TAKING A CHANCE
CHAPTER 20

"Life's Dawning Hope"

"Nancy, would you stay here with her?" Frank asked his friend a short while later when he knew he would have to make arrangements for Diana's body. "I… I have some things I have to do but I don't want to leave her here alone."

Nancy smiled warmly and leaned forward and hugged Frank. The baby was back in her bed, sleeping soundly, one little fist clenching and unclenching as if she missed her father already. Frank smiled back at her as he stood.

"I don't mind," Nancy said. "Are you sure you don't want me with you? As moral support if nothing else?"

"I'm sure," Frank agreed. "I would rather you stay with Diana. I want someone with her that I can trust…"

Nancy nodded. "All right," she said obligingly. "That's fine."

Nancy leaned back in the seat that Frank vacated and watched as Frank went out of the door of the neonatal unit.

Frank made his way downstairs where he met up with Joe in the emergency room. Joe had a bandage on one cheek and was still holding an ice pack to the back of his head but his younger brother never looked better as far as Frank was concerned. Frank hugged his brother for a moment, grateful to be able to perform that simple action and he smiled confidently at the younger man.

"I missed you," Joe said as he studied his brother's face. "You don't know how much."

"As much as I did, without knowing it. I knew something was missing from my life the whole time. I didn't know what it was. It was my family. You, mom and dad…. Mom and Dad! I have to…"

"Don't worry," Joe laughed. "I took care of it already. They'll be here as soon as they can get a flight out."

"They're coming here?" Frank asked incredulously.

"Of course they're coming here!" Joe exclaimed. "You aren't leaving until Diana can, right? And you have to deal with the funeral for Miriam and all that, there's no way they were going to wait that long. They'll be here later today or maybe tomorrow morning, depending on what happens."

Frank smiled and relaxed. "Oh yeah. That makes sense."

Joe shook his head, laughing. "You're a great brother, you know that?"

"At least as good as you, I suppose," Frank said. He sobered. "I have to talk to the doctor about when I can see Diana and make arrangements for… for the funeral."

Joe saw the hint of pain in Frank's eyes and he touched Frank's shoulder, squeezing it. "I'm here to help, bro," he offered gently. "Let's go do this."

They tracked down Miriam's doctor and got the information they needed. The police were holding the body pending the outcome of their investigation but that he had already determined cause-of-death and it was in the report he filed. Frank nodded his thanks to the man and turned away.

"She'd hate all of this fuss," he admitted to Joe. "While she was… well, she craved attention she didn't like fuss. She liked things peaceful and quiet. I don't have the first idea about where to bury her…"

Frank shook his head and sighed. He ran a hand through his hair, suddenly exhausted. He sagged into a chair in a waiting room and leaned forward. Tears fell down his cheeks as he began to cry again.

"I miss her," he whispered. "Maybe… maybe I didn't love her like she wanted, but… I miss her. I did love her, Joe. Not as much as I should…"

"It's okay," Joe squeezed Frank's shoulder again. "You can miss her. You can love her. It's better than the other things you could do, like hate her. Despite what happened, I don't even hate her. Ras-Alman, though…"

"He's going down," Frank vowed. "One way or another, if I have to hunt the whole entire globe, I'm going to find him and take him down."

"He has a lot to pay for," Joe smiled evilly. "And I don't mind helping you make him pay up in full."

Frank and Joe exchanged glances and Joe knew, without a doubt, that he was coming out of retirement, now.

The reunion between Frank and his parents was bittersweet. They arrived late that evening, having barely caught the last flight out of New York to St. Louis and, in the airport baggage claim area, Fenton, Laura and Frank hugged and held onto each other for several very long minutes. Joe stood to one side with Nancy, both of them smiling at each other. A tear escaped down Nancy's eyes as she watched the reunion – and the healing of wounds on both sides.

"I'm so very happy to see you again, son," Laura Hardy touched her son's cheek again when they finally parted. "You have no idea…"

"I do," Frank touched her cheek back. "Now that I remember, I do have an idea…"

They hugged again and, arm-in-arm, with Fenton and Joe carrying their suitcases, they went out to Nancy's father's car and loaded everything up. The five person fit was a bit cramped but nobody seemed to mind very much.

Fenton and Laura met their granddaughter the next day and both took turns holding her, cooing at the precious bundle. Laura cried again when she heard the baby's name – Diana Laura – and promised to help Frank all he wanted with the baby.

They laid the body of Miriam Diana Alman Fleming-Hardy to rest two weeks later in a private cemetery located in a quiet wooded area of St. Louis. Frank knelt beside his wife's grave and gently placed two roses on the top of it and promised, with all his heart, to care for and love their daughter.

She was, very simply put, life's dawning hope.

THE END