Hollywood Journey

He's Home...

"Hey why is that light on?" Willow points in the living room window as I drive up to the house "Did we have it on all day?"

I want to tell her that there's no way we did, but I have no idea. With my pregnancy brain recently I could have walked right through the room without turning it off.

"Hey Nolan, did we turn the light off after we went back in for your toys?" I turn back to see that he's completely ignoring me, laughing at his toys "Nol! You need to listen."

"No, mommy. It was on."

I pull the car into the garage and see that the garage door is open and so are the patio doors leading to the backyard. Somebody is here, but that somebody has to be trusted if they had a code to get in.

"Maybe daddy?" Nolan gets excited as Willow gets him out of his seat "I don't know, he would probably tell us if he was home." She replies, letting him run into the house. We grab the grocery bags from the trunk and follow him.

When we get inside, we aren't nearly ready for what we see. Brad is standing in the kitchen, holding a huge bouquet in one hand and Nolan in the other, waiting for us.

"Oh my God."

I immediately start crying. All the emotions possible fill me. He slowly walks over, handing me the flowers and pulling me in closer. I lay my head on his chest, drenching his shirt as I sob uncontrollably at the sight of someone I've been missing for weeks.

"I couldn't stay anymore after that last phone call. Hearing how upset all of you were broke my heart. I never knew I could miss people so much."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Willow walks over on the verge of tears herself, to join the hug "We could have picked you up or something."

"I wanted it to be a surprise. I didn't want you guys worrying about it, especially with how tired you've been lately," He kisses me, making sure I know who he's talking about "I'm sorry. I promise I'll never leave again until they're older and able to help more. I shouldn't have left in the first place."

I want to tell him that I understand. I want to be more supportive, but I can't. I can't even think straight through the steady waterfall of tears freely running down my face, showing how happy I am to have him back here and safe.

He puts Nolan down eventually, who decides to play with all the flowers and rearrange them while I try to compose myself. I'm so excited for him to be here, even if it doesn't seem to look that way.

"I thought we could go out somewhere tonight to celebrate. Gives us a reason to go out, and you don't have to think about cooking at all."

"Okay but they need to have pasta. Or ravioli. I really want Italian right now."

"Of course. Whatever you want. We have to keep you happy."

"Yeah you really don't wanna make her mad. Definitely not worth it." Willow looks up from where her and Nolan are playing, and he agrees with her "Yeah, momma mean."

"Momma has a good reason right now. We just all have to be really good the next few months."

We all go upstairs to get ready with Brad helping Nolan in our room while I go through the closet looking through everything. None of it is what I want.

"Hey I got you this. I thought you would like it." Brad hands me the perfect dress. He clearly bought it in Africa as it's full of the same designs I saw all around us when we were visiting. Luckily, it's loose enough to still fit me now that 90% of my other clothes don't.

"It's beautiful! Thanks, baby. I love it."

"I wanted to make sure you would have something to wear. I was planning this night since the minute we got off the phone... and I thought you were probably outgrowing all your normal stuff by now."

"I have been. It's crazy how different everything is this time, but it's worth it."

"Help?" Nolan pokes his head in the room, fighting with his shirt "Dadda!" Brad laughs, turning to help him right away, pulling the shirt down over his tiny body "There you go. Now you just need to go potty so we can get your pants on."

I throw the dress on, listening to their conversations as I work on my hair and makeup for the first time in what feels like forever. They talk about everything Nol can think about while helping each other with the finishing touches of getting dressed.

"Where are we going? Somewhere good?"

"The Italian buffet..."

"We better not be!" I cut Brad off quickly "You better be taking us somewhere nicer than that if I used all that energy to do my hair and makeup."

"Nolan's right. You are mean."

A few minutes later, he starts turning down some weird roads. They aren't how we normally get anywhere, so I'm a little confused until we end up in the parking lot of one of my favorite restaurants. He pulls up next to the back door and someone lets us in so nobody else knows we're here.

"You didn't have to go this far. I would've been okay with sitting in a corner."

"Yeah, but he deserves better." Brad sets Nol beside me in his high chair, watching as him and Willow start playing "So does she. They put up with you the last few months."

"You're the worst."

We all order our food, talking about everything that happened while he was gone and what he missed.

"We got a new toaster. My dad can tell you about that one next time you see him."

"Why do I feel like I don't want to know?" He laughs, looking to Willow for answers "Did he put a plastic bag too close again?"

"He let Nolan make his toast. And apparently Nolan doesn't know to take the toast out of the baggie, so year pretty much."

"He did buy us the new one though..."

"I'm just glad I'm not the one in trouble for it. You break two dishwashers and it's like you blew up the damn house."

"Because they're dishwashers, Brad. Freaking dishwashers."

Halfway through eating, Nolan decides he's full, I order a second plate, and Brad and Willow decide we should take Nolan to the playground to get some of his energy out since he's about to go crazy.

"That was really good. Thank you."

I lean into Brad as we sit at a bench watching Willow and Nolan play. They're chasing each other around everywhere, playing games we don't even want to try and understand. It's so nice seeing them together, even with the huge age gap.

"You're welcome," he kisses me, pulling away after a few seconds to stare "You look so beautiful. I did really good picking out that dress."

"You really did. I love it."

"I can't wait to see how everything goes. A new baby, Willow's acting career, you filming more... it's exciting."

"Let's just take it one step at a time, though. Make sure the baby is good and healthy and then focus more on everything else. She has some things scheduled, but we don't want her getting overwhelmed."

"We don't need you getting overwhelmed." He lays his hand on my belly, moving it around slightly to stir up the baby just so he can feel some more kicks "I want you to relax now. Focus on you."

"Thank you."