The Next Chapter - Chapter 5

Riley watched the front door, still in shock, unable to move. She sat back down on the couch with tears in her eyes. She sat wondering what in the hell just happened. She hadn't even noticed Jamie had woken up, and was crying. She went in to soothe him and as after she did, she went to the hall closet. Opening the door, her eyes immediately went down to the Victoria's Secret bag hidden behind a pair of rain boots. She brought the bag out to the couch with her, and pulled out the periwinkle blue lacy baby doll and matching thong she had gotten as a surprise for Danny. She held the outfit close to her chest as she started to cry. She tried to distract herself with some TV, but had forgotten the DVD she put on. She cried harder as she saw The Princess Bride DVD menu, this movie was her favorite for so many years, now it just reminded her of Danny. She went to bed early that night, but didn't get an ounce of sleep. She only fell asleep when she grabbed Danny's pillow, that still smelled of his cologne, and hugged it tightly to her.

It was 3 days later when she saw Danny. She saw him coming back with the mail as she was taking Jamie to the park. She dressed up in the hopes of seeing him, but he looked at her for barely a second, then turned away and went back inside. This went on until it had been a whole week since the big fight. And Riley had enough. But what could she say, she was the one who screwed up, not Danny. So when she came back from the park, instead of banging on they boys door, she just went back to her own apartment.

After putting Jamie in his playpen, Riley went into the bedroom to put away some laundry she had done. As she opened one of Danny's dresser drawers, trying not to cry, she noticed what looked like a laminated pamphlet, sticking out underneath the socks in his bottom drawer. She reached in and pulled it out to see what it was. Her heart stopped when she saw what it was, a brochure for renting lakeside houses up in the Pocono mountains, exactly what she and Danny had done for their honeymoon. Riley smiled at the piece of paper in her hands. Leave it to Danny to keep a sentimental reminder of their first trip together as a married couple. Riley took the pamphlet with her as she made her way to the bedroom closet. She reached up to the top shelf and pulled down a box, inside that box was all her scrapbooks she had made over the years, and Danny was in every single one of them. When she was a kid growing up in New Jersey, she did a lot of fun things, so she started scrap booking them with her mom. Once she knew how to do it, Riley made a scrapbook for every important event in her life, there were 2 from summer vacations, one for each year of high school, one big one for college, and finally the biggest one of all, labeled 'DW+RPW TLA'.

As she flipped through the pages, she saw all the pictures from their wedding and from all the fun times they'd had since getting married, like the time they went on a carriage ride in central park, to the time she and Danny had snuck into a movie without paying for it, but her favorite pictures of all were the ones from their honeymoon. Danny had suggested they go away for a few weeks for their honeymoon, at first Riley didn't think she could miss that much work, so she took one week off and played hookie the other week by calling in sick. They had rented this nice lake house up in the Poconos, with nothing around them for miles. They swam in the lake, Danny made BBQ Ribs, Riley's favorite, and they snuggled in front of the fireplace amongst other things. She smiled at the memories she had made up there, especially when they went nighttime skinny dipping in the lake. Those pictures she had in an unmarked envelope, hidden away.

She laid down on the floor, holding the scrapbook close to her heart, wishing she could go back to that night.

(Flashback)

"So, what do you want to do next?" Danny said looking at Riley , as they sat at what was left of their make shift picnic in front of the fireplace.

Riley couldn't even begin to answer him. After 4 days in her own version of paradise, she was completely happy to stay right where she was. These past days had been amazing, between the nature hikes, and the relaxing swims in the lake, to nights like this by the fireplace. Sure Riley had her reservations about what she thought was going to be glorified camping, but this honeymoon couldn't be farther from that. The house they rented was almost brand new, clean and beautiful, and the outdoors matched the inside, with a beautiful view and the lake right in front of their door. But the best part of this whole trip, was days of uninterrupted alone time with Danny. They could kiss, hold hands, and cuddle anytime they wanted, with no one around to say boo. And she loved that they could be as loud as they wanted to in the bedroom, and the kitchen, and the shower, and the porch swing, and pretty much anywhere else they wanted. There was one place Riley could think of that they hadn't yet … christened.

"How about we go for a nightly swim?" she suggested.

"Sounds good to me. I'll go get our bathing suits." Riley stopped him.

"Who said anything about bathing suits?" she said as she took her top off right there in the living room and then made her way out the door. Danny soon followed, as they left a trail of clothes leading up to the water. When Riley jumped in she felt the freezing cold water, everywhere. She looked around for Danny, but couldn't see him in the dark of night.

"Danny?" she called out. Oh god, she thought, this is just like all those horror movies she'd seen where the pretty girl is swimming naked, right before something comes to eat her. All of a sudden she heard a noise behind her, and turned to face her attacker. It turned out to be none other than Danny, trying to scare her half to death. He swam up to her with only the top of his head and his eyes out of the water. Riley splashed him in the face.

"That's not funny Danny! You scared me, I thought something had happened to you!" she said in a faux angry tone.

"Sorry," he said "is there anything I can do to make up for it?"

"I can think of a few things." Riley said seductively.

She grabbed Danny's face and started kissing him. He soon reciprocated and wrapped his big, strong arms around her small frame. She jumped up and wrapped her legs around his waist, wondering how she was able to do that in the water. It was then she realized that Danny had a good foot and a half on her, so while she had to do the doggy paddle just to stay afloat, he could stand no problem. She would've been so pissed, if he wasn't so good at relaxing her. She heard the sloshing of the water as she and Danny started to make love in the lake. Though the lake water was cold, she was red hot. What started in the lake, made its way back inside, and eventually back to the front of the fireplace, where it had all began. As they lay there, glistening wet bodies in the glow of the fire, Riley realized that she never wanted this to end. She then realized, it never would. If Danny was what she loved so much about this trip, then it wouldn't matter where they were, because she had Danny all for herself for the rest of their lives.

(Flashback End)

It was at that moment Riley snapped out of her little daydream, and it wasn't because the baby had started crying, it was because she finally realized what Danny had meant. She was that same girl from the lake house, the same girl that went skinny dipping at night or made love in front of a fireplace, that hadn't changed. What had changed was that she started using the baby as an excuse to stop living her life. She had to talk to Danny and tell him she was sorry. And a lot of other stuff that just popped into her mind. But first she had to make a phone call.