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In the morning sun, a tall woman, her brown hair streaked with grey hairs, her face set in a determined manner, stood with her back erect in front of an unfamiliar door. After the very barest of hesitations, she fisted her hand, raised her arm and firmly knocked.

Inside the house, Nick was walking down the short hall flicking up his shirt collar when he heard the knock. His business shirt unbuttoned over his bare chest, he headed for the door. Wondering who it could be, he sincerely hoped it wasn't something that would require his wife's attention. She was still fragile - though she would deny it until her dying breath - since discovering that her father had died last night.

It was bad enough that he had to go out today. (He'd called in time off instantly, but a date with the prosecutor regarding a case he signed off on that was now heading to court was unfortunately unmissable and unchangeable.)

Opening the front door, he moved his fingers to his shirt buttons as he looked at the person standing before him. "Yes?"

"Who are you?" the woman demanded to know imperiously.

"Nick Buchanan," replied Nick instantly, the tone having demanded an instant reply. "Who are you?"

"Desiree Kingston," sniffed the older woman. "Why pray tell are you at my daughter's house at this hour and in such a state of undress?"

Realising he was facing the woman who had given birth to Allie for the first time, he took a step back into the house and called down the hall. "Allie, it's for you," he said loudly in classic question avoidance. Desiree raised a finger to her ear and delicately blocked the noise.

Allie stepped out of the lounge room with a blanket wrapped around her form, bags forming underneath her eyes. "Who is it?" she asked tiredly. She answered her own question when she saw the form standing in the doorway. Allie stopped in her tracks. "Hello Mother."

"Hello Allegra."

Last button done up on his shirt, Nick looked between the two women, the air crackling between them. He looked at his wife when she turned to face him and spoke in a deadly calm voice. "Nick," she said, her arms crossed tightly over her chest, her face blank. "You are going to be late for your meeting and Mia needs to get to school."

Nick opened his mouth to object, a ready reply on his lips that he would cancel the meeting and stay home but the determined look she gave him made her desire to face this alone clear. Their daughter also chose that moment to come flying down the hallway with her hair still not yet done, a shoe in hand and an unzipped backpack flung over her shoulder. "We're going to be late Daddy!" Mia cried before she realised they had company. Instantly hiding behind the nearer parent, she tugged on her shoe as she peeked her head out from behind her mother's back.

Allie didn't move as her daughter used her as a guard, her gaze now on her own mother once again. Sensing that a showdown was in the works, Nick quickly tucked his shirt into his pants and reached for his keys and wallet from the side table. Stepping up to Allie, he pressed a firm kiss to her lips before reaching behind her for their daughter. "Time to go squirt."

Desiree Kingston shifted from entrance so that she wasn't blocking the way out for the man and little girl, Nick zipping up the backpack as Mia protested, "But what about my hair?"

"I'll do it in the car."

When Nick opened the front door and gestured for her to leave, Mia looked back at the old lady looking at her intently. "Who's she?" she whispered in a loud voice.

"You'll find out later" was the last thing that Desiree Kingston heard before the door shut and she was alone in the house with her daughter. "I'm assuming that was my granddaughter," she said in a tight voice.

Allie nodded stiffly but didn't dare chance words. Her mother reached into her pocket and pulled out a square of well-folded, faded paper. Her throat tightened as Allie instantly recognised the photo: she'd sent it to her parents shortly after she had given birth to Mia in a moment of hormonal longing. "He always kept this in his pocket," came the unsteady voice as Allie saw the first crack in her mother's well-oiled armour.

The tone and look was accusatory when Desiree lifted her gaze to her daughter next. "Would it have killed you to visit?"

At twenty five past three that afternoon, Nick slipped into the house, Mia in tow. Seeing no wife – or mother-in-law for that matter – he shut the door behind him. Mia sat herself on the floor with her backpack, pulling each thing out as she searched for an elusive bracelet as her father stepped past her.

He found the love of his life standing still near the sink in the kitchen. Her body was taut, her arms braced tightly on the bench as she looked unseeingly out the window.

Allie startled when she felt her husband standing behind her, her back to his chest. He ran his hands down her side before his arms wrapped around her body and she leaned back into his embrace. "How you feeling?" he asked softly.

"Nh nhh," she replied, shaking her head slightly, her tresses brushing against Nick's cheeks. This translated as "I don't want to talk about it".

"You manage to get time off?" said Nick gently next into her ear.

"Mm," nodded Allie. "Three days."

"That's all Priority would give you?" asked Nick confused.

"That's all I asked for," corrected Allie, her eyes still intent on the tree in the front yard.

"You sure about that?" pressed Nick.

Allie nodded her head. "That's all the time I need."

"Mm," responded Nick, pressing his lips to the side of his wife's neck. Allie then tilted her head and looped her arm backward around his neck to draw him to her lips.

They came apart when they heard the indignant cry from the doorway. "Is this the example you are setting for my granddaughter?" demanded Desiree Kingston.

"Yeah Mum," responded Allie with a roll of her eyes, but she didn't step out of Nick's embrace. "No surface of the house is safe." As Desiree shifted uncomfortably with a flash of disgust, Nick raised his eyebrow in Allie's direction as she continued. "We're going at it like rabbits."

"Rabbits?" enquired the newly arrived Mia. "What rabbits?"

Allie turned her full attention to her daughter then. Stepping away from Nick, she opened up her arms. "Hey sweetheart," she said as Mia raced across the kitchen and up into her arms. She rose with the six year old in her arms, giving her a kiss.

"Are you feeling better now?" asked Mia earnestly inspecting her mother's face.

Allie smiled, the first real one for the day. "I'm getting there."

Shifting her daughter to her hip, wondering when she had gotten so big, Allie turned Mia's attention to the other woman standing in the kitchen. "There is someone I want you to meet." Allie took a deep breath before she made the introductions. "Mia, this is my mother."

"Oh," said Mia as she considered it a moment. Her face cleared as she realised what it meant. "Cool, I have another Granny."

"Grandmother dear," admonished Desiree stiffly as Mia scrambled down from her mother's arms and made her way over to her newest relative.

"Hi Granny," said Mia brightly, not caring that she had been corrected. When Desiree made no move, Mia took initiative and stepped forward. Hugging her grandmother's legs, she held the embrace as she looked upward with a querying expression on her face. "Are you an old woman?"

Desiree sputters. "Well if you are," continued Mia gleefully, referencing one of her favourite books, "if you eat a horse, you'd be dead of course!"

Allie watched the scene playing out before her with tears in her eyes. She didn't look away when Nick's hand rested heavily on the nape of her neck, instead speaking softly. "The funeral's on Wednesday. I'm leaving tomorrow."

"We'll be ready."

Next chapter:

A funeral.