Reba's voice caught in her throat and she paled as what her daughter had just said sank in.
"You… What?" Reba asked, finally finding her voice.
"I saw you with dad."
"But… But… No," Reba argued, clutching her heart.
"Reba!" Barbara Jean moved to support her.
"No. You can't. You… No one was home. How could? No." Reba held out a hand to calm her lover.
"I saw you," Kyra repeated.
"You have to understand," Reba began, fearing her daughter would hate Brock, "your father's not to blame."
"Who said I was blaming just him?"
"Hey! Don't blame the victim!" Barbara Jean exclaimed. "They say that's why more don't come forward!"
"Victim?" Kyra asked, confused. "You must have heard a different story, Barbara Jean. Mom was hardly a victim."
"No," the blonde argued. "You don't know the full story!"
"Stop," Reba said, tears welling up in her eyes. "I… I don't want her to know."
"Don't want me to know what? That you and dad are back together? Or that you're a big slut?" Kyra asked angrily.
"She is your mother!" Barbara Jean yelled. "You don't talk to her like that!"
"She is, Barbara Jean! You didn't see them!"
"No, you didn't see them! You didn't see wha-"
"No! I said I don't want her to know!"
"So you would rather have her disrespect you because she doesn't have all the facts?"
"Don't want me to know what?" Kyra demanded.
"If that's what it takes," Reba said, talking to the blonde. "I don't want her to know."
"Know what?"
"Your father and mother didn't have sex yesterday."
"Barbara Jean! Stop!"
"What do you mean?" Kyra asked.
"Stop, Kyra! Don't listen!"
"He nearly raped her."
"Wh- What?" Kyra stuttered, shocked.
"Barbara Jean!"
"He did, Reba. I saw it. I heard you crying. I sat beside you as you cried yourself to sleep."
"Mom, I-" Tears welled up in Kyra's eyes as she hugged her crying mother. "I'm so sorry. I had no idea."
Reba shook her head in an attempt to banish her tears and hugged her daughter tightly. "Kyra, there was no way you could have known. It's okay."
"It's not!"
Both redheads looked over, shocked at the outburst, to see a crying Barbara Jean.
"Why do you pretend it's okay, Reba? You know it's not. If I hadn't showed up…" Barbara Jean shook her head, unable to finish the thought. She crossed and sat on the other side of Reba and took her hand. "You don't have to pretend to be tough and say it's okay. It's okay to hurt. You can be angry, you can be hurt. Just let it out, Re-"
Kyra interrupted Barbara Jean, '"Mom, did he hurt you? So help me, if he hurt you, mom…"
"Whoa, everybody calm down," Reba said, taking charge as she always did in times of high emotion. "Kyra, don't be angry with your father, he di-"
"He hurt you, mom! How can I not be angry?"
"Kyra! Listen to me. From what you said you saw," Reba wiped her eyes of the more recent tears, "you know that I wasn't sayin' no the whole time. So, when I started saying no, he didn't believe it. Your father is not a monster, you know that. He may have hurt me a lot in the past, but I don't believe that he would ever physically hurt me. If I can forgive him, so can you. I promise you, I am okay."
"Mom, that's what you claimed all day of Cheyenne and Van's second wedding. And you weren't okay then."
"This is different. That wasn't something I could monitor, this is. I am promising you, Kyra, I am okay."
Kyra nodded reluctantly.
"And Barbara Jean," Reba said, turning to the woman on her other side, "I am not pretending. I wasn't okay. But you fixed that. When God closes a door, he opens a window. The whole thing with Brock opened up this door with you. So, yes, yesterday was bad, but it meant that we stopped pretending. It means that you're moving in and that we can have a real relationship. God answered every one of my prayers that I had asked of him during the separation."
"What did you ask for, Reba?" Barbara Jean asked, like a little kid asking what happens next in a bedtime story.
"I asked," Reba said, kissing Barbara Jean's hand, "for love. I asked to be happy again. And God answered my prayers with you. It took a while, and my prayers were set on the back burner for a few years. But He didn't forget them. After all these years, He sent me you."
"So, you two are together, then?" Kyra asked. Reba smiled, still looking at Barbara Jean, and nodded. "Together in that Van's agent kind-of-way?"
Reba laughed and hugged Kyra close again. "We're a couple, Kyra."
Kyra looked at the pair with raised eyebrows. "I seem to recall you making a huge deal out of Van saying that you were 'Super Gay.' You just didn't want to be pushed out of the closet?"
"Oh, stop!" Reba said, swatting Kyra's leg.
"I remember that!" Barbara Jean said, with a start. "You did make a huge deal out of it. If you like women, why didn't you go?"
Reba shook her head. "Well, I would have. She just wasn't the woman I had in mind, though. She seemed nice, but all as I got ready for my 'date,' I kept thinking of this blonde goofball. Then, when I was talking to her, I saw said goofball standing outside and I just couldn't go through with it."
Barbara Jean's face took on an expression that clearly read 'Awwwww!!!'
"Get a room," Kyra muttered.
"Well, you see, we had. But someone didn't knock when trying to steal earrings from me- by the way, don't do that! Then I can't find them when I want them-, effectively killing the moment."
Kyra shuddered. "This is a bit much for one day. I don't need to see my mother nearly having sex twice in two days. In fact, I don't need to see it ever. I'm just gonna get those earrings and go out with my friends."
"Kyra! You put my earrings back when you're done with them!" Reba yelled after her daughter.
Kyra came back into her room and hugged her mother. "I'm really sorry, mom. And I'm really glad you're okay. I love you."
Reba hugged her daughter, surprised at the turn of events. "I love you, too, baby," she said as her daughter walked out of the room again.
"That went better that I thought it would," Barbara Jean said, leaning her head on Reba's shoulder.
Reba nodded, still staring after Kyra.
"Well," Barbara Jean began, "maybe we should finish moving me in?"
"You know what? I have all this energy now. Let's get more boxes from your apartment. Then we can buy some new sheets while we're out. I want something that says that we both sleep in that room."
Barbara Jean nodded, surprised. "I'd like that!"
"But," Reba said, taking a deep breath. "I want to get a shower first."
Barbara Jean nodded that she understood. "How about you do that and I'll pick up some more boxes and I'll pick you up here after so we can get sheets?"
"Sounds perfect, honey."
Barbara Jean kissed Reba gently on the lips and squeezed her hand in a comforting way. "Forty-five minutes?" Reba nodded in response.
Forty-five minutes later exactly, Barbara Jean entered the Hart household and walked upstairs.
"What are you doing?"
Reba was sitting cross-legged on the floor, a towel on her wet head and a fresh bathrobe on, scissors in hand. Feathers were scattered all over the room and three sheets had already been cut and shredded.
"I want a fresh start!" Reba said, tearing into the comforter, tears running down her cheeks. "I… I never bought new sheets after Brock left. The room just… Reeked of him. I couldn't…"
Barbara Jean knelt beside the redhead and hugged her. "It's okay," she whispered. "We can get rid of these. We're gonna get new sheets, a new comforter, new pillows, everything. Come on. Get dressed. And these?" Barbara Jean gestured to the torn blankets, "we'll burn. Okay?"
Reba nodded and accepted the taller woman's assistance in standing.
Reba got changed quickly and the couple went out and bought everything Barbara Jean had promised.
After putting the new sheets on the bed, Reba collapsed into the bed, exhausted.
"Goodnight, Reba-roo-roo," Barbara Jean said, climbing into bed beside the redhead. Reba rolled closer and encircled the blonde's arms around her waist.
"Goodnight, beary-babs," Reba breathed, falling asleep almost instantly.
Barbara Jean smiled and hugged Reba tighter as she, too, fell asleep.
"Hey, Kyra," Brock said, entering the Hart household though the back door. "Where's your mom?"
Kyra scowled despite what her mother had asked of her. "Why?"
"I want to talk to her, Kyra. Now, do you know where she is or not?"
Kyra paused, torn between kicking him out while yelling at him and telling him where her mother was.
The latter won out.
"She's in bed," Kyra said, smiling.
"Okay, thanks, honey. I'm going to go talk to her." He started to walk away but turned around. "If you hear yelling, it's okay. Me and your mom just have to straighten something out."
Kyra nodded. She finished pouring her cereal and walked to the foot of the stairs as her father bounded up. She leaned on the railing, a spoonful raised to her mouth, waiting.
"Oh my God!"
Kyra smiled and ate a spoonful of cereal and began walking back to the kitchen to sit at the table and finish her breakfast.