Through Tragedy Comes Love

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Good day Readers!

This is my first upload to anywhere in a LONG time. I hope you enjoy it, and whether I continue the story or not will depend on how well people like it. So, please vote, and comment.

I would also like to give the usual disclaimers, that this is a complete work of fiction. All characters are 18+ at the time anything sexual is happening.

Chapter '0' is complete backstory and buildup to the events that begin in chapter 1. I would have to say that this is not a quick wank story, so keep that in mind.

Enjoy!

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0

Life is a truly fickle thing. Lots of good things followed by bad things.

Growing up I was an only child with loving parents and a few good friends. We lived in a nice small town in a rural area of Southern Ontario. I was able to walk to school in the mornings. Both for elementary school, and high school. This was a benefit, in my mind. I was able to sleep in, unlike the sleep-deprived zombie kids that rode the bus. The world was good to me. I even thought I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up, unlike most of the other guys I knew.

My world changed, however, when my mom announced that she was pregnant. It was Christmas, and I was 15. My parents thought that I would love to have a sibling and would be overjoyed at the news. It just made me sad. I knew that my life was never going to be the same. I just didn't realize the extent that my new sibling was going to change my life.

The pregnancy was not easy on my mother, and there were some complications early on. With the closest hospital with a birthing unit over two hours away by ambulance, the decision was made to move to the city.

My father, being a licensed carpenter and electrician, had no issue finding work in the city, and by the end of January had purchased a house. My parents hired a moving company to pack our house so that I didn't have to miss any school, and my mother would be able to rest. Before the middle of February, my entire life was uprooted.

New city, new house, new school, newly arriving family. Despite all of that I adapted.

I loved the small town because I could go camping, fishing, whenever, and almost wherever I wanted. My friends and I would wander the countryside for hours getting into whatever trouble or work we could find. More than one farmer paid us with a cold beer for shovelling shit or stacking hay bales.

The city wasn't as bad as I was expecting either though. I quickly made new friends at school, and they showed me what fun there was in town. I went to my first movie without my parents. There was a club for kids where we went dancing. Dancing wasn't really my thing, but it was fun watching everyone else bounce around. It was all completely strange and foreign, and yet not terrible.

Soon enough, my baby sister, Emily, was born. Despite the pregnancy being hard on my mom, Emily was born strong and healthy. Then I had to contest with her wailing screams at two in the morning, and the constant need for attention that all babies needed.

I graduated high school at 17, the year after she was born. I knew that I wanted to join the trades, and my dad offered to take me on as an apprentice. I readily agreed. As a graduation present my parents even bought me all the basic tools that I needed to start working. Not even a week after finishing my last day of school, I was on the worksite with my dad drinking in the knowledge he had to offer.

As Emily got older, I started babysitting her. And I always seemed to be called to perform the task on the weeks when a party or some other function was going on.

Even still I grew to love the little brat.

As Emily grew and started kindergarten, I received my carpenter licence and moved out, buying my own house, one that I could fix up. I loved living with my parents, but at twenty it was time to branch out.

Just because I had my carpenter licence, however, didn't mean my education was complete. I immediately enrolled as an electrical apprentice under my father. That didn't mean a whole lot really. I got up and went to work just like every other day for the past four years. It was even the same work I was doing. Only now it counted towards my next licence.

My dad had always encouraged me to get as many licences and certificates as I could manage. He always said that it would ensure that I had a good-paying job to be able to provide for my family. That bit of wisdom stuck with me and has proven true.

For the next few years, I lived for work. I learned all I could from my dad and the other guys who worked for him. I loved it. I loved being able to work with my hands and see the end result at the end of the day. There was something there. Something tangible that I could take pride in.

So, as it turned out, moving, and getting a little sister wasn't the worst thing in the world. One of the best things in the world happened to me a few years later though. I was twenty-two, and my dad landed a job at a local sorority house. This wasn't the normal kind of job we took, but I think he took this job because of me. I think that my parents wanted me to start seeing someone to be able to give them grandbabies. I didn't meet many women because I was always working, so they made me work where the ladies were. In the end, their plan worked.

The sorority had just purchased this old house to use as their new chapter house. The issue was that the house was ancient and was desperately in need of updating. That is where we came in. The job was supposed to take about a month, and my dad even hired a couple of extra people to make sure that we finished the job on time.

While there I met Sarah Parker. A gorgeous woman getting a bachelor's degree in HR Management. She was taller than many women, meeting my 5'-10", with flowing blond hair, vivid blue eyes and an athletic build. She ended up being my Amazon woman.

Immediately she took an interest in me, and always found a way to be around when I was working. She brought me snacks and drinks and even helped with some of the work. We chatted and got to know each other, and it wasn't long before we started dating.

Within a year, and just after Sarah had graduated university, she moved in with me. Life was great. Sarah was great. The sex was great. She was my Amazon warrior woman, whom I couldn't imagine being without.

A year later, I completed my electrician apprenticeship. Fully licenced, my dad brought me into the business as an equal shareholder. Though I was licenced, my education still didn't end. My dad started taking me along and teaching me the ropes of how to quote out the work and bid on projects. Of course, I knew the basics simply by working with him for the last seven years, and as part of the apprenticeship courses, but now he was teaching me the nuance of the art of negotiation. The people aspect.

Sarah's and my relationship continued to grow over the years, and Sarah fell in love with my family. She and Emily became quick friends. Sarah told me once that she had always wanted a sister, and Emily was as close as she could come to getting one.

Three years after Sarah and I started dating, I took her out for a fancy dinner, and got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. Of course, she said yes. She was almost ready to run to the nearest church and ask the minister to marry us right there on the spot. I was able to persuade her to at least let us call our parents to be there.

Once she calmed a little, she realized that there was planning that needed to happen. Her mother was able to get her to push the date back a year to be able to send invitations and do the wedding properly. It was one month after my 26^th birthday when Sarah and I were wed.

Emily, at ten, was the perfect flower girl. Sarah made sure that Emily's dress was an exact copy of her wedding gown, although much smaller. They both looked stunning. Emily looked like a miniature copy of Sarah other than instead of having blond hair, Emily's was red.

Soon after we arrived back from our honeymoon to Hawaii, both of our parents started asking us about grandkids. Sarah and I had talked about it before getting married, and we both wanted kids. We agreed that our finances were good and that this would be a good time to have a child, so we tried.

As I said earlier, life can be fickle. So much good in our lives, and then we tried to have a kid. For four years we tried unsuccessfully to have a kid. We went to the doctor and were both tested, and we were both fertile. The doctors weren't sure why we hadn't conceived. They offered treatments and suggestions. We did what we could. We screwed like rabbits to make sure that my sperm would be waiting for when Sarah ovulated. We tested often and did everything we were supposed to. Still no baby.

We were both disheartened. But we kept trying. It was hard on both of us to want something that we couldn't seem to get. No matter how we tried.

Finally, five years after getting married, Sarah became pregnant. I was in the process of making our eggs for breakfast when I heard Sarah scream from upstairs. Not knowing what was wrong I pushed the pan off the burner and ran for her.

I pushed through the bathroom door and saw her staring at the pregnancy test in her hand.

She turned slowly to look at me, and she had a look of wonder on her face. "I'm pregnant!"

All was right in the world again!

Despite the challenges of getting pregnant, Sarah's pregnancy went well and was easy. Our daughter, Ava, was born early, one Tuesday morning. She had a full head of red hair to match her aunt's, her mother's vivid blue eyes, pouty lips, and chubby cheeks.

Sarah never went back on birth control, but never again became pregnant. It seems God intended us to only have one child.

Once Ava was born, Emily started coming over more. She spent as much time with Ava as she could, and she helped where she could. If Sarah were cooking and had to stop to feed Ava, Emily immediately took over in the kitchen until Sarah could come back. Emily was staying over so often, helping out, and, when Ava was a little older, babysitting, that the guest room became hers. It was her home away from home.

I think that our parents liked that Emily was spending time here with us. There was a large part of Emily's life where I was not there. I was working with Dad or at my home. Due to our age difference, my role in Emily's life was closer to that of an uncle than a sibling.

Life was good. Business was booming, Ava had just started preschool this past September, and Emily was to graduate high school at the end of the school year.

Then life became great. I won the lottery! And not just $50 on a scratcher.

I was driving home from a long day of pulling wire in the new house we had been hired to build, glad it was Friday near the end of March. I stopped at the grocery store to grab some cold beer and something for dinner. I don't normally buy a lottery ticket, but when I saw the flashing sign saying that the jackpot was sixty million, I thought what the hell and picked up a ticket.

Emily had picked Ava up from preschool for us, and she decided to stay the night. We all stayed up later than usual playing scrabble. When we finished our 4^th game, Ava, who had been sitting on my lap 'helping' me, was rubbing her eyes. Sarah picked her up and put her to bed while Emily cleaned up the game. I wandered into the kitchen. I had seen Emily eyeing my beer all night. She had been helpful, it was Friday, and one certainly wouldn't hurt her. I shrugged and grabbed a couple of beers as I walked back to the living room.

Sarah was already back as well. Ava must have dropped right off. I handed each of the girls a beer. Sarah raised an eyebrow at me. I shrugged in response, "She's seventeen."

Emily was shocked as well. "Chris, are you sure?"

I smiled. "Yes."

I sat on the couch and flipped on the 11:00 news, cracked my beer and enjoyed feeling my wife's body cuddled up next to me.

It was funny watching Emily try her first beer. She hesitantly opened the bottle and sniffed the contents, before taking a tiny sip. She looked pensive as she let the liquid wash through her mouth. She must have approved because she took a larger pull.

The news anchor was reading out the winning lottery numbers for the different lottery games, which reminded me of the ticket I had purchased. I quickly pulled it out. Neither Sarah nor Emily made any mention of the ticket.

Finally, the anchor started reading the big lottery numbers. And each number he said, was on my ticket.

"We won," I said quietly. I was stunned. I couldn't believe it.

Sarah looked over at me. "What do you mean, we won?"

I handed her the ticket, and she checked the numbers as well. My Amazon woman let out a whop! I couldn't believe Ava slept through it.

Emily remained silent, watching us, as we bounced and celebrated.

That night, after Sarah and I had wicked celebratory sex, while we were cuddling, we agreed that we would keep working, despite not needing to now, but we would be sure to take a nice long holiday.

It took a little more than a week to arrange the lawyer, accountant and set up the appointment to collect the money. In that time, we learned that Sarah couldn't get off work immediately for an extended vacation, and we quickly agreed to send all of our parents on an all-expenses-paid month-long vacation. That would give Sarah the time needed to arrange the time off, and it allowed my father and I to not be off work at the same time.

Sarah's and my parents decided to travel together to Scotland. This kind of surprised me, but I was happy to be able to send them on this trip. There was a little bit of planning, but they were on their plane by the third week of April. Emily moved in with us for the month so that she wouldn't have to be home alone all the time.

I think mom just wanted to make sure that Emily wouldn't be able to throw any wild parties being home alone for the month.

While the parents were on their trip, Sarah and I were planning where we would be going. We talked about going back to Hawaii, or possibly New Zealand.

Emily seemed kind of down, so I assured her that when she graduated this summer, I would send her on a trip with some friends too.

Ava didn't really know what was going on, or what the excitement was all about, but she was as happy as ever.

Again, life throws a wrench into things when they are going well. And this particular wrench was devastating.

Our parents were due back, and Sarah, Emily, Ava, and I agreed to throw a big welcome home party in their honour. It was a beautiful late May day. The sun was shining, and the sky was blue. It was the perfect day for a barbeque.

The flight was delayed slightly at takeoff due to weather, mom messaged us when their plane started their descent. Wanting to have everything ready for when they got here, Emily and I started cooking, while Sarah went to pick them up from the airport.

The burgers were cooked, and I figured that they would be home, but there was no sign of Sarah's car. I tried her cell and our parents' cells. But there was no answer. So, I kept the food warm and hoped they got here soon.

There was a knock at the door.

I was puzzled as to who it could be. Sarah or any of our parents would have just walked right in.

I opened the door. Two police officers were standing there, with grim looks on their faces. A coldness settled over me.

"Mr. Christopher Smith?" The shorter officer asked.

"Yes."

"My name is Constable Marrie, and this is my partner Constable Stanley. We need to speak with you, may we come in?"

I simply nodded and moved out of the way.

We all walked into the house, and to the dining room. Emily, holding Ava, joined us.

"This is my sister Emily, and my daughter Ava," I introduced.

Constable Marrie nodded at the introduction and jumped right into what he had to say. "I'm afraid we have some bad news for you. There has been an accident--" Dread washed over me. "--your wife Sarah, parents, and in-laws have been killed. Their car was t-boned on the driver's side by a loaded dump truck that lost control. There were no survivors of the accident."

Emily and I burst into tears. Emily held Ava close.

Life was great, and now it seemed like it was ending.

The officers stayed with us until the grief counsellors arrived. We were put in touch with all the support and help we could need, and our burgers were left on the barbeque to turn to charcoal.

The support in our community was great. The funeral home manager took care of everything, and our lead hand worker took care of the business, closing out the jobs we had going. All of our friends, Emily's and mine helped where they could. Together they made everything as easy as it could be.

Despite all the support, Emily took the loss of our mom and dad, and my wife hard. She didn't want to go to school, and I didn't force her. I thought it would be best to let her deal with her grief how she thought best. What I didn't take into account, was that because she missed so much school, they wouldn't let her graduate. Emily would have to complete another semester to get the credits she needed.

Ava's three-year-old mind didn't really understand that Mommy, Oma and Opa, and Grammy and Grampy won't be coming back. She kept asking when they would be home. Every time she did, it would make both Emily and I burst into tears.

Emily moved in with me full time, and we spent the next weeks going through all of our parents' possessions. We kept what was sentimental, and donated the rest to charity, before selling the house. It was a good house, but neither Emily nor I wanted to be in it. It held too many memories, painful now that they were gone.

There wasn't a huge adjustment period for Emily and I living in the same house. Emily had stayed over often enough that it just seemed right. However, we did have to divide the chores that Sarah usually took care of between us. By the time our parents' house had sold we were well adjusted to living together.

Emily started doing most of the traditional domestic chores and looking after Ava. This worked well for me because I started to throw myself into my work. I started working eighty-plus hours a week, but I always tried to find time to spend with Ava and Emily each day.

Where I threw myself into my work to deal with the grief of so much loss, Emily seemed to just get over it. While we were going through our parent's things, and dealing with the funeral she was depressed, not eating, or sleeping well. Then when she started doing more chores and taking care of Ava, she seemed to snap out of it. It was as if a switch had been thrown.

The summer went by me working as much as I could, and Emily and Ava acting for all intent and purpose as mother and daughter. We tried to do some things together like going to the zoo, or children's museum, something to try and enjoy my new wealth, but it always made me sad. I couldn't believe that Sarah wasn't there with Ava and I to enjoy it.

As the summer waned Emily got ready to go back to school. We tried to arrange it so that she could just write the exams as she had competed almost the entire last semester. The school board wouldn't allow it. They insisted that she retake the semester to gain the credits.

Ava was excited to be going back to preschool. She missed all of her school buddies.

It worked out for us that Emily was able to take Ava to preschool in the mornings and pick her up from preschool when she was done. And because Emily had already done most of the work for school the year before she wasn't spending as much time on homework without compromising quality or her grades.

Emily started cooking more, and initially, it was rough. She burned more than one casserole throughout the summer, but she got better. By the time she graduated, six months later, I quite enjoyed her cooking.