Love isn't easy

Chapter 1: October 2020

October 2020

5:03 AM.

Roseanne extends her arm expecting to wrap it around her sleeping wife but, much to her surprise, finds an empty bed instead. Lisa is never up before Roseanne. Matter of fact, Roseanne usually has to push her wife out of bed in the mornings.

"Lili?"

Roseanne wipes the sleep from her eyes while looking at their bathroom door. She gets no response.

"Lisa?"

Roseanne asks slightly louder.

Nothing.

Roseanne untangles herself from the warm silky sheets before setting out to find her wife.

—

Roseanne walks out of the master bedroom and makes a right heading towards the children's rooms. Roseanne peeks into the first door and finds her soon-to-be five-year-old daughter gently snoring on one side of the room as her three-year-old drools on her pillow on the other side. She slowly backs out of the room, making sure to gently close the door behind her. Roseanne moves a few feet down in the direction of her son's room and that's when she hears Lisa.

The door to Mattheo's room is cracked open. Roseanne rests her shoulder on the door frame and crosses her arms. Within seconds she's fully engrossed in the spectacle unfolding inside. Lisa - in grey boxers and a red shirt with a slept-on braid pouring hair out in every direction - bounces the fourteen-month-old around the nursery while raptly recounting some fantastical story. Mattheo rests his head on Lisa's shoulder listening to her attentively while sucking on his thumb.

"The brave leader of the uprising puts a spear through the chest of the evil king and crowns the noble prince as the king of the north."

Lisa thrashes her unoccupied arm around the air as if it were wielding a sword, one she was using to defend herself in a battle against some invisible offender. His mother's commitment to the tale and the liveliness of it all makes the little boy giggle. Lisa spins on her heels as she pretends to swing the sword around and that is when she notices her wife standing at the door.

"Look, Theo. Mommy's awake."

Lisa tenderly grins at the woman on the door and the baby lifts his head excited whilst pulling his pruney thumb from his mouth.

"Mama."

Roseanne approaches him with a warm smile on her face and as soon as she reaches him she attacks his face with a plethora of sloppy kisses. The baby giggles loudly in response and Roseanne promptly backs away not wanting to wake up the girls. Roseanne turns her attention to her wife.

"You're up early". Roseanne leans in for a tender kiss. "Good morning." Lisa rests lazily against Roseanne.

"Morning." Lisa kisses Roseanne's forehead. "This dude has been up for almost two hours and refuses to go back to sleep."

"Baby...what's going on?" Roseanne squeezes Mattheo's tummy which makes him squirm and chuckle. "I thought we'd gotten you to sleep through the night already." The baby leans his head back onto Lisa's shoulder and returns to sucking his thumb.

"I'm taking him with me today."

"What do you mean?"

"To work. I checked my schedule and I have no meetings today. I just need to do a lot of reading for the Martin case. I'm bringing him and he can just hang around with me."

"Lili..."

"I hate leaving him crying every morning Roseanne."

From the minute Mattheo was born he and Lisa bonded. That baby was nothing short of obsessed with his mother. Mattheo was so attached to Lisa that he would sob and shriek every time he saw her exit a room. They had to distract him and keep him busy if Lisa needed to remove herself from his immediate vicinity for whatever reason. This means Mattheo cried every single morning when Lisa left for work. Unless he was still asleep when she left, there was going to be a defcon five-level situation.