#winter 4

And just like the Rose sisters, Allan Murphy also sought his own sense of closure.

With the help of his father, he was able to call out: "Caroline Murphy?"

The woman stopped in her tracks.

"Mom?" he asked timidly.

She turned, and as her eyes took in the sight of her adult son her lips started to curl into a smile.

"It's you! I mean, it's me! Allan!"

She dropped her book onto the snowy stones and embraced her son tightly.

"I can't believe it's actually you," he mumbled into her shoulder. "I mean, I dreamed of this moment for years. I know it's cliche, but now that you're here I really don't know what to say!" He laughed a little in disbelief.

"Me neither!" she whispered.

Carol invited her son into her townhouse apartment to warm up as the sun quickly set behind them.

The newly reunited mother and son reconciled their estranged relationship surprisingly quickly, both of them figured it was a sign of their natural connection, but it helped that the wedge between them had died recently.

"Wait here, I have something for you," Allan said.

"Okay," she promised.

He ran with child-like excitement back to his own apartment around the corner from hers.

When he returned, Allan carried a large box.

"What's this?" she asked, smiling.

"A gift, I think."

"From you?"

She lifted the picture out of the box and studied it as Allan explained unhelpfully, "Sort of?"

"Oh, Allan! You have no idea what this means to me." A couple stray tears escaped down her cheek. "Thank you."

"About that. Could you explain it to me, what Lila meant to you? I didn't know you two were close at all."

"Of course!" She sniffed. "But, another time, not now," she laughed a little like "now" was a joke to her. "I want to stay happy, here, with you."

Collin MacDonald came by the Rose house to discuss the contents of Lila's will, finalize Kathy's divorce with Reginald III Barber, and notarize the official adoption papers of little Catherine Rose all in one convenient visit.

"Now you're all set to meet someone new to go with this new life of yours," he said with a smile. In fairness, from his perspective, divorce often meant his clients were free to pursue their happiness.

But in the days following the recent whirlwind events, Kathy struggled to see much of a bright side to her new situation.

The weight of losing the people most important to her fell on Kathy not all at once but through a steady increase of pressure with no end in sight. First Lila, followed by Reg III, then Will, and even Vivian left too.

[Major bloops here: Kate was born without a head! O_O]

Dr. Hill moved past Kathy and handed Vivian her new baby. "I have other patients, I have to run, so can you two hold down the fort for now?"

"Y-yeah, we can take care of things from here," Vivian answered while she focused on holding the squirming, fragile creature in her hands.

"Great. I'll come back again before my shift is over. Congratulations, by the way!"

"Thank you, Dr. Hill."

Once Dr. Hill left, Kathy moved closer to her sister and the baby.

"You weren't supposed to come until spring!" Vivian whispered into the newborn's small head.

"Speaking of that," Kathy began, but then she decided something else had to be said first.

"Dad, um, died tonight." She nearly choked on the words as they came out, but her gaze remained fixated on the baby and the hopeful future she symbolized.

"Oh," was all her sister said in return.

Kathy was unsure if what was said fully registered. "Heart attack," she explained. "He was just down the hall from you."

"Well that explains why you're here," Vivian replied. "I wasn't expecting anyone to be here with me."

"Why is that? Why didn't you call the house?"

"I don't know," she answered honestly. "I guess I just figured, without Lynda, I'm on my own now."

"No Allan?"

"Allan doesn't know!" Her scoff was almost laughter. She adjusted the baby in her arms.

"He doesn't know?"

"I told you we aren't together."

"Yeah, but--"

"Here," Vivian adjusted the baby in her arms again. "Wanna hold her?"

"R-really?"

"Yes! Take her!"

In the delicate transfer, Kathy couldn't fight an involuntary happy burst of laughter when she held the small newborn's tiny weight in her hands. And when she pressed the child against her chest, Kathy began to weep.

Witnessing her sister's reaction to the baby silenced any lingering doubt in Vivian's mind about motherhood.

"Take her," she repeated.

"What?" Kathy tried to act surprised.

"Please, keep her. Give her the life I can't."

"I don't know what to say!" It was hard to contain her excitement as the baby wiggled in her arms.

"Can I just ask one, small, selfish thing? Can you name her Catherine, after me?"

"I never understood why you changed your name in the first place, I could never keep it straight. Catherine is a beautiful name. Didn't Dad pick it for you?"

"So the story goes. Maybe that's why it didn't fit me; huh, didn't think of that before," Vivian mumbled.

Kathy Rose began retracing her steps with so much hurt and anger boiling inside her that she truly believed if she opened her mouth right now she would spew endless hellfire and drown the entire world with it.

That was when she unknowingly walked by the delivery room and heard:

"One more push, Vivian!"

Kathy found herself watching with tremendous anxiety as Dr. Hill helped her sister give birth to a little baby that, until this moment, she forgot could be hers; an impossible and unthinkable idea, she thought she had pushed it far away from her conscious mind, and yet.

The notion of prospective motherhood miraculously cooled her anger. Although she never figured herself a superstitious person, she could not deny that her daughter and father entering and exiting life on the same day cemented a special connection between them; a connection that, for the time being, only Kathy herself was positioned to appreciate.

Her eyes followed Dr. Hill bathe the newborn as Vivian received help going to the bathroom for the first time postpartum. Once her sister had left the room, Kathy decided this was the opportune moment she didn't know she was waiting for.

"May I hold the baby?" she asked.

"Kathy? You're not supposed to be in here."

"Please? My father, he--"

"--Wow!" Kathy breathed.

"Cute, huh?" Irene agreed. "A very cute, healthy baby girl."

"A girl?"

"Yep."

"Hello there, little one." Kathy wiggled her fingers in the baby's face. She sniffed several times as hot tears flowed uncontrollably from her eyes. A girl! Her father's spirit once again contained in a woman's body, just like herself! "It's so nice to meet you, I'm your--"

Just then, her sister returned to the room along with the rising sun. Kathy gasped in a shaky whisper: "She's here!"

He's okay, he's okay, he's--

The moment the elevator doors opened, Kathy Rose burst through and ran as fast as she could.

"You're okay!"

"Sorry to scare you, honey."

"I'm just glad you're alright," she said out of breath, smiling and sniffling.

"Eh, well," Will sighed and shrugged at the same time.

"Those are nice." Kathy nodded towards the flowers at her father's bedside.

"Reney put 'em there. You just missed her, she went off to see another patient. Running off her feet tonight, apparently! Poor thing."

"Never stops, huh?"

"So, what happened?" Kathy asked.

"A minor heart attack."

"What!"

"Minor," he repeated. "Just had a couple x-rays done, we'll know more in a bit. Why don't you get something from the cafeteria in the meantime, hm?" Kathy shook her head, but her father insisted. "Then go get me something."

"Okay, sure. What do you want?"

"Doesn't matter. Whatever you find, you'll do fine."

"Okay. I'll be right back."

The cafeteria was barren and quiet, so Kathy wandered into the equally unhelpful hospital gift shop for a while.

She decided a candy bar from the vending machines downstairs was the best choice in the end. Nothing fancy but still fun. She stuffed it in her tight jean pocket and headed back upstairs.

But by the time she walked back to his room--