Chapter 26

Brock was in completely shock when he saw his mother at the front door. Reba hadn't really spoken to her since the wedding. Brock had a little bit. He couldn't completely shut his mother out of his life but their calls were always short, to the point, and very cold. And even the last time Brock had talked with her on the phone was about a month ago. That phone call had been a little weird, a little different; she might be trying to make amends. She had wanted to talk with Reba but Reba refused to speak with her. Plus the fact that Liz usually called when she was visiting added to the shock to see her just show up at their door.

"Well aren't you going to invite me in?" Liz asked calmly, breaking his thoughts.

Brock immediately stepped aside and allowed his mother walk through the doorway, dragging a suitcase with her. "I apologize for not calling first but it was sort of spontaneous thing." Liz gave a smile and then turned to see Reba sitting on the couch. She glanced at the redhead's swollen stomach and grinned. "Reba…" she said rushing over to her daughter-in-law.

Reba immediately put protective hands over her belly. She was shocked when Liz sat down next to her and did the unthinkable! Liz HUGGED her! This was certainly new. Reba didn't even know how to react. Liz never really hugged her before…ever. The woman just didn't like to be close to people. That's why when this scary smiling woman sat down next to her and wrapped her arms around Reba…she hadn't a clue what to do.

"Reba…how are you honey?" Liz asked sweetly. "How is the baby?" She placed a gentle hand on her stomach but then instantly pulled away the moment she touched. "Oh…I'm sorry is it okay if I touch your stomach?"

Reba was still a little tongue tied. She moved her lips and was able to get one small word out, "Ss…su…sure." She managed. Liz grinned and put her hand back on Reba's stomach. Reba supposed she was trying to feel the baby kick but the little girl inside of her had been taking a nap for a while. "I…uh…I think she is asleep." Reba said, feeling a little weird with Liz being so nice.

Liz eyes beamed. "It's a girl?" Reba nodded and her eyes bugged out when Liz hugged her again. "This is wonderful. Another little girl will be a nice addition to this family." She finally let Reba breath and gave the shocked redhead a smile. "So…have you two thought of any names?" Liz glanced at Reba briefly before turning her head to Brock who was still standing at the door, unsure of how to take in this scene. "Well have you?" she asked again, still looking at her son.

Brock snapped out of his coma of sorts when he realized his mother was speaking to him. He shook his head as he walked over to the chair next to the couch. "Uh…no…we haven't yet. We just found out it was a girl today."

"Oh." Liz said, a bit of surprise on her face. "Well, we will just have to make a list out now won't we…well not we but I can give you a few ideas if you don't mind but of course, in the end, you and Reba…" she said turning back to Reba, "…will be making the final choice." Liz smiled and sat back against the couch next to Reba and smiled at both of them. "So…how have you been? It has been a while since we were all here…chatting."

"We're fine Mom…" Brock said raising an eyebrow at Reba who shrugged. "How are you?"

"I'm good, haven't been feeling too well but I'm good. How are the kids? Where are they?"

Brock smiled a little bit to his mother. "Their good, Kyra and Jake are at school. They won't be home until this afternoon but Cheyenne should be back with Elizabeth from daycare soon."

Liz grinned. "Oh good!" she said happily. "I haven't seen little Lizzie in a while. I saw her briefly at the wedding but that was all."

Reba didn't say it out loud but she could have sworn when the wedding was mentioned she detected a hint of sadness in Liz's eyes. Reba felt a little guilty for having Liz kicked out of the wedding but the way she was acting…it was inexcusable and she knew they were angry at her. So why was she here? Was she still trying to work with some sort of angle? Reba would act nice, accept that Liz wasn't trying anything and the moment she let her guard down the woman would strike? Reba didn't know.

When Liz acted this nice to her the last time she had told her Brock was still in love with her. Not that it wasn't true, according to Brock he did say that but he didn't need Reba to know that since they had been getting along a lot better he didn't want to screw up the new "relationship" they had developed. They were married, which Liz didn't approve of. Maybe she was here to break them up? Or try to? Which of course would never happen. But here she was, acting like the nicest woman. What was wrong with her?

"So…do you want us to help you get set up in Kyra's room, you can stay in there and Kyra can sleep on the air mattress on the floor?" Reba asked, finally managing to find full sentences in her voice.

Liz smiled. "Oh aren't you sweet. Yes, that would lovely. In fact I am a little tired after my trip. I would love to lie down for a bit."

Reba nodded and gave Liz her best forced smile. "Sure, I'll show ya." Reba moved to get up but Liz stopped her.

"No, no, honey, you stay here. I am sure Brock can help me with my luggage. You shouldn't be on your feet too much." Liz patted Reba's arm and then moved to get up herself. "Come on son. Let's go."

Brock immediately got up to help his mother with her bags. He glanced at Reba who was sitting on the couch rubbing her belly and unsure of really what the hell was going on. "I'll be right back down okay?"

Reba nodded and knew that was code for 'we will talk when I get back'. Reba watched as they walked up the stairs and out of sight. She immediately moved to the edge of the couch, placed her hands on the coffee table, and used it as leverage in order to push her behind up in the air and be able to stand up on her own. This was the easiest maneuver she had figured out to do in order to stand up when Brock wasn't around to help her. Reba got up for a reason…to pace.

She didn't know why she was so concerned with Liz being here but it didn't seem right. Something was not right with that woman and she needed to figure it out. She heard footsteps on the stairs about five minutes later and looked up to see Brock walking down.

"She's unpacking a few things at the moment but then she is going to lie down for a nap." Reba nodded and then motioned for Brock to follow her. They walked outside onto the porch and Reba, feeling her ankles starting to ache, sat down on the bench. "Why did we come out here?" Brock questioned as he sat down next to her.

"Your mother has very good hearing. I don't want her listening in while we talk. Now…" Reba took a breath before blurting out, "What the hell is she doing here?"

Brock shrugged. "I don't know. She didn't say anything upstairs. I asked if everything was all right and she just smiled and said everything was perfectly fine but I know something is wrong."

"I think she is up to something." Reba said tapping her thumb against her chin.

"What do you mean she is up to something?"

"I don't know! I just…I don't know. With what happened at the wedding I thought she would never come around here again. You always talked about how cold and short your conversations with her were."

"Did you ever think maybe she wants to be here for the new baby? She wants to make amends so we don't shut her out of her new grandchild's life?"

Reba rolled her eyes. "Oh please I wouldn't do that." Her eyes then widened. "Ah-ha! I know what she is up to!"

"What?"

"She was very eager to touch my stomach. What if she not only came here to check up on the baby but to steal it?"

Brock looked at Reba like she was crazy. Where in the world does get this? "What?"

Reba nodded. "Yeah, what if…she wants my baby? What if she thinks I am unfit mother?" Brock couldn't help but laugh and wrap an arm around her shoulder. "Why are you laughing?"

"Are you listening to yourself? Do you really think my mother would take away our child? Be serious here."

"I know but I'm just trying to think of something as to why she would just show up!"

"Like I said…" Brock said calmly moving his other hand to her back and massaging her shoulders which he knew she loved. "She is probably here to make amends. I am sure you and she are never going to be buddies but can you at least be civil for the baby's sake?"

Reba sighed. "Of course I will. I don't understand why she suddenly has shown up here but I will most definitely be the perfect respecting wife." Reba rolled her eyes in disgust at that.

Brock laughed and kissed the side of her head. "That's all I ask."

"Hmhmm…can you go lower?" she asked closing her eyes, enjoying the small back massage she got from her husband. Brock smirked as he slipped his hands down. "Not that low!" Her eyes immediately popping open.

"Oops…sorry hand slipped." He said with a smirk moving his hands to her lower back. Reba just rolled her eyes and enjoyed the nice relaxing moment with her husband because she had a feeling it was going to be the last one for quite a while.

-

The rest of the family made it home shortly after Liz's arrival. The kids were shocked to hear their grandma was upstairs sleeping but yet still happy to see her. Liz came down when she heard the noise and began catching up with everyone. Reba watched her and there was nothing out of the ordinary when she interacted with her grandchildren. Of course she had already been nice to them. She brought them their gifts and as far as Reba could see, nothing out of the ordinary with them yet.

They all sat around in the kitchen getting ready for dinner. Reba blamed her niceness on the fact that she was tired but Liz was still being nice to her. She wouldn't let Reba get up. She got Reba her drink herself while she forced Brock to make her a plate so Reba could sit down. Liz's exact words were, "She does a lot around this house all day while carrying around your child inside of her. Let her rest."

"You did call her right?" Reba asked Brock as he handed her a plate of salad. Reba was asking about Barbara Jean. Brock called her to invite her over for dinner, something that wasn't unusual on a Friday evening. Barbara Jean and Henry always came over for dinner and Henry usually stayed with them for the weekend.

Brock nodded as he scooped up some salad for himself. "I called her yesterday and she said she would be here otherwise she would call if she couldn't make it."

Reba nodded and stared down at her plane salad. "Honey…" she began giving Brock a sweet smile. "Can you get me some chocolate syrup please?"

"What did the doctor say about your eating habits?"

Reba frowned. "He said not to indulge too much. It will be all right. Please." She begged giving him the puppy dog eyes.

Brock rolled his eyes and got up to go to the kitchen to get her the chocolate syrup she desperately wanted. "This will be the last indulgent for the weekend."

Reba nodded and smiled when he set the chocolate in front of her. Her eyes gleamed with excitement as she poured chocolate all over her salad.

"Ugh, Mrs. H, how am I supposed to eat when you're going to eat that?" Van was still having a hard time watching her eat. Of course the whole family was because she got most of her cravings at night when she sent Brock out to get her tacos.

"Don't like it turn away." Reba said with a smile as she brought the chocolately lettuce into her mouth. She moaned in delight.

Liz chuckled as she watched her daughter-in-law enjoy it. "You know…when I was pregnant with Brock I wanted chocolate on everything."

"Really?"

"Yes, I remember sending John D out in the middle of the night when we didn't have any for the carrots I wanted to dip in it. When he returned I made him go out again because he got the wrong one."

Reba laughed and could relate to that very well. Brock always came back with the wrong stuff and she hated to do it but she had to have what she craved and sometimes he could just tell she wanted something different so he went out anyway to get it. Reba knew Brock was trying his hardest to keep her comfortable and happy until the end and she appreciated it so much.

Reba listened as Liz went on to tell more stories about her pregnancy, Brock's childhood, embarrassing the hell out of him but it's not like they haven't heard most of all these stories before. It was still nice to hear them again.

Just as they were going to move on from salad to the chicken parmesan Brock made the front door opened and in walked Barbara Jean with Henry close on her tail. "Sorry we are late but we had to stop at…" Barbara Jean stopped herself and her eyes widened when she saw Liz sitting there at the table.

"Gramma!" Little Henry yelled in excitement. He ran over and around the table to the side where Liz was sitting and wrapped his tiny little arms as best he could around her.

"How are you doing sweetie?" Liz asked giving the small boy a kiss.

While Henry and Liz caught up Barbara Jean finally approached the table. "Sorry I'm so late." She said nervously.

"It's no problem, go get an extra chair." Brock said smiling.

"Yeah I will but first it looks like you need some salt and no matter how many times I have been here I can't remember for the life of me where the it is, Reba can you help me?" Barbara Jean asked giving a forced smile and walking towards the kitchen.

Reba rolled her eyes knowing the blonde wanted to talk. Brock immediately helped her up and she walked into the kitchen to find Barbara Jean already nervously pacing around. "Calm down girl."

"How can I calm down?" BJ whispered. "That woman hates me. What is she doing here?"

Reba shrugged. "She is just visiting. She showed up today unannounced and surprisingly she has been extremely nice all day."

Barbara Jean stopped. "Nice?" Reba nodded. "That's just a cover up." She began to pace again. "She has something else planned. I know it."

Reba couldn't help but laugh. "Look, she hasn't done anything all day. She just wants to visit. I think she feels bad about what she did at my wedding and wants to make amends and what are you mad at her for? She didn't do anything to you."

"Yet." Barbara Jean stated. "But she will because she is evil. She has powers we know not. Plus she just drives me crazy with being so critical all the time."

Reba shook her head and placed a hand on Barbara Jean to get her to stop pacing. "Look she is not going to do or say anything to make you crazy. If she does, I'll get after her, all right?"

Barbara Jean sniffled and squeezed Reba into a hug. "I'm so lucky to have a good friend like you."

Reba rolled her eyes and pushed BJ away. "Yeah, yeah. Now let's go back into the dinning room I'm hungry and I don't need your snot all over my shirt."

They walked back into the dinning room and the evening went off pretty well. Liz wasn't terrible too Barbara Jean, in fact she didn't say much to Barbara Jean at all but Reba watched as the blonde was still on edge the whole night until she left. Once she did it had gotten Reba wondering as to why Liz has been so nice this whole day. It was just eating away at the redhead so much that she decided to approach Liz about her behavior.

Liz had retired for the evening to relax in Kyra's room. Reba knocked on her daughter's bedroom door and opened it to find Liz reading a book. "Hello Reba." Liz said with a smile. "What can I do for you?"

"Well…" Reba shut the door behind her, unsure how to word what she was about to ask but just decided to blurt it out. "What is your game old lady?"

Liz's eyes widened. "What?"

"Why are you being so nice? I mean, you hated the fact that I married your son again. You always hated me. You used to insult me every chance you get! But then today you show up, unannounced, and you're nice, you hug me which really creeped me out, you helped me out around here some and you didn't even make one sarcastic remark when I even set you up about the floor!"

Liz shrugged. "The floor wasn't dirty. Why would I criticize?"

Reba could feel a headache coming on. "All right, no more games. I'm serious. What is going on?"

Liz sighed and set down her book. "This isn't easy for me." She started. "I know I've been terrible to you in the past and when Brock stood up to me at your wedding made me realize just how too far one could go. I apologize for almost ruining it. I know I haven't been the greatest mother-in-law but it was very hard to let go of my son I guess. I know he is a grown man. He's a grandfather for goodness sakes but it is very hard for me. I love my son. I want him to be happy. I know now he is completely happy with you and I feel ashamed how I have treated you in the past. I don't even understand why I even started it all. You were everything a mother could ask for her son to marry. You're beautiful, a wonderful wife, a perfect mother…I guess maybe I was a little jealous of the fact you had such this great relationship with your children and my son and even after all I put you through you were still so sweet to me." Reba was shocked. This was a side she never expected to see. "I want this new little one to know me Reba. I want to be apart of the birthdays and holidays again."

Reba smiled. "Of course your grandchild is going to know you. I wouldn't be so cruel to keep you away from her."

Liz smiled. "Thank you."

"And I guess I should apologize too. I wasn't exactly making an effort to these past few months to make you apart of this family. I was holding a grudge I guess. We're both just stubborn." Reba said with a chuckle before adding, "Maybe we're more alike than we think."

"Let's not go overboard here."

Reba laughed. "That's the Liz I know." There was a small pause between them for only about a second. "You want to have some tea with me? Maybe we can talk?"

Liz nodded and stood up. "I would like that. Let's go downstairs."

Reba and Liz walked downstairs. Reba forced Liz to sit down while she walked into the kitchen and to make the tea, her family in there finishing up the dishes. "Hello." She said cheerfully.

"How did it go?" Brock asked, somewhat afraid to know.

"It went very well. We're going to have tea." Reba said with a smile as she set the tea kettle on the burner and walked back to the living room.

Brock stood there with his mouth dropped. "I don't know if I like the idea of my mother and wife getting along so well."

Kyra shrugged and put away a clean dish just as her mother walked back in a few seconds later mumbling, "Doesn't think I know how to make tea…give me a break…" Reba began opening and slamming things around as she got stuff out for the tea she now regretted she was going to have.

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that too much Dad." Kyra said with a smirk as she watched her mother continue to mutter under her breath.

-

The next morning Reba decided to make a big breakfast for everyone. Reba, Brock, Henry and Jake were currently the only ones up the early Saturday morning which gave Reba plenty of time to relax as her son and stepson lounged on the couch for Saturday cartoons. She was somewhat happy with her tea with Liz last night. Once the woman laid her feelings out on the table and they made up, Liz went back to her old self a little bit. Reba hated to admit that a nice Liz made her uncomfortable so she was somewhat happy to have her back.

"So what did you talk about?" Brock asked.

Reba rolled her eyes. He had been trying all morning to get her to tell him. "I told you we didn't talk about much. She did a lot of talking about the baby and what I need to do to take care of myself, like I didn't know already."

"I just don't like the idea of my wife and mother getting along."

Reba chuckled and patted Brock's hand. "Don't worry. We won't be picking out matching outfits anytime soon."

"Good."

Reba shook her head and pushed the cutting board and fruit she was cutting up toward Brock. "Can you finish this while I go wake everyone up?"

"It's a Saturday Reba."

"So…I made them breakfast and it's almost nine o'clock. They don't need to stay in bed all day." Reba got up and waddled out of the kitchen. "Turn that off and go have breakfast." She said to Jake and Henry. She walked carefully up the stairs to meet her daughter Kyra at the top. "Breakfast is downstairs and is your grandma still sleeping?" Kyra nodded and walked past her mother in a slow sleepy motion. Reba knocked on Cheyenne and Van's door yelling, "Breakfast." She didn't move on until she heard a small okay from someone. She finally got to Kyra's room and gave a soft knock. She heard nothing. She knocked again and opened the door slightly, poking her head inside. "Liz…" Reba stepped, hoping the presence of a person would rouse her awake. It didn't. Reba shook her head and approached the older woman. She poked her in the shoulder a couple of times. "Liz…" she repeated. Reba's heart began to pound when the woman didn't respond. "Liz…?" Reba bit her lip and put two of her fingers to the older woman's wrist checking for a pulse. She couldn't find one.

End of Chapter