Chapter Four
"So, you really thought it was a dream, then?" Brock asked the moment he and Reba were alone again. It was a few hours later. Van and Cheyenne were upstairs getting themselves and Elizabeth ready for a day at the lunch at the mall and going to see a movie. Kyra had plans with her band members, and Jake was going to try to beat up the girl down the road who liked him. Everyone had already made a bet that he would lose.
"Yeah, I did," Reba admitted sheepishly, wiping down the counters. Throwing the dish clothe in the sink she added, "I would have been immediately glad that it wasn't, but it came as a shock. Plus I couldn't just act happy in front of Van and Cheyenne."
"Yeah, if you were pleasant in the morning, they'd know something was wrong with you" Brock teased. Reba shot him what would have been a glare if she wasn't smiling.
"So, you wanna go somewhere today, hang out, get something to eat later?" Brock asked.
Reba bit her lip. "I…are you sure that's a good idea, to really be open about our…relationship, if that's what you call it?"
"What are you afraid of?" Brock frowned.
"Brock, what is the matter with you?"
He was taken aback. "Huh?"
"Don't you see – this is exactly what you always do. You get separated, next thing you know you're with someone new."
"But you aren't someone new, you're…you're my new-past girlfriend." He stated decidedly.
Reba couldn't stifle the giggle. She laughed and put her one hand on Brock's face, kissing his cheek. "That's sweet Brock…I'm your new-past girlfriend. It has a ring to it."
He put his arms around her and sighed. "I wouldn't have left you…I really wouldn't have. I just wish I'd kept you when I had the chance." Suddenly he held her at arms length and looked her in the eye.
"Reba, I'm not gonna make you do something you think is a mistake. But if you can give me just one last chance, if you can find it in your heart to give us another try…I wouldn't waste it. And I'm not ashamed to say that I do love you, Reba. I always have, I always will. If I have to tell you that every day, that's what I'll do, but I won't let go. You said it yourself: We're still together somehow. Whether the world sees it as right or wrong is up to them – I don't care what anyone thinks. Only you."
Reba couldn't hold back these tears of joy if her life depended on it. She closed her eyes and fell into his chest, silently crying. She felt his fingers wipe away the tears on her cheeks and smiled.
After a minute of holding her, Brock picked her up around the waist and set her on the kitchen island. Beaming up at her he asked, "So, do we have a lunch date?"
Reba started laughing. "All that romantic talk for a lunch date?" she teased.
"I wasn't talking about just one lunch date. I'm expecting to have you for every breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the rest of your life," he smiled, kissing her. "And be punctual about it."
She kissed him back, then broke away to say, "All right, sounds good."
He laughed as he sat next to her on the island. "So…there's still the issue of the kids…how should we bring this up?"
"After counseling." Reba said simply. "As much as I'm not looking forward to it, it should bring out plenty of good results."
"I just hope Barbara Jean will take the news that I want a divorce okay," Brock sighed. "It'll be hard on her, I hate to do it."
"Were you hammered last night – I told you that Barbara Jean was filing for divorce!" she reminded him. "I'm more worried about how she'll take…us. Boy, makes me wish we just had the kids to worry about."
It was Brocks turn to remind Reba of a certain detail ."Were you in the room when said I loved you in front of Barbara Jean? And everyone knows you never got over me."
"And how's that?" Reba snorted. "Brock I could be an actress after this charade of 'moved on and over it'." She held quotes around her head.
"Yeah, you were pretty good," Brock admitted. "Except that wasn't acting –that was flirting with a really mean sense of humor."
"Oh, get real, Brock." Reba gave him what she thought was a small push. But she didn't know her own strength, and he toppled to the floor just as Kyra walked in the back door with her band.
"BROCK!" Reba gasped and quickly jumped down from the counter. But he was laughing, and soon she was as well. After taking in the violent scene, Kyra and her band joined in.
Reba and Brock held their stomachs as they stood up and greeted the band. "Hi – sorry about that, we just..!" But they were overcome by giggles again and had to clutch the island for support.
"Dude, your parents are awesome. My mom never has the guts to push him off high places," a boy with choppy Emo-hair and skinny jeans praised Kyra.
"Yeah…it's great," Kyra, who was still smiling, said, "So, Mom, practicing for when your both on a cliff? Advice: Don't try to catch him when that time comes. It might defeat the purpose."
"Okay!" Reba managed through gasps.
"Okay…what say we go to Petes house for lunch?" Kyra muttered, and the band nodded in agreement. Soon Brock and Reba were alone again, but –
"Mom, Dad? What's wrong?" it was Cheyenne, come from upstairs and holding a very hyper Elizabeth. Reba and Brock were starting to calm down.
Their daughter, however, took one look at their breathless state and mussed up hair and clothes and mistook what they meant.
"Were you guys making out?" she freaked.
"No!" the two immediately sobered up.
"Then what's with-?"
"I pushed your Dad off the counter." Reba explained. They looked at each other and started laughing again. As if anyone would believe that if they hadn't seen it.
Cheyenne just stood there, watching them for a moment, lips forming a small "O", eyes looking down and flicking back and forth horizontally. Finally she looked back at her laughing parents, tried to say something, shook her head, and left. She was calling "Van! We're moving! Don't ask, just find your pants and lets live at the mall!"
When Van and Cheyenne left and they were finally alone, Brock asked Reba, "So, you ready? I, for one, am starving."
"Just give me a few minutes, Come on up, I'm not afraid to let you watch me put on a bit of make up and do my hair."
Brock followed her upstairs, but shook her head as she started to put on make up. She didn't have a single flaw, and he loved her hair just the way it was. It was rather curly today, not flipped out. Before she could turn on a curling iron, he put his hand over hers.
"Don't – it looks fine. It reminds me of the curls in that big hair you used to have," he begged.
Reba laughed as she remembered that hair. She'd always kept up with the best styles.
"All right. Can I at least spray it?" she asked.
He shook his head. "No, if you do I can't run my fingers through it as well." Reba smiled and nodded, then leaned forward to finish her make up.
Reba and Brock decided to walk downtown for lunch, and held hands the whole way. They were smiling the whole way, and never stopped.
After their lunch date they were walking home when they happened to pass Jake at his friends house.
Jake's friend, Bethany, looked up from burying him in her little brothers sandbox and saw them. "Jake, is that your mom with your dad?"
Jake sighed. He really was getting annoyed, because he really thought that he had this girl pinned until she flipped him over and started burying him. "I don't know, Beth, I'm stuck."
"Okay I'll describe.," Bethany squinted. "The girl has red curly hair, the boy has an orange tan –"
"Yeah, that's them. Why, are they coming over here?"
"No, they're going into your house. And holding hands…and she just kissed him, or did he kiss her?"
"WHAT?" Jake broke free of the sand. The little girl glared at him as she watched the sand slide off of him.
"JAKE YOU BUTTHEAD, THAT TOOK ME FOREVER! YOU LAY BACK DOWN BEFORE I KISS YOU!" she yelled. Frightened, Jake slapped back down on the sand. Bethany was actually disappointed; she didn't want him to lay back down.
Back at home, Reba and Brock were cuddling on the couch. "Thanks for lunch, Brock. That was a lot of fun."
"No problem, thanks for coming. So you don't mind being seen publicly with me?"
"…Under one condition," Reba said after a moment of thought.
"What's that?" Brock asked, puzzled.
"You have to promise that we don't tell the kids anything that's going on until we've talked to the counselor more."
Brock hesitated. "That seems fair. And right."
"Goody, I'm glad." She leaned in, pulling him in by then neck with her hand. She kissed the other side of his neck, then moved to his lips.
The door burst open. There was a scream and Brock and Reba broke apart.
"…and impossible." Brock continued his earlier statement.
"Cheyenne, what are you doing here so early?" Reba began to blush. Cheyenne was still holding the doorknob for support.
"Well, we came back to get a shirt Van wants to return – never mind that, though!" she slammed the door and folded her arms across her chest. "What are you two doing?"
"Cuddling," Reba smiled innocently, snuggling closer to Brock but still smiling sheepishly at her daughter.
"Wait – you're having an affair!" Cheyenne yelled. "Dad, you're cheating on Barbara Jean!"
"She was filing for divorce before we started kissing," Brock defended.
"Wait – you're getting a divorce, why?"
"Sit down, Cheyenne," Brock sighed. After a pause while Cheyenne decided whether she should listen or not, she chose the former, and sat in an armchair.
"Look, Reba, BJ and I were all at the counseling session yesterday when I said I…still love Reba," Brock began. "Last night Reba told me she felt the same way. It's starting to work itself out- I made a misinterpretation of love. Barbara Jean and I got married for the wrong reasons, and now we're trying to fix what was broken up."
"But…it was starting to work! It really was!" Cheyenne had tears in her eyes. "Do you know how bad you hurt Mom, Dad?"
"Cheyenne-" Reba protested, but Cheyenne cut her off.
"No, Mom! Did you tell him?" Cheyenne was on her feet. "Did you tell him that you woke up screaming for the next month? Did you tell him that when you said you were in the bathroom you were sitting in there crying? Does he know that you spent hours staring at his picture and begging God to give him back to you? Guess Dad was just too busy fixing mistakes that never worked out anyway!" she screamed.
"Cheyenne!" Now Reba was on her feet. "You think I forgot about that? You think that praying stopped? No, it didn't! And you know what, maybe I was just too busy to tell you why I wasn't screaming in my sleep anymore."
Cheyenne stared at her mother. "Why?" she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Because there's no such thing as an unanswered prayer. And somehow, God helped me realize that I would always have Brock, and that if he wanted another chance, I better give it to him. Because he's not just a memory. And he's a good man. And I respect him for leaving me for someone who needed him a bit more than I did then. Barbara Jean was pregnant, and he wasn't gonna let him down. Even if it didn't do me any good at the time, he did the right thing. It hurt – God, it hurt – but we've both grown and changed, and I'm not scared to try again."
Cheyenne, whose tears were flooding freely now, nodded. "I'm sorry, Mom. I don't fully…understand…but you deserve to be happy."
Soon both were crying and hugging. Brock, who was gaping at the scene unfolding, shook his head, tears welling up in his eyes. He never knew that Reba had spent so much time in agony over him. She'd never shown it, and soon he was holding both of them in his arms.
"But Dad," Cheyenne broke apart from them to look her father right in the eye. "You can't do what you did last time. You really owe her that."
"I know." Brock nodded.
"So, when were you planning to tell everyone?" she asked, wiping her cheeks.
"After the counseling session with Barbara Jean. We figured we'd have more answers as to what to do. Do you think that's wise?" Reba asked. She really did care what her daughter thought – even pregnant, she had been there when Reba had needed her. But more than anything, she wished they could all just forget what a mess she had been inside after the divorce.
"Yeah, it's wise. I'm pretty sure Kyra already knows something's up. She's pretty smart. The little nerd," Cheyenne added under her breath.
At the moment, Van was climbing out the car. He had been waiting the whole time, and was getting worried. Elizabeth had fallen asleep, so he pulled her out, and had just shut her door when he heard, "Van!"
He turned and saw Jake, covered in sand, walking up the driveway, wide eyed.
"Oh, did she beat you up and bury you again?" Van said sympathetically.
"Yeah – and she saw something that should be on Unsolved Mysteries," Jake babbled.
"That human skull again?" Van asked excitedly.
"No, Mom and Dad kissing!"
Vans eyes bugged out. "Do not joke, Jake. Did you see it, too?"
"Just for about five seconds, she shoved me back into sand."
"They kissed for five seconds?" Van was about to drop Elizabeth.
"Well, more – I was in the sand when they started, and apparently back when they stopped."
"I'm gonna have a talk with that woman!" Van and Jake hurried up the front porch.
Inside, Reba chuckled. "So, I guess the only ones in the dark now are Van and Jake and Elizabeth."
The door flew open, and Van and Jake started at the cuddling exes, a crying and smiling Cheyenne, then at each other. In unison, both boys mouthed, "What the heck?"