Things moved at warp speed over the spring and summer, and yet they weren't quick enough for Roseanne.
The proposal had been spontaneous, definitely not a thoroughly thought-out action. Only, it had been the right one. She was sure of it.
She loved Lisa and, surprise, surprise, it appeared that Lisa loved her, too.
They were both scared, Roseanne knew that, but somehow, despite their fear, they both were elated.
Soon boxes were packed. Appliances were compared and thrown away or more often updated and replaced. The furniture was condensed to the bare essentials while new pieces were purchased to fit the new accommodations.
The apartment and the loft were stripped naked and for the very last time Roseanne and Luke gathered all of their belongings, their entire lives into the small cardboard boxes.
This time, however, the boxes holding their lives weren't just thrown haphazardly into the back of the car but were lovingly placed, amongst their new brothers and sisters, all bearing fanatically neat and precise labels such as "main bathroom," "secondary bathroom," "kitchen," and "books," in the back of the moving van.
Luke couldn't sit still. So far, he had only seen a picture of the newly remodeled Tudor deep in the heart of Evanston, and he had been talking about nothing else. Roseanne was half convinced that her son was going to explode before they could finish the short drive.
"So any room?" he asked, bouncing in his seat as they turned off of Lake Shore, winding their way through the morning traffic.
"Within reason, I guess. I don't think you can have the master bedroom, and you probably want to avoid picking the rooms with toilets in them."
He rolled his eyes, showing his transition from toddler to little boy, but he grinned at her all the same. "Mooommy! Why'd I wanna sleep in the bathroom?"
Roseanne laughed and ran a hand through his hair. "What about out back? We can give you a tent. You wanna sleep in a tree like Mowgli?"
"Yeah!" He gave her a goofy grin, exposing the gap where his first loose tooth had been lost the week before.
"Even in the snow?" she cried back.
"I'll make an igloo!"
The moving van was still beside the lawn when they pulled up.
"Wait!" Roseanne held onto Luke's shirt collar so he didn't throw himself from the car before it had come to a full stop.
Men were mumbling as they pulled box after box from the van and set them in the middle of the grand foyer of 1304 Havana Avenue.
"Moooom! Lemme go! Lemme go!"
"Hold on!" She turned the ignition off and released the squirming boy. He shot from the car like a horse in a race, his hands waving and flying as he ran at Lisa, who stood in the middle of the front walk.
"Lis! Lis! – I mean." He stopped running, looking delightfully baffled. "I mean, Mama."
Lisa scooped the five-year-old up and kissed his cheeks, their hands flying together.
It hadn't been a rocky transition from 'Lis' to Mama at all, not that Roseanne was really surprised. Lisa had stepped into that role the moment she had picked him up that day in the park a year before. Asking him had only been the formality on something as easy as breathing.
Roseanne got out of the car, grinning, her heart hammering as it always did when she saw her fiancée these days. It was as though each time she saw her, her heart needed a moment to acclimate all over again. Lisa, that beautiful woman she had grown so crazy about, had promised to marry her, to be her wife. Each time she remembered that she was blown away. She had agreed to marry her, to take her son as her own, and there had even been talk of Lisa giving her body sometime in the next few years to make Luke a brother or a sister. It was all so blissfully overwhelming.
I'm going to marry her: the thought never got old, never lost its shine.
Lisa's eyes lifted from Luke's, and she smiled a genuine and uncomplicatedly happy smile. "You're late," she signed, with an eyebrow arched.
Roseanne held her hands up in surrender. "Luke needed the bathroom!"
"I did not!"
Lisa laughed and kissed his cheek.
"Mommy, can I go? Can I go look? Can I?"
"Can you go?" Roseanne gasped in mock horror. "No way, I'm going to go first!"
She sprinted around Lisa, stopping only for a brief kiss and dashed for the door. Luke screamed that she was cheating as he flew after her, giggling.
They flew up the huge center staircase toward the bedrooms, Roseanne taunting her son over her shoulder.
"What about this one?"
"No way! It's a bathroom!"
"I thought you wanted to sleep in the bathtub!"
"Whooooooaaa! This one, this one!"
Roseanne rounded the corner to see a huge empty room, window seat and dormer window open to the front of the house and the giant tree nestled safely just outside the screen.
"This one?" Roseanne caught him and tickled his sides.
"Yeah! Look, I can see the whole block!"
"Okay, kid, go downstairs and tell the movers to bring your boxes up here."
He cheered, his tiny legs moving fast.
"Be careful on the stairs!"
Heels clicked on the hardwood behind her, and Roseanne grinned as Lisa nestled her head in the crook of her neck, giving it a small kiss. "Want to see our room?"
Roseanne playfully bit her lip and Lisa grinned, her teeth sinking lightly into the skin of her ear. She pulled her along by the hand until they found the large room. It was beautiful, wide, and open, the polished wood on the floor shining in the sunlight. They passed through it, though, and out onto the large patio overlooking the grassy lawn.
"Any regrets, Mrs. Manoban?" Lisa asked, biting her lip.
Roseanne gave her a playful scowl. "I don't know, I still think Lisa Park has a better ring to it."
"Mm, I don't know. There's something sexy about Roseanne Manoban."
Roseanne laughed, happily rolling her eyes. She wasn't going to tell her... at least not yet... but Roseanne Manoban sounded pretty good to her. Her name had never been connected to anything, no family, no ties, no people. She was ready to change that.
"So. No regrets?"
"About the house?" Roseanne asked.
"Amongst other things."
Roseanne shook her head, pulling her to her and kissing her deeply. "Are you freaking kidding me, woman?"
They remained locked in their steamy embrace for a long moment before Lisa had to finally pull away, panting. "Let's not give the movers a show, darling."
Roseanne shrugged, hooking her belt loop so she couldn't get away. "Or maybe we should. Hmm, I think we really should." She kissed her again, littering kisses over her cheeks and jaw until Lisa was a crumbling mess in her arms.
"You're unfair," Lisa breathed, but she smiled softly, her face tilted to be kissed again.
"I am."
Lisa gave her one last kiss. "I love you, you know."
"I do. I do know."
"Come. Let's start bringing boxes up, Mrs. Manoban."
Roseanne scoffed.
Lisa kicked off her heels and the two began to lift boxes up the stairs, sorting them into the study, the practice room, office, bedrooms, and bathrooms.
It took a while, but, eventually, all the beds were assembled and in their proper rooms, couches and all boxes removed from the truck. The small family had their new home all to themselves.
It was strange moving into such a beautiful house. Roseanne had never lived in one like it before. She grinned as she ran her fingers over the marble countertop in the kitchen.
They had talked long and hard about which house they would buy, debating money and location until they were blue in the face. The thing was, Roseanne could afford this now and that, more than anything else, was startling.
She smiled a little as she glanced around the kitchen and then went to the JBL speaker, clicking on some music at a level that would have been illegal in her old apartment.
She moved to the boxes stacked on the kitchen island and began to unpack while, beside the speaker, Lisa began to unpack the plates.
It didn't take long; it never did when she was near enough to feel it. Soon Lisa was dancing a bit this way and that, the speaker in one hand, the dishes in the other.
Grinning, Roseanne wrapped her arms around Lisa from behind, pulling her tightly and softly, with one finger, began to tap the beat into her breastbone.
Lisa smiled tenderly at the memory. "How far we have come."
"Mm." Roseanne nodded in agreement and took the kiss that Lisa offered.
"Anybody home? Hello?!"
Roseanne grinned and signed to her future wife. "Charlie's here."
Lisa nodded.
Charlie sauntered into the kitchen holding a huge take-out bag.
"Thank god, I'm starving. Where have you been all day? Where's John?"
"John? Oh, um..." Charlie shrugged. "He'll be here."
She watched as Lisa laughed, ready to tease her friend. She and John had been enjoying a peaceful place of no labels and it was fun making Charlie squirm by asking. Lisa lifted a hand to speak and froze, the glass of water in her other hand pausing halfway to her lips.
Roseanne, not paying attention, headed to the foot of the stairs to yell for their son.
"Okay, Mommy!" Luke yelled back.
She turned and stopped, shocked when she reentered the kitchen. Even Luke, who came running pell-mell down the stairs a few seconds later, stopped when he hit the kitchen door.
Jacqueline stood, looking almost shy behind Charlie, her hands twitching over the potted flowers she was holding.
Charlie had said nothing about bringing anyone, and Jacqueline of all people...
Roseanne tried to swallow, but her throat was dry.
Lisa recovered first, glancing between her best friend and the woman her best friend had always disliked so much. "Mother! What are you doing here?" Lisa's voice cracked slightly. It had been weeks since she had felt the need to use her voice at all now that Roseanne understood her own private language. She flushed and winced, clearly waiting for the reprimand.
Instead, Jacqueline gave her a small smile and handed Charlie the pot. "Lisa–"
The glass in Lisa's hand shattered against the floor. Roseanne's heart began to pound in astonishment. Even Luke's mouth popped open into a perfect circle as, shakily, Jacqueline's hands lifted and she signed, "I thought... your new home... could use some flowers." The words barely strung together, but they were still in the smooth language no one had ever seen Jacqueline use before.
Lisa clutched at the kitchen counter, her eyes wide and frozen. "Mother?"
Jacqueline looked annoyed and dropped her hands. "I don't know very much yet. It has only been a few weeks."
"She practiced that!" Charlie announced, obviously proud.
"Why didn't you ever tell me how difficult the language was?"
Roseanne watched Lisa sway on the spot and almost rushed to her, worried she might fall.
She blinked, shaking her head a little to clear it, her mouth still hanging open.
"Close your mouth, dear."
Lisa's mouth snapped shut with an audible click, only for it to open again immediately. "You're learning Sign Language?" She shifted glances between her mother and Charlie. "How did you... why did you... what?"
"Well, Lisa." Jacqueline stepped forward and in a very un-Jacqueline move, kissed Lisa's knuckles. This made Lisa's eyes boggle and her head snap up to look at Charlie. Charlie's hands went up as if to say she had nothing to do with that. "I did a lot of thinking, and I decided that Roseanne was right when she told me it was time. I—" Jacqueline hiccupped, her voice stiff, "I promise I was just trying to help... in my own way. But I never meant... I don't know." She let her hands fall, uncomfortable and tense.
Lisa's wide eyes darted around the room, tears slipping over the brim of her stunned gaze. "Roseanne? Roseanne did this?"
"She... she helped me to see a few things I hadn't seen before. She helped me realize that I could... that things could be different and that they need to be different. I make no promises, Lisa, but I'm here and I want to try."
"Roseanne?" The name was a whisper on Lisa's lips. "Where is she? Roseanne?"
Roseanne stuffed her hands into her pockets, flushing deeply as her soon-to-be wife found her in the doorway.
"Roseanne?" Lisa's eyes were quizzical, round, full of astonished wonder.
Roseanne scuffed her shoe a bit, pulling her face into a small sideways grin. "Hi."
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Fin
