Redeeming a Dark Heart

Chapter 29: Dinner

***Sorry guys, I forgot to update on Monday but here's the next chapter. I had a few prewritten chapters, but I looked back at them and decided I didn't like what I had so I'll try to get those written for you guys as soon as I can. Enjoy!***

On our way down to dinner, we stopped by the Merry Men's wing of the castle and picked up Roland. It was normal to let others take care of the children but I missed him and it seemed like it'd been forever since I'd seen him, even though it really hadn't been long. I balanced him on my hip with one arm, holding Robin's hand in the other. The little baby seemed content at the moment, pulling at my hair with his sticky fingers and staring in awe at the shimmering lace of my sleeve.

We got down to dinner just in time. Snow and Charming were just beginning their meal, but paused as we hurried into the room. It was a private dinner tonight, just the five of us. I couldn't decide if that was better or worse.

"You did decide to come, good, we were thinking you two were going to stay upstairs all evening playing dress up." Charming teased, chuckling.

I rolled my eyes, still wishing we had chosen to do that instead. But we were already here so we found our seats and began to pull food off of the center plates.

"Nope, we had our experience with that." I played back, "We decided coming down would be a good idea, just so you didn't think we were getting ourselves into any trouble." Snow smirked at my words, taking them in a different sense than I had intended.

I sighed at her reaction as she stole a knowing glance with Charming. I took a bite of meat, swallowed, and started on a new topic, putting an end to their teasing talk.

"So what do you want done for wedding preparations tomorrow?" I asked Snow, resituating Roland on my lap.
She thought for a minute, then answered.

"I would really appreciate it if you finish getting all of the names written down for the invitations list, and after you've finished that you could start getting a food list ready for the cooks. I'll let you know more tomorrow about what dishes we've been thinking about, but if you could do that it would be great." She told me, trying to come up with any other jobs that needed to be done. "Yah, I think that's all I have for tomorrow so you'll have plenty of time to spend with Robin..." She grinned, winking at us holding hands under the table. "Next week I'll need you to take shifts supervising the decorations of the grand hall, but I have plenty of help for everything until then. Oh yah, and you might want to think about what dress you'll be wearing since you are walking me down the aisle and all."

I nodded my head at her instructions, feeling like I should have been taking notes through her list of what needed to be done. Thank goodness there wasn't much to do tomorrow, Robin and I could finally have a decent amount of time together.

I took my hand out from under the table and took another bite of food. Roland squirmed in my lap and I reached out to comfort him, making him squeal.

"So, who is this little guy, I don't think I've been introduced." Snow said, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Oh, right." I said, glancing down at him. "This is Roland." I realized I should have given more background, but it was too late.

Snow smirked, looking from me to Robin and back to Roland. Charming sat there, amused but not quite sure what to do.

"Is he...yours?" Snow asked giddily. I blushed, feeling my skin get hot with embarrassment.

Robin answered quickly. "He's my son." But the answer wasn't clear enough.

"I knew it!" Snow exclaimed. "I knew you two were--"

I cut her off. "Snow!" I said loudly. She quieted down quickly, her smile fading down as she realized what we'd meant.