Emma stayed up at the cabin for a few more weeks. Then she decided to leave. She had things to do.
She wasn’t returning to London first. She headed to New York and she discovered that Laura was engaged to her neighbor from downstairs, Graham Walker.
"When is the date?" Emma cried excitedly into the phone when Laura told her the news.
"August 18. We’re flying down to Mexico. Will you be my maid of honor?"
"Of course! Wow, I really missed a lot when I was gone. How did this happen?"
Laura laughed. "Well, it’s been going on for a while, kind of off and on. Then at Christmas we were both home and well...the rest is history!"
Emma squealed. "I am so happy for you!"
Laura thanked her and then asked "Are you okay, Em?"
Emma smiled. "You know what, Laur. I am better than I have been since..." She laughed. "Since I don’t know when!"
Laura mmmhummed, not sure if she should believe Emma.
"I’m serious, Laur! I needed to get away from civilization for a while! It gave me so much time to think about everything! I’m going to start living. Now, I need to know everything that has happened since I was gone. What are the new bands? Latest news? Any gossip you have to tell me?"
Laura laughed and then began to list the latest in the music world.
Emma smiled. "What about the Beatles? What’s new with them?"
"They're in India." Laura laughed. "Ringo and his wife just got back like, a week ago. The rest are still out there. Magical Mystery Tour was a flop for them. Guess they needed a guru to tell them how wonderful they are."
Emma grinned. "To each his own, right?"
"I guess. So what are your plans from here, Em?"
"I’m heading back to London next week. I have some things that need to be taken care of."
"You’re sure you’re okay?" Laura asked again.
Emma smiled. "Yeah, Laura, I am."

When Emma returned to London, Paul, John and George were still India. Paul returned with Jane on March 26. George, Pattie, John and Cynthia returned soon after on April 12.
"Hello?"
"Yes, I heard that Guru John resides here. Do you think he could give me a mantra?"
"Who is this?"
"It’s me, silly!" Emma laughed into the reciever.
"Emma?"
"Yes, Guru John."
"Where the hell have you been?" He sounded angry.
"I left you a note, didn’t you get it?" she asked.
"I got it. I just want to know where you were. You scared me. You just up and left without telling anyone."
"I went up to my dad’s cabin on Lake Manitoba. I needed to get away, John. I’m sorry that I scared you."
"You did the same thing after Stuart died, cutting yourself off from the people who cared about you. I thought--"
"I’m okay, John," Emma cut him off. "It’s just who I am to go off by myself and sort my problems out. That’s what I needed to do and I did it." She wanted to change the subject. "So, oh-so-wise Guru, can you tell me the meaning of life?"
John groaned. "Stop it! That trip was a load of shite! That Yogi, what a bloody joke."
"Ah, it was an experience. I bet you got a few songs out of the trip." She could see him smiling at the other end.
"Yeah, that and I must have lost at least a stone! That stupid bloody veggie diet, please!"
Emma laughed. "So what are your plans now?"
"Paul and I are heading to New York. We’re going to make an announcement."
"What sort of announcement?" Emma was curious.
"We’re starting our own company, Apple. We wanna help others to help themselves," John explained.
"That sounds great!"
"Yeah, something great to look forward to in life." He sounded distant.
"John, is something wrong?"
He went quiet. "Cyn and I separated."
Emma didn’t know what to say. She was in shock. "Separated?" she repeated.
"Yeah."
"Oh, John. I’m so sorry."
"Ah, it’s okay. Maybe it’s for the best..."
"Where are you staying?"
"Ringo had a flat in the city. I’m moving in this weekend."
Emma couldn’t believe it, even though she knew that something like this would eventually happen.
"I should get going," John said. Emma could hear the sadness in his voice. "I’ll call you later?"
"Yeah. Take care, John." she said, then hung up the phone.

It happened while John and Paul were in New York, launching Apple. Cyn dropped Julian off at Emma’s flat. She needed to do some errands in the city. Emma offered to look after Julian. They made plans to meet for dinner. Two hours after Cyn left, there was a knock on Emma’s door. She scurried from underneath the fort she and Julian had been building in her front room.
A police officer was at the door.
"Emma James?" he asked.
Emma’s heart began to pound. She had 8 grams of weed laying on her dresser upstairs in her bedroom.
"Yes?" she asked nervously.
"I’m Officer Pewit. Mrs. Cynthia Lennon was in a car accident."
Emma seemed to stop breathing. "What?"
"Her car was involved in an accident approximately an hour ago. Mrs. Lennon is in hospital and you were the contact in case of emergencies."
"Is...is...is she dead?"
"I’m afraid I can’t give you any answers. Can I give you a ride to the hospital?"
Emma nodded her head. She ran into the front room and scooped Julian up in her arms. "You and Auntie Em are going to take a little trip in this officer's car," she said to him, stoking his hair. "Mummy was in an accident and we have to go and see her."
‘Accident’ didn’t seem to register in the young boy's head. He stared in awe at the officer. "Can we put on the sirens?" he innocently asked.
The policeman smiled at Julian. "Maybe for a minute."
He led Emma and Julian to his waiting car and drove them to the hospital. Mrs. Powell, Cyn’s mum, was already there. She saw Julian and took him from Emma’s arms.
"How is she?" Emma nervously asked, scared to hear the answer.
Mrs. Powell looked like she was going to burst into tears. "She’s in surgery right now. The car she was in was hit from the side...the back seat, where Cyn was, was hit the hardest...they had to...cut her out."
Emma put her arms around the older woman and they both tried really hard to hide their tears from Julian.
Mrs. Powell continued. "These doctors won't tell me anything," she spat out. "I cannot seem to get a simple answer from anyone."
Emma patted Mrs. Powell on the back and then left to search for a doctor. She soon found one.
"Excuse me," she tapped a passing doctor on the shoulder. He turned around. "I need to have answers about Cynthia Lennon."
The doctor looked at her. "Are you a relative?"
"I’m her sister." Emma knew that if she wasn’t "family", she wasn’t getting any answers.
The doctor looked at her questionably for a moment and then decided that he believed her. "Your sister suffered internal injuries. She’s in surgery right now. We won’t know anything until that is over." And with that, he left Emma.
"Oh, that was a big help!" Emma muttered under her breath as she returned to the waiting room. She relayed the information to Mrs. Powell, and all they could do was wait. Julian eventually fell asleep on one of the hard plastic sofas. After six hours in surgery, a doctor came into the room. Both Mrs. Powell and Emma raised their heads anxiously. Emma noticed the blood stained on his surgical scrubs.
"Mrs. Lennon punctured a lung in the accident," he explained. "Her spleen was also ruptured and she had internal bleeding. We were able to repair both the lung and the spleen and we stopped the bleeding. She is in critical condition right now, and we won't know anything for sure for another twenty-four hours."
"When can we see her?" Emma asked.
"She’s up in intensive care right now," the doctor explained. "You might be able to visit her tomorrow night at the earliest." And with that, he got up and left the waiting room, allowing Emma and Mrs. Powell to digest all the news.
"Why don’t you take Julian home with you and get yourself cleaned up?" Mrs. Powell said to Emma.
"Why don’t I take you home?" Emma asked.
"I can’t leave. Not with my Cyn hurt like this. What if something were to happen to her and I wasn’t here?"
"Mrs. Powell, there is nothing you can do right now. It’s up to Cyn now. She would want you to go home, get cleaned up. I can come back for you and we can come right back."
Mrs. Powell eventually agreed and they returned to Cyn’s home. That is, when Emma remembered about John. She had to call him.
She put Julian into his bed and then went into a guest room to use the phone. She dug around in her purse for the number of the hotel John was staying at.
"...Yes, room 2231, please."
Within a few minutes, John’s groggy voice answered. "Hullo?"
"John? John, it’s Emma."
"Do you have any bloody idea what time it is, Emma? Ever heard of a thing called time zones?"
She needed to get right to the point. "John, there’s been an accident..."
"Julian?" he immediately asked, sounding wide awake.
"No. Cyn was in a car accident." She felt tears fall down her face.
"I’ll be in London as soon as I can." And he hung up the phone.
Emma and Mrs. Powell returned to the hospital the next morning. They left Julian with Ringo and Maureen. By now, the press had gotten wind of the accident and the hospital entrance was swamped with reporters. They had to enter from the back entrance. When they got up to Intensive Care, they discovered that Cyn had slipped into a comma early in the morning.
Emma stayed with Mrs. Powell, who needed a rock to lean on, though Emma wasn’t very strong. She felt devastated. It seemed that anyone who got remotely close to her was hurt in some way. Stuart died, Brian died, Paul left her, and now it was uncertain if Cyn would ever wake up again.
Emma was returning from the cafeteria later that night when she saw John rushing down the hallway. When he saw her, he burst into tears and fell into Emma’s arms.
"I can’t loose her, Em!" he sobbed into her shoulder.
Emma was surprised by his sudden burst of emotion. Never had she seen him display any form of public emotion. She wrapped her arms around him and cried right along with him.
When they pulled apart, he wiped his eyes with his shirt sleeve. "How bad is she?" he whispered.
"She’s in a coma, John. Doctors aren’t sure if she’ll wake up or not."
He sunk into a chair and held his head in his hands. "Is Julian okay?"
Emma nodded, sitting down beside him. "He was with me."
Running his hands through his hair, John sat up. He looked over at Emma. "I can’t loose her," he said again. "My world would end without her."
Emma reached over and took his hand, giving it a tight squeeze. "I knew you always loved her," she whispered. "This accident shouldn’t have helped you come to this decision, John."
He hung his head, ashamed. "It shouldn’t have taken this accident for me to realize it, I know. I was scared, Em. I’d never loved someone so much. It was like it was suffocating me." He was quiet. "Yes, we rushed into marriage because she got pregnant, but I always planned on marrying her. I loved her...I love her."
Emma looked at him. "I know you do, John."
"And now..." He choked up. "Now she might die without knowing how I really feel about her. I treated her like crap, Em. I was a horrible husband, a horrible father."
"She never thought that of you. She loves you, John. You being here just shows that you love her, too." She patted his knee. "Cyn will wake up. She’s tough. And when she does, you can start over as a family, make things right. I know you can."

One week turned into two, and then three. Cyn was still in a coma. John was at her bedside constantly, singing her songs and reading her poems he had written for her. It made Emma’s heart swell when she saw John take Cyn’s hand in his and stroke her hair. He loved her and she knew that from now on, he wouldn’t be a prick.
At the beginning of week four, Cyn’s eyes opened. Emma, John, and Mrs. Powell were all standing around her bed. She looked at them all, her eyes stopping at John. "Hi," she whispered. Then a small smile crept onto her face. "I always knew you couldn’t live without me."