Fundamentally Fiore

Gone

Little Fiore woke again from her sleep in a cold sweat. Fiore wrapped her arms around herself as tears started leaking out. She quietly sobbed as she consoled herself. She'd been crying for a while when there was a knock on her door.

It cracked open and Lucinda, Fiore's favorite maid, peeked in. "I thought I heard you." She smiled.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you." Fiore sniffled as she wiped her eyes.

"Don't be silly. Did you have a bad dream?"

Little Fiore nodded and kept her eyes on the floor.

"Fiore, look people in the eye. Bad dreams are nothing to be ashamed of. Do you want to tell Lucinda what happened?"

"I had that dream about mama again."

Fiore hadn't slept through the night in about six months.  She was the one who found her mother.  She was the one who shook her mother with tears streaming down her face when she couldn't wake her.  Her father came home a few hours later, the two of them inconsolable.

After the death of his wife, Roderick had all but forgotten the fact that he still had a child.  He worked every moment that he could.  He was desperate not to stop.  He didn't want to think, didn't want to feel.  He feared if he stopped, his grief would consume him.

Fiore had been alone to cope.  The staff did what they could.  Lucinda had stepped up and mothered the child as best she could, but Fiore couldn't let someone replace her mother.  She wouldn't do that.

Fiore was nearing her fifth birthday and what should have been a celebration was a painful reminder of the void in her life. Fiore felt abandoned. Her mother was gone and her father was almost never present.

The day before her birthday Fiore was beyond excited her father promised he would be home for her birthday and he'd promised her a special surprise.

Fiore sat patiently by the front door wearing a new dress.  She sat for hours, her eyes on the door.  No one could pry her away.  She'd even asked to eat by the door.

The staff had taken pity on her.  The hours ticked by and morning faded to afternoon, afternoon to evening, and evening to night.  Fiore hadn't left her post near the door all day.  Fiore knew it was bedtime, but she didn't want to leave.  Her father had promised her.  She knew he'd be there.

But by midnight, Lucinda picked a sleepy Fiore up and brought her to her room.  Fiore was too tired to protest.

The next morning Fiore woke to an empty house.  Her father wasn't home.  Mid morning her cousins and aunt arrived.

"Happy birthday!" Ian had grinned as he handed her a small box.  "Mum let me bring one.  The rest are at our house."

"Do you know where Daddy is?" Fiore had asked Aunt Cassie.  Her hope hadn't quite extinguished itself.

"I'm sorry, Fiore.  He said he's not going to make it."

Fiore's heart fell.  She missed her father desperately and didn't understand why he wouldn't come home.  She didn't understand why he wouldn't let her come with him.  She didn't understand why he didn't want her anymore.  "Okay." Fiore nodded.  All she wanted to do was cry but she took a deep breath.  It was her birthday, she wasn't supposed to cry on her birthday after all.

"Open your present!" Ian prodded.

Fiore nodded and carefully tore into the paper covered box.  When she opened it Fiore saw a golden locket necklace.  When she opened it, inside was a tiny picture of Fiore and her mother and a portrait of her mother.

Fiore couldn't stop herself this time.  She dropped the box and ran to her room, covering her face as she went.  Fiore threw herself on her bed as her whole body was racked with sobs.  Fiore didn't understand why she was alone all the time. 

Cassandra saw her niece's crestfallen face when she'd learned her father wasn't coming.  The locket of her mother had overwhelmed the little girl.  Cassie had chased after her.  When she saw the little girl sobbing into her pillow her mind was made up. 

Cassie held the little girl and helped her pack a bag.  If Roderick couldn't be bothered to care for his child, she would.  It had been nearly six months and neither he nor Fiore seemed to be progressing through their grief.

That was the day Fiore had come to live with Henry and Cassandra.  Ian and Christine and Fiore became and inseparable trio.  If there was trouble to be made, Fiore was usually finding it.  Cassie watched Fiore slowly return to herself, but some of the light that she'd had, even a year ago, was gone.