Chapter 5

 "Mom, won’t you please tell me why you’re so upset?" Derek begged his mother. Elaina just sat on the couch...one hand holding Derek’s hand, her other hand was holding Sarah tightly to her.

"Mom please tell us," Sarah said, rubbing her mom’s face.

Frank came into the room and knelt down beside the couch where she was sitting. "Elaina, it’s going to be all right. You have to believe that," he whispered to her.

"Are they still here?" she asked bitterly.

"Where would they go, Lady?" Frank put his arm around her. "I’m not going anywhere, ever. You and I will always be together." They both looked up at the clock as it began to chime for the hour. Their eyes fixed on one another. Frank put his hand on Sarah’s back and rubbed it. He leaned over and kissed Sarah, and then Elaina.

Derek moved so he could touch Frank’s arm. He didn’t understand what was going on, but felt the need to touch his father. "Dad, what’s going on? Mom’s acting like the world is going to end."

Frank didn’t know what to say; he just looked at his family wondering if Elaina’s fears would come true.

"I love you all," Elaina said, closing her eyes to say a silent prayer.

When the clock chimed for the last time, Frank gave a heavy sigh. "Time’s up, Lady," Frank whispered to her. "We’re all still here."

"Elaina, Are you okay? Why is everyone huddled together?" Maria asked, walking in the room.

"Your guess is as good as mine. I think Mom might have finally lost it today or something. She got really depressed all of a sudden," Derek explained.

"I’m fine now. I’m sorry if I scared you. I guess I should have a long talk with Allison." Elaina played along with Derek’s theory.

"If you’re okay, I’m going to go finish my chores before the party." Derek kissed his mom and went towards the kitchen.

"Elaina, Frank! What the hell is going on?" Maria stood waiting for an explanation.

Elaina was staring at Frank; ignoring her cousin. "I love you. I should have believed you. I’m glad I was wrong."

"I’m glad you were wrong too. Sarah, you can go find Allison. You can tell her I’m acting crazy," Elaina said to get her to leave the room.

"Mom, you are weird.”

"HELLO! What the hell is going on? People are going to be showing up soon and I want to know what is happening," Maria demanded, sitting next to Elaina.

"I have someone I need to talk to. Frank will explain everything to you," Elaina said, getting up.

"Somebody better explain and fast," Maria said, running out of patience.

Elaina went in the office and found Ardeth and Layla on the couch together. Layla was lying with her head in Ardeth’s lap. He was stroking her long auburn hair while they talked to each other.

"Excuse me for intruding," Elaina said, walking over to them.

"This is your home. You are not intruding," Ardeth said, while Layla sat up.

"I want to apologize for my actions earlier. I became irrational. I haven’t done that in a while. I hope you will forgive me?" Elaina asked of them.

"Frank explained what you thought would happen. You only feared the unknown as anyone would. I forgive you." Ardeth took her hand. "I am glad I did not change your life or anyone else’s."

"We, too, were scared of what would happen," Layla added.

"It seems that the only lives that were changed were yours," Elaina said while Frank and Maria walked into the room.

"Maria has a thought on what might have happened," Frank announced, turning to Maria. "It’s your theory, you explain it.

"What if Ardeth wasn’t supposed to die? What if something prior to this day set off a chain reaction to cause his death?" Maria paused for them to think about it. "If something wasn’t supposed to happen, and did then...God or fate, whatever you want to believe...intervened and brought Ardeth and Layla here to put things as they should have been," she explained.

"Good theory. Why would the family history say it did happen, if it wasn’t supposed to?" Elaina thought about what Maria said, finding it was rather confusing.

"Read it now and see if it has changed," Frank suggested, thinking it was a rather foolish notion, but it wouldn’t surprise him.

Elaina walked over to the computer and opened the file. She put on her glasses. "Cool, it did change." She smiled glancing up at them. "Oh, my." She put her hand over her mouth, trying to conceal her excitement.

"What is it?" Maria wondered.

"Well, I’m not sure I should tell them. It could cause a change if I tell them," Elaina considered.

"Let’s not start that again," Frank advised her.

"All right. If anything happens we can blame Frank." Elaina laughed.

"Layla, are you sure you want to know all this? Wouldn’t you rather be surprised?" Maria asked, reading over Elaina’s shoulder.

"Yes. I would like to know how many children we have at least. That is okay with you, Hubee?" Layla asked, looking hopefully to Ardeth.

"I am curious as to the children we have." Ardeth smiled.

"Well, I shall tell you then. You have a total of five. But only four pregnancies. One pregnancy will bring you twins."

"Allah is being good to us." Ardeth kissed Layla. "Does it say when the first child is born?"

"Yes it does." Elaina looked at the date and smiled. "Your first child arrives in 8 months. You are pregnant right now," she added.

"This is very good news. Is it a boy or a girl?" Layla asked, being very curious.

"I think you should wait and be surprised," Elaina said, not wanting to give them all the information.

"Please, I want to know if I give my husband a son," Layla begged her.

"I can tell you that you do give him a son," Elaina said, looking at the monitor.

"Oh, for heaven’s sake Elaina, tell them. It won’t hurt them to know. If anything it will help them prepare for them," Maria told her.

"You have a daughter first, and then your son arrives the following year," Elaina read to them. "Before you ask the names...I’m leaving that as a surprise."

"We have already talked about names for our children. We do not need to know them. Maybe it is best to keep some things untold."

"They are interesting names though," Maria said still, reading over Elaina’s shoulder.

"Don’t you have a party going on down the hall?" Elaina asked her cousin.

"Oh my God! I was so interested in all this I forgot. Please excuse me. Allison is going to kill me for leaving her alone."

"Tell her I kept you busy," Elaina said when she left. "Might as well tell her that, I was going to get blamed for it anyway," she said more to herself than anyone else.

"Ardeth, I hope you have a lot of patience. You’ll need it with five children. Elaina and I always thought raising two was a handful," Frank commented.

"This coming from a man who yells for me when either of them becomes sick. Or there were nights when you had work and couldn’t be with them. We are both guilty of that though."

"I have been here for them, not as much as I would have liked. There have been times when you have been away and I have stayed up with them. Remember when Derek had the flu and you were in….nevermind bad example," Frank said, realizing she was in the hospital then.

"Why is that a bad example?" Ardeth asked, not knowing anything about them.

"I was in the hospital. I was paralyzed from the waist down after being shot."

"You recovered very well," Layla said. "I did not think one could recover from that."

"I was lucky. It was not permanent."

"How long did it last?" Layla wondered.

"I started getting the feeling back in about two months? It took me another three months before I could walk normally again," Elaina said, hearing the music starting to play. "I guess the party has officially started. We should make an appearance at least," Elaina said to Frank.

"You can go upstairs or stay in here. We really should go give our wishes to our friend," Frank said to Ardeth.

"We will stay hear and listen to the unique music," Ardeth told them.

"You can lock the door if you want. We’ll knock and announce ourselves when we come back," Elaina said, thinking of their privacy.

"Come on, Lady. I hear a slow song and I feel like dancing with you. See you later." Frank took Elaina by the hand, and led her out the door, making sure they shut it behind them.