Daddy's Little Girl

The Funeral

Victoria could hear the blood rushing in her ears as she walked down the never ending aisle. She could feel the eyes on her she could hear the whispers. Her breathing stopped as she drew closer to the casket a part of her wanted to run away, none of it could be real. She hesitated moving any further when she felt a warm comforting hand hold on to hers. She looked up into Dante’s reassuring eyes as he gave her hand a squeeze. If it wasn’t for him, she wasn’t sure if she would have ever made it onto the plane. She was grateful that her mother had asked Dante to be a pallbearer, for once he came in handy.

“You can do it.” He whispered to her and Victoria responded with a slight nod.  When it was her turn Dante let go of her hand and gave Victoria a little push to get her going. Staring down into her grandmother’s peaceful face, tears began to fall as Victoria realized that she would never have the chance to let Nonna know how much she loved and appreciate her. Victoria kissed her forehead before stepping back on shaky legs as tears clouded her vision. As she made her way back to her seat at the back of the church, a tearful Isabelle wrapped her arms around Victoria and kissed her cheek.

“Thank you for being here.” Isabelle said as she wiped away Victoria’s tears before letting her go.

When Victoria made it back to her seat, she felt like her body had given out and refused to move. She stayed in her seat until the funeral concluded; the church only had a few stragglers left behind when Victoria finally gathered up the strength to move again. As she collected her things, she heard someone call her name. Victoria turned around as was greeted with her Aunt’s hand slapping her across the face. The slap knocked her off balance making her stumble back.

“You disgusting child what gives you the right to be here!”

“Angelica stop it.” Her husband Martian commanded as he kept her from attacking Victoria again.  Tears filled Victoria’s eyes as she nursed her aching cheek but the ache in her heart was much worse. As much as she wanted to hit the woman back, Victoria held back.

“You wouldn’t come see her when she was alive. She waited for you and waited but you never showed up so why come now when she’s dead.”

Victoria couldn’t say anything she was too upset all she could do was stare back at the angry woman before her as a tear rolled down her cheek.

“Save your tears they aren’t needed here and neither are you.” Angelica spat.

“That’s enough.” Martian said as he dragged his sobbing wife away.

Victoria forced herself to sit down as the crowd of onlookers receded out of the church, she didn’t need to look at them to see the looks of disgust on their faces. Once the church was empty Victoria decided not to linger any longer, she had done what she came to do there was no need for her to stay. Walking out of the church she tossed on her shades as tears flowed down her face.

When she reached her hotel room he called Owen with the hope that he could cheer her up.

“Hey babe how’s Tuscany?”

“It’s terrible Owen you do know that I’m not here on vacation.”

“I know princess… did you go to the funeral?”

“Yeah, I-“

“-Vic I’ll have to call you back I’m getting ready to go into a meeting.”

“But I-“

“I’ll call you as soon as I get out I promise.” He said before the line went dead. Victoria scoffed as she tossed her phone across the bed. Victoria stripped and went straight for the shower. As the water ran down her body so did her tears. Victoria was ashamed of herself by the way she treated Nonna and the rest of her family. She had isolated herself and turned her family against her and all for a man who couldn’t give her five minutes when she really needed him, and a job that left her stressed and unfulfilled. Her life no longer made any sense and she had no idea how to get it back on track.