Mommy Mouse (sequel to City Mouse)

Chapter 4: Motoring

Leo, of course, was flipping his shit before they even left New York for the drive down.

"So we're driving so Happy can come with us?" he asked.

"Yes, Leo, you know the plan," Mouse answered, laughing. "Merry and Chrissy will stay in New York, and Travis will check on them for us while we're gone, to make sure they're okay. You and Happy will stay with Grandma and Grandpa after the wedding while Daddy and I go on our honeymoon. Then they'll bring you guys to New York when we come back, just in time for you to start first grade."

Mouse and Henry had seriously discussed taking Leo with them to Tahiti for the honeymoon.

"I really wouldn't mind," Mouse had insisted, nodding for emphasis.

"I actually believe you," Henry replied with a laugh, looking at her in the darkness of their bedroom. "But he's been wanting to go to your parents' anyway, you know? And this might be his only chance this year, and they did offer..."

"I know, but this will be the first time we've left him," Mouse said. "The first time you've left him, right?"

Henry nodded, pulling Mouse close to kiss her on her forehead.

"I know, and I feel weird about it, too," he admitted. "But it's our honeymoon."

"So what?" she said stubbornly. "We only have to please ourselves, and if we want him to go, we should take him."

So they had left it up to Leo, and he had decided he'd rather stay with Grandma and Grandpa and Happy, and ride the horse, Blaze, who was taking the saddle very nicely now.

So they were driving to Mouse's parents' rambling farmhouse on the outskirts of Alexandria, luggage, Leo and Happy in tow, after bidding a tearful farewell to the cats.

"I don't think they even care," Leo said sadly, turning away from Merry, who was washing her face. "I don't think they're even going to miss us at all." Chrissy didn't even open her eyes.

"I'm sure they're sad on the inside," Mouse said, trying to convince her young son that the cats felt sorrow over the fact that their humans were leaving them for two weeks.

"You really think so?" Leo asked, turning hopefully to his mother.

"I do," she answered firmly. "Now let's take Happy for a quick potty walk and get her into the car, okay?"

"Okay," Leo chirped, his good humor restored as he headed out of the room.

"Couldn't you look a little bit sad?" Mouse asked the cats rhetorically. She was given two green-eyed looks by the cats before they returned to their nap and bath, respectively.

Mouse sighed and went to join her family in the car.

Henry enjoyed the drive down to Virginia, singing and playing games with his fiancée and young son. He didn't even mind stopping to let the dog out, or being surprised when she jumped from the back of the SUV to the back seat because he'd forgotten to latch the door to her crate.

"Daddy!" Leo shouted. "Happy escaped! She escaped and jumped over into my lap, look!"

Henry turned from the passenger seat and saw a huge pile of fur where his son had been moments before. He could hear Leo giggling as Happy licked his face all over, and smiled over at Mouse, who was driving.

She grinned back at him, laughing at the happy sounds emanating from the back seat as their dog tickled their son.

"Happy, stop!" Leo begged. "I can't breathe, you're making me laugh too much!"

Henry took a breath to laugh, and found himself beginning to cry. Again. This had been happening to him more and more as his wedding date approached.

Mouse noticed right away, of course, and looked over at him again, this time in concern. She put a hand on his leg.

"Henry?"

He just shook his head, covering his eyes with one hand, covering her hand with the other as he turned to face the window. He wiped away his tears, sniffing quietly.
"I swear, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were pregnant," Mouse said, shaking her head gently.

Henry laughed as well, lifting her hand to press a kiss on it before returning it to his leg. Behind them, Leo continued to laugh as he played with Happy, who was now jumping over him to stick her head out the window.

"Daddy! Mommy! She's doing it! Look, she's sticking her head out, like the dogs in the movies! She's smelling outside!" Leo was beside himself with excitement to see Happy doing what dogs had been doing, pretty much since the dawn of time, as if she were the first dog to ever do such a thing.

Obviously no response was required of them, so Henry and Mouse just enjoyed the spectacle and continued talking.

"Seriously, are you all right?" Mouse asked, squeezing Henry's leg.

He nodded, looking over at her, blue eyes bright. "I'm fine. I'm just so, unbelievably happy. You can't imagine, honey, you just can't." He stroked the back of Mouse's head, where her soft brown hair lay flat against her head. "We were a pretty happy family. Then Josie died, and we were so broken, and I didn't think we'd ever be happy again." He took a deep breath. "And Leo was having so many problems, with his imaginary friends and his real life friends—"

"I know, Henry, I know," Mouse said, nodding.

"No, I don't really think you do," Henry said, feeling fresh tears behind his eyes and a tightening in his throat, and clamping down on both. "I was in a really dark place, and I didn't even know it, and Leo was with me, poor little guy, and we were just floundering—"

Mouse put on the signal so she could pull over.

"No, don't do that," Henry protested. "Please, just keep driving."

Mouse looked over at him, nodded, and turned off her blinker.

"I guess I should've saved this stuff for my vows," he said with a laugh, shaking his head. "Whatever. As long as you know how I feel, right?"

"For what it's worth, I feel the same way," Mouse responded. "I mean, there I was, twenty-one years old, no friends to speak of, you know?" She looked at Henry, long lashes framing her serious brown eyes. "That's not normal, is it? You can make all the excuses you want. I know I did. I was shy, I came from a big family, I was self-sufficient, whatever. The fact of the matter was that I was well into my third decade of life on this planet and I didn't have any real friends other than my siblings, and one ex-boyfriend." She shrugged, a pretty gesture that Henry loved, even when she had both hands on the steering wheel.

"I come by my nickname honestly, is what I'm trying to say," she finished. "I really was a Mouse, Henry, constantly hiding, always quiet.

"It's a miracle I ever dated Travis," she admitted with a laugh. "I think I only went out with him out of desperation, to tell you the truth." She looked at Henry again, her embarrassment apparent. "I couldn't figure out what he saw in me, and I really thought he was doing it on a bet or something.

"I wasn't happy either." She smiled tremulously, and Henry could feel her hand shaking on his thigh. "Then I met you." She nodded toward the back seat. "And him," she concluded.

"Should we put Happy back in her crate?" she asked, changing the subject.

Happy had finally settled down, her head on her boy's lap, stretched out across the back seat. Leo, worn out from the excitement, had fallen asleep, his small hand on Happy's head.

Henry turned around to look at them, and took a quick picture with his phone. Happy seemed to smile at him, her snout across Leo's legs.

"Nah," he said with a grin. "I know it's dangerous and everything, but..." he trailed off, not sure how to finish.

"I'll just be extra careful driving," Mouse supplied helpfully.

"There you go," Henry agreed comfortably. He leaned over to kiss her.

"I love you so much, so much," he murmured into her ear. "I can't wait to marry you, you know that, right?"

Mouse nodded. "Me too, Henry, everything you said, me too."