Chapter 29*
The phone shrill caused Alex to jump in the bed. She in the midst of such a deep and dream filled sleep. Happy dreams. Gavin and a son, waiting for her by a pond. They were waving to her. Gavin and a "mini me" Gavin. Same hair, same eyes. Same damn hypnotic and mischievous smile. The one that had her willing to do anything.
Gavin snatched it off the stand next to his bed.
"Charles? What's wrong?" Gavin said immediately. He listened with held breath. "That stubborn bitch! Ok." He flipped on the light and pulled his watch to him.
"It's 2 a.m.," Gavin said checking the time. "Send the jet to the airport in Pittsburg and I'll meet it there."
"Gavin," Alex said taking his arm. "What's going on?"
"Madelyn had a small stroke," Gavin told her.
"Oh God!" Alex began to tear up.
"She is fine," Gavin said trying to calm her. "But I need to go back."
"No, we'll both go," Alex told him.
"No, your parents and family are expecting you," Gavin reminded.
"I don't care!" Alex semi barked.
"Nora is expecting you," Gavin said softly. "She needs that new dress and she was excited you were taking her to the movies today." He said stroking her face.
"Anzi has checked her out, she is in no danger and I can hear her in the background telling
me
not to come back!" He laughed holding the phone so Alex could hear her ranting that he better not show up or she would kick his ass.
This caused Alex to smile and relax a little. If she was that feisty then she was fine, she hoped.
"Don't go to Pittsburg," Alex told him. "If the jet is small enough, Averin is a small town ten miles from here, it has a small airfield."
"Charles," Gavin smiled winking at her. "Charles, have your pilot at Averin, Pennsylvania. It's a small nearby airfield." Gavin listened then got out of bed. "Fine, be there ASAP."
"She is going to be alright?" Alex asked as he got up to start his shower.
"Yes," Gavin said, his voice was strained and that wasn't comforting to her. The normally calm and focused Gavin had a tinge of worry and that upset her.
"You're sure?" Alex asked him.
"She had a stroke," Gavin explained. "Until we run a full testing spectrum, we won't know the damage."
"So I should go!" Alex told him.
"No," he shook his head. "Look I appreciate you want to go, but Anzi is a specialist in Neurology and strokes, he said she is fine, she says she is fine...,"
"But you have to be Gavin," Alex nodded with a nervous smile and understanding.
"I can't be anyone else," he smiled kissing her lips. "Really I'm leaving this up to Anzi, I can't be involved in something like this with Madelyn, I wouldn't be able to keep myself objective and focused, so I'm just going to sit there and be in the way myself." He winked at her.
At the crack of dawn the small private jet touched down on the tarmac and Gavin hopped out of the car and went to the trunk. He hadn't said much to her on the way over, spending most of his time on his phone, either talking on it or going over test results via email. She drove to Averin, trying to give him the time to be Gavin, one focus and right now, that was Madelyn.
She still felt like she should go, but that would involve going against the new role she wanted to maintain. No arguing, submissive at all costs. That was going to be very difficult for her in things like this. Who was she kidding? That was going to be difficult in everything! She was just so stubborn! But Gavin was worth trying hard for. Forcing her to go against the nature and be submissive.
As the jet turned around, Alex and Gavin walked towards it. The door opened and the stairs dropped.
"Dr. Steward?" a man asked as he stuck his head out. Gavin nodded. "Flight time is fifty seven minutes doctor." Gavin nodded and handed him his bag.
"Ok," Gavin said taking her face in his hands. "Deep breath!"
"I should be getting on that plane with you!" She argued softly. "We are now a couple, meaning we meet everything head on...together!"
"Unless we have to fight separate battle fronts," he smiled. She furrowed her brow. "Look," he said with a shake of his head seeing the fire in her. "All the tests so far say the same thing. She is fine. So both of us going back is senseless, especially seeing how she is going to be livid!"
"Secondly," he said softer. "I have a solution for Livy."
"You do?" Alex asked relieved, he nodded.
She had a multitude of solutions for Livy as well. All of them had some form of going over to Don and beating the shit out of the cheating bastard. She was hoping Gavin could come up with something a little more civilized.
"There is no way she is going to be able to make a decision in that house," Gavin told her. She nodded that she agreed. "She needs someplace quiet, someplace where she can just decompress and look at things from a non-pressure situation. With nobody hounding her about religion or appearances."
"Ok," Alex said slowly not knowing where he was going.
"I want you to convince her and Nora to come to Chicago with you," Gavin said. Her jaw dropped open. "Not for forever! But for a few weeks, maybe a month. If she gets away from you mother and sisters, she will see things from a different perspective. If nothing else she will have time to breathe."
"Would she stay with us?" Alex asked him.
"Sure, the condo is your home too!" he shrugged. "The guest room is open, we will have to move some of your art stuff into my forbidden man cave..." He joked while waving his hands like a magician. Teasing her, yet again, about her stand on giving him space.
"But they should have plenty of room there. Then she will have you to distract Nora, while she contemplates one of the most difficult and painful decisions of her life."
"What about our little secret?" she smiled. "I can be kinda noisy!"
"That, my love, is what they make ball gags for!" Gavin smiled kissing her. He stroked her cheek then climbed the stairs. Alex moved back to the safety of the Mercedes as the plane lifted off.
"A ball gag?" She smiled as she started her car. "There is one I haven't tried before!" She giggled and drove back to the hotel to shower herself.
***
"I figured you would be up," she whispered to her father as he sat at the table drinking coffee. She had quietly let herself into the house after her shower, she knew he was an early riser, so there was little doubt when she pulled up and saw the kitchen light on that it was him.
"What are you doing up this early?" he asked her surprised as she went to the coffee maker and poured herself a cup. "Where is Gavin?"
"Gavin's good friend Madelyn had a mini stroke last night," Alex frowned. "He had a jet pick him up in Averin and take him back to Chicago."
"Is she alright?" Al asked her concerned.
"Gavin says so, she sounded like the hard ass Madelyn can be, on the phone, but I'm so worried!" Alex said sitting next to him. "Madelyn took the place of Gavin's mother after she passed. I...I don't know if he is strong enough to lose her!" She explained to her father as his eyes told her he didn't understand.
"He is very strong!" Al argued with a scoff of disbelief taking her daughter's hands in his to help comfort her.
"Almost as strong as you, but...," Alex frowned.
She didn't have the same confidence that her father had. He wasn't privy to how Gavin's mind worked as she was. Gavin looked to Madelyn as a maternal guidance. A mentor. Losing her would reopen all the wounds of losing his parents again. How strong is he? How strong is anyone? Everyone has a breaking point, even Gavin.
Madelyn was all he had until she came along. How strong would he be if she were to pass? Would their relationship be enough to sustain him through the tough time that would follow? Even she couldn't answer that for sure. In all honesty, she wasn't willing to risk it.
"But what?" Al asked her lifting her chin to look her in the eye.
"Gavin has lost every person he has ever loved...tragically! His mom to cancer, his dad a short time later from a broken heart...then there was the girl that broke his heart," Alex said softly.
"What happened to her?" Al asked softly, gently nudging his daughter to talk to him. He could see his daughter's heart breaking just talking about the pain Gavin had to endure. His heart broke for her.
"She OD'd on heroin," Alex said softly, a single tear rolling down her face. "Gavin hasn't had a steady girl since then, and that was in med school."
"Until you?" Al asked, his face looked pained to ask.
"I hope," she smiled. "I'm definitely further along than any previous girl...but nothing is ever certain, is it?"
"That depends on how hard you are willing to fight," Al winked at her. Alex let out a deep breath.
"What is your position on Livy and Don?" Alex whispered in case her mother was up. She needed to find an ally to help her with her upcoming campaign to get Livy to come back to Chicago. Her father would have some sway.
"You mean other than wanting to kill the son of a bitch?" Al growled. Alex nodded with a soft smile. Question answered. Good old dad, she could always count on him.
"I want to take her and Nora back to Chicago with me," Alex told him. "Just for a few weeks, give her some space to clear her head and take a long look with no one hounding her about the bullshit."
He nodded as he thought about it.
"What does Gavin say about that?" he asked her. "I mean having a kid in a bachelor pad and all?"
"It was Gavin's idea," Alex smiled proudly.
"No shit?" he laughed a short laugh of disbelief. "Well, I think that would help her out a lot. To have a different attitude around her. A change of latitude, to change the attitude, so to speak."
"I'm not trying to convince her one way or the other," Alex clarified. "I just want her to take a deep breath, ask herself her the questions that she needs to explore and go from there."
"I would support that," he agreed with a firm nod and troubled brow. "I just don't know if Livy will take advantage of the offer."
***
Nora squealed as she entered the Disney Store in Pittsburg later in the day. She ran from one display to the next, the look on her face said it all. She was in her version of heaven.
"You have just become the greatest person on the planet," Livy smiled as she put her head on her sister. "Nora has been dying to come here."
