#onewinternight

In the background, Belle could hear Neal's  frantic voice calling to Emma that they needed to hurry up. Belle had hoped to finally tell Anthony her news tonight,but if Emma and Neal needed them, it could wait. “Of course we can. You can bring him by anytime.”

“Great. Be there in five minutes.” Emma hung up without another word and Belle stared at the phone for a minute before putting it down and walking back into the kitchen. Luckily she hadn’t started their dinner preparations so it didn’t take long to put everything back. Then she scoured the refrigerator for a backup plan.

Henry ate anything put in front of him but Belle liked to be sure he enjoyed it as well. He didn’t come to their house often, because Mary Margaret and David were a little more . . . traditional grandparents. So whenever Henry did come to her house, Belle tried to spoil him a little bit. To her delight, she still had ingredients to make pizza, which was always a hit with teenage boys.  She pulled it out just as she heard a knock at the door. She opened it to see her grandson standing there while his parents were already backing out of the driveway.

“Hey, Belle.”

“Hello, Henry.” Emma and Neal hardly had time to wave before they sped off, leaving Belle wondering just what the emergency was. But she put it out of her mind as she waved Henry in and took his jacket.“Want to help make pizzas?”

“Sure.” Henry grinned over his shoulder as he made his way into the kitchen and Belle felt her heart give a little wrench. Someday it would be her own child smiling at her like that. “Is grandpa home yet?”

Shaking her thoughts off, Belle followed Henry and glanced out the window, but there was no sign of Anthony’s car. “Not yet but any minute now.” During the holidays, Anthony came home later than usual, thanks to all the people looking for interesting gifts or desperate for a little extra money. “How was school?” Henry launched into an animated discussion of the history project they were doing as he and Belle assembled their dinner.

By the time Anthony came home, the pizzas were baking in the oven, Henry had planted himself in front of the television with his favorite video game, and Belle had cleaned the kitchen. She stepped into the entry to greet Anthony.

“I didn’t realize we were expecting company tonight,” Anthony said as he hung up his coat. His hair was a little rumpled and Belle reached out to run her fingers through it, more from the desire to do so than the need to fix it. Anthony practically purred in delight and Belle had a fleeting desire for privacy. She shook her head gently and fixed him with a bemused stare.

“Henry isn’t company, Anthony. He’s family. Neal and Emma had some sort of emergency come up and the Nolans were busy, I suppose. Pizza’s in the oven. How was work?” She wrapped an arm around her husband’s waist as they walked into the living room and sat on the couch. Although Anthony’s stories were always interesting, Belle had a hard time focusing on his words - not that that was anything new anymore.

Belle felt like it had been months she’d been waiting to tell Anthony her news, although it had only been a few days. But ever since the little positive sign had showed up, she’d found herself distracted. It wasn’t terrible at the library;she rarely had a huge crowd there anyway, so no one noticed when she stared at the ceiling for five minutes thinking about names. It became more obvious when she stopped in the middle of the sidewalk to watch  families walking together with a baby in a stroller. At home, she felt most guilty about it. She still heard everything Anthony said but he’d always had her full attention before. Now he only had half of it.

Her distraction continued all through dinner. Belle wondered if they could find a nice high chair to keep in the dining room, or if they should just plan on eating in the kitchen for a while. That would  be more convenient anyway - cozier, too. Luckily, Henry was full of questions for Anthony so neither of them seemed to notice. After dinner, Anthony settled down with the newspaper and Belle picked up her book as Henry resumed his game.

Only a few minutes passed before he stopped and turned to face them. “It’s gonna drive me crazy unless you decorate it.”

“What?” Belle and Anthony spoke in unison, looking up from their respective activities to study Henry in confusion. Belle caught on just before he spoke, her eyes traveling over to the tree in the corner. She’d asked Neal to string the lights for them when he helped bring it in but other than that, it was empty. Their box of ornaments still sat in the corner beside it.

“The tree. It’s almost Christmas and you still haven’t decorated it.”

Belle hadn’t paid much attention to it before, but now that Henry pointed it out, she thought the tree did look rather sad. Pretty, of course, with the lights, but sad. She looked at Anthony with the smallest of pouts. “He’s right, Anthony.”

“I know I’m not going to win this fight. I suppose we can decorate tonight if you want.” Although he spoke reluctantly, Belle could see the amusement in her husband’s eyes and kissed his cheek as she stood.

“You sacrifice so much for us.”

Anthony’s laughter disappeared in the sound of Henry opening the box and pulling out ornaments. Before Belle could say anything, Anthony called out a warning. “Be careful with those. Some of them are quite old.” He remained on the couch but leaned forward with a hand stretched toward Henry. Their grandson protested that he was being careful but his movements slowed down. Belle loved decorating the tree but the difference between her ornaments and Anthony's could be embarrassing. Her ornaments had sentimental value; they'd hung on her tree growing up and she loved them. Anthony's ornaments came from his shop or others and were beautiful antiques. However Anthony never said anything about the differences. He seemed to treat her ornaments with as much respect as he gave his.

“Wow. This is amazing.” Henry held up one of Belle’s favorite ornaments - a delicate crystal star. It caught the light and flickered as it spun on the string hanging from his finger. Belle settled against the back of the couch to listen to the familiar story with a smile on her lips as she watched her husband.

This was why she wanted children. Anthony was so good with Henry when they had him - when he didn’t second guess himself or talk himself into nervousness. His stories were interesting and he had the ability to tell them well. Henry hung on every word, listening with wide eyes as Anthony spun the story. More than that, he loved Henry. Anthony often spoke of the way he’d let his son down but Neal didn’t harbor any resentment for his childhood. Besides, Anthony was a different person now, and even in the past, he’d been better than he gave himself credit for. Belle’s hand moved to her stomach absently. Anthony might doubt himself, but she would have enough faith for both of them.

“That one belongs to Belle.”

She snapped out of her thoughts to see Henry holding up another of her favorite ornaments - her fairy ballerina, as she called it. “That’s from my year of ballet.” She stood and took it from Henry, fluffing up the skirt and straightening the wings. “I wasn’t good but I loved every minute of it. Papa bought me this to commemorate it.” She hung it next to the star and stood back to admire her work.

Although Belle helped a bit, Anthony was in his element and she tried to stay in the background as much as possible. Watching him and Henry just made her pregnancy seem all the more real and she enjoyed anticipating the years to come. Once they decorated the tree to Henry’s satisfaction, Belle pulled out cookies and let the boys eat their fill. Henry somehow talked Anthony into playing his video game, which gave Belle several hours of amusement and new pictures for her scrapbook. Her favorite was the one of Henry and Anthony sleeping on the couch, their controllers falling out of their hands.

The knock startled her but didn’t wake either of her boys, although since it was most likely Emma and Neal, that didn’t do much good. Her assumption proved correct; Emma and Neal both stood on the porch.

“Thanks again, Belle. How was he?”

“We had a wonderful night. He’s sleeping on the couch. Come in and we’ll get him up.”

But when they went into the living room, Anthony and Henry had woken up and Henry stumbled off the couch. “Hey.”

Emma laughed and ruffled his hair. “Hey, kid. Have a good night?”

“Yeah. It was great. Thanks, Belle.” He hugged Belle with a sleepy smile and turned to Anthony. “Night, Grandpa.”

Anthony stood up and reached for his cane before placing a hand on Henry’s shoulder. “Let me walk you out.” Belle took the dishes back into the kitchen and watched through the window as Anthony said goodnight to Neal. No matter what he thought, he would be a great father.

She wandered back into the living room and turned out the lights to admire the tree. Anthony’s footsteps sounded behind her and she turned to smile at him as he walked up behind her.

“Henry did a good job, didn’t he, sweetheart?”

“You helped, Anthony. Both of you did a wonderful job.” Anthony’s arm slipped around her waist and she kissed his cheek. Although it wasn’t exactly what she’d planned, the moment felt right so Belle took a deep breath. “We’ll need to buy a new ornament next year. Baby’s first Christmas.” There was a beat of silence while Belle waited for Anthony to say something but he didn’t and her tongue ran away with her. “I know you’re worried about being a father again but I know you’ll be wonderful and I’ll be right here with you and I just -”

Anthony’s finger pressed against her lips, halting the flow of words. “We’re going to have a baby?”

To her delight, there was no worry in Anthony’s expression. She had expected that - in fact, Belle had prepared a whole speech to encourage him that no matter what he thought, he would be a wonderful father. The only man she wanted to raise her children.

“We are. I’ve been trying to find the right words all week.”