"Hey, there you are!" Shawna exclaimed as she wrapped her step-mother in a tight hug, once Reba had entered the baggage claim of the airport.
"Goodness you look exhausted!" She added when they pulled away, looking over Reba's pulled back hair and loose black sweats. Yawning, Reba nodded in agreement. The flight back from Vegas had been anything but energizing.
"So what do you want to do at seven thirty at night?" Shawna teased as she grabbed Reba's suitcase, which had been small enough for Reba to carry on the plane with her. The rest of her things had been put into the Colosseum storage for their next leg.
"Food!" Reba answered enthusiastically, causing Shawna to laugh.
"Good to see you have your appetite back." She noted.
"It comes and goes," Reba confessed with a shrug as she followed her daughter to the exit of Nashville International Airport. As they left, Shawna noticed a few raised eyebrows and stares from the people gawking at them, but thankfully her favorite part about Nashville was that the people here never made a scene when it came to country celebrities.
"What sounds good?" Shawna questioned, once they were safely inside her car, heading towards the exit of the parking garage.
"Sonic is on the way home," Reba mentioned guiltily in a sing-songy tone as she batted her eyelashes towards Shawna from the passenger seat.
"As long as you can keep it down, I'm all for it," Shawna said, momentarily looking over towards Reba with a grin. She couldn't help but laugh at Reba's choice to dine, no matter how rich or famous her step-mother was, nothing could beat a good ole cheeseburger from Sonic.
"I needed that!" Reba said as she grabbed her vanilla shake from the island, taking a big sip, and turning back towards Shawna who was seated next to her.
"I'm glad my little brother or sister loves junk food as much as you." Shawna giggled as she peered over toward Reba's empty plate. She was sure that was the first meal Reba had been able to keep down in weeks. She continued to watch Reba in amusement as she rearranged their take out bag and plate, snapping a photo in the process.
"What are you doing?" Shawna inquired with a smirk, causing Reba to look up from her phone.
"Documenting a good nights eat and the end of this Vegas run," Reba said as if she couldn't believe that it wasn't already obvious.
"So you're telling me you're going to post a picture of Sonic on your accounts?" Shawna asked in slight bewilderment. She didn't get on social media very often and still had yet to realize how many food related posts Reba had already made.
"And you're telling me you wouldn't?" Reba scoffed back jokingly as she swiveled around in her chair, coming to a stance. Walking a few steps over to Shawna she wrapped her in a tight hug.
"Thank you again, baby." She said as she pulled away and gave her a small peck on the cheek.
"Headed to bed?" Shawna questioned, as she too stood from her island chair.
"If I don't, I'll fall asleep face first in that leftover ketchup." Reba giggled, grabbing Shawna's hand and giving it one last squeeze. Smiling back at her, Shawna nodded in understanding.
"See you tomorrow." She said one last time before she too headed for home.
"Hey Red I'm comin in!"
"Reba?!" Kelly called out as she slowly made her way through the entryway of her mother in-law's mansion. Reba had given all the kids a spare key to the family home, and Kelly had swiped Brandon's from him in order to head over. Brandon had suggested that Kelly take Reba baby shopping in his replacement, as he had to work at the office and Savannah's upcoming tournament to configure through.
"I'm coming upstairs." She yelled again, after waiting a moment in silence. Brandon had told her to expect her arrival, not to mention that it was nearly eleven o'clock in the morning, and usually Reba was up and moving by this hour of the day. Heading to the left where Reba's master bedroom was located, she heard some rustling from the opposite end, which made her pause and turn around.
"Red?..." She said again, as she came closer to the room that she had remembered, once belonged to Shawna and Chelsea.
"Hey! What are you doing?" Kelly questioned again as she opened the door to find Reba crisscrossed on the floor, going through what appeared to be old baby clothes.
"Oh, Kell! Honey, what are you doing here?" Reba questioned a little disheveled as she quickly set the wooden box; she was shifting through, off to the side.
"Your son set up a shopping date for us, remember?" Kelly reminded with a laugh.
"Why are you shifting through the girls' old clothes?" Kelly continued to question as Reba smoothed out her navy blouse. Reba hadn't exactly gotten to the part where she had started to tell the rest of her family about the baby, but she was sure Brandon would have let it slip to Kelly, or at least she assumed he would have.
"I was going to make a quilt out of my favorite pieces." She answered honestly with a small smile. She had decided that she would compile baby clothes from all of her children and make a quilt out of it for the newest member.
"Awe, that's precious." Kelly mused as she brought her hands out of her white furry coat pockets.
"So would hate me if I stole you away for a little bit then?" Kelly asked once more, dropping their current conversation, she could already guess who the quilt was for but she wasn't sure if Brandon was supposed to have let the secret slip out or not, so she figured she'd play it safe.
"Stolen by you? How could anyone hate that?" Reba joked with a sweet laugh, as she maneuvered her way around the mess of clothes on the floor and made her way towards the exit with Kelly.
"I was thinking we could eat and then head to Hill Center," Kelly mentioned as she watched Reba grab her purse and sunglasses, following Kelly to her front door.
"Couldn't have come up with a better plan myself."
"So what exactly were you looking for?" Reba questioned as she strolled along the Hill Center's street, shops all along the side.
"We have just about everything a baby could possibly need but I wanted to find some fun things to decorate his room with," Kelly answered, taking a sip of the smoothie; she'd gotten to go, from the spot they had lunch at. She seemed to do a lot better with her morning sickness when she was up and moving.
"How about Meredith's craft's, they might have some fun letters we can decorate with and maybe even some cute wallpaper ideas?" Reba suggested as they came to the end of that street and began to turn to their right, onto the next.
"Lead the way," Kelly said with a smile as she followed in Reba's direction towards the small craft store at the end of the street.
"Good afternoon ladies." The lady at the front desk greeted, as Reba and Kelly entered the shop; the bell attached to the door chiming, announcing their presence.
"Thank you, good afternoon to you as well," Reba replied sweetly as she made her way over to the back left of the shop, where she spotted big white letters hanging along the wall.
"You could get a big R and B and decorate them with these," Reba mentioned as she pointed to the fun assortment of stickers, which sat nestled under the letters. Taking to the idea, Kelly smiled as she eyed the big lighthouse figurine next to the letters Reba had pointed out. For her second child, she opted to more of a lighthouse boat theme for his nursery, getting cute dark blue and ship type decorations. Cooing over the cowboy and cowgirl themed decorations not far from where Kelly was, Reba held one of them up for Kelly to see.
"That is so you!" Kelly laughed as she admired the little boot hat rack, Reba had in her hand.
"You could totally consider getting that for your little on-"
"Nephew." She quickly corrected herself, while biting the inside of her cheek as remembered that Pake had recently had a baby boy not that long ago and hoping that Reba would think nothing of it. Clearing her throat Reba laughed back awkwardly.
"It sure is cute." She said setting it down as she moved further down the line of items, Kelly doing the same at the opposite end. For a moment there Reba had thought that Kelly was talking about her son or daughter... Maybe she was just paranoid. After cooing and gushing over just about every weird and wonderful decoration they could find, Kelly went to the front to pay for a few items, while Reba stepped out early for some fresh air.
"You're Reba McEntire!" A middle-aged woman with tinted sunglasses called out as she stopped in her tracks in front of the shop, a small boy gripping her hand.
"That's what they call me." Reba mused sweetly as she waved to the small boy who hid behind his mother's legs shyly.
"I adore your work, my nieces and nephews watch your show almost every day." She continued on, extending her hand out for Reba to shake, in which Reba graciously accepted.
"You're so sweet to say that, thank you," Reba replied with a brilliant smile as the lady stepped back a bit, returning to the path.
"I won't take up any more of your time but it's really an honor." She said once more before jiggling her son's hand back in a goodbye and continuing on down the path.
"Who was that?" Kelly questioned just as she exited the store.
"I don't actually know, just some sweet lady who recognized me," Reba replied softly as she pushed off the wall, signifying that she was ready to continue along their journey.
"I'm pooped; would you like to head back to the house before going home?" Kelly asked once they'd looped back around, heading in the direction of the parking center.
"I'd love to," Reba said with a smile as she followed beside Kelly.
"Hey, honey..."
"And Mom?" Brandon added in surprise as he entered the living room, a Taco Bell takeout bag in hand.
"I take it girls day went well then?" He questioned as he set the bag and his keys on the island and made his way over to the table giving Kelly a side hug and small rub on the back.
"It went so good I even bought some stuff for Remington's room." Kelly smiled back as Reba nodded in agreement, taking a small sip of her tea.
"See I told you a woman would be far better than me with that kind of stuff," Brandon said with a laugh as he walked over to the fridge, retrieving a Pepsi from inside.
"You weren't wrong," Reba added back teasingly before she was interrupted by Seth racing into the room with his iPad in hand, some type of video displayed on the screen.
"Grandma, Savannah wants to talk to you on FaceTime," Seth announced as he brought the device and set in front of Reba, Savannah's face swimming into view.
"Grandma, I have to tell you all about my new lesson's with Apollo." Savannah gushed from the other end, immediately causing Reba to smile. Taking the opportunity, as Reba was occupied; Kelly dragged Brandon over into the far corner where she was sure Reba couldn't hear.
"Does she have any idea that I know about you know?" Kelly questioned seriously as she peered over at Reba and Seth who were still busy listening to Savannah.
"You know I kept meaning to tell her that I'd mentioned it to you but like taking out the trash...
"It slipped my mind," Brandon said playfully causing Kelly to smack him in the chest.
"Well, it can't slip when she's right in front of you," Kelly said evilly as she smiled through her clenched teeth. She couldn't pretend that she didn't know any longer, especially with her slip up at the shop today.
"Alright, alright," Brandon mumbled unwilling as he looked over at Reba once more before looking to Kelly who gave him an encouraging smile. His new brother or sister wasn't exactly his favorite topic at the moment; mostly because it involved still keeping it a secret from his father but he knew that the more people he got Reba to open up to about it, the sooner she might actually tell his dad.