As the plane landed, Roger's stomach was doing flip flops. He couldn't wait to see his wife again and meet his daughter. He got off the plane and began walking to the terminal. As he looked around, he didn't see Brenda or a little girl. It was too crowded. He continued to walk through the terminal looking for them. When the crowd parted, he saw them. Brenda's hair was shorter, but it was definitely her. He would recognize those blue eyes anywhere. He looked down at the little girl and there was no question that he was a father. She looked just like him. She held Brenda's hand tight as Brenda and Roger stared at one another. He walked towards her and tears sprang to her eyes. The closer he got the faster he walked. He couldn't believe after 5 years he was finally looking at his wife again. When he got to her he dropped his bag and started down at her. "Hi Roger. You grew your hair." she smiled as tears rolled down her face.
"Bren." he whispered taking her face in his hands and kissing her.
"I'm so sorry Roger. For everything. I shouldn't have left. I should have talked to you. Told you I was pregnant." she cried looking up at him.
"It doesn't matter Bren. We're here now." he smiled caressing her face with his thumb.
"Roger, I want you to meet Rose. Your daughter." she smiled looking down at the little girl.
"Hi sweetie." he smiled leaning down to the little girl's level.
"You're my daddy?" she asked looking up at him.
"Yeah sweetie. I'm your daddy." he smiled looking into the little girls green eyes.
"How come you don't live with us?" she asked looking up at him.
"I didn't know sweetie, but I want to live with you now, OK?" he smiled looking up at Brenda who was crying.
"Mommy, can he?" she asked looking up at Brenda.
"Why don't we get home so me and daddy can talk, OK?" she said looking down at her wiping her face.
"OK mommy." she smiled as Roger leaned down to pick up his bag before they left the airport. They didn't say anything on the whole ride back to the Brenda's apartment. Roger took turns staring at Brenda and Rose. He couldn't believe he was looking at his wife and daughter after 5 years. When they got back to the apartment Brenda took Rose out of her booster seat and they went inside.
"Bren, I don't know what to say." he said looking down at her as he put his bag down.
"Rosie sweetie, why don't you go in your room and watch Cinderella, OK?" Brenda said smiling down at her.
"But mommy, I wanna stay with you and daddy." she whined looking up at her.
"Rosie, mommy and I need to talk, but I'll be in as soon as I can to hang out with you, OK?" Roger smiled kneeling down in front of her.
"OK daddy." she smiled wrapping her arms around his neck to hug him. It was the first time they hugged and tears filled Roger's eyes. He was hugging his daughter.
"Go ahead sweetie, OK. We'll call you when we're done, OK?" Brenda smiled looking down at her.
"OK mommy." she called out before running into her room.
"Roger, I'm so sorry for the way I left." she started as he stared at Rose's room.
"Bren, we have a daughter and she's amazing." he smiled in disbelief before turning to her. Tears were rolling down his face.
"She looks just like her daddy." she smiled folding her arms across her chest.
"Bren, why didn't you tell me you were pregnant?" he asked looking down at her.
"Roger, there is so much I need to tell you. So much that you don't know about what happened back then. So much I should have told you but I don't know how." she said sitting on the couch holding back tears.
"Bren, you're my wife. You can tell me anything." he told her sitting next to her taking her hand.
"Roger, the night you were supposed to meet me at the bar, James drugged and raped me. I found out I was pregnant a few weeks after that. I was afraid the baby was gonna be his. If it was, I was gonna put her up for adoption, but as soon as she was born I knew she was your daughter. She looked just like Roger when he was born. But by that time, I was gone almost 6 months and I was afraid you would hate me for the way I left you." she told him crying as he looked at her shocked.
"Oh my God Bren, I could never hate you. What James did to you was not your fault. It was mine. I should have been there. I was supposed to be there that night, but me and Joe were in the middle of something and... I screwed up." he started as he got up and paced the living room.
"Roger, it's not your fault. I didn't tell you. I know I should have, but at first I didn't remember and then when I did, I was afraid you were gonna kill him and I didn't want you getting into trouble. And then I found out I was pregnant... I mean, we made love before we went out that night, but I was afraid she was James' baby and I couldn't tell you I was pregnant because then you'd want to keep her and if it was James' I couldn't..." she started crying more.
"Bren, It's OK. None of this is your fault. I just wish you would have trusted me to take care of you." he said kneeling in front of her.
"It's not you I didn't trust. It was me. I mean, yeah I was afraid you would kill him, but I was also afraid that even if the baby was James' you'd still want to keep her and I don't think I would have been able to raise her if she was." she said as he took her hands in his.
"But she would have been yours. That's all that would have mattered to me." he whispered looking up at her.
"Roger, I'm so sorry for everything. I screwed up pretty bad, huh?" she cried looking down into his green eyes.
"No, you didn't screw up Bren. We were just young and didn't know how to handle things. But that doesn't change the fact that we always loved each other. Bren, I wanna raise our daughter with you." he said looking up at her.
"How Roger? So much has happened..." she started looking down at her.
"Bren, I love you. I love our daughter and I just met her. Please, come home with me." he smiled bringing his hand up to brush away her tears.
"Home to the loft?" she asked beginning to smile at him.
"Yeah, home to the loft. Collins can't wait to see you." he smiled looking up at her.
"Collins? He still lives there?" she asked started to laugh.
"Not really. He lives around the corner now. But we're still friends and he still loves you too." he said looking up at her.
"I miss him so much Roger." she said looking down at him.
"Bren, you brought us together and when you left we did our best to try to take care of each other." he said looking up at her.
"I'm glad to hear that you two took care of each other after I left." she smiled looking down at her.
"Bren I said we tried our best to take care of each other. I didn't say we were successful." he said looking down at her.
"What do you mean?" she asked looking up at him confused.
"Baby, there are things I need to tell you about what happened the last 5 years." he said getting up to sit on the couch next to her.
"Roger, what ever it is, it's OK. You were entitled to have a life." she said looking over at him.
"Bren, please let me just get this out, OK? It's really important." he said looking over at her.
"OK, I'm sorry. Go ahead." she said turning to face him as he took her hands in his.
"When you left, I was a mess. I kept your pictures up for over a year. When I did finally take them down, I couldn't put them away. Then I met this girl April. I told her all about you and Roger and she helped me forget. In the process I got hooked on heroin and I contracted HIV from it. April killed herself when she found out she was positive. Collins and a couple of friends of ours, Benny and Mark helped me through withdrawal and I got clean. Then Collins found out he had HIV and he ran off to MIT. He came back and he met this guy Angel. He was so good for all of us. He reminded me of you. The way he took care of Collins and brought everyone together. I met this girl Mimi who was also positive. We dated for a while, but I was clean and she was still shooting up. She died 6 months ago. AIDS." he said looking down at her hands.
"I'm sorry Roger. Did you love her?" she asked looking up at him.
"Yeah, I did. But I told her all about you. She made me promise to look for you when she died. She knew how much I still loved you." he said looking up at him.
"Roger, I'm sorry. This is all my fault. Had I stayed and faced you, this never would have..." he started looking over at him.
"Bren, stop. You did the only thing you thought you could do at the time. We both made mistakes back then. But I want to start over with you and Rose. You and our daughter." he smiled taking her face in his hands.
"Roger, I want to go home. I want Rose to know where home is." she cried looking up at him.
"So then, we'll bring her home. To the loft." he smiled leaning in to kiss her.
"I love you so much Roger. I always have." she smiled wrapping her arms around his neck to hold him close.
"Bren, you have no idea how much I still love you." he smiled holding her tight.
"How long can you stay?" she asked looking over at him.
"As long as you need me to. I have an open ended ticket, thanks to my friend Joanne and her frequent flyer miles." he smiled leaning in to kiss her.
"I was thinking we could rent a Uhaul and drive my car up." she suggested looking up at him.
"That's a great idea Baby." he smiled looking over at her.
"Why don't you take Rosie out to lunch, so you two can get to know each other and then my friend Chelsea can watch her tonight and we can go out, just you and me. Maybe catch up." she suggested looking up at him.
"I would love that Bren. Thanks." he smiled looking down at her.
"Go in and tell her to get ready to go out and I'll be right back, OK?" she smiled starting to get up from the couch when Roger held her arm and brought her to him again.
"I love you Brenda." he smiled kissing her again. This time it was long and passionate. She missed him kissing her like that.
"I love you too Roger." she whispered smiling up at him as she gazed into his eyes.
"I can't believe we have a little girl." he smiled looking into her blue eyes.
"I know. She's something else Roger. Really. She's just like you." she laughed looking up at him.
"I can't believe how much she looks like me. It's eerie." he laughed looking at her.
"I love looking at her. I can stare at her for hours." she smiled sitting back.
"You did a great job Bren. She's incredible." he smiled caressing her face.
"Why don't you go to her room, OK?" she smiled looking towards the little girl's room.
"OK Baby." he smiled before getting up and going to his daughter's room. As he stood in his little girls doorway, he stared at her watching the television. She was so beautiful. After a couple of minutes he cleared his throat to get her attention.
"Hi daddy. Did you and mommy talk to each other?" she asked looking up at him.
"Yeah my sweet girl. We talked. Mommy came up with a great idea. How would you like to go out to lunch? Just you and me?" he asked walking over to sit on the foot of her bed.
"What about mommy?" she asked looking up at him.
"Me and mommy are gonna go out to dinner later while you're at mommy's friend Chelsea's house." he smiled looking down at her.
"Daddy, are you gonna live with me and mommy?" she asked kneeling up next to him.
"How would you like to live with me and mommy in New York?" he asked looking down at her.
"Me and mommy are moving to New York?" she asked smiling up at him.
"If you want. Me and mommy want you to see where me and mommy used to live before you were born." he smiled looking down at her.
"Mommy told me about it. She said it's really big." she smiled looking up at him.
"Yeah, and I have a lot of friends there who are gonna love you. They love you already and I only told them about you yesterday." he smiled putting his arms around her.
"I wanna meet your friends daddy." she smiled leaning up to hug him.
"OK my sweet girl. Why don't you get ready for lunch and we can talk more, OK?" he suggested before kissing her head.
"OK daddy." she smiled leaning over to kiss his cheek. "I love you daddy." she smiled hugging him again.
"I love you too my beautiful little girl." he smiled hugging her tight as Brenda listened from the hallway.