For the past few days, Cheyenne had been keeping a close eye on Van. He was still working late and hardly made time for the family, so she thought she'd do a little investigating. After dropping Elizabeth off at school and Kasey at a daycare-type program, she drove to Van's office.

She was greeted warmly by the receptionist as she headed to Van's personal office down the hall.

Van was sitting at his desk, looking over some papers when she walked in. She closed the door, causing him to look up.

"Cheyenne."

"Hey."

He began shoving papers into folders and into drawers, some into a trash can. It was as if he was hiding them.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, trying to sound casual as he logged onto his computer.

"Oh, I was just out for a little drive and I thought I'd pop in. Are you busy?"

"Just a little." He nodded towards his computer. "New listings."

She nodding, twisting her purse strap around her wrist then letting go. "I understand."

"Thanks."

There was a knock at the door. Cheyenne turned around to see a woman of about twenty or so walk in. She wore her brown hair pinned up in a French twist, her bright red lipstick standing out in contrast. She had green eyes and high cheekbones making her look like the leader of the Bitch Clique in Cheyenne's senior class.

"Oh, I'm sorry," She said in a slightly snobby, light, airy voice. "I didn't know you had a visitor." She waved a folder around. "I was just coming in to show you a list of the current stock quotes."

Van waved her in and stood. "Rose," He said, gesturing towards Cheyenne. "This is my wife, Cheyenne."

The woman, now identified as Rose, held out her hand.

"Nice to meet you." She forced a smile as they shook hands. "I think we spoke on the phone the other night?"

"Yes," Cheyenne said as she pulled her hand away, putting it in her pocket. "We did."

"Yeah. I would have recognized you anywhere from the pictures Van has of you and the kids on his desk. Kasey and Elizabeth are absolutely adorable."

Cheyenne didn't care for Van's obviously attractive new assistant knowing her kids' names, but she smiled politely.

"Thank you. We're blessed to have them."

Rose nodded, another forced smile gracing her lips. "Well, I'll leave you two alone." She placed the folder she had been holding on Van's desk and left.

Cheyenne turned to her husband. "Well, she's a looker, isn't she?"

Van shrugged. "Ah, you know. Eh."

"No, you know I'm just sayin'. She ain't hard to look at. Especially at night when you're working, buzzed on Folgers and needing a cold shower."

"What are you saying?"

"I don't know. You've just been working a lot with your hot, new assistant."

"And?"

She eyed him, unable to accuse him of the very thing that broke her parents up. She refused to think about it as she shook her head.

"Never mind. I guess I'll get going, then."

"Okay. Drive safe. I'll be home at around eight."

"Alright. Eight it is." She backed up to the door. "Love you."

He picked up the folder that Rose had left. "Love you, too." He smiled, but Cheyenne didn't know if the smile was meant for her or the stock quotes.

She left without another word.

Reba hadn't wanted to take Henry grocery shopping with her. Who would? But Brock was "sick and tired of that damn take-out food," so she decided she'd better cook him something that they hadn't had in a while.

Reba had Esme in her carrier in the basket where Henry would sit if he were younger. She made it clear that Henry was not to wander off. He should treat this shopping trip as if his mother was there.

In the first twenty minutes the three were at the grocery store, Henry acted like a normal human being. He never let go of the basket, never asked for anything. And he was actually quiet. Reba wondered if he was trying to think up something horrible to do.

"Henry," She finally asked. "What kind of cereal do you want for breakfast?"

She figured she would play the good cop and give him a chance.

"Froot Loops." He pointed at the red box that was right at eye level to him. "It has a toy inside."

Reba never let her kids eat those kinds cereals for breakfast when they were younger. She might as well pour them a bowl of sugar.

"How about we get this instead." She held up a familiar looking purple box Henry had seen his mom eat from.

"I don't like raisins," He promptly told her, picking up the box of Froot Loops. "I like these."

Reba sighed. "How about Cheerios, then? You like those."

"I want Froot Loops." He shook the box he was holding. "There's a toy inside."

Reba took the box from him, turning it around. "Henry, the toy is a wind-up car. I can buy you one for a dollar without having to spend three more for the cereal."

"It's not the same!"

"Plus, it's not very healthy."

"Neither is chocolate."

"Which is why we don't let you have it."

"You eat it all the time! I saw you!"

"I'm the grown-up."

"It's not fair!"

"Life so seldom is. We're going to get Cheerios for breakfast. Everybody likes those."

"I don't!" He stomped his foot.

"Henry, don't you dare throw a temper tantrum in this store, do you hear me?"

He stopped, his frown disappearing. A smile took its place as he cheerfully said, "Okay."

Reba stared at him. He sure was an odd little duck.

"Okay," She said. "Let's go get something for dinner. Come on."

She turned the cart around and Henry followed along beside her. Or so she thought. She got all the way over to the frozen foods section of the grocery store before she noticed that the little boy wasn't with her. She began to panic and retraced her steps as fast as she could.

She looked down every aisle she had gone by or gone down. Finally, she realized where he was. The cereal aisle.

Rolling her eyes, she maneuvered the cart to aisle fifteen. There, she saw Henry standing beside a box of open Froot Loops, shoving the cereal into his pockets.

"Henry Charles Jesus Hart. What are you doing?"

He turned around, gasping.

"Why didn't you follow me?"

He shrugged and looked at the ground.

"This is stealing, Henry. You know not to take things that aren't yours."

"You wouldn't let me have it!"

"That doesn't give you a right to just take it!"

Henry picked up the box and took off running down the aisle, screaming, "I want it and you can't stop me!"

Reba's cheeks turned bright red as a few other customers in the store stared at the scene before them. Reba tried to make it look like she was in control of things, but no one knew better than her and Henry that she was most certainly not.

Reba awoke the next morning to the alarm clock going off. The beeping sound, so dreaded by the sleeper, echoing off the dark walls. She shoved Brock awake so that he could turn it off before it woke Esme.

He reached over and hit the snooze button a few times before pulling the blanket over his head. Reba heard Esme stir in her bassinet and prayed she stayed asleep.

It wasn't yet light out, but Reba could hear the light rain hitting the roof outside. Soon, she would know the harsh light of the kitchen downstairs. But for right now, she was warm and in her bed. She could feel Brock's hot skin from where her face lay on his shoulder.

"We should get up," She said in a half groan, half whisper.

"It's still dark out," He said in the same tone, but sat up and rubbed his eyes anyway before stumbling to he bathroom and switching on the light. Reba squinted as she stood and followed him.

His upper body was in the shower, turning it on. She lovingly touched his back as she passed to brush her teeth. As she finished, Brock came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her neck. He hadn't touched her like that since Esme was born. It was certainly welcome.

"Are you still upset with me?" He asked quietly.

She placed her toothbrush in the holder by the sink.

"I was never upset with you." She placed her hands over his.

"You seemed pretty upset yesterday."

"I was. Just not at you."

Brock ran his hands up her body. "Then who were you upset with?"

She shook her head. "It doesn't matter. It would just start a fight."

Brock gently twirled her around to face him. "Was it Henry?"

Reba looked at him, biting her lip and nodding slowly.

Brock touched her neck where he had kissed her. "What did he do? You can tell me. I won't get mad."

She sighed. "He made a big deal out of me not buying him Froot Loops yesterday. Then when I went to get frozen strawberries for the pie for Jake's bake sale, I noticed he wasn't with me."

"Where was he?"

"In the cereal aisle. With a box of opened Froot Loops, stuffing them in his pockets. I told him that he was stealing, but he didn't seem to care. He ran off and I had to chase him."

"I'll talk to him-"

"No, Brock. It needs to be more than talk. Punish him."

"Okay. I'll handle it." He kissed her forehead. "Don't worry about it."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now, I gotta get in the shower or I'm gonna be late."

She nodded and he began to undress.

"Hey, don't forget about that insurance physical at six."

"Alright." She stepped out of the bathroom to let him shower.

The reason he scheduled an insurance physical made sense to Reba. Brock felt that since Esme was so young and he wasn't, they needed to change their policy to cover her. That meant new physicals.

So that day, Reba ran on the treadmill in the garage. She wanted to at least feel good about herself, even if she didn't look good.

That evening, they both went in for their physicals and were told that the results would be mailed out within the week.

At bedtime, the first thing that Reba asked Brock when they got under the covers was if he had talked to Henry.

"Not yet."

"Brock! I asked you to this morning and you said you would."

"I know. I'm sorry. I was busy with work stuff when I got home. Then we had the physicals. It slipped my mind."

"Do I have to hover over you to make sure you do it?"

"No. I'll do it, okay? Give me a break, Reba. I have a headache. Let's just go to bed. I'll talk to Henry tomorrow."

"Fine. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

They both turned away from each other and had trouble sleeping the rest of the night.

Thank you so much for all the reviews! Keep 'em coming! (: