"They have a private waiting room ready for us. It's gonna be a while." Kane looked down at Autumn. Their daughter had always looked so much like Avery—she had his eyes and mannerisms. The thought tugged at his heart and filled him with pride at the same time. He wrapped an arm around her lean shoulders, letting her guide him out the door.
"He said he would be back. He wasn't done with us." Kane smiled, trying for playful, possibly falling short as Autumn wrapped both her arms around him, giving him a tighter hug as they walked down the quiet hospital hallway.
"I know. Robert's here. Daddy, he's got the best care he can get." His strong, smart, beautiful thirty-four-year-old daughter was worried. He could tell by the small quiver in her voice.
"I know, baby…I know." They entered the small waiting room provided for high profile guests. Avery was almost as high as it got in this small community they lived in.
"I brought fresh water and a fruit tray. There's a restroom right through this door. Can I get you anything else?" a young woman asked from the doorway.
"No, we're fine. Thank you," Kane said, going straight to the window along the back wall. A nice view of a park sat right outside. Normally, Kane would have loved that. He had always loved taking his children to the park to play, but today he stared outside, not caring about the view in the least. Autumn pushed a chair up behind him.
"Sit, Daddy. You have to take care. Dad's gonna need you to take care of yourself, since he can't. He fusses over you as much as you fuss over him, and I'll be in trouble if he finds out I didn't do what he thinks I'm supposed to do for you." Kane let her fuss in Avery's place. A distraction to keep her mind occupied. Avery did that too. When something weighed heavily on him, he always threw himself into another project whether it be cleaning house or yard work, he found something to expend his nervous energy.
Even though their children were well into their thirties, they were a tight-knit family. All four of them were very close still today, and if something happened to Avery, it would shake them all to the core. The sobering thought had Kane taking a seat, still staring out the window. He could hear the silent prayer still unconsciously ringing through his head.
"I remember the birthday party we had at the park in Stillwater. What was I, like six years old? I loved that birthday party," Autumn said from directly behind him. He couldn't help the smile that touched his lips as he thought about that day.
"That was Avery's very bad idea." His smile grew wider and a slight shiver ran up his spine as he remembered the blistering cold wind. Who had an outdoor birthday party, in early March, in Stillwater, Minnesota? No one but them.
"It's one of my fondest memories. Robert's too, we talked about it just last week. Here's a bottle of water." Kane stayed in memory lane, letting his thoughts get lost in the moment. The small prayer pushed back to the forefront, taking up residence in his mind.
Please, God, don't take him from me. Not yet.
"Daddy, tell me again how you and Dad met. It's my favorite story." Kane looked up as she pulled her chair closer to his at the window. She took his hand, threading their fingers together.
"Tell me. I haven't heard the story in years. I want you to tell me now," she said, nodding, frantic tears finally welling up in her amber eyes. Avery's eyes. She worked hard to try and distract him, as well as herself, and he needed to let her. He gripped her hand tighter as he thought back all those years ago.
Chapter 2
April, 1975 ~ Minneapolis, Minnesota
"How in the hell did I let them talk me into this?" Avery said aloud to no one as he walked through his somewhat small, yet highly decorated, one bedroom condominium in downtown Minneapolis. He knew the answer, but still let the question take hold in his mind. The weather was just too damn cold outside to think of anything else.
Avery hadn't been back to Minnesota for any real length of time since he'd graduated from college over fifteen years ago. Even then, his choice to attend school in Minnesota was more of a public show of support; a family legacy kind of deal. All Minnesota had ever been to him was a place his family spent some of their summer months vacationing in a grand timber-framed getaway sitting along the St. Croix River. They had ridden horses, played in the fields, and shared dinners outside on the patio watching the boats drift by, which was rare quality time considering his prominent fast-paced family lifestyle.
The Adams ancestry had claimed their Minnesota land back in the settlers' days. Thousands and thousands of acres bordering Canada and it was all passed down from generation to generation. The roots of Avery's family tree ran deep in this state from all the way back to the fur-trading and logging days. He still owned all that land today. The upkeep was expensive as hell, and he couldn't remember the last time anyone spent time there, but the Adamses were considered the first family of Minnesota.
This state was the foundation that catapulted his grandfather to win his bid and become the beloved two-term president of the United States. As it turned out, Washington DC was the only thing that could entice an Adams out of Minnesota. They had never fully returned, apparently, until now.
It was clear why the Democratic Party picked Minnesota for Avery to begin his political career, between his family's roots and the progressively liberal attitude of the state, he was a shoo-in. What he couldn't understand was how he had ever been talked into tossing his hat in next year's Senate race. His own father, Alan Adams, had grown up in the White House and never had anything good to say about the experience. Alan chose business over politics, taking their family wealth into the multi-millions over the course of his life. His grandfather and father were both movers and shakers in their own chosen fields, yet neither could outrun the heredity of heart disease. Their deaths at reasonably young ages were the main reason Avery lived his life in such a way that he never took anything too seriously. Again, apparently until now.