Twists and turns 2/?
Disclaimer: Unfortunately Reba and co still doesn’t belong to me…If they did the sitcom would never end in the sixth season...
LAST CHAPTER...
He puts the paper on the table and walks towards her. He gently caresses her face and kisses her mouth before he envelops her in a hug.
“I’m not going to leave you, not ever again.” - He whispers and feels her relaxing in his arms at his words.
“Now, go back to the bedroom and gets ready because I’m going to take you out to have lunch.”
She smiles that cute little smile and kisses him before she goes back to the bedroom to change.
“We will not fight again, I promise you Reba” - He whispers to her retreating form.
The next fight happens a week later when Brock forgets their 20 year anniversary. After that the fighting never stops. They start arguing about silly things such as misplaced objects, the time the other spends in the shower, the noise they make while eating… Everything seems a good motive to argue. Brock starts staying more and more time out of the house, he spends some nights away and when he comes back he doesn’t look his wife in the eyes. They don’t talk anymore; they don’t even speak with each other except when they are fighting. The kids try to spend as much time as they can out of the house.
The older one knows it is only a matter of time before her father leaves her mother for good and part of her is almost praying for it to happen. It’s not as if she wishes for her parent’s unhappiness but her shallow side, the side that she sometimes shows too often, is tired of the yelling and tired of being embarrassed because her parents are often fighting in front of other people.
The other day one of her classmates came to her saying something about her parents always fighting before they divorced. The thing that bothered her the most was the fact that this classmate belonged to the geek group, and was comparing her to him, she was not one of them. No, this had to end soon.
The middle one was torn between what she knew in her mind was going to happen and what her heart wanted. From the way her parents fought everyday it was clear they were going to end divorced. But some small part, one she would never admit to have even with the threat of death, prayed with all her might for their conciliation. She was tired of hearing her mother crying in her room, tired of her dad not being there because of a fight, tired of having to see her family falling apart and feel alone.
Sometimes she blamed her mom. When they sit down to eat dinner and the chair her father usually occupy is empty, when she arrives from school with her school report full of good grades and he is not there to hug her and tell her how proud he is, in these time she really blames her mother, and she really hates her then. But sometimes she just looks at her and sees her puffy red eyes, the way she seems thinner everyday, she sees her standing by the window waiting for her husband to come back, sees her curled up on her bed hugging her dad’s shirt and crying. In those moments she loves her more than anything and feels as sad and alone as she might be feeling.
The younger one, the only boy in the family, is oblivious. He hears his parents yelling at each other bur is too young to understand what is happening. He thinks nothing of it because he always fights with his sisters and they always up after that. What bothered him was the fact that his mother and sisters were sad, they seemed to be sad constantly nowadays, and his father absence bugged him too. He missed him. He missed his happy family.
After spending another weekend in a hotel Brock comes back to the house, he warily opens the door expecting Reba to star yelling at him and let out a relived sign when he don’t see anybody in the living room. When he enters the kitchen intending to grab something to eat he sees his wife curled up in a chair in the backyard with her back turned to him. She looks so small, fragile and lonely sitting there by herself.
He stands there by the door to the backyard watching his wife bathed in the sunligh, her red hair almost glowing in the sun, If it was not for the lack of wings he could swear she was an angel.
‘Gods she’s beautiful!’
He takes a few steps inside the yard, the sound of his shoes crushing the grass alerts Reba to his presence.
“Oh, you’re back.” - She says plainly, half whispering as she just barely glances at him.
“Where are the kids?” - He asks, suddenly feeling and urge to break the unconfortable silence.
“Chayenne is at the mall.” - She pauses, taking a long drag from the cigarette that Brock only now noticed between the long graceful fingers. - “Kyra and Jake are at an after school practice.”
“Oh.”
Silence decends on them again and Brock remember, sadly, the time when they always had something to talk about. Now the only time they even speak to each other is when they are arguing and screaming. He watches with a deep sence of guilty and dispair when Reba takes another long drag from the cigarette, knowing that it was his fault she started to smoke. Her elegant movement spoke of a not so new habit.
“You shouldn’t smoke. It’s really bad for your health.” - He says calmly.
“People shouldn’t do a lot of things, but it never stops them.” - She replies, eyes staring vacantly at the bright blue sky.
“Baby…” - He starts, but can’t think of anything to say. Not a singlr word in his vocabulary can fix the damage he caused, not a single thing he says can make things alright again. And he feels the sting behind his eyes, the telltale sign of tears, as his mind finaly comes around to the fact that he lost her. She is staring at him with her amazing blue eyes so full of sadness it brakes his heart, the part she owns of it.
“You are leaving aren’t you?” - She voices the thing they spent the best part of a year trying to avoid. And when the words leave her sweet lips he realizes it really is the best thing to do.
“I think it’s the best thing to do. We are not working….our marriage is not working.” - He tries to force his voice to sound stronger while he feels overwhelmed with despair at the startling reality. He lost her.
“What are we gaing to tell the kids?” - Reba asks calmly, eyes still on the sky, contemplating the view. Brock glances at her confused when he is suddenly interrupted from his thoughts.
“I don’t know, we should be honest with them.” - He answers, his gaze averted to the startling beauty he sees in front of him.
The place is bathed in silence except for the sound of his own irregular breaths and the rustle of clothes when she moves on the seat and turns towards him, her blue eyes glittering like diamonds.
“It’s not…” - He pauses trying to push his desperation to the back of his mind. - “I really don’t want you to be out of my life forever, I want us to be friends. Can we?”
She wanted to be angry at him, she really did. The man was leaving her and he wanted to be friends? She knew she should be furious, but all she managed to feel was sorrow and sadness. She turns her eyes down to stare at her own hands, trying to hide the tears that marks her face.
Brock tilts her chin up just a little and gently dry her face with the back of his hands.
“I think now is when you should say that everything is going to be alright, isn’t it?” - Reba half jokes trying to break some of her lingering tension, but even though she says it playfully the fake comfort the words could bring would be appreciated.
He just snorts inelegantly and shakes his head before he cover her mouth with his in a sweet kiss.
“I love you.” - She whispers before she stands on her toes and kisses him. This time the kiss is more desperate and they hold each other tightly. She almost cries out in surprise when he wrappes an arm around her waist and presses her against a wall, his body so close to hers she could feel his entire presence engulfing her. She ran her hands through his hair, pulling softly and slowly led him towards the bedroom and he went with her without a word. All the time he kept holding her tightly, kissing her.
She brought her delicate hands over his shoulders and started slipping his jacket off; with his help they were soon coatless. They kicked their shoes off somewhere along the way to the bed and finally managed to fall onto the mattress without tripping over each other. He rolled on top of her and began to undo the buttons of her blouse slowly while he teased with kisses every piece of her pale skin he uncovered. She moaned and grabbed his hair pulling his face closer to hers for another kiss.
Soon they where naked and panting, kissing and holding each other like there was no tomorrow, his tongue played with hers as he nipped her red lips and it was too much. She knew this was wrong; she should be pushing him away not the other way around. The man was leaving her for Christ sake! She really should be pushing him away…But she couldn’t…She didn’t want to.
To Brock the sight of the red-haired moaning beneath him was the most incredible thing he has ever seen, and to think he was giving this up was enough to make him want to cry.
It was already dark when she woke up to the sound of someone moving about in the room, a little disoriented she sits up in bed and discovers her body is naked under the covers. Covering herself, Reba looks around the room and finds Brock already dressed, putting his clothes inside a suitcase.
She can still feel the heat of his body on top of her, his weight pinning her to the mattress, she can still taste the sweetness of his kisses on her mouth, can still feel him moving inside her, can still hear his voice moaning her name in ecstasy. It had felt so good to be with him, so perfect. And now he was leaving her.
She watches as he continues to put all his clothes and small belongings inside his bag carefully avoiding her. He kept his gaze to the task at hand, never once straying his gaze to her. She feels a little hurt at his coldness but doesn’t move a muscle to give voice to her pain, she just keeps watching as more and more of Brocks traces leave her room. To her it all seems like a scene from some of the sad, romantic movies she likes to watch. If so, this should be the moment where the girl in the movie gets up, hugs the guy she loves and asks him to stay. But this time the movie won’t have a happy ending, he was not going to stay.
Suddenly she feels arms around her, embracing her tightly yet with an indescribable tenderness.
“Reba. I’m sorry. Please don’t cry.” - Brock whispers in her ear and in that moment she notices the wetness in her cheeks. She was crying, again.
‘How many times can a person cry before they dry up?’ - She thinks to herself.
After a quick kiss on the cheek Brock grabs his suitcases and leaves the room. She waits for the sound of his car getting out of the driveway before she grabs the nearest thing she finds and throw it against the wall. The picture frame with her wedding picture lies on the floor amidst pieces of broken glass.
Brock was once again in his office late at night. Since he left the house this is the only place he feels comfortable in. He was sitting in his chair, staring distractedly at his desk when someone knocked at his door.
“Come on in.” - He replies and his assistant Barbra Jean appears.
“Dr. Hart…I…I really need to talk to you.”
At the site of the always so cheerful blond wringing her hands nervously he turns his attention to her, concern shining in his eyes.
“Is there something wrong Barbra Jean?”
She starts to shake her head no but stops herself and closes the door.
“I really don’t know…It might be something good depending on what angle you see this…”
“You are starting to worry me.”
“I’m pregnant” - She blurters it out. Brock stares at her with a horrified expression on his face.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. Please tell me it’s a joke.”
“It’s a joke.” - BJ says with a nervous smile.
“It is?”
“No. I’m sorry.”
“Are you sure you are pregnant?
“Positive”
Brock signs tiredly, hands scrubbing his haggard face. Now he was certain his marriage was over. Barbra Jean was still in the room but he just ignored her, he was worried about his family. He really screwed things up this time.
“Guess now Reba and I won’t be best friends anymore.” - BJ lamented before she exited the office leaving Brock with his thoughts and regrets. He really didn’t need another problem in his hands. His crumbling marriage was already enough for him to handle.
TBC