It was seven the next morning when Dave was woken up by the doorbell ringing repeatedly, then a banging at the door. He jumped out of bed, wearing only pajama pants, and ran downstairs. His heart was already racing, and then when he opened the door, it seemed to suddenly seize up. Standing in front of him was the woman he had just the night before professed his love to—tears falling fast from her eyes, a gut wrenching sob escaping her lips when she saw him. She fell into his arms before he could say a word.
He had gone from dead asleep to wide awake in a matter of moments. His mind was already racing, and he had only one guess as to what this was about, but he asked anyway, to confirm. "Shh, now, what's happened?"
"He's gone. He's died. My dad is gone," she gasped out between sobs. "My brother called an hour ago. It's the middle of the night there."
She broke down again and he hugged her close a moment. "Shh now, come on, let's sit down on the sofa." He directed her out of the doorway and closed the door. As they turned towards the living room, Dave glanced up and saw his three youngest children standing at the top of the stairwell, all half asleep but deeply concerned. He shook his head and pointed them back towards their rooms without a word. Paul nodded and put an arm around his younger brother and sister and turned them back towards their beds. Dave sat Alex down on the couch, grabbed the box of tissues from the coffee table and handed them to her, then knelt in front of her. "I'm just going to go put the kettle on for some tea. I'll be right back, okay?" She nodded quickly and he quickly stood up and moved to the kitchen. He came back a few minutes later with a cup of hot tea for each of them. He sat down next to her, leg tucked up under himself so he could sit as close as possible, facing her. He set their cups down on the table in front of the couch and placed his arm around her shoulder. He finally looked down beyond her face and saw that she was still in pajama bottoms and a t-shirt, with her coat on top. He brushed the hair out of her face and cupped her cheek, turning her face towards him. "Talk to me, Alex."
"The nurse went into do her midnight check and he wasn't breathing. He's gone." She took a tissue and rubbed at her eyes. She seemed to calm down as the crying subsided, but when she looked back up at him, he saw what he could best describe as a look of terror. "I have to go back there!"
He then moved his other hand to her other cheek, trying to help her focus on him as he spoke firmly, "Alex, look at me—" Her eyes were downcast, darting back and forth between objects that weren't there. He could tell she was starting to panic as her breathing started to get faster. "Look at me, Lex. Look at me." The use of her nickname from him for the first time gained her attention. She looked up into his eyes. "You've. Got. This. You are the strongest person I know. You are not alone. Your brother will be there. Your sister-in-law. Your nephews. And I'm here for you. You can call me anytime, day or night. You'll get through this. I promise." She nodded and he pulled her into a hug, holding her close till her breathing calmed again. He then pulled her back and looked at her again. "May I see your phone, please?"
She looked at him questioningly as she reached into the pocket of her jacket and pulled her phone out.
"I'm taking down your brother's number. I'm going to call him and help you start making your flight arrangements. Okay?" She nodded again. "Alright, here—" He handed her tea mug to her. "Start drinking this. Are you up to some cuddles from the kids? They're up and terribly worried by now, I'm sure." She took a sip from the tea and nodded again. "Alright. I'm going to get them, then get the cereal and milk ready while they spend some time with you. We'll have everything sorted soon."
He sighed and pulled her in again for another hug, kissing her forehead and squeezing her tight before releasing her and hopping off the couch, bounding up the stairs. He found all three of the kids in the boys' room, sitting on the bed, waiting to hear from their dad what was going on. He stepped in and closed the door quietly. A few minutes later, the kids ran down ahead of him and into the living room, all piling in around Alex and hugging her.
"Hello, Nathan? This is Dave Tiler. Yes— I'm very sorry to hear about your father.— Yes, she's here at my house. She came over quite upset— You're right, it's going to be quite difficult, for all of you, I'm sure—Yes, she told me— I'd like to help her make her travel arrangements, what airport should she— Okay, yes—" Dave scribbled down notes on a piece of paper as he listened. In between notes he was pulling down a few boxes of cereal and pulled the milk out of the refrigerator. "Yes, I do—oh… well—" Dave paused and listened a moment, taking a deep breath and swallowed hard. "Yes, I am. I'll keep that in mind, thank you. I'm not sure if I could arrange it, but I'll see. Okay, I'll speak to you later. You can call me on this number anytime if you or the family need anything. Bye."
Dave lowered the phone and stared at it a moment, then grabbed the scrap of paper and walked towards the living room. "Kids, cereal is in the kitchen. Paul, make Alex a bowl too. You can eat in here and watch cartoons this morning. I'll be down in a bit." He then turned and jogged up the stairs, dialing another number as he approached his bedroom. "Hello Robin. Something's happened—" He stepped into his bedroom and shut the door.
A half hour later, Dave came down, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, and found Evie cuddled up with Alex on the couch. Alex turned her face towards him when she heard him coming down the stairs and gave him a faint smile. He went to the kitchen and made himself a bowl of cereal and came in to sit on the other side of Alex. The boys both sat in front of the couch, their cereal bowls now empty and sitting on the coffee table. They sat in quiet, while the children watched cartoons and occasionally laughed from the children. After finishing his bowl Dave added his to the stack on the coffee table. "Alright, time to get ready for school, kids"
After a couple minutes Paul had taken the dishes to the kitchen sink and they were headed up stairs to get dressed for school. As soon as he saw that they were upstairs, Dave used the remote to turn the TV off and leaned back against the sofa, taking Alex's hand in his. "I've arranged for your plane ticket." She drew a deep breath in and turned to him, her eyes were rimmed with tears again. "Hey," he cupped her right cheek with his hand again, stroking it gently with his thumb. "You're going to be fine. Your brother will be at the airport waiting for you when you arrive."
"When do I leave?" she whispered as she let out the breath she had held in.
"6:55 tomorrow morning. I'll take you to the airport, Anna is going to come and be sure the kids get to school in the morning. I think you should ride with me to get the kids to school, then we'll go over to your place, so you can have a shower and dressed, and start packing. I want you to leave me a copy of your schedule for the next few weeks. I'll contact the clients and see to it that they understand what's going on. If something urgent comes up, I'll contact you and we'll make arrangements about how to handle it."
"I'm taking my computer and tablet with me, so I can work from there," she said.
He nodded and gave her a moment before approaching the subject he was thinking about. "I know you're upset about your dad. But it's more than that—you're really scared about going home, aren't you?"
Her tears began falling again and the words began to pour out of her, "Yes, I'm scared! I'm scared of going back there after the past year and a half. I'm scared of going back to the place where I lost everything. I'm scared that if I go, I won't be able to come back. I know that sounds crazy, but I'm so scared that somehow, something is going to keep me from getting back here. This is my home now. I'm scared if I leave, I'll lose everything—I'm scared I'll lose you."
Dave took a deep breath and lifted her chin so that she would look into his eyes. "Alexandra Stanton, do not think for a moment that I wouldn't swim across that ocean if it's what it took to get you back here to us. You are coming back. You will be back home, and we will be here waiting for you."