Chapter Text
Erik left Helen crying in her hospital room, accompanied by Dr. Howie , when he went down the hall to call his boss and friend Dana Sue; and told her what had just happened.
Dana Sue's first reaction to the news was to think that it was all a joke, because after all, the day was beautiful! But when Erik repeated those words: Helen had a miscarriage ; and her remembering Erik's closed and not very playful personality; she understood the gravity of the situation. And without delay she warned Maddie . The boss preferred to send a message because she certainly wouldn't be able to say anything in a phone call.
Knowing that Helen's friends were already warned, Erik went back to Helen's room, prioritizing not to leave her alone at any time. Not that they said much after that. One at most take my bag or would you like more water? Silence was Helen's best friend that day.
Maddie , who was distressed from Kyle 's first therapy session with Ashley, met up with Dana Sue at Helen's house, and as much as she had agreed with Dana to be strong for Helen, that didn't stop the two of them from crying together for a while. in my friend's kitchen.
The journey home from the hospital had never been so long for Helen. Not even after the nights she'd spent at the hospital with her mother when she got sick, after Kyle 's accident a few weeks ago, or when she'd benevolently seen needy families with complicated cases. Erik respecting the space left her submerged in her thoughts . And Helen's head wouldn't stop.
In a moment she generated life and was months away from fulfilling her biggest dream. In another, she had been in severe pain in the Sullivan's bathroom after a pleasant conversation with friends, and had lost her child. If Helen could describe it, it was like everything inside was being corroded.
Leaning against the icy car window, Helen remembered the times when she stroked her stomach in front of the large mirror in her bathroom. From when he opened the gifts his mother had sent him from Florida. The treat she had received from her best friends at Dana's house on one of Margarita's nights.
And then Helen realized that she was still Aunt Helen and not Mama Helen. If there was a place reserved in Helen's heart, it was the place where Kyle , Katie, Tyler and Annie stayed. From the birth of the first to the fourth child, Helen had dedicated herself completely to their education and health, after all, they were her nephews and she had the honor of receiving Annie as her goddaughter. They were part of Helen's world and certainly the memories she had afterwards, in that car on the way home, had been one of the most difficult moments. At first, Helen remembered telling Annie that she was pregnant.
It was a sunny day with few clouds in the sky; Annie was in her room, deep in thought as she remembered the encounter she'd had with Tyler earlier in the locker hall at school. Things were pretty awkward between them after the accident. And with Kyle too. She was hurt by them . That certainly wasn't a good night for anyone.
The desk returns to her mind and she continues to organize things for the state championship trip. A knock on her front door pulls Annie out of her activities. When she opens it, Aunt Helen is all smiles outside.
“Aunt Helen! Hey!"
"Hey!" says the godmother pulling her into a tight hug. While holding her, Helen asks, "Can I take my beautiful and wonderful goddaughter out to lunch today?"
They separate and Annie looks at her happily: "You can!".
Excited, they drive to the place chosen for lunch, singing lively songs by Taylor Swift, Annie's favorite singer. After a lovely meal at a small table outside a quiet restaurant away from the city, Helen finally gets to the subject she wanted with Annie.
“You must be wondering why I brought you here”
Annie looks around.
“I would even have some guesses, but I confess that I have no idea” the girl replies amused. “I thought we were going to Wharton's ”.
“And usually we would! But... Let's just say, Serenity is a place where news travels fast” .
"Do not tell me that!" the photographer speaks recalling the bitter feeling of being in the mouths of the citizens of Serenity .
"And we would be the attraction there..." Helen continues and Annie is curious. “That's why” Helen gets out of the chair opposite Annie and sits beside her “I brought you here, in a wonderful Castlewood -like restaurant ” Helen smooths Annie's black hair “And don't worry your parents know! To personally tell you great news! News which I think you will like!”
"A surprise? Which is?" she asks excitedly. Helen can't hold back her emotions as she plays with the young woman's hair more. “Aunt Helen are you crying? What happened?".
“It happened, my love, that my heart, which has you living inside it along with Ty, Katie Cat and Kyle , will be shared a little more!”.
"Like this?".
Helen takes a deep breath.
“I know prom night was hard for everyone” Annie closes when she hears those words from her aunt “But... a little while ago, aunt Maddie told me that after a storm there's always a rainbow! And… after that terrible night.” Annie swallows a lump in her throat, almost crying herself. For everyone to remember all that was still difficult “Aunt Helen received, through Dr. Howie our rainbow! Aunt Helen is pregnant my love!” Annie widens her eyes “Pregnant!”.
"This is wonderful!" Annie hugs her aunt very emotionally “I am very happy!”.
Helen laughs and squeezes her goddaughter even tighter in her arms.
“Thank you my beautiful! It's a dream come true!” They cry together in a hug that lasts a long time. When they separate, Aunt Helen, who couldn't help but laugh, holds Annie's hands "It's great to know that this child will be loved so much!"
How the Helen of the present would like to be in the past now. It's great to know that this child will be loved so much. There was no more child. Your baby was gone. And letting the tears come once more, she remembers telling the Townsends .
On yet another sunny day in Serenity , Helen knocked on yet another door. This time those of the Townsends . It is opened by Katie, who runs into her lap when she sees her aunt.
"Hello my princess!" she hugs her niece “What a delightful reception” She looks at the door and sees Paula leaning against it. Where did Mrs. Vreeland was, she says mutely to Helen:
"They do not know!".
“Aunt Helen, have you come to see my new doll? The daddy who gave it to me!”.
"I want to see her! But… before” she bends down getting close to the girl's height “Auntie wants to talk to you and your brothers”.
“ Kyle is in the tv room where his new room is” she says that last part whispering “Ty is...” She looks at her grandmother.
“Where's Grandma Kyle ?”
“At the bottom dear, separating the donation boxes”.
“I'll call him Aunt Helen. TYYYY!” And runs away.
Helen goes towards Paula, who hugs her.
"Congratulations my dear! May this child come with good health and with much of its essence! Maddie told me, she couldn't take it”.
“Thank you Mrs. Paula! And no problem, I guessed” they laugh.
"Well... as I know this is a very special moment for you, I'll leave you at ease with the children".
Helen nods and heads into the living room as Paula goes up the stairs looking mischievous. Helen finds Kyle playing a game on his cell phone lying on the bed/gurney. "Hey darling!" Kyle wakes up from the “How are you?” game.
“Aunt Helen! Hey! I'm going, and you?
"Wonderfully well!" she spins and stops in a pose. Kyle laughs and she walks over to give him a kiss.
"Look, there's a very bouncy person over here" Tyler says walking through the back door with Katie clinging to one of his legs. Helen laughs at the girl's excitement.
"Hey!" She goes to them and gives them a kiss. “Did you think you were going to run out of kisses? No! No!" she tells Katie, giving the child two more, who is delighted.
“Mama sent you here to watch over us?” Tyler asks jokingly sitting on the couch.
“Not really” Helen sits down on the couch between Ty and Kyle and pulls Katie closer.
“Is it something about the accident?” Kyle asks nervously, putting the other two on edge. Helen was defending the Townsends against the Lewises .
"No! No! No!" she says no to each one. “I am here to give you some good news!”.
"Which? ACCOUNT!" Katie starts jumping in front of her “Count! Account! Tell Aunt Helen!”.
Helen builds suspense by looking from one to the other.
“Will it be free?” jokes Tyler “Tell me soon!”.
“Aunt Helen?” Kyle starts to get anxious too.
“I came here to tell you... My beloved and beautiful nephews... Whom I like very much... And I have total appreciation and admiration".
"Oh my God!" Tyler complains about the delay and Helen laughs but continues:
“That you Katie” she points to the girl who widens her eyes “You were promoted to the oldest cousin!”.
Boys think.
“ Wait …” screams Kyle .
“If Katie was promoted to older cousin…” Tyler cheers.
"You mean that...".
"You mean that...".
“THERE'S A BABY COMING” Katie screams and jumps with joy and hugs her aunt on the couch. Kyle and Ty laugh happily and Helen nods as she giggles from boy to boy.
Suddenly a breathless Maddie rushes into the room.
"Oh no! I lost!".
“You lost nothing!” Helen speaks with Katie still holding her neck and holding Kyle 's hand . "We're in the celebration part." Ty moves closer to his aunt and puts his good arm around her shoulders. "Come here!".
Maddie comes around, sits on Kyle 's bed and wraps him, Ty, Helen and Katie in a big hug.
"We're going to have a baby!" Paula also arrives and they hug them from behind the sofa.
“Did you two already know?” Ty asks, wrapped in the group hug.
“Like Mom and Dana Sue wouldn't know,” Kyle jokes.
Ty almost asks if Annie knows, but decides not to. Things weren't right between them and Kyle .
“I also knew” says Paula “Your mother told me as soon as she found out” she makes a face at the grandchildren who laugh.
“Aunt Helen, two could come, right?” Katie speaks and the women undo the group hug looking at the little girl scared. “A boy and a girl to get to play with me and Annie and Ty and Kyle !” Everyone bursts out laughing, except Kyle , who returns to his angry behavior after the accident. “That way no one would be alone!”.
Helen continues to laugh.
"One is already beyond blessed Katie!" She responds to the euphoric and disheveled child in front of her.
“Look, what the child asks for happens, huh?” Tyler implies, getting elbowed by his aunt. Paula and Maddie laugh and everyone looks at Kyle , who has his face buried in his game again. The mood turns bad, but Tyler breaks it.
“Do you know what that asks Katie?” the sister looks at the brother excitedly “A card!”.
“Yay!” she jumps up and goes upstairs to get things to make one.
As Helen went to the front door with Erik's help, she thought that if there really had been two like Katie had wanted, maybe one would have stayed.
And, being welcomed by her best friends, Helen lets all the pain out.
Surely in the world, if it weren't for them, Helen wouldn't have made it through this storm. There is nothing more sacred than family.
Family celebrates with you. But he also suffers his pains.
Just as the announcement of new life was celebrated, the announcement of loss was suffered . To Tyler by text as he was leaving his visit to Camp Baseball ; to Kyle when Maddie brainstormed with Ashley about; to Annie when she arrived for another shift at Sullivan's ; for Katie when her grandmother picked her up from the recreational activity.
And when Helen fell asleep that day, in her room, Dana Sue and Roonie stared blankly at the little clothes Helen had received from her mother on their table. Paula entered Maddie 's room , who was lying in the dark, and hugged her daughter tightly, falling into tears with her. Kyle , lying on the bed, looked at the photos of Magnolias smiling on the shelf, and thought that was the expression with which his aunt should be now and not suffering for the death of her son. Katie, on the other hand, was scared to sleep lying on her older brother's bed, while Tyler cleared all of Helen's clients for the next few days at her side. In the office, Howie was boredly updating Helen's chart. Facing the lake, Erik lay on the ground while staring at the sky, clutching his beer bottle tightly in his hand. And Annie, it was her turn to caress her godmother's hair as she spent the night with her.
Grief needed to be felt, to be lived. And they would do it together ! Just as they had overcome the loss of Maddie 's father , Dana's mother, the divorces, the nights that the children got sick, that business got worse, that relationships ended... Because after all, for the good days to arrive, the bad ones need to pass . And after the storm, the rainbow will surely come. More radiant and colorful than ever.