Life had suddenly gone still, and I seemed to be the only one that existed. Dad died three days ago, and my sense of living seemed to have died with me.
I couldn’t bring myself to muster any energy in me to do the simplest things in life anymore.
Duke and Doctor Martin had found me lying across Dad’s chest a few minutes after he died.
I held on to him for so long that they had to pry me off his body when the deniers came to pick him up. It had been a struggle as my head didn’t want to believe that Dad was going away for good.
I didn’t stay behind to watch them cart him away. I may have struggled with them and not allowed them to do their job at first but when they successfully pried me off him, I turned and walked straight to my bedroom, and I have not opened the door ever since.
I’ve had multiple people that I couldn’t be bothered to identify come up to my door and knock to ask me if I was okay, but I didn’t utter any word to them.
Somehow, Duke had managed to open the door to my room, but he didn’t speak to me. Instead, he just rolled a cart of food and kept it by my bed. That was yesterday and the food still lay uneaten on the cart.
I also seemed to have run out of years because I could not bring myself to cry. It was confusing because when Dad was alive and sick, I was crying every second of the day. It was as though I had an endless well of tears that dried up the minute Dad died.
I woke up with the wrong mindset today because I found myself sitting up straight whenever I heard heavy footsteps in the hallways. My body kept anticipating something or rather, waiting for someone and I knew who. I was waiting for Dad to walk in and tell me that it would be okay. It wasn’t going to happen.
The door opened again, and Duke walked in but this time he was empty-handed. Dad was going to be buried today. I didn’t forget but I ignored it on purpose because I foolishly wanted to believe pretending it wasn’t happening would make things go back to the way I wished it was.
“Why are you not dressed?” Duke asked me with a tired voice. His eyes trailed to the cart with uneaten meals, and he sighed in disappointment which made me almost snap at him.
I was pissed at him and Atticus for wanting to bury my father so quickly. It was like they wanted to get rid of him.
I knew that wasn’t the case, but my fragile mind was looking for someone to blame and to pour out all my pent-up pain and anger that I was finding difficult to let out.
I lay back down on my bed and faced the other side, so I was backing Duke. It was too soon to bury Dad. They should have left him for a few more days. I needed more time before I could say the final goodbye.
“I know you think it is too sudden, and I understand that you are hurting but we need to let him go so he can rest. There is no need to leave his body in the morgue for days. It isn’t ideal”
“It’s too soon, Duke. I’m not ready to say goodbye yet” I said with my back still facing him.
“You can. Your dad is holding on to your words. He would only rest when you let him go” But I didn’t want to let him go. I knew I told him I didn’t want him to be in pain anymore but now I regret those words. I missed him.
“I’ll get dressed,” I told Duke because I had no other choice “Give me a minute”
I heard his footsteps retreat and waited for him to shut the door before I picked myself up from the bed and dragged my tired body to the bathroom to take a shower.
After that, I rummaged through my closet for any black dress I could use and threw the first one I found over my head.
I planned to go down without doing anything to my hair or face but then I remembered that Dad loved it when I dressed up, so I decided to make an effort for him. I did light makeup with just blush and gloss and I also used some concealer under my eyes to hide the hideous bags I was sporting. I was not going to send off Dad while looking miserable.
I slipped on my wedding and engagement rings because I knew Atticus would be present and might feel insulted or take it the wrong way if I wasn’t wearing the rings. I shouldn’t care what he thinks but I was doing it for Dad.
I was surprised to see Duke waiting for me outside my bedroom when I exited. I frowned as I wondered why he was still lingering by my door when I told him I would get ready.
“What are you still doing here?” I asked.
“I was just making sure that you were fine” He answered with a small shrug.
“Or you were making sure that I didn’t change my mind last minute. If I did, would you have dragged me out?” I snapped. I was looking for trouble and he knew it as well.
“Of course, not but we would have proceeded without you, and you would have regretted that. That is what I wanted to avoid” he told me and walked away before I could give him a reply.
He was right. If I wasn’t present, I would regret it for the rest of my life. I followed Duke and I could not help but miss him already. He would finally be able to retire after working for our family for so many years.
I was going to move in with Atticus and the staff would be reduced since no one would be living here anymore which meant Duke had no one to cater for. I wondered if he was happy or sad.
Dad had given him one of our houses located in the central part of the city so he could live comfortably with his family and his severance pay was enough to manage his family for a few generations. He deserved it and more.
The long walk to the back of the house where Dad would be buried was more than enough for me to pull myself together. Dad would be buried beside Mom like he wanted.
We also didn’t invite anyone to the burial as per Dad’s wishes so it would be just me, Atticus, and Duke.
I was surprised to see another male standing beside Atticus. We were still a little bit far from where they stood so I was not able to identify who the other man was but somehow, I was able to easily identify my husband.
“Who is that?” I asked Duke and pointed to the male who was talking to Atticus but was being ignored by the man.
I noticed Duke tense with my question, and it made me more curious since he was hesitant to answer the question.
“Who is that, Duke?” I asked again.
“It’s your uncle, Mr Jason” I halted my steps in shock and turned to grab Duke’s arm so he could stop walking as well.
“What do you mean by that’s Uncle Jason? What is he doing here? How could you invite him when Dad made it clear he didn’t want him here?”
It was not a secret that my dad was no longer affiliated with my uncle and Duke was aware of that so why would he bring Jason back to the house?
“I did not tell him anything, young mistress. He barged in this morning, shouting that he heard his brother as dead and demanding why he wasn’t told” Duke explained. “He wanted to see the body, so we told him your father was about to be buried, and the staff were unable to throw him out”
By the time Duke was done explaining, my blood was boiling as I stormed towards Uncle Jason.
Both men turned to face me as they heard me approach and my steps almost faltered at the sight of Atticus. Why did he have to be that handsome? It should be illegal to look that good.
I had almost forgotten the reason I was walking towards them because of his face but the slimy smirk on my uncle’s face helped me remember.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, cutting him short when he opened his mouth to speak. I didn’t want to hear what he had to say. I wasn’t interested.
“What sort of question is that, Hazel?” He snapped “My brother died, and I wasn’t informed. You were even going to bury him without telling me. That’s not fair”
I scoffed and eyed him with disgust “You don’t get to play the victim card, Uncle. You left without any contact just because Dad took you out of the company, but you returned as soon as you heard he died. Who do you think you are fooling because it’s definitely not me”
Uncle Jason’s eyes narrowed into slits, and I swear I could see flames escape from his ears, but I didn’t give a fuck. He wanted to play his stupid games but that wouldn’t work on me.
“Please, let’s not do this here. We have to respect the dead. You can resolve your differences later” The priest spoke.
“I’m sorry” I apologized before glaring at Uncle Jason “Please proceed”
I stood beside Duke so he could proceed with the ceremony. I looked at my uncle again, but his eyes were already on me and all I could think of was he was too late.
He was never getting his hands on my dad’s company. Not now and not ever.