Generations: The Long Game

Karma

TW: mention of death and miscarriage

As they followed the officer down the corridor, he pulled her hand back into his own and gave it a squeeze. Ordinarily she would have pulled away, but she wondered if this was more for him than for her. She squeezed his hand in return and shot him a smile. The officer opened a door and ushered them into the room. "Take a seat they'll be right with you."

They sat there in silence for several moments before a very stodgy man came over. "Mrs. Fortune-Knight?" Autumn nodded in agreement. "We don't know the precise details of how your father passed, but he complained of lightheadedness and heart palpitations last evening but said he was fine by dinner time. They served spaghetti bolognese. His intake paperwork listed no allergies, but as you know he was moved to this facility only six weeks ago. Do you know of any allergies?" She looked over to Reece questioningly. The blonde looked at the floor. "Pecans, but they certainly wouldn't belong in a spaghetti bolognese recipe." The man looked from one sibling to the other. "We have reason to believe that pecans may have been ground up and mixed into the sauce. Obviously, we will perform an autopsy to confirm, but it looks like your father may have died from anaphylaxis." Autumn looked up at the man. "How exactly do pecans get ground up and added into a sauce they aren't meant to be in."

The man looked behind him before lowering his tone. "Look they don't tell us much when we get called in here, but I overheard a conversation between the prison officer and an inmate. Evidently, your father had a run-in with another inmate shortly after he arrived. The inmate was ranting about what your father had done to a little redhead. That inmate evidently works in the kitchen. That's all I know. I will personally perform your father's autopsy and let you know sometime after the holidays." Both siblings nodded and the stodgy man turned and left.

As they settled back into the Rover, they fell into an uncomfortable silence. The blonde was the first to speak. "So, we agree that inmate was talking about Mia, right?" She was staring out the window. "I guess father finally got his karma." He nodded in agreement. "Aut?" She looked over to him meeting his gaze. "What is the plan with Winter?"

"He wants to look into adoption. I'm just not so sure. Maybe Lili and Ben are it for us. Reece I am grateful for them. I think about the miscarriage and how that changed us. What if we try to adopt and it doesn't work out? I don't know if either of us could bear it." For the third time today, he pulled her hand into his own. "Autumn, I have never known you to let fear guide your decisions. You have always been fearless. I know you will figure it out, but if you truly want a big family, you may just have to thing outside the box."

"Speaking of thinking outside of the box. How are you planning to pull off the Christmas weekend? I know she is getting stronger but that is a lot of work." He looked at her with a sadness in his eyes. "Aut I can't tell her no. Not after the year she's had. I just can't." The brunette looked away letting her mind wander as they approached their street. "Leave it to me. I think I know what to do."