Chapter 4

Abby kept her distance from Chad and their son. How she missed Thomas with all of her heart. She wanted nothing more than to just go up to him, scoop him up, rain kisses all over his face and never let him go. It had been torturous the last several months without her little boy in her arms. The same went for Chad. It pained her heart to keep away from him.

That she had to lie to him about who she really was. She kept trying to drop hints to him though, that maybe he'd figure it out on his own. She tried things that only she and he would know; like the line about Thomas Jack Deveraux being a Supreme Court Justice. He had thought of that in their hotel room that wonderful night. She had never breathed a word of his sweet behavior with her as they lay in bed and he made up the most heartwarming, terrible bed time story. She never told one word to her Mom or to Gabi or to anyone. It was just a moment between she and Chad that was incredibly intimate and special.

As they walked through the town, she noticed Chad had taken a detour. "This isn't the way to his house." She wondered to herself. "Where are they going?"

Chad zigged and zagged the baby stroller, clearly playing a game with Thomas. Smiling at the visual of her husband with their son in this special moment between them, she had never felt as pained at her decision to stay away, than she did in that moment. She was missing this. They weren't having this moment together as a family. She had already missed so much, but she was determined not to miss any more.

Chad took a sharp left and when Abby saw where they were headed she heard a small gasp escape her lips without her brain even realizing that she had done it. Chad was taking Thomas to the cemetery. "Oh God!" She whispered.

Still keeping her distance she watched as Chad pulled up to a familiar headstone. It was one that she hadn't visited very often but knew that Chad had been to a lot. Grace.

Chad pulled Thomas out of the stroller and brought him down to the ground with him. Sitting with his legs crossed he held Thomas in his lap as Thomas gripped onto his father's fingers for dear life. In the distance Abby could barely make out what Chad was saying.

"Hey sweetheart." Chad started as he let go of one of Thomas' hands to touch his daughter's grave. It read: Grace Rafaella DiMera. EJ didn't know it at the time but when he had made a new headstone for Grace with the last name DiMera, even though she wasn't EJ's, the name was still correct. They all found out later that she was indeed Chad's and Mia's daughter. God he was such an asshole when he was younger. What a real piece of work he must have been that she couldn't even tell him that she was pregnant.

Thomas cooed in Chad's lap. The little Deveraux was excited to see his Dad. "Thomas I want you to meet someone. This is your big sister. Her name was Grace and she was a wonderful little girl. Daddy didn't get to spend much time with her before she got sick, but, maybe if you ask your Aunt Sami one day, she can tell you more about her than I can."

Chad's eyes didn't move from Grace's name. Too many emotions came over him. He clutched on to Thomas tighter than he had before. "I made a promise to you that I would be a good dad one day and I feel like I'm struggling. I'm not worried about Thomas. I know he's happy right now, but, Abby is gone and I don't know how to get through the days without falling apart. I put on a really good show for everyone but inside I feel like I'm slipping further and further away from who I used to be. From who Abby fell in love with. That was the man that I am destined to be and I'm not sure how to get back on that path." As he looked up into the sky, he continued, "So… Abby used to talk about guardian angels and she used to talk about how she felt like her father used to watch over her and help her through tough times. Since I can't really ask my father for the same thing, I was hoping you could help me out."

Abby waited with bated breath and decided that now would be her cue. If Chad was looking for a sign than she might as well give him one. Gathering all of the butterflies in her stomach, she started to walk over to him. Thomas spotted her behind them and smiled a big, bright smile. Clearly he recognized her. He started to flail his arms about which got Chad's attention.

"What's the matter buddy? Is bath time? Is that what you're getting all excited about? Time to go home and play with your toys?"

As Chad got up, he lifted Thomas back in his stroller. What Chad didn't notice was that Abby had shuffled back behind a tree to hide herself. Peeking out from behind, she caught Thomas' eye as he was desperately searching for his lost Mama.

"We'll come back again and visit, okay?" Chad told his son as he turned him around to head home.

Abigail peered on as she watched her family head home. Turning around she knew while she was here, she couldn't leave without visiting her father. She had missed him so and especially as her world was crumbling around her, she needed him more than she ever had.

The sky was a somber gray, as she looked up she had one clear memory of her father. When she was little, Abby used to always complain about cloudy days to her parents. Jen would always chuckle and wave it to the side, knowing Abby was just being a kid and didn't want to sit inside. Jack had an interesting approach to explaining the more important things in life. He leaned closer to her and gave her a new way to look at the world. He told her that gray in the sky let everyone know the imperfections of the world and when a storm rolled in, that's when people were tested to their true character. Only when the sun came out could people truly appreciate it for what it represented. Hope. Light. Goodness in the world. Jack turned to look upstairs and saw Jennifer standing at the top of them with a smile on her face. The look of love was written all over her face.

Abby had survived the biggest storm of her life when she was locked in that cabin with Ben and her son. Those were the darkest of dark gray days in her life. She had weathered the storm and found her sun. Her hope, her light, resided in Chad and Thomas. Abby had found Jack's tombstone and knelt down beside it, letting the grass sink into her knees. Tears weld up in her eyes.

"Hey Daddy… I miss you. I'm sorry I haven't been by to visit you in a while. There's so much I need to tell you."

"AJ?" Chad's voice carried to her ears. In shock, she whipped her head around to see him holding Thomas in his arms, confusion written all over his face. His piercing blue eyes gravitated to see that she was knelt in front of Jack's grave. Thomas was trying to wiggle free from his grasp and get to her.

"Chad…" She started.

"Abby?" His voice cracked like an earthquake had just shaken his core.

She was frozen there. Everything felt like it was in slow motion for her. She could hear a dog clearly off in the distance, she could feel the coolness of the temperature on her cheeks and the wind blowing her hair in her face. Hearing him call her by her real name, she was stunned. In that moment, she had a choice. She could continue to lie to him and then never reveal her true identity to him, or she could embrace him and their family in that moment, consequences be damned.

There was no choice. It was obvious.

"Chad…" She started to approach him with open arms.

"What?" His disbelief that she was alive, that she was standing in front of him, overwhelmed him. "How?"

"I can explain everything. Let's go home and talk?"

She placed her hand on his face, under his jaw like, like she always had and the sensation of her skin on his shook his core. He closed his eyes and his heart leapt for joy that it really was her. He would recognize her touch anywhere. It just felt… right.

Thomas practically jumped out of his dad's arms and into Abby's. She chuckled at her son's behavior and gladly embraced him. To feel her son in her arms again was pure heaven. This moment felt right. They were reunited. Finally. Now she just had a lot of explaining to do.

The DiMera's left the cemetery, arm in arm on the way home. Together.