Chapter Text
The next morning, Brady woke up on the couch – it took a moment to remember where he was: in the Landry farmhouse. He heard talking and got up to head into the kitchen.
Kat and Del were there along with Thomas, who was holding his newborn son.
"Morning," Kat said, and Del pushed a cup of coffee to him. Brady noticed the talking died down when he came in.
"Morning," Brady said, taking the coffee thankfully, and the breakfast Del also put down for him.
"You have plans for today, Brady?" Kat asked.
"No, why?" Brady asked.
"I was wondering if you could do me a favor," Kat said, and Brady frowned. "Remember my friend Alice from 1999?"
"We named our daughter after her," Brady said back to that.
"Well, she's back in town," Kat said, and Brady paused at this. "Turns out, she's Evelyn Goodwin's daughter and the daughter of my Uncle Griffin, dad's brother. We're cousins," Brady frowned at that.
"That's… random," Brady said.
"Dad and his brother had some problems with each other. It's why she never told us," Kat said, dismissing the weirdness in the story. "But she had three babies the same day Alden was born. Could you bring this to her? I would but I am needed here," Kat held out a wrapped gift.
"Um… sure," Brady said, taking the gift. "Where does she live?"
"Lingermore," Kat stated, and Brady gave a small nod. He, of course, knew the mansion. It was where Kat had gotten hurt in 2007, after all
Finishing his breakfast, Brady thanked Del, grabbed the gift, and left the house.
"You sure that is a good idea?" Del asked. It had been what they were talking about before Brady walked in. "Alice was very clear…."
"Alice has a point, but she doesn't have the whole story," Kat said. "She needs to see him, and then if she still doesn't want him to know then I'll leave it alone."
"This one needs a diaper change," Thomas interrupted the two women, who turned to him. "Um… will… I mean…. I'll take care of it…" Thomas backed away into the living room area.
"Trying to train him out of the 1800s mindset that woman do all the childcare?" Del asked and Kat nodded but gave a small smile. Thomas was adjusting.
-The Way Home-
At Lingermore, Alice went to the door as the doorbell rang, curious as to who would be here at this hour.
Opening the door, she paused in shock at who was waiting. Her father, Brady Dhawan.
"Um… hi," Brady said. "You probably don't remember me…"
"Brady," Alice said, before she could continue taking him in. He had changed since the last time Alice saw him, which to be honest was a very long time ago from her perspective but not from his. He looked sickly and off. It worried Alice now she saw him.
"…or you do," Brady corrected, taking her in. He hadn't expected her to seem so familiar to him.
"Yeah um… type AB negative, right?" Alice asked and was shocked as Brady's face seemed to pale more than it was.
"How… how… do you know that?" Brady asked seeming surprised at the words and almost scared she knew it.
"You told me," Alice said.
"I did?" Brady asked, seeming unsure.
"First date with Kat. Double date with Nick and I," Alice said.
"Oh yeah," Brady said, seeming to remember that conversation now. "Weird thing to remember."
"It was a weird thing to say," Alice said back, being honest about that.
"Um... well, you are looking good," Brady said.
"I pushed out three babies a week ago. I know that's a lie," Alice said. Her body was definitely still healing from birth; she still was carrying a lot of extra weight and with three babies needing attention, plus with Caleb, she and Nick were both tired.
"I heard. Well, Kat sent me with this," Brady said, holding up the giftwrapped box in his hands. Alice took the box giving a forced smile. She knew what her mother was doing. "And you do look good."
"Um… thanks… Want to come in?" Alice asked. Her instincts were telling her to say goodbye, but a part of her wanted him to see her kids. His grandkids, even if he didn't know they were.
"Um, I suppose so… If you don't mind," Brady said and Alice moved aside from the door to let him in.
Brady awkwardly walked into the home. "If I had known you had this type of money when we were teens…" Brady trailed off. He didn't know the end of that sentence. He knew his parents would have wanted him to go after her and dump Kat, but he had never once looked at teenage Alice that way. At this, Alice looked at him now, daring him to finish that sentence. He knew she hadn't liked him back when they were teens either. "Well, urm, we would have gotten on better. More in common."
"Hum…. Maybe," Alice said leading Brady over to another room. There were three bassinettes in the room – two had sleeping babies in. Max was sitting in rocking chair holding and rocking the third. "Hey Maxy, this is Brady. Brady, this is my nephew Max."
"We've met," Max said. "You are Alice's dad. Well Alice Dhawan's, obviously."
"And you are one of the boys she dumped," Brady said, and Alice suddenly felt more awkward – neither knew the person they were talking about was standing right there with them. "Wish she had gone for you."
"Yeah, I've been thinking she went after the boy she wrote the song for too," Max mused. "But hey, I should get my homework done. End of year coming up..." with that, Max got up, keeping the baby with him.
"Maxy," Alice said, stopping the boy. "Leave Evie here."
"Oh, yeah," Max said, his face going a little red as he walked back and handed Evie over to Alice. "I just love this little girl..." Max kissed the baby's cheek before leaving the room.
"I think someone's cousin is going to spoil you just for your name," Alice said to Evie before looking up to Brady. "So, if you hadn't guessed, this is Evie named after my mother." She explained, going to put Evie in her bassinet. "That's her sister Willow and their brother Neville."
"Neville, huh?" Brady said, going over to the little boy. He was awake and moving. "My grandfather was named Neville. He died when I was really young, but he was the best. I always wanted to name a boy Neville, but Kat insisted if we ever had a boy, we would name him Colton after her father. I told her then we needed two boys..." Brady smiled at the memory. "Of course, we never had another one after Alice. Well, my Alice. You know that Kat named her after you?"
"I'm aware," Alice said, giving a nod putting a hand behind her head for a moment. She knew she was named after herself. "Um… want to hold him?"
"Can I?" Brady asked, and Alice nodded, picking Neville up and giving him over to Brady. Brady smiled at the little boy as he held him. Alice paused for a moment looking at her father holding her son.
Before either could say anything, Nick came out of another room carrying Caleb who was laughing. "He's all changed," Nick said, putting Caleb on the floor. "Think we should consider trying to potty train him. Four kids in diapers are a lot..." Nick paused though seeing Brady there. "Oh… um… hi Brady," he glanced at Alice at this.
"You two are together?" Brady now said, shocked, still holding Neville close. "I… wow…. That's…"
"It's a long story," Alice said. "That's our older son, Caleb." Caleb had run behind his father's legs, pushing in close. "He's very shy," Brady smiled at this.
"Alice was shy, too. Wouldn't talk to anyone she didn't know until…" Brady began.
"She was six. Yeah, I know," Alice said, making Brady look to Alice, who rolled her eyes at the story.
"How did you know that?" Brady asked.
"Um… Kat told me," Alice said awkwardly. "When I tried to coax Caleb into saying hi to her," Brady looked awkwardly at Alice but nodded accepting the excuse.
Thankfully, Neville chose that moment to give a cry out, turning Brady's attention to the baby in his arms. "I think he might need a diaper change," Nick said. "I got it." Nick went over towards Brady and Caleb left his dad's legs and went behind a couch where some of his toys were.
Brady gave one last look to the boy and then gave him over to Nick. Nick gave Alice a look, who shook her head, and Nick went over to change the diaper. Alice picked Willow at that rocking her.
"Want to hold?" Alice asked, and Brady gave a small smile, taking that girl.
"Oh wow, she looks like Alice did as a baby," Brady whispered.
"Well… all babies look alike," Alice said with a shrug to that. It was true; Willow seemed to have gotten a lot of genes from her. Alice then picked up Evie who cried out. "It's almost time to feed them. Want to take a bottle and make it easier on us?"
"Not breast feeding?" Brady asked as Alice got out the formula.
"I did for Caleb, but with three of them I thought better," Alice said and Brady gave a smile as Nick returned with Neville.
"So… tell me, how did you two end up together?" Brady asked as they fed the babies. Brady was eyeing Caleb, but the boy was sitting far away, and Brady knew from when Alice was young that trying to get a shy child to interact with a stranger was not a good idea. "I know you dated a bit in 1999 and 2000, but Kat told me that crashed and burned…?"
Alice gave a laugh at that. "Um… yeah it did. Things were too complication in my life. My parents were fighting; Dad wasn't too happy to know I was interacting with his brother and family. Mom, who always liked Colton, told dad to back off. It's why I never told Kat the truth," Alice said, a bit awkwardly. This lie was well rehearsed by now – it had been something they worked on for a while. "It just wasn't a good time for me to be in a relationship."
"And then you disappeared…" Brady pointed out.
"Well, mom and dad fighting got worse and the only solution they could come up with was putting me in boarding school and then splitting holidays. I'm a bit younger than Nick and Kat," Alice said, trying not to laugh at that; because the time between 1999 and 2007 was only 3 years for her, she was actually Jacob age now, but they had fudged that a bit so she could be Kat's friend from 1999, still. "Mom, when she had me brought me on vacations; dad, I stayed at his home, so coming back to town just wasn't in the cards. I just didn't know when Uncle Colton died that would be the last time I see Kat."
Alice noticed Brady looking at her curiously. Was he buying the story or was something clicking in his head? "We reconnected in 2007," Nick spoke up, taking over the story for Alice and turning Brady's attention to him. "After the Lingermore party, this being Alice's real ancestorial home, both she and Evelyn ended up back in town. She told me the whole truth and from that moment we built a life together."
"Why never contact us?" Brady asked. "You could have been Aunt Alice to my Alice."
"Things were still weird with my family. It never felt like the right time. Besides, Nick and I practically raised Maxy," Alice said, giving a laugh at that. "With both my parents dead now, though, things have calmed down. Besides, when Jacob sort of discovered who I was and got the wrong impression and tried to burn down the vineyard I knew things needed to be cleared up."
There were holes in the story of course. Nothing was ever going to be perfect, but Willow, who Brady was feeding, stopped drinking and that grabbed Brady's attention to burp her. "Well, sounds wild, but if you two are happy together," Brady shrugged.
"Very," Alice said as she too went to burp Evie and Nick finished with Neville. "Do you have any plans for the day? We don't want to keep you from anything."
"Um… no… nothing," Brady said. "But if you want me to leave," Brady got the impression that Alice still didn't like him and wanted him gone.
"Um… no, actually, stay for a bit," Alice said, knowing she should send him away, but for some reason she felt bad.
"Oh. Great!" Brady said, not arguing and surprised she said yes to him staying.
With that, the three adults spent the day together talking and taking care of the babies; Brady staying longer than he had expected. It was awkward at first, but he slowly relaxed as the hours passed. He helped warm bottles, rocked Willow when she fussed, and even managed to coax a tiny sleepy smile out of Evie.
Nick kept the conversation easy, steering it toward old memories and harmless stories whenever the silence threatened to turn heavy, while Alice found herself watching Brady more than once, noticing the way he looked at the children with quiet wonder, as if trying to memorize every little detail and piece together a puzzle he didn't know he was facing.
By the time Max came back down in the afternoon and joined them for dinner, some of the tension had eased, leaving the house with a fragile sort of peace none of them quite wanted to break.
However, after dinner, with Max having left to see friends, Brady got up, knowing it was best for him to end this strange day now.
"I should go," Brady said, now moving back towards the door. "But Alice, thank you for letting me stay. You have a beautiful family."
"Thank you," Alice said. "Goodbye Brady. See you soon."
"Yeah, maybe…" Brady said, giving a smile as he left the house.
"Maybe?" Alice frowned at these words, but Brady had already gone.
"Why did Kat even send him here?" Nick asked, frowning at his wife.
"She wanted me to feel guilty," Alice sighed, thankful Max had gone out with friends so they could talk freely.
"And… did it work?" Nick asked.
"Put it this way: I'm going to need to go talk to her," Alice said and they heard a cry. "But tomorrow. Ask your moms here to help you so I can go to the farm," Nick nodded as they went to go find out which baby was crying and what they needed.
-The Way Home-
The next day, Kat was sitting at the dining room table with her mother. Her computer was out while Alden was taking a nap nearby; she was keeping an eye on him as she talked with her mom and worked on her article. Despite everything Kat still had to run the Herald, but at least she could write from home.
"You're writing the birth announcement in the paper for your own kid?" Del had to ask.
"Yes. And Alice's kids," Kat said. "Four Founding Family Members Born on Same Day," she quoted the title of the article to her mom. "If next year Emma and Elliot have a kid on the same day, the town might switch Founders' Day..." Del gave a laugh as Kat chuckled at her own joke. She was glad that Elliot had gotten back together with his ex-wife recently.
Kat nearly jumped as a box landed in front of her.
"Thought you might want that back since whatever is in it isn't really for me," Alice said, Kat and Del not even hearing her enter as Kat looked up at her.
"And on that one, I am out," Del said, getting up and leaving the room.
"That's suspicious," Alice mused.
"And, actually, I did buy this for your kids," Kat said, tossing the box back over towards Alice. "Just because I had Brady deliver it, doesn't mean it wasn't a real gift," Kat noticed the look Alice was giving.
"I was very clear about how I wanted to handle dad," Alice said.
"And you very obviously don't want him to know. I didn't tell Brady a thing," Kat said back to that.
"No, you just want me to feel guilty and tell him myself," Alice said, putting a hand on her hip.
Kat closed the computer. She could see she needed to have this conversation with Alice.
"Look, kid, I want you to see how hard this is. How hard it is for all of us. For me, for mom, and especially for your father," Kat said. "Even more for him than anyone else."
"You don't think I know how hard this is?" Alice stated at this. "You don't think it was hard for me?"
"No," Kat said standing up and putting her hands on the table. "I don't think it was hard for you because you wanted this!" Alice opened her mouth. "Do not make a fool out of me by denying it," Kat held out a finger to her daughter. "'I would break the rules for the words we never said. Back to you, I'm always running'. Those are your words, Alice. In your heart you wanted to be reunited with Nick and if you didn't, my teenage daughter would still be here now."
"So, you don't think I missed you?" Alice asked, her voice lower than before, shocked by Kat's openness.
"No, not what I said. I think you missed us, but I think after the initial shock that your deal with the pond wasn't just to reunite Thomas and I but you and Nick, you adjusted well. Really well. You had Nick and you had Evelyn. The way you talk about her. What she did for you… about being there for Max as he grew up," Kat said.
"Someone had to help him before the sweet boy I knew when his mother died," Alice commented after that.
"You had everything you wanted and all you had to do was wait to get back here," Kat said. "But it was sudden for us. One minute we had teenage you and then the next she's gone forever. She's dead and replaced by you – and Alice, I love you, I love my grandkids even if Caleb is still shy with me, but in a lot of ways, you are a stranger. I am getting to know you and I am adjusting, and yes, I'm still mourning the daughter I've lost. I think your father deserves to have the same choice."
"We spent an entire day together," Alice said sitting down. "He cannot see it. You saw it right away. This isn't a truth he can handle."
"That's because I knew it was possible," Kat said, sitting back down. "Time travel. He doesn't believe in it."
"And he can restart a life not knowing," Alice said. "Rachel and he can have more kids. If he gets sucked into this secret…"
"Rachel broke up with him," Kat said, making Alice pause, "and you know how his parents are. He has no one now. He told me flat out you are the only thing he has left."
"But he doesn't have me. Not the one he wants. That one is dead," Alice said. "I can't be who he wants anymore."
"My point exactly," Kat stated. "He's lost everyone, everything. Even if he can't have his Alice back, he could have you."
"But you said… I mean… I'm not her," Alice pointed out.
"You've made that painfully obvious," Kat stated. "But he needs to know. It will be his choice. He's renting the same cabin he always does – honestly think he should just buy it at this point." Kat turned back to her laptop; Brady had told her where he was staying the other night. "You'll make the right choice."
Alice stood there for a moment until Alden started to cry and Kat got up to look after her son, not sparing Alice a glance at this.
With a sigh, Alice moved back to the door and left.
-The Way Home-
It was still against her best judgement, but when Alice arrived at the cabin, she wasn't sure what she was going to do or say. She sat in the car for a long time, with both hands locked around the steering wheel, staring at the weathered porch and the smoke-dark roof as if the place itself might tell her whether she was making a mistake. She still didn't believe Brady would accept her as she was. But part of her mother's words had lodged in her mind and would not let go. Was she making a choice for him?
With a sigh, Alice climbed out of the car and crossed the yard slowly, gravel crunching under her shoes. The cabin looked exactly as she remembered it. The steps creaked beneath her weight. Reaching the door, she knocked once, then again, harder this time.
"Brady?" She called, trying to keep her voice steady. There was no answer. She glanced back toward his car parked off to the side, its familiar shape only deepening the sudden unease curling in her stomach. He had to be in. "Brady?" She called again, and when the silence that followed felt wrong in a way she could not yet name, she reached for the doorknob – it turned easily in her hand, and the door drifted inward.
Alice stepped into the cabin and stopped just inside the doorway, letting her eyes adjust to the dimness. "Hello?" She called out, softer now, as she looked around. The air felt stale; too warm, and carrying the faint smell of dust, old coffee, and something medicinal underneath it. On the table sat a cluster of pill bottles – more than she remembered ever seeing before. She moved closer and read the labels without really understanding them, a cold uneasiness beginning to spread through her chest. She didn't remember her father being on so many pills.
"Brady!" She called again, louder this time. Then she noticed the bedroom door was slightly open. Her pulse kicked hard as she crossed the room, put her hand on the edge of the door, and pushed it open.
"Bra…" Alice stopped so abruptly, the rest of his name died in her throat. For one terrible second, her mind refused to understand what she was seeing. Her father was there, half on the bed and half off it, one arm hanging limp toward the floor as if he had reached for something and never made it. "Brady…?" She said again, softer this time, like if she said it gently enough he might stir, groan, and tell her to stop hovering.
She dropped to her knees beside him so fast they slammed against the wooden floor. Her hand trembled as she pressed two fingers to his neck, searching, pleading for something she already knew she would not find. His skin was cold – so cold it shocked her – and the stillness of him was worse than anything else. No breath. No pulse. Nothing.
"Dad…" Alice whispered, the word breaking apart as soon as it left her lips. Then louder, rawer, "No… no, Dad…!" She grabbed his shoulders and shook him once, then again – as if grief itself could force life back into him. But his body only shifted with dead weight, and the truth came down on her all at once, crushing and absolute.
She was too late. Whatever she had come to say, whatever questions she had carried with her all the way to the cabin, whatever tiny hope she had nursed that there was still time to mend something between them… it was gone.
The cabin was so quiet Alice could hear the faint rattle of the windowpanes and her own uneven breathing. The pill bottles on the table blurred through her tears. Every ordinary thing in the room – the unmade bed, the chair in the corner, the stale smell in the air – felt suddenly unbearable. She bowed over him, one hand clutching his shirt, and sobbed until her chest ached. She had been too afraid, too stubborn, too uncertain for too long, and now there would never be another chance. No explanation. No forgiveness. No goodbye.
-The Way Home-
After finding Brady dead, Alice had to report it. She gave vague answers about why she was there, struggling to keep herself together and remembering that, to the town, she wasn't his daughter.
Then, once she had spoken to the police and told her mother and Nick what had happened, she found herself back at the pond…
"I'm not trying to travel!" Alice yelled at the water. "I know that's not possible anymore. Just… I want to talk. Please, talk to me," she spoke to the water, hitting her hand against a tree. She didn't know what she was feeling but the fact that Brady was gone, that her father was dead, was too much to comprehend. She hoped the pond had an answer for her.
The water glowed and bubbled, Alice finally smiling as a familiar figure began to rise; hooded and cloaked, but made entirely of the water, the spirit of the pond stood before her, the pond itself feeding its form.
"You are very exhausting Alice Landry," the spirit spoke, it's voice not quiet present but unmistakable at the same time.
"It's… Goodwin now," Alice spoke back to that, pausing.
"I am aware," the spirit spoke back. "But, I have no more deals for you. I reunited true love as you asked. Your mother has her Thomas, and you have Nicholas. There is nothing else I can do for you."
"The consequences," Alice snapped back, remembering what the pond had told her all those years ago, about what would happen should Alice go through with what she did. "They were meant to be never time traveling again… not my father life."
"I did not kill Brady Dhawan," the spirit simply said back to that. "And neither did you, Alice. The deal you made had no effect on his life at all." This surprised Alice.
"So… if I was still a teenager… he would still be dead?" Alice asked. The voice in her head, since she found him, had told her she had done this, that it had been her fault. She even wondered if he had overdosed on all those pills, that this was suicide.
"He might have lived longer without the stress of Alice Landry going missing, but his death was coming sooner rather than later," the spirit stated. "But you would not have your kids, and Katherine would not have her husband. Would you wish them gone?"
"Never," Alice said, feeling protective over her children.
"Then we are done here," the spirit said, about to sink back below the water.
"Wait," Alice said, stopping the spirit. "Please… one last deal," at this, the spirit paused for moment. "Never let my kids travel."
"That I cannot promise," the spirit said, and before Alice could argue, she heard her mother's voice calling her name.
Kat moved into the clearing and paused at seeing the spirit, the figure made of water and weeds. It turned to her before sinking back below the water without saying another word.
"As much as you, Thomas, and Nick described that… I don't think I was prepared to see it," Kat stated after a moment of looking at the water. "I don't think I will ever look at this pond the same way again."
"I get it. But mom…?" Alice said, wondering what Kat was doing here.
"I was just on the phone to Rachel cos Brady's parents didn't pick up," Kat explained, rolling her eyes at the last but. "When I told her Brady died, she said his heart must have finally given out," Alice paused, looking at Kat. "Alice, Brady was in heart failure."
"What? But he never…" Alice said trialing off.
"Apparently he was diagnosed soon after you left," Kat continued, "and he went downhill quickly, even with medication and intervention. He was on the heart transplant list, but due to his extremely rare blood type it was a near impossible match," Alice remembered the look on Brady's face yesterday, when she mentioned the blood type and how he seemed shocked about it. Now she understood why he reacted so badly: something he had once been proud of was turning into his death. "The point is, he did not overdose. This had nothing to do with you. He would have died soon anyway."
"That's why he wanted to find me so badly. Teenage me. It's why he couldn't let me go… Because he was dying," Alice sighed. "He died not knowing I was… I was safe," as she said this, tears came to her eyes, the realization of her words. If she had just told him sooner…
"Come here," Kat said bringing her into a hug and Alice returned the hug.
Kat turned, hearing someone else enter the clearing; to see it was Nick. Letting go of Alice, Kat backed away, knowing letting Nick come over and take Alice in his arms.
"Where are the kids?" Alice whispered.
"My moms have them," Nick whispered. "Right now, we need a moment…" Nick held his wife and Kat gave a small smile, stepping back, knowing it was better to let Alice's husband take care of her right now. He knew her better.
-The Way Home-
A few days later, Kat was frustrated. She had papers all over the table and had taken a break from what she had been doing to feed Alden. She was burping him when she heard the door open and saw Alice come in with three babies in a stroller and Caleb. Thomas holding the door open for her, and Alice took Caleb out of his seat.
Kat was impressed with the stroller, which was more of a wagon.
"Thank you, Thomas," Alice said to the man as she came over to where Kat was sitting. Thomas gave a smile but moved back outside to his farm work.
"Bringing the triplets to the farm?" Kat asked.
"I thought it was about time," Alice said; even though the three were only about two weeks old. "Nick had to go out, and I wanted to come here."
"Hey Caleb," Kat said, looking down at the little boy who leaned into his mother but was giving Kat a small look. Alden was done being burped so Kat got up, putting her son in his little crib and going into the kitchen. She came out with a cookie. "Want it?" Kat held the cookie out to Caleb.
"Go on," Alice said to her son, patting his back. Caleb approached Kat and held out his hand. He took the cookie and Kat let it go, allowing Caleb to take it, stepping back before eating it. "Trying to bribe him?" Alice asked her mom.
"He'll get used to me," Kat said, smiling at the three in the stroller. "Did you walk them here?"
"Easier than getting them all into a car," Alice said and Kat laughed. "The house was just too empty. Nick offered to not go this morning, but I don't know…. I guess I just wanted some time with my kids. Then I walked…" the two sat for a moment. "What are you doing?"
"Feeling like I am in hell," Kat said. "Rachel wants nothing to do with Brady's final arrangements. She dumped him when he was diagnosed and is dating someone else already."
"And to think I liked her," Alice mumbled, rocking the stroller as she watched Caleb, who had finished his cookie and was going through the bag for toys.
"And Brady's parents told me to let them know the cost and they will send me the money, but they are not leaving their vacation," Kat said, much to Alice's shock. "No one in Brady's family seems to want to take this up so it's up to me to arrange everything. I might be divorced from him and remarried but somehow, I became his widow." Kat paused. "Oh, and Brady never did change his will from when we were married so everything goes to me."
"At least it's not going to Rachel," Alice remarked, and Kat couldn't argue with that logic. "So, what is the problem?"
"Brady doesn't have a grave," Kat said. "You think someone with a death sentence would have gotten more arranged, but he was too focused on finding you." Alice suddenly felt guilty about that. "I got to somehow find a grave for him in Minneapolis, get his body transferred, and arrange some type of funeral."
"Why bring him to Minneapolis?" Alice asked, and Kat looked up at her; his body was currently on ice at the local hospital here. "It seems the only people who care about him are in this town. Why not bury him here? I know the Goodwins have family plots in the local graveyard. Do the Landrys?"
Kat paused, unsure, but it was lucky as at that moment Del came in.
"Oh, babies!" Del said, going to the stroller where the three babies were sleeping but then noticed the looks Kat and Alice were giving her. "What…?"
"Mom, do we have plots in the graveyard?" Kat asked.
"How do you think I buried your father so fast? The Landrys have had plots in the graveyard since the towns beginning – and I believe Fern bought more. We are good for several generations. Why?" Del asked.
"Well… I got a favor to ask," Kat said surprising her mom.
-The Way Home-
Del honestly had no problem opening one of the plots in the Landry segment of the graveyard and giving it to Brady, and once where he was going to be buried was solved, getting a wake and funeral together was easy.
The town made it easy for Kat, and in all honestly Kat was surprised about the entire town showing up at the funeral; Brady hadn't been a member of this town, not really, but for a time he had been Kat's husband and a member of a founding family. Meanwhile, the only member of Brady's family who bothered to come and show was his uncle who had given him his first job. Kat had always liked that uncle.
Alice stood close to Kat along with Nick and their kids. She couldn't look like she was mourning a father, since to the town he wasn't her father, but having Nick keep a steady hand on her helped as everyone came up to tell Kat how sorry they were. Thomas stood beside Kat, with Alden helping her get through it.
Once Brady was buried, Del hosted a little thing at the farm for everyone to go to; Monica had catered and people came to share stories of Brady visiting as a teen and what they had known of him and their impressions of him.
"Even with this, you couldn't get in touch with Alice?" Monica had asked Kat.
"Wouldn't be a runaway if you could get in touch with her," Elliot came over, with Emma by his side, to save Kat from the question. Kat gave Elliot a small smile as Elliot nodded up the stairs. Kat got it; Alice had gone upstairs.
Kat gave Elliot a sly nod as she excused herself and went up the stairs, finding Alice with her kids and Nick in her old room, now Kat and Thomas's room.
"Sorry… I needed a moment," Alice said, seeing Kat enter.
"Absolutely no problem. Nick, give us a second?" Kat asked. She loved how supportive Nick was, but she felt a mother/daughter moment was needed.
"I'll go find Thomas," Nick smiled, getting up and putting Caleb on Alice's lap – the four kids staying with Kat and Alice.
Once Nick was gone, and the door was closed, Kat sat next to Alice and put an arm around her.
"You were right," Alice said, turning to her mom. "I should have told him."
"I understand why you didn't want to," Kat said. "From the information you had, Brady had a life waiting. He could have started anew. This would have been a hard thing to tell. No one knew he was dying. You didn't even know he didn't have Rachel anymore."
"But he'll never know about his beautiful grandkids," Alice kissed Caleb's head, and then turned to the three babies in their carrier. Her hand going to Neville's stomach; the baby giving a coo at his mother's touch.
Kat paused looking at them.
"I think he did," Kat said making Alice turn back to her mom. "He was willing his body to stay alive to try to find you, to have a last moment with you, and the day he spent with you and your kids is the day he died. I think even if his conscious mind could not accept it, deep down in his subconscious he realized he spent his last day with his daughter and grandkids. I think that's why he was able to let go. Deep down, he knew you were safe…" Kat brought Alice close, the move making Caleb give a little cry out; Alice put him on the bed instead of her lap. "And if there is an afterlife, and after the last few years we have had, I now believe there is one you know dad and Evelyn have found Brady and told him everything. He knows he finally got his Neville."
Alice gave a small smile at that as the two sat there for a moment.
"Mom… do you really think at times I feel like a stranger?" Alice had to ask.
"There's always a bit of the girl I knew in you but… yes," Kat said. "There are times when your life is so strange and different. That you act in a way I cannot believe, so you seem like a stranger. You have lived almost as long without me now, as you did with me. It was bound you happen. You grew and changed."
"I don't want you to feel like I am a stranger so we can we make a deal?" Alice asked.
"You and your deals," Kat said, chuckling but gave a nod.
"At least once a month," Alice stated.
"What, once a month?" Kat countered.
"Once a month we'll give the kids to our husbands and spend a whole day, and night, together. I can tell you everything about my life and you can get to know me as I am," Alice said.
"Well, that something I can agree to," Kat said, smiling now as several babies gave a cry out.
"And I think there is more than one diaper that needs changing," Alice pointed out.
"Yeah, I'll help you," Kat said as they got up to check on the babies together before going back down to continue mourning for Brady.