"I been watchin' you a long time. Trying to figure out where and when we been moving down that same line. Time is now maybe we could get skin to skin."
Henry's memory of when both he and Lucille realized they where in this relationship for the long run was a fond one. He remembered telling Lucille that he loved her and that he wanted to marry her when they where both ready and when Lucille said she felt the same way, he was over the moon. He didn't remember exactly what happened, but he remembered the important parts.
"Luce," Henry said, a bit timidly. "You know that I love you more than life itself, right?" asked the twenty-three year old. Lucille looked up at Henry from where she was standing in front of her closed apartment door and she gave him a sheepish smile. She knew this was going to turn into something more than Henry just telling her that he loved her.
"Yeah," she said as she blushed. She was a little worried that he was going to break up with her, but she didn't let that worry her. She could tell from the look in his eyes that he was going to say something else, though.
"And I want to marry you," Henry continued, also blushing. Lucille's eyes widened, and when he noticed this, he quickly started talking again. "Only when both of us are ready, though." Lucille looked up at Henry, who was considerably taller than her, and just smiled, love evident in her face.
"I love you, Henry Langston," she said. Henry started to blush and when Lucille noticed this, she stood up on her tippy toes and kissed him on the lips. Henry kissed her back and when they pulled away, he smiled lovingly down at her.
"I love you too," he said.
"Don't know when this chance might come again. Good times got a way of comin' to an end. Don't know when this chance might come again. Good times got a way of slippin' a-way. Baby let's be friends, come on let's be friends."
Another one of Henry's fondest memories was when he proposed to Lucille. He had been thinking about it for months and was trying to figure out the most romantic way to propose and finally, after waking up from a sleepless rest, he came up with the perfect way to propose. He was going to call her over for a game of Scrabble, which Lucille loved because she had a competitive spark in her and she was incredible with words, and her tiles where going to spell out "Marry me." Every time he thought about it, he smiled softly to himself because he knew that Lucille was going to love it.
The night Henry decided he was going to propose was on Lucille's birthday. He figured that because his gift giving skills weren't great, proposing would be the best gift he could give her. So he set up the game, spelled out "Marry me" and flipped the tiles over so she would have no idea what was going to happen.
"Lu," he called out. "Lets play a game of Scrabble," he added. Lucille walked out of the kitchen and smiled.
"Okay," she said as she walked over to the table the Scrabble board was set up on. Henry pulled out the chair on the side she was supposed to sit on and pushed it in for her when she sat down. He put his hand in his pocket and grabbed the ring box. He lingered at the side of the table while she flipped her tiles over. When they where all flipped over, she just stared at the words that they spelled. It took her a couple of seconds to comprehend what was going on and when she looked up at Henry, he was on his knee with the ring box opened in front of him. She covered her mouth in surprise and tears sprung to her eyes.
"Will you marry me, Luce?" Henry asked as he smiled at her. All she did was nod her head and then nearly threw herself at him, engulfing him into a big bear hug.
"Henry," she said as she pulled away and looked at the ring while he put it on her finger. "It's beautiful." Henry was beaming, knowing that Lucille was going to be his wife.
"I know we're different you and me. Got a different way of walkin.' The time has come let the past be history. Yeah, if we could just start talkin'."
Ever since Jacob came back, Henry was in denial that he and his wife had a second chance with their boy. They spent thirty years grieving over their dead son and he was still in denial from that, so to have his world turned upside down with the sudden reappearance of his son, he wasn't sure how to handle things. His wife kept telling him that it was really their son, that everything inside of her was telling her that this was their boy, but he still couldn't grasp that. He thought this was some type of joke, that none of this could be real. But what really resonated with him was when Lucille told him that he needed to grieve their lost son, so he went to the basement, found old pictures and finally shed a tear for the dead boy he had lost thirty years earlier. He knew Lucille was right and when he finally allowed himself to cry for the lose he had suffered so much over the years, he finally came to terms that this was their boy, that they really did have a second chance with Jacob.
"Don't know when this chance might come again. Good things got a way of comin' to an end. Don't know when this chance might come again. Good things got a way of slippin' a-way. Baby let's be friends, come on let's be friends."
Henry loved surprising his wife when she least expected it. They had long stopped making anniversaries a big deal. They had been together for so long, that celebrating another anniversary just reminded them of how old they where. But every once in a while, Henry liked to spice things up and do something sweet for Lucille. Their forty-third wedding anniversary was an important one because Jacob was back and Henry wanted Jacob to be apart of the celebration. So Henry sent Maggie and Lucille out while he and Jacob set the house up for dinner. Jacob was going to be dressed up nicely in a suite, as was Henry, and he was going to act like he was serving the couple.
When Lucille was dropped off that night, the entire house was ready. Both Langston boys where dressed up, dinner was ready and so was the table. Lucille walked in and was taken back when she walked into a dim house with candles lit everywhere.
"Henry?" she called out, a bit confused. That was Jacob's cue to come in and lead his mother to the table.
"Mom," he said when he walked into the hall. "Follow me," he added and showed his mother to the living room, where a table was set up for two.
"Jacob, what-" she was still confused, but she couldn't help but notice that he was dressed up. Henry was standing by the table, waiting for his wife, and Lucille immediately stopped talking.
"Hey," he said when his wife walked in, following their son. He walked over to Lucille's chair and pulled it out for her. When she sat down, he pushed it in for her and walked to his side of the table, also sitting down. Jacob went into the kitchen and came back with two plates of food and set them down in front of his parents before walking out of the room. The rest of the night went smoothly, the Langston parents eating their dinner and Jacob watching cartoons in the room next door.
"There's a lot of talk going 'round now. Let them talk you know you're the only one. There's a lot of walls need tearing down. Together we could take them down one by one."
Henry was so happy when his mother came back from the dead. He had loved his mother so much when he was younger and that love for her stayed throughout his adulthood, despite Lucille not liking her as much as he did. He didn't see what she saw in her, but that all changed when he figured out that Margaret was turning Jacob against them. Then she said she never loved him and his brother because they where Langstons and that's when his views about her changed. Now that her true feelings where out, he couldn't help but to think back to when he told her that he had proposed to Lucille.
"Ma," Henry said as he barged into the Langston house. Margaret came flying into the room at the sudden appearance of her son's voice.
"What's the matter, Henry?" she asked. She could tell that Henry was excited about something, but what could he be so excited about?
"Lucille and I are going to get married," he said. "She said yes." Margaret couldn't remember the last time her baby boy had as big of a smile as he had at that moment. But she couldn't help but to think that they where rushing into things, despite having been together for three years.
"Aren't you rushing into things?" she asked. Henry's smile faltered a little bit. His eyebrows furrowed together at the question.
"What do you mean?" he asked, obviously a little hurt at the question. He would have thought she would be happy for him. "We've been together for three years. It's what we both want," he added.
"I know, but you're both so young," Margaret replied. Henry was flabbergasted at what his mother was saying and stayed silent for a few seconds.
"Anyways, congratulations," Margaret said quickly and gave her son a hug. Henry just hugged her back, a little hurt at what she had said.
"Don't know when this chance might come again. Good times got a way of comin' to an end. Don't know when this chance might come again. Good times got a way of slippin' a-way. Baby let's be friends, come let's be friends."
Henry's first encounter with Jacob after realizing that Jacob was there to stay was much different then his encounters before his realization. He had been distant towards Jacob. He didn't want to allow himself to get too close to his son in case he where ripped away from him again. But now that Lucille finally talked some sense into him, he figured he could spend quality time with Jacob. Lucille had been urging him to do it for so long now because Jacob was starting to ask questions, so it was more then welcomed on Jacob's end.
"Hey, Monkey," Henry said as he walked into the living room where Jacob was watching cartoons. He sat down next to his son and looked at the television. "What are you watching?" he asked.
"SpongeBob SquarePants," Jacob replied as he looked up at his dad when he felt the sudden weight difference in the couch.
"Ooh," Henry said as he continued to watch the kid's program. A few minutes passed before Henry said anything again. "So, do you want to do something? Maybe we can go get ice cream," he added. He knew Jacob was a huge fan of ice cream, so he figured that Jacob would be excited to get ice cream before dinner. Jacob immediately looked up at his father at the mention of ice cream, which made Henry laugh.
"Yeah!" he said excitedly.
"Okay, go get your shoes and we'll go. But you can't tell your mother," Henry said quietly. Jacob smiled up at his father. "It'll be our secret, okay?" he asked. Jacob nodded his head and shot up from the couch. He ran to get his shoes and when he came back, the Langston boys went to get ice cream.