: : Summary : : A continuation after Christina�s death. How will the family live life without her, will Rick and Evelyn�s marriage servive? Read and ReviewA continuation after Christina�s death. How will the family live life without her, will Rick and Evelyn�s marriage servive? Read and Review
No one had ever thought that there could be anything worse than Hamunaptra, and after those events, life for Rick Evelyn and Jonathan had moved on to a normal pace. Rick and Evie got married, and almost ten months later she gave birth to a son they named Alex. The couple had never been more happy with his arrival, until three years later, when Evelyn gave birth to a daughter. Their life seemed to have gone full circle, and both parents looked forward to watching their children grow. No one could have been prepared for what lay ahead, and when Christina was two she got very sick. The Doctors did all they could for her, but in the end, held in the safety of her mothers arms she passed away, leaving a void in all of their lives.
Chapter 1: After the Beach
A week after Christina Omorose O�Connell was laid to rest, Rick and Evelyn took Alex, and his best friend Megan to the French Riviara to try and make sense of the previous weeks. It was a time of healing for their son, but for both of them things had changed. Rick was the first to notice the change in his wife. At night when they would go to bed, and he would try to hold her, she would roll away, and by their third night at the beach, she started to sleep with the children. The next change was that they never spent time alone. Alex became the center of attention, as did Megan, and by the time they had arrived back in England, three weeks later, things seemed to be falling apart.
Morning arrived, and the time for school with it. Rick was glad that Evelyn had started to sleep with him again, and worried at the same time. It was when Alex had asked why they weren�t sleeping in the same bed, that she had made the decision to sleep with him, but sleeping was all she did. For a few minutes, Rick watched her sleep, then he got up, and after pulling on his Navy blue robe, he went out of their room, and down the hall to their son�s.
In his bed, Alex slept soundly, and Rick noticed Sasha, Christina�s doll, who she had given to him moments before she passed on, was nestled safe in his arms. He had not wanted to go anywhere without her at first, until he started to get poked fun at by other children. Then he left her at home, and as long as he was there she went with him everywhere. Silently kneeling beside his bed, Rick reached out and rubbed a hand over his son�s back. Alex stirred and came awake.
�Do I have to go?� he asked knowing why his father was waking him.
�Try it out today, and if it�s to difficult then we will figure something out,� Rick said.
Alex sat up and set Sasha aside, then wrapped his arms around his fathers neck. �Do you thinks Christina cries for us?� Alex asked as Rick stood, carrying him over to the rocking chair. Every morning Alex asked that, and Rick hoped that heaven was a place where children could be happy, and where they wouldn�t dwell on the life they had left behind.
�I think she misses us, but I also think there is so much for her to do that she isn�t left to be sad,� Rick said, as they rocked.
Alex sighed and lifted his head from his fathers chest. �Mummy is very sad isn�t she?� he asked, not blind to what was happening.
It took a moment for Rick to answer him, and when he did he told Alex that they would all be sad for a while, that it would take time for them to heal. �Okay buddy, we need to get you ready for school. What do you want to wear?� Rick asked as he stood up and set his son on his feet. Quickly Alex ran to his dresser, and picked out his gray slacks and a light blue shirt, as well as a black tie.
After helping him get dressed, Rick sent Alex downstairs to have breakfast, something Marie would have prepared, and went to check on Evelyn. When he arrived in their room, he found her already up, and dressed for work. �I thought you were going to take more time off,� Rick said gently.
Evelyn kept brushing her hair, not looking at him. �It�s time to move on. I need to get back to the museum, and see how things have been going without me,� she replied, then stood and moved past him without so much as a warm good morning hug or kiss.
After she left the room, Rick stood there feeling lost. He missed his daughter, and still loved her with all he had, but he knew that not talking about her, or not talking to one another was slowly eating away at the love they had built. Sighing, he got dressed himself, and after he did so, he went downstairs, finding the kitchen empty, with the exception of Marie.
�Evelyn went ahead and took him to school on her way to the museum,� Marie informed at his confused look. Rick�s anger welled up, and he walked quickly out of the kitchen to the front entry. After getting his coat on, and grabbing his keys, Rick went to his car, fully intent on stopping this silent treatment he was getting from her.
~*~
At the entrance of the museum, Alfred, the guard greeted Rick, informing him that Evelyn had yet to arrive. Rick walked to her office and opened the door, and found the little table he and Jonathan had put up for when Christina had accompanied her mother to work. Having forgotten about that, and having not been prepared for the onslaught of emotions that hit him, Rick sank to the floor and rested his head on his knees as he began to cry. The loss of his daughter made his heart hurt, and the loss of his wife was killing him. After a few moments he composed himself, and went to the table finding on it some paper with scribbling on it. He smiled as he remembered the first time they had shown Christina her surprise.
********
While Jonathan and Rick set up the table, and the three chairs around it, Evelyn waited outside with Christina in her arms.
�Daddy Eady et?� Christina had asked for the thousandth time. Finally Rick opened the door, and the look on her face was priceless. Her Hazel eyes widened as round as saucers and she struggled to be put down. When Evelyn had set her on her feet she ran to the table and sat down in the chair, made to her size with ease.
�For Me?� she asked looking at her daddy. Rick had knelt down and she had wrapped her arms around his neck kissing his cheek over and over.
********
The click of his wife�s heals approaching the office snapped Rick back to reality, and he stood up and turned to the door just as Evelyn opened it. Upon seeing him, and the table she froze and the papers she had in her hands dropped to the floor.
�Evie I...�
�Get that out of my site,� she said, then ran out the way she had come. At home, Marie had put everything that had been Christina�s away while they had been at the beach. At the museum, no one had been to Evelyn�s office for more than a month, and the table had been forgotten. It took him a while to disassemble the legs from the small round table, but he managed, then bit by bit took it out to his car. Like the rest of Christina�s things, aside from Sasha, the table would be put in the attack, and maybe one day, Rick thought, they would be able to look at her things and remember her without such terrible pain.
When he arrived back at her office after taking the last of the small wooden chairs out to his car, Evelyn was there writing something. Quietly he shut the door behind him, not getting any response from her. �Evelyn we need to talk,� he said.
�I have work to do,� she said softly still writing.
Lightening fast he crossed the room and grabbed the pen out of her hands. �No, this is going to stop right here and now. What do you think to accomplish by not touching me, or not talking to me? What good is it going to do either of us to ignore one another, and what the hell is it going to do to Alex. You may think he doesn�t understand whats going on, but he does. He is confused Evelyn, because you and I aren�t showing one another love like we used to,� Rick all but yelled. Evelyn looked straight at him with a straight emotionless gaze.
�If your through lecturing me, I need that pen back,� she said, not willing to show him the pain she felt, nor herself. In the weeks since her daughter�s death, Evelyn had built walls to keep the pain out. Too angry to think or speak, Rick just looked at her, then he took the pen she wanted and broke it spilling ink all over her desk.
�TO hell with you,� he yelled then stormed out.
When he was gone, Evelyn took in deep breaths to keep from crying, knowing if she started now, she wouldn�t be able to stop. It took a great amount of control, but she did manage to calm herself, and once she had, she went about cleaning the mess that Rick had left behind.
~*~
Seeing the smile on his son�s face, and the sparkle in his eyes as he ran out of the school building with his friends, eased the ache that had been growing in Rick�s heart all day.
Full of excitement and energy, Alex told his father all about the field trip his school would take in a few days to the Windsor Safari Park. �They have Giraffes and they have Baboons,� Alex was saying as they drove away from the school.
Letting his son�s enthusiasm for life wash away the last of his anger and sadness, Rick smiled. �Why don�t you and I go to Bishops park and have some time there?� he asked. A happy squeal is what Rick got as answer and the decision was made.
~*~
It was close to supper when Evelyn arrived home, and as she walked through the door of their large Manor home, she was greeted with silence, which was unusual, with an active five year old. After hanging up her coat, Evelyn went into the parlor finding Jonathan there making a drink.
�Hello baby sister, how was work?� Jonathan asked. While they had been away Jonathan had come to terms with the loss of his niece, and every day he went to the Cemetery where her grave was, in between the graves of their parents, and put a flower on her grave. He was worried for his sister and for Rick, having felt the tension the first time he had seen them after they had arrived home from the beach.
Surprising her brother beyond words, when she took the glass he held in his hands, and drank almost all of his scotch in two gulps, Evelyn sighed and then returned it where she had taken it from. �Is Rick getting Alex ready for bed?� she asked.
Jonathan stuttered then answered. �He called from the Theater, he and Alex went to see Steamboat Mickey,�
Evelyn had been heading for the stairs and spun around to face him at that revelation. �HE DID WHAT,� she yelled. It was a school night and on school nights Alex had a routine, and Evelyn was livid.
�Look Evie maybe they needed bonding time...� Jonathan was cut off by another set of yells. �OH STAY OUT OF IT.� With that she turned and went upstairs to her room.
Jonathan heard the door slam and closed his eyes, then decided to wait for Alex and Rick and warn him of his sister�s mood.
~*~
Almost an hour later, at 9:00, the two of them arrived, Alex asleep in Rick�s arms holding a stuffed bear. �Uh, you might want to let him sleep with me,� Evelyn is on the war path,� Jonathan whispered.
Having expected as much, Rick was glad for Jonathan�s offer, and gently placed Alex in his arms, then went upstairs to get pajamas and a change of school cloths.
As he started upstairs Evelyn met him at the top. �Just what do you think you were doing taking him to a picture show on a school night?� Evelyn fumed.
Calmly Rick passed her up and went on to do what he had set out to do.
Even more angered by his silence, Evelyn followed him into their son�s room. �I want an answer,� she said. Still Rick ignored her as he got what he needed for their son, and as he went to pass her Evelyn grabbed his arm holding him firmly.
�Do you mind? I�m going to give this to Jonathan for Alex, and then I�m going to bed. Sam and I have a meeting with a new Client, and I need rest,� he said calmly. Evelyn did let go and ran down the hall to their room and slammed the door.
Rick heard things breaking, and hurried down to where Jonathan waited with his son, and then once Alex was taken care of, he ran back to their room. �Evelyn open the fucking door,� Rick yelled. In a moment she opened it and threw out a pile of his cloths then slammed it shut again.
�FINE I DON�T WANT TO SLEEP WITH A COLD BITCH LIKE YOU,� he yelled then turned to go to Alex�s room when the door opened. Rick found himself being hit on and his anger got the better of him. Before he could even think he threw her off of him then turned and grabbed her by both arms and pulled her up. �Don�t you ever do that again,� he spat. Evelyn smacked his face hard then pulled away and ran back into their room.
~*~
The argueing got worse and worse, and as the anger and hurt grew, Rick and Evelyn were less careful about keeping Alex away from that.
Two days later when he arrived home from school, Alex walked in as his mother smacked his father, and as Rick grabbed her and pulled her into his arms kissing her lips hard. His bag dropped on the floor and all the color drained from his face, as he watched his mother pull away crying.
�You hurt my mummy, you hurt my daddy,� he yelled then ran past them toward Jonathan�s part of the house. His uncle slept during the day, and Alex ran in unannounced crying soul wrenching cries.
It was those cries which instantly pulled Jonathan into full wakefulness and quickly he held Alex.
�Mummy hit daddy and daddy kissed her and hurt her,� Alex said letting all of his pain out. Their fighting had torn him up inside and that combined with Christina�s death was too much for him.
As he cried, Jonathan expected both his parents to come comfort him, and as Alex fell asleep crying, and they did not come, his own anger rose. It was then that he made a dicision, and after Alex was asleep Jonathan made a call to the Shipping company and booked passage for two to Egypt. Once he had done that he packed his bag. At his desk Jonathan composed a note, and then went to the other part of the house to get Alexs bags packed. As he had guessed all was quiet which made his anger rise another level. Neither one of them were thinking about Alex, and it was for that reason they were both moving to Egypt, until things got straightened out.
~*~
In Christina�s room, Rick awoke at his usual time, ready to get Alex up and ready for school. After getting his robe on, he went across the hall to his son�s room and found it empty, and then he remembered what Alex had walked in on their arguement the night before and sighed. �Good one O�Connell, mess up your kid along with your wife,� Rick said. Leaving his son�s room, Rick went to the other part of the house where he had expected to find Jonathan and Alex, but all he found was an empty room, and on Jonathan�s bed a note.
~~~Rick and Evie,
~~Until you two decide what you want to do about the rest of your life, I�m taking Alex to live in our home in Egypt. Both of you have come so bloody self absorbed in what ever it is you fight about night after night, that you have forgotten him, and I�ll be damned if I�ll let you tear him up the way you are one another. Good day,
Jonathan hadn�t even signed his name to the letter.
The pain in his own heart at having been so blind as to not think of his son hit hard, and Rick sank to the floor and let the pain out, crying hard. Realization hit next, that the reason they were fighting so much was that he was ready to move on. As hard as it was to admit it, Christina was gone, and living in a state of denial wasn�t something he was willing to do.
His mind made up, Rick went to the other part of the house and walked right in to his and Evelyn�s room. Evelyn was awake putting on her makeup, when he began to talk. �Evelyn I�ve decided to leave you for a while. All we do is fight, and you not willing to let me hold you is killing me. Jonathan has taken Alex to Egypt, and I�m going to be at the Plaza if you want me,� Rick said as he packed.
His words tore at her painfully, and Evelyn sat in stunned disbelief. Her husband, the man she had created life with twice, the man who had saved her life from a fate worse than death was walking out on her. Then she realized that he was doing her a favor. Their fights were over her not wanting him to touch her, not wanting to let him in, and this way she could move on with her life, and the pain she knew would go away once Rick was gone. �Do what you need to do,� was all she said, then she left to go to work.
~#~#~#~#~
I know this is depressing but they lost a child, and I promise you this will end happily, it just takes time.