The day was long for Sabrina she was trying to balance taking care of Mark and keep Tommy and Kelly and the baby away from him. It was killing Mark not being able to play with Tommy, and likewise for Tommy. Kelly and the baby were fussy and Sabrina felt bad but she couldn’t just stop and lay down. She lost total track of the time and was changing the baby when she heard the door open and close.

“Hey, I’m home.” Isaac said from the door.

A chorus of “Daddy!” was heard.

When Sabrina got downstairs holding the baby she saw Isaac on the floor with two kids trying to tell him everything that was going on.

“Where’s Mark?” he asked Tommy.

“He’s in your bed. Mommy said a chicken got him.”

Isaac laughed. “A chicken got him?”

“Yeah.” Tommy said nodding his blonde head.

Isaac looked up from his kids and saw the love of his life standing at the end of the staircase holding his other daughter. He got up and went to her, hugging her. “Hey, baby.”

“Hi, I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too.” He kissed her.

“Ewwww.” Tommy said.

“What? I’m not allowed to kiss your mommy?”

“No.”

Isaac laughed. “So what chicken got Mark?”

“The chicken pox.”

“Ohhh, not good.” He said.

“Nope. He’s upstairs. WE are going to have to move him to the den before we go to bed.”

“Yeah.” Isaac put Kelly down and jogged up the stairs. He opened the door and found his son lying on the bed watching Mr. Rogers. He smiled, “Hey buddy, how are you?”

“Daddy! I’m okay I itch.”

“I know, I hate the chicken pox.”

“Did you have them?”

“Yeah, they were no fun.”

“No, they aren’t. I don’t see why I can’t scratch.”

“Because you will get scars.”

“How can you get scars from scratching?”

“You cut your skin with your fingernails. See.” Isaac pointed to the chicken pox scar that he had on his forehead.

“Oh. Still, I wanna scratch.”

“Just don’t.”

“I won’t, I won’t. Mommy already said she’d kick my butt if I did.”

Isaac smiled. “I bet she would to.”

“Why can’t I play with Tommy and Kelly?”

“Because they could get it.”

“Why can’t you or mommy?”

“Because we’ve already had them.”

“So you can’t get them again?”

“Nope.”

“Oh.”

“Come on kid, let’s get you into the spare room.”

“Okay.” Mark got up and followed his dad into the den, and once in there Isaac ordered him to get into the bed and he did just as instructed.

“Dad, I really want to play with Tommy.” He said whining.

“No, not unless you want Tommy to be itchy like you.”

“No, I don’t.”

Isaac turned the television back on to Mr. Rogers. “I’ll be back in a little while to look at you.”

“Kay, Daddy. I’m glad you’re home.”

“I am too.” Isaac left the room and found Sabrina setting the table for dinner.

“Ike, you wanna feed the baby?”

“Sure.”

For the first night in a while it felt good to eat dinner with her kids and husband. Sabrina stole looks at Isaac as if they were still dating and not sure if they liked each other or not. Isaac caught her once or twice and smiled. Sabrina got up suddenly and began preparing another plate of food.

"I’m gonna go run this up to Mark.” Isaac just smiled.

Sabrina made it up to the den and saw Mark spread on the bed sound asleep. She smiled. She turned off the television and tucked Mark into bed. She came back down.

“Wasn’t he hungry?” Isaac asked when he saw that she brought back the plate with all of the food on it.

“He was asleep, so I just tucked him in.”

Isaac nodded and they cleaned up dinner and then Isaac spent some time with his children while Sabrina read. Sabrina would glance up occasionally when she would hear one of the kids giggle or Isaac laugh.

Just watching them together made her happy. It just made her smile. Nothing was better than seeing her husband and children together. She rubbed her stomach. Well little one you will be out here soon playing with your father and the rest of the children.

“Okay guys, okay guys. It’s time for bed.”

“Aww, Daddy.” Tommy whined.

“Now did you whine about bedtime when you were here with your mother?”

“No.”

“Then why are you arguing with me?”

Tommy shrugged his shoulders.

“That’s what I thought. Now come on let’s get you guys ready for bed and I’ll sing you a song.”

“Okay, Daddy. Mommy, come on.”

“No, why don’t you just let your daddy get you ready. Mommy doesn’t feel too good tonight.”

Tommy came over and hugged her and kissed her. “Feel better, Mommy.”

“I’ll try.”

“Love you.”

“Love you too.”

“Come on, Tommy.” Isaac said extending a hand while holding Kelly in his arms. She was already half asleep on his shoulder. Tommy went to him and took his hand. Sabrina couldn’t help but let a smile slip when she saw her two children with their father.

She was reading again when Isaac came downstairs and flopped down on the couch beside her. He picked up her feet and took off her socks. She eyed him while he removed them. He grabbed the lotion that she had beside the couch and began massaging her feet.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I know, but I want to. I think that you deserve it. Taking care of four little ones and being pregnant and still teaching.”

“Isaac, we need to talk about that,” she said sitting up slightly and putting her book down.

“What?”

“I don’t think that I should teach anymore. I mean I love teaching but I want to be a stay at home mom. Especially with you on the road-“

“Hey, I don’t want this to have anything to do with my career. We decided that my being in the music business would mean nothing to this family. It would be as normal as it could ever be.”

“Isaac, it’s the fact that I think it would be best for the children if I was at home.”

“I just want to make sure it is the best for everyone.”

“Isaac, stop it. This is a decision that I want to make for me. I want to quit I want to spend time with my husband I want my kids to spend time with their father.”

“I didn’t’ realize that you felt so strongly about this.”

“Well, I do.”

“I see that now.”

“I just want your support in this.”

“Than you have it.”

“Good. I’m ready to go to bed.”

“So am I.”

They both got up and went into their room. Sabrina found Isaac in bed pulling the rubber band out of his hair when she opened the bathroom door to enter their bedroom. She watched from the door as he shook his hair out. She smiled. She climbed into bed with him and snuggled into his chest and he wrapped his arms around her.

“What about the kids?” He asked suddenly.

Sabrina looked up at him confused, she required further explanation. “When you quit. Are we going to pull them out of public school?”

“You know, I don’t know if I want to pull them out of school. I kinda just want to be home.”

“So you still wouldn’t tour with me?”

“No, I don’t’ think so. At first I thought about that I thought that would be the perfect solution. But like we said when I was pregnant with Mark. We don’t want these kids in your shadow or forced into the business by proximity.”

“True. So that’s what is going to happen then?”

“I think so. I think I just need to be home with the kids. I mean this will be out fifth. I think I should be home to raise them when you aren’t.” Isaac sighed. “I didn’t mean it that way, Isaac.”

“I know, I know.”

“But let’s look at this rationally. Your family, my family, my friends, the kids friends are all here. I think it would be best don’t you? This is a two way street you are their father.”

“Well, I think that they should be grounded. I think they should have one place to call home.”

“I agree. The school is good. Mark really likes it there.”

“Yeah. He does doesn’t he?”

“Yup. Tommy can’t wait to go next year because he wants to do what Mark does.”

“Okay, I guess then that’s what we’ll do. We’re recording an album soon. We’re taking a month off or so. And if Taylor decides to get married then I guess we’ll take off longer, but I guess when we do leave for LA I’ll commute back and forth as much as possible.”

“Okay.”

Isaac sighed and held her tightly again.