The day after the meeting with the old lady, we hopped on a plane and headed home. At this point I was answering Emily’s questions and remarks, so we were headed back on the talking path. I can never stay mad at her. She is a tightly intwined part of me that I could not live without. As the taxi prepared to drop Emily off in front of her brick front townhouse,she gave one last plea for me to take the book. I glared at her and refused. “Fine, see if I try to help you anymore, I’ll read the damned thing myself” She hissed at me and slammed the car door in my face. So now, Emily was the one not talking to me.

As the car rounded the bend I could see my house sitting on the corner of the roundabout. The sight of the grey siding, the blue shutters with my window boxes full of poinsettias, immediately put me at ease. I felt like I hadn’t breathed the entire time I was gone. The cab barely had time to stop when I threw the money at the cabbie and rushed out the door. I slowed my pace as I approached the gate not wanting to alarm anyone.

The moment I stepped inside happiness wrapped it’s arms around me. There was my favorite pink sweater hanging on the stair railing just like I left it, welcoming me home. I sat my bag down, slipped on my sweater and headed toward the back of the house to find my family. They were all in the kitchen cooking me a surprise dinner. I could have cried ,so relieved I was to be home. I spent the rest of the weekend enjoying my family without a second thought of my trip.

It was tuesday morning. A low fog hovered after a early morning rain. Alexander dressed for work and slipped back into the bedroom to kiss me goodbye. I asked him if he wanted me to fix him breakfast, he told me he already ate, feeling I needed some extra sleep. He snuggled into me for a moment, kissing me on the cheek and playing with my hair. I remember opening my eyes and him smiling at me. “What” I asked him,still mostly asleep. “Oh nothing” he replied, ” “Just think how lucky I am, I love you Sugar” he whispered in my ear kissing me again. “I love you too” I said with a grin. With on last peck on the forehead and a tap on my behind, he slipped out the door.  I was so grateful I didn’t have to get up, so grateful to have him.

It was ten am, the phone would not stop ringing. I answered and hung up without even seeing who it was. By the fourth time I was awake enough to speak. “Hello” I mumbled in my morning voice. “Cassie, it’s Renee”. Renee is my mother in law, the last voice I want to hear first thing in the morning. “Yeah Renee, I’m here, what’s up” I asked. ” Cassie, it’s Alexander, there’s been an accident” She wispered, now I could here the quake in her voice. “Where” I asked ina panic. “Union General” she replied.

I don’t recall hanging up the phone, getting the kids, or driving to the hospital. I do remember everyone’s faces when I walked into the waiting room. Alexander was on his way to work when the driver of a semi truck fell asleep at the wheel, him directly in his side door at about seventy miles an hour.