Chapter 9: Home

Monday morning, Ainsley met with a florist six months before the wedding to decide on centerpieces and the bouquets while Sam was at work. In the middle of the meeting, Sam called Ainsley.

Ainsley excused herself from the florist she was meeting with. "Yes, Sam?"

"Ainsley, you need to come back to work. I need to talk to you."

"Sam, I'm with the florist right now, can you tell me over the phone or wait for an hour?"

"I don't want to tell you over the phone. You really need to come back to work."

Ainsley thought Sam sounded serious and knew something had happened. Ainsley sighed. "Okay, Sam. I'll be there as soon as I can. Bye."

Ainsley left the florist and walked into the White House. Sam was at the entrance to greet her. He looked pale and his mind was somewhere else.

"Sam?" said Ainsley as she tried to get Sam's attention.

"Let's go to my office," was all Sam could say as he put his hand on her back and guided her though the West Wing's halls. Sam shut the door to his office and motioned Ainsley to take a seat as he sat in the chair next to her.

"Sam, is everything okay?"

Sam took Ainsley's hand and looked her straight in the eye. "Ainsley, your dad was in a car accident this morning." Ainsley bit her lip and took a deep breath. She didn't want to hear what Sam had to say next. She knew, but Sam said it anyway. "He died, Ainsley."

Ainsley got up from her chair and started to pace around the office. Sam stood up and hugged Ainsley as she started to sob on his shoulder. Sam never had to comfort anyone over a death. He didn't know what to do at the moment so he just let Ainsley cry while he rubbed her back. Once Ainsley started to settle down, she called her mother to get the details about the funeral while Sam went to get some water.

Sam made his way back to his office with two cups of water in his hands. Ainsley was still talking on the phone with tears coming down her face. "I don't know when I'll be there, Nicole," said Ainsley to her sister over the phone. Ainsley noticed Sam was back when he closed the door. "Sam's back… I'll talk to you later… Bye."

"You didn't have to hang up because I was back."

"We weren't talking about much anyway," said a somber Ainsley.

"How are you doing?"

"I'm just shocked. He was only 66. People easily live into their 80's these days."

Sam could see that Ainsley was going to cry again and moved closer to Ainsley to give hold her. "I know."

After half and hour of crying, Ainsley started to relax again. She told Sam the funeral was going to be this Thursday, which was 3 days away.

"We can leave tomorrow morning and stay until Sunday," said Sam.

"You don't have to go. I know you are busy with the campaign."

"I can go. I want to go. Why don't you go home to pack and I'll get things ready for the time I'll be gone."

"Yeah," said Ainsley who looked dazed as she turned towards the door.

Sam had Ginger cancel what ever he had left in the evening so he could go home and be with his fiancée. During his staff meeting, Sam broke the news about Ainsley's dad and the staff shared their condolences.

Early the next morning, Sam and Ainsley left for her parent's house. Ainsley slept most of the way- exhausted from crying the night before. They were half way to their destination when she woke up.

"Do you want to stop some place to eat?" asked Sam.

"I packed some food. We should be okay until you need to get gas."

The car was silent for a while until Sam asked, "How are you doing?"

"I'm okay I guess. Better than yesterday. The news has sunk in now and I'm all cried out, you know?"

"Yeah."

The car became quiet again.

Ainsley sighed. "I'm probably more upset that he isn't going to be at my wedding. I won't have the father daughter dance and he won't walk me down the aisle."

"We'll think of something," said Sam, trying to reassure Ainsley that everything will turn out just fine- even though he wasn't so sure himself. "It'll be okay."

They made it to the Hayes's house in the afternoon and were greeted by her family and a few friends. The house was quite spacious and was plotted on about 10 acres of land. Ainsley and her siblings loved growing up there and Sam liked to come to the peaceful area. The house had enough bedrooms for each of the four children to have their own plus an extra bedroom for guests. It wasn't a big surprise to Sam when he first saw the super-sized kitchen and how the family mostly stayed in the kitchen instead of the living room.

The crying started over again once they arrived and this time Ainsley's mother and sister comforted each other while Sam put their suitcases in their bedroom with the help of Ainsley's brothers, Bobby and John. Bobby was the oldest of the Hayes children with John the youngest. Nicole and Ainsley were in the middle with Nicole being older. .

"How is she doing?" asked John to Sam when they were away from earshot of Ainsley and their mother.

"She's shocked, upset, gloomy," said Sam. "I think she's glad to be home though. How are you two doing?"

"I feel the same way as Ainsley. Everyone here does," said Bobby as he put two suitcases by Ainsley's bedroom door.

Sam started to speak. "If you need me to do anything-"

"Thanks, Sam," said John cutting him off, knowing what he was going to say.

By dinnertime, everyone was in a fair mood- considering how the day had been. The family cooked a large dinner together while Sam tried to stay out of the way since his culinary skills were pretty poor. During the dinner, Sam noticed Ainsley starting to relax and talk more.

The next morning, Sam and Ainsley got a nice wake up call from Nicole's kids, Jacqueline and Matthew, when they ran into the room. "Aunt A! Aunt A!" cried out Jacqueline as she jumped on the bed. Aunt Ainsley was a mouth full for five-year-old Jacqueline and three-year-old Matthew.

"Good morning!" said Ainsley in her best I'm-wide-awake voice. "Give me a hug you two! I've missed you guys!"

"Is that Sam?" asked Matthew clearly using his outside voice as he pointed to Sam still in the bed somehow sleeping through the kids jumping around on the bed.

"Hmm. Why don't you wake him up and see," said Ainsley with a smile.

Matthew started to poke Sam until he finally opened his eyes. "Are you Sam?"

"Huh?" asked Sam who was groggy and not really awake yet.

"It's Sam! Its Sam!" cried out Jacqueline as she jumped on his back to give him a hug.

"OOFF!" groaned Sam as Jacqueline just lay on top of him.

Nicole appeared at the door laughing at the site she saw in Ainsley's room. "There are my little munchkins. Let's go help Grandma with the pancakes and let Aunt A and Sam get dressed."

"Pancakes! Pancakes!" yelled Jacqueline and Matthew as they tumbled out of the bed and ran down to the kitchen with Nicole following them.

Ainsley turned to Sam and said, "Morning."

"Do all children act like that?"

"Those two at least. Are you changing your mind on kids now?"

"Maybe," laughed Sam as he leaned over to give Ainsley a kiss. "You look good this morning. Did you sleep well?"

Ainsley climbed out of bed and pulled on her robe. "Yeah. I was pretty exhausted. Want to go get some pancakes?"

"I would never be late for breakfast when it's Mrs. Helen Hayes's famous pancakes," said Sam as he pulled on his robe.

Ainsley and Sam stayed around the house with the family for the day, not really doing much. Sam took his future nice and nephew out for ice cream and kept them occupied while Ainsley and her family went through her dad's things, received baked goods from neighbors, and made last minute funeral arrangements. The day went by slowly which Sam thought was nice because his job was so demanding.

The funeral came and went like every other funeral. Bobby and Ainsley both gave nice eulogies and Sam was by Ainsley's side through the service and reception holding her hand. Sam knew how much Ainsley's father meant to her. Her dad supported the work she did at the White House and they cared about each other very deeply.

Later that evening, Sam found Ainsley sitting alone in her room looking out the window. Her knees were pulled up to her chest with her arms wrapped around them.

"Ainsley?" asked Sam as he stood by the doorway not really sure if he should leave her by herself or talk to her.

"I was wondering when you were going to say something," said Ainsley as she turned to look at Sam. "I'm fine incase you were going to ask how I was."

Sam was surprised at how well Ainsley could sense him in the room and read his mind. Sam nodded his head. "Good." The room remained silent while Ainsley continued to look out the window and Sam thinking about what he should do next. "I'm going to check in on Toby."

Ainsley didn't turn around to look at him. "Okay, Sam."

Sam turned around and walked out of the room to the front porch wondering if he messed up something and Ainsley was mad at him. Sam took out his cell phone and dialed Toby's number. "Hi, Toby."

"Hey, Sam. Are you still coming back Sunday?"

Sam could tell by Toby's voice that he was getting swamped with work and regretted the fact that he left Toby at the office by himself- especially during election year. "Yeah, Toby. Sorry about leaving you by yourself."

"Was the funeral today?"

"Yeah. This afternoon."

"How's Ainsley?" Toby always liked Ainsley and has started to care about her more ever since Sam started dating her.

Sam sighed. "She's in her room by herself right now. I can't tell if she's still mourning or if I did something to hurt her."

"Her dad's funeral was today, she is probably just depressed."

"Yeah."

"When you hang up the phone, just go to her. You probably didn't do anything." Sam was glad Toby was giving him advice. One thing Sam knows about Toby more than other people realize is that he can give really good guidance on relationships.

"Okay. How's everything there?" asked Sam.

"We made plans to go to Florida in two weeks to campaign and then we head to Ohio two weeks after that. The President said Ainsley is welcome to come with us- that's if she wants to campaign for him."

"Yeah. We haven't talked much about the campaign."

"You'll get the full schedule when you come back," said Toby.

"I'll be back soon. Call me if something big happens and tell everyone I said 'Hi'."

"Alright. Go take care of Ainsley."

"Bye." Sam hung up the phone and went to Ainsley just as Toby said.