When Al could demonstrate that he could walk from one end of the parallel bars to the other without needing to take hold of the bars, Carl patted him on the back and said, "This is it, buddy."
"What is?" he asked.
"You can go home and finish your recovery there," he said. "The doctors will have to sign your release forms, but when I see you walking like this, I just know you're ready."
Al felt a tightening in his throat. He didn't think he would be this emotional when he heard he was finally able to go home. Carl saw his face, cleared his throat, looked away and patted him on the back again.
When he walked back to his room with the walker (it was one thing to do a circuit of the parallel bars without help, another to get all the way back to the ICU,) he saw Mom waiting for him. She hadn't been back since Monday, and he wondered if she might have been leaving a lot of room for Richard to come visit him; the two hadn't seen each other since Dad's funeral, and such a meeting now, when the cat was out of the bag, would only be awkward.
She brightened when she saw him. "I didn't know you were already walking!"
"I started on Tuesday. I worked my way up a little at a time."
She wrapped an arm around him and kissed him on the cheek. "It's so good to see you up."
"Thanks, Mom. Let's sit."
She held open the door for him and he walked back to his bed. He sat himself down and said, "I think they'll be sending me home soon."
"That's wonderful news!" she said. "I bet Rachel and the kids will be so glad."
"Rachel and Emma, yes. Logan hasn't come by to see me yet. Emma says it's because he doesn't like hospitals."
"He's a teenage boy, they're self-centred. You were like that."
"I apologize for my past self."
She waved that off. "Everyone has their phases. Now, tell me, how was Richard?"
So, this was why she came. "It was... awkward... but it was also good. We talked a little about our families, a little bit about his relationship with Dad."
She smiled sadly. "I notice you still call Charles your father."
He shrugged. "Old habits. We've agreed that I won't reach out to his kids about our new kinship."
She nodded. "It's too bad, but I think it's best for everyone's sake."
"Do you know much about them?"
"Not much. We really didn't keep in touch."
"Did you know his oldest daughter is Director of the VPL Foundation?"
Her eyes widened. "She works at your library?!"
"Well, not directly, but their offices are in the building. I bet I could find her in our staff Intranet. Her name is Daphne, not sure if she still goes by Mackenzie, though."
"Al," she warned. "If you contact her, be very careful what you say. We don't want to destroy this family because of one indiscretion almost fifty years ago."
"I will, don't worry."
The door opened, and Rachel stepped inside with Emma. "Knock, knock," she said.
"Hello, Rachel," Mom said. "And Emma! How nice to see you!"
Emma threw her arms around Mom and said, "Hi, Grammy." It warmed Al's heart to see Emma bonding with his mother, who'd yearned for grandchildren for years.
"Are you doing well in school, dear?" Mom asked.
Emma looked to Rachel, who smiled and said, "As well as she can. She has her Special Education Assistant, and she likes her a lot, don't you, Emma?"
Emma nodded, and Mom said, "Al has good news, did he tell you yet?"
"What?" Rachel asked with bated breath.
"I'm coming home soon," Al said.
"Yay!" Emma cheered.
"When?" Rachel asked.
"Carl, my physical therapist, thinks the doctors will sign me off soon. Maybe in the next day or two."
"Jesus, that's fast," Rachel said, but she was grinning like the cat who got the cream. "Good thing Joe and Logan finished renovating the basement."
"Logan's been helping Joe?" he asked in amazement. He shouldn't have been so surprised; the boy had liked his summer working with Joe at his construction sites, even if the work was arduous.
Rachel nodded, looking sheepish. "It's why he hasn't come by to see you."
"Hey, that's okay. Helping Joe renovate the basement for our comfort is his way of showing us how much we mean to him."
"Yeah." Rachel looked preoccupied, though.
"What is it?"
"I appreciate the work Logan is doing, but I'm starting to get the feeling he's doing it to be around Joe just as much as he's doing it for the work experience. Those two are more father and son than Joe is with Tosh."
Al grimaced and looked at Emma, who huddled against Mom and nodded sheepishly. "I see it, too," she said. "I feel bad for Tosh."
"Don't be too hard on him," Mom said. "Boys look for role models that align with their interests. It's not that he doesn't like you, Al."
"I know," he said. "He and I don't have a lot in common, but I knew that right at the start when we took these two in. It's just how it is." Still, he couldn't ignore the stab in his heart.
As if Emma could read his mind, she came forward and wrapped her arms around him. "I like you better than Joe, don't worry."
"Oh, sweetie," he said, embarrassed to feel tears in his eyes as he squeezed her back. The girl always knew how to destroy his defences.
"Me, too," Rachel said, smirking.
"Gosh, I didn't even know that was in question," Al said, chuckling and wiping his eyes. After Joanie's frank statements about Rachel and Joe, he couldn't help worrying a little.
"Did Al mention the other thing?" Mom asked.
"What other thing?" Rachel asked.
Al cleared his throat and looked at Mom, who nodded encouragingly. "Richard came to visit on Wednesday."
Rachel looked at Mom and gasped. "You mean your... uncle?"
"You have an uncle?" Emma asked in amazement. She looked at Mom and asked, "Is he your brother, Grammy?"
Mom chuckled and said, "Oh, no, sweetie, he's Al's father's brother."
"Oh, right, and your dad's dead, right?" she asked Al.
The girl was sweet and guileless, but it also meant she had no sense of tact, and her statement fell like a hammer blow. He flinched and said, "Well, yes, he passed away fourteen years ago."
"How did the visit go?" Rachel asked.
"It was... enlightening. He gave me his card, so we'll probably talk again. Do you know he was also a psychologist?"
"Seriously? Like your dad?"
"He treated adults, though. Still, he said Dad followed him into the profession." When he saw Emma's questioning look, he said, "Dad was a child psychologist. I wish he could have met you, he would have liked you."
Emma said, "Can I meet your uncle? What does he look like?"
Al chuckled. "Actually, like an older version of me."
"So, like your dad? Did they look alike?"
"Uh..." Al looked to Mom, who shrugged and nodded. Al said, "I think Dad was a little shorter, and he wore glasses, but you could tell they were brothers."
"When can we see him?" Emma was excited now.
"It will probably be after I come home, he's... uh... still a busy man, so we'll need to figure out a date and time."
"And you can be there too, Grammy!"
Mom flinched but recovered quickly. She smiled and said, "Maybe, dear. We'll see."
"Emma, do you want to go grab a hot chocolate from the cafeteria? Maybe Grammy can take you?" Rachel reached into her purse and handed her a twenty from her wallet. "Get a treat too, if you want, but bring back the change."
"We did just have dinner, so I'm not that hungry, but a hot chocolate sounds good." Emma took the bill and stuffed it in her pocket. "Do you and Al need privacy?"
"Just a few minutes."
"We'll be back," Mom said, taking Emma's hand and leading her out.
When the door closed behind them, Rachel turned to him and said, "You're probably wondering why I haven't visited since Tuesday."
Al shrugged. "You're busy. You have work and the kids to look after. I've been focusing on improving myself so I can leave here."
"And it's paid off, I can see."
She sat herself next to him and threw an arm around him. He said, "I should probably let you know Agnes visited me yesterday."
He felt her tense. "Oh, yeah."
"She said she filed the divorce papers with Sunny and gave a deposition to Mandeep."
"Good. On Wednesday Joe and I moved some items into the new place for Agnes' comfort."
"Thank you, honey. You've been so great to her when you didn't have to be."
She looked miserable, though, and Al asked, "What is it? Is something wrong? Are you changing your mind about helping her?"
She shook her head in frustration. "No, it's not that. There's something I need to discuss with you, and I didn't want Emma and your mom here for it."
"Okay." He was worried, now. Had something indeed changed between them? Was her encounter with Joe a few weeks ago so life-altering that she wanted a divorce?
She took a shaky breath and let it out. "So, Tej called Lauren..."
"Okay."
"She asked us what we'd think about... shit, this is awkward..."
He squeezed her tighter and said, "You can tell me anything, you know that. Does she want to have another encounter with you two? Oh! Can I watch, this time?"
She chuckled and body-checked him. "No, but... see, Sunny's been feeling left out of our whole sordid arrangement, and Tej says he's admitted to her that he's attracted to Lauren and me."
Al's stomach dropped. "You mean... you and Lauren... and Sunny?"
"Yeah." It was so soft he barely heard it.
"And you say Tej was the one who floated the idea?" he asked in disbelief.
"I know, it's crazy, right?" she said. "She said she felt guilty about our little threesome back in Harrison Hot Springs. She wanted to do this for Sunny, a one-time thing he could remember forever, I guess."
"And you and Lauren..." He still couldn't believe Tej was willing to do this. "What do you think about this?"
"We've been talking about it since yesterday, when Tej called. We're thinking about it..."
She looked so guilty that Al felt he had to comfort her. "I don't blame you for finding Sunny attractive, if that's what you're worried about. Even I'll admit he's a handsome man."
"But everybody has to be on board with this, or it doesn't happen."
"Of course. What about Joe? After his blow-up with me, I can't imagine he'd be willing to share Lauren again."
She sighed. "Lauren brought it up at their marriage counselling session this morning."
Al chuckled and shook his head. "Jesus, that's brazen of her."
"She thought having a witness would make her safer."
"Good idea."
"To her surprise, Joe consented with one condition. He wanted Tej."
Al said, "Wow. What... what did Tej say?"
"I don't know. Lauren said she'd talk to her. I don't know if she has yet."
Al wondered acidly what Joanie would think if she heard this. Was it Joe's intention to alienate her completely? "I had no idea that was even an option."
She barked a laugh and said, "In a situation like this, all options are on the table. Are you saying you'd like her too?"
Al felt himself blush, and he knew Rachel noticed. "Uh..." he stammered. "Wait, am I involved in this at all?"
Rachel turned and suddenly kissed him hard, their tongues twining in that way that was so familiar to him now, and he suddenly remembered the kiss Agnes gave him yesterday, and why he could never tell Rachel about it, because it had felt just as familiar, and that was a problem if Agnes was going to be back in his life.
When she finally came up for air, Rachel said, "Of course you are, Al. If you're coming home soon, we might as well wait until you can participate. I mean, Lauren's still got her leg in a cast, and Sunny's still recovering from his gunshot wound. Believe me, there's no hurry, here. It still might not happen, and I want you to know that I can take this or leave it; Sunny is just a harmless fantasy for me, okay? Sure, I've pictured him with his hair down, but it's not like I yearn for him or anything. I love you, Al, desperately; yours is the body I want the most. If you're not okay with this, it won't happen."
Al chuckled ruefully and said, "Far be it from me to hold up everyone else's fun."
"No, Al, you're wrong. Either everybody's on board, with all their conditions met, or it doesn't happen. Do you realize how disastrous this can be if it goes wrong?"
He sighed and said, "Yeah. Hell, it almost broke Lauren's marriage just with the three of us involved. Now it's all of us, with that many more hearts to break."
"Exactly."
"So, look, if you and Lauren are comfortable with this, then I won't stand in your way. If Tej wants me, I'll give it a go, but it's not a deal breaker for me. I'll just say this: when this thing happens, I'll want to make love to someone, because I've been missing you so badly."
"Me?" Rachel asked with a smirk. "Or me and Lauren?"
"You," he said, because it was true, but also because it was the only safe answer. Of course he missed Lauren, too, and he'd welcome either or both of them when the time came.
They kissed one last time before the door opened and Emma and Mom came back in, both carrying cardboard cups, presumably both with hot chocolate but with Mom it could have been coffee.
Emma saw them break apart and said, "Yup, I knew it, they needed privacy."
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To see how Agnes deals with her first instance of separated life in Al and Rachel's empty townhouse, click on "Continue reading."