thank you for waking up early to change him. I know it’s my turn but I must have slept through his cries.”
“I tired you out last night. Only fair that I wake up early.” Oliver uttered in a low voice, grinning at the flush that blanketed his wife’s cheeks. With an apologetic tone, he looked into his wife’s eyes and mumbled “I need to head into the office after breakfast…”
“But Oliver, it’s Sunday.” Felicity protested, a pout forming on her lips.
“I know. Blame Isabel. She arranged for a Chair meeting tomorrow morning and just told me about it last night.”
“Evil woman. She’s lucky we made our peace years ago.”
Oliver smiled and thought about that day his wife finally stood up to Isabel. “I need to go in and prep for the meeting with Eddy. The Board is interested in investing in a new product line of Wayne Enterprises.” he reasoned. “I have a feeling Bruce doesn’t know about this impromptu meeting.”
“I was going to ask that next. I thought Bruce was personally overseeing that new product line of advanced weapons. How did Isabel hear about it?” Felicity questioned, shifting Thomas slightly and then kissing his forehead.
“Perhaps you can run a scan on her network in between tea time and dress up with Lizzie?” he suggested, giving his daughter a silly look.
“Deal!” Felicity called out over her shoulder as she made her way over to Thomas’ crib. “I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
END