Generations: The Long Game

Sunday: Reece's Love, Marjorie's Secret

Reece

Reece woke up with a start. He had no idea what was so urgent on a Sunday morning, but his mind was uneasy. He looked over at Marjorie and saw Emery was snuggled up in her arms. He hadn't heard him wake in the night and wondered if she had just brought him in for a snuggle on her own.

He couldn't help but just drink them in. The love she had for that boy overwhelmed his senses. He thought about all they had gone through over the years. She loved hard. She wasn't flawless, but she made up for it with her unwavering ability to feel every emotion in huge ways. If she loved you, she loved you with her whole heart. She supported you no matter what. Even if she didn't understand your choices at first. She eventually came around and was your biggest defender. To him that made he and Emery the luckiest guys alive.

She was loud and boisterous. Sometimes opinionated. She was a fighter. She fought for the children at the nursery and for her friends and family. She seldom fought for herself though. She loved he and Autumn so much and hated Mia for hurting them. It had almost cost her her friendship with Charlotte, but she came around. She had tried to fix it, but the hurt was too much for her. He had always felt bad about that time because he had allowed Mia to humble her rather than to tell her himself that Mia wasn't all bad and that she didn't have to protect him and Autumn. They had made it through though and on most occasions the two of them were thick as thieves along with Winter.

He chuckled at the thought. All these years the three of them thinking he, Autumn, and Mia didn't know about their little pact. None of them would ever say a word though. If anything, they thought it was endearing. They loved them so much that they would band together to make sure they stayed happy.

His eye was caught by something glistening near Emery's head. Her engagement ring. He wanted to have her dream of a big white wedding. They certainly had the money for it. The problem was time. They never seemed to have enough of it these days. He understood why she didn't want to get married while she was pregnant, but Emery was a year old now. She was happy. She always said it was only a bit of paper. To him it was more though. It was her sharing his and Emery's name. It was him finally being able to call her his wife. It wasn't control or ownership. It was a need for a more intimate connection. A statement of belonging. Him belonging with her. He had never had that. He needed it.

He picked up the phone.

Charlotte

Reece - would you be able to pick Emery up tomorrow and take him to nursery with you?

Charlotte - sure, is everything okay

Reece - yes, just have something I need to do.

That being sorted he went downstairs to make their breakfast. He knew she would need a hardy one after her drinking the night before. From what Mia had said it sounded like it had been a crazy night for sure.

Marjorie

Once Reece fell to sleep, she slipped carefully from his arms and into the nursery. It was a good thing so many people reveled in telling tales of her drunken antics. It made tonight easy. She wouldn't have wanted anyone to know that she wasn't really drunk, or that she hadn't actually been drinking all night. She needed the time this night afforded her to think.

She stared down at Emery in his slumber. He was such a precious little one. She thought about all the years she had fussed about having to cover in the classrooms and how silly she felt now about it. She was very good at loving other people but was filled with self-doubt even on her best days. She had doubted her ability to care for children or to love them. With Emery it came so naturally. Her mother's voice clouded her head at times, but as long as she never became the voice in his head, she knew she will have succeeded as a mum.

Now, though, she had a whole new worry. They had done the adult thing and sat down to talk about it and decided together. Decided they wouldn't. How did this happen? She knew exactly how it happened, but she still wondered how they let it happen. Because neither one of us ever think with our heads. That is how. Two and a half years and that man still drove her wild. Even just thinking about it stirred a heat deep within her.

The week of Emery's first birthday she had gotten an ear infection of all things. The doctor had put her on antibiotics. They both knew what that meant, but the night of Emery's birthday they got carried away. Things heated up, and instead of stopping and getting the condoms from four feet away they just blew right through it.

She shook the thought from her head and looked down at Emery. She picked him up being careful not to wake him. "You're coming with me. Mummy needs a snuggle."