Five years later
Emily's cell phone rang and it was considerably late in the evening in the house in Albuquerque New Mexico
Emily checked the number and saw it was from Theo so she answered it. She knew her brother wouldn't be calling this late unless it was important.
It was nearly 10 o'clock, which meant it was nearly midnight in New York because they were two hours ahead, so it must be very important for her brother to call so late.
"Yes Theo, it must be in important if you're calling so late," Emily said as soon as she had answered her cell phone.
"What?" Emily exclaimed, just remembering to keep her voice down, aince the children were in bed. She listened to her brother tell her that their mother was in intensive care in the hospital. "So mom was found by the servants having collapsed in her office. The doctors are not sure what's wrong. Aaron and I will be up there in a few hours Camila and Dave and Penny can look after the children, get them to school. Yes, yes, I'll let everyone know we're leaving and Dave and Penny, can tell the children in the morning, as they're in bed. It is after all nearly 10 o'clock here."
Emily hung up the phone and went to find Aaron. He wouldn't be in bed yet, even though it was late. They tended to stay up pretty late, most nights, even though they had to be up early.
They were now ten children in the house as the fourth child of Emily and Aaron was indeed a girl that they had both wished for and the fifth another boy. Emily had finally gotten her inheritance from the lawyer. Emily and the family lawyer had kept in contact. She had made sure Henry Gray was invited to her wedding so he had known that Emily had finally married.
While the two were polite to each other Emily didn't really like the family lawyer at all as he was a small pretentious, uptight stick in the mud. He was the one that claimed the family statutes were still valid, even though this was the 21th century. Emily had marched into his office, past his secretary who had tried to prevent her, soon after her second daughter had been born and demanded that he gave her, her inheritance.
Henry hadn't much liked her attitude, but Emily told him she didn't really care if he liked it or not, because when she had her inheritance they'd never had to see each other again. She told him that he was an uptight, stick in the mud and she never had liked him. She had showed him photos of all four of her kids including the new little girl that she had just born that they had named Aubrey.
He had threatened to report her to her mother and Emily had just stared at him coldly and told him bluntly, "I don't really care if you do or not. Me and my mother barely speak to each other and I only take my kids up to visit her once a month, because I'd feel guilty otherwise.
"I moved away from New York on purpose Mr. Gray and that was to get out of the city where everybody knew who I was as soon as they learned my name. Someone was always asking me for a donation for their campaigns, because they'd assume I'm some kind of rich businesswoman like my mother.
"There were also a lot that assumed that taken out of my father and were always asking me what candidate I would vote for if it was me and I always tell them that I'm not a politician and I'd rather kill myself then become one. That I loathe politics and politicians with reason to do so, including my father, who is now dead."
Henry had sputtered while Aaron had stood by the door of his office and simply smiled as Emily really gave the lawyer what-for
When Henry had turned to Aaron expecting him to call Emily on her rude behavior Aaron had shaken his head, smiling a little and didn't say a word.
Finally, Henry had promised to have the money transferred to her account by the next day just to get Emily out of his office and Emily had smiled in satisfaction. She had also promised to be back if it wasn't done by two tomorrow and she'd be checking before she and Aaron went back to New Mexico.
Henry had actually heard Emily comment to her husband that it was about time she got what was rightfully hers and it went a long way to making up for her miserable, lonely childhood.
"Aaron," Emily called softly when she saw him in the bedroom.
"Yes, honey," Aaron said looking up from where he was laying on his side of the bed reading a book.
"Mother is in the hospital. We need to meet Theo and my brothers," Emily said.
"What happened?" Aaron asked genuinely shocked at the information.
"She apparently collapsed and was discovered by the servants," Emily said. "The doctors aren't sure why she collapsed or at least Theo didn't know when I talked to him just a few minutes ago."
"I'll start packing for a few days while you go tell Dave and Penny that they'll need to look after our kids for awhile. I'll also call the airport and see if they have any late night flights to New York," Aaron said.
"I was just thinking the same thing," Emily smiled briefly before she headed towards the Rossis bedroom.
Aaron got up from where he was laying on the bed and put his book aside for the moment as he started packing for this sudden and unexpected trip.
Emily came back just a few minutes later and told him that Dave and Penny had promised to look after their five kids. They also had wanted to know when Aaron and Emily did how Elizabeth was doing.
Aaron made sure to pick up his book before he and Emily headed for the car.
"Did you see if there are any flights out this late?" Emily asked Aaron as they both got in their car Aaron in the driver's seat. "I mean, I would hate to get to the airport only to find out that there are no flights out until tomorrow."
"I did and we can catch a late night flight if we hurry and I reserved two seats. We were lucky, as we got the last seats on the flight."
"I can't believe that first class is filled up especially not for such a late flight," Emily said. "First class is at least double the money of third class."
"I was told it's only a small plane not one of those huge commercial liners," Aaron said. "There was only second and third class sections, which is much smaller then on those commercial flights. The plane probably doesn't have more than 150 seats all told."
"Well, I guess we'll be flying second class for a change, since we don't have time to wait for a different flight," Emily said not upset at that possibility.
"I might like first class, because there's more legroom, but this is an emergency, so I do understand that waiting on a later flight isn't possible this time," Aaron said.
"So you think mom collapsed because she had a heart attack or stroke or something of that nature?" Emily asked.
"I have no idea, but it might be as Dave suggested years ago that she has stopped eating properly because she's lonely," Aaron said.
"I didn't notice if mom had lost a great deal of weight last time we visited," Emily said sighing gustily. "I know we haven't been up to New York in months simply because the three oldest are in the school, but still..."
"Don't start feeling guilty Emily, even if that's what the problem is she probably didn't want you to know," Aaron said as he took her hand and kept one on the wheel. "We just don't have any information now, so there's no point of dwelling on it until we know what the problem is."
"I suppose you're right," Emily admitted, as she relaxed into her seat suddenly feeling very tired.
"I know you're tired, but you can sleep on the flight, even though I know it's not that long," Aaron said
"That's true," Emily agreed. "At least we left the kids with Dave and Penny and we know they'll look after them for us for a few days."
"Let's not forget Camila, who certainly does her share of helping look after the kids," Aaron said. "She's been a godsend and is absolutely tireless."
"That's true," Emily yawned. "I don't know how I can go from feeling OK to feeling exhausted all in the space of less then an hour."
"It's the situation," Aaron said. "You and your mother might not get along very well, but that doesn't mean you don't love her deep down, which means you worried about her when you heard that she had collapsed. It might very well be, because she hasn't been eating properly for all we know, but as I said a few minutes ago there's no point of dwelling on it until we know one way or the other," Aaron said.
"While I don't want her dead, that doesn't mean we get along very well. I also know, that loneliness can kill you, as surely as other causes like a heart attack or a stroke," Emily said. "You're right I love my mother despite her inattention when I was a child. I won't say I like the way she reacted a lot of times and how she didn't even let me pick my own clothes when we went to some event.
"Still, I don't really hate her, as I've come to understand that my grandfather was much the same. Being raised by such a man would make a person have to fight for every ounce of affection. It's more my grandfather's fault for his personality and attitude, because children pick up a lot of different traits from their parents. Mother just picked up his worst personality traits. I wouldn't be surprised if she had to fight for every bit of affection that my grandfather showed her. She just never broke out of her grandfather's shadow even though he's been dead for a long time now.
"I realized it's likely it was the only way that she survived her childhood. She just never broke out of that mold that's all. I know now that she was the only daughter so she didn't even have a sister to get close to. The only sibling she had was a brother and it's quite possible the brother was just like my grandfather and my mother both cold, hard, hateful domineering.
"That doesn't make it right of course, as mother should've thrown out every negative thing that her father taught her just by being who he was, but I also understand that your childhood is hard to shake and sometimes impossible."
"Well, I never expected you to be so forgiving where your mother is concerned," Aaron said with a slight quirk of his lips in an almost smile.
"I've had plenty of time to think over the last few years and the distance I now have from her and everybody that knew my parents has also helped," Emily explained. "Not having people wanting donations or asking me who I would vote for when they learn my name has been great. It's one of the reasons I wanted to get out of New York so badly."
"I know," Aaron agreed calmly, as her pulled up at the airport and tried to find a parking spot. "Believe me, I more than understand where you're coming from."
Aaron parked the car in a spot close to the front doors as they were lucky that the parking lot wasn't that full. Of course, it was late enough, that there might not be that many people traveling. It was more likely though that a lot of people had simply taken a cab to get here leaving their car at home or had somebody drop them off instead of leaving the car in long-term parking, which could cost quite a lot of money depending on how long that person was going to be gone.
Emily opened her door while Aaron also got out and opened the trunk with the cars remote getting out their luggage before joining Emily on the sidewalk.
"Are you sure you didn't forget anything?" Emily asked Aaron.
"I don't think so," Aaron said, "but if I did we can always buy it if necessary. That's a question and you should've asked before we left the house though."
"I didn't think of it until just now," Emily shrugged.
"I am not surprised considering you were worried about your mother," Aaron said understandingly. "This wasn't a planned excursion it came up suddenly so it won't be surprising if we forgot something. It's not like when we go up to visit your mother, as that's always planned a few days in advance so we are less likely to forget something important."
Emily nodded feeling very tired, as she and Aaron entered the airport to check in and get the tickets that Aaron had already paid for when he had called the airport the check on available flights.
~~~The Immortals and the Businessman 3~~~
