The Backbone

Chapter 20

Edna's POV

As we all walked into the restaurant to meet papa after he had to do a few things today. I notice he has flowers on the table, and he presents them to dad after the week dad has had. I can't help the smile on my face as papa is so sweet to dad and looking after him this week.

As dad throws himself into papa's arms, I see this figure walking in form near papa and when I look, I can't help but gasp at who it is. It's Andy and he is standing there with flowers as well. I throw myself into his arms and just hug him as I didn't see him much after X Factor as we had to hurry up and leave so we could come to dad. I move away from him and I say, "what are you doing here"? He looks at me and wipes away the tears from my eyes and says "your papa thought that you would need someone here to help you out at your grandmother's funeral as he will be helping your dad. So, he asked me if I could come over to help you and I said yes. So here I am". I cuddle into his chest again and I hear dad say to papa "so that's what you were doing? Getting Andy to come over here". I turn my head and see papa nod his head and he hums a yes.

After we all have dinner, we go up to our rooms to have an early night as tomorrow is going to be a big day. It's my grandmother's funeral and I know it's going to be a trying time for dad. He is still trying to get over his mums' death and now he needs to face her funeral. Now I understand why we had to rush over here because if we didn't then dad could have been seriously hurt but he wasn't thanking god. I wouldn't be able to handle that and I know papa wouldn't either. I say goodbye to Andy at papa's and dad's room where I am staying. He kisses me goodbye and says that he will see me for breakfast.

I walk inside after Andy has gone to his room and I rush into papa's arms and thank him for what he did. I still can't believe that he did that for me. I hug and kiss them both goodnight and head off to my room.

Once we are all dressed the next day, we all head off to the cemetery so we can say goodbye to my grandmother. I can see dad is trying to hold himself together for all of our sakes, but he can't. I can see the tears come down his cheeks as they lower her into the ground. The next thing I know is I look over to see dad in papa's arms. I think he must have collapsed or something, so I rush over to him.

Tommy's POV

The day of mum's funeral is a hard one for me and I lean on Addy for support but once they lower her into the ground my knee's buckle and my legs give out from underneath me. I was lucky that Adam had a grip on me, so I didn't fall to the ground. Adam grabbed me and picked me up, so he was holding me bridal style. I lean my head against his chest and together we get through the service that way. I can't help the tears that fall from my eyes after she was lowered into the ground.

Throughout the wake after the service I keep getting death glared by my sister. I try to ignore her, but I can't, and it gets to the stage that not only Adam says something but so does Tim and Anthony. She wants to know what they are doing there as she didn't know them and Adam really went off his head and he said to her "look it was Tommy's mother too and these are his friends and if Tommy wants them here to support him then that is up to him not you so kindly get on your broom stick and fuck off". Edna laughs at that and so do the rest of us. She scurries away with her tail between her legs.

Just as we were about to leave, I see her in the arms of the real estate agent who listed the house and I see her kiss him. I nudge Adam and motion with my head over to them and he looks then says to me "now we know why he wouldn't do what I asked because they are together". I nod my head and say, "yeah but now we won't find out what she gets for it". Adam turns to me and says "we will babe don't you worry. The firm doing the paperwork for her is the one Neil works for so he will tell me I have already asked him. He also said that he is sorry he couldn't be here for you today". I nod my head and say, "that's ok I understand he needs to work".