A party at the park

By Gaby

Thursday night

"I can’t believe it, John!" a very upset Roma was pacing all along the living room, her brown eyes shinning with angry tears. "Don’t all those reporters know what respect is anymore?" John was silently following her with his sight, his elbows resting on his knees, his hands rubbing his face in despair. "I went to pick up Reilly and they followed me all the way until Betty’s house! What are we going to do? We can’t keep her in the house all the time! She has the right to have friends and we have the right to go out as a normal family!"

"Baby, try to calm down!" John ventured to say.

"I can’t! I just don’t know what to do next Saturday! Betty’s party at the amusement park means the world for Reilly and there’s no way she could accept to miss it! She’s only seven years old! She needs to have a childhood!"

She was now crying desperately and John wasted no time in going to her side and hug her. "I’ll find a solution, I promise!" he said kissing the top of her head. "Reilly will go to the party and we’re going with her!"

"But how?"

"Give me some time. I’ll think about something. You know I’m capable of anything just to see my two girls happy!"

Roma pulled away from his embrace and reached to stroke his cheek. "You’re an angel, Johnnie. My angel".

He took her hand and kissed it and then cupped her face and brushed her tears away. "I’m not, baby. I’m just in love with you. No more tears. I’ll see you tomorrow and I’ll tell you what we’ll do, ok?"

"Ok..." she whispered before he leaned down to kiss her good night.

****

Friday afternoon

"Roma! Reilly! I’m home! Where are my two girls?" John shouted from the bottom of the stairs after Roma’s maid had let him come in. "There’s something I need to show you!"

"What is it?!" Reilly said climbing down the stairs in a rush.

"Hello, princess! Ready for tomorrow?" the blond actor asked taking the girl in his arms and kissing her cheek.

"Oh... I’m not sure," she answered, her happiness immediately fading away.

"Why aren’t you sure, sweetheart? You’ve been talking about nothing but that party the last two weeks!" John asked.

"But people at the park could bother you and mommy and I don’t want that..." She was smart enough to realize that.

John kissed her cheek feeling a wave of tenderness for the girl who loved him and her mother so much that she better gave up her own amusement for their peace. "Reilly, you just have fun. I’ll take care of everything, ok? You’re the kid, honey! You don’t have to take care of your mom and me!"

"But..."

"Your uncle is right, Reilly," Roma said joining them. "This is our problem, not yours. You’re going tomorrow and you’re going to have a great time."

"But what if someone sees you there and starts bothering you?" the girl insisted.

"None’s going to recognize us, honey!" John said placing the girl back on the floor and then picking up the bags he had been carrying when he first came in. "I have a master plan and all we need is here!"

Reilly and Roma followed him to the living room, one with an excited face, the other with a slightly worried expression. "What are you planning, John?" Roma asked.

"Tomorrow, we won’t be Reilly, Roma and John..." Smiling at their puzzled faces, he continued, "We’ll be Marie, Rose and Carroll... Carl, if you don’t mind."

"Johnnie, I don’t think changing our names is going to be enough..." Roma said a little sadly.

"I know, but maybe this helps..." He then opened a small bag and took out a pair of glasses and an artificial moustache. He put them on and turned to face them searching for their approval.

"Yay!" Reilly exclaimed and clapped.

"Oh, my! It’s perfect, Johnnie!" Roma said too.

"Thanks!" he told them bowing dramatically.

"Ok, but I can’t wear a moustache..." the Irish actress said. "What do you have in mind for me?"

"That’s for you," he answered pointing to a very big bag. "I’m sorry, honey, but I couldn’t think on something different..."

"Johnnie..." Roma said starting to fear that what he had in mind wasn’t too good for her... "Oh, no! No... no!" she shook her head when she saw what John’s plan was: he took out of the bag a fake belly as the ones actress wore to pretend they were pregnant! "John, no!"

"Com’on, baby! It’s perfect! Everybody knows you’re not pregnant! Who would suspect of a soon-to-be mother?" the blond actor tried to convince her.

"Yes, mommy! I would be having a little brother soon!" Reilly said more excited.

"Maybe I could get my hair in a different color... Black for example! And wear contact glasses!" she offered.

"What about the special program?" John asked referring to a guest appearance she had in a TV series. "You’ve filmed half of it with auburn hair, you can’t arrive with black hair next week!"

"I can’t arrive with a..." she examined the pillow "... seven month pregnancy tomorrow! Some of the mothers of Reilly’s classmates know me! What can I say?!"

Truth was that she actually got along just with two or three of them, Betty’s mother included, as Reilly wasn’t the kind of girl that used to visit everybody’s houses.

"Roma," John said now seriously though he had found her former surprise rather funny, "we’re spending the day in an amusement park. The girls will be following a guide all day long and all parents will be practically by themselves as I don’t expect there will be 20 adults following the group. I bet they won’t!" The only time we may be all together is cake time... We’ll talk to Betty’s mother to let her know. I think she’ll understand. She’s a nice woman for what you’ve told me..."

Roma looked at him for some seconds and then at the expecting little face of Reilly and her brown eyes did her. After all, what was to spend an uncomfortable day if her daughter would have a day to remember forever? "Ok," she accepted taking the fake belly. "You convinced me, ‘Carl’!"

"Yay!" Reilly shouted jumping to her mother’s neck and kissing her cheek, and then doing the same with John. "Thank you, uncle Johnnie!"

"You’re welcome, sweetie," he said. "But don’t forget I’m ‘daddy’ tomorrow!"

****

Friday night

John had insisted they should practice and test his plan before they went to the party the following day, so both he and Reilly had had Roma digging into her old clothes to find a loose dress that could fit her with the pillow. John had brought an outfit for her for the next day but she couldn’t risk to get it dirty or spoiled. When she had been ready and had gotten a hat to cover her hair, John had gotten his moustache and his glasses and even Reilly had picked up a pink cap to get herself disguised too.

Now they were seated at the food court of the mall, unusually ignored by the people around, the big bags with their shopping at the side as a clear proof of the perfect way John’s plan had worked.

"I must admit you’re resourceful, honey!" Roma said offering him a spoonful of the Irish cream ice cream she was eating. "But I’ll have to come back next week for that blouse I liked!"

He took the ice cream and then chuckled at her complain. "Yeah, it was funny how the saleswoman advised you to wait a couple of months! Imagine her face had you gotten into the dressing room and appeared with the blouse and without the belly!"

She joined him in his laughter and then placed a hand on the pillow. He did the same covering her hand with his. "I can’t believe you really made me do this!"

"You can’t deny it worked!" he said pointing at Reilly, who was playing on the slide without someone looking at her to guess if she was "the famous Monica’s daughter". "The only people bugging us were those saleswomen at the babies’ section insisting on that Tigger and Pooh gym!"

"Yes... though you can’t deny it was cute! Imagine a little Johnnie playing on it!" she said offering him another spoonful of ice cream.

"Or a little Rose..." he responded caressing her cheek.

"Don’t you have enough with two of us?" she joked referring to Reilly.

"No, baby," he answered seriously. "I’ll never have enough of you two... You’re the biggest blessings I could’ve been granted with..."

Roma felt a lump in her throat at the evident love she could see in his eyes and feel in his touch. God! She was the blessed one with such a strong and pure love as the one he offered her! "Thank you," she murmured, tears stinging at the corners of her eyes.

"For what?" he asked cupping her face.

"For loving me so much, for loving Reilly, for always being the most perfect man I could have met..." she replied leaning over his touch and covering his hand with hers.

"No ‘thank you’s’ ... I love you," he said pulling her closer for a long kiss that wanted to show her how incredibly much he loved her.

****

Saturday morning

"All right, here we go," Roma said aloud to herself combing her hair to tight it into a bow and then hide it with the hat. She had heard Reilly greeting John at the door, so they were only waiting for her. Once she was content with her hair, she had gotten a matching purse and headed downstairs.

"I have to say I had good taste choosing that color for you, baby," John said when he saw her climbing down the stairs. "You look absolutely gorgeous!"

Roma smiled and greeted him with a light peck on the lips. "Thank you, Mr. That’s quite a compliment if you consider I look like 20 pounds fatter than usual!"

"Still, you look beautiful," he stated.

"Reilly, are you ready? Where’s Betty present?" the Irish actress asked to her daughter.

"I’ll go get it!" the girl said running upstairs.

"She’s so happy! Thank you again, Johnnie!" Roma said with eyes shinning with gratitude and love.

"I told you you have nothing to thank... I’m sorry you’re taking the uncomfortable part though."

She chuckled and added, "I mean it when I say I look fatter!"

"And I mean it when I said you look gorgeous..." he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. "Maybe we should think about getting one real..." he murmured sexily on her ear and then kissed her jaw line.

Roma felt a shiver with his words and then kissed his cheek. "Hum... Keep on going and you won’t be leaving the house tonight," she mockingly warned him.

"Perfect..." he whispered and cupped her face to kiss her on the lips, his tongue parting her mouth easily. Suddenly she started to chuckle and John pulled apart. "What?" he asked very surprised and slightly upset.

Roma kept on chuckling and then rubbed her index under her nose. "Your moustache tickles me!"

***

Samantha, Betty’s mother, was already at the entrance of the park when she saw a family parking not far from her. She saw a man with glasses and a moustache descending and walking to the other side to open the back door for a little girl and the front one for his pregnant wife. They walked to the entrance and Samantha would have not had a second look on them had not Reilly ran to her shouting her name.

"Reilly? Hello, sweetheart!" Sam couldn’t avoid the surprise in her voice.

"Shh... I’m not Reilly today," Reilly said in a low voice. "I’m Marie."

"What?!" the woman asked not understanding a word.

"And I’m Rose and this is my husband, Carl," Roma said and only then Samantha examined the couple carefully.

"Oh, my...! What...?" she said unable to take her eyes out of Roma’s belly.

"Sam, this was an emergency plan," Roma explained seriously. "We didn’t want something like that happening today..." Sam turned to where the actress was pointing and she saw the front cover of a magazine with the picture of Gwyneth Paltrow and her husband almost running away from paparazzi with their little son in arms. "I hope you understand and help us."

"Of course I’ll help you!" Samantha said taking Roma’s hand. "But your plan is great! I didn’t recognize you!"

Roma smiled. "That was ‘my husband’s’ idea. This is John, Sam. Carl, today."

"Nice to meet you," John said shaking hands with her.

"Nice to meet you too!" the woman replied. "My husband, Frank, is by the kids’ club where the guides are taking the girls. I’ll talk to him as soon as they go and he’ll cover us too. Don’t worry, most of the parents from school are leaving their kids and coming to pick them in the afternoon. The only ones staying I guess are my sister and Frank’s mother. If you want to go too, I promise I’ll take good care of Re... Marie."

John turned to see Roma as telling her it was all up to her. "Actually we’d like to stay, Sam. Funny or not, this plan gives us the chance to spend the day as a normal family and I don’t want to miss that chance," the actress said taking John’s hand.

"Ok, then," Sam said. "I promise we’ll have fun too. I mean there’s no such a thing as a rule that says adults can’t enjoy an amusement park, right?"

And Roma had certainly been right when she decided to stay. Besides she and John, only Sam’s sister and her husband had stayed, as well as Frank’s mother, who happened to be Irish as well, and Roma had liked her immediately. Conversation had easily moved from Ireland to the girls at school, to old memories about themselves going to amusement parks, to the most obvious one: all kind of advice for ‘Rose’ for the coming baby.

"Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?" Sam’s sister asked while they were already having lunch after the show of the dolphins and the sea lions.

"A boy," Roma answered before John could say it was a girl and then smiled at the look on his face that was saying ‘that’s cheating!’.

"I bet he’ll be blond and with green eyes!" Christine, Sam’s mother in law, said. "Your other kid is just the picture of her mother!"

"I hope so," the Irish actress said looking at John again.

"And what about the name?" Frank asked obviously helping them with the plan.

"Andrew..." John said. "If it’s a boy, we’ll call him Andrew." This time Roma elbowed him discretely, and only Sam looked at them as saying ‘Obviously!’.

The day was over far too quickly for the girls but it felt just the same for two other people. John and Roma had enjoyed a day without any reporter or a single person looking at them suspiciously. Playing the role of a young couple expecting their second child ended up being too easy, and it had also allowed them the freedom to hug and kiss without flashes snapping all around. After lunch, the guides had taken the girls to the fair of the park. ‘Marie’ had insisted ‘her daddy’ had t try the shot to the target to win a Pooh bear, and afterwards even ‘Rose’ had joined her daughter and her husband at the merry-go-round. By 5 o’clock they had gathered into a special reserved area at the cafeteria to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Betty and eat cake. John and Roma had decided to leave before the other parents arrived, and though Reilly had protested, soon she was walking hand in hand with her parents.

"Can we get a sugar cotton before we leave?" she asked when she saw the candy shop.

While they were waiting for the candy to be ready, Roma noticed the two women at the shop were looking attentively at her and John. She felt a little unease but she forced herself not to show it. Finally, the question she had so long feared was heard, "I’m sorry, aren’t you Roma Downey?"

Roma immediately felt Reilly’s little hand tightening her hold, and for a second she felt nervous. Yet, a quick glance at John’s green eyes gave her what she needed. "Hehe... no, I’m not. Many people say I look like her."

Obviously embarrassed, the woman tried to excuse herself, "Well, yes! I could’ve swore it! You even have the accent!"

"I’m Irish. You’re talking about the woman that plays an angel on TV, right? And she’s Irish too I think..." Roma continued.

"Yes, she is. But I told you she wasn’t!" the other woman got into the conversation scolding her partner. "Besides Roma Downey is not pregnant!"

"They say she’s dating the other angel, Andrew," the first woman said again.

"But she’s not pregnant!" the second one argued. "At least not seven months pregnant! She was flat as a table in the last pictures the magazine printed!"

"Well, she’s gotten a hottie then!" Roma continued enjoying now her little game. "That John Dye guy is very handsome!" She chuckled and didn’t venture to turn to John knowing for sure that he would be looking to whatever other thing was to hide his blushing face.

"Yeah! Shame on him he’s not free anymore!" the first woman commented.

"Oh, he always said he was in love with Roma Downey!" the second woman continued. "Don’t you remember that behind the scenes where he got a big ad saying he had a major crush on her?"

"It was a joke!" the first woman argued.

"Hum... maybe not," Roma intervened. "If they are dating now, it means he really had a crush!"

"Pity," the first woman sighed.

"She’s always had a crush on him!" her co-worker told Roma. "She almost hates Monica for spending all her time with Andrew!"

Roma chuckled and then the first woman accepted, "Yeah, he’s a real (bonbón)! I’ll wait for him if they ever break up. I’ll always be ready to mend his broken heart!" She then handled Roma the sugar cotton and she gave it to Reilly.

"Good luck," the young actress finally said before leaving the shop.

Once they were in the car, John, who had remained silent during all the conversation, started to laugh so hard that soon tears were prickling on his eyes. "I can’t believe you did that, baby!" he said, Roma and Reilly joining his laughter. "You won a Golden Globe there!"

"A Golden Globe?" Roma asked in mock indignation. "I thought it was worth an Oscar! I wanted to snap at her for daring put her eyes on my angel!"

****

Saturday night

"She’s off like a light!" Roma whispered when John closed Reilly’s door after they had tucked her in bed. "Your plan was brilliant, Johnnie. She had a great day today!"

"And you, baby?" the blond actor asked stopping and making her stop as well in the middle of the hallway.

"Are you kidding me?" Roma said wrapping her arms around his waist. "The day was just perfect! I enjoyed it so much especially because I was with you!"

"I hope you’re not too tired for this..." he said placing a hand on the pillow.

The Irish actress chuckled. "Give me a second? I’ll go get change and I’ll meet you downstairs?"

"Sure... And I’ll get rid of this," he said starting to pull at his moustache.

Ten minutes later Roma joined John at the living room. He had already made coffee and two mugs were steaming invitingly. He saw her coming and noticed her attire, sweat pants and a short tight blouse that allowed him to glance at a little part of the skin of her belly when she moved. She was very careful not to let something like that happen when she was in public as she had always been recognized for her elegant dressing, so to know she had dressed like that purposefully for him was very exciting. "You read my mind," she said taking a sip of coffee before cuddling with him on the couch.

"I’m not a magician, baby, I only happen to know you," he said kissing her temple and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"I got nervous when the woman at the shop recognized me," she said relaxing in his hold. "If she had recognized you, I don’t want to think what would have happened! She really had a crush on you!"

John chuckled. "Nothing would have happened. I would’ve agreed to have a picture with her and would’ve told her not to wait for an impossible as she will never, ever have the chance to get my heart. It already belongs to someone..."

"And that someone will never break your heart," Roma said inching her face to kiss him.

"Am I really a hottie?" he asked when they parted.

"Oh, yes!" she replied. "I bet the number of Androolers has kept on growing even if the show is over!"

"Androolers!" John chuckled. "That always sounded funny to me!"

"Had I accepted I loved you since the major crush ad thing, I would’ve had a hard time dealing with them!" she joked.

"Hey, and what about me? The Romaniacs weren’t easier to take!" His arm went lower and circled her waist and a slight movement from her made his hand touch her warm skin. Both felt a bolt of electricity at the contact but John didn’t pull away. On the contrary, he got eager and slipped his hand under her blouse to caress more of her skin.

Roma felt herself shivering and then moved to tangle her hand in his hair to pull him down for another kiss. Little by little, the kiss grew heavier, and he accommodated himself to lay on the couch. John slipped his other hand under Roma’s blouse and moved her to rest on the top of him. He heard her moaning quietly in between kisses and his heart skipped a beat. When breathing was necessary for both, he managed to ask, "So, shall we start trying for a real one?" and then moved his right hand to her belly and caressed it lovingly.

****

Friday afternoon, one week later

"I have something to show you," Roma told John when he arrived to her house. "Sam gave it to me today."

John took the envelope his girlfriend was handling him and smiled at seen what was inside. "Do you mind if I keep it?" he asked.

"Not at all, but why?" Roma asked too.

John placed a hand on her cheek an pulled her for a sweet kiss. "This is a picture of the future I want," he explained.

It was a picture of him with Reilly and the "pregnant" Roma, all the three smiling while they were on the merry-go-round.