Fishing For A Dream [Book Three]

Chapter 10 - The Night

Of all the parties and events Rose and I had expected to plan, Terry's funeral was not one of them. But, there we sat, in a church, with her hand in one hand, and Will's in the other.

The crematorium was full of people who'd loved and known Terry. It was tragic to see so many faces who only a few months before had been at Will and Terry's wedding, the list of people we'd had to contact to inform them of Terry's death having almost been completely identical. Their mournful expressions, and looks of shock, seemed to only further highlight just how unfair the whole thing was. But I knew Will took comfort in the amount of people who'd shown up, and how far they had come to say goodbye to the love of his life. He didn't say it, he just sat with his eyes fixed firmly on the solid oak coffin, but I knew what it meant to him to see how much his husband was loved and respected.

Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Harry watching me closely. He leant forward to ask in a whisper if I was okay, and I nodded I was fine. Although I hated that we couldn't sit together, we'd both agreed Terry's funeral was not the place for us to draw attention to our relationship, and I needed him to make sure Bianca was looked after. They sat - along with Jeff - in the row behind us, and I was so grateful for all three of them taking the time to come. Bianca hadn't even met Terry, she had no other reason to be there other than me, but it eased the aching sense of loss knowing she'd wanted to come to support me.

The service was lovely, and perfectly Terry: lots of laughter, terrible jokes, music he loved, and an enormous amount of love for a man so special to us all. A few people spoke, but it was Terry and Will's other business partner, Marcus, who had been asked to speak on behalf of the family.

He spoke of the first time he and Terry had met, at Glastonbury festival in 1979. Their tents had been adjacent to each other, and Marcus had been a budding musician, so he'd been playing his guitar, which caught the attention of Terry. They'd spent an hour or two talking about musicians and bands they loved, then ended up dropping acid together. Their friendship was sealed as they could practically see the music they discussed, Terry painting the scene of each song with words and Marcus playing the guitar, believing he was Hendrix reborn. Long after the LSD had worn off, Marcus still viewed music in a whole other light, which fuelled his love for it even more. So when he graduated from university, he deviated from the long lineage of lawyers who worked for his family-run firm, and moved to London to work with Terry and Will Senior. William was charming and had connections, Marcus was the brains who knew the law and how to draw up contracts that worked for everyone, and Terry was the creative soul. Terry kept it all together, and kept them focused on the reason that they had chosen to do what they chose to do - a deep love of music.

Turning to the coffin, Marcus's voice was quiet, as if he was having one last private conversation with his friend and business partner of almost forty years. He thanked him for changing his life and making it so much brighter, and promised he would take care of Will, Mia, and Terry's son Jack. Will, who'd had a tight grip of my hand, suddenly let go, turning to comfort Mia as she began to weep. They hugged each other tightly, sharing the load of their grief, accepting that Terry was actually gone.