"Sweetie, are you gonna be OK?" Mrs. Davis asked as Roger and Gina stood on the porch of the Davis home staring at the Darrien house down the block.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I need to do this. There's no one else." Gina said looking over at her.
"It's gonna be OK Baby, I promise. I'm gonna be right there." Roger said putting his arm around her shoulder.
"I know." she said looking up at him reaching up to hold his hand tight. "Let's get this over with." she said still looking at the house.
"OK Baby." he said as they began walking towards the house.
"It's been such a long time since I've been here." she said unlocking the door.
"I know Baby. A lot happened in this house." he said looking around as they entered.
"I remember that day after school after you asked me out. Me and my mom stood right over there and I begged her to let me go out with you." she smiled looking up at him as they looked over by the stairs.
"I remember you coming down those stairs the night of the prom. You looked so gorgeous. I couldn't think." he said smiling at her.
"I remember running up those stairs crying the night you broke up with me." she said looking down.
"I'm sorry Baby. That was the stupidest thing I ever did." he said taking her in his arms.
"I know Roger. Forget it. It's ancient history." she said looking up at him. "I should get started." she said looking around the house she grew up in. There were memories of everywhere.
"Gina, do you remember this?" he asked taking out a stack of pictures of them, the first one was from Gina's sweet 16.
"You were so cute." she smiled looking at the picture.
"Were?" he asked looking down at her.
"Well you still are, but you were exceptionally cute that night. You kept telling me how beautiful I was that night." she laughed putting her arms around his waist.
"That night you took my breath away." he smiled looking through the pictures.
"I remember we slow danced all night. It drove them crazy." she smiled looking up at him.
"I didn't care. All I wanted was to be close to you." he said wrapping his arms around her and holding her close.
"God, I can't believe they're really gone." she said looking around with tears in her eyes.
"I know Baby." he whispered kissing her head.
"We fought constantly in this house. They treated me like I was some stupid kid. They didn't trust that we were in love and that it was real." she said starting to cry.
"Gina, it's OK. Look at us. We're together and everything they did to keep us apart didn't work. We're married and we have the most beautiful little girl. They couldn't stop us no matter how hard they tried." he said looking down at her.
"But Roger, we lost so much because of them. And they're never gonna know how much more we're gonna lose." she said looking up at him. Her blue eyes had tears in them and she was so sad. He hated to see her this way, but he was glad she wasn't bottling everything up.
"But we gained so much despite them Gina. We have each other, we have Gina and we have a family that we could never have had if they hadn't broken us up back then." he explained caressing her hair.
"I never thought of that Roger." she said wiping her eyes.
"We have an amazing family Gina and we owe it to them." he smiled caressing her face.
"How do you do that?" she asked looking up at him.
"Do what?" he asked playing with her hair.
"Find the good in what they did." she said looking into his green eyes.
"Gina, you can't tell me that we'd have everything we have unless they broke us up all those years ago." he said caressing her face.
"I know, I just wish it wasn't gonna cost us so much." she said as tears filled her eyes again.
"We can't think like that. We've gained a lot because of it." he said smiling at her.
"Yeah we have. I love you Roger." she said leaning up to kiss him.
"I love you too Gina. Do you wanna go back to my moms and we can do this some other time?" he asked looking into her bright blue eyes.
"No, I need to do this Roger." she said wiping her eyes again.
"OK Baby." he smiled as he put the pictures down on the table behind him and held her closer to him for a minute. As they went through the house, they put things in boxes and sorted out whatever they wanted to keep and whatever they wanted to give to good will.
"Roger, have you ever thought about us living here?" Gina asked looking up at him.
"What do you mean?" he asked taken off guard.
"I don't know, I mean we were just gonna sell the house, right?" she asked getting up off of the floor.
"Yeah?" he asked looking up at her.
"Well, I was thinking, what if we move here? I mean, we'd be closer to your mother and we have 5 bedrooms plus the finished basement. Mimi and Mark could move in with us with the baby and we have room for Collins too and Maureen and Joanne could stay with us when they come to New York. It would be better for the kids than growing up in the city." she said sitting next to him. By the look in her eyes he could tell she was serious.
"Don't you think we should talk to Lynda, Collins, Mark and Mimi first?" he asked taking her hand.
"Well of course we'll talk to everyone first. But it would be perfect. We liked growing up here. Why shouldn't the kids grow up here too?" she asked smiling at him.
"But what about all the bad memories?" he asked caressing her face.
"Roger, we can make new memories. Good memories. What do you say?" she asked smiling at him.
"Baby, I think it's a great idea, but we really should talk to everyone first." he smiled as she threw her arms around his neck to hug him.
"OK Baby." she said kissing him.
"Are you two serious? Us all live in your parents old house together?" Mark asked as him, Mimi and Collins stared at Roger and Gina in disbelief.
"Yeah, why not? God knows it's big enough." Gina laughed as Collins and Mark just looked at each other.
"You wanna move everyone with you to your parents house?" Mimi asked trying to clarify what they were saying.
"Technically Mimi, it's my house, but yeah. I wanna move everyone up to Loudenville to live in the house. I think it's just a waste to sell it. It's so big and we've been wanting to get the kids out of the city for years now. Why not?" Gina asked leaning forward.
"It would be a safer environment for the kids to grow up in." Collins said looking over at them.
"And we all live together here. Why not in the house in Loudenville?" Gina asked as Roger took her hand.
"But move out of the loft? The city?" Mark asked getting up pacing the room.
"Mark, it's not like me and Gina are going and leaving you guys behind. We want you guys to come with us." he said looking up at him.
"I know, but Roger you left Loudenville. Now you wanna move back?" he asked looking down at him.
"I was 18 years old Mark. That was a long time ago. Now we both have kids. Don't we want to do what's best for them? Going to Loudenville is what's best for them. We'd have my mom right down the block and they could go to good schools. It makes sense." he said getting up off of the couch.
"He's right Baby. It would be better for the kids. And having Mrs. Davis so close would be good for them too." Mimi said smiling at him.
"What do you think Collins?" Mark asked looking down at him.
"I wanna do it Mark. I don't want to die in the city." he said looking up at him.
"But Collins, what about your job, what about all the memories we have here?" he asked looking down at him.
"I can get a job up there and I wanna get away from the memories I have here. I've been living with them too long." he said looking up at him.
"OK, it looks like we're moving to Loudenville." Mark said as Mimi jumped up and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Baby, this is gonna be so great. Roger and Lynda are gonna have a yard and a pool and he's gonna go to the best schools. I can't believe we're moving to a house." she yelled excitedly as Roger smiled down at Gina with is arms around her.
"We have to tell Lynda now." Gina said looking up at Roger.
"She'll be fine with it. She loves being at my moms." he said looking down at her.
"I hope you're right." she said as he pulled her closer to him kissing her head.
"And what about my friends? School?" Lynda asked looking up at them as she sat on the couch in the loft.
"You can make new friends in your new school. Sweetie, it's a great opportunity for you and Roger. Plus we'll be right down the block from grandma and you'll be in my old room." Gina said smiling at her.
"But I like my room here. And I like my friends here. Why do we have to move up there? I thought you guys hated it there? That's why you ran away." she asked looking up at them.
"We were young and stupid Lynda. We just want you and Roger to grow up in a safe environment and Loudenville is safe." Roger said looking down at her.
"But what about Aunt Maureen, Aunt Joanne and Uncle Collins?" she asked looking up at them.
"Uncle Collins is moving with us and we're gonna have someplace where Aunt Maureen and Aunt Joanne could stay when they come to New York to visit. It'll be fine. We're not leaving everyone." Gina said leaning over to her.
"How does Uncle Mark feel about it? He can't be happy." she asked looking up at him.
"He knows it's what's best for you and Roger. He loves you two. He'll do anything for you guys." he said looking over at her.
"OK dad. I guess if Uncle Mark can sacrifice for us, then I can sacrifice for Roger. It'll be cool to have a pool to invite my new friends over for parties during the summer." She said smiling at him.
"That's my girl." he smiled wrapping his arms around her.
"Plus, it'll be fun to have Uncle Collins living with us." she smiled hugging him.
"Yeah, it won't be dull." Gina laughed smiling at them.
"Oh yeah. Maybe he'll get a job at your school." Roger laughed looking over at her.
"That would be really cool." she said smiling over at them.