Lilliana

38- Furthermore

It was now "tomorrow" and Lilliana felt nothing but nervous. Why, she couldn't understand.

She had majority of this talk with her father already, there wasn't much else to say.

She just wanted closure for all of this.

"Are you ready baby" Luther gently caressed her arm, "we're here"

Lillianas head snapped up to see the white painted wrap around the porch of her house.

Was it still hers she thought.

The door was opened for her and a large hand slipped into hers. Alexander helped her from the car and as soon as her feet touched the pavement, the front door to the house opened.

Her father stood there in a state of shock, "You came back." A smile suddenly made its way to his face.

Lilliana slowly nodded. "and you brought the boys" his shoulders slightly raised but he still stood remaining smiling.

She started off with one tiny step and soon she was inside of the house, sitting on the crème colored couch in her former living room.

Luther and Alexander were both on either side of her, one holding her hand and the other gently caressing her thigh with his thumb.

"Are you okay angel" Alexander gave her hand a tiny squeeze.

The breath she'd been holding finally came out and she was suddenly aware of where she was at and what she was doing.

"I'm a little scared" she confessed truthfully.

Alexander laid a soft kiss onto her hand and smiled, "we're here for you baby, whenever you want to leave, we leave, and whatever decision you decide to make after today we will fully support you"

She smiled and turned her head to give his cheek a tiny peck.

She heard her father clear his throat and her head snapped to him. He once again had those same sad eyes with bags dark under them. He sat down in the seat he did the last time they had this conversation.

"what questions do you have for me Lilliana?" her father asked.

The nervousness started to settle deep in her stomach.

She felt a light squeeze to her thigh. She smiled lightly and grabbed Luthers hand.

She slowly took a deep breath and thought about what she really wanted to ask before speaking. "Did you bury her?" she vocalized.

Her father sighed and shook his head. "when she was killed, I still didn't have the money to afford a burial so I decided to have her cremated."

He looked up into his daughters eyes and he saw her. She looked very similar to her mother after all.

"There was a small point in time when she was good, she was brilliant even." his hand grazed over his heart.

"Knowing that part of her existed and Not giving her a proper burial in the end still haunts me."  Slow warm tears began to run down his face.

The room was eerily quiet for a moment. Almost as if no one was actually in it, before Lilliana spoke.

"what did you do with her" She questioned, this time without her voice wavering like it did previously.

Her father took a deep breath and stood up. He walked over to the picture frame of all of them together that Lilliana had broken when she previously visited. This time it was whole as if it had never shattered against the floor.

"I um- I got this frame made after she died. Her ashes were put into the frame and um" he paused to steady his breathing.

He walked over to a golden heart that was placed on the mantel above the fire place which was also decorated in that same golden trim.