"Jack, I'm home." Rose called as she came through the door the next Friday afternoon. "Sorry I'm late. Rehearsal ran a little long."
"That's alright, honey. You're just in time." Jack told her, hurrying over and kissing her before slipping on his boots and opening the door back up.
"I'm going to get Cora and her friends from school." He told her then. "Fabri took an extra shift at the factory today. Keep an eye on Mr. Sulker would ya?"
"I will." Rose sighed, shutting the door after Jack left before unbuttoning her coat and hanging it up by the entryway.
"Thomas Ryan..." She called then, walking down the hallway to the second bedroom.
"Leave me be." Came the muffled reply from behind the door.
"Don't you give me that. Open the door. You need to get out." Rose demanded, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Are you mad?" Tommy answered. "I can't be seen like this!"
"Tommy..." Rose sighed. "You're only twelve weeks along. No one can tell."
"Even so." Tommy growled back.
"Fine." Rose threw her arms up in surrender. "If you wanna waste away in that bedroom then that's your own business. I just thought maybe you were stronger than this."
"Feckin' red headed women..." Tommy growled as the doorknob started to turn. "Always gotta get what they want..."
Rose smiled triumphantly when Tommy opened the door and stepped out.
"There. Are ye' happy now?" Tommy muttered.
"Very." Rose nodded, taking one of his hands and leading him down the hall.
"Where are we goin?" He asked, rubbing his puffy red eyes with the hand Rose wasn't currently attached to.
"We're going to get you some fresh air." Rose replied, opening the door up. "I need to go to the market and buy some things for dinner tonight and you're coming with me."
"The hell I am." Tommy protested, pulling back.
"The hell you are!" Rose fired back, yanking him forward and out the door. She could be very persuasive when she needed to be.
...
"Here we are guys." Jack smiled as he led the little group behind him to the front door of their apartment.
"Mr. Jack? Is this where you live?" Little Caleb asked.
"Sure is." Jack nodded, opening up the door and letting them all inside. "And I'm a lucky guy, I tell ya. Couldn't have done it without the missus."
"Do we get to meet Mrs. Jack too?" Lilly asked as the children all stepped into the house, looking around in wonder at everything.
"Uh huh." Jack replied with a smile, still swinging Cora's hand in his as the came through the door together. "She'll be home in a little while."
"I bet she's pretty." Jenny said with a smile, twirling around in a little circle and making her dress flow around her.
"She is." Cora confirmed with a smile, letting go of Jack's hand to join her friends.
"That's right." Jack added, digging a cigarette out of his pocket. "The most beautiful woman I've ever had the pleasure of looking at."
"That's romantic, Mr. Jack." Jenny cooed in awe.
Jack chuckled a little. "Well thanks, Jenny. And uh, you kids can just call me Jack." He told them all.
"Okay, Jack." Finn agreed with a nod, plopping down on the couch with the rest of the kids, who all giggled and chatted together over various innocent things.
Jack smiled and went to the kitchen for a quick drink. He was so relieved that Cora had friends, and good ones at that.
It was high time that she started having a happy life again.
...
"I love your friends, darling." Rose smiled at Cora later that night while she tucked her in.
The other children were all asleep in their blankets around the carpet in Cora's bedroom, a few of them snoring softly.
"Me too." Cora yawned sweetly, her little eyes half closed.
Rose smiled and stroked her curly hair, placing a kiss on the top of her little forehead.
"I love you too, honey." She whispered to her.
Cora smiled back at her. "I love you too...Mama." She told Rose.
Rose's eyes watered with tears and she kissed her sweet girl again, leaning down to hug her tightly.
"I love you too my angel." She told Cora.
Cora's little arms came to wrap around her tightly in a warm hug and Rose kissed a sweet little pudgy hand.
She hadn't birthed Cora, nor has she fed and burped her or changed her diapers or rocked her to sleep at night while she cried with colic.
But even so, she felt that Cora was her precious child, and that she was indeed her mother, without a hint of doubt.
...
"I write a'letter to Mama!" Fabrizio exclaimed happily to Jack as the men all lounged in the living room when Rose finally tip toes out of Cora's bedroom. "I tell her we are having a bambino! Prega il Signore! We are so blessed!"
"I guess blessed means somethin' different to us both." Tommy muttered, sulking back in his chair.
"Destino, Mi amore, why are you still so sad? We are incinta! You should be a'happy." Fabrizio said, more softly, taking one of Tommy's hands and holding it gently in his own.
"Leave him be, Fabri." Jack told his best friend. "He's still in shock."
"No, Fabri, you go on." Rose objected. "He needs to perk up a little anyway. I'm sick of him loafing around in his sorrow all the time."
"No one asked you, Rosie." Tommy growled at her.
"You should know by now that I don't care if I'm asked or not." Rose grinned back sassily, walking past him and snatching a hidden cigarette from his shirt pocket.
It seemed that Cora wasn't the only one who needed to be babysat for the time being.
TBC