The phone shrilling woke them up. Angel leaned over and grabbed the receiver and held it up to his ear, his eyes closed.
He heard a man's voice on the other end talking. He really wasn't taking it all in until he heard a name. He sat up suddenly, shocked out of his drowsy state. He swung his legs out of the bed and stood up next to the bed. Temperance managed to roll, albeit awkwardly to the side of the bed, and kiss him on his bare buttock. When she received no reaction, she added her teeth, nipping his sharply. He jumped, but shooed her away with his free hand. He stepped away from the bed and turned around to face her. She was smiling at him. She looked so beautiful, naked, her swollen belly resting on the mattress, a sea of soft sheets beneath it, her breasts, large and pendulous hanging down. She smirked and let her hand sweep across her nipples making them stand up under her touch. He stared at her, still listening to the voice on the end of the phone. His lack of reaction at first, annoyed her. She sat up and pulled the sheet across her body, frowning at him. But something in his face. Something was wrong. Something bad. "The twins?" she whispered anxiously.
Angel held up his hand and shook his head. She relaxed and turned around and climbed out of the other side of the bed, grabbing her dressing gown and wrapping it around her body. It only just met at the front so she tied the belt around it firmly and went to stand next to Angel. She grasped his arm with her hands, staring into his face, which had gone a terrible shade of grey. Temperance tugged at his arm, the question on her face obvious. "What is going on?" Angel wrapped his arm around her shoulders and squeezed, his hand was ice cold through her gown on her skin. She shivered at his touch.
Suddenly Angel dropped his arm and walked away and stared out of the window. "OK. Yes. I understand. I'll tell her. And thank you." His hand dropped to his side, holding the phone in his hand. "Angel?" she asked. He didn't reply, he just stood staring out of the window, his shoulders had dropped and were rolled forwards. His body was drained. "Angel?" she asked again as her hand slid up his back and onto his shoulder, pulling him gently to turn and look at her. His face was pale, drawn. His eyes cloudy and wet with unfallen tears. "Please, talk to me!" she asked, the pitch of her voice raising with fear and worry.
Angel sighed heavily and walked over and put the phone back on the base and sat down on the side of the bed and patted the mattress, ignoring his nakedness, indicating her to come and sit with him. She followed his instructions and using the footstool, climbed carefully up onto the bed and sat beside him, leaning her head on his shoulder, her hand lying gently on his thigh. He wrapped his fingers around hers and lifted it to his lips, kissing the palm of her hand. "Max died last night Temperance" he whispered against her fingers.
He felt her hand go stiff. She tried to pull her hand from his but he held it tightly. He heard her suck in air and sob. "No! Dad!" She tried to pull away from him, but he held her hand tightly preventing her, until she turned towards him and lay her head against his chest. He finally let go of her hand and wrapped his arms tightly around her, holding her while she sobbed against his bare skin. Her tears were hot and he felt as though he was being burned by a thousand tiny hot pokers as her tears rained over his chest. The pain in his heart was almost unbearable. He felt as if it was being wrapped in iron bands and squeezed tightly. Her body shuddering against him brought tears to his eyes and he bent his head over hers and let his own tears fall.
Oh Max. What have we done? We should have told her. Angel was hurting. He had known about Max's heart. But Max had made sure Angel promised not to tell Temperance, ever. Angel hated lying to her. But this whole situation was made up of lies. Max's. His. He would never know if Max died of natural causes or whether his offering Max up for a sacrifice was the reason. And he knew it would haunt him forever. He sniffed and lifted his head, wiping his eyes with his hand. Her body had stilled and she was whimpering quietly now. He stroked her hair and back. You never knew, but, you saved our baby Max. I can't ever repay you for that. You saved your grandchild he thought to himself.
Eventually Temperance sat up and leaned against his shoulder. "He's really gone?" she said, sounding like a small child. Angel's arm wrapped around her, holding her close "Yes honey. I'm so sorry." he whispered. "That's why we didn't hear from him yesterday. He was in hospital." "In hospital?" she echoed. Angels hand stroked her shoulder and arm "Yes baby. Apparently he had refused to give them any contact details until late last night. Typical Max." he said. "I told the hospital we would drive up today. I'll call Tania and Steve. See if they can keep the twins for a few more days." Angel said. "No. I'll call. I want to say hello to them. Hear their voices." Temperance said quietly.
She had calmed down and was starting to respond normally. "I will get Tania to go to the house and pick up some more clothes for them. And I'll call Mrs Anderson to see if she can look after Angel for another few days." She stood up and walked to the bathroom. "I'm going to take a shower" she called out absently. "Fine." Angel replied quietly. He knew she wasn't really talking to him.
He leaned his elbows on his knees and rested his head in his hands. Why couldn't this have waited another week? He felt all his hard work, his plans for the perfect weekend had been ruined. But of course, it would be just like the PTB to do it this way. Can I never just catch a break? he thought bitterly. Finally he stood up and scratched himself absently. He looked around for his boxers, finding them underneath the bed. He slipped them on and picked up the phone.
"Mrs Brownlow? Yes, um, we have to check out early. We have had some bad news. Temperance's father passed away last night. Yes. Thanks for everything." He pulled their bags out of the closet and put them on the bed and started packing. If nothing else he could help her by doing this. He left out a pair of jeans for himself and her maternity slacks, clean underwear and shirts and closed the bags. He checked under the bed, and in the closet to make sure he had left nothing behind.
He retrieved her wedding dress from the floor where he had dropped it last night. He stood holding the dress to his face, inhaling her perfume deeply and feeling the softness of the fabric against his cheek. He sighed and hung it on its hanger and zipped up the protective bag around it. He felt her hands rub his back and then wrap around his waist "Thankyou" she said simply, her head laying against his back, her arms hugging him tightly. He spun in her arms and hugged her back. She lifted her head and stared at him. "Thankyou Angel, for everything. I'm sorry this has spoiled your plans." she said quietly.
He smiled and kissed her "Nothing to apologise for. We got married, and that was perfect. It's all I wanted. This? It's life, isn't it." he said simply. She smiled back and then frowned "He was sick when he visited us last time, wasn't he? I thought he didn't seem quite right on that last night. Angel, did he tell you?" she asked. Angel took a deep breath and looked her square in the eye. No lying. "Actually, yes. He did." Her eyes widened "Then why didn't you tell me?" she said. "Because he made me promise not to. He made me swear on the twins heads. Because he is your father and he would have killed me if I had told you." he said, defending himself.
She opened her mouth to argue, then stopped. "Yes. You're right. He was a man who when he gave his word, he kept it. He would expect anyone else to do the same." she said. "But I do wish he had told me. I could have helped him, found doctors" she added sadly. Angel tightened his hug "And you know he would never do that. He didn't want that. Temperance, he was a good man deep down. I know he had hurt you in the past, but way down inside him, there was a loving father and grandfather. He did love you Temperance. He really did. That's what you need to remember." he told her. He let go of her and looked around. "Well I've packed everything. I'll just have a quick shower and get dressed and we'll head off. I've already rung Mrs Brownlow, so we can just leave when we are ready." He grabbed his clothes and headed into the bathroom.
Temperance sat on the edge of the bed and looked around her. She looked down at her hand then held it up to look at her wedding ring. "I do wish you could have been here Dad" she said to the room. "and I wish you knew who Angel really is. He's a kind, dear, strong, wonderful man whom I love more than anything in the world. We have been to hell and back together, we've never left each other's side. He's good to me and loves me. I promised to love him and care for him and be with him forever nearly seven years ago, and I've never looked back from the day I did. I wish you knew him" she trailed off. She wiped her tears once more and dressed before she set about tidying up the room while Angel showered.
Angel pulled the car into a park close to the hospital. He looked across at Temperance. Her face was pale, dark circles beneath her eyes. He reached over and grabbed her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. Her mouth curling slightly into a small smile, but not looking at him, just staring out the window of the car. "I'm in a holding pattern Angel. I'm just barely keeping it together. I don't know if I can do this." she said, her voice wavering. Angel swallowed. He knew how hard this was going to be for her. she's lost so much he thought looking at her face. She suddenly turned and faced him, her eyes cloudy, her bottom lip trembling slightly. "Let's go" she said. She turned and opened the car door. Angel jumped out of the car and ran around to help her stand. She was due soon. Too soon for all of this They stood and stared up at the hospital for a moment then slowly walked to the door.
Angel sat quietly in a chair against the far wall watching her. She stood over him, gently stroking his cheek, brushing his hair away from his forehead. A single tear clinging to her chin finally broke it's hold on her skin and landed on his lips. Another followed its path, then another. She bowed low over him and kissed his forehead, her tears washing over his face. This was the most emotional he thought he had ever seen her. He sat watching, not knowing what to do.
She looked up at him and said his name "Angel". He stood quickly and walked over to her and lifted her from her father's body and wrapped her tightly in his arms. She stood clinging to his chest. "Angel?" she finally managed to utter. "Angel, I think I'm in labour." He suddenly realised he was standing in a puddle. Her water had broken.