Chapter 19

"Honey, I'm home!" Jack cried to an empty house. He'd had a meeting that went on forever. There he was looking at files and stationery reports when all he wanted to do was go home and paint the spare room. He was nesting like crazy since Samantha's due date was almost upon them. He looked around and shrugged, going into the kitchen. As he passed the flashing answering machine, he flicked play. He stopped immediately when he heard Samantha's worried tone.

"Jack? Are you home yet? I've been trying to get you on your cell where are you? Okay, anyway, don't worry but about an hour ago I got a call from the home saying that your father had a small stroke. They don't know a whole lot but he's resting comfortably and they're doing tests. We're at NYU so get down here as soon as you get this okay? I love you, be careful."

In a daze Jack made it to the hospital and up to the ward. As the elevator doors open he and Samantha caught sight of each other. They ran towards each other and hugged. Jack kissed her softly on the forehead and looked beyond her into the room where his father slept. In the time since they had moved into the house they had seen a lot more of Frank. He and Jack were on the best of terms and he worshipped Samantha as the daughter he never had. As he looked at her face, contorted with worry, he realised that the feeling was mutual.

She led him into the room and took Frank's hand softly. He opened his eyes slowly and smiled at her and then Jack, holding his other hand out for his son to take.

"Hey pop, how are you doing?"

"Had a stroke, other than that, fine." He said softly, his voice cracked.

Samantha smiled at that and greeted the doctor as he came in.

"You must be Jack. I'm Doctor Tyler." The men shook hands.

"Could we talk outside?" He motioned towards the door. Jack moved around the bed, momentarily resting his hand on Samantha's shoulder.

"Oh sure, go outside and talk about me." Frank shouted after them.

"I'll stay with you Frank." Samantha piped up. He softened and smiled at her warmly.

The doctor gestured for Jack to sit down in some chairs down the hall.

"Your father seems to have had a mild stroke, probably some time last night. Most likely during his sleep. Luckily staff there are trained to notice the symptoms and rushed him down here as soon as they realised. He's a little tired and he was disorientated until your wife showed up and then he calmed down considerably. He has lost some mobility on his left arm and you may have noticed the left side of his face is a little droopy."

Jack gulped, struggling to take all of this in.

"Luckily we can treat all of this with some medication and his facial expressions will return to normal. We have some simple exercises which will also help his mobility return."

Jack was nodding slowly. The doctor looked at him.

"I know this is frightening. But there's no reason why he shouldn't make a good recovery."

Jack finally had a thought in his head.

"What about his Alzheimer's? Will this affect it or was it brought on by it?"

"We can't really be sure about whether or not caused it. It's hard to say because so little is known about that side of the disease, however, it doesn't seem to be progressing any faster than it was. Look, it's easy to blame every little thing on the Alzheimer's but you have to remember that your father isn't a young man. This stroke could simply be down to his age."

"I guess you're right. How long does he have to stay here?"

"We'd like to monitor him for a little while, just to be safe. We'd also like to check on the progress of the Alzheimer's so ideally I'd like him to stay for at least a week, maybe two. After that he can go home. With regular testing his progress can be kept on top of. I'd like to try and be one step ahead of this thing, if I can."

Jack stood up and shook hands with the doctor. As he walked back to the room, he saw Samantha sitting on the edge of the bed softly stroking his hand as he slept. Jack smiled softly. God, he loved her so much.

When they got home there was a message on the machine from the manager of the care home. She wanted to make an appointment to discuss things.

"You know what that means don't you? They're gonna kick him out just because he's had a stroke." Jack sighed and sat down on a stool at the breakfast bar. Samantha made him some coffee and gave him a sympathetic look.

"Maybe but then maybe not. You knew moving him to another home was going to be an issue some day."

"I know, I know." Jack rubbed his face and kept his hands over his eyes momentarily. Samantha walked over to him leaning down to envelope him in her arms. Her eyes filled with tears as his arms held onto her for dear life. He started to quietly sob. She knew he felt like he was losing his father faster than he should.

She held him for a long time. He needed her to lean on and she was going to be there no matter what. They didn't talk, they didn't have to.

Later on Jack couldn't sleep. He looked at Samantha sleeping peacefully and sighed. He got up carefully, trying not to wake her and went downstairs into the room that would eventually become his office if he could ever get around to unpacking. He searched purposefully for a box and eventually found it.

He brought it into the living room and sat down, placing it on the coffee table. It was full of old pictures from his childhood. He smiled as he looked through them. He missed his mother every day but he especially missed her today. She was good when people were sick, knowing just what to do and what to say. When he was younger and feeling bad, she would come in and stroke his hair, sing or just talk to him and he would fall asleep feeling so safe. It felt like he was in a big bubble where no-one else existed but him and her.

He heard Samantha's bare feet pad across the wooden floor and sit down beside him. She rested her head on his shoulder as she put her arms around him.

"Come on baby, it's almost three. What's all this?"

"I just needed to remember a little, that's all." He said, not looking up. She sighed.

She lifted a handful of photos and slowly looked through them. She had only ever seen one picture of Jack's mother. It was the one of his parent's wedding, which usually sat on his desk at home.

Samantha looked at the pictures in her hand and sighed. They were of Jack as a baby with his mother. They were on a beach somewhere and Jack was naked, paddling in the sea with her. She laughed and showed it to Jack.

"She was really pretty. I wish I could have met her, just once even."

Jack closed his eyes and rested his cheek on top of her head.

"Me too, honey. You would have loved her. She would have loved you. You two were a lot alike, feisty, sassy and full of energy." He put the photos he had in his hand back in the box and leaned back against the sofa.

Samantha thought for a second and turned to face Jack.

"You know, if they do kick him out…."

He opened his eyes.

"He could come and live with us." She smiled carefully.

Jack sat up and looked at her.

"Seriously? I mean, it be a lot of work; especially with a new baby in the house."

"I don't care about that. I don't him to be shuttled from home to home; it would make him even more confused than he already is. Imagine what it's going to be like for him. At least he'll always know that he's in one place and he's staying there no matter what happens; surrounded by family who are going to take care of him. It would give him so much security Jack. We could get help; we wouldn't have to do it alone."

Jack smiled at her and squeezed her hand.

"He's really gotten to you hasn't he?"

"What can I say? I guess I'm attracted to the strong silent type." She smiled leaning forward to kiss him softly.