Tale as Old as Time

Chapter 22

The following morning I couldn't bring myself to eat. I dressed slowly. I had to buy something because the only solid black things I owned were shorts. I'd bought a simple black a-line dress. Trying to aim for modest so I wouldn't upset my mum. Chris wore a black two-piece suit. Something he already owned and was tailored to fit him. Is it bad that I started to want to skip the funeral and just fuck him all day long?

We drove to the chapel where the funeral was being held. Everyone was milling around outside. I couldn't see my mum or Aaron anywhere but my Aunt and Uncle spotted me and waved us over to them.

"Hey, honey. How you holding up." Tracey asked, hugging me.

"Okay. How about you?"

Tracey shrugged. "As well as can be expected. I know he had his flaws but he was my brother."

I hugged her again which made her start crying, which set me off crying and our respective husbands separated us.

"Have you seen mum?" I asked.

"She's inside talking to the funeral director." Tracey said pointing to a building attached to the chapel.

I was just about to go in to see her when I heard someone call my name. I turned to see Shan and Amelia. Shan was carrying their daughter. I was just getting into overly excited clucky Emily mode when I saw the people coming up behind her.

"Don't be mad..." Amelia pleaded.

"Too late." I snapped. "What the fuck are you doing here?" I kept my voice at a low whisper but even still people turned to face me.

"I knew your dad too." Jessica said, moving up close to me.

I blinked up at her as she towered over me. I couldn't believe she could pull this shit on me. That even she had sunk so low that she would pull this shit on me. That she would intrude on my grief like this. Chris moved next to me and wrapped his arm around my waist protectively, pulling himself up to full height.

"Yes. And he hated you. So why the fuck are you here? This is hard enough for me without having to deal with you." I hissed.

Jessica sighed. "Put your superhero husband on a leash. I know how much he hated me. I know what you went through to be with me despite that. I'm sorry I destroyed that. But I knew how hard this would be for you and I wanted to be here to support you."

"If I'd had wanted you here I would have asked." I seethed. My voice cracked. I just wanted to scream at her.

She opened her mouth to speak again but the funeral director came out to usher everyone inside. I sat up the back with Chris, Shan and Amelia. Jessica and Veronica sat on the opposite aisle to us. Jessica kept looking over at me throughout the service.

It was so surreal being there. My mum got up to talk and had to be escorted from the stage because her grief overwhelmed her. The priest took over for her saying the words of love she couldn't get out. Some of his friends spoke about what a good person he was. How he helped in the community. The whole time I couldn't stop thinking 'if he was so good, how bad did I have to be that he threw me away?'

After the service my mum, Aaron and Layla all stood accepting condolences. I lined up with the others. Just wanting to speak to my mum and to hug her. Unfortunately I had to go past Aaron first.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing here?" Aaron seethed.

"He was my dad too." I answered, trying to move past him to get to get to mum. Aaron moved to block me.

"I'm not letting you talk to her. You're just going to make things worse." Aaron growled. I went to push past him and he hit me. It was an open palmed strike on my face and it connected with my cheek first and smashed into my nose. I felt something crack and everything went black for a second as I dropped to the ground.