Chapter Thirty-Six: With All Your Hopes Gone
Brooke smiled down at her latest child, Bailey, singing softly in a desperate attempt to get the child back to sleep. The two of the other younger ones were already asleep, and Devon and Hayden were being occupied by a nanny (the latest in a long string of nannies). As soon as she got finnicky Bailey to sleep, she planned on going to her ensuite bathroom and soaking in a bahtub until Lucas got home. She surpressed the groan of frustration that rose to her lips as the front door slammed open. She had been looking forward to an afternoon by herself-they were few and far between. As if, as she sometimes thought to herself, he was over compensating for something.
Lifting her daughter onto her hip and smiling slightly when she realized that the girl had grown and could now lift up her head, she ran downstairs as Lucas began to call for them. She shushed him in annoyance before reaching the bottom of the stairs, but upon the site that greeted her her mouth dropped open in shock and no more sound passed through her lips.
"What is that?"she demanded after a short pause, looking in amazement at the grin on his still youthful face.
"It's a dog. Springer spaniel, to be accurate. Like it?"
Brooke smiled reluctantly, and handed Bailey off to Lucas before crouching down to run her hand through the small dog's fur. "You bought a dog."
"It's our anniversary tomorrow. And you were just saying last week that..."He stopped when he saw that she was smiling. "Do you like it?"
Her dimples flashed again, and he felt relief at seeing her smile, the carefree one that he'd seen so many times before and always relished the sight of. "Yeah. I love it. DEV! HAYDEN! GET DOWN HERE!"she called excitedly.
"Where are the others?"he asked, bouncing Bailey on his hip with ease. Brooke smiled, still occasionally surprised at what a capable parent he'd become. How'd he'd done all of it with her, learning new things every step of the way, never faulting in his duty or his desire to be their father first and foremost. Brooke's smiled deepened as nine year old Devon and eight year old Hayden ran down the stairs. Devon, in a perfect yet altered copy of his father, was preppy, reasonably well groomed and blonde, and would clearly be a beautiful jock when he grew older, playing a sport like football or lacrosse with tennis on the side, and dating cheerleaders and the homecoming queen. Hayden was younger but almost as tall and fulfilled the rebel personna: dark hair carefully jelled into spikes in the morning, baggy jeans, and a smile so like his mother's that it often detracted from the bad guy image he aspired to. He looked nothing like his father, and Brooke was glad so often that he'd come after Devon and not before. Devon's birth had solved so much.
"You got us a dog?"asked Hayden in excitement, leaping down thelast three steps. Lucas smiled at them and mouthed "you" to Brooke, knowing she'd know what he meant.
"Yeah. His name is Finn, and he's just a few months old,"explained Lucas, as the two boys crouched down to the same height as the dog. The nanny, a nervous looking brunette girl who always seemed nervous to be embroiled in the lives of the infamous Scott and constnatly desiring not to be Heli MacDonald, follwed reluctantly.
"Jenna," said Lucas, remembering her name just in time, "Why don't you take the boys out for a walk?"
She smiled and ushered the boys silently toward the closet.
After they had gone, Lucas turned back to his wife and wrapped a hand around her waist to pull her in closer.
"I can't wait for tomorrow,"he whispered into her ear.
"I can," said Brooke's concsience, tugging guilitly at her. She manufactured a smile. "Me neither, it's going to be great."
She eagerly twirled out of his embrace when the doorbell rang.
"That must be Haley. I promised her we'd take Jamie today," she called over her shoulder. Lucas raised his eyebrows.
"Funny, I thought Jamie had parents of her own," he said, referring as to how often Brooke and Haley had relieved Jake and Ryan of their child in the past weeks they'd been together.
"Funny boy. They deserve it."
Brooke opened the door to discover that it was only a courier, wanting her to sign a package. She promptly did so and handed it off to her husband, recognizing at once that it was from Nathan or someone else at the office.
He dropped it on the table and bounced Bailey on his hip again as she rifled through the rest of the letters: a bill, a magazine subscription, a posctard from a society friend who was on "vacation" in Switzerland. Only the bottom letter was a personal one, adressed to her husband in a vaguely familiar script.
"I have to look at these. Here," he said briefly, handing Bailey back to Brooke. She watched him go, knowing that he meant to indicate her that he was going to look at the package. But the letter was on top, and clearly the only thing on his mind. Including her. Including their ten year anniversary. Ten years. 520 weeks. 3650 days. 5, 256, 000 minutes.
Not that she'd been counting or anything.
The boys returend with Finn the Springer Spaniel, who was assigned a corner of the family room and promplty fell asleep. Zoë and Connor woke up, were instructed to stay away from it and spent the entire evening running over to check whether or not he was still asleep.
Brooke cooked for her six children, her frustration growing throughout the entire evening as Lucas didn't stir from his office. After she and the nanny had between them gotten all of her children to sleep, she realized, unoquivocally, that she had had enough.
Glancing down at the form fitting knit sweater and blue jeans she was wearing, she wondered if it was the appropriate minute to ask the question that could result in one of the first make or break moments of their marriage in years. But glancing toward his closed door and feeling a fresh wave of hurt wash over her, she knew she couldn't wait any more moments.
He looked up in surprise and smiled on reflex before his annoyance had time to set in. He was happy to see her, he always had been.
"Hey..."
Her eyes ran over his blonde hair, his blue eyes.
"Tell me, Lucas," she said simply, her own eyes boring into his.