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“Yes, I do. I should have made your dad try harder. I love your dad, but I spoilt him, and you paid for him being selfish. Your mum was always like a daughter to me, but she did the right thing moving on and moving away. Everything is yours now, the house and what money I have. It’s up to you to decide where you belong. You can live in it, rent it or sell it, all I ask, is that you follow your heart and be happy. I love you so much.”
“I love you too grandma.”
Her grandma had lost consciousness again and within an hour she had been gone. They had returned to the hotel. Gwen had shut herself away in her room and cried until a dreamless sleep claimed her.
The next few days were spent making arrangements. It turned out her grandma had organised her funeral when she learnt how ill she was. All that was left to do was pick a date, put out the notices and schedule a meeting with gran’s solicitor about the will. Gwen felt sick constantly, her mum had to coax her to eat and constantly reminded her that the last thing her gran would have wanted was for Gwen to make herself ill.
The night prior to the funeral her mum took her to what had been her favourite place to when they had lived there,Bill’s Restaurant & Bar. Despite her protests, the taste of her childhood had temporarily overwhelmed her grief. After polishing off the fish pie, she was tucking into her salted caramel and chocolate tart with clotted cream, when she heard her name called.
“Gwen? Gwen? Gwendoline Evans is that you?”
She looked around and saw two males moving towards her. A huge smile spread across her face as she recognised two of the people she had spent most of her teen years hanging around with. Nate and Jake had been a year above her at school, they had come out as a couple when they left, and she was thrilled to see they looked just as much in love as they had back then.
“O-M-G! I can’t believe it, look at you all grown up and gorgeous. Hello, Mrs Evans, sorry Mrs Anderson.” It was Nate that greeted her mum, he was six foot and built like a rugby player. He had played on the school team but had struggled to find a team that would accept his sexuality and when she had left the country he had stopped playing.
“Please, I think you boys are old enough to call me Gail now. “
“Well, Gail, I have to say the States certainly agrees with both of you, you look more like sisters sat here.”
Jake had always been a charmer and Gwen was sure her mum had always looked at him as the son she had never had. He was the opposite of Jake at five foot seven he was an inch shorter than Gwen, he had cheekbones to die for and she had always been jealous of his naturally willowy physique. It was Nate that took up the conversation again, peppering them with questions.
“So, what are you doing back here? Is it a holiday? How long are you here for? We need a proper catch up.”
“My gran just passed away a few days ago, we flew over when she was taken into hospital, but I don’t know how long we will be staying. I guess it depends on what the will says and what we need to sort out there. But you’re right we need a catch up before I go home and we need to arrange for you guys to come out and visit me, you’d love it in New York.”
“No! We’re so sorry, your gran was amazing. We would always stop for a chat when we saw her, and we went for a cup of tea with her a few times. She was so proud of you and everything you were doing. We hadn’t seen her in a while though, we’ve just been so busy we’ve hardly seen anyone. Jake has a new job, he finally put those cheekbones to good use and he’s become a drag queen. When is the funeral?”
“Tomorrow at St David’s at eleven, grub afterwards at the club at the end of grans road.”
“We’ll be there. Here, pass me your phone.”
She handed it over and Nate punched his number in then rang his own phone from hers. They hugged and farewells were exchanged.
“It was nice seeing the boys again, I was always surprised that you didn’t all stay in touch when you left.”
“Mum, please not now.”
“Okay, okay, but one day you are going to tell me what happened that night before we left.”
“It was nothing. You’re starting to sound like Kristal.”
“Kristal is a very intuitive young lady. I like her, you always managed to find such good friends. Now finish your tart and let’s go back to the hotel. I need to facetime Brad and your sister, then we need to get an early night.”
Gwen finished her dessert in silence, her mind racing. There had been four of them that hung around together, herself, Jake, Nate, and Elise. Would Jake and Nate tell her they had seen her? She wasn’t even sure they would still be in touch, there was nothing to say Elise had not moved away herself. Had Elise told them about that last night? About the moment she ruined their friendship, and could Elise ever forgive her?
CHAPTER FOUR
Gwen stood in the front row of seats in the crematorium staring at the casket in front of her. Her eyes stung from the hours of crying she had already done that day while getting ready but now the service was almost over, and it would be time to step forward and say goodbye. She hadn’t been able to pick out individuals as they pulled up behind the hearse, but she had been overwhelmed by the sheer number of people here to say goodbye to her gran. She knew all eyes would be on her in a minute and she had to find the strength to get through this next part.
The music stopped and the celebrant said the last few words. She stood - autopilot lifted her to her feet. Her mum took her arm and guided her to step towards the casket. She placed her hand on it and looked at the photo of her gran placed on top of it.
“I’m sorry gran, I should have some home earlier.”
She lifted her fingers to her lips before pressing them to the pine box. Allowing her mum to direct her, she walked away from her grandma’s coffin and down the corridor to receive the other mourners. She had only moment to compose herself before the first relatives reached them. There were hugs and tears, some people she had not seen since she was little, some she had never met in person before. She was surprised at how many family members had shown up but then the reason became apparent.
Her dad had not aged well, his suit was crumpled and straining at the buttons. As he approached her the crowd parted and everyone went quiet waiting for the fireworks, all it needed was someone to pull out the popcorn.
“Gwendoline, Gail.” He spat her mums name, “Nice of you to bother showing up. I’m surprised you could drag yourselves away from your fabulous new lives across the pond.”
