Returning Home.

Prologue

I'm staring at the coffin as it is moving up the conveyer belt and I know that I should feel emptiness and sorrow but right now, all I feel is hate, hate for a man who lied to me all this time. Hate for a man who should have told me the truth.

My mind slips back to that day, the day that I found out that the love of my life, the father of my children had been in a terrible car accident.

I'd actually had no idea at the time though, I was working in a assistance program, helping out the local hospital when a young lady was brought in and I was paged to come immediately.

I don't even remember much as my mind tends to slip into a zone when I'm working. All I remember was that she was such a delicate young woman and I was determined to save her life.

After 2 hours in surgery we had stopped the internal bleeding and I remember looking up and saying a silent prayer as now it was up to her and the man upstairs to work their magic.

I was scrubbing out when Dr Phillipe tapped on the window. He was always what I would say as the life of the party but when I looked up at his face, I knew something was wrong.

My first thoughts went back to the young woman, so I hastened my pace and exited the wash room. He pulled me over to the side of the corridor and checked our arcs before opening his mouth.

"Is something wrong, is she ok?" I blurted out and I watched as his facial features changed from co fusion to realisation.

"Yes, the young lady is stable so far. ICU have her under watch. That's not what I need to tell you." He pursed his lips, licking them and then he said "it's Eliot, he is down in the Surg 2 wards with Dr Milano."

I see him take a small step forward as if he is reading himself for whatever I would do next.

"What, what are you on about? Eliot is in Perth?" I must sound silly as he closed his eyes, takes a breath and the opens them again.

"I need you to take a moment and then.." I don't let him finish as I duck around him and make my way to the stairs. The elevators are so slow in the place and I know that It's only a flight down as I take 2 stairs at a time.

I hit the floor and I remember running down the corridor of the hospital, heading to the back surgical ward where I'd been told he was.

As I got to the ward desk, I noticed the on-call nurse who yells out to Chance, one of our main surgical nurses and my long term friend.

Chance is standing in the hall and she spins around to see who is calling her name. He face looks a mess as her eyes are red and blotchy. She looks from the on-call nurse to where she is pointing and notices me heading her way.

She drops what she has and runs up to me, grabbing my shoulders and saying something, but I'm not registering her words. All I want to do is get into that room and see this with my own eyes.

"AMELIA!" She yells at me and I snap out of what I'm doing.

"It can't be Eliot, he's in Perth. It can't be him." I keep saying but she just shakes her head and holds me in place.

I try to push against her but I know she has a foot and about 10kgs on me as she holds her ground.

Her voice is more of a gasp when she speaks "I saw him Amelia, I saw him with my own eyes. It's Eliot." She continues to hold me as the realisation hits me and I collapse to the floor.

###

The coffin slips into the furnace behind the curtains and I feel a hand on my shoulder, ushering me to move towards the walkway.

I look up and see my Dad, the only man that can ever make me feel any shred of happiness. I look at his face and can see the concern in his eyes. He has Sebastien in his arms as he tries to get me to follow him.

We walk down the aisles and I hear people wishing me well but all I want to do is get out of this place. As I get to the end of the aisle, I see a woman that I've never met before. She looks away from me, trying to not make eye contact but the more I look at her, the more I recognise some of her features.

I stop and turn towards her. "Who are you?" It comes out more like a command then anything else.

The lady looks shocked as she replies "I'm Margaret, I'm ah, I'm Robyn's mother."

All I see is red. "Get Out." I say through gritted teeth and watch as the ladies face pales. She looks around me, I'm assuming she is looking at my father, then quickly nods and stands up.  I keep my eyes on her, its like I need to make sure that she leaves this place.

She stops at the end of the benches and turns her head towards me. "I'm so sorry for your loss." Is all she says and then continues out the door.

############

Aunt Mae tells me that she has the boys all sorted and will get them into bed as I head to my room. I look at the new bed that I got with new sheets and feel a pang of guilt in how I destroyed our bed when I came home that night, the night that I found out that I'd saved the life of my husbands mistress.

I flop down on the floor in front of the bed and just loose all my self control. I feel the tears running down my face as I can no longer hold them back.