Chapter XIX

Livingston District, Wales

Three weeks later

Dimitri, Alex, and Max sat in the small but crowded bleachers of the local soccer stadium, watching the audience go wild as the home team scored its first goal. Max, too, much to Dimitri's surprise, joined them in the excitement, jumping up and down as soon as the ball flew into the net.

It was the first time the three of them had gone out together for anything more than a short stroll.

"These people are insane," Dimitri whispered to Alex as he watched the frenzy. "And they include our son."

Alex laughed, "You haven't seen anything yet."

"Mum, I just saw Roger and Paul, down below, can I join them?" Max asked Alex, still breathless from his cheering.

"Sure, as long as we can see you."

Dimitri was about to motion one of the nearby guards to follow Max, but he didn't have to. The man was already on his way to where Max was going.

Alex eyed the guard following Max. She leaned against Dimitri, ignoring the game on the field. "You can't keep us under guard for the rest of our lives, you know," she pointed out.

Dimitri wrapped his arm around her, "Why not? If that's what it takes to keep you safe."

"It's madness," she protested. "Where did you find these guys anyway? I've never seen anyone look as serious as these men."

"They're ex-Secret Service. The one who's with Max used to be one of Reagan's bodyguards," Dimitri explained.

"If Charlotte were still alive and she wanted me dead, she would have done it by now," Alex told him. "A handful of bodyguards wouldn't be the slightest deterrent to her if she wanted me dead."

He grabbed a bunch of peanuts and put them in his mouth. "You don't know that, darling. Here," he said, offereing some to her.

Alex shook her head.

"The doctor said you have to eat more."

Alex gave him an amused grin, "Were peanuts were at the top of his list?"

He put one in her mouth, "Peanuts are full of something or other…"

"Protein. Peanuts are full of protein. But I don't like them. I'll get something else."

Dimitri was about to get up, "What do you want? I'll get it for you."

She put her hand on his shoulder, nudging him back down. "Don't be silly, I'll get it." She got up, too quickly, and Dimitri saw her stumble and move a hand to her head.

He put his arms around her and helped her sit back down, "Hey, what was that?"

She suddenly looked very pale. "It's nothing…I just stood up too fast."

"Maybe this is too much. The noise and the crowds. Let's get Max and take you back to the hotel."

"No, really. I'm fine. I wanted to come here today, with you and Max. And the game barely started."

"You don't look fine," Dimitri's countered, his expression firm. "I'm taking you back."

"Dimitri, stop it!" Alex protested. "If you keep treating me like an invalid, I'm going to lose my mind. I'm a doctor, I should know when I'm fine or not."

Dimitri looked at her in disbelief. "Three weeks ago you almost died in my arms after I had lost you for seven years. How can you ask me to let you take chances with your health?"

"I'm not taking any chances, darling…I just…" she hadn't wanted to tell him this, knowing it might make him even more protective. "I have something called acquired hemolytic anemia. It's nothing serious or progressive, it just means I have a low red blood cell count, and sometimes I get tired easily, or if I get up too quickly, it makes me feel lightheaded."

He stared at her, his gaze questioning what else she hadn't told him in order to curb his fears. "Anemia? Why didn't you tell me?"

"There's nothing to tell, really. It's like someone who has to live with migraines. It's a nuisance but it's not going to kill me."

"How…how did you get it?"

"There's not one exact cause. It can be caused by a variety of factors including blood loss…"

"You mean you got this as a result of your injuries?"

She shook her head, "No, I had it before you brought me to the hospital. It's partially why I went into cardiac arrest, due to hypovolemic shock."

"So, losing blood could kill you?" he probed.

When she didn't answer immediately, his eyes narrowed in concern. "Tell, me, Alex."

For someone unschooled in medicine, Alex marveled how he somehow drew the exact conclusions she tried keep from him.

"Sure. Losing blood could kill me," she retorted. "It could kill you too, or anyone in this stadium, for that matter."

"That's not what I meant, and you know it."

She kissed him, ignoring the renewed cheers of the crowd as the home team scored another goal, "Yes, I have to be extra careful, but I assure you I have no plans on having any accidents in the near future."

"And one day maybe you'll tell me what caused you to lose enough blood to make you anemic," he said softly. It wasn't a question, and if it were, Alex wasn't sure he could handle the answer.

Dimitri cupped her face in his hands. "I love you so much. I just want to take care of you, the way you took care of me when I was ill. Is that so hard to understand?"

She shook her head. "No, it's not. I just don't want you to think that you're going to lose me, because it's not going to happen."

He was about to kiss her again, when he saw Max running up the bleachers, with his two friends.

"Did you watch that goal?" he asked Dimitri, "Wasn't it amazing?"

Dimitri nodded, "Oh yeah…fantastic."

Max didn't notice the lack of detail in Dimitri's answer, making Alex grin. He seemed to have more pressing things in mind. Max turned to his friends, and then at Dimitri.

"Dad, I want you meet my friends, Roger and Paul."

"It's nice to meet you," Dimitri held out his hand to the two boys, who shook it enthusiastically. Before he had a chance to say anything else, the three of them ran off and returned to their seats on the other side of the stadium.

Alex smiled when she saw Dimitri's grin.

"Did you hear that?" he asked her, unable to stop smiling. "He called me 'Dad'."

"I guess you better get used to it," she told him.

"It's the first time he's said it."

"It won't be the last."

Dimitri was still grinning, and he grabbed a hold of Alex's hand. "Come, let's go…"

"Where…?" For a moment Alex thought he was going to be adamant about taking her back to the hotel.

He looked at her with amusement, "To get something to eat, other than peanuts."

Later that evening

Dimitri closed the door of Max's room and made his way back into the room that he shared with Alex.

"Is he asleep?" she asked him.

Dimitri smiled, "I didn't even read him two pages before his eyes closed. I think that soccer game wiped him out and he didn't even play!"

"It's intense if you're a real fan."

"That he is…" he moved over to his wife and kissed her.

"Hmm…what was that for?"

He smiled, "Nothing. And everything."

He took her hairbrush out of her hand and started brushing her hair. He noticed a scar, no more than two inches long, run along the side of her forehead. The doctor had said it would likely be permanent. The glass that cut her was too thick and the cut was too deep.

It made him shiver each time he looked at it because it was a constant reminder of the fragility of life. The fragility of her life.

He bent down and kissed her scar. Alex turned around and looked at him, "It's a beautiful night outside, are you up for a walk?"

"You're asking me?"

He got her jacket and they headed outside. One guard followed them at a short distance; another remained stationed outside of Max's room.

It was a crystal clear evening, and Dimitri thought he could see every star in the universe lit up above them in the night sky.

They sat down at a bench, and Dimitri lit a cigar. There was a cool fall breeze in the air and he watched as Alex tried to keep her long, windswept hair out of her face.

The gesture made him laugh. "I have to admit," he said, "When I first lost you what I missed most was moments like this…moments where we did nothing really, but which meant more to me than I could ever put into words. Moments where one look into your eyes could make me forget about everything else in the world."

"You're a hopeless romantic."

He laughed, "But there's more…being here with you tonight makes me realize something else I forgot."

"And what's that?"

"I forgot how beautiful you are."

He thought he saw her blush in the moonlight. "Well then, you're a lucky man, Dimitri Marick."

"Tell me about it." He exhaled the smoke and stared into the night sky, serious. "The doctor said it was alright for us to head back to the States now. Do you think you're ready for Wildwind and for all the shocked faces that'll meet us there?"

"I'm not sure if anyone can ever be ready for that," she admitted. "I won't miss Wales, but I'll miss Heidi."

"She'll have to come and visit. Often."

He moved one of his arms around her waist; "Then again, I'm not sure if I'm ready to share you with the whole world just yet."

"Nobody knows yet, do they?" she asked him, serious too now.

"No. I asked Erica to not tell anyone. I want them to see you and Max in person. It's not the kind of news to break over the phone." He had told Alex about Erica. How they had fallen in love again and ultimately about their engagement. He had wondered how she would take it all, whether she would hate that he had gone on with life, gone so far as to find love again, all while she had fought to keep their son from Charlotte's clutches.

Much to his surprise, Alex didn't seem bothered by it in the least, and more surprisingly she had already known. "I read the papers and scoured the Internet whenever I had the chance. I knew about your thriving diamond business, and I also knew you about your engagement. It hurt, of course it hurt, I'd be lying if I said it didn't, because I wanted so much to be the one at your side…but at the same time, I was happy to know that you were living life to the fullest. It gave me a kind of piece of mind, if that makes sense. I would never have expected you to mourn me forever."

The one thing that did surprise Alex was that Erica Kane had relinquished the love of her life so graciously, and so easily. "She gave you back the ring? Really? Erica Kane? I may have to stop by and thank her personally, once we're back in Pine Valley," she had told him.

"They're all going to be shocked," she said now, bringing him back to the present. "Your dead wife coming back… with your unknown son in tow."

"Not shocked," he corrected her. "Edmund, Brooke, Gillian, Eugenia, Sam, Maddie, they're all going to be ecstatic to see you again. Once we're back and have Max in school, I've decided I'm going to take a year off."

"A year? Really? Can you do that?"

"Who will stop me? I haven't taken more than two days off at a time in years. I'm overdue for a break. I want to spend time with you and Max. I want to get to know my son, to take him fishing and riding and out to football games. I want to have dinner with him every night and help him with his homework, and watch him fall asleep."

He turned to face her, "And I don't want to spend a single day away from you."

"You'll get sick of me…" she teased him.

He pulled her towards him, "Never. Not a chance." He brushed her hair back and leaned in to kiss her. "And then, when you're well enough and when you're up to it, I want you to head the Andrassy Foundation."

She raised her eyebrows, taken aback. "The Andrassy Foundation? I…I don't know what to say…it's grown so much in seven years. I don't know, Dimitri, if I could possibly do it justice, or if I'm even remotely the best choice to head it."

"I won't take no for an answer. And yes, you are without a doubt the best person to head it, because you were its inspiration."

"I love the faith you have in me, but I'm not sure I share it. I haven't practiced medicine in more than half a decade…I haven't written a single paper in years."

"You've kept up with the latest research, perhaps even more so than if you had been at home in Pine Valley," he argued.

"For all the wrong reasons," she mumbled. He saw her pull her shawl over her jacket, as if cold. "If you knew…" she stopped herself. "Maybe you'd agree I'm not the best person for this." She didn't say anything else, turning her gaze away from his.

She had told him bit and pieces of what her life as Charlotte's agent had entailed, over the last seven years, but as much as Dimitri had wanted to know more, he hadn't pressed her. Part of him wasn't sure he really wanted to know, and another part of him didn't want her to tell him because he knew it would hurt her more to say it than to have him hear it.

They had a long way to go before their lives would start to resemble some sort of normalcy, Dimitri knew. But it didn't matter, they'd get there somehow, he knew that too.

"Hey…" he moved his hand under her chin, turning her face towards him. "You don't have to do it a day before you're ready, but don't turn it down because you're doubting yourself." He draped his jacket over hers and took her hand in his. "It's getting cold outside. Let's head back to the hotel, and tomorrow we'll start packing, and make our way home."