Postcard Princess

Ch. 13

Bellamy pulled into the cemetery, watching Clarke as she rubbed her chest. With a gentle smile, he handed her one of the bundles before climbing out of the truck.

He watched Clarke drop down in front of a headstone, her hands wiping it off. He did the same, wiping the dirt from his mother's. He removed the dead flowers from the ground, replacing them with the new, freshly cut ones.

He didn't move for a long time, the breeze blowing his hair, slightly.

"Aurora is a beautiful name."

"Yeah," Bellamy agreed.

"Wait, Lane? Her name was Lane?" Clarke asked.

"Yeah, she never married my dad. Why?" He asked.

"Holy shit. She was my mother's best friend," Clarke said. "They cheered together in hugh school. They grew up together." She said, wonder in her voice. "Wait, but you didn't grow up here?"

"Mom got pregnant in college and she moved to Tennessee where my dad was originally from. He was down here for school," Bellamy answered. "She wanted to move back here when she got really sick. We actually moved a month after you left," he told her.

"Oh," Clarke read the stone. "I'm sorry."

"We knew for a long time," Bellamy said. "We put the house in my name and she stayed with us until the end. That's why I started the garden. I had to start with plants instead of seeds, but she loved it. She sat outside a lot." Bellamy felt her head resting on his shoulder. "What about your dad?" He asked, softly.

"It was very sudden," she sighed. "He was getting gas on his way home and he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. There was a shooting, and he got caught in the middle of it."

Bellamy wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I'm so sorry," he told her. "How old were you?"

"Eleven," she said.

Bellamy turned her and hugged her to his chest. The both of them stayed that way for a long time, each lost in thought.