Can She Go Home?

Coming Home

Six Years Later...

"Daddy, please don't cry." Eight year old Daniel Cade leaned against his father, Darren, for comfort.

The young boy wasn't a baby anymore, he knew that his Nana Mae was really sick, and that his Dad was absolutely distraught about it - it didn't change how hard it was for the boy to see his Father in tears.

For as long as Danny could remember, it had just been him and his Father, the Cade men against the world - they had his grandparents, uncles and aunts, but Dad had always made sure that at the end of the night, it was him and nobody else but him taking care of Danny.

He fed him, bathed him, and tucked him into bed every night without fail.

Daniel loved his father, and seeing him get so upset had the young boy wanting to do anything in his power to protect his beloved Daddy.

"We could go visit Nana, would that make you feel better?" He asked, his hand running along his Dad's muscled forearm, calmed by the feeling of the wisps of his Father's armhair tickling his small hand. "I drew her a picture at school!"

Danny knew his Father had already been to see Nana Mae, that's why Grandma Diana had picked him up from school and fed him an afterschool snack.

He couldn't help but feel as though something was wrong though.

The way that Dad had come into the house, pulling Grandma Diana aside to talk, before coming into the kitchen, the pain evident on his face. Daniel had barely even said hello to his Father before Darren was tearing up, trying not to sob infront of him.

"Maybe we can pick up some flowers for when she gets out of the hospital?" Daniel and his father had picked up a bouquet of flowers each week to replace the ones in his Nana's apartment. Darren had always said it was for when Nana would get out of the hospital, both boys wanting her to be welcomed home with beautiful floral notes and a symphony of colour.

Darren let out a choked noise as he shook his head softly, holding his arm out for his son. Daniel curled into his Dad's side immediately, his young heart dropping into his stomach.

Something was very wrong.

"Daddy, what is it?" He whispered, worry taking over. "Is it her heart again?" He asked, remembering how last year Nana had went into the hospital after a heart attack.

That had been really scary, but Daddy had reassured him that she was a tough old lady and wouldn't let a silly old heart attack take her down.

That had been last year though, and true to his word, Nana had bounced back within a week or two.

This time was different. Daniel didn't know how Nana ended up in the hospital this time, everything had been kept very quiet around him, an air of severity lingered in the air.

"Danny, buddy..." His Dad started, tears in his eyes.

Daniel felt a tear roll down his cheek, and wondered when he had started to cry.

Darren picked his son up in his arms, the boy's legs wrapping around him on instinct, and carried him towards the couch. Sitting down, Darren clung to his boy, pulling Daniel onto his knee so that he could look at him.

He felt a pit in his stomach, Nana Mae was not just Daniel's great-grandmother, she was the only link that Daniel had to his mother. The elderly woman had been abandoned as well when Charlotte ran off, and as upset as Darren had been with his wife - he couldn't turn his back on her grandmother. Mae had taken Darren in as a grandson, even without Charlotte's influence, and had kept close to the boy that bared the lopsided smile that had been passed down from nobody less than herself.

She told the boy long stories about his Mother as a child, provided her own advice for the issues that Darren had no idea how to tackle, and watched the boy afterschool almost every single day (except for the rare time Diana insisted) until the young man would return to his son, back home from work.

Daniel loved his Nana Mae almost as much as he loved his father. Darren loved that, he adored their sweet relationship, and now Darren had to destroy his son with the news that would devastate him.

"Daniel... Nana Mae isn't going to come back home. She, uh, she went to sleep this afternoon for a nap, and she didn't wake up again. Danny, buddy, Nana passed away."

---

The phone fell from her hand and clashed to the ground, bouncing on one of the corner's before laying face down.

"Charlotte, did you hear me? Charlotte?" A voice came from the speaker, alarmed from the sound of the phone hitting the floor. "Are you there? Did I lose you?"

Recovering quick, Charlotte collected her phone, her voice coming out small and soft as she regained her composure. "I'm here." She whispered, freezing again after and not knowing what to say next.

Luckily, her bestfriend Emily understood her silence. "She was never alone. Between Darren and I? She had company most of her days, and some of her nights too."

Charlotte nodded, the tears sliding down her face. Of course Darren had taken care of Nana, he had always had a soft spot when it came to the older woman. "When is it?"

"This Thursday." She said, referring to the funeral. "If you can get off work, why don't you come up Wednesday? You can stay for the weekend, spend some time with me and Lainey?" Charlotte hadn't seen Alaina, Emily's daughter, since the girl was four and they had come up to Vancouver for the week to visit.

They had gone shopping, seen a movie, and Charlotte had fawned over Emily's little girl with the heart of a mother missing her son. That had been two years ago. They were well due a visit.

The one thing that stopped Charlotte from immediately agreeing, was the same thing that had kept the young woman from visiting with her Nana for the past six years. Darren and Daniel Cade. Her husband and son.

"Will he-" She started, her voice thick with emotion.

"Of course he will, Charlotte!" Emily snapped a little. "He's taken care of her since you left." The topic between them had been one that the two friends had argued over a few times in the past years, but for the most part they tried to avoid the subject.

It seems as though that wasn't going to be possible anymore. "Emily-"

"No, Charlie, I won't let it go. I love you to pieces, I do, and I never faulted you for leaving, even if I think your reasons are ridiculous... but now, you need to face your past. You can't just run anymore, Nana wouldn't want you too."

Her words stung, but they were more than true and fair enough.

Charlotte knew that she had messed up, she had let Diana Cade's words get to her. The first few weeks she had been gone, she had accepted defeat. Her husband deserved better - her son deserved better.

About a month in, Charlotte had nothing left but regret. She wanted to be held by her husband, tight in his arms at night where nothing could ever harm her. She needed to hold her baby, to feel his tiny little arms wrap around her neck as he squished her face close and blabbered on about how much he loved her.

She had came home, made it to her front door and knocked before reality crashed down.

Diana Cade answered the door, and promptly slammed it again in her face. As she knocked again, the older woman had opened the door, spat at her and yelled, "Who in the hell do you think you are?"

Charlotte had argued back, begged to be let in to see her son, demanded to speak to her husband (he hadn't answered any of her text messages over the past few days), and verbally fought it out with her mother-in-law.

In the end, Diana had destroyed her, and Charlotte had ran back off, tail between her legs, worried that she had been too late and that she would never be able to get her family back, not if Diana had anything to do with it.

Unbeknownst to her, Diana had never shared her return to Darren, and so, he had never known how she tried to come back home.

Six years had passed, and now Charlie was so terrified of coming face to face with her husband, or worse, her son. She didn't want to be the spectacle of the funeral, but Emily was also right, her grandmother would never forgive her if she let her fear keep her away.

"If it's alright, I'd like to come Tuesday? That way I can spend time with you and Lainey, and even make the viewing on Wednesday?" She wanted to spend as much time with her grandmother as she could, in a sort of morbid way, to make up for the time lost. She would stay at the viewing all day, surrounded by pictures of her Nana, and play the dutiful grieving granddaughter role. She'd make up for her mistakes.

"Of course, hunny, I'll pick you up from the airport."

Charlotte nodded, her next words getting caught in her throat. "I'll see you then."

---

"Miss Bennett, it is so nice to put a face to a name, I'm pleased to meet you, I just wish it was under better circumstances." The funeral director, a young man, held his hand out to Charlotte. "I'm Ethan. Ethan Del Mar."

Charlotte shook his hand softly, nodding her head at his comment. They had spoken a few times about the arrangements, the home wanting to make sure all of the arrangements were to her standards. "Nice to meet you."

"I'm glad you got here a little early, I trust you walked around and everything is to your liking?" He had gotten all of Mae Bennett's photos from a mixture of ones that Charlotte had emailed, and ones that Darren Cade had hand-delivered to him. Emily Porter, who seemed to be the co-confidante on both sides, had reassured him to use photos from both sides.

Charlotte had taken a look around, Emily preparing her for the fact that she was going to see her grandmother in more current pictures - ones that shared the frame with her much older than she left him son. Emily warned her that Danny had been very close with Nana, and that almost every picture of her from the past six years, featuring him in it with her.

The young woman had thought she was well prepared, but while the pictures didn't surprise her, the feeling she got when she saw them did.

A pang went through her as she saw photos of Danny and Nana blowing candles out on a cake, his toothless smile as he stood in a soccer uniform next to an excited Nana sporting the colours of the young boys team on her face.

He looked so big. She knew she missed six years, but it had felt like one run-on nightmare of a day. The time hadn't passed at all for Charlotte, her dreams of a big-eyed little toddler boy feeling as fresh as yesterday.

It was clear from the pictures that time had passed.

Danny was tall, so very tall. His limbs looked long and gangly, the rest of him lean and thin. The baby fat in his cheeks was gone, the little cowlick in his blonde ringlet curls had disappeared overnight and instead he sported a very mature looking faux hawk, and the baby boy she had left had been replaced by a mature third-grader.

The pictures were nice though, and they had been displayed in a lovely way, Ethan had did a good job. "It looks wonderful, thank you Ethan." She whispered, with a soft smile.

"I am sorry for your loss." He returned her smile, squeezing her hand gently before turning to go make sure that everything else was going the way that he had constructed specially for their services.

As Charlotte was left alone, she turned back to the pictures, or more specifically - one picture. It was taken at Danny's second birthday, a few months before she had left, Darren, Danny and her were wrapped around a cake, Nana Mae in the background serving it. All four of them had large, happy and infectious smiles. Charlotte didn't recall submitting that one, though she certainly remembered taking it.

Darren had insisted on him and Danny wearing matching outfits, Charlotte laughing at the ridiculousness of her burly, goofball husband wearing a Mickey Mouse button-up shirt that boasted baby-like cartoons of the famous characters in bright primary colours. When Darren had found a dress that matched the pattern in the nearest Disney Store, Charlotte hadn't been able to refuse.

Danny had been nothing but smiles, beaming from between his parents as everyone showered him with love and affection.

He had been in the best mood that the two year old had ever been in, not to say that his normal mood wasn't that of a happy, bubbly toddler. Charlotte had put the party together all by herself, and to her credit, her son had thought every part of it was magical and wonderful.

She had felt like the best mom in the world.

Shortly after they took the happy picture, the whispers had started around the party, Diana and a girlfriend of hers whispering hatefully of how childish the party was, and that Diana could have put together a better party in her sleep.

Charlotte had tried to ignore all of the hate - her cake had too much sugar, the decorations were falling off of the walls, the pizza she ordered was overdone. She had smiled through out the party, but once night came and Danny was tucked into bed, her insecurities had reared it's ugly head.

She was a failure. She had failed her son, and she had failed her husband.

The picture was a bitter reminder of that night, and yet, she still couldn't help but smile at the joy radiating from her family in it.

"That's my favourite picture of us." A gruff voice sounded beside Charlotte and her heart froze in a second.

She didn't need to turn to know who had spoken; his very drawl sent goosebumps up the young woman's spine and she had to keep her legs from turning to jello as she turned to face the love of her life - the man she had ran away from and abandoned.

Darren Cade looked as handsome as Charlotte could ever remember. His scruffy beard had been trimmed nice, neat and even along his jawline, his dark eyes just as serious and alluring as ever, and the gruff of his voice sending waves of - something - across Charlotte.

"Thank you," For what exactly? For taking care of her grandmother when Charlotte had been too shy to come back, for raising their son while Charlotte ran from the responsibility, for being there even though Charlotte knew that he wasn't there for her.

All of those seemed fitting.

"I don't think I had that picture in my albums, thank you for submitting it." She settled on, noting how Darrens eyes flashed with something sad and disappointed.

"You can have it." He whispered, the exhaustion in his voice taking over from merely talking to her. Darren had waited for this moment for six years, and he was too tired of holding everything together that he couldn't even take advantage of it. "Any of the photos, I think she would have wanted you to have them."

Charlotte nodded her head softly, tears threatening to build up, she would love to have one of Danny.

"Charlotte..." He started, only for her to curtly interrupt and try to pull away.

"I should go find Emily and Alaina."

"Charlotte-"

"I should check in with director Del Mar."

"Charlotte, would you just stop!" Darren barked out, reaching for his wife's hand and pulling her towards him gently. He had waited six years to find out why, to pick her brain for an answer. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. "We need to talk, about Danny, about six years ago, about everything..."

He stopped for a moment, feeling her freeze up and tense from underneath his hands. He was about to let go, pull back and apologize for touching her when he felt the tremble begin to grow in her.

"What is it? You didn't honestly think I'd let this go without talking, did you?" Darren asked, pain settling in his chest about how she used to be so relaxed by him, and now? Now it felt as though he didn't even know her.

She wasn't listening to him though, it was if he didn't exist. "Charlotte, are you even-" He stopped as he realized just how frozen she was, Darren turned slightly, eyes following her line-of-sight until he saw just what had stopped his wife in her tracks.

Coming through the door, hand in hand with his Grandma Diana and Grandpa Philip, was Danny.

He understood immediately, feeling the trembling skin under his fingertips as his wife stared in silence at the son she had left behind. Darren followed her eyes as she looked the well-dressed little boy up and down, and he had to restrain himself from brushing the tears from her cheeks as she let out a small sound like the air escaping a balloon.

"Daddy!" The young boy yelled, breaking free from his Grandmother's hand and sprinting to him.

Darren dropped the hand of his wife to catch his son, his chest aching from the pain he knew was about to be inflicted on his little boy.