"Whoa," Hannah and Cara said in unison.
"Joel you spoke," Brock said amazed. Joel simply nodded his head shyly.
"Uh guys let's give them a minute alone here," Reba said looking at the girls and Terry. Reba got up and motioned for them to go into the kitchen. Once the kids began moving Reba slowly followed. She secretly wanted to hear what Brock and Joel were going to say to each other.
"Why don't you want to go Joel?" Brock asked walking over to Joel. Joel simply pointed to Reba. "Because of her?" Brock asked. Reba had just reached the doorway and looked back.
"Me?" Reba questioned slightly confused. Joel ran over to her and wrapped his little arms around Reba giving her a hug. Reba was stunned at first but then her heart began to melt. Reba hugged the small boy back.
"I like her Daddy. She's nice to me." Reba looked down at Joel as tears began to well up in her eyes. "Don't cry Miss Reba. Being nice is a good thing." Reba laighed through her tears and blinked them away. Joel smiled and let go of her when he saw she stopped crying. "I'm going to look for the other kids."
Reba cleared her throat. "I think they're in the backyard sweetie." Joel nodded and went off on his search. Reba wiped a stray tear that had escaped and let out a sigh. She slowly turned around to look at Brock's reaction when she felt his lips gently crash down upon hers. Reba was caught off gaurd then felt herself giving into Brock's kiss. It was only a gentle kiss but they both felt themselves becoming lost in the moment as they wrapped their arms around each other.
"You are an angel," Brock said when they broke the kiss. Reba tried to get her breathing under control but it wasn't easy.
"How am I an angel?" She finally managed to ask when she found her voice again.
"You gave me my son back. Joel hasn't spoken in years yet he spends one night with you and he's talking. How did you do it?"
"That's the thing I'm not really quite sure how I did it," Reba said sitting on the couch. Brock sat down next to her and intertwined their fingers. "It all started with Joel and Terry playing a video game earlier. I thought it would be too scary for Joel but he told us he had played it before-"
"He spoke told you?"
Reba smiled. "No, he nodded when we asked him. Late last night Joel was still up when I was locking up the house. He couldn't sleep. The video game scared him too much. So I sat with him and rocked him while I told him a story to take his mind off of the game."
"Did he talk?"
"Only when I asked if he couldn't sleep. He simply said yeah but then looked very nervous that he talked."
"What did you do then?" Brock was hanging onto her everyword. The woman before him was a goddess. She had somehow gotten through to his son better than any therapist or counselor in less than 24 hours.
"I pretended to not hear him. I didn't want him to think I would make a big scene every time he talked."
"Did anything else happen after the story?"
Reba thought about telling Brock about the 'mommy' thing but decided that wasn't really important. Joel was half asleep when he said it so he probably didn't mean it. "Just that Joel fell asleep in my arms and I carried him upstairs to bed," Reba said with her best smile. Brock pulled Reba into a hug.
"I'm not sure at the moment what I can do to repay you for giving me my little boy back but please say you'll come to dinner with us. It would bring me so much joy to repay even in the littlest ways." Reba agreeed and everyone got into Brock's truck. Dayna, Megan, and Cara sat in the third row while Hannah, Terry and Joel sat in the middle row. Hannah was turned around throughout the whole ride talking with the other girls. Terry was showing Joel a magic trick and Reba and Brock sat in uncomfortable silent.
"Looks like we have a little..." Reba could heard Brock was saying something but her mind began to wander.
"...and it really is sweet..." Great now her mind was thinking about that kiss. After all these years and Brock's kiss shook her world and it was only a gentle kiss.
"...if we did, we wouldn't have enough room in the car. Right?"
'What is he talking about? Is he talking about having a family together? His car is barely big enough for all of us now.' Reba thought quickly. Who was she kidding her mind was still stuck on that kiss. "I'm sorry Brock. I was thinking of something else. What were you saying?"
Brock smiled at her honesty. "I was saying that it looks like we have almost a little family and if we took the kids to the mall we could let the girls shop by themselves. Then it would be just us and the boys. We could always do something with them. It is really sweet at how well they get along together. But if your girls are anything like mine, they'd buy so many clothes that we wouldn't have any room in the car." Reba smiled. How could have let her mind get ahead of her like that.
Brock smiled back at her. She was so beautiful but some how he had a feeling that she didn't realize it. "So what were you thinking of?" Brock asked as he parked his truck. Reba glanced to the back at the kids.
"I'll tell you later," She said with a gesture towards the kids. Brock smile spread further across his face and Reba laughed. She playfully slapped his chest. "You're bad." Reba got out of the truck. The girls were already getting out of Hannah's door.
"Hey remember I'm just a guy." Brock walked over to Reba's side of the truck and helped her get Joel and Terry out. The boys ran to catch up with their sisters. Reba shut the side door and began walking too.
"Hey Reba," Brock said just loud enough for only her to hear. Reba slowly turned around and looked at him. Brock walked closer to her and gently kissed her. Reba felt her world start to spin. Brock broke and kiss and whispered, "I've been thinking about it too." Reba was breathless. Twice in one day she had receieved earth moving kisses from a man who was not her husband. Reba felt a fire being reignited somewhere within her. Brock could see something change in her eyes. She swung her purse onto her shoulder and pulled Brock close to her in a passionate kiss. The kiss deepened and the two were lost in their own world.
"Mom/Dad?" Reba and Brock quickly broke apart and stared at their kids. They were caught red handed.