Driving five hours to go meet my brother's baby is not ideal alone, with an eleven-month-old and a five-year-old but I do it because my brother asked me politely. Arriving at the Hospital Stevie and I walk in at the same time.

"Where did you come from?" I ask

"Well, your mom called me. Lindsey, I'm renting a condo in Santa Monica. About an hour away from our house. My album was finished two weeks ago, and I've spent the last week getting it ready. I want to take the kids every weekend until we go on tour. Robin called. She can't come with us on this tour. So, I was thinking my parents could come with us instead. Robin won't tell me why though." She explains

"So, you're renting a house in Santa Monica, you want the kids on the weekend, but you don't want a D-I-V-O-R-C-E." I sigh.

"Well do you?" She glares.

"You know what Steph I don't know. All I know is I want my wife back. The mother of my children." I state walking into the maternity ward where my brother waves us over.

"How is everyone?" I ask

"Meredith and little Joey are amazing." Greg fawns.

"Joey?" Stevie asks.

"Joseph Michael Buckingham. Josephine was her mother's name and she passed away recently." Greg explains.

"Uncle Greg, can I hold Joey?" Sara asks.

"Of course. Let's go inside." Greg smiles taking Sara's hand.

"How do you feel?" Stevie asks Merridith when we walk in.

"Good. He was nine pounds. I had to get two stitches. Which were hurting like Hell so they gave me some painkillers? I feel absolutely nothing." Meredith smiles.

"Mason was nine ten. I had to get five stitches." Stevie sympathizes.

"Jeff was ten pounds, Greg was nine and Lindsey was nine eight. All of my boys were big babies." Mom smiles.

"We still are." Jeff bellows as my other brother and I laugh and the girls go red.

"Seriously though, I am nine inches taller than my wife," I say.

"Really, I would've never guessed," Meredith says.

"Mommy wears really tall boots." Sara pipes up.

"I'm only five foot one and a half on a good day. Lindsey is five ten." Stevie explains.

"Sara is going to be tall." Mom smiles.

"I know she is. So is Mason." Stevie sighs.

"I hope you four aren't thinking about driving back tonight." My mom looks at the clock on the wall.

"I have to, I have a photo shoot tomorrow. Are you going back tonight?" Stevie asks.

"It's parent game day tomorrow. I'm running the three-legged race with Angeline." I make sure to include the Angeline part because when Sara got discharged we got in a giant argument about Angeline being at the hospital.

"Yeah and me and Sammy are going to be partners." Sara smiles. "And the last day is Wednesday so daddy said Sammy could spend the night."

"Well baby girl, let momma hold him." Stevie bends over to grab Joey from Sara who was sitting in the hospital couch with my mom.

"Besides, we'll be here for two whole weeks in August." I shrug.

"Exactly. Oh, Lindsey, I want another one. He's so cute." Stevie coos.

"You'd have to come home first," I mumble

She just looks at me and then back down at the baby.

"Oh, I see Buckingham blues. Hello, my love. I'm your Aunt Stevie. If you ever need anything I'm one call away. I hope you and your cousin Mason get along. He's a year older than you. But you'll be buddies tormenting your cousin Sara to no end." Stevie coos and my heart melts. I knew there was a reason I married her.

We stay for about a half an hour and then before Stevie and I go our separate ways she turns to me.

"I'll give you a call and we'll set things up in June. When we go on tour we'll try for the kids." Stevie says placing her hand on my bicep giving it a light squeeze.

Wednesday came way too quickly and soon my baby girl was hugging her teacher goodbye. One year down, twelve more to go. Twelve years. A lot can happen in that span of time. Who knows, Stevie and I might be divorced, and I might be shacked up with someone else. Or we could work our shit out and be happy with our two children trying to kill each other. With the way things are going, now option one may be the way to go. Watching the girls play and Mason snoozing in his baby pen I can't help but think about Stevie in the arms of Don Henley and my arm twitches. These muscle spasms have been happening frequently since Stevie left. It's been about seven months. I should get it checked out, but between working and the kids and sweet little Ginny, I haven't had much time for myself.

"Daddy, can we order pizza for dinner?" Sara's sweet melodic voice fills my ears.

"Of course baby what do you girls want on it?" I ask.

"Cheese and more cheese." Sara grins.

"No pepparoni?" I cock my eyebrow. My child loves meat.

"Sammy doesn't like pepparoni," Sara informs me.

"Alright, I'll get you girls, a cheese pizza." I smile grabbing the phone.

"After ordering myself a meat pizza and the girls their cheese, I wake and bathe Mason. The girls were enjoying Sara's swingset but my daughter's longing look at the water got me thinking. Swimming like music is in her blood. And I could teach those girls so well. We have a pool. All I would need is bathing suits, life vests, and floaties. Next move, calling Debra and Paul.

"Good afternoon, this is Debra Byron." She answers the phone. Over the school year, I've learned both Deb and Paul are High School teachers. Deb teachers Math and Paul teaches English.

"Hi Deb, it's Lindsey. Samantha is okay but I was wondering if Samantha has any summing background?" I ask as the bell rings. I grab my wallet and head for the door.

"No, she doesn't I've been meaning to get her lessons. We live in California there's so much Water here." Deb sighs.

"Well, I used to swim competitively. I'm starting to teach Sara and they've been staring at the pool for a while." I say paying the pizza man.

"Oh, would you!" Debra gasps.

"OF course. I know Sara will love that" I smile.

"Thank you so much. I have to go back to work but I'll pick her up at noon on Saturday. Thank you for taking her. IF she has any problems don't hesitate to call." Debra says.

During dinner I look at the girls, "so do you two want to learn how to swim?"

"Really!" Sara gasps.

"Yep. I talked to the Byron's and I can teach you, girls, how to swim. After dinner, we can go to the store and get you some floaties and life jackets and suits." I tell them.

"They cheer and soon enough, I'm at a store lugging two life jackets, two bathing suits, baby swim diapers, and floaties around.

***

By Saturday, I had been in the pool with the kids non-stop. When Deb and Paul came to get their daughter, Sam and Sara were doing laps together. My son was angrily batting at the water. He would rather be playing with his blocks.

"Wow, you did really well with them. But Mason doesn't seem so happy." Paul chuckles.

"Yeah, I think it may be a little cold for him. But without another adult, I'm kind of stuck.

"I'll take him out. You boys take care of the girls." Debra states grabbing a towel and collecting the dripping baby.

"She's getting ideas," Paul says.

"You don't want another baby?" I ask.

"No, I've always wanted a big family. But Deb almost died when she had Sammy." Paul shrugs as our girls walk over to us wrapped in towels.

"Daddy, can I call momma later and tell her I learned how to swim?" Sara asks.

"If you want to." I chuckle.

"Still haven't worked things out with Stevie?" Paul asks.

"No, she um...she is renting a condo in Santa Monica. She wants to start taking the kids every other weekend. But she won't file for divorce." I shrug.

"You know you could." He sighs.

"I have papers they just aren't filed. I think I might bite the bullet though, after our tour. That way I can leave Fleetwood Mac with a clean slate." I sigh.

"You're thinking about leaving?" Paul wrinkles his eyebrows.

"It's not that I want to leave, it's just...someone has to be with the kids. I don't want a nanny raising them and being on the road is just too much for them and there are things out there, especially with my bandmates, that they shouldn't be exposed to." I shrug.

"Honestly Linds, you're one of my best friends and I'm going to tell you this as honestly as possible...you do need to leave, It's not healthy for you to be in that situation with Stevie. You've told me that every time you work together you end up fighting. That is not a good thing when it comes to marriage. Once in awhile is okay, but not every day. And you don't have to quit music indefinitely, and if you do go solo, you can make sure that the things you don't want your children exposed to aren't around. You can make your own rules and your own schedule." Paul shrugs.

"That's why I'm thinking about it." I nod

Paul sighs and places his hand on my back patting it gently. Debra makes a delicious lunch and the Byron's head home. Soon tour would be starting and I would have to be with Stevie constantly. I think it'll be fine. I hope it will be fine.