Chapter XX

Time is the enemy of love.
The thief that shortens all our golden hours.
I have never understood then
Why lovers count their happiness,
In days and nights and years,
While our love can only be measured
In our joys and sighs and tears

Wildwind, Pine Valley, PA

Alex took a deep breath, fiddling nervously with her watch and hesitating a long moment, before stepping through the doors of Wildwind.

"Don't be nervous darling, it's just Brooke and Edmund," Dimitri told her for the third time. He had decided to tell them first and letting the rest of the family find out afterwards.

"You're not the one who's been dead for seven years," she replied, her voice shaky at the thought of seeing them again. Max sensed her unease and took hold of one of her hands as she stepped into the living room of Wildwind.

It was Brooke who first saw her. She was holding a glass of brandy, which she promptly dropped to the floor.

"Alex? Oh my god…it can't be." Edmund had to catch her as she swooned. Even as he held on to Brooke, Edmund too could not help but stare at Alex.

"You see why I couldn't tell you this over the phone," Dimitri announced to both of them, somewhat apologetically.

Alex rushed over to Brooke helping her sit down as she told her to take deep, even breaths. Oddly enough, making sure that Brooke didn't pass out helped Alex forget her own nervousness.

Once she had regained her composure, Edmund was the first to embrace Alex. "It really is you," he hugged her cautiously, as if she were fragile, and Alex squeezed his arm with a grin. "It's okay, it really is me. And I won't break. Promise."

Edmund returned her grin, "I'm in shock…and I don't know what to say. But it's a good shock."

Max stared at the four strangers in the room uneasily.

Dimitri put his arms around Max's shoulders and pulled him into the fray, "This is Maximillian Dimitri. Our son."

Edmund stared at the boy, "Of course you are. You look just you're your Mom." He shook Max's hand and then pulled him into a hug as well. "Welcome to the family, Max."

Brooke was still shaken at the sight of both of them, "I…uh, I don't know what to say. This is so incredible…I… I'm just glad Stella had the cooks prepare a four course meal,'' she laughed nervously, "because I have a feeling we'll be taking a very long time to finish dinner tonight."

She moved towards Alex and embraced her, "Oh Alex…welcome home, honey. We missed you."

Overcome by the emotion in the room, Alex felt the tears well up in her eyes. It had been too long since she'd been part of a family. "Thank you. It feels good to be home."

Dimitri led Max into the dining room, "First we'll eat and then we all have some explanations for you."

Edmund laughed, "I bet. And somewhere among them they're going to be an "I told you so", isn't there?" He put one arm around Brooke and another around Alex, and together they made their way into the dining room.

Wildwind Estate, Pine Valley

Three months later

"Here," Dimitri handed Max his riding gear, "Take this to the stables, I'll meet you and your Mom in the dining room in half an hour, alright?"

"Okay Dad." His cheeks were red from the cold air outside. Max took the gear and ran off to the stables, one of the guards watching him carefully from a distance.

As he walked through Wildwind, on the way to the bedroom for a change of clothes, Dimitri caught a glimpse of Alex in the study, poring over something or other.

He liked watching her concentrate on her work because it meant she was focusing on the future rather than the past.

During the past three months, Dimitri had come to realize just how frighteningly strong Charlotte's hold on Alex had been.

Physically she had recovered beautifully, even though her anemia left her weaker than she admitted. However, the emotional scars of seven years of living inside Charlotte's twisted world were a different matter.

Dimitri had expected her experience to have psychological ramifications. What he hadn't expected was the severity and frequency of her nightmares. Or that she would be so resistant to outside help.

"I can't talk to a shrink about this, please understand. I was an assassin for seven years. It's not something you talk about on a doctor's couch."

"You can't deal with everything on your own."

"I can and I will. There's no other way."

If she refused professional help, then Dimitri was determined to make up for it with his own support. Although sometimes he questioned whether he really was strong enough for both of them.

There were countless nights when Alex woke up screaming, soaked in perspiration, haunted by the faces of the men she had killed. Other nights she was terrified of Charlotte coming back for him and Max, and there would be silent tears running down her face.

Often he would hear her, after she was startled awake, trying to sneak out of the bedroom in order not to wake him. But it rarely worked. He'd turned into a light sleeper these days. And often he wouldn't need to hear her, as much as he could sense her unease next to him.

"I'm sorry…" she'd whisper.

"Don't apologize for this. Never."

"I keep waking you up…I keep disrupting our life with this."

"You are my life."

"Do you want to talk about it?" he had asked, again, two nights ago.

"No."

He wasn't sure whether the answer would ever be yes. But he liked to remind her that it could be. That whenever she was ready, he'd listen. So he kept asking. For now though, holding her and making her realize he wasn't leaving, was all he could do and he hoped it was enough.

Some nights it broke his heart to see her struggle with the aftermath of the last seven years, and others it filled him with rage towards Charlotte Devane.

Alex had a god-given talent for healing and Charlotte had forced her to kill. Charlotte couldn't have come up with a better way to torment her daughter, had she tried. For that, Dimitri hated her more than anything. 'I hope for your sake that you're dead,' he often swore silently to Charlotte, 'Because if I ever see you, believe me, I'll make you wish you had died.'

Back in the present, Dimitri entered the study at Wildwind, and saw that it wasn't the latest issue of some obscure medical journal Alex was poring over but an invitation.

She took off her glasses when she saw him, and motioned for him to sit down.

"How were the riding lessons with Max?"

Dimitri poured himself a cognac and pulled up a chair next to her, "He's going to ride just like his father one day."

Alex raised her eyebrows, "Oh no…poor Max. I'll have to take him out myself next, so we can prevent that."

"Funny. He should be so lucky, to ride as well as me."

Alex moved over and kissed him, tasting the cognac on his lips, "Hmm…nice." She handed him the invitation, "Take a look at this."

"What is it?" he asked.

"You know that team of researchers from McGill University in Montreal I've been working with over the Internet for the past two months?"

"The consulting job… something about harvesting a specific type of stem cells from human skin, right?"

"That's it. They've made a breakthrough last week and asked me to join them for the media presentation. I'd like to go…I'm flattered to think they consider me part of the team," she told him.

"That's fabulous. You should definitely go then. It'll be good publicity for the Andrassy Foundation."

She looked at him and gave him a sly smile, "What about you? Do you want to join me?"

He looked at her as though barely pondering the possibility, "Oh no…I think I'll pass. Max is almost due for Christmas break, and besides, do you have any idea how cold it gets in Montreal in December?"

She widened her eyes. "You don't mind me going alone?"

Dimitri pretended not to notice the disappointment she was trying to hide, "You keep telling me I fuss over you too much, and, you know, maybe you're right. You were always very independent. It's one of the things that made me fall in love with you. I don't want you to lose that on my account. Besides, it's only a couple of days right?"

"Uh…huh," she looked as if unsure of what to make of his nonchalance.

Dimitri couldn't blame her. He's been adamant about not letting her out of his sight since they'd returned to Wildwind. He didn't even like it when she went riding along, here was obliging her whim to take off to Canada on her own for a couple of days. .

"Take Trevor and Shawn with you, then I know you'll be fine," he said referring to two of his best guards.

"Alright. I will. " Dimitri saw that she tried to look as indifferent as he was and was amused that she wasn't entirely successful.

"Max is probably already waiting in the dining room, come on let's join him," Dimitri told her.

He watched her leave the room, smiling behind her back. 'Montreal,' he thought to himself, 'There couldn't be a more perfect opportunity.'

Two days later

Montreal, PQ, Canada

Dimitri entered the main convention hall on the third level of Montreal's brand new, glass encased, Palais des Congres, and the first thing he noticed was how full it was. There must have been a thousand chairs in the exhibition room, and next to the chairs, dozens and dozens of people took up whatever standing room there was left.

He inched his way towards the front of the room, so that he would have a clearer view of the stage. On it was a panel of eight scientists. Cameras and microphones, carrying logos of news stations from around the globe, surrounded them.

Dimitri watched with interest as one of the commentators proceeded to introduce the scientists, who then, one by one, launched into a short discourse, explaining the steps of their discovery. They spoke in what they considered layman's terms, much of which still went right over Dimitri's head.

With the exception of Alex and an elderly Chinese doctor, all members of the team were male. When Alex took over the microphone, Dimitri noticed a distinct change in the faces of the audience.

The fact that, unlike the others on stage, she didn't look like a research scientist, made much of the audience put down their pens and notebooks. They watched and listened to her, rather than take notes. Unlike the others, whose speeches had been monotone and serious, Alex had a natural charm that transcended the seriousness of the subject matter.

She held the undivided attention of over a thousand individuals and she did it with ease. When she finished, they offered her a thunderous roar of applause and Dimitri beamed with pride, knowing that after this it wouldn't be long before she was ready to head the Andrassy Foundation.

It wasn't until nearly two hours later, when the press conference was over, that Dimitri finally managed to get close to her.

"Doctor Marick…ahem…excuse me!" he said loudly, making her turn around in surprise.

"Dimitri!" Her face broke into a giant smile when she saw him. "I thought Montreal was too cold for you!"

He grinned in return. "You're worth braving the cold for. Congratulations."

The lead scientist of the team looked on as she embraced Dimitri, "I expect you're going to join us for the question and answer session downstairs, Alexandra?" he asked her.

Dimitri cut in before Alex had a chance to answer, "I'm afraid not. She has prior commitments."

She was about to protest, but he whisked her away before giving her the chance.

Outside

"Are you crazy?" Alex questioned when they were outside.

"Absolutely."

Dimitri held his hand in the air and Alex watched in disbelief as a horse and carriage turned around and made their way towards them.

"Our ride is here," Dimitri explained as he helped her into the carriage.

"A caleche?" she asked in disbelief. Although Alex had seen dozens of horse and carriage riders since arriving in Montreal, les caleches, the locals called them, she didn't expect to find herself in one of them.

"What else? When in Rome…"

"Where are we going?"

"Dinner, of course."

"Hey…I just realized, if you're here, what about Max?"

"Not to worry," Dimitri wrapped a wool blanket around her. "He's gone to New York with Edmund and Brooke and their kids for a couple of days. He's probably riding a carriage through Central Park as we speak…"

"Well…" Alex chuckled. "If he's as crazy as his father, he might indeed be."

Alex watched the city's old building pass her by, as the horses made their way along the cobblestone streets of the Old Town and then along Rue St. Catherine, before finally stopping at a little brick house. It had an oval sign hanging outside its door that read, "Chez Pierre."

Dimitri shuttled her inside and Alex loved the restaurant at first sight. It was small and rustic, and the warmth of the flames coming from the stone fireplace filled the entire room.

"This is beautiful," she told Dimitri.

He smiled. "I know. I came here once, when I was on a business trip for Marick Diamonds, and I had to leave before I could finish my meal. Even though neither of us had ever been here before, there was something about this place that reminded me of you so strongly I couldn't stand to be here without you. I always told myself the only way I would ever come back here was with you at my side. As crazy as that must have sounded at the time."

His words gave her goose bumps and listening to them made Alex wonder whether she would ever fully comprehend the depth of his love for her. "But tell me then, when I told you I was going to Montreal…why didn't you just come with me from the start?"

He shrugged, "I wanted to surprise you. To do something special and unexpected for you. For us."

"Just being with you is more than I would have dared hope for only a few months ago."

A mustachioed waiter with a thick accent stopped at their table and Alex was taken aback as Dimitri ordered in fluent French.

"Pour commencer, j'aimerais bien deux verres de caribou chaud."

Alex looked at him in surprise, "You speak French? I didn't know."

"You think you're the only genius in the family?"

"Well, no…" she laughed. " Max is pretty bright too."

The waiter brought them what looked like two glasses of red wine. Alex was about to sip hers when Dimitri stopped her. "Do you know what this is?" he asked her.

"Wine?"

"Better. It's a local specialty called caribou. It's made with white wine, red wine, blueberry wine, whiskey, port and most importantly, a drop of reindeer blood."

Alex wasn't sure whether to believe him or not, "You're kidding, right?"

"Lumber jacks and fur traders used to drink it, as far back as five hundred years ago, to forget the harshness of Quebec winters. It's supposed to fortify your blood."

"Ah…there's a method to your madness," she stared at him with amusement. She knew he thought that telling what was in it would make her hesitant to try it, so of course she took a large sip to prove him wrong. "Excellent," she said, her gaze locked into his.

Following the caribou, Dimitri decided to continue in the same vein, making their dinner a tribute to French Canadian cuisine. He ordered vegetable soup and tourtiere, a hearty, flavorful meat pie and topped it all off with tarte au sucre, maple sugar pie.

"This was incredible," Alex admitted afterwards.

"There's one more thing I want to show you, if you're up to it," Dimitri told her.

She nodded, "Of course."

Dimitri hailed a cab and asked the driver to take it up to the forested hill that made up a large part of the downtown core, Mont Royal.

"It's like Central Park," Dimitri explained to her, "But elevated and cleaner."

The taxi driver dropped them off where Dimitri asked him to and waited there. Dimitri took Alex by the hand and together they walked through a patch of pitch-black forest. The ice-cold snow crunched beneath their feet and they could see their breaths in the air. A little ways into the forest, Dimitri pulled out a scarf from the pocket of his coat and wrapped it around Alex's eyes, blindfolding her.

"Do you have a tree house hidden here?" she asked him jokingly, letting him lead her now. They kept walking through the forest, until finally Dimitri made her stop and placed her hands on a low stonewall.

He took off her blindfold, and Alex realized they were on a terrace, and suddenly, as if out of nowhere, she could see the entire city down below.

There were millions of lights as far as the eye could see. Hanging bridges that spanned the frozen St.Lawrence River, skyscrapers, gothic steeples, rounded domes and countless church spires. It was one of the most incredible sights she had ever seen.

Dimitri pointed towards the Notre Dame Cathedral; "Mark Twain once said you couldn't throw a stone in Montreal without breaking a church window."

"This is breathtaking. I've never seen anything like this. How did you know about this spot…?" Alex looked at him, in awe of what was in front of them.

Dimitri sat down on the stone wall, oblivious to the cold, "The reason I brought you here today is because you, you and Max, you're the most precious things in the world to me. When you opened your eyes and saw the sea of lights in front of you, you were overwhelmed by what you saw. That's how I feel, every time I look at you, and realize you're back in my life. Since you've come back I wanted to tell you that, but I wasn't sure how, so I wanted to show you instead."

His words, more than the view, overcame her emotions and she felt the tears well up in her eyes. "I can't believe you sometimes, Dimitri. Just when I think I know you better than I know myself, you do something like this that leaves me speechless."

He smiled, wiping away her tears with his hand, "This is supposed to make you happy, not sad."

She looked at him, her eyes wet and beautiful, "I don't think I've never been happier. Thank you for this. For everything."

They sat on the stone wall, overlooking the lights of Montreal, for a long, long time, before slowly making their way back to the waiting taxi.

Epilogue

Near Cardiff, Wales

Dr.Lewellyn drove towards the building where she was kept as soon he got the message from his assistant.

"There's been a change in her condition," his assistant had informed him.

"What kind of a change?" Lewellyn had asked.

"I think you'll need to see for yourself," was the reply.

Charlotte Devane had been in a coma for almost four months, and Lewellyn was certain she would remain that way for the rest of her short life. Until he received the message this morning.

He entered her room, unsure of what to expect, and when he did, his heart skipped a beat in shock.

Charlotte Devane was awake. Her eyes were wide open.

"Ms. Devane…?" he asked cautiously, wondering what level of coherence she would demonstrate.

"Lewellyn…I…need you to…tell me one…thing," she spoke slowly, and with great difficulty. Like a child learning to form words for the first time. Her speech was slurred and her words made a hissing sound. Nonetheless, she was obviously fully aware of her situation and her first question sounded more like a demand.

"Is my…daughter…dead?"

The End

VJ Rajadhan