The first few weeks they were in their new home was like a dream come true. There were no adults to hold them back, no rules to adhere too, and a freedom to love one another any way they saw fit. Alex and Megan O�Connell had everything they wanted, a beautiful house in a nice quiet residential neighborhood, and most of all each other; which was what mattered most to the young couple.
It was when the bills began to come in that they realized life was not going to be as easy as they first thought. Alex was making enough money to let them stay in the house but only barely, which is why he took a second Job. Their plan to further their education seemed further and further away, and the time they had spent together in the first weeks of their arrival slowly disappeared.
Home alone, Megan maintained the house; cleaning their cloths, fixing meals for Alex to take with him to work, and finding that she had too much time on her hands. The war seemed to be getting more intense and the need for young men to fight forever worried her. She knew that any abled body man was out fighting in the war, and was afraid that somehow Alex would get pulled into it. If the government found out they were lying about their age, she wondered what would happen to them.
Her only visitor during the day was Ruthie, who talked about her boy who had gone off to fight in the war, and how she worried about him. Another thing which was on Megan�s mind more so than anything else; a secret that she was keeping from Alex for fear he would leave her was that she was two and half months along with their first child.
One night after they were in bed she lay awake trying to think of a way to tell Alex about the baby, knowing that the longer she kept it a secret the more it would eat away at her. A smile formed on her lips as she recalled the other weekend when a group of children had passed by, and how Alex had played ball with them. She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard him ask her if she was still awake. �I am,� she said as she turned over to face him.
�Are you happy here?� he asked as he reached out and caressed her cheek with his right hand.
�Of coarse I am. I have you don�t I?� she asked, not wanting to tell him how desperately she wanted to go back to England.
�You will always have me,� he said as he leaned in and kissed her lips. After she went to sleep it was his turn to be awake. What they had in the bank was quickly disappearing and Alex knew they were in over their head. He had talked to his boss at the Hardware store, who had offered to let them live in the small apartment over his garage if things didn�t start looking up for them soon, and Alex had a feeling that they were going to have to sell the house and do just that. He was disappointed in himself for not being able to take care of them as he had first hoped he could.
~*~
Life for Rick and Evelyn wasn�t much better. They had scoured the house trying to find some clue as to where Alex and Megan had gone. Their contacts in Egypt had gotten back to them, telling them both that there was no sign of them there, and Rick had gone to the port to see if there was record of Alex leaving on a ship.
With the air raids which had damaged a great deal of London, finding any sort of records was damn near impossible, and the only ships running were those owned by private individual�s rather than companies.
Aside from not being able to find Alex, Rick and Evelyn were trying their best to convince Heidi that Alex hadn�t left because she was mean to him, something which she didn�t believe. She was six years old, and supposed to be a happy carefree little girl, but instead she was depressed and cried on the drop of a dime.
Because she was depressed, Heidi came down with another cold, and now in her parents bed she rested against Evelyn�s side listening to a story. �Mummy?� she asked as Evelyn turned a page.
�Yes darling,� answered Evie as she leaned down and kissed her daughter�s warm forehead. �Do you think the baddies got Alex?� she asked. Baddies, was Heidi�s word for the Nazis.
�No my angel. I think Alex is safe. I think he and Megan are together, and they are safe,� she said, also worried that something had happened to her first born, but not willing to let Heidi worry over such things.
~*~
It had been years since Rick had been in the attic, years since he had even thought of his parents and his sister. With the recent events of Alex�s disappearance, he had thought of them a great deal. He now knew what it was like to be a parent worried about his son, mostly Alex�s future, and had regrets over what he had put his parents through. He and Evelyn had raised Alex with the hopes that he would go to school and make something for himself. Rick realized that they had never really asked him what he wanted.
It took him a little bit of time but he finally found the crate of things he had long ago packed away. It took a moment but he pried the lid off of it and found everything inside jumbled about. Trying to remember if he had left things that way, and then realizing he had not, Rick began to pull things out haphazardly, and quickly found the two letters his mom had written him when he was in the legion; letters he had never read were gone.
Forgetting about putting everything back, he ran down the steps leading to the attic, then ran down the stairs leading to the second level. He stopped short of their room when he heard Evelyn singing to their daughter and took a few breaths. Was it possible that Alex had gone to Montana? What confused him was how he would have gotten out of England without major problems, but given the fact that they had been bombed several times, he guessed that maybe the opportunity for Alex and Megan to get out had been easy.
It was the lack of Evie singing that prompted Rick to enter their room, and he found his daughter asleep. �We need to talk,� he whispered as he walked over to the side of the bed Heidi was closest too. Gently he lifted her away from Evelyn then pulled back the covers and put her down. Once she was snug in their bed he led Evelyn downstairs. �I think Alex and Megan went to find my parents. The only two letters my mom ever sent me are missing and all the things I had in that crate were all tossed around,� Rick said.
�How could he leave? Transport out of here is next to impossible to find,� Evelyn said.
�He must have found a private ship, thats not as uncommon as it has been and Sam and I still have several clients wanting us to build yachts and cruise style ships,� he said.
�But what about the Government, soldiers stationed at the docks? They wouldn�t be willing to let him go so easily,� she said not wanting to believe that he had gone all the way to the United States.
�Not easy, but not impossible. We need to face that fact that he might be in Montana, and if he is we need to go find them,� he said.
~*~
Going to the Library while Alex was at work brought comfort to Megan, and kept her mind off of the war and other worries. The first few visits she had spent reading books on child development, and child birth, then she decided to find Alex�s grandparents, or at least to see if anything was written about them in the Genealogy section.
Megan found out that the first O�Connells had moved to America in the early 1700s, and the first O�Connells to come to Billings were Alex�s great great grandparents. Other than that there really wasn�t a whole bunch of information.
Today, a rainy Wednesday afternoon, as Megan was walking home from the Library, carrying a few books she had borrowed, she was actually for once happy. Alex would be home soon, and they had decided to go out for dinner. They were starting to save money, a penny at a time it seemed, but at least they were saving, which was one thing less she had to worry about.
As she was walking up the front steps of their house, Megan lost her footing, and slid, falling forward. She came down hard on her stomach and chest and hit her head. The last thing she thought of before everything went dark was the baby that Alex still didn�t know about.
~*~
At the hardware store, Alex was showing a customer different hammers, when Mr. Hampton came back. �Alex, why don�t you go in my office and take a phone call there, I�ll finish up here,� he said. He watched the young man walk to the front of the store, worried, because it was the hospital calling for him.
When Alex answered the phone, he had figured it would be Megan telling him to bring something home from the store, which was across the street. The person on the other end was hardly her. He listened as the nurse told him of his wife�s injuries, and when he hung up the phone, he found Mr. Hampton waiting. �My wife,� he tried as his voice cracked.
�Go on son, your job will be here when you come back,� he said, remembering when he and his wife had married and the difficult time they had getting started.
The hospital was a few blocks away, and when Alex arrived he was soaking wet but he didn�t seem to notice. He walked to the reception desk and told the woman there his wife�s name, then walked to the lift, and went to the second floor. At the nurses station he was told to wait in the waiting room.
Now he sat on a lumpy red couch with his face in his hands. This couldn�t be happening, not to them. They didn�t have enough money to pay the hospital bill that he knew they would be getting, but that wasn�t even half of his worries. There was more wrong with Megan than what they were letting him know and he was terrified that he would lose her.
�Mr. O�Connell?�
Alex looked up as a doctor walked over to him and sat down. �Your wife will be fine with lots of rest and someone to take care of her. I�m afraid I can�t say that about the baby,� he said, seeing a look of shock spread across the young man�s face. �I�ll let you see her, but she needs to rest, so keep her quiet,� he said.
Numbly, Alex followed the doctor through two heavy oak doors, then down the hall to a small room. He stood outside the door for several long minutes. They were going to have a baby, and she hadn�t told him. He shut his eyes, took a breath then he walked inside. In a starch white bed, Alex found his wife asleep, almost as white as the covers. He let the tears which were threatening to fall, fall. Quietly he pulled a chair up to her bed then took her left hand in his.
It took a great deal of effort, but Megan opened her eyes. �I�m,� she tried.
�Shhh. Everything is going to be okay now,� he said as he stood up, leaned over her and kissed her.
Megan shook her head. �I didn�t tell you,� she whispered.
�I didn�t give you much of a reason to,� he said as he kissed her hand. �Get some sleep,� he added. When her eyes shut and when she was asleep, Alex went outside and asked to use a phone. When they left him alone he dialed O. �I want to make an over seas call to...� Alex told them the number and when it began to ring he hung up. He had to be strong and take care of Megan himself.
~*~
Megan�s stay in the Hospital lasted a few weeks, and the day Alex brought her home they found Ruthie there, with dinner ready for them, and the bed ready for Megan�s use. Alex put her in bed, then saw Ruthie out. She had promised to come stay with Megan while he worked at the Hardware store and at the Grocery store, which had agreed to rehire him despite his missing a few weeks due to Megan�s hospital stay.
The hospital had agreed to let Alex make payments on his bill, but they were once again facing tough times. Ruthie had made them meat loaf and mashed potatoes, and after making up a plate, Alex walked into the room he and Megan shared.
�Hey, Ruthie made a home cooked meal, better than the hospital,� Alex said.
�I�m not hungry,� she said as she rolled away from him. After putting the plate down on his bedside table, Alex climbed in bed next to his wife. �Megan, I�m sad too about the baby, but we have our whole life ahead of us,� he said.
When she didn�t even respond, and after a while, Alex went to the kitchen where he had dinner alone.
~*~
Trying to get out of London was proving to be damn near impossible, and how Alex and Megan had managed to go was beyond Rick. They had their own yacht, and he was having to go through hell to try and get the military to let him out.
While he wrestled with that, Evelyn had their bags packed and was doing her best to explain to Heidi why she couldn�t travel with them. �You are still not completely well, and your father and I have to talk to Alex.�
�But the Baddies will get you too,� she said.
Evelyn stopped packing and walked over to the bed. Once she was sitting down, she gathered her baby into her arms. �Alex is living in America baby. Do you remember the picture of the Statue of Liberty?� Evelyn asked
�She�s the woman people go to before they live in the America,� Heidi said as she yawned.
�Yes, well Alex is living there. Your father and I will find him and see if we can�t get him to come home,� she said.
�If the Baddies get you, tell them they have to let you go because I need you,� she said as she fell asleep.
Evie stayed there rocking her baby, wishing that her other baby was home so she could tell him how much she loved him, and hold him in her arms as she once had done.
~*~
0ne day while Alex was working at the Hardware store, a man walked in who looked vaguely familiar. He bought a truck load of lumber, several boxes of nails and some wire fencing. It was when the man signed his check, Mr. Robert S O�Connell, that Alex nearly fell to the floor. He managed to check the man out when he left, and when it was just he and Mr. Hampton, he inquired about the man.
�Mr. O�Connell comes in once a month. He owns a horse farm not far out of town and is one of our best costumers,� he said, not realizing that Alex and the older man were related.
Once Alex was on his way home, he thought about breaking his promise to Megan and introducing himself to his grandfather. When he arrived home he found Megan sitting on the porch holding something in her hands. �Hi,� he said as he sat down next to her.
�I want to go back to London,� she said as she looked at him.
Alex looked away. �Why? We are doing fine here on our own,� he said as he looked back at her.
�No Alex we are not. You work all the time and I hardly get a chance to see you. I love you with all that I am, but we need to be with our family, and I want to see my father again,� she said. As she had feared, Alex walked into the house and slammed the door behind him. Megan sighed then rested her head on her lap and began to cry.
~*~
The next morning after spending the night in their bed alone, Megan wasn�t surprised when she found he was already gone. Not wanting to be alone, she went next door and found Ruthie polishing silver. The two woman talked for a while, then Megan asked if she could use her phone to make an over seas call, and when Ruthie agreed to let her, she had the operator dial the O�Connells.
Waiting as the phone rang, Megan almost hung up, then when she heard Evelyn�s voice she took a breath. �This is Megan,� she said. She heard Evelyn yell to Rick, and felt her hand shaking, then she was sobbing telling Evelyn about the baby and about how confused she was. �Alex hates me, and I don�t blame him but running away like this wasn�t what we should have done. I love him, he�s my husband but I don�t know how to make my hurt go away, and I don�t know how he can love me,� she finished.
On the other end, Evelyn held Rick�s hand tight in hers. �Are you in Montana?� Evie asked.
�Yes. We didn�t find Rick�s family, Alex promised me we wouldn�t,� Megan reassured.
�You two take care of one another and Rick and I will come over all right?� Evelyn asked. When Megan agreed, Evelyn placed the phone back on the receiver. �Megan was with child and she lost it. Rick we need to hurry up and get there. Contact Izzy, or anyone who can fly us,� she said desperate to be with both of them.
Rick picked up the phone she had put down, and began making calls to anyone he knew who would be willing to charter them a plane to take them to America. Past that he wasn�t willing to think about what he would do when he got his hands on his son, too angry and hurt that Alex had been so uncaring, and careless in running off.
~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*
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