It was the second week of December and Roland was playing upstairs in his bedroom with LEGOs. It was a quiet afternoon in the Hood-Mills home. Roland was all done with his homework and his mommy Regina said he could play quietly while she worked on dinner. That was fine with him. He wanted to play with Henry but Henry had his door shut. Roland didn't really like it when Henry shut his door, but his dad told him sometimes Henry needed privacy just like sometimes daddy and Regina needed privacy. Roland didn't need privacy. He needed someone to play with. He wanted to go outside and play but it was nearing sunset and the temperature had dropped. It was that time of year. His father got home usually around six in the evening which was long after the sun went down during this time of year. So here Roland was playing Robin Hood with his LEGOs all alone. It was much better when they all played together, but he had a big enough imagination. Emma had given him the LEGO set for his fifth birthday. That was a wonderful day, he thought. All his friends from school came. They had beanie weenies because that was Roland's favorite dish. They also had cake and ice cream and a clown. Never had he been so happy. He had his dad and he had Henry and his mommy Regina. He never knew much about is mommy Lydia. His dad often told him stories about her, showed him pictures of them together when he was a baby, but he didn't quite understand. He knew he didn't have both a mommy and a daddy like other kids in his class and while that made him sad sometimes, he was overall happy with just him and his dad. That was until one fateful night at soccer practice.
It was an unusually windy evening for soccer practice. None of the usual baby sitters could keep Roland so Robin was forced to bring his young son along. Sometimes Robin worried about keeping Roland occupied while he tried to help coach the youth soccer team. One of the players, Henry, had taken a liking to the young boy. He was actually the one who gave Roland the idea to collect the errant soccer balls around the field during practice. Henry was down at the goal practicing goal kicks and had missed a few shots going over the top of the goal. He was working really hard at not having so much air under the ball, but the wind wasn't helping. He sent a ball flying over to the side and called out to the little boy trailing far behind the assistant coach just in time for it to miss him. Roland paused and turned to see the ball fly right past his head. Henry freaked for a moment, fearing the ball had hit the little boy. He ran over to him to make sure he was okay.
"Hey, you're Roland, right? Robin's kid?" The little boy looked up shyly at Henry.
"Yeah, that's my dad!"
"Cool. Did the ball hit you?"
Roland shook his head, "Nope. Was it supposed to?" Henry chuckled. The little kid clearly had no idea what soccer was.
"No, it wasn't. It would hurt if it did. I have an idea. You wanna help out?" Roland shook his head yes so fast Henry feared it would fall off. "How about you go collect the balls from around the track? Then we can set them up over here and practice with them?" Roland shook his head again and took off for the balls that Henry had overshot. A few minutes later Roland collected the balls and brought them over to where Henry was.
"Now what?"
"Now we kick!" Both boys took turns kicking soccer balls towards the goal. Sometimes Roland would have to go chase one, but that was alright. It beat following his dad around. They kicked the balls around for a little while longer before the head coach, Will, called the boys in to end practice. Roland scurried right behind Henry. After a quick huddle all the boys scattered towards the bleachers looking for their parents. Henry lagged behind a little, his mom wasn't there yet. She didn't always make it to practice but sometimes Emma would come. Tonight though, he had to wait for Regina to show up.
"Aren't you going to go find your dad?" The little boy asked Henry. Henry paused for a moment, not quite sure how to address the question to a young child. It was a question he had to deal with ever since he started school and it never got any easier to answer.
"No, I'm gonna wait for my mom. My dad is in Heaven." Henry watched the young boy's face furrow.
"Is he in Heaven like my mommy? Do you think they are friends in Heaven?" Henry let out a small chuckle. He ruffled Roland's hair.
"Yeah kid, they're both in Heaven having a good time. My name's Henry, what's yours?"
"I'm Roland," said the little boy, letting out a giggle. Henry grabbed one of the soccer balls, placed it on the field and kicked it around with Roland until he saw his mother approach the fence and wave her hand at him.
"Okay Roland, my mom's here. I have to go now," Henry stopped the soccer ball and kicked it back over towards the other balls.
"Okay. Hey Henry?"
"Yeah Roland?"
"Do you think your mommy could be my mommy too?" Henry paused for a moment, thinking. He knew his mom had recently started dating, with encouragement from his Aunt Mary-Margaret. He hadn't considered playing matchmaker himself. Perhaps that wasn't a bad idea at all.
"I don't know Roland. We'll have to be sneaky about it, okay? I'll think of something," and with that Henry picked up his duffel bag and ran over to where his mother waiting by the fence.
Roland was getting bored with his LEGOs and a little bit hungry. Today's afternoon snack had been apples with peanut butter and slices of cheese. With the afternoon spent playing LEGOs all that food had been burned up. With one last 'hiyah' from the LEGO figurines, Roland abandoned his toys on the floor of his room in search of another adventure. He wandered into the hallway in hopes of finding Henry's room door open. It was still shut. Roland headed the other way down the hall, towards Regina's office. Sometimes when Regina was working in her office, she would let Roland sit on the floor underneath her desk to color or to make paper airplanes. He decided his next adventure would be into Regina's office to get paper for paper airplanes. The door was shut, but that didn't deter his efforts. He pushed the door open and frowned. There were bed-sheets covering the furniture and all the pictures and paintings Regina had placed on the wall were sitting on the floor. He thought Regina liked the macaroni picture of the sun. She even said so. She brought a frame and everything and here it was sitting on the floor. He started crying just a little. He left the room, his adventure to find paper for paper planes forgotten. He went back down the hall and opened Henry's door. Henry was laying down on the bed, headphones on and a comic book in hand. He was supposed to be doing homework.
"Henry. Hennnnryyyy," Roland whined. Henry pulled his headphones off and sat up on the bed.
"Roland, you're supposed to knock!"
"I know, I'm sorry," Roland was so worked up the tears that welled in his eyes were now starting to fall. Henry put his comic book down and approached the small boy.
"Hey Ro, what's wrong?"
"Mommy took down all the pictures."
"What pictures?"
"The pictures in the office. Come look." Roland pulled Henry by the hand towards the office.
"Roland you know you're not supposed to go in there without mom," scolded Henry.
"I know, but I needed paper for airplanes!" Roland replied as he pushed the door open to show Henry how Regina had taken all the photos down.
"Oh Ro, they're gonna paint. Mommy didn't want your pictures to get messed up. See?" Henry picked up the paint can.
"Why is she painting? Can we paint? Why won't she let us do arts and crafts with her?"
"Um, because this is her office. It's not arts and crafts. Do you wanna go and see if dinner is ready?" Henry turned to head out of the office and down the hall.
"I guess so. What if she's not done? She calls us for dinner. I'm bored Henry," Roland whined as he followed Henry down the hall. Both boys entered the kitchen. The empty kitchen. The crockpot was on and whatever Regina had used to prepare dinner was either in the sink or the dishwasher. She liked to clean while she cooked.
"Mom!" Henry called out. No answer. "Stay right here Roland, I'll go check outside."
"Ohhh kay." Roland looked down at his feet before sulking over to the kitchen table, pulled out a chair and sat down. Henry went to the front door and pulled it open. The sight before his eyes was the moment he had been waiting for since the weather had turned last week. It was snowing. After being stunned for a few moments he refocused his efforts to locate his mom. There she was, out in the yard, with Robin. Robin had Regina in his arms. He spun her around a couple of times before placing her back down and kissing her. Henry was a little grossed out, but he thought it sweet. He stared for a few moments more before calling out to the couple.
"Hey mom! Robin! We've been looking for you!" Robin and Regina turned to look at Henry standing on the porch. They both smiled and chuckled before walking over to him.
"Oh, sorry Henry. I'm afraid I convinced your mom to come outside and enjoy the first snowfall with me."
"That's alright, we were just worried. Especially Roland."
"Well, where is he?"
"He's inside, sulking. He saw where you'd taken all the pictures down in your office. He thought you didn't like them anymore."
"Oh, poor Roland. Why don't you go get him and both of you put on coats, gloves and hats and come play in the snow with us?" Regina suggested to Henry. Henry turned to re-enter the house.
"Hey Ro! Come on! They're outside! It's snowing!"
"Really? It is?"
"Yeah! Now come on! Hurry up!"
"Hennnnry! Wait for me!" Roland ran to join Henry in the foyer. Henry was almost done putting on his winter outer wear by the time Roland came. He finished dressing and then helped Roland. Finally both boys were dressed and ready to head outside. Henry pulled open the front door and allowed Roland to pass before him. Roland's eyes lit up at the sight of snow. His mouth dropped open to try to catch the still falling flakes.
"Boys! Come on out! We're building a snowman!"
"Come help us!" The two boys looked at each other for a moment before tearing down the stairs and heading towards their parents who had already placed the base for the snowman they were building and were already working on another section. Roland tried to scoop up as much snow as he could in his little hands before walking over to the snowman and dropping it on to the snowball Robin and Regina were working on. Not a whole lot of snow made it onto the ball, but that was alright. Robin and Regina rolled the second section they were working on around the yard a little bit before lifting it on top of the base. Henry was already working on the head portion and brought it over to his parents. Robin placed the head on top. The family of four took a step back to admire their work.
"Now it needs decorations!" Roland announced. Everyone laughed.
"Well, I suppose it does. Why don't we go back in the house and see what we can find?" Regina suggested. They all walked back towards the house. They stopped just outside the front door to knock off as much snow as they could before stepping inside to the foyer. Regina started taking off layers before following Roland into the kitchen.
"What kind of decorations were you thinking of, Ro?"
"Um, we need a carrot for the nose. And a hat! And a scarf! And we need stuff for a eyes, a mouth and buttons! Do we have some of that stuff?" Regina looked down at Roland for a moment while she thought about the requested items.
"Well, we do have carrots that we can use and a scarf. I don't really have any hats. Why don't we call Aunt Mare? Hmmm? She likes to wear hats," Regina suggested as she picked up the phone. It wasn't a long phone call before she turned to speak to Roland. "Auntie Mare says they'll be here shortly. Now, why don't we sit down and eat dinner? I made beef vegetable stew." The boys sat down at the table while Robin carried over the crockpot to the table and Regina retrieved bowls from the cabinet and spoons from the drawer.
"So, how was everyone's day? Did you two boys have a good day at school?" Regina asked as she spooned out stew into bowls and passed them around the table. Roland nodded his head yes as Regina set the bowl down in front of him. "Let's use our words, okay Roland? Did you finish up your homework?"
"Uh-huh. And then I went to play with Henry, but he shut his door for privacy. Then I went to the office for paper. And you tooked all the pictures off the wall." Regina paused in her serving of stew, not sure how to remedy Roland's hurt feelings. Robin and Regina still weren't sure how to inform their two boys that they were going to be big brothers. She was feeling anxious about the pregnancy and so to ease her mind, she thought remodeling her office would be the best place to start. To help her accept that she was pregnant and that this pregnancy would make it to term.
"Well Roland, you know you're not supposed to go in there unless mommy goes with you. She has important things in there," Robin reminded Roland.
"But I'm always careful!"
"Yes you are, but those are really special things in there and I don't want to take any chances, okay? And we're just redoing the office. I thought a nice change of color on the wall was needed."
"But why can't I help?"
"Because it's special paint. It's not like the paint at school, okay? Next time you get someone to help you okay? Now, no more questions about Regina's office. We need to finish dinner before Mary-Margaret gets here, okay?" Robin chimed in. He could tell Regina was getting a little flustered. Roland nodded his head and started in on his stew. The rest of dinner went relatively quiet. Regina offered seconds. She was still a bit hungry but didn't want to appear greedy. No one else wanted any so she asked them to clear off the table while she spooned out a little more stew.
"Hey mom, can we watch some tv while we wait for Mary-Margaret to get here?"
"Yeah sure. You boys are all done with your homework, right?"
"Yeah! We're all done!" Regina gave a nod of her head and the two boys ran to the den to settle themselves for a bit of tv time. Robin came to stand behind Regina and placed his hands on her shoulders while she finished off the last two bites of stew.
"We really need to discuss when we're going to tell them. We can't remodel your office too much without tipping them off. You can't keep Roland out of there for nine months." Regina sighed.
"I know, I know. It's just, this doesn't seem real. I just want to do little things, like painting the office walls. Maybe buy a stuff animal here and there. I mean, I know I'm pregnant. I know there's a tiny little person growing inside of me, but I'm also worried."
"Regina, I know you're worried, but you don't have to be. I'm here, share some of that with me. Tell me, why exactly are you worried?"
"Robin, you know why. I'm terribly freaked out that I'll lose the baby. I wanna wait 'til the next appointment. I'll let myself have hope then. I don't wanna jinx anything. I don't want to risk losing all of this," Regina sniffled a little bit. While her morning sickness had eased up, her emotional sensitivity didn't seem to be letting up anytime soon. Robin pulled the chair out next to her, sat down and took her hands in his.
"Okay, I think I understand. You're afraid. I will be brave for both of us. We can wait until the next appointment before we tell them." Robin rubbed her hands.
"Hey, why don't we tell them at Christmas? Why don't we tell everyone at Christmas?"
"What? Are you serious?"
"Yeah! It'll be great! We can get multiple ultrasound photos and put them in frames and give them as gifts. Just for our closest friends and the boys. What do you think of that?" Robin pursed his lips for a moment, considering her offer before he responded.
"Uh yeah, yeah, that sounds great." Regina pulled her hands from Robin's.
"You don't like my idea?"
"Well, it's okay. Won't it take away from the Christmas celebration? Can we do it before or maybe after? Can't we tell the boys first?" Regina smirked at Robin.
"You really wanna tell them first? Can we trust them to keep it a secret until we're ready to tell everyone else?" Robin bit his lower lip and nodded. Regina let out another sigh. "Okay."
"Okay?"
"Okay," Regina nodded. Robin pulled Regina onto her feet so they could join the boys in the den. She was a little nervous. She felt a little caught off guard and unprepared and that made her a little antsy. She liked to be prepared, especially for such a big announcement as she was about to make. They walked into the den and shut the tv off.
"Boys, can we talk to you for a minute?" Robin started off. Henry and Roland sat up from the floor to look at their parents.
Ding dong
Regina sighed and looked at Robin.
"I supposed that's Mary-Margaret and David." Regina stepped towards the door and Robin followed. Regina leaned in to whisper to Robin, "Saved by the bell. I don't think I'm quite ready yet to tell the boys," she finished off as the door swung open to reveal the Nolans.
"Tell the boys what?" Mary-Margaret asked as she stepped inside and held up a bag filled with what Regina assumed were the requested decorations.
"Yeah, tell us what?" Henry asked as he walked up behind Robin and Regina.
"Oh, that you might not make it in time with the decorations," Regina eyed Mary-Margaret cautiously, a warning of sorts to not pursue the current conversation.
"Right, it is a school night after all. We won't be able to stay long." Mary-Margaret stepped further into the foyer to allow David and Neal inside. "Hey David, why don't all of you boys head outside and finish the snowman? I think I smell Regina's beef stew and I would love some. Come on, Regina let's go have some stew." David cocked his head and nodded.
"Ok, let me get my coat on. Henry, Roland, put on your coats and let's go outside."
Once the front door shut, Regina turned to give Mary-Margaret a hug. They stood like that for a moment before Mary-Margaret realized Regina was crying. Mary-Margaret pulled back to look at her friend.
"Hey, Regina, what's going on? Did we interrupt something?" Regina wiped her eyes and headed into the kitchen. Mary-Margaret followed.
"We, we were about to tell the boys about the baby."
"Well, that's great! Isn't it? Why are you upset about that?"
"Well, I'm not, but, it's just…I don't know. I'm still afraid something bad might happen. I don't want to get their hopes up about having a little brother or sister and then I lose the baby. I don't know how to tell Robin. I've told him I want to wait until the second appointment in a few weeks, but he's so excited. What am I supposed to do?" Mary-Margaret nodded her head in understanding and pulled Regina into another hug.
"He may be excited but if this is a real concern of yours Regina, you have to help him understand. Maybe he thinks this is just nerves. Maybe this is something you guys can talk about after you put the boys to bed. Right now, why don't we go outside and help decorate the snowman?" Regina nodded her head and followed Mary-Margaret back to the foyer and dressed in coat, hat and gloves. Mary-Margaret opened the door and pulled Regina out onto the porch. It was a sight to see their boys engaged in a snowball fight, the first casualty apparently the snowman. Mary-Margaret let out a soft chuckle. Regina shook her head. They both pulled out their cellphones and snapped a couple of photos before jogging down the steps to join in on the fun. For a few moments Regina let herself relax and enjoy the happiness that life was giving her.