Speak To Me

Ring Leader

Polly Cooper happily took the gift bag from her mother, anxious to open it with tears in her eyes. She missed Jason more than anything. They ever even got to say 'goodbye' to each other and now they'll never even get to say 'hello' again. She searched through the bag, pulling out the white tissue paper her mother had carefully placed inside. The first thing she got her hands on was the framed photo of Jason before his untimely demise. One of Polly's tears rolled softly down her pale cheek and she weakly smiled, wiping it away with a sniffle. Setting it on the table, she reached in, pulling out the rattle. 

"That was Jason's when he was a baby." Alice sent her daughter a pained smile before she turned to see the look of wonder on Hal's face.

"Mom. Oh my God!" Polly began.

"Look again." Mrs. Cooper nodded her head toward the bag and Polly obeyed, pulling out Jason's old stuffed lion. 

"Alice, how did you-?" Her stunned husband wondered.

She ignored Hal, interrupting him right away. "Penelope told me that Jason wouldn't go anywhere without that when he was little."

The mention of Penelope's name finally snapped Elizabeth out of her long, blank stare at the empty plate in front of her after she had seen her mother's empty finger. She looked at it once more, seeing the tan-line from the ring and she began to feel emotionally exhausted. One very hard pound in her chest caused her to look away from her mother's finger and over to her dad, who stared at Alice with amazement. "Penelope Blossom willingly gave those to you?" Hal asked and Betty looked back to her mom. "How did you even manage to get her to-"

"I have my ways, Hal." Alice interrupted again.

"Mom." Polly wiped away a few more tears. "Thank you so so much! You don't know what this means to me." The oldest Cooper daughter leaned over, hugging her mother before setting the gifts back in the bag and setting the bag on the floor. Her hunger came back with a force as she felt one of the babies kick in light of the situation. She picked up her fork and began to swirl her first forkful of spaghetti onto it. "I miss Jason so much. You don't even understand." She accidentally let a piece of her mind slip before taking a bite.

"Yes, I do, Poll." Alice reached her hand across the table, setting it over Polly's hand to hold it for a second. "Losing your first love is always the hardest." She paused. "Especially this way." She turned and took a bite of spaghetti herself. "I can't even imagine what I would do if my first love was murdered by-"

"Alice." Hal sent her an expression filled with warning about her lack of a filtered mouth.

"I'm sorry." She practically whispered before both she and Hal took a bite together.

"Who WAS your first love, Mom?" Polly wondered. "Was it Dad?" 

"No, actually it wasn't. She-" Hal answered, opening his mouth to say something else when Alice interrupted. 

"Betty, you're not eating?" Mrs. Cooper looked at the empty plate in front of her youngest.

Elizabeth couldn't help but think of the ringless finger. She pushed her chair back and stood up. "No. Um...actually, I'm not feeling too well. I think I'm just gonna go upstairs and get ready for bed or...something." She stepped away from the table, pushing in her chair. "Goodnight, Dad." She stopped beside her father's chair and bent over, hugging him before giving him a kiss on the cheek. 

"Goodnight, Betty." He gave her arm a pat before she walked around the table to hug her sister.

"Goodnight, Polly. I love you." 

"I love you too, Betty. I hope you feel better." 

"Goodnight, Elizabeth." Alice waited for Betty to hug her as well, but instead, the teen passed her mother by, only setting a hand on her mother's shoulder. Brushing it off as if it did not bother her, Alice watched her walk toward the stairs. "If you need anything let your father and I know, okay?" They all watched the 16 year old climb the steps before she disappeared on the second floor.